Biden signs measure to extend federal highway fund amid debate over infrastructure package

Ian Duncan

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Saturday to extend transportation funding programs for a month, a step that grants a reprieve to 3,700 Department of Transportation employees who were furloughed when the money expired on Thursday. The House approved the measure late Friday.

President Joe Biden signed the measure into law on Saturday.

The fund, designed to provide long-term stability for road and transit projects, expired Thursday night as Democrats clashed over whether to advance a $1 trillion infrastructure bill amid debate that included the future of trillions more in social spending.

The House voted 365-51 to approve the extension. The Senate backed the measure on Saturday, which will end the furloughs and ensure money keeps flowing. It gave lawmakers time to continue seeking a resolution to the impasse over the spending packages.

While an extension resolves immediate issues, supporters of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill are leery of the prospect that Congress will opt to repeatedly pass short extensions - an approach lawmakers have taken in the past.

The immediate impacts were limited, but the lapse is "unacceptable," said Jim Tymon, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. The group urged Congress to pass a long-term surface transportation bill.

"While AASHTO appreciates addressing the lapse in federal highway, transit and highway safety programs caused by the failure to pass the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, short-term extensions are not a suitable way to govern," Tymon said in a statement Saturday. "This particular extension doesn't include any new funding for state departments of transportation until October 15, leaving them without support from their federal partners for weeks while they continue the work of moving people and goods through our communities."

Neil Bradley, an executive vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said officials are already beginning to develop plans for the coming construction season and need certainty that federal money will be available.

"It is not cost-free to simply kick the can down the road," Bradley told reporters this week.

State transportation departments, which get reimbursed from the fund, were expected to be able to keep paying their bills for a few weeks. The Transportation Department said in a statement that existing grants would continue to be paid.

The Governors Highway Safety Association said the mini-shutdown could affect safety programs at a time when road deaths and dangerous driving are up. In a tweet, it called the lapse "a direct impact of Congress missing the deadline to extend the FAST [Fixing America's Surface Transportation] Act and continue Highway Trust Fund operations."

While the focus remained on passing the infrastructure bill, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee had been working with the House Transportation Committee this week on backup options to keep the Federal Highway Trust Fund operating. An alternative proposal to keep it going until December would have required a $5 billion bailout because the fund is running out of money.

After the House vote on Friday, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., chairman of the Transportation Committee, said the extension would protect thousands of Department of Transportation employees and keep important projects on schedule.

"Now we will continue our work to pass the Build Back Better agenda into law, including a historic investment in America's infrastructure," he said in a statement.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, the top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, said in a statement Saturday she was "deeply disappointed" that the House postponed a vote on the infrastructure package, noting that it included a five-year surface transportation reauthorization bill.

"The best way to continue these programs and provide long-term certainty to state departments of transportation and others was for the House to pass the bipartisan infrastructure package. However, that's not what happened," she said. "A further lapse in funding would have jeopardized future projects that are necessary to ensure the safety and efficiency of our roads and bridges."

Most of the furloughed employees were at the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The trust fund also covers transit projects and road safety work in addition to construction, and grants in those programs also would have been affected by an extended shutdown.

The trust fund last lapsed in 2010, but employees were quickly called back to work. The gas tax, which helps fill the fund, has not expired.

CT landfill expansion plan faces opposition

Alexander Soule

Trucks have been rolling across Connecticut to Putnam to dump incinerated waste from homes and businesses, and if the town and state get their way, the trucks will keep coming for years.

On Oct. 13, citizens and activist groups will weigh in on whether WIN Waste Innovations can double the size of an existing landfill in Putnam, with a focus on any potential impact to underground aquifers. DEEP has a registration page online for people who wish to view the Wheelabrator Putnam hearing via Zoom.

Wheelabrator Putnam takes in ash from “waste-to-energy” plants in Bridgeport and elsewhere, produced as a byproduct of burning garbage and debris to power steam turbines that pump electricity onto the New England grid. The facility produces about 300,000 gallons of wastewater daily that is treated before being released into the Quinebaug River, which flows south into the Shetucket and Thames rivers, emptying into Long Island Sound.

