The Carbon County School District weekly update sat down with Superintendent Lance Hatch to talk about how the bond will benefit the needs at Helper Middle School.
“We want to let the public know what an honor it is to work with these amazing young people that the community chooses to entrust their education to us. They send them to our schools and we enjoy so much working with them and they are outstanding kids and we’re seeing some amazing things from them. We take that responsibility very seriously and for that reason we feel its very important that we make sure that our facilities are safe,” explained Superintendent Hatch. The school district bond is looking for a total of $36 million with $10 million going towards the structural upgrades, mechanical electrical plumbing improvements, ADA, Parking and space for buses and development of student common areas at Helper Middle School.
The school was built in 1936 and since that time the standards for school buildings have been developed which means improvements need to be made. Although the school is vertically and structurally solid, Hatch explains some concerns, “Where we start to get concerned is the possibility of lateral movement, systemic activity. We had a study done by some engineers that determined that the structure, should there be a significant systemic activity, it would not fair well. So, we weren’t sure what to do about that but in a study that we had done by an engineering firm they determined that for $5 million that we would be able to fix that problem.” This would entail adequately connecting the walls to the floors throughout the whole building, it would be a challenge but for that type of investment, it could make the building last for another 20 plus years.
“There are other issues with an old building when you have a boiler system where it pipes steam throughout the building and those pipes have been there since 1936, they don’t’ hold steam so well. So, our efficiency is very poor out there so we would like to replace that boiler system with rooftop units that are more efficient and make the classrooms more comfortable for everybody,” said Superintendent Hatch. Implementing a new updated heating and cooling system would bring the school closer to today’s standards and it would also be cost-effective and environmentally friendly.
Other enhancements would be to make the school more ADA accessible. “One of the concerns we have in an older building is access for people with disabilities and this bond will allow us to change the entry way and do some things that will provide us with better access for people with disabilities,” said Superintendent Hatch. Another important upgrade would allow for more parking for faculty/staff and guests, as well as for buses who drop off and pick up students each day. Officials would also like to open up some more spaces for student common areas which they lack in the older building.
It has been almost 20 years since Carbon County has been approached for a bond election from the school district. This year the voting process will take place via U.S. Postal Service. The ballots will go out on October 15 and hit mailboxes October 16-17 with the election on November 15. Voters interested in supporting the Carbon High and Helper Middle School projects will vote “FOR” the bond and follow ballot instructions to submit their vote through the mail.
To learn more about the Carbon School District Bond Election visit their website at https://sites.google.com/view/carbonschooldistrictbond2019/home