Belleville district’s $5M in improvements include a new gym floor and ‘amazing technology’

A brand new gym floor being installed at Belleville East High School is just one facet of a slew of improvements made this summer by Belleville Township High School District 201.

Massive, interactive touchscreen monitors for most classrooms and new classroom furniture at both Belleville East and Belleville West, along with roof work, tuckpointing and new sidewalks at Belleville East and a refinished gym floor at Belleville West highlight a list of projects that total about $5 million.

District 201 is using federal COVID relief money to pay for the roofing, masonry and interactive touchscreens.

“When students know that you’re willing to utilize resources to make their lives better, they’re going to understand that,” Superintendent Brian Mentzer said.

Classes begin Aug. 15 for freshmen and all students will return to school on Aug. 16.

Here’s a rundown of this summer’s work at the city’s two public high schools:

Gym floors

The wooden gym floor at Belleville East was first installed in the late 1960s. After being sanded and refinished several times, it was due for replacement, Mentzer said.

The replacement work began as soon as classes ended in May and it is expected to be completed in September.

Since the gym will not be finished by the time the fall semester begins, Belleville East Principal Josh Lane said the volleyball team has changed its schedule and will host a couple of tournaments at the city-owned Southwestern Illinois Justice & Workforce Development Campus, which is the former Lindenwood University/Belleville West site on West Main Street.

Maple wood is being used for the new gym floor. It’s being installed by the Missouri Floor Company of Maryland Heights, Missouri, for $287,700.

Before the new floor could be installed, asbestos that was part of the sealant on the concrete base had to be removed. The asbestos was “encapsulated” so it was not a hazard to people in the gym but once the decision was made to replace the gym floor, the asbestos had to be removed, Mentzer said.

Mentzer said the high humidity in recent days has slowed the work because the hardwood floor can’t be nailed to the subfloor if the humidity is too high.

At Belleville West, the gym floor was refinished by Designs Unlimited of Pinckneyville. This contract was for $21,252.

Interactive touchscreens

Most classrooms at Belleville East and Belleville West received interactive touchscreen monitors called ViewBoards this summer.

“This is an amazing piece of technology,” Mentzer said.

Most of the wireless screens are 80 inches wide but some screens are 85 inches wide for larger classrooms.

The ViewBoards are sold by ViewSonic, which states the “displays let multiple users write, edit, and draw onscreen for dynamic presentations and creative brainstorming.”

Teachers were given the option of whether they wanted to have the ViewBoards and most wanted them. They also were given the option of having the ViewBoard mounted on a wall or put on a rolling stand.

The ViewBoards cost $333,741 and were purchased from CompuType in Belleville.

To pay for the ViewBoards, District 201 is using federal money from a program called Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. This aid was released to help school districts address the impact of the disruptions caused by the COVID pandemic, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

New furniture

In the largest expenditure this summer, the district has purchased new desks for students and teachers in all of the classrooms as well for the library, media center and computer labs.

Egyptian Workspace Partners of Belleville sold the furniture to District 201 for $2.61 million.

The student desks are not connected to chairs and can be arranged in multiple ways in each classroom.

Teachers were asked to select the style of the floor plan they wanted.

In one format, there is a “stadium” style seating where the back two rows have desks that are higher than the ones in front. Also, the chairs have an ergonomic design in which the chair back is flexible.

“Every kid in the district is going to be positively impacted by a more comfortable, ergonomic seat,” Mentzer said.

Building repairs

Most of the building repair work was completed on the Belleville East campus.

Six roofs were either repaired or replaced on buildings at Belleville East. Tuckpointing also was done on several brick walls.

Belleville West had some buildings by the athletic stadium that needed work to the original roof and masonry.

This renovation cost $1.61 million and Shay Roofing of Millstadt and Western Specialty Contractors of St. Louis performed the work. Federal COVID relief money was used for these contracts.

Hank’s Excavating and Landscaping of Belleville replaced sidewalks on the perimeter of the Belleville East campus. This contract was for $138,354.