Design flaws in new Inglewood school gymnasiums
Christianna Kyriacou | 5-18-2010 | Comments |
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Two brand new gymnasiums constructed for approximately $20 million at Inglewood’s public middle schools are saddled by the same design flaw—the bleachers extend beyond the sideline to the three-point line. Finishing out the basketball season Wednesday, teams from both Monroe and Crozier middle schools had played all their home games at nearby parks. Their school bleachers can hold up to 500 people, but once extended, the courts are obscured and not suitable for regulation play.
“It would be cool to play in our gym, but unfortunately we can’t because of the way it was designed,” said Alex Lemus, an eighth grader playing on the Monroe basketball team for the first time.
Douglas Howard, the principal at Crozier, called the flaw “embarrassing.”
The gyms were funded through Measure K, the $131 million school construction bond measure approved by Inglewood and Ladera Heights voters in 1998. Jack Wolffberg, chair of the Measure K Bond Oversight Committee, learned of the flaw when he attended a celebration for Crozier’s new gym.
“We didn’t find out it was going to be like that until we got there for the opening,” Wolffberg said. “We had them pulled out and were like, ‘Uh-oh, we’ve got a problem.’ ”
The teams can only use the facilities for practices, as three rows of bleachers extend over one sideline. “Let’s face it, playing games at Rodgers Park doesn’t give you that home feeling,” said Wolffberg, who was a student at Crozier nearly three decades ago when basketball games were played at the park.
Coaches and athletes wish the new facilities could be used for their home games.
“I'd rather play home games at our school, that way we’d have a big home crowd,” said Roc Johnson, an eighth grader who has played basketball at Crozier for three years.
Alphonso Harris, who coaches boys’ basketball at Monroe, said home games are crucial to encouraging students to participate in school sports. “What did they build the gyms for?” he asked. “All the schools that have gyms should be able to have home games. That way, more students from the schools would come to the games.”
Crozier boys’ basketball coach Andre Henry sat on the bleachers with his feet over the three-point line, watching his team scrimmage before playing cross-town rival Monroe. The bleachers had been pulled out for lunchtime during rainy weather. Since they were not tucked away before the team warm-up, players came close to running into them as they prepped for their second game of the season.
Modifying the bleachers would cost between $5 and $6 million, according to an estimate the committee received from the project contractors, FTR International and Icon West, Inc.
“The only thing we can do is go back and take all the bleachers out and redo it,” Wolffberg said. But, he acknowledged, “We’re not going to have enough money for that because our money is already tied up in other projects.”
Coaches, parents and students are frustrated and angry over the error and are questioning why the flaw was repeated in both structures.
“There’s been a big, big controversy over this gym,” said Barbara Lindsey, a physical education teacher at Monroe.
Monroe basketball parent Demetria Molock said she would rather the money been spent on improving educational resources and reducing class sizes. “I don’t think they’ve ever had a chance to use the facility,” Molock said. “As a parent, what bothers me is that all the money was spent on a gym that’s kind of useless.”
Asia Culpepper, an eighth grader on the Monroe girls’ team, said she admired the new gym, “but they messed it up.”
During a practice leading up to the start of the season, eighth-grader Elaina Walker ran into the extended bleachers in Crozier’s gymnasium and injured her leg. As a result, she said, “I'm not able to play the full time.”
The bleachers were not part of the original design for the gyms, according to Cornell Williams, the project manager. The seating was added at the request of Pamela Short-Powell, then superintendent of Inglewood Unified School District. Short-Powell had the leverage to amend the original plans, according to Trina Williams, a district board member. But her request was ill-conceived, Trina Williams said.
Short-Powell wanted the facilities to have enough seating for all-school assemblies, though there was no reason for such large bleachers since both schools have auditoriums, Wolffberg said.
“It was a bad decision on the former administrator’s part,” Trina Williams said. “The architect told her, ‘You shouldn’t do this, it’s not going to work,’ but she insisted she wanted more seating in both gymnasiums, so it was done against even the architect’s better judgment.”
