Team Tarpon Pride Committee Organizes

CHS Rebuilding Update
02/13/2006
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Its been easy to forget that 2006 marks Charlotte High School's 80th anniversary. It should be a time of celebration for the county’s oldest school, listed on the National Historic Register as a historic building in 1990. Instead, as this anniversary year came upon us, the old three-story sat framed in maroon bracing beams, bearing the scars of Hurricane Charley, which destroyed it on August 13th, 2004.

For those of us who love CHS, have children attending, or both, its been a tough year and a half. To use today’s terminology, there has been a lot of "chatter" in the Tarpon system as of late at Tarpon sporting events, Little League games, soccer matches, dance studios and in restaurants. People are asking why. Why, of the seven county schools destroyed by the hurricane, CHS is the only one still looking as it did shortly after the storm passed? Why the demolition that the Charlotte Sun said would begin in January has yet to begin. Many folks wrapped up in their post-Charley lives, can’t make school board meetings and the news from the media has been spotty at best.

On Monday, February 2, the 542nd day since Hurricane Charley, a group of concerned CHS parents, alumni, and supporters met to develop an action committee that would open a dialog with the Charlotte County School Board. They hoped to address the CHS demolition delay and campus safety issues.

The committee, calling itself Team Tarpon Pride, heard a reoccurring theme from those they spoke to and represent: How could our campus be allowed to remain in such a pitiful state, particularly since students and faculty had to pass by it everyday?

One parent summed it up best when he said, "Charlotte High Students go to a wake every day with the body of their school lying in state. Its been a year and a half, we’ve mourned it long enough."

Team Tarpon Pride Meets with School Board Representatives:

After their first meeting, Team Tarpon Pride immediately requested a meeting with school board officials. The meeting took place Monday, February 13th, which just happened to fall on the 18-month anniversary of Hurricane Charley.

School Board Chairperson Sue Sifrit brought along Superintendent Dr. Dave Gayler, Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Roseanna Samson and CHS Principal Barney Duffy.

The following Team Tarpon Pride representatives were in attendance: Chairperson Jeff Masters, Gussie Baker, Paul DeGaeta, Gene Gorman, Joe Goulding, Scott Rice, Paul Scola, and Robert and Tamara Gomes who hosted the meeting at Time Management Inc. in Punta Gorda.

The school board representatives were presented with a binder containing four pages of narrative and 20 photographs. The binder was a working document for the meeting with bullet-point topics that Team Tarpon Pride had identified over two meetings and wanted addressed. These were divided into four topics:

1. Facilities (such as the promised field house and scoreboards);
2. Campus safety issues (Such as mold growing on the north wall of the gym where students pass everyday, the temporary bleachers and press box);
3. Issues for the fenced off portion of the campus (Appearance, wind-blown debris, chemical containers laying in debris piles); and
4. Psychological issues for students and faculty (Mental stresses and Tarpon students and teachers leaving).

The meeting began with moderator Paul DeGaeta thanking the group for attending and asking Dr. Gayler if he was able to provide Team Tarpon Pride with a "critical path" (step by step progress) for the rebuilding of Charlotte High.

Dr. Gayler agreed, but first supplied a time-line leading up to this event.

With the aid of a mock-up board, Dr. Gayler explained that because some of the campus will be retained (The new two-story building, Champ’s Cafeteria, Wally Keller (new) gym, CPAC, and the facade of the original three-story) that demolition wasn’t as cut-and-dried an issue as with other campuses like Punta Gorda Middle School, that were completely razed. PGMS was totally destroyed by the storm and didn’t have the complex issues CHS has. Dr. Gayler used Baker Academy as another example. That school got on the fast track for demolition because Federal Head Start came in quickly and committed funding so that community need could be met. Dr. Gayler explained funding to rebuild CHS was dependant on insurance and FEMA. Apparently this has been the biggest delay and even Congressman Mark Foley was enlisted to help. Dr. Gayler said Foley’s remarks about FEMA’s delays in the newspaper got them moving "A little bit."

Robert Gomes discussed insurance issues with Dr. Gayler that helped inform the group as to the process involved with percentages of pay-outs and what might delay them. It was determined FEMA’s portion might be as little as 10% or less.

Dr. Gayler responded to questions about the status of acquiring adjacent properties - such as the church on Taylor Street and the property to the east where the destroyed low-income housing units were. Dr. Gayler explained that acquiring one or more of these parcels would allow CHS to expand its footprint (He quickly pointed out there were no plans to increase the student population along with that). He spoke about the possibility of using eminent domain to secure the low-income site if it came to that, but if it looked as if it the process would take more than a year, he would not let that delay the planning process.

Paul Scola asked if the church issue were dead, because the group decided to rebuild instead of move. Dr. Gayler thought it was, but Scola said someone mentioned to him they'd like to re-open a dialog. Dr. Gayler asked Scola to please have that person contact him.

The real estate acquisition issue at this point is speculative and will be a future topic. Until the board knows exactly what property they have to work with, the planning and design process cannot begin in earnest.

Dr. Gayle also mentioned the following topics that have fostered delays.

