A second survey on the future facility needs of Charles City High School is scheduled to end Thursday.
An initial survey in March showed that 72% of the respondents recognized needs for the building that hasn’t seen any major upgrades in over 50 years. A community-driven task force has since developed a series of recommended solutions for review and is now seeking additional input to determine how the district and School Board can best move forward.
Needs identified as critical to effective teaching and learning for students now and in the future include technology updates and spaces that support 21st century learning. Addressing the building’s current heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system is considered an urgent need.
Jerry Mitchell, Director of Operations for the school district says, “Most air handlers we have are original to the building. They have outlasted their lifespan by many years and you cannot get the parts to fix them anymore.”
The survey asks respondents to consider three different approaches to addressing the school’s needs with options ranging in cost from as little as $13 to as much as $38 million. A fourth option is do nothing at this time, but the school district notes that waiting on improvements and upgrades could add over $4 million to costs three years down the road and over $7 million if the wait is another five years.
The anonymous survey takes about 7-10 minutes to complete and will be available through the end of the day on September 15. To take the survey online, please visit http://www.charlescitysurvey.org.
