EASTHAMPTON — When temperatures dropped below zero on Friday, Jan. 5, White Brook Middle School had to cancel classes due to a malfunctioning heating system.
While the heat was up and running by the following Monday, Superintendent Nancy Follansbee said the school’s faulty heating and cooling system has been a continuing problem.
In a previous interview with the Gazette, maintenance director Eric LeBeau said the school’s roughly 40-year-old HVAC system is past its life expectancy. About $10,000 is spent each year on service calls for general repairs to the system, he said.
It’s just one of many problems that call for a new school, Follansbee says. School officials have said the middle school, which was built in the 1970s, is in worse shape than the city’s three century-old elementary schools.
On Tuesday, a public forum to discuss the construction of a new building to consolidate all four schools is set for 6:30 p.m. in the second floor meeting area of the Municipal Building, 50 Payson Ave. Follansbee said that the latest design for the new building and updated cost estimates will be presented.
The new school is to be constructed on the lot where White Brook now stands. Design options under consideration had included a footprint for the new building that would cover part of the football field and another option that would have overlapped the existing school’s footprint.
In December, the School Building Committee voted on the design that would overlap the two-year-old football field, the more economical option, Follansbee said. A new football field will be built, she said.
If a design is approved, the Massachusetts School Building Authority would cover roughly half the cost.
The design is expected to be reviewed by estimators this month and would be submitted to the MSBA in February, the district’s director of business services Dayle Doiron, said.
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com