Selectmen Target $82,500 for Gymnasium Repairs While Uncovering Wider $750,000 School Roof Crisis-September 9, 1982

Facing extensive water damage at Norwood High School, selectmen tentatively agreed to recommend an $82,500 appropriation at the September 20 special town meeting—while a broader engineering survey revealed an estimated $750,000 in necessary roof repairs across the school district.

Gym Floor Damage and Architectural Estimates

An August 9 rainstorm caused severe rainwater leakage from a clogged roof drain pipe, warping and buckling roughly half of the wooden floor in the boys’ gymnasium. While repairing the floor damage alone would cost $25,000, project architect Roger O. Hoit of the firm Strekalovsky and Hoit Inc. recommended a comprehensive rehabilitation.

Hoit’s preliminary $82,500 estimate covers gym wall restoration, a new $25,000 roof installation to prevent future leaks, and $40,000 to replace the rotted, patched gymnasium floor entirely rather than attempting patchwork repairs. Town Manager John J. Carroll noted that insurance coverage details for the damage would be finalized shortly.

The $750,000 Roof Crisis and Governance Friction

During discussions, Selectman Walter J. Dempsey raised a much larger alarm, revealing that building surveys completed in July by Strekalovsky and Hoit calculated a staggering $750,000 total cost to repair failing roofs across various town school buildings. “There’s a $750,000 lemon here,” Dempsey exclaimed. “Just for roofs alone… Roofs — 750 grand!” Dempsey predicted school roof repairs would become the most contentious issue at town meeting.

The crisis reignited long-standing friction over building maintenance responsibilities between selectmen and the school committee. While municipal charters assign general property maintenance to selectmen, actual building repairs remain under the jurisdiction of the school committee. Dempsey advocated for a municipal charter amendment to consolidate building maintenance under one authority.

While School Committee member Richard W. Kief expressed openness to transferring maintenance duties, Superintendent James R. Savage strongly cautioned against the move, warning that the school department might “lose control” of its facilities, noting, “We’ve maintained excellent buildings.” In the interim, selectmen directed public works crews to clear the gymnasium roof drains and flood the roof to test drainage functionality.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger