It has been a busy summer of upgrades in the Guntersville City School system. Maintenance director Jeff Mims talked about it at Monday night’s City School Board meeting and had a slide show to add a visual element for the Board members.
Some of the work was done by contractors and some by the maintenance crew, Mims said.
A new playground was installed by others at Guntersville Elementary, in addition to the playground that was already there. On the existing playground, a new shade structure was installed.
“We almost took on too much with that one,” Mims said. “The instructions said two men with a ladder could install it. It took us 6 men and 3 ladders. But we got there.”
“It looks good,” Board president Whitney Mastin said. “The kids are going to love it.”
A contractor stripped the gym floor at Guntersville Elementary down to the bare wood and refinished it. Now, Mims, said, it matches the floors in the gyms at the high school and middle school.
“But instead of the Guntersville G at center court, it has the Wildcat paw,” he said.
New flooring was also installed in the Pre-K area at Guntersville Elementary.
Likewise, at Cherokee School, new floors that look like wood have been installed. The floor work meant a lot of moving of furniture and furnishings, Mims said.
“This new flooring is very durable and it doesn’t have to be stripped and waxed every year,” Supt. Dr. Jason Barnett said. “It’s going to save us a lot of time and labor. The savings in labor costs alone will be significant.”
Floor work has also taken place at Guntersville Middle School. The tile was taken up in the old home economics department and the concrete floor was buffed and polished. That space will become the new agriscience room at the middle school.
The Middle School was slated for new air conditioners over the summer. Only one unit has been installed. The others on order with no firm date on when they will arrive, Mims said.
Drainage work at the Guntersville High baseball field is just about finished, Mims also reported.
“Where are we on The Park?” Board member Laura Kappler Roberts asked. “We are starting school soon.”
The city schools have designated The Park – the old Carlisle Park Middle School gym next to Guntersville Middle School – as a new technical education center, with an emphasis on manufacturing and some other skills. There are big plans to completely renovate that space, but they’ve run into a snag. They can’t get anyone to bid on the project.
“We have bid it twice,” Supt. Barnett said. “We did it as one complete package and no one bid on it. Then we broke it up into different pieces and again we had no bidders.”
“Is it just that contractors have all the work they can do?” Roberts asked.
Supt. Barnett said he thought that was probably the case.
The maintenance crew has done a good bit of work to the old gym themselves. Mims said they are installing one air conditioner for now in the building. It had no air last year.
“It will be as it was last year, with the addition of the air conditioner,” he said.
“Our maintenance department has really done a good job this summer,” Supt. Barnett said. “There aren’t a lot of them and they’ve done quite a bit. It has been impressive.”
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