Short-Powell is currently the president of the California African-American Association of Superintendents and Administrators. She did not return repeated calls for comment.
Dougherty + Dougherty, a family-owned architecture firm based in Costa Mesa, designed both middle school gymnasiums as well as the reconstruction of La Tijera K-8 School in Inglewood, which is currently underway.
Dougherty said four superintendents and multiple board members held office as Crozier was being built. “The boards and the superintendents give us different direction, even during construction, and we switch gears, so it was not just Pamela Short-Powell. It was also the board at the time,” she said.
The Inglewood Unified School District approved the plans, as the Inglewood Planning Commission does not have jurisdiction over public school projects, Trina Williams said.
Henry said the problem presented an opportunity for his players to work as a team.
“It actually promotes more unity with the team having to do something to solve a problem together,” he said.
Students will walk as far as four miles to watch their friends play in the after school games or their parents will drive them to the park. Coaches typically make two trips to transport the athletes to games.
“Why would you build a gym that we can't play in?” asked Jatawa Johnson, a Monroe seventh grader who walked 40 minutes with classmates to watch her friends play Crozier. “It's stupid,” she said.
For a recent game, Johnson, together with family and friends of players, packed the stands on the balcony level of Darby Park; the crowd overflowed onto the steps, floor and aisles. There is not enough seating at the park and the bleachers at the schools are inaccessible.
“Without the bleachers, it’s a great gym,” Howard said. The school uses it for P.E. classes, basketball and volleyball team practices, dances, fundraisers and assemblies.
“I have games in there on weekends and at night, against other schools, against AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) programs. We use the gym all the time,” Henry said. “People sit on the stage. It’s just middle school. It’s not like we have a huge group of people coming.”
While the schools typically rent out their gymnasium facilities for public use, the inability to have both bleacher seating and a regulation-sized court diminishes the desirability of the sites and may mean lost revenue, Trina Williams said.
“You can’t really make any money off … the gyms because you’re going to have to get the bleachers adjusted,” she said.
Despite the flaws, the gymnasiums cannot be modified until the Department of the State Architect and the Office of Public School Construction determine that the work specified in the construction contracts is complete, Trina Williams said.
“I know we’re gonna fix it,” she said. “It hinders the use of the gyms right now.”
Not everyone is troubled by the gyms’ shortcomings.
“It don’t matter to me,” said William Jones, an eighth grader and captain of the Monroe boys’ team. “I just want to play.”
“As long as they play, they enjoy it—that's the important thing,” said Herbert Boykin, a vice principal at Crozier. “The location isn't important.”
Besides, Boykin said he has seen Crozier’s basketball players make strides academically. “If they don't keep their grades up and have good behavior, they forfeit their membership and they really enjoy being on the team,” he said.
Ronnesha Harvey, an eighth grader at Monroe, became eligible just in time for the first game against La Tijera because she needed to boost her grades to play. She scored the most points for the Mariners and led her team to victory.
“[Basketball was] motivation to get her grades up to make this game and she did,” said her coach, Nicole Jefferson. “She pulled it together.”
Students who want to play in the league often work harder in school, said Harris, who also coaches boys’ basketball at Morningside High School. “Guaranteed by the end of the season grades come up,” he said. “It teaches them teamwork and it teaches them to do their homework.”
Harris has seen his players receive college scholarships. “Athletics will get them there I tell ‘em, but we’re looking for doctors and lawyers. Use the athletics to get you to college and use your brain to get you out in the world,” he said he tells his players.
According to Harris, six out of nine seniors on last year’s basketball team received athletic scholarships.
“The program is a good thing, especially in this neighborhood,” said Marline Martinez, a Monroe basketball parent. “It keeps kids out of trouble and motivates them to do better.”
Parents and coaches alike are concerned not only about basketball, but also about the opportunities it affords.
“All the coaches do teach the kids about accountability and responsibility. It helps them in their lives. I’ve seen it,” Henry said. “We’ve had several players in the past 10-12 years that have made it to the NBA, many others that have gone on to play in college. They can get college degrees because they got started in the league.”
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