In hopes that the Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1 will receive a little more than $21 million from the 2012-13 Building Excellent Schools Today grant funds, a district administrator showed a BEST official the condition of the high school Thursday morning.
Michael Canzona, chief of operations for Re-1, met with BEST official Kristin Lortie at the school and gave her a guided tour of security issues at Montezuma-Cortez High School.
The nearly $22 million grant request from Re-1 would be used for a new high school, though the district would be required to match that amount.
Lortie will take what she learned today back to the BEST board who will make decisions on the recipients in June.
Lorties visit was intended for BEST to see the condition of the school for itself.
Canzona first showed Lortie the condition of the old gymnasium and its floor that, he said, needs to be recoated four times a year because of the mercury that is present and recoating the hardwood made the emission levels acceptable.
He told Lortie, after being asked, that the 20-year-old roof leaks in places in the old high school gymnasium as well.
Lortie also asked about the limited fields at the high school site, and Canzona told her the tennis court facilities, soccer and football fields for games were located off site.
On the north end of the campus, Lortie was shown a sidewalk that appeared to go nowhere, and Canzona added this sidewalk that he said was of no use was of no use, is wheelchair accessible.
Lortie was also shown a drain gutter where water once worked its way underneath the school building before school personnel found a way to filter the water away from the building.
Health and safety is our priority, Canzona said.
Going back to the old gym, Canzona said the floor is in such bad shape it cannot be used for other activities like weight lifting.
Lortie appeared surprised at the lack of space for the counseling offices and thought the condensed office spaces was a concern for student and staff health.
Lortie also expressed a concern over there being no resistance to intruders walking on campus without anyones approval.
Canzona pointed to a window that was recently installed into the side of the main office at the high school, and Lortie mentioned there was no resistance since office staff were either not in the office or had their backs turned.
Lortie also said there were probably a number of doors around the school where an intruder could gain access to the building.
Its not a gated community, Canzona said.
A big concern was the auditorium with asbestos in the roof, which Canzona said had been identified and painted but portions of the paint were flaking off and falling to the floor and seats.
Lortie said this was a concern, and added parents watching their childrens performances should not have portions of the roof paint falling on them.
Canzona said the cost to repair the roof was $300,000, but that was a cost estimate from 2009.
Lortie was also shown the boiler room at the high school and wanted to know why the boilers were failing after only 10 years of use.
Was it an inferior system (that was installed)? she asked.
Lortie was also informed about the school only having one bathroom a wheelchair student was able to use, and the student still needed to use a door stop when entering so he could exit the bathroom.
The whole building has only one bathroom for him and he has to be careful with that one, Lortie said, and was informed there were a few times where the handicapped student had been trapped in the bathroom when the door was mistakenly closed.
Lortie was also shown the newer gymnasium and was told the floor could no longer be sanded, and replacing just the floor would cost $175,000.
The last item Canzona addressed with Lortie was the bus staging areas with no bus lanes, which she said was important but added there was no way to do this because of the configuration of the school.
Reach Michael Maresh at michaelm@cortezjournal.com
