This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
02/22/2021 11:00 PMThe Board of Education (BOE) approved five capital expense items for this year’s proposed budget totaling a little more than $6.2 million, with about $3 million of that coming from an item that was put off last year due to the virus.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Paul Freeman acknowledged that at least two items came in at a higher amount than they were originally presented to the public: an HVAC replacement at Guilford Lakes Elementary School (the project that was delayed last year) and a replacement for the Guilford High School (GHS) turf field and track.
The Lakes project, which is a replacement of the building’s original heating and ventilation system, was originally proposed at about $1.6 million last spring. Freeman explained the nearly doubling of that number as a result of both a more comprehensive and detailed design of the project, as well as a decision to include replacing boilers in the building, which was originally left out of the project.
Freeman called the Lakes HVAC a “complicated install,” and reminded BOE members that it ideally would have been included in last year’s budget. School officials chose not to put the project for 2020-’21 partly due to the projected economic impact of the pandemic, but also because the lack of in-person referendum meant residents would not be able to vote directly on it.
“This is a necessity. This system will fail if we don’t make these improvements,” Freeman said.
The other project with a higher cost is the artificial turf field, which Freeman characterized as a joint asset of the town and the schools, even though it is showing up on the schools’ budget.
“It is not strictly a school field, it is a community field,” he said.
After initially introduced as an approximately $1 million project that would have involved just replacing the turf, the choice was made to also replace and upgrade the surrounding track and field.
BOE member John DellaVentura noted that the track is more than two decades old. In previous conversations with the BOE and the Board of Finance (BOF), school Director of Operations & Facilities Cliff Gurnham has said that replacing both at the same time is more efficient and could save money in the long run.
The field itself is 11 years old, Gurnham previously told the Courier, about three years past its life expectancy, and the new field will have an estimated usable lifespan of around 14 years.
Gurnham told the BOE that the hope is to have the new field finished early next fall.
The kind of fill used for the artificial turf—the granular material used to give it buoyancy and absorb shock—has not yet been determined, with some in the community expressing concerns about “crumb rubber” fill and potential health effects.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency is currently engaged in a multi-agency study to determine potential dangers of the material, but studies have not found conclusive links to crumb rubber and adverse health effects.
Other capital projects include replacing an elevator at Melissa Jones Elementary School and a boiler at A.W. Cox Elementary school. These capital requests must still be discussed and approved by the BOF before moving to a public vote.