St. Bernard Parish committee hears updates on security, HVAC and stadium video boards

Jason Dewey, the district facilities official, told the St. Bernard Parish School Board General Committee on Jan. 13 that a string of safety and facilities projects are complete or underway across the district.

"I'm happy to say that's gone extremely well," Dewey said of the security-film installations on storefront glass, which he said would be finished in February. He added that controlled-access card swipes at school and office entrances are about 95% complete and are awaiting final clearance from the state fire marshal.

Dewey listed recent and upcoming work: replacement of two major HVAC units at central office and a large locker-room unit at Bobby Nelson Stadium; a comprehensive waterproofing project at the Freshman Academy; roadway reinforcement and a new concrete chain wall along the east edge of St. Bernard Middle School; and a large returf of the Chalmette High School softball infield. He said new full-size video scoreboards and upgraded digital signage for Chalmette High are ordered and expected to be installed in April–May.

On transportation safety, Dewey said the district purchased new bus radios that will operate on the statewide LWIN emergency network and that installations should be completed before the school year ends once state approvals finish.

The district has advertised a renovation project to convert the public library space at the cultural arts center into classrooms; the bid closes Feb. 3, and board members scheduled a special meeting on Feb. 10 to tabulate bids and award the contract if the bid opening proceeds smoothly.

Board members several times credited the maintenance millage for making many projects feasible and asked questions about redundancy and lifecycle planning for chillers and other systems. Dewey said most sites have at least two chillers to avoid full outage and that the district is taking a proactive approach to replacement planning.

The committee did not take formal votes on the facilities work itself; members thanked Dewey and invited him to return with further updates at the Feb. 10 meeting.