Cheshire Council Bows to Public Pressure

Widespread concern and even outrage over the condition of the boys locker room at has prompted the Town Council to call a special meeting for next week.

The meeting on April 26 at 7:30 p.m. will address the groundswell of displeasure at the council’s lack of action on the locker room project. Parents and school administrators have asked the council to move ahead quickly to request bids on the project. 

The council in March tabled the request to put the project out to bid, raising the ire of parents and supporters who brought their comments to the podium at the council's meeting on April 10. 

Parents told the council the locker room is a public health issue. “It’s deplorable and we should be ashamed of ourselves,” said Rob Oris. “This is a serious issue, we can’t wait until the fall. It’s shameful to put money before kids,” he said.

The council and district standoff stems from a gap in the amount of money —$500,000 — approved at referendum in 2009, and the additional funds needed to make the locker room handicapped accessible.  The additional cost could be about $300,000 if an elevator is installed to provide accessibility.

Judy Senft, former president of the Cheshire Gridiron Club and a parent of a student athlete, said Friday she doesn’t understand the council’s logic of waiting. “It’s been a long standing problem. You don’t see it in any other locker rooms in (area) schools,” she said.

Senft said the athletes share lockers with two or three other students. “They put their muddy and smelly (uniforms) back in the locker. Stuff is wet and dirty and its one on top of the other,” she said.

“It’s a room that’s stuffed with falling apart lockers. Nothing can keep it satisfactory,” Senft continued.

"Maintenance is not the Town Council's responsibility, but operations of schools. Let's spread the blame around," Slocum said at the April meeting. "No one has come forward and said its a disease-ridden facility. If that's the case, we'll take care of it," he added.

A number of residents do believe that's the case. Rams football co-captain Shaun Bowman was hospitalized last fall for a serious staph infection on his shin that he believes he contracted in the boys locker room. “The infection wouldn’t stop growing,” he said after the April meeting.

His father, George Bowman added, “even the doctors were scared, they were almost ready to remove skin.”

"The council hasn't done its best to fulfill Cheshire students' needs," Shaun Bowman said at the meeting. 

The status of the project is such a priority for the Cheshire School District, it took the unusual step of posting a on its website's homepage.

The 300-member Cheshire High School Booster Club plans to tour the locker room during its May 8 meeting. “They want to see if it’s really that bad,” Senft said.