June 25, 2008

NW Board told Norwell High School structural weakness needs to be addressed

A heavy snow storm could be bad news for Norwell High School.

That was the news delivered by structural engineer Kurt Heidenreich to the Northern Wells School Board Tuesday night.

And what Heidenreich was referring to wasn’t missed student days.

There are three structural weak points in the school with one each adjacent to the gymnasium, the cafeteria and the auditorium. The weak points were created by snow load—possibly from the Blizzard of ‘78 and aggravated a little by the record snowy winter of 1982.

The points are located where lower sections of the Butler System joined with higher sections of the masonry gym and auditorium and with the glass wall of the cafeteria. Heavy snow will naturally drift between the two points.

The reason that the weak points have not been stressed too badly up to this point is because since 1982, there just hasn’t been any major single snow events or accumulative snow events to cause any significant stress.

The weak points adjacent to the masonry areas are easily remedied, noted Heidenreich, who presented a 75-page written report to the board. The glass wall section is not so easily repaired.

For that section, Heidenreich recommended a “model snowdrift” made of styrofoam. The model drift, which would be attached to the roof of the cafeteria, would prevent snow from collecting.

With the time-consuming required process of engineering and bidding, Heidenreich did not see any way that the project could be accomplished before the start of the school year. He recommended that the project be engineered soon and let for bids next spring for work in the summer of 2009.

At past board meetings, Supt. Dr. Scott Mills has stressed that there is no danger to students as snow load is the only stress factor for those three sections of the roof. Heidenreich also didn’t see any problems, but he did advise buildings and ground supervisor John Kochert to keep an eye on any accumulating snow on the roof, something that Kochert observed at past board meetings that his crew already does.

Mills noted that he would take Heidenreich’s study and begin the process toward getting the repairs engineered.

Mills asked Heidenreich what he thought the repairs could cost.

“$500,000?” asked Mills.

“Oh less than that,” replied Heidenreich.

“$250,000?” asked Mills.

“Less than that,” replied Heidenreich, adding, “I think it could be done for less than $100,000.” But he didn’t want to be pinned down on any particular number.

Mills said he understood but he wanted to get some sort of an idea so that he could build funding the repairs into the 2009 capital projects fund.

In other business, the board members Gene Donaghy, Michelle Brown-Stohler, Debbie Miller and Scott Elzey agreed to a recommendation by Mills for a board compensation package.

The annual compensation will stay at $2,000 per board member, but the board members also agreed to a $20 bump for attendance at regular board meetings. Before Tuesday, the board has not been taking per diem but had been paying itself $90 per member for each special meeting. That number was lowered Tuesday night to $62 for special meetings.

The $20 per diem means the board will be paying itself $440 more per year per member ($2,200 total) for its 22 regular meetings (the board meets just once in March and December) but the lower number for special meetings means that in years when a lot of special meetings have to be held—usually because of major capital expenditure proposals—the board could end up earning less money.

Miller admitted that talking about pay was awkward and Elzey agreed that he didn’t seek the job for pay.

But with $4.19 gas, the board agreed that a $20 a meeting bump doesn’t seem like too much to ask.

Elzey made a motion to accept Mills’ recommendation. His motion was seconded by Miller and passed 4-0 with Donna Spear absent.

The board also approved of Mills’ recommendation to make the compensation package retroactive to Jan. 3 of this year.

The board also approved of contracting Fort Wayne Roofing at a price of $94,897 to re-roof 10,000 square feet of the middle school.

Fort Wayne’s bid was not the lowest base bid of six received, but it was the lowest of only two received that met all of the requirements sought by the school corporation.

And even overall it was only $97 more than the actual lowest bid submitted by C.L. Schust Co., which did not bid the requirement for tapered insulation in lieu of straight thickness.

In other business, the board members:

—Learned from Mills that Northern Wells four schools have once again received accreditation from the prestigious North Central Association.

—Learned of the resignations of Jill Thornton as Lancaster Elementary Preschool Assistant teacher, Lynn Carroll as Ossian Elementary Student Council sponsor, Josh Lee as high school physical education and varsity volleyball coach, and Renee Jameson as freshman volleyball coach.

—Hired Rick Ressler as a groundskeeper and Kevin Torwelle as high school math teacher.

—Learned from Mills that the qualifications for architects for the Norwell remodel project are still being examined.

The board members also received an update on summer building projects from corporation treasurer Brandon Penrod.

At the high school:

—The six-inch water main has been replaced and insulated.

—Water line installation to the restrooms, conference room, office and nurses’ station is in progress.

—Ceilings have been removed in the classroom section.

—The structural grid is being repainted.

—Some classroom walls have been painted.

—A new ceiling grid is being installed.

—New light fixtures are being installed to replace the surface mounted fixtures.

—Two new multi-fold partitions have been installed.

Athletic fields at Norwell:

—The dirt is being shaped for the three practice fields.

—The soccer field was seeded June 18.

—The upgrading of the track around the football field started Tuesday.

Middle School:

—The pool was drained and tile removal has begun.

Ossian Elementary:

—The refurbishing of the south parking lot is set to start July 14.

—Re-carpeting of the school will begin Friday.

—Playground equipment is installed and the playground fence is in the process of being installed.

The next regular meeting of the board is set for Tuesday, July 8, at 5:30 a.m.

glenw@news-banner.com

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