Marblehead school heat a hot topic

MARBLEHEAD-As temperatures dipped to freezing and below last week, Superintendent of Schools Paul Dulac pondered a budget freeze to compensate for the cost of heating his schools – and contingency plans in case the heating system fails at the Marblehead Village School.The School Committee will discuss both issues in detail in two weeks.School Business Manager David Keniston told the committee Thursday evening that “all things being equal” the $882,000 for utilities and heating costs in the school budget and an additional $185,000 heating reserve account in the town budget would just cover his projected heating costs.Dulac told the committee he didn?t foresee a winter without emergencies and said there was a “strong possibility” that he would institute some kind of budget freeze after the weekend.?I can almost guarantee I?m going to do something Monday,” he said, adding he is currently seeking a higher amount for next year?s heating cost and heating reserve accounts.School Committee members were sympathetic. “Dave?s done an incredible job but we?ve hit a wall,” said Jonathan Lederman. Chairman Amy Drinker called the budget freeze “sadly appropriate – and nothing new.”That wasn?t all the bad weather news Dulac had for the committee.The superintendent said he toured the basement of the 700-student Marblehead Village School Thursday afternoon and found clouds of steam pouring from the heating pipes.The committee was planning to seek an override this spring to replace the school boilers, which date back to the 1930s, but Dulac said the distribution pipes are equally antiquated and must be replaced as well. One of the pipes will be patched this weekend.Dulac had hoped to get one more winter out of the boilers before replacing them. Should one fail this winter, he had a back-up plan, a replacement boiler he referred to as “a boiler on a truck.”Now his fear is that, “the distribution pipes will go before the boiler,” and if he replaces one pipe with new piping, “We?ll blow up the rest.”Whether the pipes go or the boiler does, the town may have to close the school temporarily, but Dulac said he has an alternative plan for that as well and “Our children will go to school.”