Lynn schools getting their summer fix

LYNN – When Cobbet Elementary School Principal Susanne Garrity walked into her office June 9 to find water-soaked ceiling tiles and light fixtures covering the floor, she knew exactly who to call.Dispatched to Cobbet by city Inspectional Service Director Michael Donovan, ISD project manager Joe Smart took stock of the Cobbet mess and started on the cleanup and repairs.?Joe was here in minutes,” Garrity said.The project proved to be complicated but Garrity “didn?t miss a beat,” running the 589-student school out of Cobbet?s library for the remainder of the school year.She should be back in her office by as early next week with contractors completing repairs as part of a summertime fix-up plan for Cobbet that includes new state-of-the-art floor tiling and repairs to its aging steam-heating system.The 88-year-old facility is one of 21 public schools in the city undergoing repairs and upgrades as part of an annual flurry to fix up the buildings while students and school employees are out for the summer.Donovan said the work has to be done as part of an ongoing effort to keep older buildings such as Cobbet functional and safe, and to provide long-term energy savings in public buildings throughout the city.?We pump out a lot of work in a small period of time,” Smart said. “We start planning in January and, as soon as school let?s out, everything is in place,” Smart said.A long-term contract signed by the City Council this year with energy provider Trane USA will pay over time for energy savings improvements in schools, including Breed Middle School, Connery, Callahan and the school administration building at 100 Bennett St.Heating and ventilation equipment upgrades are also planned for the modular buildings next to Sisson and Tracy schools and Ford and Hood schools. Workers will refinish Washington School?s auditorium floor; undertake boiler work in Pickering Middle School; upgrade handicapped bathrooms in Sewell Anderson School; replace fire doors in Lincoln Thomson School and undertake a laundry list of projects in the Fecteau Leary School and the Lynn Vocational Technical Institute fieldhouse.This summer?s work inside Cobbet follows up on a window replacement project in the school last summer.?The school was so bad, you couldn?t even see out the windows,” Smart said.The school?s new flooring features polyvinyl chloride tiles fit together like puzzle pieces over the school?s first- and second-floor linoleum tiles. Smart said the “floating floor” is easy to install and the tiles will also be laid down on floors in Callahan and Ingalls School.Longtime school contractor Robert W. Irvine and Sons is doing steam pipe repair work in Cobbet and other schools. Many school boilers have been replaced in recent years – Cobbet?s got upgraded in 2006 – but the elderly steam pipes need periodic work, Smart said.?The pipes are mostly original,” he said. “There are a lot of steam leak issues.”Donovan said $4 million in energy work will be done in city buildings this summer in conjunction with the Trane contract, as well as $1.2 million in school renovation work. Garrity said she looks forward to returning to her office, but said the pipe leak and resulting damage taught Cobbet students an important lesson about handling the unexpected.?They all wanted to make sure I was OK,” she said.