Windber superintendent cites growing list of needed building improvements

WINDBER Some of the Windber Area School Districts building needs are hard to miss.

There are small sections of leaking roof, a crumbling high school retaining wall and aging, inefficient windows, Superintendent Rick Huffman said.

But theres also a growing list of needs that arent nearly as easy to spot a reason the district engaged a Harrisburg firm to conduct a districtwide facilities evaluation this past fall.

All of a sudden, you sit down with a laptop and you notice things arent working nearly as fast as they were a few years ago,Huffman said. Things like the infrastructure for our wireless system and building security, those are things we have to think about for the years ahead.

McKissick Associates, a Harrisburg firm that specializes in school design and architecture, has been working since October on a list of needs at Windbers schools.

Theyll present findings to board members during their Jan. 8 meeting, a first step toward forming a game plan to address top issues, Huffman said.

The next step will be to have them work with our H.F. Lenz engineers to come up with options to address some of these concerns, he said.

Huffman said there are a few glaring needs he expects will be addressed early, such as a crumbling retaining wall and high school roof issues. But ultimately it will be up to the school board to develop a priority list, he said.

To me, safety is No. 1. Were living in changing times, and when you look at some of the events that have occurred at schools nationwide ... you learn from them, he said, noting Windbers schools were not built with security in mind decades ago.

Among other areas school officials will likely discuss:

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Windber superintendent cites growing list of needed building improvements