Sustainability Summary:
Pierce Middle School:
Pierce Middle School is currently participating in a recycling program facilitated by Recycle Max. A large holding bin is provided for unusable paper products for recycling purposes. The students and staff receive literature on how recycling paper is beneficial to the community and environment. The information and feedback from Recycle Max is presented in cognitive lessons and taught to the students during Science Class. Recycle Max also provides a stipend for an indicated tonnage of paper products. The paper that is not placed in the Recycle Max bin goes towards the school wide paper re-use project. Paper is used once for student handouts or staff informational usage and then collected and placed in a second use holding area for future usage towards one-side copies.
Property Description:
Pierce Middle School was built in 1959 with the last major renovation in 1997. The school is a two story building with approximately 132,852 square feet of floor area. There are currently 779 students in grades 6-8, with 47 teachers.
The building consists of thirty-three (33) classrooms, a metal shop, wood shop, home economics room, seven (7) science labs, band room, choir room, cafeteria, four (4) computer labs and two (2) gymnasiums.
This building has a poorly insulated wall construction and adequately insulated roof. The building has a single ply roofing system with approximately 2” rigid insulation. The walls are un-insulated brick/block construction and the windows were replaced in 1997 with energy efficient tinted double pane glass. Entrance doors are aluminum frame with single pane glass and are in good condition.
The major mechanical equipment is in fair condition. Four (4)13 year old standard efficiency hot water boilers supply heating hot water to air handlers, unit ventilators and fan coil units. These boilers are well maintained and should last another 10 years. One (1) 13 year old air-cooled chiller provides cooling for the facility. Outdoor air-cooled chillers average life expectancy is between 15 to 30 years. The existing chiller appears to be in good condition.
Lighting for this building meets today’s standards for efficiency and is mainly T8 fluorescent lamps. Limited quantities of incandescent and high intensity discharge (HID) lamps are in use and should be phased out with more efficient alternatives as they fail. Exterior building surface mounted lamps are high pressure sodium (HPS) wall packs.