• That Charlotte County has never, in its history, attempted so many simultaneous school rebuilding projects, (seven) and his people were doing the best they could to address all the county’s needs.
• The myriad of State, Federal and Local regulations and agencies that have to be dealt with.
• That the rebuilding of CHS was dependent on funding from "others," (Insurance/FEMA) and as such, those decisions had to be settled before demolition or planning could begin, or anything, for that matter, occurred on the campus.
• The numerous meetings and postponements between FEMA and CHS’s Insurance Company while other hurricanes were hitting the state and that the FEMA team assigned to CHS changed four times. Each new FEMA team had to walk through the campus and be brought up to speed.
• The complex relationship between CHS’s insurers, and payment for loss when FEMA is involved - the Insurers will not authorize payment until they know for certain the portion FEMA will pay.
• That FEMA admonished CHS for initially tearing down the Athletic Field House and Tarpon Swimming Pool Complex and threatened not to cover them because they weren’t given the opportunity to inspect them.
• Historic Landmark restoration issues and application for historic grants for the three-story.
• Asbestos issues during the demolition planning phase for the three story and other buildings.
•  Locating underground cables and pipes prior to demolition.
• Contracting process, architectural services, EPA retention pond negotiations.

Team Tarpon Pride representatives stressed their concerns on the psychological factors on students and staff to Dr. Gayler. Dr. Samson said she’s been in contact with a psychologist who has provided overall advice as the rebuilding process progresses. Dr. Gayler said he truly understood our concerns, apologized for not being as communicative as he’d like, and pledged to find ways to improve that. He asked us to call, as did Dr. Samson, whenever we had issues and asked us to get the word out to others.

We learned that after demolition, the school board hopes to utilize the newer two-story building on the North side of the campus sometime next school year.

Dr. Gayler pledged to provide better communications by utilizing the school system’s Notification Technologies, Inc (NTI) System. This is a voice automated message system that, in this case, Principal Barney Duffy can send taped messages to CHS constituencies (parents, students and faculty). There were also discussions of the use of web sites, including the Charlotte County School Board, Charlotte High School and Tarpon Alumni site. It was suggested that Tamara Gomes consider writing an update column, perhaps in the Punta Gorda Herald.

Dr. Gayler then addressed the critical path question. He handed out a six- page document titled "Charlotte County Public School - Charlotte High School Recovery Chronology Hurricane Recovery Report," and turned the floor over to Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Roseanna Samson.

Dr. Samson explained that while not an official, "critical path" it is her project planning and work sheet that lists important reference events, meetings, panning sessions, contract dates, work completed and scheduled events. She walked us through document that essentially began on August 13, 2004 and reaches out to September 2011.

Both Dr. Gayler and Dr. Samson spoke of a planning committee that will be assembled shortly, including members of the community, which will help decide what CHS will ultimately look like. Dr. Samson and Principal Duffy have put together a list of 36 names that they are considering for the committee.

The immediate future of CHS begins with demolition, so rather than getting into each individual step in that document, we will concern ourselves with the first step, the demolition phase.

Dr. Samson explained that Dooley-Mack was the construction contractor for the project, has solicited and obtained a low bid for a demolition sub-contractor, although Dooley-Mack hasn’t named that contractor yet (nor are they required at this point) . Dr. Samson pointed out that once the Department of Environmental Protection Agency is contacted, they will issue a notification within ten days (relating to the removal of Asbestos) and the demolition contractors can begin. The terms of the demolition contract require it to be completed in 182 days after it is started.

The group was then asked to refer to the 20 photographs related to the concerns identified by Team Tarpon Pride. Dr. Samson addressed a number of them. In particular, she took exception to one of the photographs titled "Stadium Bracing and So called Press Box" at the football stadium that suggested what was a temporary fix for two games played in 2004 has served the 2005 season and appears to be heading for the 2006 season. Dr. Samson admonished that the school board would never had approved that and put students in jeopardy had it not been signed off as safe by an engineering firm in 2004 and again prior to the 2005 football season. She said that concerns inside the fence, would be taken care of during demolition, which would start soon. When questioned about the delays on the portable field house, Dr. Samson explained the planning (that CHS staff assisted in) and subsequent approval of those plans by the state, have served to delay the project. The poor state of the Tarpon Track was discussed and Paul Scola offered to procure some bids for a temporary fix.

We were told that before demolition occurs, CHS would be used as a dumpsite for debris and items that will be destroyed from other schools - such as desks. Scott Rice questioned why, rather than transported and stored, couldn’t they simply be dumped to begin with than stored. Costs were given as the reason.

Jeff Masters brought up the appearance of the portable campus and the danger of students becoming apathetic because of their surroundings. He suggested that a campus litter program be addressed, and that Team Tarpon Pride take the lead.

Gene Gorman focused on accountability; he used the rebuilding of his two businesses as examples of how if someone wasn’t on top of then process that inevitable delays would occur. Gorman related how just by starting the rebuilding process his employees felt empowered rather than remaining in a "victim" mode. Gorman asked who would be the person who holds Dooley-Mack accountable, and who can we hold accountable. Dr. Samson, without hesitation, said it was her. She also urged us to call if we had questions and asked for our support to help the process along.

As difficult as it is now, Dr. Gayler said the hurricane provided Charlotte County with an opportunity to rebuild its destroyed schools better than ever, but it is going to require patience. Gussie Baker made the statement that the hurricane might end up to be a blessing in disguise.

The final order of business was a discussion of a "ceremonial" demolition of either the old band building or shop building (neither contain asbestos) that will occur on Feb 21, 2006 (Not to be confused with the official start of demolition as outlined in the contract that will set off the 182 day time-limit for completion). Principal Barney Duffy asked for alumni to attend as a farewell, and will provide specifics.

The Team Tarpon Pride committee will next meet this coming Monday, Feb 20 at 6PM at Time Management building across from the old court house in Punta Gorda. At that meeting we will explore ways to bolster our faculty, perhaps with a BBQ. All Tarpons and those concerned are invited to this general Team Tarpon Pride Meeting.