Linton Middle School to undergo internal improvements

Linton Middle School will be seeing some internal changes starting in November.

School board members voted Oct. 30 to approve phase one of the school’s HVAC upgrade project. When the project is finished, classrooms will have new unit ventilation systems and controls, allowing teachers to make temperature adjustments for heat or air as needed. Classrooms also will be getting new flooring and bookshelves.

In addition to the HVAC updates, the school will undergo a boiler house update at the same time. That project will include four new boilers, two new hot water pumps, three new domestic hot water tanks, electrical upgrades, new building automation and controls integration, as well as water proofing to include a French drain and ground restoration.

“We did start work on the boiler house this week,” Superintendent John Mozzocio said in an email. “(The contractor) is currently taking measurements and finalizing orders of new equipment.”

Work is expected to take place over the next three months.

“Work for the projects will occur during the school year but will not interfere with classes,” Mozzocio said.

He said classroom work will include a block of five to seven rooms at a time. Classes will be relocated to other rooms at Linton that are not currently in use. The work for each block of rooms is expected to take about two to three weeks to complete.

A new smoke and fire alarm system also will be installed at the school, but there is no timeline for the start or completion of that work.

This will be the first boiler update in about 25 years, and the classroom univents being replaced are original to the building from 1968. While Linton’s office, kitchen, library and media center HVAC was renovated in 2023, this will be the first HVAC update in the school’s auditorium and administration offices since 2009 and 2005, respectively.

“We are predicting the boiler house repairs and upgrade to be completed by the end of February,” Mozzocio said. “We are aiming for the classroom projects to be completed by Sept. 1, 2025. The goal is to have the classrooms ready for the start of the new school year.”

The district was awarded $3 million in funding, with $2.3 million coming from a state Department of Education environmental repairs grant requiring the district to supply a 50% match and $1.7 million from a Department of Community and Economic Development school facility improvement grant requiring a 25% match.