Broken Bow School Board Report

State of Activities Department

Submitted by Ryan Hogue, Activities Director

May 18, 2009

1. Facilities

- The facilities at Broken Bow Middle School/ High School have been maintained very well by the maintenance department as well as school employees over this past school year. Although some improvements or replacements need to be made during the summer or in the early 2009-2010 school year, our facilities are capable of hosting many different levels of competitions and or events.

Track/ Press Box

The track is in Good shape. The runways for the pole vault and long/ triple jump surfaces are starting to wear down more than they should. Mr. Shea and I are in communication with each other with this concern and are in the process of addressing this problem with the contractor the school district hired to resurface our track. Another minor issue with the track is that when the company painted the lines, they left out or were not asked to paint alley lanes on the southwest corner of the track. Again, this is a minor issue and should be a quick fix.

The top level of the press box is very useful when it comes to housing coaches, video personnel, and radio broadcasting for our home team. The problem arises when we have multiple personnel during football or track seasons traveling up and down the winding metal stair case. The steps are very close together and do not allow much room for solid footing. (Especially when it is raining) I would suggest that we start to make plans to redesign and build a new staircase for the press box. The school district could build the staircase from the north end of the press box up towards the south rising above the East end of the concession stand. This would be a standard elevating staircase with no circling steps. Further, the second level of the press box is space we could be utilizing for visiting team’s coaches, filmers, and or broadcasting stations. This would also help with hosting track meets at the larger scale. We would have to cut a section out of the East end of the press box, place windows, construct room dividers and counter tops.

Auditorium

During this past year, I have attended many fine arts programs, sporting events, and activities held in the Broken Bow Middle School/High School auditorium. The auditorium received a new sound system, additional steps, lighting, and hand rails on the upper balcony which helped with safety. The sound system was a much needed upgrade and has been used not only for concerts and programs, but for assemblies and board forums.

Locker room facilities

High School—we are in need of updating our locker room facilities; having the boys and girls’ locker rooms located below ground and in the middle of the building causes problems with ventilation. The lack of ventilation and the number of students using the locker rooms causes an unhealthy climate for our physical education students, visiting team’s athletes, and Broken Bow athletes. Ideally, building a new addition south of the gymnasium would fit this cause the best, but probably an unlikely request at this time. I highly recommend that we look at improving the ventilation system in the girls and boys high school locker rooms. The original exhaust fans that were installed when the high school was built are not ventilating the locker rooms at a reasonable level which causes a moldy/ mildew like atmosphere in the locker rooms.

The lockers that are in the boy’s locker room need to be replaced. Some of the doors to these lockers are either kicked in, bent, or do not have a door on them. During the fall, we house about 70 athletes between cross country and football, not including non-fall athlete physical education students. The room available in the boy’s locker room can cause problems when we host District Volleyball as well.

The final update or improvement in the boy’s locker room that I would recommend is for the coach’s office in the boy’s locker room be renovated before next school year. Officials and Broken Bow coaches use this room and the showers in the back room of the office a great deal during the school year.

Middle School—Our locker rooms in the middle school are used by our junior high girls and visiting teams. These locker rooms do not meet the needs of our athletes and/or visiting teams that arrive with 25-30 adult students to compete in our facilities. Visiting locker rooms could be moved to the high school if we were to add additional locker rooms.

Activities Building—Our locker rooms in the activity building desperately need a cure for the odors that exist in that facility. Again with the help of exhaust fans or fresh air vents we could possibly maintain a healthier atmosphere.

Reasons to Update/ Renovate, or Replace Locker rooms

Lack of adequate ventilation—mold and mildew

Lack of space including a place to meet to prepare the team for contests

Lack of adequate training facilities to support men and women

Lack of lockers and locker room space

Difficult accessibility (Handicap Assessable)

Difficulties in Hosting District Competitions

Difficulties in Hosting contests in general—Middle School locker rooms are not adequate for number of athletes.

Inadequate coaches offices and dressing rooms

Little or no areas for officials to use for dressing rooms and showers

Lack of Rest Room facilities

Football Stadium

The concessions area, restrooms, and press box are all top notch but we could benefit from an improvement in the quality of viewing for our students, parents, and fans during home football contests. When the new track was developed we failed to plan for the viewing of football games. A possible cure would be moving the fence and cement pad forward towards the track and then purchasing new bleachers with handrails for those needing assistance. This would not only help the viewing but also help with traffic along the fence between the stands and the track. Having the first row of seats 4 feet higher would allow for traffic to move along the fence without interfering with fans sitting in the stands.

