Last modified: Thursday, August 23, 2007 9:29 AM EDT Jason Parenteau, left, school facilities manager, Attleboro High School Principal Don Frederick, Attleboro Mayor Kevin Dumas and School Superintendent Pia Durkin look over renovations to a classroom at the high school on Wednesday. (Staff photo by KEITH NORDSTROM) Officials outline AHS woes BY RICK FOSTER SUN CHRONICLE STAFF ATTLEBORO - Like an aging boxer nursing aching muscles and joints, many parts of the nearly 50-year-old Attleboro High School building don't work as well as they used to. Roofing has deteriorated, plumbing has burst and heating during the winter is so problematic that one part of the building can be roasting while another is nearly ice cold. The school building, which received a major addition in the 1970s, lacks sufficient electrical power in some areas to support modern computers and many windows and doors are inoperable because replacement parts cannot be found. Yet school officials and maintenance personnel continue to battle to keep the school in good condition, improvising where necessary, as the city begins the formative process of applying for state approval for a major renovation project. The school committee and city council earlier this spring took steps to apply to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for aid, spelling out a number of areas where the school needs improvements or repairs. Actual construction is probably years away, however. "On factor in our favor is that the MSBA is taking into consideration the degree to which school districts are maintaining their present buildings, not just letting things go and waiting to build something new," said Superintendent Pia Durkin who, along with Mayor Kevin Dumas, school department business Manager Marc Furtado and facilities Manager Jason Parenteau, led members of The Sun Chronicle editorial board on a tour of the building Wednesday. "We're working very hard to maintain what we have." Durkin said special care has been taken to see that safety is not compromised. In recent years, various scenarios have been discussed to replace or renovate the existing school building build to house a maximum of 2,700 students. As yet, however, officials have not yet arrived at a firm prescription. Under MSBA procedures, school officials must present a statement of interest listing buildings or systems that need to be repaired. Deciding what course of action to take - repairs and renovations, build new or a combination of both - comes later in the process. Parenteau, who is employed by the school system's maintenance contractor Sodeixo, said keeping the current building running smoothly is a continuing contest between leaking roofs, balky windows and inadequate heating systems and those charged with keeping them in operation. The building's ancient heating system is a prime example. The original, 1960s vintage school was built with a steam-driven heating system that carries heated steam in metal pipes encased in concrete beneath the floor. As the pipes corrode they create leaks, wasting heating dollars and releasing heat and moisture beneath students' feet. But since the heating system was not designed with future repairs in mind, fixing leaks means dragging out the heavy construction equipment. "It's a matter of sawing the concrete and then jackhammering it out," said Parenteau who said leaks have forced maintenance crews to rip up portions of floors in the A Building classroom complex facing Capron Park and the music wing bordering the school parking lot. But the remaining pipes are in such poor condition that once major leaks are fixed, new leaks pop up in adjacent feeder or classroom heating lines. The same heating system also serves the 1970s addition, but steam has to travel so far that some portions of the building can be uncomfortably hot while others are chillingly cold, Parenteau said. The school department has replaced a number of doors and windows dating from the 1960s and 70s, Parenteau said, but some windows no longer operate normally because there is no supply of parts to replace broken or damaged ones. Some pieces have had to be fabricated specially. The plate glass windows in the William Dentch swimming facility became so corroded that they posed structural problems, Parenteau said. The school system recently replaced the windows with a translucent "Calwall" system. Roofs are another major problem with the building. In some places, rubber roofing was placed over traditional asphalt roofs on the high school many years ago as a cost-effective alternative. However, the rubber coating has now been pierced in many places causing water to leak and become trapped between the roof layers. In some cases water infiltration has penetrated insulation leaving it "like a wet sponge in a plastic bag," Parenteau said destroying the insulation value and leading to worsening leaks within the building. Although the school department has replaced sections of the roof, major problems remain. While the high school continues to add computers and expand computer labs in response to student needs, power in a building designed before the advent of the Internet and personal computing has been insufficient. "Usually, if we add even a few computers we have to bring in more power," Parenteau said. The schools have been able to handle many but not all of the chronic maintenance problems in-house, Parenteau said, and noted that a new classroom and laboratory area for the school's new Health Assisting career training program is being built entirely by staff members. Despite some obvious needs, Dumas and school officials agree it's too early to draw too many conclusions about a course of action and that assigning any pricetag at this point would be a guess. Attleboro High School is one of more than 400 statements of interest for potential projects submitted to the state so far, and it will take state officials some time to comb through the applications and assign priorities. Durkin said it is likely that state officials will schedule a meeting with the school department in December. A feasibility study and other steps would be required before any construction could begin.