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BCHS weight room progressing
BY CHARLES GARRATT • STAFF WRITER
 | | Dr. Terry King (l), Vice-president for Instruction and Student Services at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College and Bath school board member Jake Cleek stand on the nearly twenty-year old composite multi-purpose gym floor in the Armory building on the DSLCC campus. King proposed the installation of the same type floor in the old gym at BCHS to help create a multi-purpose facility that would include a partitioned weight room. Cleek and fellow school board member Barbara Waldeck visited Dabney to view the floor and returned with enthusiastic impressions of the durability of the floor material. (Photo courtesy Bath County Schools) |
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WARM SPRINGS - A proposal by the Bath County High School Athletic Boosters to refurbish the old high school gym into a multi-purpose facility including a weight room moved a step forward Tuesday at the monthly meeting of the Bath County School Board.
Last month Dr. Terry King, vice president of instruction and student services at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College, presented a preliminary proposal to the board to renovate the old BCHS gym. The renovation would include replacing the wooden floor with a composite multi-purpose flooring and creating a partitioned area within the gym for a weight training room.
Warm Springs district board member Jake Cleek and Valley Springs district member Barbara Waldeck went to DSLCC to see the flooring used in the gym in the Armory building. That floor has been in place more than 19 years, King told the board.
"I'm going to try to get it in my house," Cleek said of the composite floor. He had a sample brought back from DSLCC with him at the meeting. "It's unbelievable," he said.
Waldeck seemed equally impressed with the flooring material and noted the maintenance crew at DSLCC said they cleaned the floor only once per year.
Superintendent David Smith said he had spoken with the architect overseeing the renovations at the high school and was also trying to work with the school's insurance adjustor. During the early part of renovations, water damaged part of the wooden floor in the old gym and the school division is expecting the insurance to cover all or part of the cost of repairs.
One key to paying for any new floor is the "willingness of the insurance company to work with us," Smith said. At this stage, Smith doesn't know if the insurance will offer a lump sum that could be used toward a new floor for the whole gym or will pay only for repairs of the existing floor.
Smith was optimistic on the project. "I'm encouraged by all of this. The ideas are starting to come together." The board agreed with his recommendation to proceed with gathering more information.
Under the plan proposed by King, a multi-purpose floor, either wood or composite, would be installed in the gym with mounts for volleyball and half the basketball court open. Three goals would remain. A full-size volleyball court would be available and the room could be configuredfor practice by other sports.
A section of the gym would be partitioned for a weight training room. Prior to the renovations, the school's limited weight training equipment was located on the stage. That area has been closed in and now houses the air handlers for the new HVAC system.
King showed photos of the weight area at Dabney which is located in part of the gym on the composite floor. In addition to the floor, the weight area is covered with used rubber conveyor belts from Mead-Westvaco. The thick belts protect the floor, according to King.
Different types of partitions could be used for the weight room, King said. Whatever is chosen could be selected so that no changes would be required in the HVAC system or lighting.
King said while he couldn't speak for the boosters, he felt sure they would help pay for equipment for weight training. He recently obtained a nearly new Nautilus machine for $200 on eBay, he said. Other such deals should be available for BCHS.
"I'd like to see us have something in place by midsummer," King said. The facility would be available for PE classes, used by every athlete in any sport and would help reduce the wear and tear on the new gym, he said.
Bus routes reviewed
Some contention arose between Cleek and transportation supervisor Ronnie Liptrap Jr. over bus routes in the county. Liptrap presented a route and capacity summary and noted some of the buses were overloaded.
While Cleek agreed the county had an obligation to transport every student needing a ride, he said there are "about 200 students we don't haul." One bus, he said, comes by Warm Springs every morning empty.
Liptrap agreed the number of students shown on the bus schedule list was less than the number riding on any given day, but he noted he must plan for how many students might right the bus.
Bus driver Sharon Wells joined the discussion noting, "There are so many different variables in cutting a bus run out." Her route begins at one far corner of the county and runs seven miles with only a couple of students before starting to fillup.
Both Liptrap and Wells said buses tend to have more students in the afternoon than in the morning. One reason is working parents drop off students in the morning to save long bus rides, but are still at work in the afternoon when the students return home.
Liptrap is worried about his aging fleet of buses and said he would rather have new buses than consolidate routes. The newest bus in the fleet is a 2005 with 60,000 miles he said. Some of the buses are approaching the 12-year age limit the department of education considers safe, he added.
In addition to equipment safety, Liptrap pointed out bus drivers have limited options for discipline while on the road. "You can't just stop and put a kid out."
"The more kids on a bus, the more crowded, the more trouble you have," Liptrap said. With after school activities, including up to 20 students traveling to the Bacova Wellness center in the afternoon for training, some bus routes have more than 80 students who could potentially ride.
The board didn't take any action on bus routes. Cleek agreed to ride with Liptrap on the Warm Springs bus he said was running empty. The board has requested money for new buses in the capital improvement plan submitted to the supervisors last week.
The next regular meeting of the school board is Tuesday, May 6 at the school administration building.
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