Superintendent Douglas Dias shows photos of the damage caused by a leak in the school's heating system.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Elementary School Committee on Wednesday decided to change the mechanism for accessing an endowment managed by Williams College on behalf of the school.

 

The building renewal fund was established by the college when the school was built in 2003 but it only recently has he School Committee begun using the funds. Last spring, it requested money to fund new controls for the school's boilers and smart boards for classrooms.

 

This fall, the district is again looking to the fund to bankroll the replacement of two of the school's three boilers. But to facilitate that use, the administration suggested that the agreement governing the fund be changed.

 

"The way it was written, we would purchase something and Williams College would reimburse us," Superintendent Douglas Dias told the School Committee at the board's monthly meeting.

 

"The law states, when our purchase gets above $35,000, it's subject to state procurement laws and, as such, gets very cumbersome... We have to go through several legal hoops the state requires ... so [government entities] don't spend a lot of money that isn't properly supervised."

 

Instead of tying up the purchase of "big ticket" items, Dias recommended that the school change the language of the agreement to allow Williams to pay vendors directly from the endowment, an arrangement that district Business Manager Nancy Rauscher discussed with the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office.

 

The first implementation of the new procedure will be for the purchase of new boilers to replace one that is failing and one Dias characterized as being on "life support."

 

Normally, the school only needs two boilers to function. The third is kept as a backup.

 

On Wednesday, the School Committee voted unanimously to have Dias ask the college to spend up to $100,000 on a boiler replacement project for two of the three units.

 

School Committee Chairman Dan Caplinger reminded his colleagues that the endowment was established to support the school throughout its existence.

 

"This fund needs to last us the building's lifespan, and there will be other major expenditures down the road," he said. "We're trying to shepherd that money for as far as it goes and as many purposes as it needs to be put to."

 

The school's heating system suffered an unrelated problem last week when a leaky pipe above the second floor sent ethelyne glycol dripping down as far as the first floor office physical education office.

 

Dias explained to the committee his reason for cancelling school last Thursday in advance of the already planned four-day weekend for pupils. The originally scheduled staff professional development day on Friday went on as scheduled.

 

Members of the School Committee watch Superintendent Douglas Dias' presentation on Wednesday evening.

In fact, Dias praise the work of Service Master, the company called in to clean up the leaked substance, saying that if Friday had not been a scheduled PD day, the school could have held classes after one day of cleanup.

 

The process includes the removal of drywall and the disposal of any items touched by the chemical that might also be touched by children at the school.

 

"My understanding is that anything impacted by the major leak will be covered by insurance," Dias said.

 

As for the pipes, the leak in question has been repaired, but Dias said in the process of looking at the system, several other small leaks were discovered, and he has asked for a quote from an inspector to come check out the entire system.

 

In other business on Wednesday, the School Committee gave a first read to a new physical restraint policy designed to bring the district's policy in line with new Massachusetts law.

 

Although the use of physical restraint at the school is exceedingly rare, the district needs to have the policy in place to comply with the law, Dias told the committee, which will give the policy a second read next month. The proposed language, which is being enacted at Lanesborough Elementary School and Mount Greylock Regional School as well, is available in the Tri-District office at Mount Greylock as well as the main office at WES.

 

The School Committee also on Wednesday voted to approve settlement agreements on contracts for two collective bargaining units -- the teachers and building and grounds -- to cover fiscal years 2016-18. Both votes, which followed an hour-long executive session, were unanimous, Caplinger reported on Thursday morning.