A statement from Superintendent Patrick Shelton Feb. 4 revealed the Lucco-Jackson gymnasium will close from March 17 through the end of the school year to remove the entire gym floor and perform repairs to a sewage main 8 feet under the school.
This follows the district’s recent discovery that a rusted and broken sewer line has been the source of persistent moisture issues first noticed by girls volleyball players in August. The shut-down will narrowly miss the boys basketball and winter guard seasons, but boys volleyball and the district-wide Tiger Town Consortium will be impacted.
According to Athletic Director Amy Boscolo, the construction period comes at the most ideal time of year besides summer break, which is unavailable because contractors are largely booked. When the gym shuts down, physical education classes will be able to move outside, which isn’t possible during cold winter months.
“Once they found it, we’re like, okay, how long can we live with it? Can we make it through winter?” Ms. Boscolo said. “Because winter, to be honest with you, it’s not about athletics, it’s about PE. I don’t know that people really understand how large our PE classes are and how many classes we offer every single day, every single hour. When we displace PE, it’s a problem.”
The warped and buckling gym floor was patched in October, making it safe to conduct PE classes and play on through the winter while the district carried out a lengthy probing process to locate the source of the moisture.
Now that the leak has been determined to lie so deep under the school, part of the repair must be done during spring break while students are absent.
“All that 8 feet of dirt, all the concrete, all that stuff – they have to haul that out of the building,” Ms. Boscolo said. “They’re going to be pushing it down the hallways. There’s going to be plywood down the floors where they are going to be carrying because if not, all these heavy barrels and things are going to crack the floor.”
Ms. Boscolo said the final aspect of construction, the reflooring, won’t take place until early summer break. The school board has been hearing bids from contractors this week, according to Interim Principal Alex Fox.
“When we open in August, our construction will be over, and it’ll be really wonderful,” Ms. Boscolo said. “But the next few months are going to be very challenging, and we know that.”
Tiger Town: Moving major concert to minor space
The Tiger Town Consortium, which features several District 7 musical ensembles gathered in concert, is the largest event impacted by the construction. Taking place March 29, Tiger Town features 500 musicians and draws about 2,000 audience members.
The day after Dr. Shelton’s announcement, Ms. Boscolo visited orchestra director Victoria Voumard’s office to brainstorm solutions. They decided to visit Lincoln Middle School and evaluate its gym.
“We believe we can make it work, and there’s not another venue in Edwardsville that is available or can offer the space of that gym,” Mrs. Voumard said.
The largest concern is parking. Because Lincoln’s parking lot cannot accommodate the number of attendees, the district has promised shuttle buses to ferry audience members to the concert from parking spaces elsewhere, according to Mrs. Voumard.
“Since it’s Tiger Town, I feel like we need to have it in Tiger Town,” she said. “I feel like it would be a shame if we had the concert outside of the Edwardsville/Glen Carbon area just because we don’t have the space. I feel like if we think smarter and really strategize, we will make it as spectacular as it always is.”
When junior Liv Warner, a choir member, found out Tiger Town would no longer be at EHS, her reaction was “shock.”
“I don’t necessarily think there will be problems, I just think people will be surprised that it’s not at EHS when it’s known for being there,” Warner said.
Sophomore violist Amelia Zhang was disappointed upon hearing the news.
“In all the years I’ve been in the orchestra program, there has never been a time when Tiger Town was not at EHS,” Zhang said. “It will definitely be a contrast from the traditional Tiger Town.”
The ensembles will have to rotate using the floor during the concert. Lucco-Jackson is the only space big enough to seat them all simultaneously. Mrs. Voumard is working with the rest of the District 7 musical community to figure out how they will all play the planned finale, “Ode to Joy,” together on the floor.
They will also have to find a place to set up their silent auction and direct foot traffic as supporters line up to enter the concert. Mrs. Voumard said a formalized plan should be in place by the end of February.
“We are going to be doing some strategic planning … with the orchestra teachers in the district and our booster parent volunteers and come up with a scenario, the least chaotic scenario, to make this work,” Mrs. Voumard said. “The school district is going to help in any way they can to provide the resources for it to work smoothly.”
Boys Volleyball: Set to serve season at Liberty
The spring season’s only indoor sport, boys volleyball, will relocate to Liberty Middle School just as the girls volleyball team did in the fall. For seniors, the news was especially discouraging.
“It’s hard to see kids be so disappointed,” Ms. Boscolo said. “But the reality is we are going to make it happen. We are going to make their season happen. We’re going to make sure that we give them the best experience possible.”
When senior Micah Swank found out his last season was going to take place at Liberty, it was “pretty upsetting.”
“It also makes me sad to know my senior banner will never hang in the EHS gym,” Swank said. “I’ll never get to play in that gym again. I have so many good memories on that court, and I’m sad I can’t make new ones.”
Senior Joe Liston began to worry when girls volleyball was relocated to Liberty in the fall. But he said he became more hopeful when he saw basketball playing in Lucco-Jackson. He was upset to find out his team wouldn’t be able to.
“Games won’t truly be home games, and the team has a lot of seniors this year,” Liston said. “I feel not playing in the main gym takes away from the experience.”
Boys volleyball coach Doug Allen has become increasingly worried about the impacts of the relocation since the construction was confirmed by Dr. Shelton.
“I heard rumors that there would be construction a couple of months ago. I did not know about the date of March 17th until the same time as all other members of District 7. My initial reaction was, ‘no big deal,’” coach Allen said. “ The more I thought about it, the more I see it as a distraction from our season. I see it as a time-consuming problem.”
The team would have to coordinate with baseball to use the B gym, so they’ll practice primarily at Liberty, according to coach Allen.
“We have been provided the use of B gym,” coach Allen said. “But having the batting cage nets hanging over the courts causes a lot of issues.”
Liberty brings other complications. Practices will be delayed until 2:45. Players will have to commute. And if weather is bad, the middle school boys and girls track teams might come inside to use the school’s gym, too.
“It sucks having to commute for practice, and, with underclassmen not being able to drive, we can’t be a whole team at Liberty right after school,” Liston said.
Coach Allen said there are some positives to the Liberty environment. He hopes the players will move past the complications and “play their hearts out.”
“As we witnessed in the fall with the girls playing there, it can get loud,” coach Allen said. “It is a more intimate setting. We are hoping that becomes a home advantage.”
Ms. Boscolo knows a little bit about what the team is experiencing. When she coached track and field years ago at Urbana High School, their stadium underwent construction and the track was unusable. Her team drove to another high school every day, where they practiced from 7-9 p.m. after the home team was done using their track. She saw morale falter as her athletes became more and more tired.
“Construction is painful. The outcome is beautiful, but actually going through it is really hard. It’s hard to move schools. It’s exhausting,” Ms. Boscolo said. “We’re going to grind and we’re going to get it done and we’re going to make it to August.”