OAKES, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Oakes Superintendent David Goetz stopped by the KDDR Studio to talk about the school board meeting held last week. The facilities committee discussed upgrades with some being urgent regarding building safety, and others to be addressed in the future.

The first thing discussed was the HVAC and the plumbing underground. Goetz stated that some of it is up to 100 years old.

The windows in the high school have been planned to replaced for quite some time, according to Goetz. He also said the floors in the science room are sagging and not as strong as they used to be. One issue, not as urgent, is their freezer went out. Goetz said there have been multiple periods where the school has been without a working freezer. All of these repairs will end up having a high price tag.

Goetz said the school board approved for drawings to be created for the windows and the science room floor so they can have those projects go up for bid. The Oakes superintendent explained the reason on why they chose the windows first.

The science floor will have to come out of the school budget, Goetz said. “Safety is our top priority, and that’s a given.” Goetz said they are currently working on finding ways to come up with the money for this project.

The full interview can be found below.