Dr. Gibson's explanation of Athletic Space

The following is an email response to a resident. My comments will be in brown.

On Feb 25, 2008, at 12:04 PM, Matt Gibson wrote:

Hi ----------:

Thanks for your feedback. I am willing to meet with you regarding your first topic and would also involve Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Bob Borch who administers the policy that you referenced for the district.

Regarding your second topic comparison on PE/Athletics space proposed in the referendum plan, the existing PE/Athletics space at Central is 38,734 SF. The small gym 5,540 SF would be subtracted as this space is proposed to be reused for Drama and 17,500 SF would be added as a new 2-station gym for a total of 50,694 SF for PE/Athletics to compare to the existing 38,734 SF.

The existing PE/Athletics space at East is 29,679 SF. The existing gym area 20,000 SF would be subtracted as this space is proposed to be reused for Drama and Music and 35,000 SF would be added as a new 4-station gym for a total of 48,679 SF to compare to the existing 29,679 SF.

At least three gym stations are needed for PE classes and the fourth station was added at both schools for reasons such as athletic team practices, cost ineffectiveness of building single station gyms, and providing for two athletic competitions to occur at the same time. It was also non feasible to re-purpose classroom space into gym space due to the high bays in gyms yet it was feasible to re-purpose non-expandable gym areas into needed arts spaces to contain overall square footage. While replacement of mechanical systems and renewal of academic classrooms to include expanding several of them is not immediately visible in the referendum plan, those were priority drivers of the plan.

Thank you for your interest in both topics.

Matt Gibson

I believe Dr. Gibson arrives at his figures by only using the exact gymnasium square footage. The actual plans from architect PlunkettRaysich state 26,977 for the new 2 station gym complex addition and 56,169 sq.ft. for East's new 4 station/indoor track complex addition.

The plans do not have the 2 small entryways or Central's 3 special ed. classrooms included in these totals. The 83,146 sq. ft. are for athletic's related activity.

How do you decide then how much money from this $62.2 million referendum is being spent on athletics? It depends on how you look at it.

If you believe re-purposing (remodeling) the old gym space is being done solely to justify building new, larger gyms, they you might see this referendum as spending too much on athletics and not enough on academics.

If you believe we need a new 4 station/indoor track and additional new 2 station gym, then you might see this referendum in a different light.

You get to decide on April 1st.

ACADEMICS, NOT ATHLETICS: VOTE NO

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