Facility Concerns #1

The Burt County Plaindealer has been kind enough to offer space for a weekly column from Tekamah-Herman Schools.  The purpose of this column is to inform, update, and educate patrons of needs and happenings within our buildings.  With the recent bond election fresh in the communities’ collective mind, it makes sense to begin with the needs we have in our buildings.

While there is little evidence of a consensus as to what the community feels should be done for our district, there is an overwhelming feeling of agreement that “something” must be done for our students.  The Board of Education has been doing much work since the failure of the November bond to determine and prioritize the needs of the district, and develop a plan to meet those needs.  Currently, the Board has a rough draft list of priorities within our buildings, some of which I will share in this column.  To address those needs, the Board has been reviewing the facilities audit conducted by DLR, asking for independent professional opinions from various contractors, architects, and other professionals in the business, and touring several facilities in the area.  In addition to the Board, there is a group of citizens that is fact-finding from many school districts that have renovated, consolidated, and/or built new within their respective districts.  That information is then passed on to the Board for additional consideration.

There are many deficiencies in our district facilities that need to be addressed in the very near future.  Those needs will be focused on the Tekamah building(s) as, stated on several occasions previously by the Board, the Herman facility will eventually have to close as a part of the school district.  The top priority for the Board currently is climate control within our main building.  We currently have boilers operating steam heat in the winters, which are running at less than 70% efficiency (DLR report).  With this system, we have rooms that are outrageously warm in the winter months, but two doors away there are teachers and students that must wear additional clothing to be comfortable.  The lack of building-wide climate control creates a difficult learning environment for the students to focus on education.  In addition to heat, there is not a cooling system for all rooms in the building.  There are a few window units in offices and technology spaces, but with school calendars built across the state as they are now, there is a need for air conditioning.  We have canceled/dismissed school early more times than we have had snow days in the last four years.  On those days of “heat” dismissal, the temperatures in our classrooms were generally 90 degrees or greater.  Again, for the sake of student learning, climate control is necessary.  Additionally, to preserve the equipment, furniture, coverings, and facilities that we have, climate control also assists in that plan.

This being the first of several columns, I felt background information was needed.  There will be many others addressing the myriad of needs within the district.  If you have questions or thoughts, please don’t hesitate to contact a Board member or myself at your convenience.