Southington BoE Votes To Quiet JFK School's Building

SOUTHINGTON, CT — After weeks of mulling more expensive options to quiet John F. Kennedy Middle School's air cooling "chiller," school officials have decided on a less-expensive one.

The Southington Board of Education voted unanimously last month to hire the chiller's manufacturer, Trane, to install what is called a "hush cover acoustic blanket" on the device at JFK.

School board member James Chrzanowski, who heads the board's finance committee, said the price tag for this is $39,843.

Earlier this year, an abutter of JFK — which is located at 1071 S. Main St, Plantsville — complained to the school board about the chillers noise ruining the quality of life for neighbors.

School officials looked into it and some threw around terms like "whining," "annoying" and "obnoxious" when describing the noise it would make.

While Trane pitched the same service for the town's other middle school, Joseph A. DePaolo Middle School, the board's finance committee opted to service just JFK.

"We received a proposal from Trane and they actually proposed two services here for both middle schools," Chrzanowski told the school board Nov. 10.

He said this measure should reduce the noise from the chiller by 5-7 decibels and, hopefully, accommodate property abutters.

There are additional measures and devises to further quiet the chillers, Chrzanowski said, but those would cost an extra $61,874.

In prior discussions, school officials had mulled the full quiet option for both schools, which would have cost a total of $203,434.

Ultimately, the school board is hoping this measure will solve the problem at JFK, with the board not receiving any complaints from neighbors of DePaulo, which is located at 385 Pleasant St.

The money would come from unused, non-lapsing funds from the 2021 fiscal year education budget, Chrzanowski said.

For the minutes of the Nov. 10 Southington Board of Education meeting, click on this link.

From Sept. 19: 'Southington School's Noisy AC Riles Up Some'

For more information on Trane's chillers, click on this link.