North Vermilion Middle School gym still not completed

LEROY - The way it looks, North Vermilion Middle School will not be 100 percent complete until next year.
Gene Sellers Jr., the architect who is overseeing the building of the new North Vermilion Middle School, informed the School Board members that students will be able to begin using the new gym when they return from Christmas holidays on Jan. 5, 2015.
Next month, contractors will be making the final touches to the gym by painting decals and special striping onto the gym floor.
The bleachers also have to be installed in the gym.
Joan Romero, the principal at North Vermilion Middle School, learned the gym floor was not going to have decals, and informed the school board members at last week’s meeting. She said the teachers and coaches were disappointed about no decals.
“People still do not know we are North Vermilion Middle School,” said Romero.
She spoke with Sellers about adding the decals and lines. She wanted to know how long it would it take the contractor to paint and varnish the gym floor. Sellers said the contractor could do it in two weeks.
School Board member Anthony Fontana said this is another delay the students are having to deal with. Romero said the NV Middle School students share the high school gym for P.E.
Board member Charles Campbell asked Sellers if the contractor is positive the job can be done in only 14 days? Sellers responded by saying he was not guaranteeing the gym will be completed in time.
Already, the contractor is a few months behind schedule.
“I am not happy with that last minute change,” Fontana added. “I understand the gym will be used by the high school (volleyball team), so I am OK with painting the lines and decals. I am not happy about the whole thing and how it was not planned. The coaches never thought about this?”
The School Board approved the delay of opening the gym in order for the contractor to paint the decals and lines on the gym floor.
The School Board also approved $10,000 to purchase new surveillance cameras at North Vermilion High School. The cameras will be placed in the cafeteria, outside in the parking lot and gym.
North Vermilion first planned to pay for the new cameras out of school funds. The school was first requesting a $10,000 loan from the School Board to pay for the cameras. The school was going to repay $6,000 towards the loan and then pay $2,000 per year for the two years to repay the School Board.
Fontana told North Vermilion Principal Tommy Byler it is the School Board’s responsibility to pay for the cameras and not the school. The School Board voted to take $10,000 out of the general fund to pay for the cameras.
Byler thanked the board members.