By Kayla Barnes
The school year has officially begun at the Argyle School District and the temperature the first weeks was warm, which made the school building warm as well since there is no central air conditioning. This sentiment was brought to the attention of several board members by community members and it was discussed at the board meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 9.
Maintenance Director Keith Peterson came to the board with the number that was given to them when the district went to referendum, which is $650,000, but that is from 10 years ago. The district hasn’t had anyone come in and get a quote for what it would cost right now, especially since they built the auxiliary gym. The cost of construction has pretty much doubled, almost tripled, since that quote was given.
The district has done somethings to help with air circulation. The biggest problem with air conditioning is the elementary portion of the building. There is no roof top unit or an air handler that serve that area. There are mini units in each room and there are no vents in the hallway. If they were to get air conditioning in the high school area it would all bleed into the elementary wing. The district would either have to put up doors in the elementary wing or have to air condition the entire building. Both gymnasiums can be air conditioned since they do have doors but once they move into the cafetorium, high school, commons, ag room and hallway, it all shares the same space. If the district would put a roof top unit at the elementary and air handler, it could make the air conditioning there much simpler.
This also leads into the question of how many more years does the elementary school have?
The building was built in 1965.
Peterson said there wasn’t one area of the building that was warmer than the other as each part of the building gets the sun from different angles throughout the day so it tends to get warm everywhere during the first and last two weeks of school. He is not opposed to putting it in as it would make life easier in the summer months but the cost to put it in, the cost to run it and the cost of the maintenance are things to consider.
Board president Heath Isley stated this is a topic that gets brought up the beginning of each school year. He said the temperature is different every year but it is worth a discussion.
Board member Jon Stoeger added that at some point the district is going to have to talk about the heating
system in the district. The system is currently obsolete and if it any part were to break, the district wouldn’t be able to find a replacement part.
Other business The board approved: – increase in milk from 40 cents to 45 cents.
– changes to policies and rescinded policies, all due to verbiage changes.
– donations: 2 boxes of school supplies from Eastern Star for Student in Need and staff use; breakfast donuts & rolls from Argyle Booster Club from Teacher Back to School In-service; and lunch from Kayla Nikula for Teacher Back to School In-Service.