School Gym Announcement

August 25, 2026

Dear Parish Family,

Our school gym is unusable.  

At the beginning of the summer, we started a project to add a flexible divider in the gym.  Those involved in that project noticed that the central beam, that was to hold the divider, seemed to be off by an inch or two.   Prudent follow-up was done before work continued and the source of the movement was discovered.  The glulams (wooden pillars that support the roof) were beginning to deteriorate.  We spent the next several weeks trying to determine, through experts (structural engineers and builders) what was the level of deterioration, how safe the gym was, and how safe was the school?

The results are in and there is both good and bad news.  The good news is that the glulams on the interior wall of the gym, which is what attaches to the school, are in good condition.  The school building is safe.  We are looking forward to a good healthy year, with a few tweaks as you will see below.

The bad news is that the glulams on the outside wall (West) of the gym are in bad to terrible shape.   Most of them are not redeemable.   There is also damage to the foundation along that wall as well.  For these reasons the gym has been declared to be unusable and is off limits to everyone.

We received the official report on Thursday, August 20.  You can find that report on our website here.  To be clear, we had orally received from the structural engineer who was here, that the school was safe.  We were confident to begin the school year with no safety concerns for the students and staff.  I was waiting on the official report so there would be no contradictory information about the bad news.

What are we going to do with no gym?  For the school we have made the following changes: lunch is moved to the Multi-purpose Room, sports are moved to Immaculate Heart of Mary’s gym, band is moved to Fr. Mac Hall, and we are looking at alternatives for Physical Education.   For the wider parish, all events that would have been used by the gym are cancelled.

How do we fix this?   Band-Aids and splints are not going to get us through this.  We at a minimum need to replace all the glulams on both the East and West walls.   My next steps are to form a committee to help with this process.  I want this to be done right, with as much wisdom and discernment as possible.  

Moving forward with how to repair (or replace?) our gym is not going to be done overnight, and we will all need to be patient.  

I would ask all of us to keep a good attitude and offer a few prayers.  God brings good out of all things for those with faith.  Be sad about the loss of the gym, and the loss of activities and events.  Anger?   There is no one to blame.  This was a common construction style when the school was built.  Others have had and will be having similar issues.  Have hope though, for the opportunities yet to come.

I will keep you informed as we move forward.  Let us keep each other in prayer.

Sincerely,

Fr. Karl Pung