Answers on stadium remain elusive
COLEBROOKDALE » Boyertown school board members and parents were frustrated Tuesday night when an interim report on the condition of the high school stadium did not answer the two questions they consider most pressing — “how much? and “how long?”
In February, the school board agreed to pay $16,000 to the firm of Barry Isett & Assoc., which had studied the stadium and declared it “unsafe,” to take a closer look at the problems and propose some solutions and cost estimates.
Tom Slowik, an engineer from the firm, outlined some proposed
fixes for the stadium — specifically a steel “exo-skeleton” as one board member put it, for the underside of the stadium and brick fixes and extra fasteners for the brick facade.
But the unanswered question is how bad are the pre-stressed concrete forms that hold up the seats and the risers?
Slowik explained that pre-stressed concrete is designed to bend, but unlike poured steel-reinforced concrete, it is not supposed to crack along the bottom, like the concrete at the stadium.
He showed the standingroom-only audience photos of a row of empty stadium seats showing in which a ripple is clearly visible and said it indicates a variance of as much as 1.5 inches.
Because the firm does not know what is being used to reinforce the inside of the concrete, a special laboratory must be brought out to conduct tests, Slowik said.
That will take several weeks and the cost is unknown.
It was for that reason, much to the frustration of several board members, that he refused to give even a broad guess as to how much the repairs could cost or how long they would take.
He said he would try to have them by May 1, when the next meeting of the board’s facilities meeting will be held.
Slowik was willing to say he does not think the stadium needs to be torn down, that the reinforcement should be adequate, depending on tests on the pre-stressed concrete planks.
“To tear down this thing and replace is not anything anyone has the belly for,” said school board member Clay Breece.
“I can’t imagine you don’t have some idea of how much the reinforcing would cost,” said Breece. “I mean you know how much steel you need for the braces. It feels like you’re withholding information from us.”
“This is very important to our community and anything you can do to expedite that would be appreciated,” said Board President Donna Usavage.
“The stadium is one of the board’s top priorities,” said Vice President Steve Elsier.
Uncertainty about the timeline has already convinced the board to make arrangements for Boyertown High School’s graduation to be moved to the Santander Area in Reading.
Now, as the delays continue, some parents of athletes, marching band members and cheerleaders are asking tougher questions and suggesting alternatives be explored.
Becky Puleo, who spoke on behalf of the Boyertown Music League, said without the stadium for home games, her organization will lose $14,000 in revenue from running the concession stand there.
“The stadium is a huge money-maker for us. Who will make up this deficit?” she asked.
The food and cooking equipment in the concession stand is owned by the music league and now they will have it removed and stored, which will be an additional cost, and all because of short-sightedness of school board in not making obviously needed stadium repairs, said Puleo. “We’re kind of getting the shaft in this situation as well.”
Parent and coach Michael O’Donnell, said he has worked in that concession stand and “that concession stand has had water damage for 14 years, you always had to cover food. It’s ridiculous.”
“Half of you were on this board five years ago when they talked about the stadium and concerns. This should not be happening,” said parent Alisha Mathias.
“I was surprised when whole stadium thing became a crisis,” said board member Jill Dennin. “We starting about this 10 years ago, when people were alerted stadium had problems. So we kept patchworking it, because the board didn’t want to go to taxpayers for more money.”
“I totally hear your frustration,” said Dennin. “The lesson that we have to learn from this is community must be involved and we have to do a better job communicating with you. We have to stop shying away from things because people may get upset.”
Breece said it is the job of the administration to see these problems and bring them to the board, but it was the interim administration which finally did it.
“Prior administrations, for whatever reason, handled it the way it did. I wasn’t here then,” he said.
Board member Ruth Dierolf said a strategic plan on stadium was done on 2013, “but no one can seem to find it. At the time, it was supposed to be an add on for the high school, then I left the board, so what happened, I have no idea.”
William Gasper, the district’s facilities director, replied that the district never received the report because the consultants who put it together “were not paid.”
Elsier, who said his daughter is on the track team and has been affected by the stadium’s closure, noted “it’s pretty obvious to me that a concrete structure doesn’t just develop problems overnight. It takes time. I hope the same mistake, of putting off maintenance and repairs, is not repeated.”
“We have to stop shying away from things because people may get upset.” — Jill Dennin, Boyertown Area School Board member
“The stadium is a huge moneymaker for us. Who will make up this deficit?” — Becky Puleo, Boyertown Music League