BELPRE - The Belpre City Schools District Board of Education discussed a possible project to improve the school buildings during its meeting Monday.
"Our heating systems in both the high school and elementary buildings are starting to experience problems," school board member Mike Wile said. "It's because of longevity and when parts break down we can't find replacements because the systems are so old."
Wile said the district's building and grounds committee has looked into the possibility of using Ohio House Bill 264 to fund energy-savings projects within the district.
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Mike Wile, board member for the Belpre City Schools District Board of Education, speaks on behalf of the district’s building and grounds committee about a possible energy-savings upgrade of systems to the buildings.
"House Bill 264 allows schools to borrow money from the state to fix things that will save money," Wile said. "The idea is to pay back the loan with the money saved on energy bills."
On Dec. 12, a company will give a presentation to the board on energy savings and things it can do to save on not only heating costs, but also new doors, windows and possible electrical systems.
"We have already gone through and replaced a lot of the light bulbs in the buildings to more energy-efficient ones, but we want to see what we can do to upgrade the buildings for our students," Wile said. "The electrical systems in our buildings were not designed to handle the computers and other systems we have in place now and that is causing some problems."
The City of Belpre did a similar project in 2006 and 2007 with energy-savings company Ameresco that cost $8.5 million. It included an upgrade and selective repairs of the waste water treatment plant, lighting and heating upgrades for the city's buildings and replacing water meters.
The work included energy-saving street and traffic lights throughout the city.
In other business:
"We are tremendously proud of our students with the Veterans Day program, which was outstanding," he said. "The band and choir did a great job."
Superintendent Tony Dunn agreed with Eichinger and said he was happy with the respect the students showed to the veterans who attended.
"It was moving," Dunn said. "When the veterans left, our kids spontaneously gave a standing ovation and it was a tremendous show of respect."
