Schools
$2.56M Aid Sought for $9M in Heating Upgrades at Bernards Schools
Board approves application before Sept. 4 deadline.
Working fast to meet a Sept. 4 deadline, the Bernards Board of Education this week approved an application for almost $2.56-million in state aid toward a list of heating and cooling ventilation systems in the school district's older school buildings that totals just over $9 million.
School Board business administrator Rod McLaughlin presented the school board at a special meeting with a list of 10 separate projects at five schools. McLaughlin said the board can decide at a later date whether or not to carry through on the projects, even if the state decides to approve aid toward some of them.
The largest amount of state aid, $2,157,480, is being sought for a total $5,393,700 project for the replacement of univentilators — which bring in and heat air through the boiler system — that McLaughlin said an energy audit of district schools identified as being 35 to 39 years beyond their useful lives.
If the school district went through with that project, the district's share for the univentilator replacements at Ridge High School, William Annin Middle School, and the Oak Street, Cedar Hill and Liberty Corner schools would remain at $3,236,200, according to figures presented to the board.
"Each of these projects is a separate grant," and can be considered on a separate basis, McLaughlin stressed.
The state aid package, which is prioritized with health and safety as the top tier, likely would bring a lesser percentage in for HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning units) in the same five schools.
Since some of the classrooms at the middle school are used for special needs students, that project likely could be classified as a health and safety need, McLaughlin said.
The requested 40 percent aid for that project would total about $400,000, McLaughlin said. That would leave the school district with a cost of $3,271,281 for all HVAC units if all of them were replaced in five schools, he told the board.
School officials said the aid program was announced near the end of the last school year, and many districts might not have the time or also funds to back the applications in time to meet the deadline.
"This is nothing more than an application to the state in order to get in line to see if they would award us a grant," McLaughlin said.
Even if the board receives grant money and decides to go through with all or part of the improvements, McLaughlin said the work likely would take three years to complete.
Board members approved the application, although Board Member Priti Shah said she has concerned that that the state has reneged on promised aid in the past.
Following the discussion, resident Douglas Wicks questioned whether another application to put a new roof on the Oak Street School is necessary, including the underlying deck of the roof structure.
Wicks said the school district spent about $100,000 to patch the Oak Street roof in 2011, and a new roof would cost about $1 million.
Schools Superintendent Nick Markarian said he couldn't verify those figures, but that the district hadn't heard back yet on the completely separate application to the state for grant money on the roof project. He said the school district also is seeking 40 percent in state aid on that project.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.