Press "Enter" to skip to content

Madison School Board Candidates Videos Part 4: Barthel’s Gym-Fix Scheme

Ron Barthel doggedly advocates a bigger MHS gym. He has done research and consulted contractors to support his argument that we could cut the construction price from $6 million to $3 million by simply expanding the existing middle school gym instead of building a whole new facility. Barthel has been bringing this idea to the school board for years. He's won praise for it from our man Hunter. It's exactly the kind of alternative the school architect told Barthel he was hoping to hear more of after the failure of the original plan... which leaves me puzzled as to why I saw Madison High School coaches sniggering under their breath at him when he presented the idea again at the public meeting two weeks ago.

Ron Barthel brought the idea up again at Tuesday night's candidates' forum. Members of the audience (many of them school staff and board members; and is that activities director Bud Postma walking out during Ron's question?) seemed bored to hear from Barthel again... but you know what? If you don't want to hear from Ron, you'd better come loaded with questions of your own!

The order:

  1. [1:35] Shawn Miller agrees we need something different to address problems. He suggests we could have passed the February bond issue if we had brought the price down from $17 million to $11 million. (I think such dollar figures are entirely arbitrary. There is no magic dollar figure that will make or break the next bond issue; a building plan will win or lose based on priorities.) Miller says the failed building plan spent too much on arts and home ec and perhaps not enough on core courses facilities.
  2. [3:40] Nathan Nash says he'll defer to the majority and the architects on this issue.
  3. [6:05] Jennie Thompson says she appreciates Barthel's idea, but then spends her time at the mic rejecting it. She embraces the line that it's the school's obligation to promote economic development with a new gym.
  4. [7:00] Corey Gunderson agrees with Thompson. He says he's open to looking at alternate plans, but he says he doesn't agree with spending another $30,000 to have the architect come up with a new plan (which makes it kind of hard to seriously consider alternative plans, don't you think?). Like Thompson, Gunderson says he "appreciates your question," which appears to be code for "Forget it."
  5. [8:00] I tell Ron I really am open to his suggestion. If it meets basic needs, saves money, and wins votes, go for it! I then agree with a comment Gunderson made on an earlier question about wanting to get past all this talk about the gym... not because I want to avoid a difficult topic, but because I recognize that the board's determination to shoehorn a luxury gym into the high school renovation plan distracts us from talking about real academic improvements:

Sharon Knowlton the principal said that we've got 67% of the kids taking P.E. classes. I'm gonna ask why don't we have 67% of the kids taking pre-calc, or business statistics, or AP Lit or AP Comp or whatever would be suitable to help them with their careers? I appreciate the value of exercise... but I think as a school we might need to reprioritize [Cory Allen Heidelberger, Madison Central school board candidates' forum 2011.04.05].

By the way, board member Steve Nelson, sitting far in the back of the room, was looking at me with an exceptionally large smile on his face throughout my response to this question and the others. I assume that means he agrees with me!

See the forum in its entirety on Madville Times YouTube! Watch, learn, comment, and then on Tuesday, April 12, get out and vote!