By Tracy Ouellette
Editor
The East Troy School Board accepted a $30,000 grant from the Argosy Foundation for the East Troy Middle School robotics program at its Aug. 10 meeting.
The grant money will be used to improve components of the robotics course at the school and prepare the students for STEM opportunities in high school.
Argosy is a family foundation founded by John Abele, the co-founder of Boston Scientific. The foundation’s mission is to support people and programs to make society a better place to live. It seeks to employ creative and entrepreneurial approaches to help people help themselves and become self-sustaining whenever possible. It works to solve systemic problems, build teams and communities, create replicable solutions and inspire others to contribute in their own ways, according to its website (www.argosyfnd.org).
Seventh-grade math and robotics teacher Gary Lilla said the money will allow them to get “more robots” into the students hands at Monday night’s meeting. He said there was a possibility of another $20,000 for the district next year if the robotics program moves into the high school level.
District Administrator Chris Hibner commended Lilla on his hard work in obtaining the grant and with his student in the robotics program, saying the district would not have had this opportunity without Lilla’s dedication.
The grant will also be used to help create a STEM environment that redesigns a typical classroom using media-centered work stations, according to a press release from the middle school and Lilla said they will be moving toward JAVE programing and fabrication using 3D printing with printers purchased with grant funds.
Is the heat on?
There was a lengthy discussion at the meeting about the heat being off in the unused sections of Chester Byrnes and what it would take to get the system up and running again.
Board member Mike Zei said he was concerned with the possible damage from burst pipes in the cold weather and the face that having the heat off might lower the value of the building, which the board is looking to sell if the right buyer comes along.
Hibner reminded the board members that the school was closed in 2011 to save money and the nearly $30,000 annual savings on having most of the building shuttered was, in large part, to not having to heat that area.
Zei wanted to know what it would take to heat the building and Building and Grounds Director Bob Ellis said the system would have to be assessed, which included filling the system up and making sure everything “holds.” Ellis also cautioned the board that the old boiler in the building was difficult to keep running efficiently five years ago when it was shut down and he didn’t know how it would work now. He said he was concerned about it having to cycle too rapidly and that would cause a lot of wear and tear on the old system.
Ellis said assessing the heating would take about a day to a day and a half to do and would probably cost somewhere between $1,000 to $2,000.
Zei said he was “getting grief” from community members who thought the demolition of Chester Byrnes was a “done deal” because a large part of the building was being neglected.
Hibner said there were real budget considerations at the moment, as administration was working on setting the 2015-16 budget and financial constraints were top on his mind, especially if the board was considering heating the building this coming winter. He reminded the board that the reason they closed Byrnes in the first place was to save money on things like heat and maintenance.
“We made the decision but not at the detriment of the building,” board member Dawn Buchholtz said.
“Administration made the decision to leave the heat off,” Zei added.
The discussion was tabled until the next meeting when more information would hopefully be available about putting the building up for sale, which the board didn’t have Monday night because District Business Manager Kathy Zwirgzdas had not received a proposal from any of the four commercial relators she contacted about selling Byrnes. She said she sent out the proposal request and not one agent responded. Then she followed up with phone calls to each. Two of the commercial realtors didn’t bother to call her back. One wasn’t interested in pursuing the sale. Only one agent had some interest, but Zwirgzdas said he was having a hard time finding a possible use for the building.
The board members had been counting on information from the commercial realtors to help them form a list of requirement for the sale of the building. Zwirgzdas was directed to try to contact a couple more agents, which board President Ted Zess said he had some names for her, and to look into getting some type of appraisal on the building.
Zwirgzdas said an appraisal would be hard to get because appraisers use the intended use of the building as a benchmark for what it’s worth. Which they didn’t have.
