Plea made to upgrade athletic facility at Charles City High School

As budget season begins to swing into high gear, at least one person is pleading for Charles City’s School Board to assist with helping extracurricular activities maintain their high level.

Charles City High School Athletic Director Andre’ Jones spoke at the Tuesday night meeting in hopes that the school board assists with the resurfacing of the track by placing it into the school’s upcoming Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). After opening up with the background on the fight for the last seven years and the continuous minor work done to the track, he said it was time for a major overhaul as he addressed four of the five school board members in attendance (At-large representative Royce Paige was not present).

“We survived last year, and we survived last year, but we won’t next year,” he told school board members. “By industry standards, we are supposed to have this track resurfaced every 10 years. By not doing that, it has save the schools roughly $250,000 by industry costs at that time.”

Jones highlighted the only two major projects that took place revolving around athletics. The first was a minor resurfacing of one of the long jump pits in 2015. The other was the purchase of a scoreboard in 2017.

From there, Jones spoke passionately in his belief that the student-athletes should be rewarded for their hard work both in and out of the classroom.

“Twenty of the 70 student-athletes who participated in winter sports made the A/B honor roll, and 38 others maintained a grade-point average of 2.0 or higher,” he commented. “You asked these student-athletes to be successful in the classroom and to be successful on the field.”

Jones pointed to recent highlights that include the boys’ basketball team hosting a regional tournament game and the success of the first-year indoor track and field program. Other highlights include the restoration of the volleyball and football teams, as well as the baseball team that will be returning for Spring 2020.

“The only thing I ask is that the school board does not approve the CIP as it is proposed and only to approve it if the track resurfacing if the track is listed in it,” the athletic director continued. “There are two options you can do. You can add it to the current CIP and if the county’s board of supervisors say ‘no’, then at least I know the school board made an effort.

“The second and more reliable option is to table the replacement of the school carpet for one year,” Jones continued. “On the current CIP, it is budgeted for $210,000 and the recommended cost to replace the track is $218,000. If myself along with the student-athletes have been patient enough for the last seven years for the resurfacing of the track, then I know tabling the replacement of the carpet for one year won’t hurt.

“You all were elected this past November and in some of your speeches you made promises to restore programs at the schools for Charles City students,” Jones said as he began to wrap up his speech. In order to do that, you need proper athletic facilities. Here is your chance to live up to your promise.”

After the closing of the public hearing, Charles City’s School Board opened its work session on the proposed budget. Among the discussion was an informational presentation on an energy efficiency contract by Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy (DMME) and ABM Building Solutions LLC.

According to DMME representative Charlie Barksdale, an energy savings performance contract is a cost-effective tool to facilitate energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water savings by reallocating money to upgrade facilities. He continued by talking about the process of selecting a company, timeline, and the different energy/water conservation measures. The contracts are budget-neutral and the ESCO represents single point of accountability. Barksdale said that savings earned from the contract would be able to assist the reconstruction of the track.

At-large member Preston Adkins says the idea of entering into the contract is an easy one.

“It’s a no-brainer,” he said. “We have costs and things that need to be addressed now. This contract will help us to address some our needs now. If we don’t get the savings that they say we will get, they pay for it. I see it as a win-win.”

School board members proceeded to identifying priorities for the upcoming budget shortly after the presentation. District 1 representative Joy Harris gave her input about the recommendation to resurface the track.

“I see the request for the carpeting, but I also am looking at the condition of the track,” she said, pointing to pictures presented in Jones’ presentation. “My question is what is the purpose of replacing carpeting when we have leaky roofs?”

District 2 leader and board chairman Rodney Tyler also echoed his sentiments regarding the school’s athletic facility, inquiring about the background of the facility.

“I see this has been in the CIP for the past years,” the chairman said. “What happened to it that caused it to be taken out?”

After Director of Operations Jerome Tyler spoke about the projects history that included delays due to other priorities, school board members inquired the condition of the school’s carpet. Tyler responded that he believes that the carpeting could manage an additional year, prompting a switch to include the track into the upcoming CIP.

In addition to adding the track, other plans that were substituted and added into the proposed CIP included addressing conditions of the school’s water treatment facility and the addition of a new scoreboard for the gymnasium.

Regarding the school’s budget for operations in FY2020-21, school leaders approved of the budget for proposed raises for teachers and staff.

“The raises are definitely something we must keep in the budget,” said Harris. “That is the way we can continue to attract teachers and retain the great teachers that we currently have.”

The only additional dialogue came regarding modifying occupational roles in central office. School board members directed staff to prepare job descriptions for the positions in efforts to assist with preparing their budget.

The school board is expected to approve their budget at its March 17 regular school board meeting before presenting it to the county’s board of supervisors on March 24.