Wood County Schools Superintendent Will Hosaflook listens during the Board of Education special meeting on Friday afternoon. (Photo by Tyler Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — Holding a special meeting Friday afternoon, the Wood County Schools Board of Education had a work session to discuss summer construction and maintenance projects and also heard from Parkersburg High School officials about the demolition of Stadium Field’s visitors bleachers.

The board agreed on a number of projects out of 27 under consideration.

The approved projects included: replacing sprinkler heads at both Blennerhassett Elementary and Middle Schools; chiller condensing water pipe repair at Blennerhassett Middle; and a water leak outside the cafe at Edison Middle School.

In addition, work will be done to Jack Stephens gym ceiling, boiler room stack and repairing and painting at Parkersburg High School along with replacing the bleachers at the football field at Williamstown High School and replacing the carpet floors at Blennerhassett Middle with vinyl composition tile based on safety concerns from the board.

Wood County Schools will receive approximately $14 million from the second round of the American Recovery Act and those funds must be used toward improving the district’s facilities or on student learning loss, according to Superintendent Will Hosaflook. The funds cannot be used for construction of new buildings.

Parkersburg High School Principal Kenny DeMoss breaks up a piece of debris to show how weak Stadium Field’s visiting teams bleachers are to the Wood County Board of Education during a special meeting on Friday afternoon. (Photo by Tyler Bennett)

New secure entrances at Greenmont and Mineral Wells Elementary and a school-based health clinic at PHS were of secondary importance and the school board said funding for those projects can be used from $3.8 million in the 2017 bond issuance budget.

The board will vote on the projects during its next meeting on Tuesday at 6 p.m..

Hosaflook also said these projects will help both in the short and long-term for all current and future students in the district.

“I’m all about return on investment, we worry about the kids, we’re worried about the facilities, that’s what we need to make today, that’s the most important thing. Not a quick fix, something that our kids will experience great things for the next 20 or 30 years,” Hosaflook said. “What we need today is a ranking of where the Board of Education would say that these items have to be done.”

During the meeting, PHS Principal Kenny DeMoss and Athletic Director Chris Way asked the board about funds for the demolition of the visitor bleachers at Stadium Field. Only allowing a limited captaincy of 50 fans for over 10 years now, DeMoss said the structure of the bleachers is falling apart.

Wood County School Board of Education President Justin Raber speaks during the board’s special meeting on Friday afternoon. (Photo by Tyler Bennett)

To demonstrate the condition of the bleachers first hand, DeMoss brought in debris that fell off on its own and played a video of him tearing up the bleachers just by kicking it to show how weak it is.

DeMoss said they currently have two quotes of the cost, one is $113,400 just for the demolition from JTSA Sports. The second quote is from Harper Construction for $240,000 which not only includes demolition but taking down the field’s light poles and putting them back up once completed.

“If this facility right here was one of your school buildings that had kids in it, you would have to shut it down,” DeMoss said. “You would have to build a new school and we’re not asking you to build us a new stadium. We’re asking you simply to take it down and then we will do the fundraising to rebuild the new bleachers.”

The long-term goal is to have a permanent set of bleachers with a maximum attendance of 2,500, according to Way.

Way also said the new bleachers will also give the high school plenty of room for a possible expansion, stating a need for a concession stand on the visitors side and also having a visiting locker to be used in all sports.

Parkersburg High School Athletic Director Chris Way speaks during the Wood County Board of Education special meeting on Friday afternoon. (Photo by Tyler Bennett)

Tyler Bennett can be reached at tbennett@newsandsentinel.com