WOODSTOCK — Plagued by failing infrastructure and a heating system that dates back to the 1950s, school officials have started to raise private money to help pay for the expected $80 million construction of a new net-zero energy high school and middle school building in Woodstock.
The project has already received two anonymous pledges, one for $1.5 million and another for $125,000, said Jim Fenn, director of finance for the Windsor Central Supervisory Union. To fully fund construction, residents from all of the towns in the district must vote to approve a bond measure. This would likely happen in 2024, either at March’s Town Meeting or through a special vote.
“The school district is looking at ways to limit the taxpayer contribution to make it a more attractive option for voters,” said Ben Ford, a school board member for the seven-town district, adding that they’re examining ways to increase the contribution they receive from the state education fund.
Each member town in the district — which includes Woodstock, Barnard, Bridgewater, Pomfret, Reading, Killington and Plymouth — would see an equal increase in their homestead property tax rates if the school bond is approved by voters. Tuition increases for the district’s schools, the rates to be decided by the school board, would also help pay for the new building.
Schools account for roughly 11% of energy consumption by U.S. buildings, and the steam-heating system at Woodstock Union, which runs on oil, contributes to the 1.8 million pounds of carbon dioxide emitted each year from the current building.
“School buildings are your leading suspects in terms of environmental impact, because they’re just so big and often pretty old,” Ford said.
A net-zero high school and middle school would mean that the energy created on site, likely through solar panels, would account for the total amount of energy used annually in the building. The proposed project draws inspiration from the school’s next-door neighbor: Union Arena is the country’s first net-zero indoor ice rink.
Deliberations have lasted for years as school officials and taxpayers considered the expensive construction costs for a new building, and pricing has continued to increase amid pandemic shortages and inflation. The Windsor Central concluded a two-year study of building conditions in 2019 by recommending total renovation. An index measuring the depleted value of a building ranked Woodstock Union Middle and High School — which serves around 570 students — as having the second-worst facility condition score in the state, according to a report from the Vermont Agency of Education.
Crumbling infrastructure comes with its own price tag. The last school year alone saw $150,000 in emergency repairs to the high school’s HVAC system, and several classrooms fell out of commission due to heating difficulties. Old windows, leaky doors and single-story sprawl mean the flagging steam heating system has to work harder to do its job, further hampering energy efficiency.
While the school prepares to publicly launch its fundraising, and to make it through another heating season, Leigh Sherwood is in the initial stages of designing a new kind of energy system altogether.
Sherwood, who works for the firm Lavallee Brensinger out of its Manchester, N.H., office, was hired to design the building and has a history in sustainable school architecture. It’s important that structures are built with energy efficiency in mind, he said.
In the case of Sherwood’s design for Woodstock, this would be achieved through a new two-story building, oriented toward the sun to maximize solar power harvest and natural lighting.
“We know that if we take all of this into account on the front end, we’ll get better results for energy later on,” Sherwood said in a phone interview. “And we won’t have to throw a bunch of bells and whistles and fancy technology at it later.”
To move away from carbon-based energy sources such as oil and gas, the proposed building would produce its own electricity onsite — which could power an electric heating system like a heat pump.
Vanessa Cramer has taught environmental science and biology at Woodstock Union High School for 10 years. She sees sustainable design as in line with the school’s values and the new building as a teaching tool for the possibilities of going net-zero.
“We have a ton of students interested in environmental science and passionate about the planet,” Cramer said. “They recognize how inefficient we are and how much energy we use, how much better the building could be.”
A new building would also make school days more bearable. “Right now, the classrooms are either sweltering or freezing,” Cramer said.
It’s tough on her students, who get distracted by the fluctuating temperatures. At this point, they’re used to bringing clothing layers to school with them.
Joe Rigoli, the school district’s director of buildings and grounds, described the existing steam heating system as “very fragile” and difficult to repair. “No one really knows how to work on such old boilers anymore,” he said.
Rigoli is taking advantage of the summer months to tune up the system and staring down another winter of working seven days a week to keep it running.
“Hopefully we can pull it off again,” Rigoli said.
Frances Mize is a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at fmize@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.