BonnerSprings.com

USD 204 Board President Ray Cox can still picture it.

While sitting in the bleachers at David Jaynes Stadium, during the first Bonner Springs High School home football game of the season, Cox saw something that still makes him cringe. A toddler standing on the foot rail between two bleachers took a step toward his mother, who was sitting on the uppermost bleacher, and almost fell through to the ground. The youngster would have fallen through, in fact, Cox said, had his mother not been able to catch him first.

“We were at three (bleachers) from the top,” Cox said of the Sept. 2 incident. “It was scary … we almost had a fatality or a broken neck.”

The incident was enough for Cox to suggest that the bleachers be replaced, which he did at the next board meeting. Cox has continued to make mention of the issue at several board meetings since.

At Monday’s board meeting, Superintendent Robert VanMaren gave members a $380,000 estimate to replace the current bleachers with safer models. He said he received the estimate from Hanson Sports of Crestwood, Ky., which has done work on the stadium in the past. The new bleachers would be slip-resistant and risers placed under each bleacher would prevent anyone from falling through.

The estimate included that the bleachers would be placed on a large concrete slab, instead of on piers and posts as they currently are, which would save “about 25 to 30 percent of the cost of regular bleacher construction,” VanMaren said.

The former wood surface of the bleachers was replaced with aluminum in 1994. But if the board gave its approval, VanMaren said, this would be the first full bleacher replacement since the stadium was built in the 1960s.

This year wasn’t the first time bleacher replacement has come up. VanMaren said the issue had been discussed in 2005 when the new turf, purchased through a bond issue, was installed at David Jaynes Stadium. For financial reasons, VanMaren said, any bleacher replacement was pushed to the back burner.

“We just decided to save the money. They weren’t in real bad shape,” VanMaren said. “… There wasn’t a lot of push for it at that time.”

Now, Cox is pushing pretty hard. At the meeting Monday, he said, “It’s a safety issue.” He recounted an April incident in which a third-grader from Sacred Heart Catholic School suffered serious, but nonlife-threatening, injuries after falling through the bleachers during track practice. That student had to be life-flighted to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo.

Still, not all board members were comfortable with the $380,000 price tag. Board member Patricia Welicky asked what other items still needed to be funded through capital outlay and whether there was enough money for new bleachers. VanMaren said over the next three to four years, the district would need to replace the air-conditioning chiller at the high school and the turf at David Jaynes Stadium, among others items. He said there would still be enough money, however, to replace the bleachers.

As of October, board attorney Charles Thomas said, there is just under $3.7 million in capital outlay.

Later in the meeting, Welicky again voiced her concerns about spending the money. She said both Bonner Springs Elementary, at which she is a volunteer, and Edwardsville Elementary are lacking in technology needs. BSE especially, Welicky said, is in desperate need of laptops in the media center.

“I’m just asking, if we have $380,000 to spend on bleachers, that first we (take care of) educational needs in getting our media center laptops that they need … I mean, there’s just needs that are in our educational system that I think should come first before we start spending more money in capital outlay,” she said.

No action was taken on the project Monday night. Welicky asked that the item be placed on the agenda of the next board meeting, scheduled for Dec. 6, for further discussion.

“I’m just saying there’s a give and take between sports and education, and I would like to focus on education first,” she said.

VanMaren said if the board approves the project, the district would need to go to bid on it prior to spring break 2012 so that work could get under way by the summer.

In other action, the board:

• Unanimously approved the adoption of the agenda.

• Unanimously approved the minutes from the Oct. 17 meeting.

• Unanimously approved warrants totaling $642,663.

• Unanimously approved the treasurer and clerk’s report.

• Witnessed the Bonner Springs-Edwardsville Education Foundation hand out Excellence in Education awards and teacher grants for the month of October. Beau Bragg, physical education teacher at Bonner Springs Elementary, and Susan Gash, instructional coach at Clark Middle School, both received Excellence in Education awards. Rachel Williams, music teacher at BSE, Jamie Trigg, kindergarten teacher at Delaware Ridge Elementary, Pam Stewart, seventh grade English teacher at CMS, Melinda Terry, seventh grade math teacher at CMS, and Lizette Burks, eighth grade science teacher at CMS, all received $500 teacher grants to use for new instructional materials for their classrooms.

• Broke for a 25-minute executive session to discuss a student disciplinary matter, as well as nonelected personnel, after which no action was taken.

• Approved, with board member Tim McGinnis opposed, new contracts for Adam Meschke and Lourdes Olivares-Shumate, who will both teach summer school at Delaware Ridge Elementary; new contracts for Cherie Coffman, Edwardsville Elementary instructional aide, Felicia Fields, bus driver, Nathaniel Germany, Bonner Springs High School custodian, and Brian White, BSHS supplemental music teacher; a maternity leave request for Tami Wade, math coach for all the elementary schools; and resignations for Heather Campbell, BSHS head volleyball coach, Dan Colvin, BSHS custodian, Mike Hammer, maintenance worker, Amanda Rhodes, Edwardsville Elementary instructional aide, Barry Richards, BSHS math teacher, and Lisa Williams, preschool aide at DRE.

Asked to clarify his opposition, McGinnis said it was “just a decision I had to say no (to) on one of the issues.” He wouldn’t elaborate on which issue that was, however.

• Rescheduled the next board meeting, originally scheduled for Dec. 12, to Dec. 6. The change was made to allow Superintendent Robert VanMaren to accompany his wife on a trip to Amsterdam.

Comments

1. 

   DaveJohnson (anonymous) says…

   Ridiculous! Why is it when people seriously lacking common sense and parenting skills show up to events it could cost $380,000? There are many venues with this kind of seating and when we had toddlers we sat where it was safe on the first row!
   Dave Johnson
   Edwardsville KS

   November 17, 2011 at 7:43 p.m.

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2. 

   Finn12 (anonymous) says…

   Put it to a senior project at BSHS, recruit carpenters, welders, etc---and build some bleachers for far less money and far more common sense than the board members have. Bravo to Patricia Welicky, the lone visible exception to that. I would beg the board to be smarter than to spend $380,000 in this economy on one single project.

   November 18, 2011 at 1:46 p.m.

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