WIN Waste wants to tack on an extra 68 acres to its existing ash “monofill” facility in Putnam, extending the life of the facility as long as three decades after 2024, when the initial landfill reaches its capacity of 9 million square yards of ash fill. At that point, it would be capped like any dump and put to new use, a solar farm being one option as the case with landfills in Hartford and Bethel over the past decade.

The expanded landfill would include a pair of liners nearly two-and-a-half inches thick made of high-density polyethylene — like PVC a material used in piping but with vastly greater durability. Monitoring systems will be in place to detect any failure of the landfill liner, and that the aquifer below the site has some capacity to filter any “leachate” before entering the Quinebaug. The drainage area does not feed any private or public supplies of drinking water, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Wheelabrator Bridgeport is the single biggest source of ash destined for Putnam, at about 190,000 tons annually. Another 330,000 tons arrives from the Wheelabrator Westchester plant in Peekskill, N.Y., and the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority plant in Hartford, which is slated to shut down next summer. Wheelabrator Lisbon and a Covanta plant in Preston combine for nearly 130,000 tons more, with Plainfield Renewable Energy generating less than 13,000 tons from burning scrap wood to produce power.

“Currently, the Putnam monofill indirectly touches more than 80 percent of Connecticut’s population based on the resource recovery facilities currently utilizing the monofill,” said Don Musial, a WIN Waste vice president. “Having the long-term reliability of an in-state facility like the Putnam monofill helps Connecticut’s planners to continue its focus on improving recycling rates that lessen the waste quantities needing to be managed in-state or exported out-of-state. Currently, all of Connecticut’s resource recovery facilities are operating at their full available capacity.”

$2M in Middletown water, sewer projects priority for COVID funds, officials say

Cassandra Day

MIDDLETOWN — A temporary committee tasked with reviewing how to spend the city’s portion of $20 million in “once-in-a-lifetime” American Rescue Act Plan funding will begin meeting twice a month.

The Common Council appointed 14 people, mostly city officials, and three members of the public, to the task force at a special meeting.

The city’s money is split between general government operations ($12 million) and the Board of Education ($8 million). Federal funds must be used within four years, according to Common Council Minority Leader Phil Pessina.

“With this influx of money, we have to take a deep breath, and we have to do it correctly, and we have to do it right,” he said Thursday.

The idea is to direct the funds toward “lasting and meaningful” projects, Mayor Ben Florsheim has said. “It’s going to be a big task how we spend this once-in-a-lifetime money in a way that is keeping with the fact that it’s going to last a lifetime.”

The general government portion includes $4 million in county funding given to municipalities based on their population, since Connecticut does not have a regional, or county, government structure.

Task force members are Florsheim, Council Majority Leader Eugene Nocera, Pessina, Economic & Community Development Director Joseph Samolis, Finance Director Carl Erlacher, Deputy Director Diana Doyle, General Counsel Brigham Smith, Acting Health Director Kevin Elak, Information Systems & Technology Services Director Bryan Skowera, Mayor’s Administrative Assistant Barbara Knoll Peterson, the Revs. Robyn Anderson and Moses Harville; business owner and Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce officer Pamela Steele, and Middlesex County Community Foundation President and CEO Cynthia Clegg.

It can be spent in limited ways, including on municipal government, some of which went toward the $213.25 million 2021-22 fiscal budget, which allowed the city to reduce taxes by 0.1 percent.

A portion — $2 million — will go toward improving water and sewer infrastructure, which Congress specifically recommended, Florsheim has said.

Other eligible expenditures can be set aside for municipal economic recovery and revitalization, which the mayor expects will include investments in the riverfront, and city-owned incubator space, the R.M. Keating Historical Enterprise Park.

“Other mayors and chief executives around the state, and, frankly, around the country, we’re all in the same position of having a lot of money from the federal level to be able to spend, and no real clear, defined structure on how to define how the spending is going to happen,” Florsheim said during the Sept. 21 meeting.

The mayor wants members to gather more often at the beginning, “so we can make sure the wheels are turning effectively, working hard to get this money out the door — not to rush it out the door, but to be as effective as possible as quickly as possible to get it done in a diligent way,” Florsheim told council members.

The federal government has offered broad guidelines for how the money may be spent. Allowable projects include direct responses to the pandemic or offering assistance to essential workers, as well as investing in infrastructure projects or other general government services. The parameters set by the federal government also prohibit municipalities from using the funding to cut taxes or fund pension plans.

