Gainesville High School's gym renovation nears completion
photos submitted by GHS staff A crew with Robby Strain Concrete, assisted by other area contractors, smooths concrete on a portion of the Gainesville High School gym that was revealed when the gym’s original, fixed-in-place bleachers were removed and the locker rooms under the bleachers were filled in. See page 16 for more photos of the gym-renovation process.
Step one - bleacher removal Above left: The Gainesville High School gym renovation began May 17 as Winrod Brothers Construction started dismantling the old, fixed-in-place bleachers. Nathanael Winrod said the company's original bid was to "cut out and trash" the bleachers "because labor pulling all the nails was going to be a lot." But between the bid and the project's start, lumber prices soared. "So we invested in salvage labor" and saved some of the lumber to be reused elsewhere, he said. Above, right: Removing the old bleachers revealed the locker rooms in the space beneath them. The old, open locker room showers can be seen on the white wall near the center of the photo.
Step two - creating a new door, starting the floor Above left: The original interior gym door opened under the old bleachers and connected with a main corridor near the school's entrance. That interior door has been closed, and this new door was created on the gym's north exterior wall. Here, it provides access for the concrete delivery. It will eventually become an interior door connecting the gym to the new 7,792-square-foot structure that will be built onto the front of the school. Above right: Flooring in the newly created space was laid by Dojan, Inc., from Sparta.
Step three - laying the new floor The new 2,300 square feet of gym flooring can be used for PE classes and other activities. New, flexible bleachers, to be installed soon, can be retracted into a 6-foot-wide footprint against the wall.
GHS was under construction 50 years ago this week Gainesville High School has undergone several additions and changes since it opened 58 years ago. This photo was published in the July 29, 1971, edition of the Times, describing construction of a new classroom wing and shop building. The job was the third addition since the school opened in 1963, the Times reported. The first, in 1964, was for another classroom, and the second, in 1966, included the vo-ag classroom complex, the library and two more classrooms. The workmen were identified as, from left, Ralph Morgan of Chadwick, Clell Stone of Reeds Spring and Johnnie Morgan of Chadwick.
Work on the remodeled interior of the Gainesville High School gym is nearing completion, says Gainesville superintendent Justin Gilmore. The gymnasium project is the first step in a major renovation that will also include adding a new 7,792-square-foot structure onto the front of the 58-year-old school.
The storm shelter project is being funded with more than $2 million in grant funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. An additional $800,000 to $1.1 million in Gainesville School District funds is being used for the gym renovation and FEMA-ineligible expenses.
The addition will create new front entrances to the gym and to the school itself and will include new locker rooms, administrative offices, storage, restrooms and other areas as well as a commons space that will serve as a school and community FEMA storm shelter.
The shelter will be able to withstand 250-mph winds and will be accessible to the community whenever tornado warnings are issued, even outside of school hours.
The gym is being remodeled to accommodate new “push-back” bleachers that will include five rows (approximately 200 seats) of stadium-style seats with full backs. Regular bleachers, providing seating for another 350 people, will extend above the stadium seats.
The new bleachers will be ADA-compliant, unlike the old, fixed bleachers that could not be accessed without climbing stairs. And they can be retracted to a 6-foot-wide footprint against the gym wall, opening up 2,300 square feet of new gym flooring that has been built over the basement-level space that originally housed the old locker rooms. That space has now been filled in, and the old locker rooms no longer exist.
The bleachers are expected to be installed by Aug. 15, if all goes well, Gilmore said. The stadium (chairback) seats are expected to arrive by the first week of school, which starts Aug. 23, and will be installed soon after that.
“We are very excited about the bleacher renovation,” Gilmore told the Times. “Our hope is that anyone can come watch a game if they wish. We will have wheelchair accessible seating, and the bleachers will not be nearly as steep. Also, the bleachers will have handrails.”
The original west-side door to the gym that opened into a main school corridor near the school entrance has been closed in, and a new door has been created in the north wall. That entrance will connect to the new addition when it is completed. Until then, the gym can be accessed from the corridor that connects the junior high wing with the rest of the school.
The deadline for submitting construction-related bids is Aug. 12. Work is expected to begin soon after that and continue through the 2021-22 school year, Gilmore said. He hopes construction can be finished by November 2022 but says that’s his hope, not a fixed date.
The school’s existing front entrance will continue to be used until construction starts on the new addition. Gilmore expects it to still be in use for the All-School Reunion scheduled for Sept. 4. Then, when work on the addition and storm shelter begins, the main front entrance will move temporarily to the junior high entrance on the east end of the building.
Preparing for that temporary move of the main entrance, the security system has already been expanded to create space for a secretary to see and admit those asking to enter the building during the school day through the junior high doors.
The school’s bus-loading area moved to that end of the building earlier this summer.
Local contractors are among those working on the project, Gilmore said. Winrod Brothers Construction did the bleacher demolition and door opening work, MLH & Sons provided and prepped the gravel, and Robby Strain Concrete did the concrete work, he said. Dojan, Inc., from Sparta completed the new flooring; the new bleachers are coming from Heartland Seating of Shawnee, Kansas.