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Leaks, decay evident at schools
BY JAMES JACENICH • STAFF WRITER
 | | The tile in the drop ceiling has come down, revealing a spot where water has leaked through the roof in the weight room at Highland County Public Schools. School board members toured the facilities this week to see the number of repairs and upgrades that will be necessary now or very soon. (Recorder photo by James Jacenich) |
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MONTEREY - Highland County Public Schools superintendent Gary Blair gave school board members a tour Monday, showing them areas in need of renovation, maintenance or upgrade. The high school is 40 years old and the elementary school is 10. In recent years, educational programs at HCPS have taken top billing, sometimes to the detriment of facilities management, but time is running out, said Blair.
Blair divided repairs and upgrades into three categories - those needing to be repaired immediately, those requiring attention in the next 1-2 years, and upgrades that will enhance the habitability and function of the facility.
Blair took board members Bobbie Hefner, Dr. Kim Bird and Vickie King, and school board candidates Larry Held and Kirk Billingsley into the schools' boiler room. The cinder block walls in the boiler room, which heat to the approximately 290-student campus is generated, are dripping with moisture. The walls leak whenever it rains. The breaker box in the boiler room is covered in rust from excess moisture and needs to be replaced, said Highland High School principal Randy Hooke.
 | | A bare light bulb dangles from a threadbare wire in the Highland County Public Schools' boiler room where moisture seeps in through cinder block walls. (Recorder photo by James Jacenich) |
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An adjoining room, once used to store coal for a furnace, is now the storage room for old school records. Blair wants to see the walls in the boiler room sealed and the storage room renovated.
The sidewalk outside the school board office is crumbling. It was installed last year, but something has gone terribly wrong, Blair said. The once solid curb is now turning to powder and needs to be replaced.
Behind the school between high school and elementary school gyms is the old WVLS radio station and the school's weight room. The roof on the radio station should be replaced, Hooke said. The building could be used as storage if the leaks are fixed.
The adjoining weight room has a suspended ceiling. A few of the ceiling tiles are crumbling from roof leaks and are lying on the floor next to some weights.
The automotive shop down the hall from the agriculture shop can be a problem trying to supervise students in both places at the same time, said Hooke. "The layout is not good," he said.
In the high school gym, water stains cover the south wall. On the other side of the wall are the boys' and girls' locker rooms.
Lockers are falling apart. Benches are wearing out. Pieces of plaster are falling down from the ceiling in the locker rooms.
"These spaces should be a source of pride to the students," said Blair. But they are not. "Correcting this is a priority," he said.
Across from the principal's office is the men's room. An old faucet is missing a handle. "We can't replace broken parts," said Blair. The plumbing is so old the parts aren't made anymore, he explained.
The women's rest room is in better condition, though the privacy doors to the toilets don't close and the handicapped access toilet is not really handicapped accessible, at least not by today's standards, said Hooke.
In the science labs down the hall, windows are in need of replacement, said Blair.
"These are hot rooms," said Hooke. The air conditioning system is in need of improvement, too, he said.
Even though the elementary school is much newer, it has some potentially serious problems and shortfalls as well.
In the elementary school gym, the floor is showing signs of cracking; the blocks underneath may be shifting. A large crack is clearly visible in the middle of the floor in the gym. If it continues to spread it could become a tripping hazard for students participating in gym classes.
Throughout HES, the tile floor is buckling and separating as the foundation shifts.
The gym has no restroom, which presents a supervision problem. Students have to go down the hall to the bathroom, out of sight of the gym teacher.
HES principal Teresa Blum said she'd like to buy a scissor lift to help custodians reach the bulbs in the gym's ceiling. Blair said he was surprised to see custodians have to climb a potentially unstable ladder to perform routine maintenance.
In the cafeteria, the milk machine needs to be replaced. It works as designed, but the old machine doesn't have a drain, making it a problem to keep sanitary.
The dishwasher room, perhaps the hottest space in the building second only to the stoves in the kitchen, has no air conditioning. "It's like a sauna in here," said Hooke.
The computer lab has about 20 terminals along the walls. "We can't keep the room cool enough," said Blum. "We need new window units or something," she said.
Outside, playground equipment sits idle, but come fall the grounds will be filled with young children getting exercise or taking a well-deserved break from their studies. But some of the equipment is not as safe as it could be, said Blum. "The handover hand bars need to go," she said.
Playground equipment is expensive, said Blum. "It costs $15,000 for the littlest thing."
The tour finished with a walk through the school parking lot. To the north are the ball fields. "We need to level the ball fields," said Hooke. "And we need to replace the bleachers."
None of the things considered alone may seem too serious., but it's just a matter of time before small problems develop into big ones, said Blair.
Blair will develop a capital improvement plan this year and hopes the tour will help school board members better understand what the needs are.
The locker rooms will probably be at the top of the list of priorities. "The locker rooms are not dangerous," said Blair. "But they aren't good."
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