At a special meeting Thursday, the Baldwin City school board agreed that repair of the Baldwin Elementary School Intermediate Center roof was the most needed of three expensive capital projects facing the district.

With board member Chad Christie absent, the board voted 6-0 to repair the roof this summer at an estimated cost between $180,000 and $370,000. District facilities director Chuck James shared those estimates with the board with other information about the BESIC roof and two other expensive projects the board deemed critical, the estimated $1.7 million reconditioning of the Baldwin High School heating and air conditioning system and the repair of the high school’s roof and further weatherproofing of its exterior for $350,000.

With the decision to move ahead first with the BESIC roof, those latter projects will be deferred, although there remains a possibility that two sections of the high school roof, which are above the school’s administrative and counseling offices, could be added to the summer work schedule if their inclusion significantly reduced their cost by cutting a contractor’s mobilization charges. As a standalone project, those parts of the high school roof were expected to cost about $10,000 to repair, James said.

The price range on the BESIC roof reflected the cost of its replacement with an all-new roof compared to its “refurbishment,” James said. His opinion was that much if not all of the roof needed to be completely replaced, but he said there were sections where the less expensive refurbishment could be an option.

The district will learn more about the conditions of the BESIC and high school roofs when infrared tests are performed on them in the weeks ahead, James said. The test will costs $3,200 per roof.

A new BESIC roof or a refurbished one would both be eligible for a 20-year warranty, James said. Unfortunately for the district, the architect for the BESIC project failed to get such a warranty when the school was being constructed 12 years ago, Superintendent Paul Dorathy said.

The board made its decision after James agreed the high school HVAC unit wouldn’t completely fail, although components might need to be replaced. The district is rolling the dice that expensive components not part of the eventual reconditioned system, such as compressors and an evaporator, will not fail.

Another factor in the decision to address the BESIC roof first is the probable availability of a federal interest-free loan through the Kansas Department of Education for work on that building. That loan is not available for work at the high school because the school does not have enough students on free and reduced-price lunches to qualify for the program.

Board members were clear their primary concern was to stop water from leaking into the school, which would cause long-lasting damage and put students’ health at risk.

“It’s the mold issue that gets me,” Board President Nick Harris said. “There’s no way those buildings will ever dry out. I’m looking at the health of the students, the health of the teachers and the health of the building itself.”