Altogether, Connecticut’s cities and towns are expected to receive $2.55 billion in funds through the federal act, according to the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.

Members will submit their recommendations for the proposed use and distribution of these monies for approval to the Common Council, which will review the task force’s work on a monthly basis.

Some uses have already been requested, and will be considered by the Common Council at its Monday meeting, including $2 million for “shovel-ready” water and sewer projects.

“These are needed to be funded to correct storm water issues and upgrade our water system,” said Pessina, terming them longstanding, “peak concerns.”

That was made evident when some roads and areas flooded as a result of recent summer rain storms.

When Tropical Storm Elsa hit Middletown in the second week of July, one neighborhood received so much rain in such a short period of time that it washed out a portion of Mile Lane, and compromised the bridge about a half-block from Ridgewood Road.

It caused permanent damage, the mayor said at the time.

The city’s Water Pollution Control Authority is asking for $750,000 for the design and construction of sanitary sewer mains, $750,000 for potable water infrastructure projects, and $500,000 for water main improvements on Saybrook Road.

The latter involves replacing a vintage 1925 cast-iron water main to a new ductile iron pipe between East Main Street and Clew Drive.

If these dispensations are approved by city leaders, the task force will be charged with fielding and ranking projects seeking a part of the remaining $10 million.

“We have to be fiscally astute when we fund these projects,” Pessina said. “We have so many demands. We have to look at it holistically, and we have to prioritize. We look at it from a government perspective, but we need the eyeglasses of the public also on where to expend these funds.”

Officials are also considering other uses for the money, including up to $1 million in improvements to the former city-owned canoe club at 80 Harbor Drive, and paying for a portion of the $4 million community recreation facility and offices under construction at Woodrow Wilson Middle School, which was mostly razed to make room for Beman Middle School.

Construction has begun at former Martin Center in New London

Greg Smith 

New London — Contractors have begun work converting the former Richard R. Martin Center on Broad Street into a 46-unit apartment complex for individuals 55 and older.

It’s a scaled back version of the 75-unit apartment complex initially proposed for the site last year by the new owner Tauche Capital LLC.

Michael D’Amato, president and CEO of Norwich-based D’Amato Builders and Advisors and consultant on the ongoing work, said the new design fits better with the layout of the building, which is a former school constructed in the 1930s.

D’Amato said this week that work crews are in the process of demolition in some parts of the building while framing in others. The gymnasium is being converted into loft apartments and a new floor is being created on the level where the auditorium is located.

Some of the exterior work, a new roof and window sealing, is already completed.

FRESH New London, which maintains an urban garden center and education center to the rear of the building, will remain. Tauche has an agreement with FRESH for them to remain on site for at least two years.

“It’s pretty exciting what’s going on right now, how things are moving along,” D’Amato said.

He said the goal is to have the building occupied by next Spring.

The Martin Center, owned by the city until 2020, had been an unofficial recreation center of sorts for the city with a gymnasium, auditorium and offices that housed the Recreation Department. Programs had been in decline in recent years and the city abandoned its offices at the building last year because of deteriorating conditions.

The city gave the building to Tauche Capital without cost in exchange for the promised development. The city will be leasing the attached senior center for $50,000 per year, the first three years are rent free. Tauche has three years tax free as part of teh tax abatement agreement.

A long sought after community center, in the form of a regional community recreational facility, is to be constructed at Fort Trumbull. The City Council earlier this year approved spending $30 million on what is expected to be a 62,000-square-foot facility with future operating costs funded through membership fees and rentals. The city has hired an architect, Silver/Petrucelli + Associates, and is expected in the next month to advertise for the job of construction manager.

While the design is not yet set, initial plans call for a two-court gymnasium, six-lane indoor pool, lounge and game room, six multi-purpose rooms and space to house the city’s Recreation and Youth Affairs Departments.

Board of Education member Bryan Doughty, who was among a committee involved in vetting architects for the project, said he expects the school district will have the opportunity to expand programming at the site.

During an information session at the middle school, students were asked for ideas about what they would like to see in the new building. Doughty’s favorite response came from a boy who wanted a masseuse on hand at the recreation center for his parents while he played soccer.

