March 6, 2023 at 9:45 a.m.
SDR board honors state champion swimmers, OKs Heck Pool repairs
By River News Staff-
The board unanimously approved bids of $27,791 from Miron Construction and $44,881.20 from Halogen Supply to repair leaks in the Heck Family Community Pool at RHS, plus replace sand filters within the pool, during its Feb. 20 meeting.
The payments will come from the district's maintenance budget.
According to a memo to school board members from superintendent Eric Burke that was included in the informational packet for the meeting, the work would address repairs from roughly 12-13 years ago in a drain area that continues to leak. Additionally, there is a leak in one of the tanks within the pool's filtration system.
District Director of Buildings and Grounds Jeff Zdroik told the board the leak was discovered when the pool was drained.
"You can imagine concrete, it's almost like a sponge, when you draw water out of there, it shrinks," he said. "A sponge, it gets all shrivelly and small and once the water expands, it closes that little bit of a crack."
According to the memo, Miron would remove the affected tile, chip out the bad areas and repack the area. New tile would be installed and epoxy used to repair a crack in the gutter.
Meanwhile, Zdroik said given the age of the current sand filter tanks, it would be more cost-effective to replace them rather than repair them.
"Since they're 20 years old and not knowing if we could repair it, just order new filters, get another 20-30 years out of them and be set up," he said.
According to the memo, to the Heck Pool work will begin in early July, following the end of the district's summer school program and would be completed by the first week of August - just in time for the start of practice for the RHS girls' swim team, which starts Aug. 8.
The proposal was reviewed by the district's Operations and Strategic Planning Committee, which recommended it be approved by the full board.
"It turns out the sand filters are the most expensive item in this proposal. But, the bottom line is when you have a big, expensive investment like a swimming pool, you darn well better maintain it," said David Holperin, who chairs the Operations and Strategic Planning Committee.
Earlier in the evening, the board deviated slightly from its posted agenda. It opened meeting by taking time to recognize and congratulate the Hodag boys' swim team, which had won the first WIAA team state championship in program history three days prior in Waukesha. Their feat took place after the initial agenda for the meeting had been posted.
Superintendent Eric Burke said an email to coach Jenny Heck the morning of the meeting helped make the appearance happen.
"I sent Jenny an email early this morning, to see if it was possible, late notice, to see if they'd be able to come to the school board meeting and we could properly congratulate them as a school board," he said.
"For a smaller team they have really, really good swimmers," Burke added.
Heck, and her son Charlie - a senior and captain for the team - addressed the board.
"Thank you for having us here. It was such a great honor. We knew last year we had a good chance of winning the state meet this year, but everything would have to go right, and it did," Jenny Heck said, later adding, "To have the support of Rhinelander, the school, the school board, everyone here, the community, numerous times I've said it's so great to live in a small town where the community supports you and acknowledges you. We had this great sendoff and a great escort into town - things that would never happen in a big city. It's really neat to be part of a small town."
The Hodags edged McFarland 256-250.5 to win the title - the first in boys' swimming for any school north of Wisconsin Highway 64.
"Very few times there is a perfect ending for your sport. No matter how far you make it, you usually end up losing in the end, but we won the final match," Charlie Heck said. "We took it to the highest level and we won that meet. That's what made it so special. We made it to the highest point and everyone here worked so hard to get that."
In approving repairs to the Heck Pool, board member Benjamin Roskoskey set the bar high for next year's team.
"We did win a state championship in a leaky pool so, next year, I expect another state championship," he quipped.
In other action, the board approved a contract with CESA 9 for shared services of $270,999, plus a percentage of allocation for the Carl Perkins and Youth Apprenticeship Grant Consortiums; approved a proposal from the Center for Responsive Schools, Inc. to run two, 4-day training sessions this summer; approved a revision to Policy 5530 regarding drug prevention; the approval of purchasing 85 new laptops for staff at the elementary level; and funding to send a group of 45 to attend a professional development seminar June 26-28 in Minneapolis.
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