Board of Education Decides New Bleachers Better Option
by Jeff Bobo
Kingsport Times-News
Rogersville - Hawkins County's two main high schools will each receive new gymnasium bleachers this fall, as opposed to the less expensive option of refurbishing the old bleachers partly due to the fact that the refurbishment option would cost both schools hundreds in seating capacity.
Last Thursday the Board of Education awarded the low bid $489,852 for new bleachers to be installed at Volunteer and Cherokee to Winegar Construction. The low bid was good news for the district, which had budgeted $600,000 for the project in this year's very tight proposed budget.
When the bleachers were advertised for bids, however, school officials sought prices for new bleachers as well as for refurbishing the existing bleachers. The lowest refurbishment bid came in $120,000 less than new bleachers, but after considering the pros and cons of repairing the existing bleachers, school board members opted for new ones.
Architect Don Solt told the board Thursday that the refurbishment option would cost each school about 300 seats to bring the existing bleachers upt o code. Board members were concerned that the losss of seats would cause problems at upcoming basketball games and other gym sports.
Worse than game seating, however, would have been graduation in the spring, where there already aren't enough seats for everyone who wants to attend.
New bleachers at VHS and CHS became a priority earlier this year after a lawsuit filed by the parents of a child who was severely injured after falling off the CHS bleachers. The family was awarded an undisclosed monetary settlement. That lawsuit revealed that neither high school's bleachers met code, and as part of the settlement the school district agreed to rectify that problem.
"I think the wisest solution or the longest life and the best use of taxpayer's dollars is to totally replace both bleachers," Director of Schools Clayton Armstrong told the board. "They will meet all new safety standards, and the life expectancy would be considerably longer than if we attempt to cut apart and rebuild with what we have. In talking to the lawyers in this lawsuit, their concern was that if we attempt to fix what we have, there will always be the questionof did we do enough, but with the new bleachers there will be no question."