Delays in construction of a new bubble over the pool at High School South may hamper the school’s swim team in its quest to repeat as state champ.
Members of the boys’ and girls’ swim teams, clad in green and yellow varsity jackets, appeared before the board of education on October 13 to deliver that message.
School officials, meanwhile, maintain they are doing everything they can to have the bubble installation — part of the 2006 construction referendum — finished by Monday, November 16, when the swim teams begin training and practicing for the upcoming season. The season officially begins on December 1.
“We’re pushing to get South back into the bubble before our season,” said Sandra Grant, a parent of a student on the South swim team, expressing the significance of the structure to the swim team since 1973. Last season, the girls were state champions.
The team is known all over the state as “the team that swims at the bubble,” and the members of the swimming and diving programs at South value its unique facility. The bubble, an air-tight structure filled with air to guard against the winter weather is removed throughout the spring and summer seasons for use by other community groups. This year, parents spent hours cleaning the current “moldy and tattered” bubble that has been in use now for 14 to 15 years, said Grant, “so that the kids would not have to worry about allergy-like symptoms.”
The team has won five state championships since its inception, including the title it claimed last year, and has made it to the state finals over the past three years. In order to continue its success, the swim team members need to practice and train, which includes morning practices, Grant said. “We are concerned that these morning practices will be cut short,” if the bubble is not ready and the South swim team has to practice at North’s facility. She cited the morning commute time for students to travel back to South from North after practice is over.
In addition, South’s annual Pirate Invitational attracts competitive teams from across the state, and brings in money used for an annual trip to a distant training facility. “We’re concerned our Pirate Invitational would not be a possibility if it has to be held at another school,” Grant said.
Rebecca Lewinson, captain of the South swim team, said team members have watched as the time line for construction of the new bubble was pushed back from March, to June, and to September, 2009. Lewinson also said she and her teammates do not understand why there has been “little effort by the board” to try to get the project moving. “This task has been put off for far too long,” she said.
Board members and Superintendent Victoria Kniewel countered that this has not been the case at all.
Board member Ellen Walsh explained that bubble replacement was the last of a long list of construction projects approved in the 2006 referendum. When time came for the project to begin, state regulations had changed, requiring the structure to include a firewall and a sprinkler system.
“It had to be considered a new structure,” added Kniewel. “We had to follow all new codes, as if it were a new structure.”
The state called for sprinkler lines inside the bubble. But the district argued that because it is an air-supported structure, it could not support a sprinkler line. Once the board factored in the firewall, there was the process of obtaining variances from the state for the sprinkler system, Walsh said. Along with the new firewall that was now required came the necessity for anchors to be added onto the bubble structure.
All of these factors led the board to rewrite the bid specifications. Then, the bidding process had to take place, and the board was required by state law to award the project to the lowest bidder, which it did in March. The contract was awarded to AC Construction Corp., of Woodbridge, for $446,000 for the work. A total of eight other bidders, submitted bids ranging from $473,000 to $660,000.
It was then estimated the bubble would be completed by the end of June, but over the summer, no work was done on the bubble. “The contractor we have has not been meeting the time schedule we set,” Walsh said. “We’re trying as hard as we can.”
David Aderhold, the assistant superintendent for planning and pupil services, also explained that the issue does not solely lie with the contractor. Essentially, the board is dealing with three entities — the contractor, the manufacturer, and the district’s architect.
Even though the contract was awarded to AC Construction, which is the general contractor, AC bids out to the manufacturer of the bubble, which is located in Missouri. With this process, the contractor has to wait for the bubble, as well as the additional parts needed, to be manufactured and transported to South, where it needs to be assembled, and then inspected, Aderhold said.
“As of today, we have verbal confirmation” that the bubble has been manufactured, Aderhold said. “The physical structure is built; it’s all the additional add-ons” that are holding up the process.
Aderhold said the new timeline for the project calls for early November. “Is November 15 in question? It’s in question. Is December 1 in question? I hope not.” However, it’s “clearly not a circumstance” the board would want, although there are contingency plans in place.
“We are doing everything in our power to get that bubble, and to get it installed,” said Board President Hemant Marathe.
Added Kniewel: “Make no mistake about it — we care about the bubble just as much as you do.”
After the meeting, Kniewel also emphasized that the board put together a very strict time line, aiming for June, 2009. She said that contrary to public comments during the meeting, “the board has been very involved in pushing it.”
“We are in this together,” she said. “The pool enclosure was always part of the referendum. There were some delays in getting some of the approvals for getting an inflatable enclosure. It certainly hasn’t been as a result of the board having a lack of interest.”
In addition, Kniewel said the district will post information on the bubble as it becomes available, based on the weekly status meetings on the project. The link will be put onto the district’s homepage — www.ww-p.org — and will take users to a special page for the pool bubble update. “While it won’t shorten the time line, it will at least allow everyone to see the progress,” Kniewel said.
