Updates Almost Complete At Mack Lyon Middle School

By NICK YAMASHITA

The Progress

A whole series of renovations at Mack Lyon Middle School are reaching their completion. On Monday, Feb. 22, Lyon Principal Ken Paul announced that the recent construction and improvement projects at the campus are in the “substantial completion” stages.

“We have been getting some big changes done,” said Paul. “Most of that work has been on the upgrading of our HVAC unit and system.”

The HVAC which runs the heating and cooling systems of the school was completely upgraded and replaced over the past several months.

“Everything but the piping was replaced,” explained Paul. “We have a central system with a ‘chiller room’ and a ‘boiler room’. They run on diesel fuel, which makes us one of the only, if not the only school in the district that has a diesel fuel system.”

The contracted company was US Mechanical, along with Clark County School District Construction Management Department, who supervised and did the work on campus and on the HVAC system.

They also worked on a cooling tower which acts like a swamp cooler before switching to freon-based air conditioning system.

Paul said that, while finishing up the project the work crews noticed there was a big leak in one of the pipes below the Chiller Room. Those repairs had to be added to the contract with US Mechanical.
“They held a meeting every week and I made sure I attended about 90% of those meetings,” Paul said. “One week it was in person and other weeks online, but I wanted to make sure the needs of the school were met and I had a say in the designing phase and throughout the project.”

Paul reported the companies stayed on schedule and followed the timeline planned. Only a small delay occurred with the broken water line mentioned above.

“The biggest change that I had to fight for is that every single classroom now has a thermostat,” Paul said. “Before it was several classrooms in zones that shared one thermostat. So this will be a huge benefit to the comfort of our students and staff.”

In addition to the work being done on the HVAC system, Overton Power District also helped upgrade the electrical wiring into the school.

“The wiring was old and above ground,” Paul said. “OPD helped replace the older wiring, get it all underground. That enhanced the safety and limited potential hazards. That was a huge need that was satisfied.”

The contractors are now just finishing up the work on the school over the next couple of weeks, Paul said.
“This comes at a perfect time!” he added. “We know the kids will be coming back to school possibly full-time in the fall.”

Paul expressed appreciation to Vincenzo Scalia of the CCSD Construction Management, the US Mechanical team, and to OPD5 for their help in completing the projects in such a timely manner.