Noel Community Arts School high school principal Deborah Blair-Minter has an interesting way to describe the temperature variations at her school.
“The office next to mine, you could bake a chicken. In my office is where you keep the ice cream. And there’s just a wall separating us. Itap that challenging,” she said.
But Blair-Minter’s office and many other rooms at the school on the former Montbello High School campus should be in much better shape when the next school year starts after Denver Public Schools puts $8 million toward a heating, ventilation and air conditioning makeover at the campus.
The campus, 5000 Crown Blvd., was built in 1980 and housed The building now houses three schools — Noel Community Arts School, Denver Center for International Studies Montbello and STRIVE Prep- Montbello — with about 1,800 students among them.
For years, the school had been having issues with temperature in certain classrooms and often times a system failure would pull kids out of one room until repairs could be completed. Some classrooms would get as cold as 50 degrees, while others were approaching 90 degrees.
The improvements are funded as part of the. This is one of the first projects to get underway as a result of the bond’s passage.
“In an 89-degree room, you’re not focused on testing, a report, a project. You’re burning up,” Noel Community Arts School middle school principal Rhonda Juett said. “I think it sends a message that we care and that we’re trying to make sure students are successful.”
In addition to the HVAC system upgrade, the school will also be equipped with LED lighting to help save on costs throughout the year and make the life of the campus facilities operations supervisor a lot easier. Bob Archuleta said he’s excited to see the HVAC improved and to not have to change lightbulbs in classrooms or hallways as often.
“Itap going to be huge for us. Our boiler system is old, the chillers are old and outdated,” he said. “Itap going to be better for everyone in the building and I’ll be a lot happier.”
The LED lights will be important for cost savings and provide better lighting for arts students at Noel, who are often left in dim rooms trying to produce art.
“Itap a pretty exciting update for what we do,” Juett said.
Thanks to the 2016 bond, DPS will be able to take care of this expensive issue in one summer rather than budgeting over several years.
DPS director of sustainability Jim Faes said it will help the districtap maintenance team — they won’t have so many calls out at the Montbello campus because of temperature issues.
“We found the fewest complaints come from when itap an even temperature throughout the building. Thatap the goal,” Faes said.
DPS has hired McKinstry construction company to complete the work over this summer, which may send some summer school classes off campus.
Some of the rooms have already have LED mockups so students and staff can see what the lighting will look like next year.
“DPS is being great stewards of the dollars through the bond program and spending money not just to upgrade the school, but generating energy savings,” McKinstry business development manager Dan Gacnik said.
DPS executive director of facility management Trena Deane said that fixes like these at Montbello will help the district save money in the long run and allow it to invest more in the classroom.
“Itap very important for us that we save on operating costs. The less we put into operating costs, the more we put into classrooms,” Deane said. “The superintendent has made it clear that the classroom and students are a priority and we want to make sure we do our part so we can put money there.”