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Tiverton school officials outline timeline and contingency after multi-school heating failure
Summary
District administrators described a multi-vendor effort to repair a specialized heating valve after Fort Barton and other elementary schools lost heat; the fabricated valve weighs over 165 pounds, required specialty shipping and a four-hour installation, and students were relocated temporarily while instruction continued at host schools.
Dr. Sanchioni, the district superintendent, told the Tiverton School Committee that the district traced the recent elementary-school heating outages to a failed three‑way distribution valve that “weighs over 165 pounds” and must be fabricated rather than bought off the shelf. The committee heard a step‑by‑step account of vendor calls, diagnostics and shipping delays that left officials coordinating a replacement part from a manufacturer in Arizona.
The superintendent said Trane initially serviced the boilers and focused on controls before ICM Mechanical of Fall River diagnosed wiring problems and the failed valve. Because the valve is too large for traditional parcel carriers, the district said it required a less‑than‑truckload freight carrier and daily coordination among ICM Mechanical, the part fabricator and the distributor to track and secure delivery.
While the part was in transit, staff implemented a continuity plan: kindergarten through grade 2 students from Fort Barton attended Pacasset and other grades were placed temporarily in neighboring elementary schools. “Students have been welcomed,” Dr. Sanchioni said, adding that teachers reported instruction continued at a high level and the district had received “very few complaints.”
Officials estimated the repair timeline in public session: the part’s arrival, a roughly four‑hour installation window, and another four hours for the building to reach acceptable temperatures, with a best‑case return to the building the following day after installation. Administrators also said they had procured interim measures (space heaters and daily temperature monitoring) to keep interior temperatures above 40°F during the outage.
Committee members pressed staff on prevention and planning. Facilities staff and custodial leaders said they perform annual filter and belt checks and other routine preventive tasks, but multiple speakers described the valve failure as “very rare” — a vendor estimated three similar failures in 30 years — and said a standard preventive contract likely would not have predicted this specific part’s failure. Several committee members urged the district to adopt an incident‑command style after‑action review to document what worked, what could be improved, and standing communications protocols to avoid conflicting public updates.
The superintendent told the committee the district had issued a request for preventive‑maintenance bids and recommended considering a line for maintenance in the FY2026 budget. He also reiterated that building walkthroughs and operational checks are the administration’s responsibility and should be coordinated through the superintendent’s office rather than conducted ad hoc by committee members during school hours.
The committee did not vote on policy or funding during this discussion; members asked for cost estimates for the repair and were told financial details would be presented once available.
