MOUNT HOLLY, Vt. – The Mount Holly and Ludlow schools are showing their age. The oil boilers are 50 years old, in need of constant repairs, and terribly inefficient. Most of the classrooms have no ventilation. The Ludlow roof is leaking and has little insulation, with an R-value of 2.5 compared with code of R-40. Windows are drafty. The old fluorescent lamps provide inconsistent light that cannot be adjusted for different tasks. When visitors ring the bell for admittance, nobody from the office can see who they are. When the Mount Holly School was built, we had no kindergarten or pre-k, and very limited special education. Now the school is crowded, with the nurse’s office in a closet, occupational and physical therapy in the cafeteria, and music instruction on the stage in the gym.
The school committee recognized these problems, and asked an energy efficiency engineering firm to propose upgrades to bring the schools what is needed for the 21st century. The firm worked with school staff, engaging in a yearlong facilities planning process that included energy audits, code review, program analysis, and facilities assessments at each school to develop an encompassing plan that will improve learning environments and provide better occupant comfort, while saving the district utility costs and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. They drafted a proposal that includes replacing the oil boilers at both schools with efficient wood pellet boilers with liquid propane backup, adding ventilation systems with electronic controls, replacing the Ludlow roof and increasing the insulation from R-2.5 to R-40, building a 2,000 square foot addition behind the Mount Holly School, rebuilding the schools’ entrances and vestibules to make them secure and visible from the office, replacing doors and windows to improve efficiency and security, replacing old fluorescent fixtures with LEDs, upgrading interior finish, upgrading fire alarms, and other improvements to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and other code issues.
On Monday, Jan. 8, at 6 p.m., there will be a public forum in the Mount Holly School gym, where the firm will present their proposal and members of the public can offer their suggestions to help the school committee decide what to present to voters in March.