Parent: Chatham school's locker rooms in disrepair

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CORRECTION

The Triangle Troubleshooter feature on the City & State front Saturday misstated the number of repair work orders fulfilled at Northwood High School in Pittsboro in the past three years. There were 473.

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PITTSBORO -- Students at Northwood High School avoid taking showers in the locker rooms because they are in disrepair and dirty, according to parent Meg Miller.

She says the school's field house, which houses locker rooms for visiting sports teams, also needs to be remodeled.

And despite Northwood's maintenance issues, Miller said, school administrators give money to the county's other two high schools for remodeling while Northwood goes without.

"A lot of it's money, but it's also where you choose to spend the money," said Miller, whose son Reade is a freshman at Northwood. "They have money for every student to get a computer, but not for the girls' locker room."

Chatham County Schools Assistant Superintendent Paul Joyce, who oversees building maintenance, said Northwood was built in 1972. He admits it needs work, like most older schools. But he said the school gets repairs.

In the past three years, there have been 373 repair work orders fulfilled at Northwood, while Chatham Central High School had 465, he said.

"It will never look like a new school," he said.

Joyce added that officials have plans to work on the school's locker rooms this summer, but "I have not personally seen it," he said.

"No one has turned a deaf ear to what is happening there," he said.

Northwood is set to get a modular pod unit with eight classrooms that will ease overcrowding next year, Joyce said.

And if voters approve a $44.5 million bond issue in November for a new high school in northeastern Chatham, Northwood's student population will decrease.