Two Columbia elementary schools fix heating issues

Officials are looking into what caused heating problems at two Columbia schools.

On Friday, Russell Boulevard Elementary dismissed their students early when temperatures dropped inside the school. The same day, Blue Ridge Elementary found it also had problems with its heating system.

At Monday night’s school board meeting, Columbia Public Schools Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations Officer Linda Quinley said the repairs could cost upwards of $100,000.

“It was one of those situations where if it could go wrong, it went wrong,” Michelle Baumstark with CPS said.

Friday, Baumstark said Russell Boulevard Elementary School employees found temperatures had dropped to about 65 degrees inside the school. After 30 to 45 minutes of looking into the problem, the school sent students home about two hours early.

“We thought that it would be a quick fix,” Baumstark said. “And as we got into researching and investigating the issue, realized that no it was not going to be a quick fix, and realized that we were going to need some additional time and that that building would be without heat during that period. And of course, that was on a particular day where it was pretty cold outside.”

The problem was a broken valve within the school’s geothermal heating system, Baumstark said.

Then, when they went to Blue Ridge Elementary, which has a similar heating system, to borrow a part, they realized they were having a heating issue there as well.

Underground pipes broke at the second school, Baumstark said. However, both school’s heating systems were installed eight years ago and are out of warranty. And the company that made the heating systems, Groundsource, is no longer in business so the replacement parts were harder to find.

“We have contingency funds that allow us to plan for emergencies,” Baumstark said. “And hopefully this won’t be too costly, but we’re unsure at this point.”

On top of replacing the broken parts, they had to replenish costly chemicals in both systems, hire a special welder and specialty crews to work over the weekend and have staff come in to make sure everything was up and running properly before Monday, Baumstark said.

The heating system was fixed before classes began Monday, Baumstark said. She said they’ll have a better idea of the total cost after the reparis at Blue Ridge are completed.

Three other elementary schools including Fairview, Benton and Parkade have the same heating system, according to Baumstark. They have checked those three schools, and all heating systems are working properly.