The Salem Community High School Board Monday night agreed to replace all the lower-level bleachers in BE Gum Gymnasium this summer.
Superintendent Dr. Brad Detering says Carroll Seating will complete the bleacher replacement at a cost of $124,663.
“We’re extremely proud of what that gym looks like and the historic nature of it,” Detering said. “The board and the building committee wanted to make sure to not dramatically change that, so the replacement is coming in with electric bleachers on the south side, but all of the bleachers will still have wood seats. There are some gyms that go on and bring in the molded colored plastic seats, but the building committee and the school board felt that it was extremely important to keep the look of B.E. Gum Gymnasium as close to the original design as possible.”
Detering says other work will be completed as well.
“The replacement of the basketball goals as well as the safety harnesses and the motors that retract the basketball goals up and down. The bleachers and the basketball goals are original, and so it’s things that eventually just have to be replaced because they’ve come to the end of their useful life.”
Carroll Seating will also complete the basketball goal project at a cost of $73,365.
The board earlier approved reroofing a large part of the school as another summer project.
In other action, the board hired Ian Barbee as a science teacher for the next school year. He’ll replace Amy Telford who is retiring. Pat Lobek resigned as assistant football coach.