2. Overall Climate of our Gymnasiums

High School—our high school gymnasium is a nice facility that is well maintained and is a good place to watch a home contest. We have good lighting, a good floor, and quality seating. However, we need to look at ways of improving the heating and cooling of the facility: Heating—because it is always hot for our teams and spectators and cooling—because it is never cool. There needs to be some way that we can bring in more of the outside air to try and help with this problem or invest in an air conditioning system.

Our High School scoreboards and main basketball goals are in desperate need of being replaced. The scoreboards we have now are inadequate for the amount of activities that they are being used for. The scoreboards during this year have been turned on and used for 40+ nights. Volleyball, basketball, and wrestling all use these scoreboards for practice and also games, not to mention visiting D1-10 District volleyball, District D1-10 girls and boy’s basketball as well as the LVC basketball tournament held here at Bow in past years. I would recommend replacing the scoreboard with wireless LED scoreboard which would help with wrestling tournaments, triangular, and duels. Wireless scoreboards would also help the basketball programs as well by allowing coaches to run the score board anywhere inside the gymnasium. Wires to the scoreboard panel have to be run 20+ feet to two different tables, taped down to the floor and a rug placed over the top so wrestlers do not trip, or unplug a running score clock during a wrestling match.

Improvements were made before I arrived with the addition of new glass backboards on the side baskets in order to improve our ability to develop good shooters. With the number of athletes that we have participating, the side baskets become a vital tool for this development. With this said, our main goals are outdated for competition standards. The new backboards would only be 42” x 72” with non-breakable glass. These goals are lighter, safer, and are not as tall as the existing backboards.

I would also like to stress my concern with the manual pulleys we have in place in the HS gymnasium. The electric drill we have attached to a long rod to raise and lower the basketball goals are very un-safe and are a liability to the school district. I would suggest installing 2 new electric motor/ winches (Torkwinch TW2000’s) to the main goals as well as the side goals. A total of four electric motors/ winches would be sufficient. The four side goals would be paired up into two groups. One electric motor/ winch unit for each North and South set of goals which would bring up two goals simultaneously. Placing the main goals on two separate units would help with the different activities that we host in the HS gymnasium. Estimated costs and bids can be attained from my Activities Director’s office.

Middle School Gymnasium/ Auditorium – The climate in the middle school gym is at best “Average” for Fine Arts, Athletic practices and or competitions. Even though we try not to host athletic contests in the Middle School gym, at times we have no choice when our 7^th and 8^th grade teams are playing at the same time. The stage and low ceilings can affect a player’s depth perception as well as create an environment not suitable for competitive play. Further, spectators watching these contests do not receive a full view of the playing court when attending these contests. In addition, Play Production has a difficult time setting up, storing stage sets, or practicing in the Middle School auditorium.

Weight Room—continues to be one of the best in the conference and possibly the district. Yearly improvements with the purchase of new weight equipment will continue to be a great asset to our athletic teams and participants. The weight room also serves as a training tool for our local Fire and Police departments. The weight room will be available for our students to work out throughout the summer starting June 1^st through July 24, 5-days a week from 6:00-8:00 A.M. and from 6:00-8:00 P.M.

Overall Participation

Our participation numbers for 2008-2009 show that 79% of the students enrolled in Broken Bow Public Schools participate in at least one activity throughout the year. Further, 61% participated in at least one Athletic Season.

Participation

Band: 85 member 9-12^th grade, 27 members in 8^th grade, 27 members in 7^th grade

