Air conditioning installation approved at portions of Shaler Area High School, Middle School

Discussions were held during the Shaler Area School Board meetings in September regarding adding air conditioning to portions of the high school and the IT room for the middle school.

The cost to install the air conditioning will be $958,000.

The motion passed in a vote of seven to two, with board members Tim Gapsky and Suzanna Donahue voting against the installation of the high school gym air conditioning.

The high school will see air conditioning installing in gym A, the auxiliary gymnasium and the wrestling room, and the middle school will have it installed in the information technology server room.

“I just think the money could have been better spent on air conditioning in other classrooms in other schools in the district,” Gapsky said. “I just see it as a want and not a need. There are 240 classrooms within the district that have no air conditioning – $432,000 for a gym is pretty expensive.”

Currently, the only school in the district that is fully air-conditioned is the new Scott Primary School. Once the approved installations take place at the high school, that building will also be fully air-conditioned.

School board president James Tunstall indicated during the meeting that the plan was to finish one school, in this case, the high school, and move on to the next.

“I do respect my other board members for their decision,” Gapsky said.

Additional items that passed during the second September board meeting included approval for the girls’ volleyball team to travel to State College, Pa., for a tournament in October and resignations of business education teacher Lisa Megliorino, elementary school paraprofessional Cheryl Mongelluzzo and part-time custodian Mark Heslet.

The next school board meeting will be held on Oct. 13 at the Shaler Area Middle School Library located on Mt. Royal Blvd.