Sumner County Schools continue work on plans to replace stadium bleachers
Four schools had bleachers deemed unsafe after visitor bleachers at Beech High School collapsed before season began.
GALLATIN, Tenn. (WSMV) - Sumner County Schools leaders continue to discuss providing new bleachers at schools where the current seating either collapsed or been deemed unsafe.
The visitors side bleachers at Beech High School collapsed a few days prior to the season opener, prompting the school system to inspect the bleachers at every school in the district.
The home bleachers at Beech and visitor bleachers at Hendersonville High were deemed unsafe after a structural engineer examined each stadium in August. Engineers also deemed a portion of the Portland High home bleachers and White House home bleachers unsafe.
“Each school campus has a different set of needs, so the ones that lost bleachers, the most immediate need will be replacing those bleachers,” Sumner County Director of Schools Dr. Scott Langford said.
The school system has installed temporary bleachers at Beech High School.
“How do we provide safe bleachers? How do we provide accessible bleachers and how do we provide facilities for our students that address the next 50 years?” Langford said.
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Those are just some of the questions leaders want answered before they approve the school board’s request to move money from reserves to pay for the bleachers.
“What we’re doing is using the $15 million to set the budget so that then we can prepare to get good bids,” Langford said.
Langford said the money comes from the district’s reserved fund. The board approved moving the money, but now the county commission will have to OK it.
“At this point we are not able to move forward with the project, in terms of moving towards getting bids together to put the project out for bid so that we can begin construction,” Langford said.
At Tuesday’s board work session, Langford presented a policy that highlights the inspection of bleachers and stadiums each year. All concrete bleachers will be inspected twice a year. Langford also discussed the capital spending project plan for several schools during his presentation.
“Cement has an end of life, aluminum and steel don’t,” Langford said. “We want to get out of cement structures to provide our fans and families with the safest game experience,” Langford said.
Sumner County Schools said it must conduct a study ensuring that safety is reflected in the groundwork.
“You don’t just buy bleachers and drop them on the ground,” Langford said. “You have to do a geotechnical survey. You have to do a survey. You have to do civil site work,” Langford said.
The goal is to go beyond a temporary to a permanent solution for athletes and the community.
“Football season will end over the next month and a half and we need to be prepared and have everything lined up to go because we’re on a very tight time frame,” Langford said.
Langford said this is a unique opportunity for the district because it can look at all stadiums and decide if they should consider better bathrooms and facilities for athletic trainers. The director also said schools are even looking at adding lacrosse and girls’ flag football within the next couple of years. They want to make sure stadiums, including the bleachers, are up to par.
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