SOUTH DEERFIELD — The lights will be a little brighter on Frontier Regional School’s stage this upcoming school year, as the School Committee has approved a $100,000 transfer to replace the auditorium’s lighting.

In a unanimous vote Tuesday evening, the Frontier Regional School District School Committee approved transferring funding from the health and dental insurance expense line item in the fiscal year 2025 budget, which had money leftover because premiums didn’t rise as high as Director of Business Administration Shelley Poreda had projected.

“Next year, I don’t believe that’s going to be the case,” she said. “While we have it available, it makes sense to use it.”

Superintendent Darius Modestow said the project involves the replacement of the lights over the stage to enhance their use during productions and the school has three quotes for the project already. With a price tag this large, he added the school wanted the committee’s approval before moving forward with a transfer of funds.

“We’d like to change over to LED lights and a control board to give the theater productions and anybody using the stage more control over the environment,” Modestow said. “Something this significant, close to $100,000, we want to make sure the School Committee is on board with that.”

With the committee’s approval, the project is expected to move forward this summer.

While requesting the transfer for the stage lighting, Modestow also laid out some of the capital projects the district is preparing for.

The major project is resurfacing and design of the parking lot, which Modestow said “has taken a turn south” recently. To tide the lot over for at least another year while plans are finalized, Modestow said the School Committee will likely be asked to transfer $20,000 for repairs at an upcoming meeting.

Frontier already has plans for resurfacing and redesigning the parking lot, as it received a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant in 2020 to have Tighe & Bond create designs, which laid out an approximately $3 million plan. However, the state doesn’t fund parking lots via the MVP program, so the school shelved the plans.

Instead, Frontier will take a look at those plans and see how the design can be scaled down to just focus on resurfacing, drainage, new islands and a raised walkway with a target price of $1 million to $1.5 million. The school will likely use excess and deficiency funds — which is the balance, whether positive or negative, in a district’s general fund at the end of a fiscal year — to pay for engineering and begin a long-term savings plan with School Choice money to reduce town assessments.

A Capital Improvement Subcommittee meeting in the coming weeks will iron out more details and a proposed plan may come before the School Committee in May.

Another project on Frontier’s radar is a $250,000 replacement of the building management system, which controls lighting, heating and other systems throughout the school. Modestow said the current system is “really outdated” and if it fails, the school will likely incur extra costs for emergency repairs.

The School Committee has previously approved up to $200,000 for the project, but Modestow and Poreda said they are recommending the school hold off on attempting the project right now because the Deerfield Energy Committee was awarded a $170,000 grant to replace Deerfield Elementary School’s system.

If a similar grant could be obtained for Frontier, then those savings could be used elsewhere. Modestow said the project “can wait one fiscal year,” as the grant application deadline is in the fall and the town will know in the spring if it has received it.

“The longer we wait, the more expensive it could be,” Poreda added, “but hopefully we get the grant.”

There was also some welcome news for long-term projects. Modestow reported the school’s roof, which is going through a phased replacement plan, is in good shape right now with no active leaks and it can be “deferred for a few years.”

“There’s no concern right now,” he said. “We can shift our attention to the next big project with the parking lot.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.