Washington Community High School's 60-year-old Torry gymnasium is set for a major overhaul on a speedy timeline.
Superintendent Kyle Freeman told the school board on Tuesday the basketball coaches first pointed out "dead spots" on the wood floor back in July.
A flooring company pulled up the floorboards, and discovered the underlying cork board that gives a ball a bit of bounce has decomposed into a dirt-like substance in some areas. That problem leads to a cascade of other needs.
Replacing the original 1964 wood gym floor also means the underlying asbestos underfloor will need to be removed and replaced. So will the original HVAC system that wasn't built to manage temperature and ventilation in a modern gym. The original bleachers and 20-year-old gym roof also need to be redone.
"We knew that we were having issues in the gym where we needed to make some replacements," Freeman said. I think the only thing that that we that came at us faster than we expected was the floor, and it's kind of the catalyst for driving the rest of the project."
The district's construction manager said it makes sense to also knock out aspects like new lighting and painting with the rest of the job.
All of this work needs to happen quickly, said Freeman.
"We need to do it all this summer (2025), and in order to do that, we know we'll probably need to start working on demolishing and abatement, possibly as early as April," he said.
That means the projects need to be put out to bid next month, and a bid possibly approved by the school board as soon as December.
"This is very, very fast work for a school district," Freeman said. "We have been working with our engineer and with our architect and with our construction manager, and we know we can get it done and we can get it layered the way that it needs to be, but there are a lot of moving parts here."
Freeman said health, life, and safety (HLS) funds can cover much of the cost. The board voted Tuesday to approve an HLS amendment to spend those funds on the Torry Gym project. That amendment now goes to the Illinois State Board of Education for final approval.
The district in September discussed selling up to $4.9 million in HLS bonds to address the gym and other facilities issues over the next two summers.
The school board also pre-authorized the superintendent to enter into a contract up to $215,000 for the gym floor replacement and a not to exceed $360,000 contract for lower bleachers replacement through the Sourcewell Purchasing Cooperative and Omnia Purchasing Cooperative, respectively.
