Officials say $500K study to assess Rock Hill schools expected to save money

Spending up to half a million dollars to study the condition of Rock Hill schools could save that much over the next five years, district leaders say.

The Rock Hill district, with more than 3.4 million square feet of schools and office space, has some schools with original buildings nearly 70 years old, said Deputy Superintendent Tony Cox.

Cox said spending up to $500,000 for a comprehensive study of schools could save that much in maintenance costs in one to five years. He also said it could find problems that must be fixed before they break.

The Rock Hill school board unanimously agreed last week to move forward with the comprehensive facilities study, the first time such a study has been done.

“We shouldn’t be doing anything that doesn’t give us a return,” said board chair Jim Vining. However, he said, “the lower our operating costs are, the more money we have to put teachers in the classroom.”

Cox said the study, which he hopes can be completed by Christmas, would inspect systems including plumbing, electrical, fire protection, security and fire alarms, air conditioning, walls, windows, doors and flooring, paving and lighting. He said the district pays a separate consultant to study and forecast roofing needs.

“It’s like a really giant inspection,” Cox said.

School board member Jane Sharp questioned the need to pay for a study, saying district employees do regular inspections of the buildings.

“I am not quite sure why we need to spend $500,000 to go out and get a consultant to tell us how to do something we know how to do for ourselves,” Sharp said.

Cox said the facilities study will go beyond what district employees do on a regular basis to determine maintenance needs and assess equipment.

“If we can forecast when a system will break, that tells us a lot more,” Cox said. “It gets into predictive maintenance. It gets us away from breakdown or crisis management.”

Board member Terry Hutchinson spoke in favor of the study, saying it would give the district “a 10-year window” to determine needs. He said it would inspect crawl spaces or other areas that may get less regular attention.

Brian Vaughan, executive director of facilities services, said the study was recommended by a district Pathfinders master planning team of about 30 people, including district employees and community representatives.

Vaughan said the facilities department does a good job with regular maintenance but “we need some help” to forecast the future condition of some systems.

Vaughan also said he believes the inspection would help schools avoid the down time that can happen when operating systems break.

Cox said as Rock Hill schools age, decisions about when to replace things versus repair them can be costly. Some school buildings, including those at Richmond Drive, Oakdale and Ebinport elementary schools, date to 1948-49.

Cox said professional building management groups recommend such an assessment be done by an outside group every five to seven years. He said the district will hire a consultant through a bid process.

The initial cost for an assessment is about 15 cents per square foot, Cox said. After the first study, the cost of future studies is usually lower, he said.

He said the inspection will provide the district with a computer program and drawings that list building deficiencies and include priorities. The information can be used to develop a plan for the future, he said.

He said it will include recommendations on how long equipment, systems and materials can be expected to last and when things should be replaced rather than fixed.

“The cost to repair something after it has broken can be up to 10 times greater than the cost to replace it when you are predicting that it will fail and can replace it ahead of time,” Cox said.

Board member Walter Brown said the cost would be money well spent.

“A program like this is to identify problems before they happen,” he said.

This story was originally published July 3, 2016 at 7:56 PM with the headline "Officials say $500K study to assess Rock Hill schools expected to save money."