Dropping Temps, Boiler Repairs Close PHSBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
01:17PM / Tuesday, October 15, 2024 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass.—Just days before the school gets a temporary boiler, Pittsfield High will be closed for two days due to dropping temperatures causing discomfort inside the building.
Around noon on Tuesday, Superintendent Joseph Curtis announced that the school would have to close on Wednesday, Oct.16, and Thursday, Oct. 17 due to uncomfortable indoor temperatures.
State inspectors cannot look at the new temporary boiler until Thursday. The school is amid a heating system replacement, as the former boilers exceeded their useful life.
"As you are aware, Pittsfield High School is in the process of having a new boiler installed. In the meantime, a temporary boiler has been set up and placed outside the school," Curtis wrote to PHS families, staff, and students.
"Unfortunately, the Pittsfield Building Maintenance Department informed us that the State Inspector is not available to inspect the temporary boiler until October 17, 2024."
Curtis apologized for any disruption that this may have caused, writing "I understand the inconvenience that unexpected closures or changes can bring and we appreciate your understanding and flexibility."
The missed school days will have to be made up at the end of the school year in June 2025.
"The Pittsfield Building Maintenance Department had initially hoped that temperatures would stay at a comfortable level, but the sharp drop on Sunday and Monday has made the building quite uncomfortable for students and staff, as assessed mid-morning today," Curtis wrote.
After the inspection on Thursday when the temporary boiler is turned on, the district will provide an update on the reopening of the school on Friday. The school’s athletic director will communicate with the PHS volleyball and basketball coaches about practice and games.
In June, the City Council authorized the borrowing of $3 million for new boilers at Pittsfield High School — a project that was originally going to be funded by ARPA.
The nearly 100-year-old boilers are original to the building and have exceeded their useful life, officials say. They are converted locomotive engines that are extremely inefficient and expensive to maintain.
One boiler was non-operational and another was severely compromised.
Early this month, Building Maintenance Director Brian Filiault told the School Building Needs Commission that a temporary boiler arrived at the school and will be connected to the building in the coming weeks. The replacement boilers will go online in December.
Work has been formerly done to calm irregularities in the school's climate. The old pneumatic heating system was uncontrollable and converted to a digital system that could be controlled from Filiault's office.
He sees the new boilers as the workhorses of the system.
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