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PAGE 2A
THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2010
Old WJPS gym raises concerns for parents
School district to do mold study, building inspection
New general surgeon on
BJC Medical Center staff
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
TO SOME, the decades-
old gym behind West Jackson
Primary School is a bit of
community history.
But for some concerned
parents, the aging facility is
plagued by mold and other
conditions that are making it
unsafe for elementary chil
dren.
“We know that there’s
mold in there — how serious
it is, we don't know,” said
Melanie Crozier, president
of the school's PTO. “About
a year ago, the county did
come in and scrape it and
painted over it, but I know
that's not professionally
treating it — that’s not how
it’s supposed to be handled.”
The mold problem has led
to health problems for some
children, especially those
with severe asthma, Crozier
said. A former long-time
physical education teacher at
the school also complained
of being sick while working
in the gym.
Unless something is done
about the gym, about 20-30
parents have said they're
prepared to withdraw their
children from PE. classes
held in the gym, she added.
When the gym was built
behind the Ga. Hwy. 53
school in the 1960s, it was
considered a center of civic
pride.
Michael Cronic — who
serves on the Jackson County
Board of Education and rep
resents West Jackson — said
his grandparents were some
of the many people who
offered their weekends and
nights to build the facility.
“That gym was built by the
community,” he said. “The
school system didn't spend
a dime.”
The former Jackson
County High School — as
West Jackson Primary School
was once known — opened
in 1957, after the Jackson
County School System
merged with the Braselton
School System.
The Braselton family
donated the land for the new
gym, which was to replace
an old tarpaper and tin gym
built for the former Braselton
High School in the 1930s
on nearby Piedmont Street.
That gym was demolished
in 2002.
The new gym at the for
mer high school in Braselton
later hosted the school’s state
championship game in 1964,
Cronic said.
But, the gym is facing
problems that not only come
with an obsolete design, but
age, as well.
“There are no windows,”
Crozier said. “There’s no
ventilation at all. They are
required by law to keep the
doors closed. So in the sum
mertime, you're literally
closed up in this gym that
temperatures, I’m sure, reach
up to 100 (degrees) when the
kids first come back to school
in the heat of August.”
The gym is also burdened
with a leaky roof, which
has caused additional safety
issues for children playing in
the facility, she added.
Four years ago, the school's
PTO decided to start raising
money for a new air condi
tioning system at the gym.
The group raised almost
$30,000 for an estimated
$60,000 system.
But the county later
told the PTO that the roof
couldn’t hold an air condi
tioning system and if the
“We just want (the gym) to be safe
and healthy for the kids. And I don’t
understand why anyone wouldn’t
be in agreement with that.”
— WJPS PTO president Melanie Crozier
equipment was installed,
the county wouldn’t pay for
the monthly electric bills,
Crozier said.
That money still remains
in a bank account dedicated
to improving WJPS’s gym,
she added.
PTO leaders met with super
intendent Shannon Adams in
November about renovating
the gym or constructing a
new facility, Crozier said. In
January, the group received
an email from Adams saying
the school system couldn't
afford the project.
“We had talked about the
possibility of building a gym
over there for P.E. instruc
tion, but we can't do it right
now,” Adams said last week.
“We don't have the money,
and we’re having to cut too
many things to be building
gyms in other portions of the
county. We just can’t do it
right now. It’s not going to
happen.”
District officials did con
sider building a new gym
facility, but it never got
beyond the drawing board,
Adams said. One of the pro
posals included giving the
gym to Jackson County Parks
and Recreation, which also
uses the facility. Renovating
the old gym would cost too
much, compared to building
a new one.
In February, the Jackson
County Board of Education
outlined how it would use
sales tax revenue to fund
a new gym and drama/
chorus building at Jackson
County Comprehensive High
School.
The buildings have an esti
mated price tag of $9 million
and the district won't start
construction until it collects
enough sales tax money.
With the recession, sales tax
revenue has slowed — and
so has the construction time
line for the projects.
Unless sales tax collection
picks up dramatically, con
struction on those projects at
JCCHS are at least two years
away, Adams said.
When the school system
receives Special Purpose
Local Option Sales Tax
(SPLOST) funds, 75 per
cent is earmarked for con
struction, 12.5 percent is for
emergency maintenance and
the remaining 12.5 percent
is dedicated for technology
improvements.
Crozier said WJPS parents
are frustrated that money has
been dedicated to building
a second gym and fine arts
building at JCCHS, along
with other areas of the coun
ty, but nothing has been done
for the Braselton school.
So, what about shifting
sales tax revenue for a WJPS
gym project?
“We have enough SPLOST
money, but it would be such
a large hit,” Adams said.
