“The most important role of a school building is to keep kids warm, safe and dry, and when you have windows like that you can’t do those things,” Superintendent Chris Piper said of the current windows at the building.
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Parts of the 15-year-old windows are disintegrating and have to be upgraded, he said.
“There is a need for new ones because these are in pretty bad shape,” Piper said. “They are at the end of their life for sure. It is an energy loss for us to have window like this. When you walk inside you can feel the air coming in and they are becoming a safety hazard.”
Last year a window in a middle school classroom fell into the room. Piper said luckily class wasn’t in session at the time or a student could have been hurt. Another way windows can keep students safe is in the case of an active shooter. Many West Liberty-Salem High School students escaped through windows during a school shooting there on Jan. 20.
“When they put the windows in, on every classroom there will be a window labeled as an egress point,” Piper said. “So that window will be designed to be kicked out in an event of something like that.”
“That was a priority,” he said.
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The elementary school bid was awarded to Capitol Aluminum Glass and will cost the district $179,500. Hemm Glass was awarded the middle school project and it will cost $216,495.
“Most of the middle school will be replaced and about half of the elementary school,” Piper said.
Installment of windows will begin in the summer, Piper said, and the deadline is Aug. 1. He said he wants the installation completed before kids return to school for the 2017-2018 school year.
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