Committee Will Outline Recommendations for Addressing Pierson Gym at Next Sag Harbor Board of Education Meeting

Coming up with a long-term solution for much-needed upgrades and repairs to the Pierson High School gymnasium will be a featured topic of discussion at the next Sag Harbor Board of Education meeting, set for December 16 at 6:30 p.m.

At the most recent meeting on December 2, Superintendent of Schools Jeff Nichols said that members of the district’s Educational Facilities Planning Committee, which serves in an advisory capacity, have been focused for the better part of the year on coming up with possible solutions for the gym, which is more than 50 years old and is in a state of disrepair. Possible fixes that will be discussed at the next meeting include renovating the existing space, a possible addition, and several other options.

“They’ll be coming to the board with more definitive information at the next meeting in terms of recommendations,” Nichols said on Monday night, adding that he was thankful for the work the committee has put in, which he said “has created a path forward to consider.”

Over the summer, the board approved the use of $16,000 from the repair reserve fund to apply two coats of a special sports finish to the gym floors, to smooth out uneven and slippery areas. That was, essentially, just a Band-Aid solution.

At the end of last school year, the committee presented to the board and detailed a litany of issues with the gym. They pointed out that the gym currently does not have an HVAC system, that the locker rooms are in poor condition, that the gym floor has “dead spots” that create safety and playability concerns, and that the low gym ceiling height does not support all sports.

They drove their points home by pointing out that three out of four Pierson students play a sport, and that the gym is not only used for school sports but is a community resource as well for other sports and recreational activities. The district also uses the gym for testing and voting.

At that time, the committee said the district could either continue operating under current circumstances, pursue incremental fixes of the existing gym space, fully renovate the gym within its existing footprint, or build an entirely new gym on the back field of the high school.

The committee recommended against pursuing incremental fixes and also did not recommend renovating the existing gym, saying it would be “impractical,” and would cost significantly more in the long run to pursue a renovation within the existing footprint.