“I’m thrilled we’re moving along and kind of rapidly,” Doughty said of the recreation center development. “I’m a big supporter. I think the community needs this.”

The goal is to finish construction in 2023.

Fortunato Construction sees opportunity, challenges in nascent adult-use cannabis industry

Sam Bonacci

As some large multi-state cannabis companies already stake claims on buildings they may develop into cannabis grow operations, one local construction company is predicting a competitive environment for firms looking to build projects for Connecticut's marijuana industry.

“There will be a race to develop these facilities,” said Lindsey Fortunato, director of planning and strategy for Kensington-based Fortunato Construction Group. “It’s a little bit unusual for our industry that this brand new market will be coming on line and there will be a very sudden need.”

Local construction firms will be competing not only on expertise and price, but also on the ability to complete projects quickly as cannabis companies compete to be the first to open a recreational dispensary, Fortunato said.

Fortunato Construction has previously been involved in the early stages of medical cannabis construction projects in Connecticut and Lindsey Fortunato said she looks at legalization as a potential boon for the company, provided the project and partner company are the right fit. She thinks the company's in a good position to pursue projects with cannabis companies.

Facilities for growing and processing cannabis will be required in addition to retail dispensaries, she said. Ancillary industries, such as testing facilities for third-party monitoring, will bring additional building opportunities for construction projects.

But this new market comes with challenges. Chief among them is the race among cannabis companies to open as quickly as possible. Construction firms will need to be able to prioritize the projects and meet tight deadlines in order to compete, Fortunato said. 

Additionally, cannabis facilities will have additional complexities, such as ventilation needs and chemical apparatus. In conjunction with new state laws and local zoning, these will be highly regulated builds, Fortunato said. 

Recreational cannabis will be new for local boards and planning departments. A construction company that has already worked on projects in a particular area will be at an advantage as they work with local officials, she said.

“People need to be looking for local teams who understand Connecticut regulations; teams that have strong relationships to communities and the labor forces that are local to that area,” said Fortunato. “There’s going to be a lot of unanswered questions as this kicks off.”

Even once the rush to build subsides, the recreational cannabis industry will continue to be a strong market for construction firms, she said, citing the need for updates at dispensaries to stay competitive in tight retail markets.

But despite the short- and long-term opportunities, each construction firm will need to determine whether a recreational cannabis project works within their own portfolio.

“Every project a construction company takes on potentially has meaning and impact and you have to weigh the project and the clients that align with your values,” she said. “This opportunity might not be right for everyone.”

Millions in upgrades at Rentschler Field even as UConn football struggles? Officials say it’s time.

KENNETH R. GOSSELIN

EAST HARTFORD — Rentschler Field could need millions of dollars in improvements as the aging stadium soon turns 20, a state investment that would come in the thick of the uncertain future of UConn football, the arena’s marquee tenant. Potential big-ticket upgrades are piling up at the state-owned stadium in East Hartford, with outdated technology near the top of the list.

But officials know pouring that kind of money -- they don’t yet know exactly how much -- into the home of a troubled program could be a hard sell. A $330,000 study will soon get underway to determine the extent of the need, which would go far beyond recent capital improvements, such as $1.9 million for a new scoreboard in 2013.

Dramatic declines in attendance at home games -- plunging precipitously as UConn football hasn’t had a winning season since 2010 -- are already cutting into the sales of food, drinks and parking critical to paying the bills at the venue. The 40,000-seat Rentschler Field hasn’t broke even since 2016.

Paying for large-scale capital improvements would first have to pass muster with the governor, state lawmakers and ultimately the public, even as they watch the UConn football program struggle to shake off its long-running troubles.

“I get it, but we’ve been on a downward trend a little too long,” David Jorgensen, a board member of the Capital Region Development Authority, the quasi-public agency which oversees the stadium’s operations, said. “We’ve got to turn it around. And when you’re looking at the inflection point of having to dump a bunch of money into the stadium, that’s what’s begging the question at this point. Where do they want to see the program go?”

Priorities for major improvements will be part of a study commissioned by CRDA that is due out in the spring. The study comes as UConn’s lease and other management contracts for the stadium are set to expire in 2023.

This fall, UConn’s season got off to a tumultuous start. Head coach Randy Edsall -- on his second stint with the team -- abruptly retired, leaving UConn searching for a permanent replacement. The team is still looking for its first win this season, coming close -- but still losing 24-22 -- in its recent game against Wyoming.

