Chicopee Public Schools Maintenance Director Scott Chapdelaine discusses the district’s current and future facilities plan.
Photo credit: ChicopeeTV
CHICOPEE — Chicopee Public Schools Maintenance Director Scott Chapdelaine attended the Dec. 17 School Committee meeting to provide an update on the district’s facilities plan.
Although there are 15 school buildings in Chicopee that were built between 1920 to 2006, totaling over 1.5 million square feet of educational space, Chapdelaine said he applauds his team for their hard work to keep the buildings in the best shape they can.
He stated, “It’s a lot to take care of but I have a great crew that takes care of these buildings. We have a very large budget; we have a lot of projects that go on. Projects are moving forward every day.”
Chapdelaine provided an update for a new administration building. The City Council authorized the mayor to negotiate terms for the purchase of 219-225 Exchange Street for $2.36 million to relocate school administration offices.
The current lease at 134 Dulong Circle expires on Aug. 9, and Chapdelaine said, “We’re hoping that someone reaches out to maybe extend the lease so we can figure out the renovation that’s going to happen at the new administration building and then move people into the building with maybe some extension to the lease.”
Current projects taking place within Chicopee Public Schools include a new Anna E. Barry Elementary School, Chicopee Comprehensive High School area and retaining wall, security camera upgrades and exterior door replacement.
The Anna E. Barry Elementary School project is in the schematic design phase with MSBA. The school building commission recent approved design alternative B3, a new Barry School at the Szetela site.
The CCHS detention area and retaining wall project is also moving forward after the wetland delineation was completed.
Chapdelaine said he and his team are inline to go to DEP and SPAC review in January for submission. The project is currently in the design phase after the city appropriated $1.95 million last year.
For the security camera upgrades, Chapdelaine said the project is complete. The scope for the project included upgrading or installing more cameras in all 15 buildings.
Between a city bond and ESSER funds, the project totaled $4.05 million.
The exterior door replacement project is still ongoing with 160 of the 220 doors being installed. The remaining 60 doors require asbestos/lead abatement and will be completed during February and April school vacation, according to Chapdelaine.
For ongoing priority projects, Chapdelaine said there are seven schools within the district that they are pushing to install air conditioning in gyms and cafeterias. Those schools include Fairview, Bowe, Lambert-Lavoie, Academy, Stefanik, Szetela and Barry.
Priority three projects include parking lot improvements at Bowie Elementary School and Szetela Pre-School, gym floor replacement at Litwin Elementary School and playground replacements at Bowie and Streiber Elementary School.
Looking further ahead, Chapdelaine said the district recently had a roof assessment completed. Him and his team are currently finalizing a comprehensive roof report with repair recommendations and two to 10 year life expectancies for all buildings.
He explained, “I will have an assessment to you guys hopefully before my next update that will say this roof recommended we replace in two years, five years, six years, seven, 10 years. Basically, we’re looking at about 10 years on all the roofs best case scenario I guess.”
Chapdelaine is also working on a facilities assessment, which Chicopee has not had its school building assessed since 2005. He added he will be seeking an architect for comprehensive assessments of all district buildings including vestibule designs, security recommendations and playground ADA accommodations.
“What I’m hoping to do is find an architect and get all these three studies into one report so we’ll have a document that says, for every school what’s recommended to be done, how much it will cost and we’ll be able to see line by line, every school and what needs to be done,” Chapdelaine stated.
Chapdelaine said he will also be joining a roundtable meeting soon with city officials to discuss the steps to submit Bowe School into the MSBA accelerated repair program for gym/cafeteria air handler and roof replacement.
According to MSBA, the accelerated repair program “focuses on the preservation of existing assets by performing energy-efficient and cost-saving upgrades, which will result in direct operational savings for school districts.”
It is offered by the state for specific work on windows, exterior doors and roofs.
The main goals of the Accelerated Repair Program are to improve learning environments for children and teachers, reduce energy use and generate cost savings for districts.
