The Van Buren County School Board will take bids to replace HVAC units in the Spencer Elementary gym.
Principal Amanda Binkley said the units have a long history of disrepair.
“Off and on, there’s actually one of the units that works most of the time, and there are four in there,” Binkley said. “The seven years I’ve been there, I think there has been only two working ever, so it’s in disrepair.”
Board Member Barry Austin said he was unaware that the gym had multiple HVAC units that did not work.
“If we know of something like that, that is not working, I mean a major thing in our school, we need to know about it,” Austin said. “Nobody’s ever said a word about that.”
Director of Schools Katina Simmons said the system wants to follow the replacement of the gym floor project with the HVAC repair. Simmons said with the floor project beginning soon, she recommended going ahead with taking bids on the HVAC units.
“That’s gonna start pretty soon after TCAP is completed, and so we want to go ahead and get those bids and get that ball rolling so we can take care of that soon after the floor gets finished,” Simmons said.
Board Member Davy Shockley asked how long the contractor is allowed to replace the gym floor. Binkley said the contractor has eight to ten weeks to complete the project.
Floor work expected to begin May 5.
