School officials are hoping to bring a number of structural improvements to the town’s public schools in the coming fiscal year, including renovating the 20-year-old roof at Dartmouth High

“Our buildings are old — they’re aging,” Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Jim Kiely said at a Dec. 13 School Committee meeting. “We need to continue to maintain them.”

Earlier this year, the committee unanimously approved a $15 million capital improvement plan for infrastructure upgrades in the town’s public schools through Fiscal Year 2027.

For 2023, the district is seeking to use more than $5.7 million in funds to update school intercoms, replace furniture, and replace many of the of the district’s doors and windows.

Another priority for the upcoming fiscal year is to renovate the high school’s tennis courts.

“It’s at the point now where it’s becoming an issue whether it will be playable or not,” he said.

The bulk of the capital improvement fund would go toward roof repairs at the high school, which Kiely estimates would cost around $4.5 million. 

Kiely explained that the school’s black rubber roof, which was installed in 2001, has “been a problem for a number of years” and that to mitigate problems, the district has overlapped part of the roof with an additional piece of rubber.

“It’s at the point where we need to address it,” he said.

Officials instead suggest that the new roof be made with polyvinyl chloride, which Kiely said would have “at least a 30-year life expectancy” and would be more energy-efficient for the district.

“It’s a million times better roof,” he said.

Kiely said that school officials could request support from the Massachusetts School Building Authority to fund half of the project, but expressed some concern that it would lengthen the renovation process.

“We don’t want to get to the point where we have buckets in the building,” he said. “[But] I think MSBA will support us with the project.”

Capital improvement projects are ultimately subject for approval by Town Meeting.

Committee Chair Dr. Shannon Jenkins said while she supported keeping the buildings up to code, she wanted to have more plans that review the long-term future of the district’s buildings and other aging structures in town.

“At a certain point you’re starting to hold them together with Band-Aids,” Jenkins said. “There’s only so much you can do.”

Committee members ultimately approved the district’s plan and agreed to have its Facilities Subcommittee look into the issue early next year.