ADAMS TWP — The Mars School Board will engage in two facilities studies at a total cost of almost $16,000.

The board Tuesday night approved a districtwide facilities study and cost analysis by Thomas and Williamson Program Management.

The company’s co-owner, Jon Thomas, presented the board with four analysis options at last week’s meeting.

After a discussion, the board voted on the facilities study at Tuesday’s meeting to determine which buildings and systems will require maintenance, repair or replacement.

The Thomas and Williamson team will go over all schools and district-owned buildings, looking at heating and air conditioning systems, windows, floors, roofs and other facets.

They will then prepare a cost analysis for each item, and a timeline that prioritizes the projects from the most imperative to those that can wait.

Board President Dayle Ferguson said the facilities study will help with budgeting because repairs or replacements can be planned.

The board also voted to have Thomas and Williamson complete a facilities study for administration, at a cost of $3,248.

Superintendent James Budzilek said the administration office adjacent to the west end of the primary center is spreading into the school due to space constraints in the small administration area.

He said seven administrators are using four classrooms at the primary center.

Some administration offices, like special education and pupil services, are housed at the former Middlesex Elementary School on Route 8.

The technology department offices are at the farmhouse that the district acquired when it bought the land to create Doc’s Way, the driveway from Three Degree Road to the elementary school.

“Our administrative team is scattered, so we approved the study to evaluate the proficiency of that situation,” Ferguson said.

Thomas said during last week’s presentation that the administrative study also would look at the actual administrators to determine which would work best in the same building.

Board member Bonnie Weaver, who has been pushing for a districtwide facilities study for several months, said the two studies would likely be conducted concurrently.

She said they studies would take four to five months to complete.

The other two project options recommended by Thomas were an educational facility programming study at the middle school to determine how the school’s programs could better fit their spaces, and an enrollment study for each grade.

There are no plans to engage in those studies at this time.