By Richard Sullins | richard@rantnc.com
Lee County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Chris Dossenbach told members of the school board on January 18 meeting that testing on the concrete pillars that support the bleachers at Lee County High School’s football stadium is continuing, and that the administration should have answers soon on whether the 56-year-old structure can be rehabilitated in time for spring athletics and graduation ceremonies in early summer.
Dossenbach had met with Lee County Commissioners at their planning retreat just before the Christmas holiday break said an initial inspection by two engineering firms concluded repairs to the seating at Paul Gay Football Stadium would not be easy or cheap.
When that first round of inspections was completed during the fall, the hope was that cracks found in the concrete supports could just be filled with a substance that would stabilize the pillars and prevent further damage. But closer examinations led to concerns about the integrity of the columns because of the inability to assess the health of the rebar inside them, as well as the concrete at the center of each post.
A press release from Lee County Schools on October 17 stated that cracks were found on the concrete pillars beneath bleachers on both sides of the field. The stadium was closed that day and has remained so since then. Athletic events had to be relocated or shuffled around.
Dossenbach sought to assure the board and the public that work is moving quickly to address the problems found during the inspections last fall.
“I know that it doesn’t seem like a lot is going on when you drive by and you don’t see any construction equipment moving out there, but I want to assure you that things are moving and we are following a lot of guidance and recommendations from engineers,” he said. “And I am learning that this is just a very slow process.”
The two engineering firms came back with very similar recommendations: first, to close the stadium until it could be made safe to use again and, secondly, to test the pillars and find out what might be going on inside the concrete and further, to determine whether that matched what the original construction blueprints called for. One of the firms that did the initial testing during the holiday break asked for additional testing, Dossenbach said, in order to see whether a temporary fix could be done that might allow the stadium to be used for spring athletic events and graduation ceremonies.
That additional testing would determine whether a chemical reaction is taking place within the aging concrete. If such a reaction is determined to be present, then a short-term fix is no longer on the table. The results of that testing will be immediate and will indicate whether any further testing should be done. The next step would then be a closer look at the rebar deeper inside the pillars, and the engineers would be checking for any signs of rust or corrosion that might have accumulated over the years.
If no reactions are discovered and no further corrosion is located, the engineers feel confident they could recommend the safe usage of certain sections of the stadium in the spring (for example, the first 10 rows from the bottom, the first two sections, etc.) and then proceed to complete repairs during the summer months and, weather permitting, have them completed by the time of the first home football game in the fall.
There are a lot of “ifs” in those plans and everything has to break the right way if the hopes of having the stadium ready for the home opener are realized. Dossenbach believes the stadium will be ready by then, but he and the administration at both the Central Office and the High School are working on backup plans in case things turn out differently.
“The strength of the concrete supports to determine the weight capacity will be tested. If this first test shows that there is no reaction taking place that would cause the concrete to disintegrate under pressure, it is possible to use a certain portion of the stadium that they would help us to determine,” he said. “We remain hopeful that we will be able to hold athletic events and graduation there, but we are seeking alternate sites in case. Just know that we are following the recommendations of engineers. I am not an engineer, and I am not going to pretend to understand all the intricacies that are going on. But what we are doing is following their guidance and making sure that we get back in the stadium as soon as possible. But the main concern is, when we do, we have to be safe.”
Paul Gay Stadium is the custodian of memories for many people in Lee County. It is the place where the football team at Sanford Central High School – the precursor name of Lee County High – went undefeated in 1968 and won their third state championship in a row, losing only two games in three years. The stadium opened that year and has been in continuous use for more than five and a half decades.
Board Chairman Eric Davidson took a moment at the end of Dossenbach’s report to explain the length and amount of detail that have been included in the superintendent’s last two reports about the status of repairs to the stadium.
“We want to try to keep everyone informed and if we over-communicate, then it’s better to do that than to not do enough,” he said.
School achievement recognized
Each year, the North Carolina State Board of Education and the Department of Public Instruction recognizes in December those schools who have met or exceeded academic growth projections from the previous school year. They also recognize any schools that have performed well above their peers. Dossenbach announced that seven Lee County Schools earned recognition for their achievements last year, and they were each presented with a framed certificate to honor the accomplishments of their students, faculty, and administration.
The seven included two schools that exceeded their academic growth target awards (Deep River Elementary and Lee Early College) and five others who received an academic growth award (East Lee Middle, J.R. Ingram Elementary, SanLee Middle, Tramway Elementary, and W.B. Wicker Elementary).
Lee Early College, a consistently high-performing school among its peers, received a certificate of achievement for attaining several benchmarks, including a graduation rate that exceeded 95 percent of its students during the 2022-23 school year.
Public comments that brought smiles
The school board’s Jimmy L. Love Sr. meeting room at Lee County High School has been the site of several angry protests in recent years, including those that concerned masking requirements for students during the COVID pandemic and immediate post-COVID eras, and at separate meetings when the private conduct of two members of the school board were called into question.
Hundreds of people showed up to speak both for and against each of those members during the public comments period of board meetings that took place after the incidents. And during the last school board campaign in 2022, a number of candidates for the board used the public comments period as a forum for their campaign speeches, realizing that their words could reach thousands of potential voters by means of streaming video.
But rarely is the period used to give thanks for a job well done or to give praise to an employee who has gone above and beyond what could reasonably be expected in their job performance. But that’s what happened when the only person to sign up for public comments at the January 18 meeting, Jermaine White, stepped to the podium.
White took less than his allotted time of three minutes to thank those “who are inspiring my kindergartener and creating an atmosphere of learning where he is thriving,” at Tramway Elementary School. White, who is the assistant superintendent of student support services for Harnett County Schools, said he knows what makes a school system great and that, “as an educator, I can’t say enough good things about the culture at my child’s school at Tramway.”
“There has never been a time when I have been in the school when I haven’t been greeted with a smile or asked if I needed assistance, and for that, I am thankful,” White said. He also took advantage of his moment at the mic “to challenge other parents having similar experiences to take the time to publicly thank their educators for positively affecting their student’s lives.”
From his perspective, White said the best way to recruit and retain good people in the classrooms and hallways “is to remind the people on the front lines just how special they are. Thank you, Tramway, for providing this dad with peace of mind every day when it comes to my main man. Thank you all for what you do.”
Board members don’t usually respond to public comments, but Davidson took a moment to acknowledge and agree with the sentiments White expressed.
“We love to hear that,” he said. “I, too, want to say thank you to all of our teachers and staff who make things, good things happen. You are appreciated by this board, and we hope you know that.”