Purchase Of Bus Approved Trustees Table Decision On Track Repairs

After receiving a report from the company that submitted a bid to repair Wolf Point High School’s track, the school board officials are now reconsidering their options.

Jerod Petrino of Tarkett Sports said that after he saw the track’s conditions first-hand on Tuesday, May 27, he now feels the approach of only scraping and resurfacing the track may not be in the school district’s best interest.

Petrino noted there is a significant amount of separation and cracking on the track. He said a warranty won’t cover the cracking if the problem isn’t addressed.

He feels if the approved project is just scraping and resurfacing, the same problems could exist again in a short time period.

The cost for scraping and resurfacing the track is about $430,000.

“At this price, it’s a pretty expensive Band-Aid,” Petrino said.

After board chair Roxanne Gourneau asked Petrino for his recommendation, Petrino answered that a post-tension track is the best surface. Cost for a post-tension track is $1.44 million. That project would have a warranty of 50 years.

Trustee Michael Holen mentioned that Superintendent Dr. David Perkins recommended the less expensive option at an earlier meeting in order to maintain more Impact Aid funds if a new school is built in the future.

Perkins said that a new school might only be possible by taking a loan of Impact Aid. The more money the school district has, the less it would need to borrow.

Trustees decided to table the track decision until its meeting on Wednesday, June 4.

After the meeting, trustees toured the track to see the problems firsthand.

Also during the meeting, trustees approved the purchase of a 56-passenger cruiser bus for $230,000.

Gourneau explained there’s a need for another bus because of the increased amount of activities.

“We can’t meet our students’ needs right now,” Gourneau said.