The Gazette-Enterprise

GERONIMO — A water-damaged floor, rusted plates and termite damage at the Navarro Middle School gym has the building sitting empty.

The Navarro ISD school board discussed possible options this week for repairs that need to be made at the gym.

Superintendent Dee Carter says the gym was built sometime in the 1950s, and has suffered damage over the past few years.

A big problem facing the gym is repairing the wood floor.

“We have a metal building with a nice wood floor,” Carter said. “Over the years, moisture got down into the sub-floor and has caused extensive damage to the wood and the wood beams holding the floor up.”

The district hired people to come and check out the floor to figure out exactly why the water was getting trapped under the building.

Carter says the problem started with the vents under the gym.

The vents — designed to let air flow under the building and to keep water from collecting — became covered with grass or debris and water began collecting under the gym.

After the cause of the water problem was discovered, the architect found termite damage as well.

Carter said the cost for repairing the floor would be approximately $150,000.

In addition to the damage to the floor, other problems throughout the building were found as the inspections continued.

“We found out that there is rust damage in another part of the structure,” Carter said. “There is a steel plate at the bottom of each of the ribs from the roof, and those plates are very rusted.”

With the costs of the repairs rising, the school board and district are concerned that spending the money to repair the existing building may not be the best solution.

“Our dilemma is how much money should we put into an obviously deteriorating building,” Carter said.

This issue was brought up at the meeting by board members.

Another option the board is looking into could be building a new gym.

Carter said they are looking into the costs of a possible new building, but that they don’t have the money to build a new facility at this time.

“We do need the third gym,” Carter said. “We have a very active school and community. We have a lot of athletic events for the district, and the community uses the gym for events too.”

The gym currently can’t be used by anyone because of the extent of the damage.

The money to repair the gym would come from funds remaining from the bond that was issued in 2005 to build the new high school among other district projects.

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