Southern Schools Looks Into Building Auxiliary Gym

By Gordon HopkinsAfter considerable debate, the Southern Schools District Board of Education voted to approve Wilkins Architecture Design LLC to proceed with the development of drawings and bid documents for the potential gymnasium building, renovations to the elementary school and practice track.The vote was 5-0. The location and details of a proposed auxiliary gym have not been finalized. Interim Superintendent Virginia Moon said, “We do not have to move forward with that project until we accept the bids.”Moon explained, “The bid documents and the construction drawings take a long time, and so if we’re going to be in a timeline so that we could actually start construction in the spring, we have to authorize those documents now. Now, if we move to that phase and you decide not to build a gym, we’re going to have some costs incurred in that, but we’ll also have the documents.”The vote took place at the Southern High School auditorium Monday evening, October 13, 2025. The proposal for a new gym has not been without controversy. Prior to the vote, the public was allowed the opportunity for comment. More than 30 members of the public were in attendance and seven opted to speak. SupportThe majority of those who spoke supported building a new gym, such as Joanna Arnold of Wymore, a mother of four boys, who believes the new gym is needed.“Practice schedules were a struggle,” said Arnold. “They were either shortened or pushed into the evening so kids would get home late.”Arnold said, “sometimes we’d use the Barneston gym, which was extra driving time, meant less time for homework, rest and family time. So, I think a second gym would give very consistent practice times, keep students local, and then obviously get more time for things at home, like homework and family, definitely makes it easier on coaches, and we want to support our kids.”“I have two kids in the high school. They’ve been involved in the youth sports for basketball and other events,” said Fred Stevens. “A lot of times, it’s hard to find gym time to schedule practices.” OppositionOnly one person at the meeting opposed the new gym. Terry Acton’s primary objection was the cost and impact on the tax levy, “What are you going to do when the valuation stops, plateaus and starts going down?”Acton also said he felt the gym wasn’t needed, “I took a quick walk over to the commons area, and there’s trophies in those showcases to prove that you don’t need the high dollar practice gym that you’re pushing for.”Acton also brought up the matter of test scores, “I’ve been paying my taxes for years, but now that I heard that you guys got money and you’re going to start building another gym, I thought, well, let’s look at the test scores. People have been telling me, ‘Oh, some kids just don’t take tests good.’ Well, why is it repeatedly that Southern District can’t take a test score very good? Your problem isn’t the school board or the school it’s your community that’s failing.”“You guys have become soft. You gotta buck up. You gotta get these kids to buck up,” added Acton.FundingSuperintendent Moon discussed financing of the project, “One of the questions that I’m pretty sure everybody’s interested in is, do we have the money in the bank to build that auxiliary gym? And the answer to that is: no.”Moon said if the auxiliary gym is built, as with any major building project, would be financed through a leasing agreement, and with the payments made over seven to 10 years.Moon said, “Our goal is to be sure that that’s seven years and that will be paid for by the special building fund. That limit on that is 14 cents a year, and we’ve been levying seven and a half cents for the building fund. And we would change that levy, since we were able to lower the general fund numbers, we would be increasing that special building fund to pay for this project.”

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