Air conditioning project on track for new bids in fall
Part of project has been broken out since first attempt
With the start of the school year less than two weeks away, North Penn School District parents are keeping the temperature high on district officials to move ahead with installing air conditioning in several schools.
“We did the same thing last year and got nothing, so why are we not moving forward with being more proactive?” said parent Alana Paviglianiti.
Since September 2016, parents at three North Penn schools have asked the board to install air conditioning systems at Gwyn Nor, Oak Park, and Knapp elementary schools, which they say experience excessively high temperatures. Last November, the board’s support services committee evaluated several different types of air conditioning units, and put out a proposal for bids in December. In March 2017 staff reported that no bids were received for parts of that package, and said the project would have to be rebid again later in 2017.
Paviglianiti asked for another update Thursday, and district Director of Business Administration Steve Skrocki said the timeline for trying again has not yet been finalized, but should start soon.
“Our plan is to let the bids out in the October, November, early December time period. Bids were let out last year in February and March, so it’s a completely different landscape when we let the bids out four months earlier,” he said.
With the bid package developed last year, posting it for interested contractors earlier could mean the district has more time to seek a second round of applicants if the first round is unsuccessful, according to Skrocki.
“We did not receive one prime contractor bid, which meant we couldn’t move forward with the project. This year, we do have the luxury of a second bid if necessary,” he said.
After the first project came back with no bidders, staff separated out part of the project, awarding bids in April to install a separate air conditioning system in a gym at Oak Park Elementary, and Skrocki said that project is now “substantially complete.”
Board member John Schilling, who leads the support services committee that vetted the project, said staff and that committee moved as fast as possible last year, and intend to do so again.
“Just to make sure it’s perfectly clear: this is normal procedure. We want to get this done. We have the money, we’re not borrowing for it, and we want to get this done as much as you do,” he said.