Choir: 58 members 9-12^th grade

Journalism: 30 students 9-12^th grade

Flags: 8 participants

YOADA: 17 participants

Cheerleading: 8 participants

High School Quiz Bowl: 6 participants Jr. High Quiz Bowl: 30

FFA: 47 Active Members

Fall

Football: 46 players 8^th: 17 players 7^th: 19 players

Volleyball: 24 players 8^th: 20 players 7^th: 14 players

Cross Country: 16 Boys & 9 Girls

Girls Golf: 8 golfers 9-12^th grade

One Act: 12 participants 9-12^th grade

Flags: 8 participants

Winter

Speech: 26 participants 9-12^th grade

Boys Basketball: 25 players 8^th: 19 players 7^th: 29 players

Girls Basketball: 18 players 8^th: 14 players 7^th: 9 players

Wrestling: 15 Wrestlers in 9-12^th Grade, 19 Wrestlers in 7/8 Grade

Spring

Boys Golf: 13 golfers in 9-12^th grade

Boys Track: 40 participants 9-12^th grade 8^th: 23 7^th: 24

Girls Track: 19 participants 9-12^th grade 8^th: 11 7^th: 9

Outside Groups Gym/Facility Use

Activities Building

Church Group-1, Elks Hoop Shoot-1, Knight of Columbus Hoop Shoot-1, Optimist Volleyball Practice-15, Optimist Volleyball Games-4, Optimist Basketball Practice-15 , Optimist Basketball Games-4, Optimist Basketball Tournament-1, Travel Basketball Teams-19, Junior Wrestling-11, Cub Scouts-1, Town Team Volleyball-11, Town Team Basketball-10, High School Volleyball League Games and Practice -17, Miss/ Mr. Basketball Tourney – 2 Days, LVC Art Show, Nebraska X Volleyball-5, Co-Ed Volleyball – 1, 4^th Grade Parent Meeting – 1, Jol Ran Academy – 1, Country Creations – 1, 6^th Grade Basketball – 5, Secret Garden – 1, Fire & Police Department – Unlimited Weight Room Use Throughout the Year, AAU Tumbling Competition – 1, Co-Ed Volleyball – 1.

Middle School Gym

Optimist Volleyball Practice-16, Optimist Basketball Practice-15, Optimist Basketball Games-4, Optimist Basketball Tournament-1, Travel Basketball Teams-8, Hospice Concert-1, Custer Count Friends of the Arts Concert-1, Miss/ Mr. Basketball Tourney – 2 Days, Town Team Volleyball Tournament – 1, DARE Graduation – 1, Pre-School Graduation – 1, Jr. High.

Track

High School Track Meets- 2, Jr. High Track Meets-1, Class ‘D’ District Track Meet, 6^th Grade Track Meet-1 , Elementary track meet-2, Community (Joggers and Walkers)-daily,

High School Gym

Saturday Morning Optimist Basketball – 8, Optimist Basketball Tournament-1, Kids Fair-1. Just For Kix-1, LVC Basketball Tournament – 2 Days, District Volleyball – 2 Days, District Basketball (Girls/ Boys) – 6 Days, Senior Tea – 1, Miss/ Mr. Basketball Tourney – 2 Days, Elks Hoop Shoot – 1, CC Early Childhood Committee – 1.

Media Center

Fall/ Winter Officials Testing-2, ACT Testing - 2

Football Field

Punt, Pass, and Kick-1

Custer Elementary Gym

Jazzercise – Monday’s – Tuesday’s – Thursday’s - Winter/ Spring, 4^th & 5^th Grade Traveling Team – 4, Graduation – 1.

North Park Elementary Gym

17 Misc. Dates Used

High School Classrooms

Mid-Plains Community College – Est. 40+ Nights

Conclusion of School Year

To conclude the State of the Activities Department report, I feel as my first year comes to a close as Assistant Principal/ Activities Director of Broken Bow Public Schools that the 2008-2009 school year has been a tremendous year when you account for our Fine Arts, Organizations, and Athletic accomplishments. The school district and community had the pleasure during the 2008-2009 school year of witnessing many successful seasons from our Activity programs. The pleasure we have as a school district and community to allow our students the opportunity to find their talents through many different groups, teams, or individual effort has helped Broken Bow Public Schools build a reputation as a striving and competitive Activities Department. I want to commend our coaches, sponsors, and administrative team for their dedication to our student-athletes/participants and have them know that their efforts do not go un-noticed or unappreciated. To our community and fans, who have rallied behind our Activities Department in many different ways throughout this past school year. By supporting or helping with fund raisers or becoming a corporate sponsor, you have helped our school district improve our facilities for our students for years to come. To our school board, thank you for your support through out the school year as well. Without your commitment to the improvement of our activities and facilities here at Broken Bow, our students would not have attained the successes they experienced this past school year.

Respectively submitted:

Ryan E. Hogue

Assistant Principal/ A.D.

Broken Bow Public Schools