By Max Bowen-max.bowen@northstarreporter.com
Prior to the start of the school year, a number of updates had been made to protect student and faculty safety, and more is planned.
Interim Facilities Director Chris George discussed these at the Oct. 5 meeting of the School Committee. Kyle Kummer, the previous director, had recently announced his retirement. George has worked in the district for the last five years as the lead carpenter.
Before the start of the school year the district had purchased a large supply of Lexan Plexiglass from Bristol Glass, which was used to make barriers in the school offices. Superintendent Scott Holcomb said making the purchase so early helped, since plexiglass is now in short supply.
“We have sheets of the stock in our supply in case we need to build more,” he said.
Improvements have been made to each school’s HVAC systems to more quickly circulate stale air outside. George said that an assessment of the system will soon be done to determine if more can be done. Air purifiers will soon be added to the classrooms.
Additional changes include bottle fillers installed at all the water fountains to reduce risk of cross-contamination and hand sanitizer stations throughout the buildings.
“If you do not see hand sanitizer within 12-15 feet, you’re not looking hard enough,” said George.
The schools are cleaned on Wednesdays, at a cost of $9,000 each week. Moving forward, George said the school custodians will train to do this themselves, with equipment purchased from the company that does the cleanings.
“We’ve seen it done and then we’ll have the equipment,” said George.
