Still smarting from the failed school bond issue of 2014, local school board members were hesitant Monday night to dip their toes into the waters of any substantial upgrades to existing structures.
Any such effort “must be community-driven,” said Tony Leavitt, president of the USD 257 Board of Education, citing what he felt was widespread mistrust from voters about reports of district buildings being on life-support.
“I’m not sure I’m ready to hear,” any professional recommendations, Leavitt said, “until we get a community-based group that is on board. We sorely need community buy-in before we go ahead with any planning.”
If it’s evidence the public needs, engineers with a firm called 360 Energy Engineers will be all too happy to assist.
Two representatives of the Lawrence-based firm were in Iola Monday to do a walk-through with Scott Stanley, direction of operations, of district buildings.
At Monday’s meeting Jacob Hurla gave his two cents:
Demanding immediate attention is the leaking roof atop Iola Middle School, he said.
In the high school and middle school the boilers are “well past their lifetimes” and their chillers “are on borrowed time. I expect them not to be functional too much longer.”
Breakers that trip with regularity signal to Hurla the electrical capacity at IMS is inadequate.
At the three elementary schools the rooftop units are well past their use dates, Hurla said.
As if finding a relic, the young man remarked on discovering original cloth wiring at McKinley. “That’s pretty impressive it’s lasted this long,” he said. The elementary schools were built as Works Progress Administration projects to lift the country out of the Great Depression.
Hurla noted significant water damage and mold throughout the elementary schools.
System-wide, Hurla said, “Your windows are poorly insulated and the heating and cooling systems are old and ineffective. Lighting is poor and your electrical systems are extremely aged.”
The good news?
“Overall, the structures are in good condition,” he said. “We can certainly find ways to address their issues.”
The engineers with 360 Energy Engineers came at no cost to the district, said Jack Koehn, superintendent of schools.
What to do with the information, “is up to the public,” he said.
School board leery of future bond issues
