Why a competition gym fulfills needs beyond athletic competition
To the editor,
As a part of the proposed new high school, the competition gymnasium has come under some fire as being an unnecessary expense. We believe that our current facility is inadequate in a number of ways, but several arguments beyond personal beliefs exist that we will outline.
First, the gym itself will be a classroom for physical education five out of six periods per day amounting to 5-6 hours of use per school day. Middle school students would use the current gym at the high school which is utilized for high school physical education now. It is impractical to bus to the current middle school gym because of time constraints and costs.
The gymnasium would become the central focus of several community and school events including graduation, prom, music concerts (five per year), middle school learning fairs (three per year), elementary spring program, music contests, sports banquets, Elks Hoop Shoot Contest, 4-H meetings, men’s league basketball and events like the Conference Fine Arts Festival. Additional capacity for graduation or events like the Jack Oates Jazz Festival or Simon Estes concert would be fantastic.
Sporting events scheduled now include 12 volleyball matches, three wrestling events, 24 basketball nights including 10 Mega Nights which include games at all three levels by boys and girls. All of the gyms (elementary, MS & HS) are used to capacity for practices once fall arrives until the end of February.
Currently, our lack of locker room facilities is totally inadequate for student privacy. One locker room for home (boys and girls) and one for visiting schools creates a recipe for problems. Lack of an adjacent eating facility limits the ability for fundraising events for student groups or classes looking to finance activities such as prom. Presently, the middle school students eat lunch in the middle school gymnasium as the building does not even have a cafeteria.
The Iowa High School Athletic Association require seating for 1500 fans with division of home and away crowds as well as at least four locker rooms and officials dressing rooms as minimum requirement to host tournaments. The proposed gymnasium would provide all of those criteria, additional capacity for sporting and community events and adjacent dining room. The Ram Restaurant could also be showcased at sporting events. These events would bring additional traffic to our community to potentially use restaurants, gas stations, etc.
Many times the gymnasium is the face of our school as the majority of people who visit our facility from out of town come to a sporting event. Impressions from those visits may later impact decisions to become part of our community. In addition, school pride and community pride are enhanced by up-to-date facilities.
We believe that the gymnasium is an integral part of the high school and would be a source of pride for years to come.
Steven and Julie Karber, Jefferson
