Templeton residents: Pay attention:

By SARAH ROBERTSON

Staff Writer

PHILLIPSTON — What started as a project to replace the old roof of the Phillipston Memorial Elementary School building turned into a laundry list of necessary upgrades to meet fire safety, handicap accessibility, and other essential building regulations.

Officials from the town and school district discussed renovation plans at a meeting of the Phillipston Memorial Elementary School Building Committee Tuesday night. According to Kevin Flynn, Phillipston Select Board’s chief administrative officer, the cost of the roof replacement triggered other mandatory upgrades to the school building.

“The way the codes are written, if you spend a certain percent of the value of the building you have to address other problems,” Flynn said. “It’s a lot of things here and there that need to be taken care of.”

Upgrades on the horizon include the expansion and reconfiguration of the whole school building, moving the cafeteria and kitchen out of the basement, installing a new pitched roof, and meeting fire safety and handicap accessibility regulations. A new pitched roof will fix persistent leaks, while other upgrades are long overdue as well.

Acting fire chief Donald Smith noted sections of the school building that are not in compliance with current fire safety regulations. He said sprinklers and clearly visible smoke detectors must be installed to bring the school to code. However, because the state School Building Authority will not fund fire suppression upgrades to a wood-framed building, the town will have to finance the upgrades themselves. 

The fact that Phillipston does not have town water complicates the installation of a sprinkler system, Smith said. To build a fire sprinkler system with adequate water pressure, the school would have to install cisterns to hold additional water reserves. 

Replacing Phillipston Memorial Elementary School’s heating system is another challenge that came up for the first time at Tuesday night’s meeting. According to the elementary school’s principal Chante Jillson, keeping the heat on in the school has been a challenge for years and requires frequent maintenance. 

“Every year there is a significant issue with one or two of the units,” Jillson said. 

The school runs seven different heating units on three different kinds of systems: forced hot air, steam and HVAC, each one relic of the year the wing of the school building was built. Most heating units are long overdue for upgrades, Jillson said, and right now, it’s the heat in the gymnasium that isn’t working properly.

Phillipston Memorial Elementary School was built in 1948, with additions added in 1974 and 1996. During the 1996 expansion, the school should have been required to upgrade the school to meet fire and ADA requirements, but for some reason those didn’t happen, Planning Board chair Bernie Malouin said. 

“At that time they probably should have done the sprinklers. Somehow that fell through the cracks,” Malouin said. “Our primary concern as a committee is the safety of the kids in this school.”

The existing handicap elevator, accessible through a classroom on one floor and the cafeteria kitchen in the basement, must open into a common space in order to meet Americans with Disability Act (ADA) requirements. All bathrooms and entrances into the building must be made handicap accessible, too, by installing ramps and widening some doorways. 

At a prior meeting on the school upgrades, an architect estimated the renovations would cost over $500 per square foot. The School Building Committee is considering asking for $2.5 million debt exclusion to cover the costs, according to Finance Committee co-chair Tom Specht, but will first order an engineering study to better assess the costs. The committee may request the money for an engineering study at the spring Town Meeting. 

In June, the Select Board signed the $8,250 contract with Nault Architect to conduct the feasibility study for elementary school. It was noted that four firms were interviewed, and Nault was recommended by the Renovation Committee.

According to Jillson, after moving the cafeteria and kitchen upstairs, the basement would ideally be used for storage only. One potential solution discussed involves building a kitchen off the gymnasium and use the gym for both lunches and athletics. However, this creates scheduling conflicts for educators who need to teach and serve lunch to different student groups simultaneously. 

According to Specht, money for the upgrades can come from either the school’s finances or the town’s building replacement fund. He said that fixing the school’s heating system was a top priority and could potentially come from emergency reserve funds. 

Recently, the town also bought a new generator for the school building for about $53,000, according to Flynn, which will allow Phillipston Memorial Elementary School to serve as an emergency shelter during a winter power outage. 

No one from the town has yet discussed the prospects of building a new school in Phillipston, Flynn said. Last year, a deal that would have sent Phillipston elementary school students to Templeton Center Elementary School while using the Phillipston building for a regional preschool and kindergarten a fell flat following public pushback.