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School Superintendent Mark Lewis told the Lansing Board of Education Thursday that six of the seven buildings in the district received an unsatisfactory rating by State building inspectors.  "We have six buildings that are considered unsatisfactory facilities as a result of the survey that was conducted in 2006," Lewis said.  "We just received this information in May.  We do need our building permits every year in order to occupy (the buildings).  It's critical that we address this in a timely manner. "


School buildings are visually inspected annually by BOCES or Certified Architecture/Engineering firms to report to the school districts and the State Education Department.  Unsatisfactory components are considered to be "functioning unreliably or exceeded its useful life."  Components rated 'unsatisfactory' must be repaired or replaced.  Some of the issues identified in Lansing have to do with health and safety, while others are structural.  "The elementary school is the only building on our grounds that is not unsatisfactory," noted School Board Vice President Anne Drake.

Lewis received a letter from Carl T. Thurnau, Coordinator of the Office of Facilities Planning at the State Education Department, outlining problems with the high school, middle school, tech building, bus garage, grounds garage, and the district office.  "Please provide to this office a summary of planning activities taken since that time to address the condition of these facilities," the letter reads.  "As you know state aid building aid and now EXCEL aid are available to minimize the impact of the work on local taxpayers.  The Office of Facility and Planning reviews building condition surveys, annual visual inspections, and five year capital plans to insure capital improvements are being properly prioritized prior to approving plans and issuing building permits."

All or most of the problems had already been identified by the Board Of Education and were a part of a $20 million capital project that failed to win voters' approval.  "These are things we know about," said District Business Administrator Larry Lawrence.  "They were mostly things that we were trying to address in the capital project.  Infrastructure things.  There are safety and health things as well as structural things that were rated as unsatisfactory.  A lot of it is structural, heating and ventilation, air conditioning, that kind of thing."

The capital project would have included infrastructure repairs, expanded space in the high school, and a new district office in one proposal, and music and technology rooms in a second.  "To be fair, I think it was Mike Cheatham who wondered why there wasn't a third proposal for voters to vote on having to do with just these kinds of issues," said board member Christine Iacobucci.  "I think that would have passed."


But Lewis noted that inadequate space was also one of the components cited by the State.  "One of the areas rated 'poor' was the adequacy of space in the high school," he said.  "That was the bone of contention with the last referendum.  The State Education Department rated it as poor."

In fact inadequate space was cited as a component of all six buildings.  Other problems cited were evidence of rot, decay, and corrosion in structural floors, foundation decay, unsatisfactory windows and exterior doors, problems with air ventilation and heating equipment, unsatisfactory electrical equipment.  It sites unsatisfactory stairs, ramps, skylights, and lockers.  Health and safety related problems include poor ventilation, no fire escapes or rescue windows in the school shop, unsatisfactory fire alarms in the high school and grounds garage, drainage problems, evidence of vermin, and visible mold.

Lewis said he would be contacting Thurnau  or Charles Szuberla at the School Operations and Management Services for guidance as to what options the Board Of Education has, and would report back to the Board on June 28th.  "It's incumbent on us to respond to this issue by July 15," Lewis cautioned.  "It doesn't mean that the Board of Education has to snap its fingers and have a complete capital project.  What it does mean is that we need to put in place a time line to address that, be it the initiation of another capital project, or a facilities committee to examine the issue."

The Board Of Education has no plan to deal with the situation, but now that next year's school budget is passed they plan to direct their attention to it, as well as hiring a new superintendent.  "Sad to say, it's nothing we didn't know," said Board President Bonita Lindberg.  "We tried to address it in the capital project and we need to go back to that."

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