Board hires Berry & Clay to build new gymnasium
BY GLORIA JENNINGS STAFF WRITER

The Rusk School Board hired Berry & Clay of Rusk Monday evening as the construction manager at risk for the creation of a new high school gym.

The proposal from Berry & Clay was the only one received and the board voted to accept their proposal.

"When we built the intermediate school and the auditorium we had a proposal from a firm in Nacogdoches, but we went with Berry & Clay. They (The Nacogdoches firm) knew we have been pleased with their (Berry & Clay's) work and so they probably decided not to send in a proposal," Lesa Jones, business manager said.

Dr. Jim Largent, superintendent, said a group from the school visited gyms at Madisonville, Woden and Tatum. "These were all different gyms and we got a lot of ideas from seeing them," he said.

"The architect has sketched out a rough draft for us to consider. All of the gyms we visited had the fixed arm chairs," Dr. Largent said. "We would like to see a gym that you walk up to the lobby and down to the gym, but this will be more expensive than walking right into the gym," he said.

In other construction matters, Dr. Largent reported on progress of in-house work underway by maintenance personnel and Texas Department of Criminal Justice offenders. "A roof has been added to the restrooms at the stadium and brush at the tennis courts has been removed. The TDCJ crews will work another week or two," he said.