After receiving the approval of state aid from the Department of Education, the Cherry Hill Board of Education moved forward with a series of capital improvements to nearly all buildings in the district.
The list of improvements, totaling $17.9 million, encompasses 40 projects. Work on the projects will commence next summer.
The Department of Education granted $7.16 million to help pay for the capital projects. The district will pay for the remainder, nearly $10.75 million.
Public Information Officer Barbara Wilson said that out of the $10.75 million the district is paying, much of it is already accounted for in the budget, and it should not have an effect on taxpayers.
New boilers, which will be installed in time for the 2014–15 school year, are the biggest project. Thirty-seven boilers will be installed across the district, along with new boiler rooms and temperature-control systems that will allow for better energy efficiency.
“This is something that has been on our need list for some time,” Wilson said. “They were projects that were a definite need to do and would’ve been completed with or without the state’s support.”
The boiler project ties in loosely to the district’s initiative to reduce its overall expenditures through energy conservation. The district has agreements with PSE&G to upgrade lighting controls throughout the district. Eighty percent of the improvements are being paid for by PSE&G.
Other projects are also slated to take place over the next year. A project to correct the stormwater infiltration issue at Cherry Hill High School East will take place. It is the costliest project at $3.6 million, with almost $1.5 million of that paid with state aid.
“There are leaks and a drainage issue,” Wilson said. “The wall in question needs to be entirely replaced.”
Another major project is the replacement of the roof at Bret Harte Elementary School. The cost of that project is a little less than $1.3 million.
“The projects we are looking at are not going to be visible changes, but they are necessary infrastructure improvements,” Wilson said.
A full list of the capital improvements was included in the agenda for the Dec. 17 meeting and can be found on the Cherry Hill Public Schools’ website at cherryhill.k12.nj.us.
In other news:
• The board approved and adopted several policy items on second reading. Included were revised policies on open enrollment for middle school for some Johnson Elementary School students, as well as language changes in the Rosa International Middle School open enrollment policy. The board emphasized that the open enrollment changes were minimal. The specifics on the changes are available at the school district’s website.
Other revised policies included equal opportunity, bullying and parental use of email in special services.
• The Board of Education will hold its reorganization meeting on Thursday, Jan. 2 at 7 p.m. in the Malberg Board Room.
