Lodi High’s Meehleis Gym springs leak due to recent rain

Lodi High School’s Meehleis Gym has become another victim to the storm systems moving through the area. A roof leak has recently disrupted the schedule of several basketball games and practices at the school while maintenance crews wait for safer weather to get back onto the roof.

“It’s been a problem. Everyone’s been doing their best to work around it,” said Lodi High School Principal Bob Lofsted. “We need consecutive days without rain for the roofing contractor to get up there.”

So far, physical education classes were not interrupted and were able to work around the issue. Due to regulations for high school sports, having water leak onto the court means that basketball teams couldn’t host their recent home games.

This caused a problem for recent games as word that they would have to be hosted at their opponent’s court came last minute for the boys basketball teams, according to Lodi High athletic director Erin Aitken. They relied on parent volunteers to get the team to their game as finding bus transportation last minute does not happen, she said. Girls basketball teams had a bit of warning before their games during the week but were still forced to play an away game instead of at home.

Although the school has another gym where teams used to play in before the Meehleis gym was constructed, the clock is no longer functioning, she said.

“It’s quite an inconvenience, especially with soccer moving to the winter. We’re stretched thin working events,” she said. “It’s also inconvenient for the teams who are traveling and have to flip, trying to get a whole event together.”

Other teams also have to practice in the gym as well as cheer squads and band, who have been affected during the rainy days.

Lodi Unified School District’s maintenance director Mitch Slater said that prevailing theory is that the high winds and unseasonably wet weather have contributed to the leaks. He does not believe it is a construction error in the nearly 10-year-old gym.

Crews from King’s Roofing have already made an attempt to fix the leak earlier in the week but with the latest round of high winds and rain, a leak has started again.

“We will be seeking longterm correction of this and may be having them reinspect everything,” Slater said.

Roof maintenance on the gym is not easy due to its design and requires the use of a special lift and qualified workers to gain access. This has limited the maintenance department’s ability to deal with the problem.

Other concerns Slater has include worker safety during the storms, which have given the Lodi area few breaks for the past couple of weeks.

The gym is not the only building in Lodi Unified’s 250 square miles that has had issues. Slater said the department has been working to address leaks throughout the district as they come.

He expects crews to be able to access the gym roof to fix the leak on Monday, assuming the rain stops then.

Despite challenges, the school and Aitken have been able to adapt to the situation.

“I now have a check-off list for last-minute cancellations for basketball,” Aitken said.

She thanks the parents, coaches and other volunteers who have helped keep the students playing even when the rain temporarily washed them out of their gym.