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Eyeing free grant money to help stretch local dollars, school leaders Monday told a consulting company to go after grants that would help modernize the heating and cooling system in the old gym at Lake Roosevelt High School and more.

The Grand Coulee Dam School District board voted to continue to have the company McKinstry pursue grants for upgrades to school buildings.

The district hired McKinstry to look for repairs and upgrades that could be made to the former middle school, the annex to the middle school where the Alternative Learning Environment is located, as well as what’s left of the former high school and is now known as the Career Technical Education building.

Casey McGourin, senior program manager for McKinstry, and his colleague, Dave Ray,

presented the board with a list of projects for the various buildings related to the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, lighting, windows, and roofing.

The presentation included charts highlighting the cost for each project, and whether they qualify for either the Rural Modernization Grant from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, or for a Department of Commerce Energy Efficiency Grant.

The OSPI grant has a Nov. 15 deadline, and gives a preference to districts with a low tax base.

The school board encouraged McKinstry to focus on one of the three projects that qualify for the OSPI grant, namely replacement of the HVAC system at the gym in Coulee Dam. The new system would be installed on the roof, keeping the noise from the system out of the gym, and granting easy access to the system.

The $2.3 million project would take about three months to complete, and could be done in the summer, the McKinstry representatives said.

Awarding of the OSPI grant will be announced no later than March 1.

The DOC Grant deadline is Dec. 31. It requires a three-to-one match from the school district which would be paid for with money generated from the Capital Projects Levy that passed earlier this year.

Projects that qualify for this grant include:

Upgrading the HVAC system at the former middle school’s gym - $257,417

ALE Lighting Upgrade - $28,292

CTE LIghting Upgrade, Gym Floor - $50,656

CTE LIghting Upgrade, Gym Wing - $58,811

Gym Lighting Upgrade - $42,491

CTE Lighting Upgrade B Wing - $26,801

CTE Lighting Upgrade Exterior - $9,922

Middle School gym roof - $422,994

The DOC Grant will also be awarded in March.