The “choir” listened attentively Thursday evening as school officials explained why USD 257 buildings at the very least need substantial upgrades, and that students would be served better with new facilities.
The occasion was the first meeting of the revived Facilities Planning Committee.
The group first met several years ago to look at how to improve elementary schools. That morphed into a broader mission, including all grade levels and all that is peripheral to education in the district.
In September 2009, committee members concluded the best approach was to have all buildings on a single campus, including a community center containing a district kitchen and fitness facilities.
The cost was estimated at $114.5 million.
At the same time, the recession was unfolding and board members, on advice of then Superintendent of Schools Craig Neuenswander, thought it best to shelve the project until better times.
Today, the economy is recovering and indications are it will continue to improve.
By Scott Stanley’s predictions, during the next five years $5 million should be spent to keep district buildings in little more than a holding pattern. Roofs, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), floors and entrances and a multitude of smaller things need attention, Stanley, director of operations, said.
Stanley said going a “bite at a time” means the district would get only further behind because the list grows faster than repairs can be managed.
Of the district’s HVAC system, Stanley said, “We have 108 units and 104 are at or within five years of their life expectancy,” Stanley said. “It’s a fight daily to keep up” with HVAC needs and a “constant battle to maintain (climate) comfort levels in individual rooms.”
An up-to-date system would save the district $48,000 a year in utility costs, he said.
IN ADDITION to major physical improvements to keep buildings at acceptable levels, Stanley said such things as storage space and security were concerns.
When entering one of the new schools in Chanute, a visitor has to go to the office and make his presence known. In Iola schools, “you can get in any of them without going to the office,” he said, a security risk often accentuated by problems that crop up — some deadly — in schools throughout the nation.
Accessibility also is a problem at Jefferson and Lincoln elementaries, which don’t have elevators. All schools have basements, which were used for storage until recent years when water problems, and mold, began to crop up with regularity.
Mold has been tested and hasn’t yet been found to be a health threat, Stanley said, but that always is a possibility, particularly at the high school where return air vents channel fresh air through the basement.
Larry Hart, Lincoln principal, said lack of storage and no areas where hands-on science instruction could occur hamper learning. Even so, he observed, “our teachers do an excellent job,” while sometimes meeting with students in hallways and on the school’s gymnasium stage.
