Special Meeting Recap

From the BCCT

District takes steps toward restoring schools
By MANASEE WAGH

After several decades, it’s time to initiate serious updates in Morrisville schools, say area residents.

The school board recently voted 7-1 to start preliminary work to replace the boilers in the high school building and Grandview Elementary.

Some school board members and residents call it the first step toward restoring the schools, which have been in need of repairs for years.

“This is the beginning of something. People should applaud this beginning,” said resident Sharon Hughes.

The district will use Vitetta, a Philadelphia-based architectural and engineering corporation, to begin assessing the work necessary to replace the boilers, as well as looking into two new burners for the elementary school.

Morrisville residents have been calling for a plan to get the deteriorating high school and both elementaries in better shape since the current board canceled plans to build a consolidated K-12 school.

But there’s a problem with taking action on the boilers now, the board minority said.

Evaluating the needs of two schools, designing a custom boiler for each and completing installation could take six months. That would put the project’s conclusion well into the heating season, according to Tim Lastichen, district facilities director.

The price tag for the boilers alone is more than $100,000, not counting the labor and any expenses that could crop up along the way, he said at the Tuesday board meeting.

Some residents and the board minority complained this is a poor time to start an expensive project without a long-term restoration plan that would take the schools’ many other problems into account.

In May, the board voted to hire Wick Fisher White, an engineering firm, to do a $30,000 study of the work needed at the high school and two elementaries. The next step was to advertise for several companies to do that work.

On June, 12 companies submitted proposals to work on all three school buildings. Bill Hellmann, the board president, later cut that down to five and removed M. R. Reiter from the equation without consulting the rest of the board, said board member Robin Reithmeyer at Tuesday’s board meeting.

She voted against going forward on the boiler replacements without a plan that included all three schools.

However, some board members and residents attending the meeting thought it was a bad idea to wait any longer.

“The reason for moving forward is to address an important item,” said board member Brenda Worob, referring to the boilers.

Plus, part of the original $30 million bond that the previous board borrowed to fund a consolidated school needs to be spent soon, Hellmann said.

Board member William Farrell suggested the district not delay the boiler project just because it would take a long time. Maybe the district wouldn’t complete it in time for this year’s cold season, but at least the preparation work would be done, he said.

As for the second elementary school, M. R. Reiter, Lastichen didn’t think it was worth investing in a new boiler, though residents complained that it was too cold for comfort there during the winter.

“Reiter’s so bad, I think it should be bulldozed. I wouldn’t spend money on it,” Lastichen said during the meeting.

M.R. Reiter’s future is still up in the air.

In May, Hellmann unveiled a tentative plan to save money by combining the schools somehow, but no clear action has been taken in that direction yet.

A temporary fix for providing heat in the winter may be to bring modular heaters into Reiter and the other schools, said board member John Buckman.

The district will hold a community action plan meeting at 7 p.m. July 22, in the LGI room of the high school to discuss the boilers and other issues. Residents are encouraged to participate.