School looks to new gym

The days are numbered for the old Pacific Lumber Company recreation building, now owned by the Stanwood A. Murphy Elementary School in Scotia. This building is more commonly referred to as the Scotia gym.

The school purchased its school site property and the nearby recreation building in 2008 from the bankrupt Pacific Lumber Company, and although at the time, the public could continue to use the recreation facility, the school could not, because it did not meet education-related facilities code. The recreation facility completely closed in 2013.

The process to make repairs and bring the building up to code has been underway for several years, and recently the Division of State Architects concurred with a determination that the cost to rehabilitate the existing building was more than 50% of the cost to replace the building.

“That is the formula used to determine if it is more cost effective to repair or replace,” said Amy Gossien, superintendent of the Scotia Union School District and Principal at Stanwood A. Murphy Elementary School. “Because of this we are moving forward with building replacement.”

Gossien said the school has applied for design funding and funding for building a new gymnasium.

“Due to our tax base within the (school) district boundaries, and our inability to pass a large enough bond, we qualify for financial hardship funding, in the form of a grant from the state,” she said. “We also qualify for hardship funding, another grant program, because the project is a health and safety project due to the students’ need for a gym that is up to code.”

Now Gossien and school representatives will wait to hear back from the state when the next round of school facility funding is announced.

“After funding approval, assuming the state will be disbursing and not delaying state facility funds due to COVID-19, we will move forward with designing a new building and then eventually replace the rec center with a gymnasium,” Gossien said. “The gym will be in the same location, but will be a smaller footprint.”

Gossien said the best-case scenario timeline is funding by spring of 2021, followed by plans, development, and approval, and then site prep and construction possibly construction by spring 2022.

“We all know the (current) building is solid,” Gossien said, “and if it wasn’t owned by the school, it would be a different story. Our architect has worked tirelessly on this project for the last year,” she added, referring to Guy Fryer of Siskiyou Design Group, who first designed plans to repair the building and is now working on places to replace the building.

Gossien said the strong existing relationship with the Office of Public School Construction is another reason this project is moving forward.

“Two of the department heads at the state level that I am working with have been involved in the project since the beginning,” she said. “They have personal connections to the project, and their expertise, support and guidance has been invaluable.”

Regarding the replacement of the current building, Gossien said, “We are sad, but have been forced to move forward and keep our focus on providing a gym for our students. Knowing what the gym means to our community and students, we know the loss of its use has left a giant hole that needs to be filled. My goal is to see this project through to completion for our students, families, and community.”