Editor,
"We must provide a safe a healthy environment that is conducive to learning and also promotes the development of character and citizenship," says the "Core Beliefs" statement of Gentry Public Schools. To provide a safe and healthy environment for our students and teachers, it is incumbent upon this administration and the Gentry School Board to address some well-known shortcomings in our school facilities.
At the Nov. 16 board meeting, a parent presented photographs of all the buckets and pans scattered around the Intermediate School to catch water which was leaking through the roof. I can only imagine the mess in those buildings in the days following that meeting when three inches of rain fell in the area. I know of teachers who have to remove posters from the walls before a rain shower to keep them from being destroyed.
The superintendent and facilities director, at the Nov. 16 meeting, indicated they knew nothing about the abundant water leaks at the Gentry Intermediate School during recent rain storms. The facilities director said he has always contacted the roofing company which recently repaired the roof to fix any leaks when they are reported to him because the roof is still under warranty, but no one had reported the recent leaks to him.
He also indicated that he assigns repairs from a "work order" and that he had no work requests to address the recent leaky roof problems.
This tells me two things. First, the superintendent and the facilities director have not been regularly visiting the facilities to evaluate their needs. Second, employees in some school buildings are not doing their jobs because they failed to generate work orders.
Plans to replace the roof on the Intermediate School's main building in 2017 were presented to the board but, in my opinion, addressing the leaky roof and possible mold problems is urgent. I would suggest a thorough inspection be performed prior to any work being done. We all know, or should know, that years of leaking roofs above insulation and ceiling tile create prime real estate for mold spore generation. Many molds are detrimental to human health, and some are even deadly.
In my opinion, patching or putting a new roof on the main building at the Intermediate School and not addressing the mold issue would be like putting lipstick on a pig. It may look good, but it's still a pig!
I have been attending school board meetings for almost three years and the water leaks and mold problems have been discussed many times. But, from what I am hearing and observing, the learning and work environment at the Intermediate School is not a top priority. Yet, there is authorized spending of $122,000 from a slush-fund of sorts to take care of improvements to dugouts and ball fields to satisfy the desire of coaches and make the Gentry School athletic facilities look beter for upcoming tournaments.
Immediate attention to these facility problems is necessary to provide a safe and healthy environment for our students and teachers which is condusive to learning. The problems need to be addressed now before the district is confronted by OSHA, the EPA or class-action lawsuits. And all who live in the Gentry School District, pay part of the $16 million in school taxes or have students in Gentry schools have a vested interest in a solution to these problems.
Al Lemke
Gentry
Editorial on 11/25/2015