Fitchburg considers $ 3.1 million loan for repairs to South Street Elementary – Sentinel and Enterprise

FITCHBURG – Decades of wear and tear are beginning to show on the South Street Elementary School building, and the city is preparing to take out a $ 3.1 million loan to pay for roof and boiler repairs.

On Tuesday, the finance committee unanimously approved a motion to secure a loan order to replace the aging roof of the school’s west wing and the boilers in the school’s south wing.

Fitchburg Public Schools are teaming up with the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s Fast Track Repair Program, which could potentially reimburse aspects of the project up to 80%.

“If the project is completed as planned, the net cost to the city will be $ 621,133,” Superintendent Robert Jokela said in a letter to the city.

Committee chairman Marcus DiNatale said the city was very fortunate to be on the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s list.

“I was pleasantly surprised to see this,” he said. “This is very good news for our school building infrastructure needs.”

Jokela said in September that the upgrades are much-needed improvements to South Street.

“The boilers have reached the end of their useful life and they will be replaced with more energy efficient units,” he said. “The slate roof is original, 1940, of the west building and needs to be replaced. “

If approved, work will begin in summer 2020.

The building complex consists of four wings that were built over three decades, starting in 1940.

The original buildings were used as a campus for Holy Family High School until it was acquired by the Fitchburg School Department in the 1990s.

The west building was built as a four storey freestanding convent with a basement in 1940. The north building was constructed in the 1950s, the south building in the 1960s and the east building in the 1990s.

It is important to note that each wing contains a separate boiler room that operates independently.
Fitchburg Public Schools have plans for three more projects in the district and hope to submit an expression of interest form to the School Building Authority for the repair program.

Projects include upgrading the roof of Goodrich Academy, replacing the roof at Fitchburg High School, and upgrading windows, doors and boilers at Longsjo High School.