DPS Funds School Building Repairs With $2 Million

It’s Monday, May 20.

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Good morning, readers. 

Recently, parents of Durham Public Schools elementary school students have made their frustrations with the conditions of many of the school district’s aging buildings known. 

Now, the school board will use $2 million in federal funds to make the most pressing repairs to some of the buildings, including HVAC repairs and others, according to interim superintendent Catty Moore. The funds are part of the district’s remaining American Rescue Plan funds and expire in September. 

At a work session last week, Moore told the board she has asked the district’s senior executive director of building services to make a list of the school system’s most pressing maintenance needs and estimates of their costs for repairs.  

The district will need more than $2 million to make the repairs to the school buildings, and the board asked for more in its annual budget request to the Durham County Board of Commissioners. Larry Johnson, the school system’s chief operating officer, estimated maintenance costs to total around $10 million. 

And with an increase of 4,800 students predicted by the 2033-2034 academic year, at an estimated cost of $100,000 per seat, the board will need to consider “the need for more seats, as well as suitable learning environments,” according to the district’s senior executive director of school planning and operational services. 

Have a good Monday.

—Jane

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