Calaveras School has termites, and Hollister School District trustees approved thousands of dollars worth of funds to fumigate the campus buildings this summer.
The cost of the project will be $20,552 from maintenance funds, according to a board meeting agenda report. Trustees approved the costs at their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday.
“We’re going to tent the school. We’re going to do the whole thing,” said Superintendent Gary McIntire in an interview with the Free Lance. “We’ve been working on abatement at Calaveras for years.”
While the district had been spot treating for termites, the insects kept reappearing in new places.
“The termites were basically using the covered walkways as their highway,” said the superintendent.
Due to the amount of termites, the materials used to build the school and the connections between the buildings, Terminix will fumigate all the structures, according to the agenda report.
This was the first time McIntire recalls the district paying to tent an entire campus.
“I’ve never run across that before,” he said. “It’s kind of unusual.”
An infestation of drywood termites causes damage to wood-framed buildings, if not properly treated. The work will be done after the site’s summer school classes end but before the new school year begins.
