PAS laying out schedule for using sinking fund dollars

by Justin Renigar

Last May voters passed a sinking fund to provide money for fixing the school’s facilities. The top three things that are going to be done first are the heating, the windows, and the bathrooms. “Precious dollars are being thrown out the window,” said superintendent Mr. Shaw, referencing the need to do the windows and heating first.

The old windows and boards have cracks in between them so the heat escapes out the window during the winter, costing PHS a fortune to keep the school heated. What they are going to do is put a 3-way control valve on to the boiler. The valve will make sure that when more water needs to be added to the boiler to make the heat, it does it automatically. When it needs to cool down, it will bypass the water out of the boiler by itself without any manual labor. This also allows the heat to be distributed evenly throughout the school, so each classroom is the same temperature. To fix the heating alone will cost about $160,000 and will be done some time next summer.

They aren’t sure on the price of the windows yet but they know that it will be done during the summer of 2011. The bathrooms will cost an estimated $200,000 and won’t be done until after the summer of 2011. The bathrooms are being held off for so long because the sinking fund only generates $94,000 a year. Seeing as how it is the most expensive project, we are going to have to save up to get that done. Future projects are just simple general maintenance like cracks in the walls and ceilings. Just like any other type of building, you have to touch things up over time and keep it clean, and that’s what passing the sinking fund will allow PAS to do.