|
School
gym repair bill may near $500,000
By
Anne Williams
The Register-Guard
April 4, 2003
After spending the past several months sizing up what went wrong with
Kelly Middle School's leaky gym, the Eugene School District now has an
equally vexing challenge on its hands: figuring out who will pay to fix
it.
The gym was sealed off in late December after building officials
discovered massive water damage in the walls and floors, as well as spores
from an especially toxic strain of mold.
Just seven years old, the gym has essentially been gutted, and may not be
fixed by the time school resumes next fall.
"I think we're going to make a good stab at it, but I certainly am
uncomfortable making any guarantees at this time that it will be ready to
use come next September," said Jon Lauch, the district's assistant
director of facilities.
Officials pretty much know what happened, Lauch said, and they know what
needs to be done. The gym will need a new floor, new interior wall
finishes and new exterior siding, at a price tag that could approach
$500,000. That would also cover the cost of removing any traces of mold.
But the school district's insurance carrier won't pay, and the various
contractors and sub-contractors involved - there have been at least eight
since the gym was built - aren't taking the blame, Lauch said.
"On some of the issues we're not having anybody stepping forward and
taking responsibility," Lauch said diplomatically.
Kelly Principal Tim Rochholz put it more bluntly.
"No one is just saying, `Hey, we made this mistake, it's ours,' " he said.
"Everybody's kind of pointing the finger at somebody else."
Lauch said the district remains hopeful that the issue can be resolved
without legal action.
"We're still talking to each other," he said. "We're inching toward
bringing this to a resolution."
Meanwhile, the gym remains off-limits to students and staff.
A ventilation system was installed right away to ensure that air from the
gym is funneled outside, rather than into any other part of the school.
Rochholz said the closure has been an inconvenience but not an
insurmountable prob- lem.
The school has another large gym and a smaller one where physical
education classes are held, although sometimes space is limited, he said.
"The biggest problem is both of the other two are not large enough for any
school-wide events," Rochholz said. "So now our assemblies happen by grade
level in the cafeteria. And our eighth-grade graduation will be at North
Eugene High School."
The closure also has posed problems for Kidsports, which has had to find
other venues for after-hours athletics. The loss of rental fees will add
up to about $6,000, Rochholz said - money the school uses to help pay for
nonteaching staff.
The school sent a letter home with students after they returned from
winter break, explaining the nature of the problems. A few parents became
alarmed about the toxic mold, called stachybotrys, which has been linked
elsewhere to health problems such as skin rashes, respiratory distress and
nose bleeds.
Rochholz said he heard from four or five parents who questioned whether
their child's health problems might be related to the mold. He advised
them to speak with a doctor, though he explained - as the letter did -
that the spore counts were low.
Based on testing before and after workers tore into the walls and floor,
the spore levels were likely minimal to nonexistent before the gym's
closure, Lauch said. He hadn't heard of any parents contacting the
district with concerns.
The gym was built in 1995 as part of a $7 million renovation to Kelly
included in a 1992 bond measure. The district has already spent more than
$56,000 repairing and painting the exterior siding system.
When the repairs are done, the district will use a different type of
siding - probably metal, as opposed to the Styrofoam and cement plaster
assembly on there now.
Flaws in the window installations, roof flashings, siding system and
downspout connection led to the water problems, Lauch said. "Really, it's
turned into a maintenance nightmare," he said.
Click here for more
Mold News and Information.
|
