KARNS CITY — Could the Karns City School District benefit from a Guaranteed Energy Savings project?

McClure Company, which is overseeing a Guaranteed Energy Savings renovation project at the Allegheny-Clarion Valley School District, is conducting the feasibility study for Karns City at no cost, Superintendent Eric Ritzert said.

He said the company will look at the efficiency of building operations, make project recommendations and outline ways to pay for any work that is ultimately done.

The heating and cooling system and windows and doors will be primary focus of the study, which the company will present to the school board in October or November.

“The heating and cooling system and the building envelope ... keeps everybody safe, dry and warm,” Ritzert said.

The state Guaranteed Energy Savings Act allows districts to avoid large upfront costs to pay for energy efficiency improvement projects by using the savings from the projects to pay for the work over a period of up to 15 years.

Teacher returning

In other action, the board also voted to rescind the furlough of elementary teacher Nicholas Stockert, who will return in the fall as an everyday substitute teacher.

Stockert was a fourth-grade teacher last year, his first year working for the district, but the board furloughed him in June due to a decline in elementary enrollment for the coming school year.

The board is following its plan to hire him as an everyday substitute this year and then hire him to replace one of the teachers expected to retire at the end of the year so he can return to a full-time teaching job for the 2019-20 school year.

“We’ll be bringing him back this fall. As of right now he’d be the go-to substitute teacher. We expect a couple retirements that he is certified for at the end of the year. He’ll be given a position that he is qualified for,” Ritzert said.