By BETH ZUMWALT
The Winchester School District has received official condemnation on the grade school gym. The announcement was presented to the board at the Feb. 10 meeting. Structural defects were noticed in the gym in January and the facility has been off-limits since then.
Now the board is faced with a decision – repair the failing structure or demolish and rebuild. The rest of the school, including the adjoining cafeteria is not involved in the process.
“We can’t do anything while school is in session and children are present,” Jeff Abell, superintendent of the district, said. “We will need to get started on which ever we decide as soon as possible.”
Abell said although the board has not made any decisions, he felt they were leaning toward demolition and rebuilding.
“To just repair the building, we would have to take the roof off, take the walls down and start with the rebuild,” he said. “If we could make a decision and whatever we decided we can put it out for bids and hopefully get started June 1.”
Paying for the repairs/rebuild continues to be a question. The board borrowed money last year to make necessary repairs to the high school and is nearly at the end of it’s credit limit. Extending their credit limit would require legislative action.
“Health, Life and Safety bonds will cover some things,” Abell said. “The roof could sag as much as three to four feet in certain areas, Life, Health, Safety could pay for scaffolding to hold that up. Not fixing the problem, but, support, while the process is in place.”
Abell said no meetings are planned until the March meeting.
