| Ute Perkins Prepares For Renovation Project | |||
| By FRANCIS ORTIZ Moapa Valley Progress Published Sept. 23, 2009 About a week before school started this year the Clark County School District (CCSD) staff installed three portable buildings at the campus of Ute V. Perkins Elementary School. These portables are to serve as temporary class rooms while the CCSD workers install a new central heating and air conditioning system at the school. Some additional improvements will be also made at the same time. |
 Portable classrooms stand at the ready at Perkins Elementary. Perkins students are expected to relocate into the portable classes early next year during a major renovation project at the school. |
||
| For the past five years Perkins Elementary School has had an air conditioning problem. The class rooms are very warm during the fall and spring class sessions. When current eighth grader Vada Ortiz heard about the renovation that was finally in progress, she exclaimed “It’s about time!” Vada was a student at Perkins elementary from grades 3-5.
Perkins Elementary School was scheduled for a new AC system prior to the end of the latest renovation deadline 2010. Recently Teachers Union representitives visited the campus at Perkins Elementary and noticed how warm it was. This prompted a closer look at the construction schedule and a revision was made which hastened the project and brought the three portables. The portables are in place now, but are not yet being used. The goal is to have the students in the portables and the AC renovation started by the end of January 2010, say school officials.While the renovations are in progress all class room activity will move into the portables, said school principal Ken Paul. The main focus of the project will be to replace the central heating and air conditioning unit. This will require removing the existing ceiling to replace the old system ducts. In addition he computer room will be upgraded with supply cabinets and computer tables that have cable trays. Furthermore, all of the classrooms will be wired for drop down ceiling projectors, including the library and multi-purpose room. Finally, the whole school will be getting new carpeting and all rooms will receive a new coat of paint. These renovations will be financed through a school bond approved by voters in 1998, Paul said. That ten year bond expired last year. But on July 18, 2008 the Clark County School District Board of School Trustees voted to extend the 1998 bond in order to continue planned school construction and renovation for two more years and to prepare a bond question on the ballot in 2010. More information on the 1998 bond issue can be found at www.bondinfo.ccsd.net. |
