Grant Seeks to Make Schools Emergency Ready

An Emergency Management Performance Grant sought by the school district will make up to all four school buildings more available during times of natural disaster, according to SAU 28 Business Administrator Adam Steel.

According to Steel, every dollar that is spent by the town will be matched by the federal government up to $43,800 of local tax dollars. The project would need to be completed by the fall of 2014 and be budgeted for the next fiscal year.

Board member Michael Joanis said that the generators at the schools don't need the upgrades to make the facilities capable in emergencies, but rather what is connected to the generators.

"You have to wire everything separately, you can't just simply share circuits," he said. "They are all separate.. you can't intermingle life safety with non-life safety items."

Steel said that the generators purchased leave the buildings operable during times of emergency, but not very accessible.

He cited an example of the power going out at the middle school, where the generator kept the boilers going but nobody could see in the building.

"There is emergency lighting in the hallways that run on batteries, but it is not significant," Steel said. "At 7 o'clock on a Monday morning it was very, very dark in those hallways."

Steel said that the cost to do the high school alone is $25,900 while Windham Center School is $19,500. With the grant, the town would contribute half of those costs.

Board members also mentioned the possibility of just upgrading one or two schools, rather than all four.

There are no penalties for the district not budgeting for the grant, except Steel said that it would place a black mark on the district and the town of Windham.

"From the federal government's perspective this is a town that says we need something – they chose us over other towns," he said.

Board member Stephanie Wimmer asked what would happen if the district goes to a default budget again. Steel said a conversation would have to happen with attorneys to see if the local contribution line item could be included in that default budget.