Sullivan school officials ponder fate of former Sullivan West

SULLIVAN GARDENS — The old Sullivan High School building survived two fires in the 1950s with rebuilding and got a new gym atop the old one to boot.But these days it remains uncertain if the 93-year-old structure will survive the effects from years of a leaky roof and repeatedly flooded basement areas, some recking with the stench of standing water that burns the nose and throat.Repair bills for roof, electrical and handicapped updates, as well as adding sprinklers, almost a decade ago were estimated at just short of $5 million.A graduate of the old high school, former Sullivan County Schools Director Evelyn Rafalowski estimated repair costs today could top $15 million if the whole building were saved and brought up to 21st century standards.However, that would be the cost for renovating the entire building of nearly 16,400 square feet, once home to the Sullivan Pirates that had colors of blue and gold still in parts of the building.Some, including the Board of Education vice chairman, see most of the former school as liability for the Sullivan County school system that should be partly torn down, although a gym that still could be used by the Sullivan Gardens community and/or the almost adjoining Sullivan Elementary School.Others in a community center group led by Manuel Steffey see the old school building, parts of which date back to 1931 and that last served students in May of 2021, as the location of a new community center for Sullivan Gardens.The group already has plans for almost immediate use of certain parts of the building, including the gym, after the group president brought the deteriorating outside building conditions to the attention of the school board during public comment last month.He said the foremost issue outside is to replace rusted out gutters causing or mostly contributing to basement flooding.The group doesn't want a lease. It wants to buy the building outright, like Chris Leisure did when he turned the former Bluff City and Holston Valley middle schools in the eastern part of the county into Impact Centers.Under Tennessee law, the Steffey group would have to pay fair market value. However, if the school board gave the building to the County Commission, the commission could donate it to the group."If we could get the building, we would eventually use it all," Steffey said of a plan to renovate the building in stages. "Our No. 1 goal would be to purchase the building."He said benefactors who want to help with $2 million to $3 million in initial estimated expenditures outlined in the groups plan aren't willing to donate until the center group owns the property."We wouldn't want them (school board members) to give us 90 days to vacate the building," Steffey said of leasing. And he said the idea of doing repairs on a leased building that could be taken away doesn't make much sense for the community group.All these items and more are to be discussed during a 4:30 p.m. Nov. 14 school board work session in Blountville at the Central Office, 154 Blountville Bypass, when options are to be discussed and the community group plans to present its vision for the structure.(Editor's note: This presentation was subsequently delayed until at least January.)"I'm looking forward to getting with everybody and discussing it," board Chairman Matt Price of Blountville said. He said he would like an updated cost estimate for repairs and an updated condition report on the facility beyond one from 2015. Steffey said recently new roof leaks have emerged, and Director of Schools Chuck Carter said the building had more standing water Tuesday than it had on his last visit there.TUESDAY WALK-THOUGHDuring a Tuesday afternoon tour of the school at 209 Rosemont St., school board members and members of the not-for-profit Sullivan County Community Center walked the halls of the former school.A little history: The structure was Sullivan High from 1931 to 1968, became Sullivan West High when Sullivan Central High opened in 1968, later picking up seventh and eighth grade students, and became Sullivan Middle in 1980 when Sullivan South High opened.It became part of a rechristened Sullivan K-8 circa 2012 and closed in May of 2021, its students sent to Sullivan Heights Middle housed in the former Sullivan South High building.The two schools shared a cafeteria still in use by the elementary school.It has 16,397 square feet of space, according to Rafalowski and a 2015 facilities report, and sits on 20 acres, compared to the elementary school on 3.8 acres.Among the tour group was Steffey, president of the community center group and Sullivan West Class of 1971 graduate; group Vice President Dennis Holmes, a member of the last graduating class at the high school in 1980; and former Sullivan County Director of Schools Evelyn Rafalowski, a 1973 graduate of the school.The seven-member school board, Chairman Price, Vice Chairman Hughes and members Angie Stanley, Paul Robinson, Mary Rouse, Mark Vicars and Todd McKinley, toured the facility for more than an hour and a half Tuesday, walking with former students and at least one former teacher who taught in the building. In one room, a SmartBoard projector was still powered up but had no image on screen, although maintenance supervisor Bill Burchett unplugged it from the power.Miller Perry Elementary teacher Alicia Starnes, a former teacher at the school and former county commissioner, also was in the tour group, as was County Commissioner and former school board member Mark Ireson.People walked throughout the building and ran across a downstairs hallway, where water stood on parts of the floor, and the resulting odor was strong enough to burn the nose and throat. Steffey said the water was higher there the last time he was in the building.GYM COULD BE A JEWELRafalowski and Burchett told the tour