Uncertainty also surrounds UConn football’s independent status with no bowl or conference tie-in.

UConn Athletic Director David Benedict said the university intends to renegotiate its lease at Rentschler Field -- a venue built specifically for the football program -- and will continue playing its home games at the stadium. Benedict also is clear that the football program is committed to competing at the FSB level.

“The university has invested heavily in our football program from a facilities and resources standpoint, and there is no doubt in my mind that our football team can once again achieve success at this level,” Benedict said, in an email.

Benedict said he also sees a clear path to achieving that success. UConn, Benedict said, has secured a long-term national television deal with CBS Sports Network. The university also has “constructed an attractive schedule that includes home games against regional opponents and programs that compete in Power Five conferences,” Benedict said.

UConn argues that upgrades in Rentschler Field, opened in 2003 at a cost of $92 million, are an essential part of the equation.

“These necessary upgrades will undoubtedly benefit our student-athletes and fans,” Benedict said, “but it will also benefit the experience of those at the dozens of other events hosted by [Rentschler Field] each year.”

Outdated technology, leaks

On a rainy, late morning earlier this month, one needed improvement is hard to miss: water is gushing down along massive support pillars -- in some spots near electrical boxes -- and elsewhere where it should not be flowing.

Cracking silicone caulking along every row of seats, in restrooms and around concession stands is to blame. The sealant is supposed to funnel rain to drains, but two decades of freezing in the winter and baking in the summer has damaged it.

“This isn’t like caulking your bathroom tub,” Ben Weiss, general manager of the stadium and the XL Center in Hartford, said, during a stadium tour. “That’s what I would think, too. Why don’t they just caulk it? No, this is a massive amount. It’s more than an annual maintenance thing. This is a major capital investment.”

If it was laid end-to-end, the sealant would run for miles, making keeping up with patching a losing proposition, Weiss said.

While the stadium remains structurally safe for visitors, years of water damage can take a heavy toll on concrete, Michael W. Freimuth, CRDA’s executive director, said.

“We’re waving the yellow flag on this,” Freimuth said. “We’re falling behind on this. And if we fall too far behind on this, you start having structural issues. We don’t want to go there.”

Looking up above Gate B, a fiber optic cable is stretched, just one sign of where the stadium has fallen behind in technology. Television broadcast operations must arrive a couple days before a game to set up fiber optic systems. Rentschler’s old systems -- state-of-the-art in 2003 when Rentschler debuted -- are now sorely out-of-date.

“They are running lines because everything is going fiber,” Derek Miles, director of operations at Rentschler, said. “It’s an amenity when they don’t have to come in and set up for two days.”

$330,000 review

Technology -- and lots of it -- will be critical to sports venues in the future, experts say.

“You buy a car, and it’s computers now, so are stadiums now,” said Jim Swords, a principal in the Boston office of Atlanta-based Populous, a high-profile consultant on sports stadiums.

CRDA is hiring Populous for $330,000 to conduct a comprehensive review of Rentschler and prioritize improvements, with an eye toward what is now considered standard for similar stadiums.

According to its web site, Populous has designed 1,325 stadiums valued at $23 billion in 34 countries. The latest is the $200 million Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Ala. where the UAB Blazers are scheduled to play their first game this weekend.

“Wi-fi connectivity and just the technology throughout the building, not only the ribbon boards and video boards, but there’s tvs,” Swords said. “And there are tv screens everywhere. And there is technology everywhere.”

Swords said, “Now all the systems are digital, and they talk to each other.”

In addition to connectivity, the basics of ease getting in and out of the stadium, comfortable seating with good views, convenient restrooms and a variety of concessions are equally important, Swords said.

Populous hasn’t started its study yet, but Swords said he will be attending the UConn-Yale game on Oct. 16. UConn will weigh in heavily during the study, Swords said.

“Upgrades to restrooms, concessions, seating and audio/visual assets are important as we seek to provide our fans with a first-class experience from entry to exit,” Benedict said.

Declining attendance

While the emphasis may be on UConn football, Swords and other experts say a more holistic approach is necessary to attract a wide variety of events and accommodate different kinds of crowds.

