Montour students will move, but where?
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Donald Boyer has 69,235 reasons to move classes out of Montour High School during renovation next year.
That's how many square feet of asbestos-containing tile remain in the untouched parts of the school.
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Or maybe he has 18,050 reasons -- one for each square foot of carpet held down by toxic glue. Or 550, for windows with toxic glazing. Or 3,470, for mercury fluorescent bulbs and tubes, or 145 for mercury vapor lamps, or 4,240 for each square foot of chalkboard held on with toxic adhesive.
"Indoor air quality is an issue," the district's interim superintendent said at a school board meeting last Thursday. "It would have to be tightly controlled during construction if students and teachers remain in that building."
The most compelling number of reasons for the move, though, may be 290 -- the approximate number of days saved by doing construction in an empty building, as opposed to working around students.
The plan to move students out, announced by Dr. Boyer last week, means the renovation should be complete by September 2011, as opposed to the June 2012 projected completion date with students in the buildings.
"The idea is that we would displace students for one academic year instead of building around them for two years," Dr. Boyer said.
His blunt speech left a crowd of almost 300 with only a handful of questions. Most centered on the obvious: Where would the students go, and how would their school lives be affected?
Dr. Boyer said those questions are paramount but do not yet have answers.
"We are in the process of looking for facilities," he said. "We have probably looked at a dozen already."
He said later that he would welcome any responsible ideas from the public, though noting that the restrictions are tighter than most people realize.
"It almost has to be a place that was used as a school," he said. Even office buildings often don't have sufficient safety systems to meet state guidelines for use as a school, and the cost of retrofitting an empty warehouse or retail building would be prohibitive.
First Published February 4, 2010 12:00 am
