Upgrades at Andrews

KELLOGG — Kellogg High School’s Andrews Gymnasium is set to get some major upgrades in the coming months which will make the facility much more user friendly.

Last year some of the parents at KHS along with various patrons and alumni looked at the facility’s bleachers, which really have fallen into disrepair.

The ancient rows of aluminum have seen more than their fair share of big moments in Wildcat history, but over the last few years they have taken a big dip as they no longer can open without the help of multiple people, burnout motors, broken sections of the benches themselves and other serious electrical issues that made them unsafe.

“One of the motors had a short in it, so if you stopped while pulling the bleachers out it would go in reverse order and trip the breaker,” said KHS Athletic Director Mike LaFountaine. “Over the last year, the bleachers would trip every time and sometimes twice while pulling them out, you would have to go down into the boiler room to untrip a breaker.”

Over the years, the bleachers have worked their way to the north end of the gym and scrape against the concrete — this same movement has created a big gap for a person to walk through between the bleachers and the wall, creating an unsafe area that smaller human beings (like children) can find their way into.

Over the years, the school tried to stitch together jerry-rigged repairs to keep them viable, but LaFountaine said the time has finally come to replace the bleachers altogether.

“I think it was time to look at getting something new versus replacing the motors to our current bleachers,” he said. “I am to understand we cannot find parts to the current bleachers for the motors or even the bleachers themselves anymore.”

Using the resources at his disposal, LaFountaine put together a committee consisting of coaches, parents, patrons, and other Wildcat fans to determine the direction the school would go.

According to Kellogg School District officials, there has been some money set aside for bleachers and as of right now they have officially ordered a new set of plastic bleachers similar to the other schools in the Intermountain League.

The new bleachers will be a deep purple color, with some gold that will make up the mascot logo when the seats are pulled in.

There was some debate over whether or not to make them black with purple and gold in them, but some passionate community members reminded everyone that the school’s colors are purple and gold, not purple, gold, and black.

“The new bleachers will have more walkways and handrails as well,” LaFountaine said.

This will make them safer and more ADA compliant for those who will be using them.

Also, the school is changing the southwest corner office of the gym that historically has belonged to the physical education teacher into a new, full-service concession stand.

“We have some Dave Smith donation money that we will use to convert the PE offices into our new concession stand,” LaFountaine said. “The fans will access the concession stand through the old trophy cases.”

Part of this renovation will include adding a sink and have running water to the stand, which will allow them to add to their concession stand menu.

“Heather Goodner is helping layout the best concession stand design for us,” LaFountaine said. “She has some great ideas and can't wait to see our new concession stand for fall sports 2021.”

This will require some new trophy cases down the hallway, but at this time there are still decisions to be made.

“This will be a huge undertaking and if done right it will become the pride and joy of all Kellogg trophy and athletic winners,” LaFountaine said. “Trophy cases are not cheap and we will have to fundraise or look to the community for builders to help make this happen. Some of our coaches have suggested that we also look at using photos of teams that have won as the backdrop in the trophy cases. It also has been mentioned to find some Kellogg photos that fit the era of the trophy winners.”

If you would like to be on a committee to help plan this or work on it, please reach out to Mike LaFountaine at mike.lafountaine@kelloggschools.org or Heather Goodner at heather.goodne@kelloggschools.org.

LaFountaine expects the bleachers and concession stand to be completed in time for use during the fall 2021 sports season.