New Linderman gym to be ready for 2020-21 school year
LINDERMAN ELEMENTARY School’s gymnasium wall collapsed due to the weight of pillars of ice that formed after abundant snowfall in early January 2018. The photo shows the snow and ice that wound up in the building’s lockerroom area. The gym will be torn down and a new one built over the next 16 to 18 months. The facility is expected to be ready for use to begin the 2020-21 school year. (Lake County Leader file photo)
“It’s a step in the right direction ... It was a long time coming.”
That is what Polson School District 23 Superintendent Rex Weltz said Tuesday morning.
He was referring to an agreement between the school district and its insurance company to rebuild the Linderman Elementary School gymnasium. It has been been virtually unusable and unsafe since the south wall collapsed the first week of January 2018.
There was a “weather event” on Dec. 31, 2017, which featured abundant snow that piled up on the “barrelled” roof of the gym building, built with bricks. Winds from the north caused drifting on the south edge of the roof. Much of the snow melted and then cold weather resulted in heavy “log rolls,” made of ice, being formed. The weight against the parafice took its toll.
An employee who was plowing snow on Jan. 2, 2018, noticed the wall was “considerably bowed,” Weltz said. To be better safe than sorry, Weltz gave a directive to cease use of the gym and the classrooms in the building.
Weltz said the wall “failed” on Jan. 6, caving in on the lockerroom. Fortunately, it was not being used due to the vacation precaution by the school district.
All activities and classes in the popular 1,800-seat gymnasium, also used for non-school community events, were relocated — mostly to parts of the main LES building, which is attached to the gym structure by a walkway.
THE SCHOOL district was working with Paine West insurance company in a claim for damages. Since they have a $250,000 threshhold, the claim was handed off to Travelers Insurance Company. Gallagher Bassett is the third-party administrator.
It’s a highly-detailed 260-page policy.
Weltz said the school district laid out three options for the building.
The first was to bring it up to code as it currently stood, to the tune of about $4.1 million. Weltz said it would take a “lot of metal” to brace the top-heavy building. Metal I-beams would be used, inserted through existing brick.
Option 2 was to take the roof structure off and take bricks off the side — converting it to a “hybrid” model. The total cost: also about $4.1 million.
The third option appeared to be the most viable, given the same price tag of around $4.1 million. That was to tear the building down, pour a new foundation. It would be “like-for-like,” meaning the building would be similar in some features to the current structure. That is the option that the district chose.
“Building from the ground up will be a quicker turnaround,” Weltz said.
The projected completion date would be around the middle of 2020, with the building ready to use to start the 2020-21 school year.