Brian Templeton of Upland Design reviews scaled back plans for Cleveland High School’s new gymnasium. Seated at left is Paul Ramsey, energy education specialist for Cleveland City Schools.CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The Cleveland City Board of Education is offering to scale back plans for Cleveland High School’s new gymnasium in an effort to shave $1 million off the estimated $12 million in projected costs.
The proposed reduction came after a request by Cleveland City Council members for the school system to pitch in $1 million for the capital project.
On Wednesday, the school board’s site committee discussed why the school system could not afford to contribute $1 million to the project and how reductions would affect seating capacity and weight room spaces at the gymnasium at the facility.
“We want to see if we can’t scale this back a bit,” said board member Murl Dirksen, chairman of the site committee. “It’s a negotiation process, it always has been.”
The City Council’s request for a $1 million contribution from the school system was made in early April, about a month after the council voted 4-2 to commit up to $12 million of the city’s $12.3 million reserve to construction of the new gym.