BETHEL – The coordinated efforts of more than 85 local contractors, parents, school district staff and students put their collective skills together for nine hours resulting in the completion of maintenance projects valued at more than $50,000 at the Telstar Middle School and High School complex.

This was the first of what organizer and contractor Rick Savage said he hopes is an annual contractors event for the school district.

“When cutbacks are made, the first thing that goes is maintenance,” Savage said. “Everything was donated. Even people who bid against each other on projects took part.”

The project began in March when Savage, Telstar Principal Dan Hart, Building and Grounds Director Burnie Rice and several others got together to outline a plan of action to spruce up the school complex and lay the foundation for further work.

“A lot of this stuff we have been trying to get to for years,” said Rice, who has a staff of two people to maintain the district’s five buildings.

In mid-May, building, excavation, electrical and painting contractors, along with donations of materials from local businesses, began work at 7 a.m. Helping them out were dozens of students, staff and community members.

By 4 p.m., myriad projects were complete, including painting the school color blue along the rooflines of the complex and the back wall of the gym, landscaping around the front entrance, replacing a path to the baseball field, installing fencing for the dugouts and around the propane tank, cleanup of the brush pile behind the softball field, and preliminary prep work for installing a new Telstar sign, among other things. Inside, five classrooms were painted and several new floor coverings laid.

The fundraising drive for the purchase of a new electronic Telstar sign is about half complete, at $10,000. The school is looking for more donations and will recognize donors by level of giving with plaques inside the school. The district is also looking for donations and grants to build a new greenhouse to serve the middle and high schools.

Hart said people turned out to help with a lot of enthusiasm and pride.

“We want to have a more positive outlook of the school and grounds,” he said.

An emphasis on a more positive outlook began a year ago when the so-called Telstar 12 organized to carry out small, beautification projects. The 12, who are students, has since grown to 20, Hart said.

One of them is Jamie Steven, a sophomore at the school. She and some of her classmates helped during Contractors Day by bringing workers water, breakfast and running errands. Breakfast and lunch were also donated by local businesses for the workers.

Savage said he hopes to organize more work with local contractors during the summer or during the next school year’s February vacation. Then, a major maintenance project, like the one just held, will take place in May 2010.

Savage, a Bethel native, said his business gives back to the community through donated work to the school or the town.

“I was a snowboarding coach at the middle school this year, and I saw a lot of little things that needed to be done,” he said.

A cookout for all those who helped out is currently being planned for late June at the high school.