KINGWOOD — Preston County Schools has received $281,516 from the State School Building Authority to replace 26 classroom HVAC units at Preston High.
Superintendent Steve Wotring announced the award earlier this week.
The award will cover half of the $563,032 total project cost. The grant was part of $4,716,738 in Major Improvement Project grants throughout the state announced by the authority in September.
The other half of the project will be paid with by school levy funds.
“We took $281,516 of the taxpayers’ levy money and we turned it into $563,032,” Facilities and Maintenance Director for Preston County Schools Director Matt Murray said.
Murray said the project will replace 26 classroom, above the ceiling units in the 1990 addition to Preston High. The units provide both heating and cooling.
“Those are original to the 1990 addition, and very few are working at 100%,” Murray said Wednesday. And, “We’re going with more modern controls that we can control in-house, through our computers.”
Each classroom will have more control over the heating and cooling in the room, Murray noted.
An engineer has already completed the design. A pre-bid meeting is planned for early January.
“With the bid taking place in February to give the contractors enough time to have the equipment sitting here so that once school is out, we can start on this project,” Murray said.
According to the SBA website, “A Major Improvement Project (MIP) grant is designed to address major improvements in existing facilities that are not fundable through the local maintenance budgets. MIP Grant awards must be at least $50,000 but cannot exceed $1 million.”
TWEET@DominionPostWV
