Seekonk School officials warned of a failure of the heating system at Hurley Middle School in a joint meeting with the town’s Select Board on January 6.
“The reality is, that maybe in the next year or two, that heating system is going to fail,” said school committee member Kyle Juckett. “We’re going to be in a real hot mess. There needs to be a fix sooner rather than later. That is priority number one. It needs to be figured out.”
Over $106,000 has been spent to patch the Hurley boiler since last July.
“That is significantly over what we would have budgeted,” said Superintendent Rebecca Kidwell. “We’re definitely in a challenging situation there. The biggest need is the heat by far.”
Kidwell said in addition to using school personnel to fix Hurley’s pipes, there have been calls made to 12 outside contractors to address the building’s heating problems.
“We are just patching and patching and patching and eventually you get to the point where the pipes won’t hold together because they’re all patches,” Kidwell noted at the February 5, 2024 meeting.
The school department might submit a Statement of Interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority in an effort to obtain the funds needed to purchase a new boiler for Hurley.
Kidwell said the school department could also request funds for new windows for Hurley, as well as a new roof.
“From what I’ve heard from my members of the board is they want to digest this some more,” said Select Board chair Michelle Hines.
Committee chair Meaghan Mahoney promised a discussion over whether or not to approve a SOI to the MSBA would be on an upcoming meeting agenda.
Kidwell explained the MSBA has redesigned the requirements for the ARP program since it was last offered in 2023.
“As the Hurley Middle School heat system uses a steam distribution system, the school is not eligible for Accelerate Repair around heating. Heating needs can still be addressed through a Core Program renovation. A decision on renovation versus new construction would be the next part of the MSBA process, if Hurley is selected to the program in late 2025.”
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