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Schools

Clayton School Board Approves Emergency Funding for Damaged Skylights

The School District of Clayton will give nearly $170,000 to cover half the cost of replacing four ceiling windows and perform other maintenance at The Center of Clayton.

Faulty skylights at sports and recreational facility will receive an emergency fix thanks in part to an infusion of cash from the .

The Clayton Board of Education voted to approve the transfer of nearly $170,000 to the Clayton Recreation, Sports and Wellness Commission at its regular meeting Wednesday night. The amount represents half of the estimated $335,000 necessary to replace the skylights and complete needed tuckpointing repairs.

The other half will likely be contributed by the . The Board of Aldermen will take up the issue at its next meeting, scheduled for Tuesday. The capital fund injection is in addition to the $150,000 that the city and school district contribute to the Center’s budget annually.

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Patty DeForrest, Clayton's parks and recreation director, and school district facilities manager Tom Wonish explained the urgency behind the request at a joint meeting of the aldermen and school board to approve the 2011-2012 budget for the recreation commission. That meeting also happened Wednesday night.

Wonish said the structural integrity of the skylights came into question following an inspection from their manufacturer in May 2010. The company argued that a faulty installation had caused the problems, but the district’s independent assessment determined the product itself could be at fault.

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“There was a lot of back and forth for months and months ,and it came to the point we felt we shouldn’t work with them anymore and find something better,” Wonish said.

The recreation commission’s search resulted in a low bid of $287,000 for the replacements. The two gym skylights are to be completed this fall, and the two above the pool are to be finished next summer during the aquatic facility’s August shutdown. The tuckpointing was added for $48,000 to take advantage of savings earned by doing the two projects at the same time.

A piece of the metal trim on a pool skylight recently started to peel away from the main structure, underscoring the need for an upgrade. Wonish described the stray section as small but added that “it could hurt somebody” if it fell.

Board of Education member Omri Praiss said the skylight replacement is the kind of unforeseeable spending that is “necessary, unfortunately.” After some questions from the board, Chief Financial Officer Mary Jo Gruber of the Clayton school district explained that potential savings elsewhere in the budget this year would be enough to offset the $170,000 expense.

The board approved her recommendation to take the money from the district’s operating fund.

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