School board updated on finished summer projects

Although students have been away from their desks for the summer, that doesn’t mean everything came to a halt in the school district.

Maintenance supervisor Jere Apland filled the Hot Springs County School District Board of Directors in on what projects had been done over the summer during their meeting Thursday, Aug. 20.

Most have probably noticed a lot of paving going on in the parking lots at the schools, and Apland says that is now all completed, including striping, just waiting for the first day of classes.

Some major work was done on the AG building, specifically the replacement of several windows in the building.

Apland said they ran into a bit of a curve when they discovered some of the window openings had no bracing in them. That meant the windows themselves had been holding things together. Unfortunately, that added another $5,000 to the project.

There has been a good deal of crack sealing going on as well, especially at the middle school.

Apland said the sealing should be done every five years and some areas were closer to six or seven years since their last fill. Now that everything has been filled, he plans to keep the work on a strict schedule to hopefully prevent the need for asphalt replacement in the future.

Some classrooms and other areas of the schools have also received a fresh coat of paint over the summer.

“I quit counting at 200 gallons,” he said.

Everyone has probably seen the new playground equipment at the middle school by now, and it has been getting a good work out since going up.

Concrete pads have been poured in the area, including footers at the corners so picnic tables can be added later. The footers will allow some type of canopy to be added, too, to provide some shade.

In the interest of student safety, several plans were drawn up this past year to address security issues at district buildings.

This past June, members of the School Facilities Division of the State of Wyoming spent two days in Thermopolis reviewing not only the plans, but the buildings themselves.

With some new rules and regulations put in place by the state regarding school facilities and student safety, our plans had to be thrown out the window.

The state has determined the top eight needs in relation to security and wants all the districts to begin with those first eight needs.

Apland said he will be attending a regional meeting in the next few weeks to find out exactly what the district will have to do to meet the regulations, but initially it will cover vestibules in each of the main buildings and communications issues.

Originally the district was allowed to write the work orders for what they wished to do, however this time around, the state will be writing the work orders. How everything is implemented will be up to the individual districts.

Apland said the 35-page report from the state can be found on the school facilities website at sfd.wyo.gov.