Location approved for new Highland High School athletic training facility
The location of a new athletic training facility at Highland High School has been chosen.
Architects and engineers had given the School Board two options to consider on the HHS campus — one between the high school and the new tennis courts, the other between the tennis courts and the football stadium.
Board members said it would be desirable to have the new building located closer to the school, which they thought would allow for greater use, such as for P.E. classes.
“It seems to me to be logical to service as many kids as possible,” said board president Jim Gallatin.
However, in the final analysis, cost for that option proved to be too much.
“The thing that comes into the most play is utility location,” Art Hayhurst of FGM Architects, the firm hired by the district to design the new facility, said of the site closer to the school.
In order to place the building there, a water line would have to be relocated, but more costly, a large storm sewer would also have to altered.
"Our biggest concern is there’s a 30- to 40-inch storm sewer that needs moved,” said Paul Homann of Thouvenot, Wade and Moerchen Inc., the civil engineering firm for the project.
The storm sewer runs from Troxler Avenue to the area beyond the left field fence of the varsity baseball diamond, where it spills into an open ditch. The storm sewer almost perfectly bisects the proposed site between the school and tennis courts.
Planners said that moving the storm sewer and water main for the training facility could be tied in with other utility relocation and engineering needed to create a circle driveway the district has on its future wish list. Preliminary sketches show the driveway starting a Troxler Avenue, where the current entrance is to the staff parking lot, but widening and extending it. The circle drive would then be built near the school's front entrance.
By doing the work now, the district could save money in the long run — if the board did, indeed, wish to build the circle drive.
“We could move the building (by the football stadium) to save the costs up front, but you are still going to incur the costs if you do anything (with the circle drive) down the road,” Superintendent Mike Sutton told board members while laying out the options.
“Ten, 20 years from now, you don’t want to be doing (utility relocation) again,” Hayhurst said.
But the total cost for such work was estimated at $250,000, and that was too rich for board members.
"It would be nice to service everyone, but $250,000 (for utility work) is $250,000 less that we can spend on the building,” said board member Zach Lewis.
“We are looking for money to build the thing anyway,” Lewis added.
And, board member Rene Friedel said, the circle driveway may never happen.
“We are not sure if we are even doing the driveway,” she said.
The utility relocation cost for the site nearer the football stadium was only estimated at $30,000, because only an electric line would have to be moved.
“It’s going to be a lot less expensive to do the work in that location,” Homann said.
HHS football coach Jim Warnecke Jr. said the location further from the school should not be a deterrent to many groups using the facility. The distance between the two proposed sites is roughly 150 yards.
“The whole purpose of it is to have an open, functional space,” Warnecke Jr.
The new building is being designed as 9,600 square feet, 120 by 80. Construction estimates have been placed in the $1 million range.
“We are trying to keep it simple, yet we also want it to appear nice from the outside,” Hayhurst said.
The board gave its blessing earlier this year to the new training facility, as well as renovating the locker rooms at the football stadium, after it shot down an idea to install synthetic turf on the football field.
With its unanimous vote on May 21 to pick the location of the training facility, the board also gave its OK for civil engineers to begin doing work necessary to create a detailed topographical and utility relocation plan.
However, the board will still have to take several more steps, including seeking bids on various aspects of the project, before construction could begin.
Personnel moves
In other business, the board also approved new contracts with Sutton, Assistant Superintendent Derek Hacke, Business Manager Tim Bair, Special Education Director Pamela Tyler and Matthew Scheibel, the pick as the new assistant principal and athletic director for Highland Middle School.
The board also approved the resignation of Hailey Simmons, kindergarten teacher at Highland Primary.
Other new personnel hires approved were:
▪ Kaitlin Richardson, school media specialist;
▪ Jacob Stieb, special education at Highland Middle School;
▪ Michelle King, special education at Highland Middle School;
▪ Cheryl Barr, special education at Highland Primary;
▪ Kelsey Forsythe, special education at Highland Elementary;
▪ Kyndall Mendenhall, kindergarten at Highland Primary; and
▪ Annie Bastien, kindergarten at Highland Primary.
Change of assignments approved were:
▪ Melissa Minford, from teaching third to fourth grade at Highland Elementary;
▪ Elizabeth Grotefendt, from pre-K to kindergarten at Alhambra Primary;
▪ Sarah Wiegman, from program assistant at Highland Elementary to media/guidance secretary at Highland High School; and
▪ Matthew Langendorf, from Lindenthal supervisor to third-grade teacher at Highland Elementary.
The board also approved an extensive list of coaches, both paid and volunteer, for the upcoming year.
CTE needs presentation
Chris Becker, who will be taking over at HHS principal next school year, gave a presentation on the school’s Career & Technical Education program.
CTE covers family and consumer science; agriculture/industrial education; business and technology; and technology and engineering curriculum. There are 458 high school students enrolled in CTE classes.
After meeting with teachers in those subject areas, Becker gave the group’s recommendations on how the district could better serve CTE students.
Their answer was to hire more such teachers.
The district has seen cuts in these areas in recent years, brought on mainly by the state budget crisis.
In 2010, there were three family and consumer science teachers; there’s now one.
There were six business teachers in 2002. There are now 2.16 full-time equivalent instructors in the curriculum.
The buildings trade program was cut entirely in 2013.
Becker recommended restarting the building trades program, though building a selling a house every year, as it once did, was not an idea being pushed.
More staff in the other areas would also mean more students could take those classes, which are now turning kids away. It would also mean more kids could participate in work co-op.
Becker also recommended the district immediately start looking for replacements for agriculture teachers Larry Jones and Don Schmitz, both of whom are retiring at the end next year. Becker said there is a drastic shortfall in the number of ag teachers out there, compared to what is needed, and in order to get good candidates, the district should start advertising as soon as possible.
The board agreed to do that, but as for the bigger ask — hiring more staff — that’s something that will require further discussion.
Sutton said one of the largest problems to overcome would be with scheduling. Since the district went from block scheduling to a straight seven-period day, it eliminated the chances for students to take elective classes. Times slots are filled, for the most part, with core classes required for graduation.
“We are going to have problems, unless we expand the schedule to offer more classes a day,” Sutton said.
Scholarship board member approved
The board approved Janet Renko to serve a three-year term on the board of directors of the Jill Frey Memorial Scholarship. The bylaws of the scholarship require that the Board of Education approve the new board of directors for each term. This generally occurs every year.
AVC agreement OK’d
The board approved an agreement with the Collinsville Area Vocational Center. The district is not not sending any students to CAVC, but the board typically approves the joint agreement each year to maintain a its relationship. There is no cost to the district, unless a student attends.
Budget hearing set
The board approved a resolution setting a hearing on amended budget at the June 25 meeting.
Show choir stipends
The board approved stipends for show choir directors such as ones currently given to directors of school musicals, high school band, high school summer band and HHS chorus. The show choir requires a person for vocal and one for instrumental. This rate is currently $2,825 for each position. The rates will also need approval from the teachers’ union as an addendum to its labor contract.
This story was originally published May 24, 2018 at 3:32 PM with the headline "Location approved for new Highland High School athletic training facility."