At Tuesday evening’s meeting, the Ontario board approved a proposal to renovate and expand the existing high school field house.
High School Athletic Director Chris Miller explained, “At this point in time, it is very much a vision, dream, and idea, and I know it’s been a vision, dream, and idea for many people for a long time to get a facility that keeps up with the times in terms of training our athletes.”
As stated in the proposal, the focus of the project will be geared towards the weight room (roughly 3,000 sq. ft.) and a multi-purpose room for out-of-season training. The field house will contain locker rooms for outdoor sports, coaches’ offices, workout facilities and a conference room that will overlook the football field.
Miller stated that he has viewed other facilities and intends to view Bellevue Schools’ facility to see how it is organized.
“I’ve very much kept up in my knowledge on strength conditioning and training and what is needed to keep up in the times,” he said.
Specifically referencing the current weight room facility, Miller noted that it is “behind the times.”
“And that doesn’t mean I don’t think our staff does a great job with the resources that they have, but I want to entertain the idea to see if we could get a field house mainly focusing on a weight room with some sort of indoor, multi-purpose area that our athletes of all sports can utilize in training both in-season and out-of-season,” said Miller.
He further commented, “Scheduling the weight room can be tricky when we want all of our sports to utilize that space. And the small space has put our kids in a situation where they have to go home and come back two or three hours later because that’s their time slot. It’s inconvenient and certainly a larger space means we can train more kids in a shorter period of time.”
The proposal states that the Athletic Department and the Booster Club will be soliciting “gifts in kind” and cash donations to complete the project that is estimated to cost between $1.5 and $2 million. The tentative deadline for the project completion is Aug. 1, 2016.
Board member Andy Chalk asked if the project would entail a replacement or addition to the current facility.
Miller responded, “I think at this point I don’t know that I can answer that question because I think we need to talk to people that know about building and construction and how cost efficient either one of those things are going to be.”
He added, “My vision is that it would be an addition to what we already have. We have nice restrooms that aren’t very old and so I certainly wouldn’t want to demolish that. I think that part of the project could be a renovation of what we already have and utilize that space that is already there.”
Board member Mary Bennett stated, “I think that is one of the oldest spots that hasn’t been renovated.”
In other news, the board bid farewell to member Andy Chalk, who sat in on his last board meeting on Tuesday evening.
“Thanks so much for all you’ve done to help us. As a board member you’ve been a great addition,” said Bennett.
Chalk stated, “It’s been a great pleasure for me to serve with each of you on this board. This is a great school, and everyone that works here is a great team.”
He added, “And I’m looking forward to Marianne [Gasiecki] taking my spot on the board, and I think she’ll do a great job.”
“I want to entertain the idea to see if we could get a field house mainly focusing on a weight room with some sort of indoor, multi-purpose area that our athletes of all sports can utilize in training both in-season and out-of-season,” said Miller.
