WHATELY — Union 38 central school offices will likely move into converted classroom space at Frontier Regional School.
Following months of looking for a new building to house administration staff, after tests found poor air quality in the current administration building on Christian Lane, the school district has decided to use existing school space.
A report on air quality in the building found the health of employees’ has been adversely impacted. The report recommended the school district remedy the situation as soon as possible — by either moving employees or upgrading ventilation systems to ensure clean air quality.
In a statement, Superintendent Lynn M. Carey said a sub-committee formed to investigate potential locations agreed earlier this month to move the school offices from Christian Lane to other district-owned locations.
“A vote was made to pursue the Frontier Regional School as the most appropriate relocation of the central office,” the statement said, noting that the space the offices will move into is “surplus to the educational needs” of the school district.
Before deciding, the sub-committee also looked into what it would cost to repair the current building, and considered renting space in the Whately Town Office building on Sandy Lane at more than $20,000 per year — a location that is also being considered as the future home of South County EMS.
When the news first broke earlier this year, members of the sub-committee estimated it would cost the school at least $50,000 just to patch up the current building, a former elementary school. Repair costs would be in addition to the roughly $24,000 it takes to annually maintain the building.
In the end, Carey said, the school sub-committee decided based on costs and a need for more space than the town of Whately could offer.
“The space at Frontier Regional School was 4,500 square feet as opposed to 2,600 square feet at Sandy Lane,” she wrote, adding that costs to modify existing structures owned by the school is the most financially responsible path to take.
“The best use of district funds includes using the space that the taxpayers own and currently maintain,” the statement concluded.
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