Officials hope to pin down wrestling-room solution
JANESVILLE — Plans to expand locker rooms and coaches’ and teachers’ offices at Parker High School might have to be reworked.
That is one of the solutions being looked at to allay concerns about the school’s wrestling-practice room.
The old practice room is scheduled to be lost as locker rooms, offices and showers expand as part of Parker’s expansion project.
Wrestling coaches and others apparently thought the referendum project would provide them a new practice room.
But that room was cut out of plans in order to save money in the $70.8 million referendum in 2006, Director of Business Services Doug Bunton told the school board’s buildings and grounds/finance committee, which met Monday at Parker.
Four school board members seemed concerned or upset that plans were somehow changed without anyone telling those in charge of wrestling.
Plans now call for wrestlers to practice on one side of the big, new gymnasium that will be built on the school’s west side.
Wrestling backers have raised safety concerns for practices that would be held in a room without padded walls and in a place where other gym noise would hamper practices.
Bunton indicated two options under consideration:
-- Find enough space in the basement athletics area for both a wrestling practice room and the expanded locker rooms and offices that already are planned for that area.
-- Find a way for the gymnastics and wrestling teams to share the new “multi-purpose” room that is dedicated now to gymnastics.
Board member Tim Cullen noted that plans call for a new gym with four basketball courts, the multi-purpose room and a big, new weight room.
“Adding all that space, and we’ve managed not to meet the safety concerns of a very successful sport,” Cullen said, clearly upset that the board was dealing with the issue so late in the process.
Board member Lori Stottler wondered whether the problem was less of a safety issue and more of a change that simply inconveniences the wrestling program.
“We’re far enough into the construction process now that whatever we do, it’s going to cost,” Stottler said.
Cullen, however, suggested that taking space out of the locker room-office area might be done without adding much cost.
Gymnasium construction is expected to start in March or April and continue to about April 1, 2009. The new locker room/office area would be remodeled after the gym is done.
Bunton said he planned to meet with the architect for a possible new plan for the basement locker room area. Committee chairman DuWayne Severson told Bunton to return to the committee in a week or two with options.
Stottler said she wanted to make sure the locker rooms would be secure places for students’ belongings, and she didn’t want to see any solutions that hadn’t been discussed in advance with the athletics staff.
Feb 20, 2008 at 9:02 p.m.
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CC,
I'm not responding to you or your posts, I'm making reference to the school board member's responses in the article. The same theme is present regarding the hockey program, k-4 program, funding for programs cut in the spring, Evert's report card, Co-op rules, Etc.
Feb 20, 2008 at 1:30 p.m.
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Where in the world do you get that the school district is misleading the public?!?! Because these wrestling parents chose not to LOOK at the plans before voting? They were in the paper. They were on the district website and probably still are. Did you want Dr. Evert to hold your hand???
Feb 19, 2008 at 10:46 p.m.
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Isn't this about the 10th time this school year that the JSD has mislead the public?
When is the community going the hold the district administrators acountable for their actions? Mr. Sodeman always compares the schools to the private sector. Our district is misleading the public and no one is held accountable. In the private sector heads would roll.
Feb 19, 2008 at 9 p.m.
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AMEN rcg! I cannot even believe what I'm reading. Its scary that this school board member didn't educate himself, but the fact that anyone is giving any time to this little group of parents after ALL of them didn't educate themselves, either is even worse! You've had a wrestling room for 30 years. Congrats. Everyone else was time-sharing the gyms at both schools. Football has an ambulance at games; Soccer players have a half-hearted first aid kit and no medical personnel whatsoever. The hockey kids spend a fortune and get no respect. Everyone has been crammed together for years. Be glad you had it when you did and realize that the new school will be better for ALL the kids.......even your boys will use those new SCIENCE LABS, right? Or isn't that why they're in school? Get your priorities straight!
Feb 19, 2008 at 8:33 p.m.
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I don't understand this. A school board member who's son wrestles at Parker is now upset that the parker wrestling room is going to be gone and he wouldn't of supported the referrendum if he had known that. Wow the plans were in the Janesville Gazette before the vote and it stated then that the wrestling room would be eliminated. Now because it's a school board member they are going to look at redesiging Parker and maybe save the wrestling room. At what cost! and are they going to do the same at Craig. Craig has never had a wrestling room they practice downstairs and if you have ever been down there it is not very pretty and there are cement pillars in the middle of where the mats are so the kids run into them all the time. If any school should be redesigned for wrestling it's Craig. I guess I don't understand how this can happen the plans were there before the vote and a vote was taken and passed. Now there will be a redesign because of a school board member not educateing himself before hand. What other pet projects are going to be changed by other school board members if he can change this. No wonder the teachers don't have a new contract!!! But if they did it wouldn't matter the school board would say we didn't know this when we voted for it so we will redesign it to what we want anyway. This is just B.S. if this is allowed and I will never back another school vote and I did work on the committe to get this passed.
Feb 19, 2008 at 12:17 p.m.
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So the students belongings are more important than the students safety. What about the other people that use that wrestling room too??
Feb 19, 2008 at 8:58 a.m.
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Construction hasn't started yet. I say can the whole thing and put the REAL plans back in the voters' hands!
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