High school gym reopened

On Monday, Mountain Home High School reopened the school's gymnasium, following a two-month construction program to install a new roof. The new roof cost $1.5 million.

The new gym's roof includes new metal trusses and open air ducts for air conditioning. The new roof will provide the school with no further water damage, which had been a problem with the previous curved roof.

The gymnasium features new lighting (including boom lighting for the school's stage performances), newly painted walls and supports for the six basketball nets on the gym floor.

"It looks awesome, when these new lights come on, it's so much brighter than it used to be," said Mountain Home High School Principal Jeff Johnson.

The project is close to completion, once the water damage near the bleachers is fixed and a pulley system for one of the main basketball hoops is installed.

The gym will feature its first event on Tuesday with three volleyball matches. The sophomore game will take place at 4:30 p.m., the JV game will take place at 5:30 p.m., and the varsity game will take place at 6:30 p.m.

"It's been quite an ordeal, but when we're finally done, it will be worth it," said Johnson.

Repairs for the gym had been included in the recent school bond proposal, but when that failed the district used most of its plant facilities money to fund the project.