GENTRY -- Members of Gentry School Board heard a plea for action to deal with the leaky roof issues at the Gentry Intermediate School at their Nov. 16 regular meeting, and school officials said they would look into the matter and obtain the needed repairs.
During the public comments section of the meeting, Charla Whitaker, a parent, presented photographs to the board showing buckets and pans scattered around the Intermediate School to catch water which was leaking through the roof after recent rains. Another member of the public stated the leaks were even worse in some of the classrooms.
Whitaker said the dripping of water into buckets and trash cans was not conducive to learning for students at the Intermediate School and urged the board to take action to correct the problem.
Randy Barrett, school district superintendent, and Jason Barrett, transportation and facilities director, indicated they were not aware of the recurring problem and, had they known, would have contacted the roofing company which replaced the roof following similar issues back in 2007 because the roof is still under warranty.
Jason Barrett said he calls the roofing company every time a leak is reported and has the company come back and fix it, but he said no one told him of the most recent leaks. He said he would look into it and contact the roofing company to make the necessary repairs.
Back in the fall of 2007, Randy Barrett reported to the board that a parent called the health department with concerns about the possibility of mold in the main portion of the Gentry Intermediate School due to leaks in the roof which allowed rain water to make its way through the insulation and the ceiling. At that time, Matt Hicks, a representative from the Arkansas Department of Health visited the school and inspected the school and was more concerned with classroom ventilation and carbon dioxide levels than with mold, according to Randy Barrett. Hicks suggested improving classroom ventilation to reduce carbon dioxide levels, possibly by running the school's heating and air conditioning system and opening doors.
At that time, Randy Barrett told board members that the district wanted "a second opinion" to be sure there were no health risks for the children and hired an independent firm which had done work for Northwest Arkansas Community College to come out and do more extensive testing.
Barrett did tell board members that the school district would have to replace the roof on the main portion of the intermediate school building to stop the leak problems at the school. But though the roof was replaced and a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system was installed, the problem appears to be back again.
Al Lemke, a patron of the district, told board members he believed roof replacement wasn't enough. He asked that the building again be checked for mold at the same time the roof is replaced. He said it would do little good to replace the roof if mold is left growing in the building's ceiling area. (See his letter in this week's issue of the Eagle Observer.)
Randy Barrett pointed out that a new sloped roof is in the district's facilities' plan, but the date is in 2017, two years away, because the current roof is still under warranty. He said he would hate to see the district have to replace the intermediate school roof while it is still under warranty.
According to a warranty document provided by the school district, the current roof is under limited warranty until August of 2020. It was installed by Franklin and Son, Inc., in 2008 and is warranted with a Red Shield limited warranty on the Firestone roofing products used in the roof replacement. Exclusions in coverage include acts of God and other damage caused to the roofing system.
A new sloped roof is a part of a comprehensive facilities plan which includes demolishing the wing buildings at the Intermediate School campus and building a new classroom building there to be used together with the existing main building -- which includes the commons area, the cafeteria and the gymnasium.
The total price tag on the new building is just under $6 million, with a new roof system priced at approximately $525,000, but the district plans to seek partnership funding from the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation to reduce that amount. Randy Barrett said at the October meeting that it was not yet known if the state would contribute anything toward the Intermediate School projects and the district would need to ask voters to approve a millage increase to pay for all or part of the projects.
The Gentry School Board voted Oct. 19 to move forward with plans to build the new classroom facility at the Gentry Intermediate School, build a sloped roof on the main building of the Intermediate School, renovate systems at the high school and the new agriculture building at the high school and renovate the old agriculture building or put up a new metal building to house a new diesel mechanic training facility at the high school as part of the school district's new focus on career and workforce education.
According to Randy Barrett at the October meeting, total cost for all the projects was estimated to be approximately $8.6 million. State Partnership Funding for the projects will be sought, which could be as much as $2.7 million if the projects qualify for funding at 31.5 cents on the dollar, leaving approximately $5.9 million for the district to fund. If state funding is received from the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation, the school district will ask voters in the 2016 election for a millage increase of 4 to 5 mills. Should no state assistance be received, the board would ask voters for 6 to 7 additional mills to pay for the projects.
General News on 11/25/2015