Phase 1 and 2 of the North Colonie CSD Capital Project are officially underway! Initial project work began in December 2025, with the establishment of a temporary cafeteria and serving line in the SHS Media Center. This allowed for crews to begin construction on Taft Cafeteria, which will be transformed to have one centralized serving line along with Lafollette Cafeteria, which will be renovated once Taft construction is complete.
Upon returning from winter break, students began to utilize the "Library Cafe," with a change from three lunch periods to four to accommodate the number of students in the new space.
“We were initially skeptical about converting the library into a cafeteria space within such a short timeframe in a way that our students would truly embrace,” said North Colonie Food Service Director Lisa Ostrowski. “Thanks to the ‘can-do’ attitude of our food service team, the maintenance and custodial staff, and the incredible collaboration between our instructional and non-instructional departments, we created a welcoming service area that offers students meaningful food choices and a calm, inviting environment to enjoy their meals.”
The SHS Media Center has been reconfigured, with the staff, resources, and full collection moving to the back of the room. Thanks to a little creativity and consolidation, the library was able to move the full collection of books to the new room, which they refer to as the "Book Bunker."
"We're excited that we can still have our whole collection available," said SHS Library Aide Dibian Pick. "So while things may look a little different for now, we still have every material that was available and we're here to help!"
A majority of the Capital Project work for Phase 1 will take place during the evenings and over school breaks, with the bulk of it occurring over the summer.
