New committee makes plans for building updates

SANDPOINT — Since its approval from the Lake Pend Oreille School Board, the new Long Range Facility Planning Committee has met three times.

The committee was created to develop a comprehensive plan for district buildings, which add up to 538,258 square feet of building space, that sit on over 150 acres of LPOSD property. 

"You may remember that facilities — improving school safety and addressing deficient building conditions — was identified as the number one community priority in last year's survey,” Superintendent Dr. Becky Meyer said at the November board meeting.

Inspired by those statistics, the district established the committee to review its buildings and their condition. The committee has been discussing funding options for capital projects and facility conditions at recent meetings.

“This committee is made up of community members from each region of the district, who meet to better understand the current state of our facilities and seek to prioritize solutions to some of the challenges of our aging school infrastructure," Meyer said. 

The committee’s first meeting was held at the district office Oct. 3. During this time, Meyer, chief finance officer Brian Wallace, and facilities director Matt Diel presented commitment expectations for potential members of the committee. Membership of the committee involves an 18-month commitment to monthly meetings. 

Moving forward, the committee will meet at a different school building each month, starting with the buildings with the lowest BCEF, or building condition evaluation form, scores. On-site meetings allow members of the committee to engage with the space they are discussing as they consider its future. 

The committee members carry the “building conditional evaluation” along with them during their tour of the building where the meeting is held so that they can see why the school received particular ratings on various components, LPOSD officials said.  Components include exterior building condition, interior building conditions, mechanical systems, and safety/building codes.

The second meeting was held Nov. 1 at Northside Elementary and included a tour of the school. Here, committee members participated in their first tour. A chairman, Dave Demers, and vice chairman, Chuck Lowman, were also elected at that time. 

The committee met again in late November at Sandpoint Middle School. This meeting’s agenda included a building tour, presentation guidelines and schedule, a BCEF evaluation, and discussions about funding sources, timeline and committee work. 

During the SMS tour, additional BCEF factors were touched on, including educational suitability, which Diel described as features like lighting, acoustics, and ventilation. These things are considered because they impact an educational environment, he said. Other factors included building capacity, parking lot conditions, sidewalk and playground conditions, and fixed equipment.  All of these factors were given a rating of "poor.”

On the SMS building evaluation, electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling were listed as "unsatisfactory" mechanical systems. Under HVAC it noted that "natural gas steam boiler and classroom steam unit ventilators are near end of life and should be replaced with a modern HVAC system." Plumbing was also rated "unsatisfactory" on the BCEF, as steam pipes are near end of life with older fixtures and original plumbing. The school also has no ventilation system and no air conditioning. Paired with single-pane windows, these factors lead to temperature control challenges.

Following flooding and a two-day closure of SMS caused by a broken three-inch water main, SMS principal Geoff Penrose told SMS families that the school experienced two steam pipe ruptures this week, causing a need to shut down the school’s heating system by 11 a.m. While that would give the building enough time to heat up for the day, he still recommended students bring a jacket to school. 

"Year after year, there are days where everyone in this building is uncomfortable [due to temperature regulation issues],” Penrose said during the tour. 

He described hot summer days in June and September without air conditioning, or cold days without heat.

Future meetings are slated for Dec. 19 at Washington Elementary and Jan. 16 at Sandpoint High School. The committee is expected to begin community communication following the next meeting.