Rhea eyes leaky school office fix

Falling water trickles through cracks in the 60-year-old roof at the Rhea County Department of Education. Strategically placed trash cans keep most of the water off the floor.

Part of the school system's central office is in what was once the Carver High School gymnasium in Dayton, Tenn., a building that the school abandoned in 2003.

"We moved out of that old gymnasium because of the deterioration of the ceiling," Rhea County Director of Schools Jerry Levengood said. "It was examined, and the roof is irreparable, you can't repair it. It does have some asbestos."

Mr. Levengood said the vacant gym has been neither repaired nor torn down and he fears that, if something is not done soon, workers in the building could be in danger.

"We're not only in a bad situation, we're in a dangerous situation," he said. "It's not just the building deteriorating, but if that gymnasium fell down, I'm not sure it wouldn't take the whole building with it."

Ronnie Raper, chairman of the Rhea County Commission's Purchase and Finance Committee, said the building's condition is bad, but he doesn't think it's so serious that people working there are in jeopardy.

"It's not going to fall today and kill somebody," he said. "It's just not that bad."

Mr. Raper toured the facility several weeks ago and called the condition of the building "pathetic," but he said fixing it isn't at the top of his list of priorities.

County Executive Billy Ray Patton also took a look at the facility and didn't like what he saw. His opinion of the building is harsher than Mr. Raper's.

"I didn't realize that the building was in the terrible condition that it is in," he said. "To me, it's falling down around them."

Mr. Patton said the structure is in "terrible need of repair," but he thinks the best option would be to relocate the central office and eventually tear down the old Carver High building.

"I think for us to go in and spend money to try to repair that building and all, I think it'd just be throwing good money away," he said. "What I would like do to is at some point move them to the old Rhea County Hospital building. I think it would serve them well."

The hospital building is in better condition than the current central office, and Mr. Patton said the cost to relocate, once the building becomes available, would be minimal.

The portion of the hospital building Mr. Patton is considering is leased, but he said that agreement will be up soon and, when it is, it's possible the school system's central office could move there.

The dilapidated central office isn't the biggest thing on the three men's minds though.

"We're trying to push forward with a building project to build a new high school, and the children come first and they take priority, and that's the way I want it to be," Mr. Levengood said.

He said he wants the current Rhea County High School to become the middle school building if a new high school is built. The state Department of Education has provided the County Commission with a list of architects for the project, Mr. Levengood said, but the county still is trying to determine how to pay for the new high school.

Mr. Raper said the estimated cost is $25 million to $30 million.

"We want to make sure we're going to be able to afford to build a new school now before we even hire an architect," Mr. Patton said. "And that's what we're working on now."

Though Mr. Levengood said he wants the new high school project first, he thinks a safer central office location should come second.

"We're in the very infant stages of saying, 'OK, something's got to be done,'" he said. "Finally, everybody agrees that something's got to be done, and now we've got to find the solution to do it."