Air Conditioning Still a Possibility at Vinson-Owen

After voting last fall to have at the new , the School Committee is revisiting the possibility of expanding the areas of the building that will have AC.

At the time, it was decided that the new Vinson-Owen school will have air-conditioning in all the core areas – nurses office, main office, guidance and the administrative offices – as well as the media center (library, computer lab), the maintenance room and up to four classrooms.

But at Tuesday night’s School Committee meeting, members were given cost estimates as to the expense of increasing the areas that would be air-conditioned. At its August 16 meeting, the School Committee will decide if they want to expand air-conditioning at the school to either include more rooms (like the cafeteria) or potentially the whole school.

The town’s designer gave the following ballpark estimates of cost:

• Initial up-front cost for partial AC (the areas already approved by the School Committee): $80,000, and will cost the town $1,700 a year to run.
• To include the cafeteria, up-front cost, an additional $38,400, and it will cost another $480 a year to run.
• Initial cost for entire building, an additional $407,000, and will cost the town $11,250 a year to run.

“I wish we had these numbers sooner,” said School Committee Chair, Chris Linskey. “I prefer to make decisions with data, and at the time there were arguments made that revolved around passion and opinion.”

According to School Committee member, Chris Nixon, the number is low enough that the committee should at least consider including the cafeteria as one of the air-conditioned areas.

“The cost [to include the cafeteria] is a small slice of the overall cost,” Nixon said. “I see a figure as low as this and I think it’s a slam dunk. I support it.”

However, because Town Meeting approved the amount and the bids have already been placed, if the School Committee revisits the issue at its next meeting and approves more air-conditioning, it can only be included as a second add-alternate. The to potentially add three more classrooms.

“At the time, we voted to air condition four additional classrooms because we felt that was more usable,” member Sarah Swiger said. “I don’t see any reason to change it.”

According to Superintendent William McAlduff, since more air conditioning is outside the original project scope, the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) might not reimburse the town. McAlduff also suggested that the committee look into installing the infrastructure to have the ability to add air-conditioning at a later date.

“This decision has bothered me since the day we made it,” said School Committee member, Michael Shindelman. “School days are getting longer and the state is pushing districts to start school in the middle of August now. This building needs to last the next 50 years and that’s something we need to consider.”

Shindelman said that the committee would not ask for any additional funds to install air-conditioning. It would only go forward if the committee approves adding it as an alternate and if there are funds left over from the project.