State Sen. Jake Oliveira presents Dr. Marcus Ware a ceremonial check for HVAC upgrades at Belcher School.
Reminder Publishing photo by Tyler Garnet
CHICOPEE — On Sept. 16, state Sen. Jake Oliveira presented Belcher Elementary School with a ceremonial check of $100,000 to celebrate funds secured for HVAC upgrades at the school.
The Ludlow Democrat was joined by state Rep. Shirley Arriaga (D-Chicopee), school Principal Samuel Karlin, Superintendent Dr. Marcus Ware and fellow elected officials representing Chicopee.
Oliveira talked about the importance of securing these funds for Belcher School.
“When you look at the physical infrastructure of Chicopee Public Schools, many schools that are within this community are well maintained by incredible maintenance and grounds staff, but we also know that school districts need a little extra help every now and then. This [check] presentation is part of that help that we’re going to try to provide to the community which is making sure we continue to invest in our aging infrastructure. We understand buildings like this need a little upgrade and a little tender loving care.”
The funds were secured by Oliveira as part of the Fair Share Supplemental budget.
Oliveira stated, “I also want to thank the voters of the commonwealth of Massachusetts because without your vote in 2022 on the Fair Share Amendment, which is commonly known as the millionaire’s tax, has pumped in billions of dollars for transportation and education into school districts and transportation entities across Massachusetts.”
Oliveira said the projections were lower than they expected and the state was able to pass a supplemental budget in June which invested nearly a billion dollars back into schools and transportation systems beyond the fiscal year 2025 budget.
Within the budget there were several priorities that local legislators had that they wanted to invest in their respective communities.
Oliveira explained that HVAC upgrades are important because Western Massachusetts and the Pioneer Valley have some of the highest rates of asthma, particularly childhood asthma, out of any part of the country.
“So, that’s why when you come to school, you need to have a facility that has upgrades to their HVAC systems, so you have healthy, clean air to breathe,” Oliveira said, “That’s why over the past several years we’ve invested significantly in schools across Massachusetts through the Student Opportunity Act, which has invested significantly in the city of Chicopee schools but in many of our other gateway cities.”
Arriaga shared how it felt to be a part of the state delegation that helped secure these funds for Chicopee.
She said, “I am very, very fortunate to have such a great team. We work together to achieve the goals of our districts. To be here in support of this earmark that’s going to help upgrade HVAC for the little ones in this school building, it’s a happy day to say the least. Air quality is important. We want to make sure our students are comfortable and safe when they’re learning and that our educators have the tools and the resources to do so.”
Ware shared a story on how it felt to receive the email that Belcher School would be receiving these funds to upgrade the HVAC system after sending the state their capital requests.
“On behalf of Chicopee Public Schools, we were elated to get that email when we were asked what were our capital improvements for your public schools. We sent our list and we received an email saying congratulations. It felt like we hit the Powerball because we know that for the past few years, you heard things like COVID and air quality and it continues to be on our minds and that’s something the city of Chicopee has put a lot of time and attention into, making sure that the air quality in our schools are up to standard. To see this amount for updates for our HVAC systems, I know our maintenance department is elated, I know how much work they put in.”
Karlin said that these upgrades can really help the students and staff at the school succeed and stressed how important it is to provide a comfortable environment for the youngest learners.
He said, “In order for our youngest learners to engage in learning and for them to be able to be sustained in the classrooms, we really do need to make sure that we have everything in place so that they teachers can do what they need to do and part of that is making sure that all of our infrastructure works correctly the way it’s suppose to. This goes a long way in making sure that that’s going to happen.”
