PRESCOTT – The Prescott School District is seeking community members to be on a Facility Advisory Committee as it prepares to head to referendum in February for maintenance and repair costs to …
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PRESCOTT – The Prescott School District is seeking community members to be on a Facility Advisory Committee as it prepares to head to referendum in February for maintenance and repair costs to district buildings.
The FAC will represent the Prescott community to evaluate facility maintenance needs presented by the project management team (Market & Johnson and SDS Architects), and PSD’s Facility & Grounds Supervisor Mike Hoikka.
“We must take care of the facilities we have,” Superintendent Dr. Rick Spicuzza said.
The FAC will be tasked with providing up to three viable options for the school board to consider in order to reach a resolution by Dec. 1. The referendum vote will be held Feb. 15, 2022.
Spicuzza said Hoikka and his team keep the facilities clean and in good repair; however, bills and maintenance always come due, whether it’s a school building or a home.
Prescott Middle School’s foundation in the original from 1929. The unit ventilators in the classrooms there are beyond life expectancy. There is no central air or air filtration, which with COVID concerns, is problematic. The building capacity is 300 students, but the student population there is between 320 and 350. Tuckpointing and roof repair are needs there as well.
Malone Elementary was built in 1963; it lacks an air handler system that works properly. The while building does not have a dehumidification system. Spicuzza said trying to air condition three-quarters of the building, but leaving the gym/cafeteria untouched makes for hot meal times and gym classes.
Three Malone Elementary students are in wheelchairs, and by law, the district must be ADA compliant, Spicuzza said. The bathrooms are anything but.
The rooftop HVAC systems, electrical panels, plumbing and ADA compliance measures are not up to code in the middle, intermediate or elementary schools. Malone Intermediate’s roof needs replacing because it’s leaking. In 2019, the estimated cost for that was $1.5 million.
Tuckpointing is a major concern at the elementary buildings as well. Tuckpointing is a process used to finish or repair mortar joints between bricks or stones with a narrow ridge of lime putty or fine lime mortar. It not only provides a facelift to buildings’ exteriors, but it helps maintain and strengthen the integrity of a structure by helping to seal out moisture.
“We did a lot of tuckpointing on the middle school building a year ago,” Spicuzza said. “If your envelope of your building, if it’s not caulked well, if the windows leak, the doors leak, you have water infiltration which leads to some of the challenges that we’ve experienced in Prescott with regards to mold and having to redo and shutter our middle school facility for a couple years as we rebuilt that to be functional again.”
In the school board’s 10-year plan, it put money in Fund 46, which is a saving account of sorts for capital improvement projects to keep buildings safe, viable learning environments, Spicuzza said.
An external audit of facility needs has been conducted by SDS and a project manager hired. The next step is to ask the community to participate in the FAC, whether it’s parents or taxpayers who continue to invest in future leaders, he said.
The FAC would meet four to five times for 50-60 minutes before presenting to the school board at the Sept. 15 annual meeting and the October budget meeting. The kick-off FAC meeting was held Aug. 10. Upcoming meetings will be held:
•5-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 8 at Malone Elementary IMC
•6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 15 at Performing Arts Center (annual meeting)
•5-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 13 at Prescott Middle School IMC
•7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20 at PAC (board meeting)
•5-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 10, location to be determined
•5-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17 at PAC School board members Pat Block and Vicki Rudolph will be on the FAC. School Board President Mike Matzek said a wide demographic from the community is needed.
“A diverse committee will come up with the best options,” Matzek said. “It’s a big ask.”
If interested in serving on the committee, contact Spicuzza at 715-262-5782 or [email protected]
Photo courtesy of Prescott School District