Tippecanoe Valley Middle School Principal Scott Backus addresses the board during the Spotlight on the Valley section.

AKRON — The Tippecanoe Valley School Board heard about the ongoing HVAC project happening at the high school during the meeting held tonight, Feb. 17.

Maintenance Director Todd Glenn informed the board that the cooling tower at the high school has parts that are around 45 years old. This HVAC system has cost the corporation around $60,000 in repairs and was described as “obsolete” and “dysfunctional.”

The school has started installing a new air-cooled chiller with a remote heat exchanger that is planned to be operational for the 2020 cooling season. While Havel out of Fort Wayne is the mechanical contractor on the project, many aspects of the project are being done in-house. By doing this, Glenn said the cost savings were “substantial” but he was not comfortable giving an exact savings figure until the project is completed.

The total estimated cost of this project is $250,000. Glenn told the board that this HVAC project would make the system “100% more reliable.”

It was also announced that TVSC was awarded an Indiana Youth Institute School Capacity grant. Tippecanoe Valley is one of only four districts in the state to be awarded this grant.

The grant consists of 100 hours of coaching and technical assistance focused on the area of social-emotional learning. A consultant will be hand-selected to work with the school corporation during these hours.

The next regular school board meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, March 16 at TVHS.

In other news, the board:

• Heard a Spotlight on the Valley regarding new things happening at TVMS presented by Principal Scott Backus and other employees.
• Accepted an anonymous donation for Magical Meadows therapeutic horseback riding totaling $420, a donation from State Representative Ethan Mannin to the life skills class totaling $300 and a 1st Source Bank donation totaling $400.
• Approved the hiring of Sonia Cox, instructional assistant at TVMS and Hunter Ackerman, social studies teacher at TVHS. Approved extra-curricular assignments of Cory Patrick as assistant track coach at TVHS, Duane Burkhart, assistant boys golf coach at TVHS and Nick Kindig as boys golf coach at TVHS.
• Accepted the resignation of April Slone and Miranda Cramner, both cooks at TVHS.
• Approved an FFA Sunday field trip and an FFA overnight, out-of-state field trip.
• Heard an update on the ongoing softball facility project.
• Approved an addition to the school board policy regarding public concerns and complaints.
• Approved a 2020 census resolution declaring the school corporation’s support of the upcoming census.
• Approved adding AP French, AP European history, AP drawing, AP microeconomics & government, human-body systems and advanced PE lifeguarding to the 2020-2021 TVHS course offerings.