Williamstown Elementary is using funds from a Williams College endowment to replace the original classroom televisions, left, installed when the school was built, with new projectors.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Hot new technology and hot water were on the agenda for the Williamstown Elementary School Committee on Wednesday night.

 

The panel decided to make two building upgrades recommended by the disrict's building renewal committee: the replacement of 32-inch televisions with high-tech projectors and the installation of new controls on the school's boilers.

 

Both projects will be funded by the interest generated from a building renewal endowment created by Williams College at the time the school was built.

 

The endowment, which stands at $1.1 million, made $361,000 available to the district for the physical renewal of the building. Once a year, the School Committee considers whether to use the available funds or roll all or part back into the interest-bearing account.

 

The projector project will cost $57,653, and the new controls on the boilers will cost $39,781 — partly to be offset by utility incentives.

 

The latter project will make the school's boilers more efficient by allowing the three boilers to operate properly when demands are placed on the system for hot water from lavatories or the school cafeteria.

 

Currently, all three boilers fire simultaneously instead of allowing the first boiler to supply the hot water storage tank while the second serves as a backup, according to a report from Universal Electric, the Springfield-based contractor that reviewed the system.

 

"The other qty-2 boilers are cold, so they start running to warm up water, but basically this is a huge waste of fuel (natural gas), it also shortens the life of the boiler, having to start/stop like this," a letter from Universal Electric reads.

 

"It's a nagging matter," School Committee and Building Renewal Committee member John Skavlem said. "It's not an inconsequential cost to address it, but the issue is the boilers are not operating correctly, and they're using excess natural gas.

 

"What it boils down to — pun intended, I couldn't resist — is that the old Johnson Controls installed when the building was built are basically no longer supported. ... No one can figure out how to get them to speak their language so the building can operate as efficiently as it should."

 

Technology Coordinator Tom Welch and Principal Joelle Brookner address the School Committee.

The other building upgrade on the horizon is aimed at greater efficiency in the classroom. The school began last year to replace the original wall-mounted televisions with projectors that cast images on the classroom's white board, but it only had the funds to upgrade the technology in the fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms.

 

The proceeds from the endowment will allow the school to do the remaining classrooms in Grades 1-4, the library, the computer labs, the art room and the conference room.

 

"When the building was built, we installed the TVs that are giant and useless for us now," Principal Joelle Brookner told the committee. "The projectors are literally a fundamental need in the school. [The project] fits the mission of the building renewal fund because it's instrumental for us trying to do our job."

 

Teachers can operate the smart projectors from a desktop or laptop computer or a tablet, or the projectors can be used on their own without a computer, Technology Coordinator Tom Welch told the committee.

 

Welch obtained four quotes for the project. The low bid, from Chicopee's Valley Communications, was approved by the School Committee on Wednesday. Valley Communications is the company that installed the current projectors; the bid includes the cost of removing and recycling the old televisions, Welch said.