The Tyrone Area School Board of Directors spent over a half hour discussing heating, ventalation and air conditioning at last night’s work session.
Dwight Knouse, an architect at Hayes, Large and Associates talked to the board about a change that is needed in the heating, ventalation and air conditioning units in the Tyrone School District administration offices.
Knouse took the board through the original design of the Tyone Elementary School and mentioned the planning and design of the building came during an increase of construction costs. It could have brought the school over budget.
There have been problems with the heating and air conditioning unit in the administrative offices since the building opened in 1999.
“The system that serves this administrative area, what was designed was a single zone air handling system,” said Knouse. “It means that there was one air handler and it had to handle all the individual offices and spaces. It was controlled by three thermostats. What the system did, it took the readings from the three thermostats and and it picked the worst case senario out of the three and that was the air that it delivered. That did not meet the peoples expectations that were working there.”
The school district went out and found a enhancement system that cost the district $25,000. The enhancement system didn’t work to the expectations of the district.
“The problem is from one end of the administrative offices there is between six and eight degrees of tempature variation,” said Tom Muir, supervisor of buildings and grounds. “The receptionist could be cold and in an interior office it can be hot. We tried an enhancement system that balanced the system somewhat, but it still didn’t solve the problem. We have worked with Hayes, Large to design a system that will work long term and solve the problem. We looked at a different system, but we aren’t assured that it will solve the problem. The new system will have reheat coils with hot water piping. It is a definate upgrade to the system we have now.”
The board is scheduled to take action at next week’s meeting.
At next week’s meeting of the board, the election of two full-time substitute english teachers and the election of the Drama Director will be on the agenda.
Board member Brian Bressler asked that a job description for the Drama Director position be provided to the board.
This will be the third Drama Director of the 2002-03 school year.
The School District will vote on approving to submit an application to the Pennsylvania Department of Enviornmental Protection to solicit a grant through the state-sponsored Growing Greener Program. This would be a joint venture between the school district and Tyrone borough to fix the erosion at Schell Run.
The board also will vote on whether or not to approve the Tyrone Area YMCA the ability to operate its Pre-School/Day Care programs in the Tyrone Elementary School at no charge for the remainder of the 2002-03 school year.
“We really want to expand our capabilities and beleive partnering with the school district would be a perfect match with everyone involved,” said Amy Hampton, executive director of the Tyrone YMCA. “It will give our kids a modern and renovated environment to learn in and the kids are already there meaning less transportation. And most importantly, this partnering could make financial assistance available for parents of students who may not be able to afford child or day care.
“It’s just a great match.”
Assistant Superintendent Joann Lang made a presentation to the board concerning the “No Child Left Behind” iniative and what the school district is facing over the next few years. That story will appear in tomorrow’s Daily Herald.
The Tyrone Area School District Board of Directors will meet Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in the Elementary School Board Room.
Editor’s Note: Daily Herald Staff Writer, G. Kerry Webster contributed to this story.
