A community wide event is planned to celebrate the completion and dedication of Westhill Central School District’s Phase II Capital Project at Cherry Road School on Saturday, September 29 from 10:00 am–noon. The event coincides with the United States Green Building Council’s (USGBC) nationwide Green Apple Day of Service. The Green Apple Day of Service is the first annual day in which parents, teachers, students and advocates from around the world will work to make our schools healthier, more sustainable places to learn.

The morning’s activities for the Cherry Road School Green Apple Day of Service will include stations in the new gym where community members, parents and students can learn about and experience some of Cherry Road’s sustainable features. At 11:00 am, the Board of Education will hold a dedication ceremony for the Phase II Capital Project highlighting the additions and renovations to all four school buildings. The ceremony will include a ribbon cutting officially opening the new Cherry Road School addition. To celebrate the event, Gannon’s Isle Ice Cream is creating and serving a new ice cream flavor, t-shirts will be given to students, and building wide tours will be available to learn about and experience some of Cherry Road’s sustainable features. Invited guests will include Rick Fedrizzi, President of the United States Green Building Council. Mr. Fedrizzi is a resident of the district and a leading advocate of sustainable schools worldwide.

The Phase II capital project was approved by district residents in March 2010 and consisted of a combination of additions and renovations to all four schools within the district. “The scope of work directly benefits our students in several academic areas, the arts and physical education/athletics,” said Stephen Bocciolatt, Superintendent of Westhill Central School District. “It includes the expansion of half-day kindergarten to full-day kindergarten, the expansion of the Walberta Park and the Onondaga Hill Middle School libraries, expansion of music classrooms at the high school, a new music classroom at Cherry Road School, additional physical education and athletic fields at OHMS and athletic field work at the high school main field (resurface track and install synthetic field turf).”

Work at Cherry Road included the construction of a new addition featuring 7 classrooms, a gymnasium and a music classroom. The addition is targeted to use 50 percent less energy than an average school building. Key sustainability features at Cherry Road include: solar preheat walls on the gymnasium’s roof, a 25 kilowatt photovoltaic system to create solar electricity, rain gardens, skylights, and a wood rain screen. Designed by Ashley McGraw Architects and managed by Turner Construction Company, the Cherry Road project is expected to receive LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council upon completion.

Ashley McGraw Architects, P.C, based in Syracuse, New York since 1981, provides architectural services for K-12 schools and college and university clients. 

Turner Construction - General builder and construction management firm with operations primarily in the commercial sector. Turner operates over 40 full-service offices in the continental United States and has international offices in Europe and Asia. Local offices are located in Albany, Buffalo and Syracuse.

Westhill Central School District is located in Onondaga County, west of and adjacent to the City of Syracuse. Westhill is a medium sized district with 1,900 students.