The Haddonfield Board of Education has been in the process of reviewing the school district’s facilities in regard to electrical and mechanical needs. At the board meeting on Thursday, June 25, Steven A. Becica of Becica Associates LLC, the school architect, gave an update of where they are in the process.
“The past few months, the Long Range Planning Committee has been meeting with our architect Steve Becica and our engineers in regard to a very scrutinizing and detailed review of our facilities in terms of mechanical systems, electrical systems, envelop needs, foundations, brick and roofing. They’ve been going through very meticulously, building by building, and I asked Steve to be here this evening to give us an update on where we are in the process,” Superintendent Richard Perry said.
Earlier in June, the architects and engineers of Becica Associates began their investigations of the building envelops, mainly exterior walls, roofs, windows and doors. They started at Tatem Elementary School, where in February during their preliminary condition assessment, they found some conditions that warranted further investigation.
As they began to work there, it was discovered there were structural concerns that needed to be addressed immediately, and repairs were started to the 1923 section main entryway and the 1952 section back wall.
According to Becica, within the first few hours, they discovered issues with the masonry on the façade that were of imminent concern and presented some unsafe conditions. They immediately began to remove loose portions of the façade, mainly some stone elements that were very loose and could potentially fall. Within a week of that, fall protection-type scaffolding, or sidewalk protection, was put up to protect pedestrians walking in and out of the building.
Also, the back wall was another concern, with the façade starting to peel off the building. The brick veneer was coming loose from the back masonry, and they felt that was serious enough to warrant protection to be put up immediately so they could start to investigate how to best repair that wall.
“That is really an emergency situation that needs to take action immediately, so our engineers have been going back and forth, looking at the best way to repair those walls,” Becica said.
All of this was done with the county’s approval, according to John C. Oberg, board secretary and business administrator.
Simultaneously, the architects and engineers were doing the investigations at the other schools. They also looked at other elements of the buildings along with the HVAC systems, the boilers and the electrical systems.
According to Becica, electrically the buildings are within the limits of peak demand load. However, the distribution systems are maxed out for most of the schools, meaning they can’t plug in another device or there is the possibility of tripping a breaker. An upgrade may be required, he said.
The boilers are in good condition and don’t need to be replaced, but they are looking into improving efficiency by upgrading the controls. Right now, the boilers function with an on and off switch, meaning the burners run at full blast. With the new switch, they would be able to control the output of the burners.
As for the HVAC systems, there are some issues preventing the architects from installing new units. The issue with condensing units is finding places for them within the buildings, and the issue with individual units is lack of central controls, along with the electrical capacity issue. According to Becica, the engineers are looking into possibilities.
As of the June 25 meeting, Becica said it has been 18 days that they’ve been doing their detailed investigation, and they should be finished within the week. After they have had time to analyze their findings, in about a month they will have a detailed report to give to the board with a recommendation on how to proceed with repairs and upgrades.
“We are not sitting back. This meeting is to give you an update on where we are going and how we are proceeding. Becica will be preparing a full report to give to the board, and the Long Range Planning Committee will have to sit down and discuss how we are going to pursue it,” Oberg said.
In other news:
• An update was given on the Open Campus Concept, saying it was a success with little to no problems, except for a few students late to class.
• The board authorized filling out the No Child Left Behind application. According to Assistant Superintendent Mike Wilson, the district will receive Title 1, Title 2a and Title 3 funds. In the past, it received Title 2a money of $42,000, which hasn’t changed. However this year it received Title 1 due to a change in calculating eligibility, receiving $154,000. Title 1 is used for targeted assistance, meaning identifying those who need extra support and providing that for them. For Title 3, funds are used for ELL students, non-English speakers, and this year the schools received $790 due to more ELL students. All funding can only be used for those services.
• The next BOE meeting and board retreat is scheduled for July 30 at 5 p.m. at the Central/Middle School Library.
