From the BCCT and the Inquirer.
Boiler fumes close Reiter
Students were sent home early Thursday. The school should reopen Monday after the boiler is repaired and tested over the weekend.
By MANASEE WAGH
Kids went home from school early Thursday because of oily fumes and will not return until Monday.
A faulty fuel pump in an M.R. Reiter Elementary School boiler caused the odor of oil to permeate the building.
When the odor first started spreading Wednesday afternoon, after-school activities ended and children and staff went home. Tim Lastichen, the district’s director of facilities, had expected the boiler to be working properly when school opened Thursday.
However, after a recurrence of the odor Thursday morning, an inspection revealed the faulty pump, said Elizabeth Yonson, the Morrisville district superintendent.
“It’s not dangerous, but it doesn’t smell good. Especially for people with asthma and allergies who could have problems,” said Yonson. Nobody was taken ill by the fumes, she added.
The borough inspector toured the building and the county health department came in because a parent called, said Yonson.
School personnel opened windows and doors to dissipate the smell. The district has ordered a new pump for about $200 to $300 that it expects to install today and test before the weekend is over, Lastichen said.
The boilers in the district are at least 50 to 60 years old and have exhibited problems before, he said. “The Band-Aids are getting bigger,” he added.
Yonson said school should resume as usual on Monday.
Johanny Manning, a parent of a kindergarten student and a former school board member, is unhappy that her child is missing one and a half days of school.
“We knew it was going to happen,” she said. “We knew the boilers were way past life expectancy. Now what’s going to happen?”
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Posted on Fri, Dec. 12, 2008
Bucks elementary school closes due to oil fumes
The M.R. Reiter Elementary School in Morrisville school closed early yesterday after a faulty pump on a boiler sent oil fumes spewing into the building.
Morrisville Borough schools superintendent Elizabeth Yonson said classes ended at 10:30 a.m. for the 250 pupils and 28 teachers and aides at Reiter, located at Harper and Hillcrest Avenues. Yonson said students' parents were notified of the closing by phone and all the pre-kindergarten through second graders were picked up by noon.
There were no injuries, she said. School will be closed today while the defective part is replaced.
Officials from the Bucks County Health Department, a local fire marshal and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency monitored the situation, Yonson said. No citations were issued, she said. The school is expected to reopen Monday, after officials check the air quality, Yonson said.
- Bonnie L. Cook
Friday, December 12, 2008
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4 comments:
It's a shame that a lot of this could have been avoided. And I'm not even arguing about having a new school. Previous board members had this information for years regarding the condition of the boilers. New board members had the information as soon as they took office. If they truly wanted to do something, they could have had all of the plans and units installed before THIS winter if they listened to Tim Lastichen when he spoke to them and warned them if they didn't act soon, they would have to wait another year and go through another winter with questionable equipment.
I'm sure that if someone took the time to look at past minutes, you may find Mr. Lastichen's comments.
And to think, Mr. Hellmann didn't even want to consider Reiter in his initial proposal in having Vitetta look at the schools. It wasn't until parents questioned why not when the board finally took it under consideration.
Parents need to get involved because now we are not talking just about the education of your children but the safety of them as well that is in jeopardy with this current school board.
This is not a new issue. I remember when both of my children were at Reiter some ten years ago that there was a similar situation with a boiler problem spewing fumes into the classrooms.
I mentioned this issue at a public board meeting recently and Mrs Mihok took me to task for being a bad parent and a bad community member because I was not attending school board meetings back then and directly informer her and her fellow board members of issues.
I pretty much figured that if the students were being given a holiday due to major facility problems that the board would know.
I do wonder what complaints teachers and staff have been making over the years about the air quality at Reiter.
Here's a quote from the 2005 study at http://www.mv.org/files/19655/School%20District%20Building%20Reports%20.pdf:
1.0 M.R. Reiter Elementary
Executive Summary
1.1 Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Systems and Equipment
Air Handling Units
1.1.1 General:
• Two, oil-fired air handling units, located in the first floor mechanical room, distribute air
throughout the building. Refer to Photograph A1 in Appendix “A”.
• Supply air to the occupied spaces is distributed through a combination of underground
trenches and galvanized steel ductwork located above the ceilings.
• Combustion air for oil-fired HVAC equipment and fresh air for ventilation are obtained
through exterior wall louvers. Refer to Photograph A2 in Appendix “A”.
Age/Condition:
• The air handling units and ductwork are over forty years old, are unreliable, have far
exceeded their useful service lives, and are, in part, unsafe for continued use.
Code Issues:
• Not applicable.
Suitability for General Reuse:
• The air handling units and ductwork systems are not acceptable for reuse, or continued
use, and must be removed.
Thank you, Kevin for posting that information. For myself, this situation is one among many issues that were significant in my decision to vote in favor of the new school building. The current issue with the boiler may be something that can be repaired, but fumes have been an issue on and off over the years, despite maintenance that has helped to limp the system along. Though it seems it has become much worse this year, it is not new. It is only a matter of time before the system completely fails, if it hasn't already. And now we are in the middle of a school year, without a serious plan for the space that houses our children for a good portion of their day.
No doubt the current board majority will try to spin this as an excuse to hurry their yet to be publicly discussed scheme to save money by stuffing everyone into the high school, with reduced staff. (Weren't these the same people who were seemingly aghast at our plan to put the students on one campus, in separated, age appropriate facilities?) We may be caught between a rock and a hard place - an environment that is unsafe because of air quality, or accepting a hasty, unstudied alternative that crams our children into an overcrowded space not designed for elementary school education, that may have its own code issues.(Fire egress and airflow- see also the 2005 study) Could this be why the board opted out of state reimbursement for following the Plan Con process, to avoid having to comply with standards?
I could be criticized as one who did not do enough to fix the situation at M.R. Reiter. Certainly there are things I would do differently had I known we would still be living with that building. The solution, though, was not that simple, as Kevin's post reveals.Those of us who voted for the plan did so after not one, but several feasibility studies pointed to what we judged to be the best educational and economic alternative in the long run for the children and the community. I took a great deal of heat for that decision, including threats, heckling and false accusations. It was and always is difficult to take any action involving tax increases,but now what is our alternative? Tell me you didn't like what I did, but don't tell me I did nothing.
I've been quiet for a while, beaten down and really loathe to ever involve myself in Morrisville politics again. But I can't stay quiet any longer, there is too much at stake and every voice that can be heard on behalf of our children should be shouting, now.
Parents, we have to circle the wagons around our children and the capable and nurturing staff who take care of them every day. The alternatives we are faced with are not acceptable, and outrage is entirely appropriate. We may not all agree on the solution, but we can agree that what's being dangled by the board does not qualify as acceptable for the children or for the health of the community as a whole. Is anybody else, so to speak, fuming?
Look at the bright side. The school board purchased that boiler oil earlier this year at a near all-time high cost of $4.33/gallon, even though it could now be had for about 50% less. If the lost school days from the failed boiler are made up in the summer, the boiler won't need to be running then. The school board is actually saving us money, you see!
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