School Board Reviews Facilities Audit

A preliminary report from engineering firm H. L. Turner of Concord showed upgrades and improvements are needed to bring Salem High School and Woodbury Middle School up to modern standards.

The Salem School Board discussed the report at their planning meeting Tuesday night, hearing from Paul Becht and Bill Hickey of H. L. Turner on their audit of the facilities, which has taken place since they were awarded

Becht said the schools are "well-maintained," but both represent older buildings as Woodbury was first built in 1923 and SHS was built in 1964.

Many of the finishes in the schools are old and outdated and mechanical systems are beyond their useful life in many instances, Becht said.

At Woodbury School, Becht said there are issues with cooking stoves in the building that are without hoods as required by code. There are also numerous pipes in the building without insulation and are exposed, hand rails that are not up to code on staircases, as well as propane tank buried in the ground that could be removed.

Hot water piping mains have reached near the end of their useful life at Woodbury as well, Becht said, in addition to hot water heaters. Plumbing in the older portion of the school is "shot," as Becht said. Extension chords and power strips are overused in some portions of the school and he recommended more power outlets. These changes would cost a total $1.36 million, he said.

"A lot of these issues are really common in older schools," Hickey said. "It's just about updating with the times...If you have a plan in place and work to achieve that plan, that's the best you can do."

At the high school there were also hand rails out of code, glass windows close to flooring and also a need to look at proper exiting from areas in the school, namely the gymnasium.

Emergency lighting back-up systems should be replaced and Becht noted neither school has an emergency back-up generator. He estimated it would cost over $200,000 to address the immediate issues.

Becht mentioned new boilers need to replace old ones that were recently removed from the high school and also recommended heating equipment that is "pretty well gone" throughout the school be replaced. He also said the school could look into a "displacement air system" similar to those in more contemporary facilities.

Locker rooms in the high school are in "deplorable condition," Becht said, saying they need $100,000 worth of upgrades.

Accessibility issues also persist at SHS, with Becht saying it's not easy for someone in a wheelchair to get around, or even in, the school.

"I hope you never have a student who has to use the portable classrooms in a wheelchair," Becht said. "That would be very difficult...Once you're in the portables there's only one way out."

Immediate needs at SHS would cost $3.2 million according to H. L. Turner's preliminary study.

School facilities director Jack Messenheimer said many of the items discussed Tuesday are on the school's capital improvement plan.

Becht and Hickey said in the final report they will assess whether the recommended changes would make sense in the context of possible bigger renovations at the two schools down the road.

An audit of the SAU 57 building was also part of H. L. Turner's work, but Becht said none of the building's issues are "critical."