Riverview Officials Consider Adding Team Locker Room at the High School

Riverview officials are considering adding a team locker room at the high school if the price is right.

At the school board meeting on Monday, officials discussed adding a unisex varsity team locker room in the existing physical education locker room area.

According to district architech Dick Jaynes, who works for Axis Architecture, the team locker room would be located in between the girls and boys physical education locker rooms—space from the existing locker rooms would need to be used—and would be accessible from both.

"We're trying to reorganize and reallocate the space we have," he said.

Jaynes said the plan provides space for all students. During games, the home team would use the team locker rooms and the visiting teams would use the girls or boys physical education locker rooms to get dressed.

District Superintendent Charles Erdeljac said using the existing space isn't a problem because enrollment has declined since the locker rooms were built in the '70s and students more than likely don't leave their belongings in their gyms lockers anyway.

Jaynes said because it already is the middle of the summer, the project wouldn't be completed by the fall if it's started now. He said if all works as planned and officials agree to continue with the project, work most likely would begin next summer.

"It would be too disruptive to do during the school year," he said. "Unfortunately, our timing is horrible."

Jaynes said he'll work with officials and administrators to try to come up with an estimate for the project.

Varsity teams currently use the field house at Riverside Park during games, Erdeljac said. As part of the park's renovation project, an estimated $450,000 would have been needed to construct a new locker room—that price was too steep for the district, Erdeljac said.

"Hopefully we can keep this project moving," he said.