“Football at this level will not make enough money to supply the school with what it needs, therefore the stadium must be a destination venue to attract bids to host other types of events,” Patty Raube Keller, program director of sports administration at Boston College.

Rentschler Field is expected to host 63 events for the 2022 fiscal year, ending June 30. But UConn football, the NCAA Lacrosse Championships and U.S. Women’s Soccer tournaments accounting for 94% of the year’s revenue at the stadium, according to CRDA.

Operating losses at the stadium have dogged the stadium since last breaking even in 2016.

Operating losses are projected to be $737,000 for the 2022 fiscal year ended June 30, but that assumes an average game attendance of 9,500. The average attendance for the first three home games of this season was 7,500.

Operating losses are reduced because UConn has picked up the first $250,000 since 2016, on top of the $172,000 it pays for each home game. So, this year’s projected loss would amount to $487,000 for the state.

Home game attendance, as measured by tickets counted at the stadium gates, has been steadily declining since 2014. In 2019, the last season UConn played before the pandemic, attendance at home games was 61,716, state records show, down nearly 60,000 compared with 2014.

Attendance is critical for running the stadium because the state reaps its income from concession sales and parking, plus a $3 surcharge on tickets. UConn keeps revenue from ticket sales.

“The thing about this building was -- when UConn was putting 22, 23, 24,000 [a game] in here, this building was paying its way,” CRDA’s Freimuth said. “Now, they are still selling 15,000 to 18,000 tickets, but they are not coming through the turnstiles, and that’s a fan base they have that they can build on.”

Freimuth said if UConn can sell that many tickets now, “and if they can push it into the 20s, they can make this building work again.”

Size a concern for new Torrington school

LANCE REYNOLDS

TORRINGTON – The new Torrington Middle/High School building project is running about 18,000 square feet larger than what state school construction officials are targeting.

Project architect, SLAM Collaborative, has tentatively designed a 291,170 square-foot school, an 18,288 square-foot difference from the 272,882 square-foot target set by the state Office of School Construction Grants & Review.

To help reduce the grade 7-12 school to the desirable size, the Board of Education will meet tonight at 6 to decide whether some space should be cut from the school’s career-and-college pathway program. Keeping the school as is or expanding it risks the school being over the $159.5 million budget that residents approved last November.

Some school board members have voiced concerns on how SLAM has developed space for the career-and-college pathway program, especially leaving limited area for construction technology and automotive electives, part of the hi-tech manufacturing/STEM pathway.

The Glastonbury-based architectural firm reviewed requests from students this year for electives associated with the pathways, how many students each pathway has and pathway enrollment from 2019-20, Amy Christmas, academic programmer and planner., said during a Sept. 23 building committee meeting.

Christmas said automotive and construction technology received among the least interest compared to electives for the other pathways, which include medical and health; criminal justice and public service; applied arts; business, and education.

Board member Gary Eucalitto said he wants to see SLAM expand space for construction technology and automotive. He said he believes both electives receive strong student interest.

“We have taken that completely out of the equation, but for a room where they can make pens,” Eucalitto said. “To use the argument that we don’t have the space is a false argument.”

“If it wasn’t for me, we’d have a building that we didn’t want,” he added.

Building committee co-chairman Ed Arum responded, “They are designing for what we want. If we want to take out art, then the board is going to have to say, ‘We eliminate all art programs, all ceramic programs.'”

SLAM architects told the building committee it’s ultimately up to the school board to decide what electives are featured inside the new school, which is slated to start being constructed next spring and be completed before the 2024-25 school year.

Amy Samuelson, associate principal for SLAM, highlighted several proposals to expand space for automotive and construction technology, including adding space inside the school for an auto shop and auto lift bay, and woodshops. She also suggested the electives could be housed inside a standalone building on the school property. The new school, which will also house space for district administrators, shares the same property, 50 Major Besse Drive, as the current Torrington High School but has a different footprint.

Christmas advised the building committee SLAM could also look into downsizing the high school gymnasium and its 1,000 bleacher seats, or offer locker rooms for just physical education classes and no athletic locker rooms.

“There are components to the program that are not directly affecting the curriculum and someone graduating from high school that we can look at,” Christmas said. “All of these cuts are very painful to a variety of people, and we are not picking on anyone necessarily.”