Laptops and key fobs were among the topics the Tippecanoe Valley School Board heard during a preliminary review of the projects being worked on or looked at using the capital projects fund during a workshop Monday.
Over the last eight months, TVSC has replaced over 1,600 student laptops, Keith Lang, director of technology, said. Pretty much every TVSC student has a new school-issued laptop.
Board member David Lash asked what is done with the old computers. Lang said if the school corporation can still use the computers, then they will be used in some capacity; if not, TVSC has a recycling company that is given the laptops.
Lang said last year three 30-foot box trucks were brought to the schools in order to recycle equipment.
One of the projects that is currently being worked on is moving the school corporation over to a virtual server. Lang said he has been talking about this project for a couple years. Last week, three Dell servers were installed to help in moving over to a virtual server.
“So we’re going to be able to take 18 servers … and virtualize them onto those three (Dell) servers,” Lang said.
Keyfob systems were replaced at the middle schools. A lot of keyfobs were put in at the doors at the school over the summer, Lang said.
The keyfob systems at Mentone Elementary and the high school will need to be updated in the next few years, Lang said. The system the schools have are obsolete, so if something dies, the school corporation can’t get parts for it.
Don Ritter, maintenance director, talked about some of the maintenance projects TVSC is working on or hopes to work on.
The gym floor at Akron Elementary needs to be rescreened. It’s been four years and it hasn’t been done yet. Something like that needs to be done every couple years, Ritter said.
For the parking lot, TVSC has been putting some sort of sealing coat on it and there is money in the fund in case some kind of pothole comes up after the weather changes, so the school corporation has some money, he said.
Ritter said the school corporation is working at replacing the LED lighting at Burket Educational Center.
He said there was a quote for $14,000 to replace all the lighting at Burket, but there was only $10,000 saved for the project. The amount saved was spent. LED lights are being put into the hallways, teacher Micah Luken’s room and other classrooms.
Next year, Ritter said the school corporation will purchase the remaining lighting and finish the project.
Upgrading the devices for the fire alarm system at Mentone Elementary will also be looked at, Ritter said.
The chiller at Mentone Elementary is the oldest chiller in the school corporation. It is still running and Ritter said he is not aware of any problems with the chiller, but he said they don’t want to get to the point where the chiller is failing and needs to be replaced just due to the age. Ritter said replacing the chiller would possibly cost $150,000.
Roof repairs at Tippecanoe Valley Middle School will need to be made. There are about 30 drains on the roof, which isn’t as much as Ritter said he thought there were. A contractor was out at the middle school last week and said the contractor would repair a few of the drains at a time.
Superintendent Blaine Conley said the roofing issue has been an issue for years and needs to be addressed.
