Superintendent addresses stadium issues
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The Inter-Mountain photo by Edgar Kelley
Wimer Stadium has been deemed 'unsafe to be occupied by spectators' and the football schedules of the Elkins High School Tigers and the Elkins Middle School Hornets must be adjusted accordingly, officials said.
ELKINS -- Despite Wimer Stadium being deemed unsafe, Elkins High School will move forward with its football season, adjusting the schedule to play the team's home games at other locations. Randolph County Schools Superintendent Debbie Schmidlen addressed the situation during Tuesday evening's Randolph County Board of Education meeting.
The bleachers at Wimer Stadium have been deemed "unsafe to be occupied by spectators" and the football schedules of the EHS Tigers and the Elkins Middle School Hornets must be adjusted accordingly, a press release from Randolph County Schools recently stated.
Schmidlen said Tuesday nearby schools have been "helpful and sympathetic" -- including Tygarts Valley High School, Buckhannon-Upshur High School and Philip Barbour High School -- in regard to the recent closure of Wimer Stadium. Additionally, Schmidlen said nearby schools and opposing teams have reached out and offered their fields for use during this dilemma.
To date, EHS is working with opposing teams on their fall slate to re-schedule all home games planned for the 2020 regular season. The first home game scheduled for EHS, against Robert C. Byrd High School, will be held at the opposing school's field on Friday.
The team's second home game, against Lewis County High School, will also be held at the opposing team's field.
Schmidlen said in the upcoming month, RCS will work to come up with a plan for the future of Wimer Stadium and EHS football.
According to school officials, the stadium is inspected every two years.
In the spring of 2020, the West Virginia Board of Risk and Insurance Management (BRIM) performed an inspection on Wimer Stadium. Following this inspection, BRIM advised RCS officials to bring in an engineer to perform a bleacher inspection. This inspection was performed by FaciliServ, officials told The Inter-Mountain.
Finally, a structural engineer deemed the bleachers unsafe for spectators, given their current condition, officials said.
Due to deadline constraints, full coverage of Tuesday's BOE meeting will be included in Thursday's edition of The Inter-Mountain.