While students and teachers are out of classrooms for the summer, a third of the Falls High School rooms are being updated to meet air-quality regulations.
The project has seen about one-third of the building’s rooms renovated with new heating and ventilation systems, ceilings, lighting, and room freshening, explained Jeff Veeder, Falls School District maintenance/transportation director.
“This should be a benefit to every occupant in the building,” he said.
The new ventilation system will comply with state and federal codes requiring the number of air exchanges needed per occupancy in the building, he said.
“We’ve known for quite some time we’re deficient,” Veeder said, but finding the funding for the project had been a factor in the project’s delay. “We’ve finally put it together.”
The total cost of the project was estimated at inception to be $2.6 million. Veeder said this first phase to be completed this summer will cost around $1 million.
Last August, the district’s school board approved $2 million in 15-year general obligation alternative facilities bonds. The remaining $600,000 will be funded from general fund sources. Funds for the repayment of bonds will be levied beginning with the payable 2011 levies.
Veeder called the upgrade “once in a lifetime,” and said the building has not seen such a project in its 50 years.
This year’s phase will focus on a portion of the Falls High School classrooms. Veeder said next year, West End Elementary classrooms will be included. The remaining rooms will be completed in 2013 as the project comes to a close. He said this is similar to a project completed recently at Falls Elementary School.