group the gym is likely usable, although it doesn't meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. However, the gym got renovations and a new heating, cooling and ventilation system in 1989, while the rest of the school has old steam radiator heat and window air-conditioning."I believe you could play (basketball) on it," Burchett said of the gym, built in the 1950s atop the original gym area that was converted to storage. "The gym's not leaking, but other parts of the building are."Rafalowski, who saw the floors before the onslaught of school desks came in 2001 when the school system had 30 days to remove items out of the former Sullivan North High, agreed."We had 30 days to get out of North High School," Rafalowski said. "You're probably standing in the best part of the building."Vice Chairman Hughes of the Hickory Tree community in the eastern part of the county said he believes the gym could remain, but most of the rest of the building, especially water-soaked parts, should be demolished. An architect once told school officials that leaving a stand-alone gym was not structurally possible, although Hughes said he believes it would be if parts of the original structure remained."I agree with Mike. I just don't think, I don't know if it is salvageable," Chairman Price of Blountville said, adding that he wants an architect's input."I'd hate to speculate on the board decisions would be," Carter said, although he said it would be reasonable for the board to open a request for qualifications or RFQ to get an architect on board if it wants a condition update."I think it might be cheaper to tear it all down," Price said of the building, which he said has deteriorated since he was last in it shortly after it closed for students. "That water damage (in the basement), it sure looks like mold."Price said he doesn't want it to become a liability, like the old Holston Institute near Tri-Cities Airport, part of which had to be demolished because of a roof collapse.Member Angie Stanley of Colonial Heights said the last time she was in the building was about 2016, when her daughter played in a volleyball game there. Like Price, Stanley said she wants more information and to get the perspective of the other six board members.LIBRARY PLANSSteffey said Thursday the community group would renovate the building a section at a time, with each section having its own heating and cooling. The first plan is to move the Sullivan County Library's Sullivan Gardens branch from its current home to a new location on the north end of the building's main floor hallway, to the left as entering the school. A senior center would locate on the north end of that hallway, to the right as entering the school.He said the library would do its own renovating and furnishing of the space if the center provided space, heating and air conditioning."Our plan is not to go in a redo the whole thing up front," he said. The library would double its space from 1,200 to 2,400 square feet and has agreed to renovate and furnish its new space, Steffey said.MINUSESOn the negative side, much of the building is of wood construction, and many halls and floors are spongy at best. The wood construction fueled the 1950s fires, Rafalowski said. After an addition in 1953, a 1954 fire that temporarily closed the school led to a rebuilding in 1955."A lot of the site is wood," Rafalowski said.Electrical systems need complete updating, as does the fire alarm, according to an almost decade-old facilities report on the structure. In addition, the facility has no elevators, is not handicapped accessible and lacks modern LED lighting.In addition, the 2015 DeJong Richter study of facilities across the district found that on a scale of 0-5, the building ranked 2 or "indicative of needing significant renovation," Rafalowski wrote in the report handed out before the tour and based on the 2015 study. It estimated repair costs of $4.8 million, which Rafalowski said could be double or triple in today's dollars.The last year the structure was in operation as a school, Rafalowski said the electric bill ran from $63,000 to $68,000 a year, although most heat was from natural gas-fired boilers except the gym. School officials said the building has gone unheated and uncooled since it closed as a school.OTHER ISSUESThe Sullivan Recreation Association has used and taken care of athletic fields, which are across the road from the school, since 2008. That group has funded improvements to bleachers, installed by the school system, and pays the electric bill for the field lights.As an aside, the baseball and softball fields are in a flood plain.Steffey said the community group is not interested in the fields and would leave that operation to the association and cooperate with it and would be willing to let the association use the gym for athletics if the center acquires the building.Parking is also limited at the site, and the Sullivan Gardens branch of the Sullivan County Library is located at the old middle school. A librarian from that facility took the tour, and Steffey said he has discussed an option of the library moving into another section of the former middle school."Nobody drove to school when I went here," Rafalowski said.Another potential issue, Rafalowski said, is the elementary and former middle school, along with the nearby Sullivan Baptist Church, share a common sewer connection, which could complicate a sale or lease of the building to the community center group.Steffey said three or four residential homes also are on the sewer line, and possibly the volunteer fire department. He said it feeds into a treatment facility owned and maintained by the school system but that a Kingsport sewer line is along the road by the school.Rafalowski said she wasn't aware of those additional sewer connections, which were not mentioned in the Dejong Ritcher study.