RVHS is starting to show its age
WARSAW – When River View High School was built it was a state of the art building. Unfortunately a lot has changed in 50 years.
The school has had a new roof put on it twice in just the 20 years Principal Chuck Rinkes has been there. The tile has asbestos and it’s heated by the same welded and rusted heating system that kept the first graduating class in 1966 warm.
The heating units are mounted on the wall or the ceilings of the rooms and they are not reliable.
“The heaters bust in the winter time and they’ve ruined computers and flooring with the really hot water that comes out of them,” said Randy Thomas, the maintenance man at the high school. “The coils in them have been welded and welded because we can’t replace the parts anymore.”
The school opened in 1965 and Rinkes said 80 to 90 percent of the building is still original. It’s been well maintained over the years, but is starting to show its age.
“When you constantly walk on the tile or carpet in your home it wears out,” Rinkes said. “Imagine what is going to happen when you have 600 to 900 kids walking on it every year?”
River View Local School District is working on a building project that will include constructing one new elementary school attached to the junior high and making renovations to the junior high and high school. The project will be partially funded by a bond issue that will be voted on by the community during a special election on Tuesday, Aug. 2.
The district’s elementary schools are all more than 100 years old, the high school recently celebrated its 50th anniversary and the junior high is the newest building at 36 years old.
Rinkes is concerned about the safety of his building.
“The front of our building just isn’t good,” Rinkes said. “We do have a buzzer and a video system, but the school wasn’t built for people to come right to the office.”
He said it is their responsibility to keep the students safe, warm and dry, but feels the building doesn’t always allow them to do the best job at that.
“There are 52 roof vents that are supposed to take moisture out of the building and they totally need replaced,” Rinkes said.
He and Thomas said of those 52 vents, only two are working properly.
There also are issues in the family and consumer science room.
“Kids cook in here and sometimes they burn things, but this room has no ventilation,” Rinkes said.
The room also was flooded three times last year when the heater broke.
“I don’t know how many times we’ve put new tile down in here,” Thomas said.
Rinkes added that the age of the building is just starting to catch up with it.
“It’s been used, but not abused,” he said. “There are things like the lockers that other schools might have had one or two sets of by now, but we still have the original ones.”
While Rinkes is looking forward to getting his building updated, he also is excited about having all of River View’s students on one campus.
“We have sixth graders who are very capable of taking math at the junior high, but they are sitting at Union, Conesville, Keene or Warsaw,” he said.
One central location would make it easier to get students into more advance classes and help the district share resources like speech therapy and guidance counselors with all grade levels.
“Right now we have two guidance counselors covering six buildings and they lose time traveling,” Rinkes said. “There is so much distance between our buildings. If we were all together we could educate more appropriately at all grade levels.”
He understands that times are tough for people, but the condition of River View’s buildings is not an issue that is going to go away.
“Our buildings aren’t getting any younger so if we don’t do this now, when will it happen?” Rinkes said.
Editor’s note: This is the sixth and final story in a series of stories highlighting the school buildings in River View’s district.
A look at River View High School
Year opened: 1965
Additions: None
Current enrollment: 651
River View Local School Building Project
Problem: The current buildings have served the district well for a century, but they have become too outdated, inefficient and expensive to operate.
Solution: Close all four existing elementary buildings and place them in one new building that will attach to the existing junior high school. The junior high school and high school also will be renovated to today’s codes and the Ohio School Facilities Commission standards. Nineteen percent of the project will be paid for by the Ohio School Facilities Commission and the rest will be funded through a bond issue that will be voted on during a special election on Tuesday, Aug. 2.
Cost of the solution: The state’s share is $9,020,226 and the local share is $43,456,780. The bond to be voted on is 5.20 mils. The cost to the owner of a home valued at $102,500 is: $186.57 annually; $15.55 monthly; $3.59 weekly; and $0.51 daily.
Category: Education
