Lynn Tech students install radiator covers at school

LYNN – All winter long, Washington Community School Director Janice Sheehan was dealing with a problem. The heating system in the early 20th century school building was working, but the radiators in the classrooms would get so hot that teachers were having to rearrange their classrooms to avoid putting students in danger.With elementary aged special education students roaming the halls, Sheehan knew something had to be done to alleviate the problem, but ran into roadblocks when city officials told her it was too expensive to purchase and install radiator covers for her school.”It was getting to be a real problem,” she said. “They would just get so hot you couldn’t get near them without being burned. I had teachers rearranging classrooms just to keep the students away.”Realizing that the radiator problem was a real safety issue, the city and school department were able to spring into action for Sheehan with the help of vocational students from Lynn Vocational and Technical Institute.Thanks to a summer employment grant through John Kasian at the city’s Economic and Community Development office, five students from the LVTI metal fabrication shop were hired to design, construct and install radiator covers for every classroom in the school, a move that is saving the city thousands of dollars in labor and supply costs.Seniors Octavia Harper, Jeffery Ekstrom, Havey Espinosa and graduated senior Kevin Lally have been working throughout the summer designing, engineering, cutting and fabricating sheet metal to fit both the nine- and 13-foot radiators in the school. The goal of the group is to install four each day until the project is completed.This is not the first time that the city has utilized LVTI students for such projects, as representatives from the school are working on OSHA compliance projects for the second straight year, but the radiator cover initiative is the first of its kind.Organizers estimated that hiring an outside contractor to install the covers would run the city upwards of $35,000, but by hiring students from LVTI to do the job, the city is paying much less in labor and is paying less for supply costs, too.For the students and the school as a whole, it is a way to gain experience, get a temporary job in the field they are studying and get their name out in the industry.”It is a win-win all around,” said instructor Joseph Fountain. “These kids are doing all of the work at a fraction of the cost. And it is the kids, they are the ones that deserve all of the credit. They are doing all of this.”In all, the LVTI students will install 28 unit covers by the end of the summer and there is talk about having the students do the same at other schools.