Editor’s note: This is the first of the four-part series on the school bond issue facing Central High voters Feb. 14.Several Central High parents and patrons visit the school’s gymnasium during the basketball season.
Chasity Weldon is there every weekday.
She knows the need for a new gymnasium first hand.
On Feb. 14, Central High voters will decide the fate of a $5.995 million bond issue. The bulk of that plan will construct a modern gymnasium.
For the first two classes of each day, Weldon takes the district’s youngest students into the school’s safe room.
“It’s loud,” Weldon said of the concrete structure. “There have been sound barriers added, but with the concrete floor, it is still loud.
“Plus, with that floor, it’s hard to do anything that requires running, because if they fell, there are going to be injuries,” she added.
After the youngsters head back to class, older elementary students filter in, as physical education classes shift to the 51-year-old gymnasium.
Though the girls’ basketball team has been on the court earlier, the third class hour is the perfect time of day for any precipitation to start dripping on the floor.
“It has to have time to melt on the cold days,” Weldon said.
Despite previous attempts to stop the leaks, the aging roof still has issues.
At the first junior high basketball game this season, the two teams played around a towel in the middle of the floor.
“It rained heavily that night,” recalled Central High superintendent Bennie Newton. “When it was really coming down, we had no choice but to put a towel out there.”
The gym has served its time, and would continue to do so as a practice facility, as well as a home for physical education classes.
“The current gym would still be in use daily,” Newton said.
There are several issues about the current gymnasium, including size, safety, and the fact that times have changed.
“I don’t think that it can hold 300 adults,” said Newton of the small gymnasium. “The other night, I counted the visitor’s side, and there were 67. There was room, but there was no way we could have doubled that.”
For pep assemblies, over 400 students stuff the gym’s wooden bleachers, though that includes around 85 students below the age of 7.
The size of the playing floor is also outdated, as temporary out-of-bounds markers are used during competition. The railings are also close to the playing surface.
“That is the number one concern in all this,” Newton said. “The safety of the students. Not only ours, but the players from the other team.”
The team benches and scorers table are practically in the playing area, and locker rooms are “terribly outdated,” according to Newton.
“Next year is Alex’s year to come here for basketball,” said girls’ head coach Chad Weldon, who is in his seventh year in that position. “They have already told us that we are not on their schedule. They won’t come, and I believe it is because of our gym.”
Plans for the new gymnasium include seating for approximately 800.
It will have larger restrooms, a larger lobby, larger dressing rooms, and more modern amenities that most area schools already enjoy.
The home bleachers will also include 152 chair-back seats, and a foldaway stage will allow the building to host other events like graduations and programs.
Bond funds will also replace an aging HVAC system for the high school/middle school building, Newton said.
A 9.96-percent increase would come with a successful issue, which Newton said is a much cheaper price now rather than later.
“The time is right now for this,” said Newton. “If we wait until July the tax impact will go over 40-percent, because our previous bond will be retired.”
The new gym would also move all physical education classes out of the safe room, which is something Chasity Weldon welcomes.
“I know they think I am yelling at them all the time,” Weldon joked. “But that’s just how loud it is in there.”