CROSSVILLE —
Mold, mildew, crumbling concrete and bent bleachers at the Cumberland County High School Jets stadium are just a few of the problems facing the Cumberland County Board of Education.
Members of the BOE's building and grounds committee took a recent tour of the facility to see the problems first-hand and will consider how to address the problems in the near future.
"As a board member, it concerns me because if we're offering these activities for our students, then we need to offer a decent facility," said Sandy Brewer, 3rd District representative.
CCHS Principal Janet Graham and maintenance personnel took BOE members and Director Schools Aarona VanWinkle around the stadium where they discussed some of the problems.
"I know you have a building to maintain and the classrooms are more important. I'm just saying that this reflects on the whole community when they come out and see this," Brewer said.
"We're dealing with a 50-year-old facility over there in the (high) school building that gets used 200 days a year and the stadium may only be used about five nights out of the year. We have to prioritize and do the best we can," said CCHS Principal Janet Graham.
Brewer and VanWinkle both agreed.
"I know you have to do the best with what you've got," Brewer said.
Graham said there was one custodian who was strictly assigned to power washing the facilities for removing dirt and mold from concrete on the CCHS campus.
"With the staffing cuts, I've gone down from 13 custodians to 10, and you just can't do the same amount of work, or more, in an eight hour shift with 10 as 13," Graham said.
The maintenance department in the school system also has been reduced from 14 positions down to 10.
Graham explained that over the past three years with $10,000 per school year, she has had to purchase desks and chairs for furnishing classrooms.
The committee looked at concrete that is cracked and crumbling at the stadium on the walls, bent aluminum bleachers, dirt and mold that needs to be washed and removed and areas that need to be repainted.
"A lot of this can be patched and repaired and painted, can't it?" Brewer asked.
"Well, you can patch some of this, but it will only last a couple years if moisture gets behind it," said Wendell Wilson, supervisor of career and technical education.
"A lot of this could be patched and repaired and it will take a lot of work," VanWinkle said.
Offices located in the stadium building where central office used to be are now used for storage and are uninhabitable due to mold and mildew problems.
Some suggested it would be cheaper to overhaul the facility and rebuild.
"If the board thinks we need to overhaul, then we need to go to the county commission to ask for additional funds. We've gone for the past few years with getting only what the state mandates. If we need to make these improvements on our facilities, then the county needs to help out," VanWinkle said.
Committee members will address the upgrades and repairs and determine what action to take in the near future. In the meantime, maintenance and custodians will clean and work on the stadium facility to get ready for the school year.
No action was taken during the committee meeting.
Area News
Related Photos
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Cumberland County Board of Education members on the building and grounds committee recently toured the CCHS stadium to see problem areas and determine what action is needed to take care of the facility. The committee looked at concrete that is cracked and crumbling at the stadium on the walls, bent aluminum bleachers and dirt and mold that needs to be removed.
BOE panel tours CCHS stadium
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