A community group has $100,000 in pledges and hopes to land at least $100,000 more over the next few weeks to secure the installation of energy efficient HVAC equipment at Central Grade School.

Traverse City Area Public Schools recently kicked off a three-year, $51 million comprehensive upgrade of Central Grade School, the district’s oldest and largest elementary school. Read more about that project here.

Though work has already begun, exactly what type of HVAC system will heat and cool the new building remains to be seen. The district sought bids for both gas-fired boilers with separate air conditioners along with a hybrid system that has electric heat pumps for both heating and cooling used in conjunction with (but ideally more than) gas-fired boilers.

This was in direct response to a student group that earlier approached the school board and asked that they prioritize using electricity instead of fossil fuels in the renovated school.

Highland Park-based contractor John E. Green Company was the lowest bidder, with a roughly $11.5 million bid for all HVAC and plumbing with a $568,069 added cost for the heat pump installation. The board agreed earlier this month to let a community group led by local architect Suzannah Tobin raise money for the added cost.

The amount dropped to $443,069 after a pledged $125,000 rebate for the hybrid system from Traverse City Light & Power. Superintendent John VanWagoner says there may be even more money available from TCL&P in the form of a separate community investment grant that the district recently applied for.

HVAC parts have to be ordered by Oct. 12, with a decision on whether to pursue the hybrid system likely made well before that. Tobin tells The Ticker her group hopes to have $200,000 in pledges by the Aug. 10 TCAPS board meeting to show strong progress.

School board president Scott Newman-Bale tells The Ticker that the board is unlikely to make a firm decision one way or the other on Aug. 10, but that they'll check in with the community group to see how fundraising is going. The board will likely indicate to the group whether or not they should keep raising money.

“We’re certainly not expecting them to come in with the full amount raised,” he says. “But if they came in with half the gap covered, that would certainly be – for me, personally – amazing progress and would warrant more time.”

VanWagoner says that while the hybrid system is more expensive to install, it’s more efficient to run, meaning a fundraising drive might be a “win all the way around.”

“I think it could save the district money on a yearly basis over the long term,” he tells The Ticker. “So this gives us an opportunity where if the up-front costs are taken care of, it probably saves us little bits in the general fund for the next 25 to 30 years.”

Tobin has been touting the benefits of the hybrid system – lower utility bills, reduced emissions, combined heating and cooling, reliability and more – as she and others talk to potential donors. She also believes it would demonstrate that TCAPS is invested in future generations and would pave the way for other TCAPS facilities or other school districts to implement these types of systems.

Most of all, perhaps, she wants to help deliver on the requests made by those students a few years back.

“I feel like I’m speaking on behalf of the students,” she says. “We’re doing it on behalf of the students because they aren’t able to raise this type of money.”

She's also very grateful to the district and board for pursuing the heat pump bids and allowing fundraising to happen.

“This could have easily been pushed aside,” she says. “But every step of the way they are listening. It’s been this series of awesome listening moments.”

VanWagoner and Newman-Bale both say the district owes that listening to the larger community after the community approved the bond that made all of this work possible.

Donations can be made here. Any donations will be refunded if the effort is not successful. Those looking to connect with Tobin to make a pledge can email her here.