“That SPLOST money is the
only money we have com
ing in for capital projects,
and to spend that much on
one project would jeopardize
other projects that would be
less expensive over a period
of time. We just can't com
mit that much money to one
project when we have so
many things that need to be
done.”
The superintendent also
said the JCCHS gym project
was on the books long before
the concerns were raised
about WJPS’s gym.
Board member Cronic
agreed to continue moving
forward with the JCCHS
projects, other than waiting
for more sales tax funds to
come to the school district.
“We made a commitment
to those (JCCHS) parents
and those students to do that
gym,” he said.
After Crozier recently
wrote a letter to the editor
addressing concerns about
the WJPS gym, Cronic and
board chairperson Kathy
Wilbanks met with the PTO.
“It was a very productive
meeting,” Cronic said.
The school system plans
to conduct a mold study and
complete building inspec
tion of the school's gym,
he said. The gym had never
been tested for mold, and the
building inspection will also
look at the facility's struc
ture, electrical system and
plumbing.
“We're trying to find out if
our gym is safe for our kids,”
Cronic said.
If there’s mold in the gym,
the school system will move
forward with mold remedia
tion, Adams said.
Crozier also briefly
addressed criticism the PTO
received after her letter was
published.
“We're not trying to come
in and change everyone’s
way of life and make this
some fast-paced city atmo
sphere — that’s not our
intentions at all,” she said.
“We just want (the gym) to
be safe and healthy for the
kids. And I don’t understand
why anyone wouldn’t be in
agreement with that.”
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
A NEW general surgeon
is expected to be on staff
at BJC Medical Center by
mid-March.
Reporting to the medical
center’s governing author
ity Monday afternoon, CEO
Jim Yarborough said the
prospect — who he did not
identify — was in town last
week “house hunting and
checking out schools.”
Meanwhile, Yarborough
said the surgeon's attorney
is reviewing the final ver
sion of the contract between
the authority and the sur
geon.
“All of the terms in that
agreement should be accept
able,” Yarborough said.
The position is considered
essential to the health of the
medical center, which has
been without the services of
a general surgeon since the
summer of 2008.
According to Yarborough,
the prospective new general
surgeon has already met
with Steve Clap, CEO of
Restoration Healthcare, the
company buying the medi
cal center, about investing
in the soon-to-be-privatized
facility.
As for that transaction,
Yarborough told the author
ity Monday that the next
step is to agree upon a clos
ing date for the purchase.
Clapp, Yarborough said,
was at the facility last week
where he talked to doctors
who are interested in invest
ing in the new venture.
“I think that meeting went
very well,” Yarborough
advised.
Clapp also met with
department managers
regarding ongoing opera
tions and upcoming deci
sions.
“We are at the point
where we don't want to
make decisions, particularly
involving contracts, without
consulting Restoration,”
Yarborough explained.
Meanwhile, Restoration
continues to work on its
financial documents. The
company continues to ask
for updated information
about finances — including
BJC’s costs related to pre
paring the purchase agree
ment for review by Georgia
attorney general Thurbert
Baker.
“We’re still trying to
move forward as quickly
as we can to get to where
we can set a date for clos
ing,” said Charles Blair, the
authority’s chairman.
In other business Monday,
the authority approved cre
dentials for 14 medical pro
fessionals, seven for cour
tesy privileges, five for con
sulting privileges, one for
active privileges and one
nurse practitioner. Five of
the doctors are in radiol
ogy and two each are in
emergency medicine, inter
nal medicine and cosmetic
surgery.
The authority also autho
rized Blair, Yarborough
and finance chairman Rick
Massey to negotiate renew
al of a short-term $ 1 million
loan from First Commerce
Bank. That loan will be
repaid from the proceeds
of the sale to Restoration,
Yarborough said.
AUXILIARY
ANNUAL REPORT
The authority also
accepted the annual report
of the BJC Medical Center
Auxiliary. During 2009,
the volunteer group raised
$8,008 but spent $12,436
in support of the nursing
facility and hospital. The
auxiliary dipped into its
reserves, which at the end
of the year stand at just
over $30,000, to make pur
chases, that included a set of
wheelchair scales, a blanket
warmer, four wheelchairs,
five DVD players, a TV
set and mount, an oximeter
(an instrument for measur
ing the proportion of oxy
genated hemoglobin in the
blood) and mammogram
gift bags.
Blair expressed apprecia
tion for the group, which he
said “provides a very mean
ingful service for this hos
pital; they always have.”
County furlough day set Feb. 19
THE JACKSON County government offices and courthouse
will be closed on Friday, February 19, due to a furlough day.
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SOURCE OF CONFLICT
The decades-old gymnasium at West Jackson Primary School has been deemed
“unsafe” by some parents, who cite mold and other conditions as a cause of health
issues for students and staff.
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