Gloucester County and school officials are faced with a dilemma of how much money to put into failing infrastructure at Gloucester High School; especially with the possibility of a new school or a full-scale renovation of the existing school down the road.

The topic was addressed during a joint meeting Tuesday night between the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors and the Gloucester School Board that was held in the T.C. Walker Education Center’s auditorium.

John Hutchinson, assistant superintendent of schools, listed a number of recent issues at the 43-year-old building, starting with a broken water pipe and a failure in the sewage system just before Christmas last year.

Then, two weeks before opening day, Hutchinson said one of three major HVAC compressors at the school failed, leaving the exterior roof temperature of the school at 104 degrees and an interior room temperature of 103. 

At that same time, he said a 25-year-old controller in the A-Hall wing of the school failed. “The Honeywell technician didn’t know how to put it in,” Hutchinson said. “So, Honeywell had to hire a gentlemen from retirement to install the part … things are getting a little hairy there.”

Also, according to Hutchinson, the HVAC system in the newer D-Hall wing of the school has not been able to keep up with the summer humidity. This has led to mold and other problems. “This is getting to be a real issue and we’re going to need a solution,” Hutchinson said.

He then discussed HVAC problems at other schools, including a 22-year-old compressor at Bethel Elementary that has led to several hallways and classrooms being uncomfortable.

County administrator Brent Fedors asked school leadership if there was a way for them to identify critical points of the system where failure may be imminent. Responding to that, Hutchinson chuckled and said, “We scratch our heads … All we can do is stand by and deal with them as best we can … Asking what’s going to break first—I can’t tell you.”

Fedors said just not knowing what the cap on the debt of a new school or a full renovation will be, it would be helpful to prioritize the needs in the school as an alternate approach in case neither project is affordable for the county. 

School board member Brenda Mack said that GHS is, “in a lot of ways, falling apart.” She said she is not in favor of putting money into something there “when the rest of it is falling down.”

Mack likened it to a car. “I for one am not going to put thousands and thousands into, excuse my terminology, a piece of junk.”

At-large supervisor Ashley Chriscoe said he is looking at the potential of the county not being offered the debt service to sustain a $70 million renovation or a $110-plus million new school. “This is not to mention if we put it to referendum and it gets voted down,” Chriscoe said. “We don’t know where this is going yet.”

Mack later said she was appreciative of all the funding supervisors have provided for the school system, but added, “It just seems we are constantly putting a Band-Aid on it. And with any Band-Aid, it’s got to come off sometime.”

Accreditation

In other news, school superintendent Walter Clemons announced to the board of supervisors that, according to preliminary information from the state, students in Gloucester County Public Schools have exceeded the state average in every category of Standards of Learning testing except for writing, where students mirror the state average.

“In looking at all buildings, we are projecting every school will be fully accredited this year,” Clemons said. “This is definitely a plus for us and something we can move forward in doing.” He added that four years ago, GHS and Page Middle School were both accredited with warning. He expressed his appreciation to students and teachers for their hard work in helping to reach the goal of full accreditation. 

Finally, Clemons said schools are right on track for its estimated enrollment projections for state funding. Usually, the count is done when schools reach the 10-day mark, but with schools being closed much of last week due to the potential threat of Hurricane Florence, he only had enrollment data for the first seven days of school.

On day one, Clemons reported 4,492 students were counted. By day seven, that number had increased to 5,240. State-funded membership, he said, is at 5,196 and he had projected 5,200 students for targeted state revenue. “So, we’re really right on target,” he said.