The Cumberland County Board of Education will hold its regular monthly meeting today and consider the approval of HVAC upgrades for four schools.
The board will consider HVAC upgrades for Douglas Byrd Middle and Douglas Byrd High schools, Pine Forest High School and Lewis Chapel Middle School, according to the agenda.
“That’s millions of dollars. Some are whole school replacements,” said Greg West, the school board chairman.
“Obviously, it will be good help with the air quality and circulation,” he said. “Some of those systems are 20 years old. They’re at the end of their life. It’s like a car at the home. You use them as long as you can until they’re no longer in workable order.”
According to agenda materials, Ivey Mechanical Co. LLC of Fayetteville submitted the lowest bid for the Douglas Byrd High HVAC upgrade with a contract total of roughly $1.9 million. The scope of work will include all labor and materials to replace the existing water-cooled chiller, associated pumps, multi-zone and single-zone air handlers and duct cleaning. The existing controls also will be upgraded.
Ivey Mechanical also submitted the lowest bid for the Douglas Byrd Middle upgrade, submitting a total price of about $1.07 million, and the one for the Pine Forest High work, at a proposed total price of approximately $3.7 million.
Superior Mechanical of Randleman submitted the lowest bid for the Lewis Chapel Middle project, a total contract price of $2.57 million.
The Pine Forest High and Lewis Chapel Middle jobs would be utilizing ESSER funds, the agenda said.
The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund provides districts with emergency relief funds to address the impact that COVID-19 has had and continues to have on elementary and secondary schools.
Each project is scheduled to be completed by the summer.
“You can only do so many a summer,” West said. “We need to get it done during the summertime.”
In other business, the board will vote on its face masking policy for Cumberland County Schools. This vote, conducted on a monthly basis, is required by state law.
The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Education Resource Center, 396 Elementary Drive.
Those who want to participate during the public comments period are asked to sign up at: https://goo.gl/forms/ZGa8Q33DJMo3D9tH3, which will be accessible starting at noon today and will remain open until 5:30 p.m.
No walk-up sign-ups will be allowed.
The meeting will be live-streamed at https://www.youtube.com/user/CumberlandCoSch, and there will also be capacity-limited seating available to the public.
Michael Futch covers Fayetteville and education for CityView TODAY. He can be reached at mfutch@cityviewnc.com. Have a news tip? Email news@CityViewTODAY.com.
