Students, parents press Rockville Centre board to replace auditorium air conditioner; district weighing funding options

Students, parents and arts supporters urged the Rockville Centre Union Free School District Board of Education at its Oct. 3 meeting to make replacement of the Southside High School auditorium air-conditioning unit a near-term priority, saying the current equipment is failing and disrupting rehearsals, classes and major school events.

Several students described how daily classes, long rehearsals and weekend “crew calls” depend on a usable auditorium. “I am in the auditorium for about 20 hours a week,” senior Lucy Frane told the board, adding that moving rehearsals or productions off campus would strip essential educational and technical work from play production classes. Senior Regan Zellis requested that any timeline for repair include consultation with affected students and faculty.

The district’s acting lead for facilities, identified in the meeting as Mister Gavin, told the board that district architects and HVAC specialists have concluded the existing unit “is not repairable,” calling any temporary fixes “mere stopgaps.” Gavin gave a broad cost estimate of “about $400,000 to a million” depending on bids and said equipment lead times and installer availability make the earliest feasible…