State inspector grants occupancy permit for Trinity High School

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Friday, September 2, 2005

State inspector grants occupancy permit for Trinity High School

BY JOHN RICHARDS, Staff writer

jrichard@...

http://www.observer-reporter.com/294229413551370.bsp

Despite its external appearance, Trinity Area High School will be

ready for classes to begin Sept. 6.

The state Department of Labor and Industry on Thursday awarded

Trinity Area School District an occupancy permit for the high

school, enabling the district to start classes as scheduled.

The district earlier in the week also completed encapsulation work

at Trinity West and Trinity North elementary schools to address mold

on the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems at the

schools.

The occupancy permit, coupled with the eleventh-hour encapsulation

work, was the district administration's final construction hurdle

before the end of the summer break.

A Labor and Industry inspector spent the afternoon touring the high

school before the district received word about 4 p.m. the building

could be occupied by students and staff, according to Superintendent

Turnbaugh.

The inspector found some minor issues – a faulty strobe light in the

fire alarm system and a misplaced door magnet, for example – but the

rest of the building met his approval.

One of the critical systems was the emergency lighting, activated in

the event of a buildingwide power failure. The system worked

flawlessly, school board President McCrerey said.

There are areas of the high school yet to be completed, according to

an Aug. 26 report from district architect Tom Durkin. Those areas

will be addressed during off hours and will not affect students, he

said.

Durkin expects the auditorium, district administration building and

the pavement behind the school to be completed by early October.

Contractors should have the entire project finished in December.

At the Trinity West and Trinity North, contractors encapsulated mold

on the HVAC pipe insulation to temporarily seal the mold during the

school year, Turnbaugh said. The district will award a contract to

be executed in June to reinstall all HVAC insulation at all four

elementary schools.

" The air sampling is being completed at all four buildings and we

hope to have results back (today), " Turnbaugh said. " We did East and

South to be able to have a comparison. "

Carpeting was removed in 10 Trinity West classrooms, although most

of the carpet was completely dry, he said. District staff also

removed carpet in two rooms at Trinity North.

Only one room at Trinity West had a wet carpet, but facilities

director Disque believes the water was seeping through the

classroom floor and did not come from the HVAC system.

The bare concrete floors will remain until the district can, room by

room, replace the carpet with tile flooring, Turnbaugh said.

So, bare floors and exposed conduit aside, Trinity Area students

will not have an extended summer vacation.

For parents who have not yet received bus schedules, bus stops are

posted on the doors of all four elementary schools and on the

district's Web site, www.trinitypride.org, according to

Beverina-Weaver, assistant superintendent.