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District reports summer facilities work; high‑school air conditioning looks possible before fall
Summary
Operations staff outlined completion timelines for a roof and window project, phone system cutover, bleacher repairs and exploratory electrical work that staff say could allow air conditioning in most of the high school before the start of classes.
Operations staff told the board on July 23 that multiple summer projects are either wrapping up or beginning across district buildings, and that new electrical work may allow the district to install air conditioning in much of the high‑school building before classes start.
Butch (Operations Director) reported that the McDonald roof coating project should wrap up the next day and that a window replacement project at McDonald would start the week of the meeting and run roughly two weeks. He said crews removed old mini‑split AC units and repaired frames damaged when window units were previously installed.
The nut graf: operations staff enumerated near‑term maintenance items (roof coating, window work, phone system cutover, bleacher repairs and gym floor/abatement) and said an electrical solution under discussion could permit air conditioning to be installed in a majority of the high‑school building before the school year begins.
Butch told trustees the district had new phones arriving but was short roughly 30 handsets and that the phone system cutover should occur within weeks. He said Omega (a vendor) completed permitting steps for AC units in classrooms at one site and that work was scheduled to proceed in the coming weeks.
On bleacher repairs, staff said all replacement pieces had arrived except one; the district estimated the repair project at about $50,000–$60,000 and framed that as a lower‑cost alternative to full replacement, which staff characterized as potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. Operations staff said bleacher work was under way and likely operational even if the final piece had not yet arrived.
Staff also reported cleaning and flooring work, abatement where asbestos‑containing tile was removed, new stoves in West Park nutrition services, and summer transportation support for ESY and community trips. On safety systems, staff said the district is installing a new back‑end notification system (Fusion) to replace the existing E3 alert system; the new system will control IP speakers, initiate drills and send group text alerts to teachers and administrators.
Most notably, Butch said district engineers and a vendor had evaluated electrical capacity at the main high‑school building and believed they could perform the work necessary to support additional AC units before fall, creating “air‑conditioned space” in the “vast majority” of the high school. Board members and staff discussed cost, timing and the need to prioritize classrooms and common spaces if funding and schedules align.
No formal vote was required for the facilities update; staff asked the board to note the progress and to allow leadership to proceed with planned repairs and vendor coordination so that work can be completed before school opens.
