Add another one to the list. Heavy rain Friday leaked through the roof of Iola High’s gymnasium, forcing school personnel to add another building to the list of district properties needing repair.
A $420,000 re-roofing project for the science building, Crossroads and two sections of Lincoln Elementary is already in the queue for repairs.
“The problem is district wide,” said Scott Stanley, USD 257 director of operations, referring to faulty roof tops on nearly every building in the district. “The leak we had Friday was a new leak, one we hadn’t seen before.”
The standing-seam gymnasium roof started leaking Friday during the heaviest rainfall so far this year.
“We’re constantly evaluating what the most pressing needs are and it’s added itself to the list,” Stanley said.
The discovery led USD 257 officials to move Friday’s basketball games to Allen County Community College.
“We slowed it down a couple of times but we couldn’t get it to stop,” Stanley said.
About one inch of rain fell Friday.
The roof is constructed with metal screws that have rubber gasket seals to prevent leaks.
“It’s constructed right, it’s just a 22-year-old roof that is aging,” Stanley said. “From time to time some of the rubber gaskets on the screws wear out.”
The gymnasium was built in 1989.
Stanley said his crew fixed the leak Monday.
“We went back up … and did some more work on it after everything dried out and got a little sunshine on it,” he said.
Despite the efforts, Stanley said he can’t be certain the leaks are sealed until the next test.
“We wanted to get the repairs done (Monday) to see how it does if it does rain (today),” he said.
