Insurance company deems Sussex MS bleachers dangerous

SUSSEX BOROUGH — After the Sussex-Wantage School District’s insurance company deemed the Sussex Middle School bleachers dangerous, the Board of Education struggled to deliver a solution to the problem on Nov. 30.
Interim Superintendent Robert Mooney described the current bleachers as “cement pillars where people’s feet are on dirt (and which have) spaces that are very wide.” He added, “I think they’ve been there (for) 80 years. These (bleachers) are just not how bleachers are made. There’s no handicap accessibility.”
The American Disabilities Act requires public agencies to provide handicapped access to all of their services, programs and activities, but it does not require public agencies to retrofit or upgrade existing facilities if there are other suitable means of providing access.
Until the bleachers were cordoned for safety, families used them to view track meets, soccer, baseball and softball games. Additionally, the Sussex Middle School eighth-grade class traditionally gathered on the bleachers for their class portrait.
School Board Vice President William Bolella suggested, “Can we just knock them down and put up new benches?”
School Board member Ryan Coyle answered that based on the architect bid received, new bleachers would cost approximately $120,000.
School Board member Amber Simons suggested that Sussex Middle School “put seed there and (have spectators) bring a lawn chair.”
However, School Board Member Susan Fields reminded the board that there’s strong public desire to maintain a set of bleachers.
Discussion concluded without the board reaching a viable solution.