From the roof at Nome-Beltz to payroll processing at the district office, the school board talked upgrades at their work session last week.
The first fixes on the board’s agenda were those coming from a recent fire marshal’s inspection of Nome Public Schools. Dean Maschner is in charge of maintenance and janitorial services for the district. He said some of the required changes will be small — like adjustments to the fire alarm system and the magnetized doors at each exit.
“With the fire marshal report, there’s a lot of little things that are easily corrected. The overwhelming problem has to do with our generator,” he said. “A lot of the emergency lights have been neglected with the excuse that there’s an emergency generator that takes over right away. But we don’t have an emergency generator. We have a standby generator.”
That standby generator is from 1964. Maschner said it may be working now, but there’s no guarantee it could handle the electrical load needed in an emergency. Particular areas of concern include the tunnel between Nome-Beltz Jr/Sr High and Anvil City Science Academy as well as the gym at Nome-Beltz, which needs another fire exit in addition to upgraded emergency lighting.
Maschner said some of the changes will be handled by the district’s in-house maintenance crew in the coming months, while others will have to be contracted out. Total costs are estimated at $30,000.
While the district can cover those costs, superintendent Shawn Arnold says there’s not enough for a new roof at Nome-Beltz.
“The roof leaks have increased more and more and more,” said Arnold. “It’s to the point there are some ceiling tiles that are falling in. We have pipes that are growing mold from the constant leaks. The worst area is the gym. I think it was six trash cans — at last count — to catch the different drips.”
Arnold said the district hired engineers to inspect the chronically leaky roof, which was last renovated around 2003, and they recommended a complete replacement. The district is waiting on second opinions from other engineering firms, but the construction — if it moves forward — could cost $2 million.
That’s beyond the district’s budget, which has left the board looking for other funding.
Board president Betsy Brennan said the City of Nome managed the earlier renovations, and there may be recourse depending on the terms of that contract. Another option is to appeal to local legislators. Arnold said Rep. Neal Foster has been made aware of the problem and taken a tour of the school to see the conditions.
In the meantime, Arnold said second opinions will determine if the leaky roof is just an inconvenience or the sign of a greater structural problem.
“As far as the roof goes — structurally, is it sound?” asked Brennan. “Obviously, leaks are not good, but…”
Arnold said, “As other engineer firms come up to take a look, that’s something that we want to talk to them about, because [the first firm] had concerns.”
He said renovations to the roof would start next summer at the earliest.
And in upgrades beyond construction, the board discussed improving the district’s business operations.
Despite job postings at the regional, state, and national levels, Arnold said there hasn’t been one candidate qualified to replace outgoing business manager Paula Coffman — even after six months. To give the applicant pool time to recover, Arnold is suggesting the district partner with Alaska Education and Business Services, a company that takes on accounting, purchasing, and other business tasks for school districts around the state.
Arnold said the organization could save the district money and modernize the business department before they continue the search for Coffman’s replacement. The superintendent said he’ll officially bring the idea before the board at their next regular meeting — Tuesday, Oct. 13.
