Harrison County Board of Education Maintenance Director Joe Ammons has been around long enough to know the time and effort teachers put into making sure their classroom is ready to educate each day. And he knows the last thing they need to deal with is arriving to find the classroom is disarray.

 

Such, he said, has occasionally been the situation at Bridgeport High School recently. The reason, he said, has nothing to do with anything sinister. Rather, it’s a combination of age and Mother Nature teaming up to create a problem.

 

“There’s probably nothing worse than coming to school in the morning and a teacher walks in and finds ceiling tiles later on the floor and water dripping on the ceiling,” said Ammons. “We needed to do something about that.”

 

Last week, the Harrison County Board of Education did do something about it. The elected members of the board approved a contract to do a partial roof replacement at Bridgeport High School where the problem existed.

 

The partial replacement was one of two approved by the BOE. Bridgeport’s was for $189,475 and South Harrison Middle School had one done for $169,690. Both jobs will be done by Tri-State Roofing out of Morgantown.

 

“There are several rooms impacted by the problem, about two thirds of the rooms in the area in question have dropped ceiling tiles,” said Ammons. “It’s a roof from the early 1990s and it’s got drainage issues. Part of the project will include relocating some of the drains and creating some new ones.”

 

The area in question, he said is the right front side of the building. It’s the area to the right if you were looking at BHS from Johnson Avenue. The replacement area will cover 6,500 square feet.

 

Why not an entire replacement?

 

“Partial replacements are usually done because of differing heights on roofs, some sections of the building may have additions with a new roof … and other factors,” said Assistant Superintendent Jimmy Lopez.

 

Ammons backed that assessment. He said parts of the building, such as areas above the gymnasium and locker rooms and the portion over the cafeteria, had roof replacement done 10 years ago.

 

The goal is to have work start by the middle of the month and be completed by the time school begins. As is always the case, weather will play a factor in the completion timeline.

 

“You have to make an early call when you see the forecast and it’s calling for a 30 to 40 percent chance of rain,” said Ammons. “That can wipe out a work day and it may not rain.”

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Bridgeport High School, while Assistant Superintendent Jimmy Lopez is shown below.