DOWAGIAC — At the Board of Education meeting on Monday night, new superintendent Jonathan Whan took his seat among the seven board members ready to talk about several high action items including a swale improvement at Dowagiac Union High School and the purchase of two vans.

Whan kicked off the action items with seeking approval from the board regarding a swale improvement for runoff water. These swales, or ditches of marshy land, are located on the west and north corner of the high school. The flooding in the past has resulted in several students being reported for swimming in the body of water that pools in the ditches, several board members said.

“I want to tell you that’s the most questions I’ve fielded since the building has gone up. Are we having a swimming team? We did see a couple of kids in there,” said Ronald Jones, treasurer of the board of education.

Whan said the school will be tying into the city of Dowagiac’s drainage system and losing two parking spots in the northwest corner of the high school with the new construction’s plans, as the volume of the system will be extended.

A drainage system made of tiles will be placed in the center of the ditch, which will be widened, allowing the ditch to hold more water, Whan said. When excess water enters the ditch, an overflow check system will feed extra water into the city’s storm drain. If the tiling system reaches capacity, the system will hit back with additional force to push water down the drain, he said.

The construction of the current school’s drainage system is designed to deal with a five-year storm, meaning these storms are supposed to hit once every five years, Whan said.

Whan’s hope is that even if the swale does have standing water, flooding issues will be less of a problem.

“We looked at it from a safety perspective,” he said. “The water would historically be in the road. We thought it would be better if it was within our ditch out front, versus swimming in our road.”

John Juroff, Dowagiac Union High School’s maintenance director, was also in attendance at the meeting and offered his insight about silt being stuck in the system.

“We are always going to have some silt, because all of our roofs create dust, which goes down into our drainage system,” Juroff said. “Over time, we should be at 48 hours to drain time.”

The project will need routine maintenance, Whan said, but the board unanimously approved the change order for the swale improvement.

Whan’s next action item was requesting approval of the board to purchase two multipurpose, 10-person vans. These new vans will replace a 2007 and 2006 van, he said. The vans purchase would be in place of a bus purchase, which was originally approved in the 2019-20 budget back in June. The new vans will be Ford E-250s.

“We are going with the 250s because of the ability to tow,” Whan said. “If we have band activities, we want to have the strength and capacity to do so. We will see increased transportation ability. Instead of having to send a full bus for a team of seven, we can now send a van plus driver.”

Transportation director Scott Wood made the recommendation to not purchase a new bus for this year, Whan said.

“Typically, your average bus fleet should be around seven to eight years old,” Whan said. “The industry standard is for buses to last about 14 years. Our fleet right now is right around that age limit, so that’s the reason.”

The school district is still meeting the needs of transportation for the district but will maintain the average bus fleet and have more flexibility, Whan said.

The motion was approved unanimously by the board, for the cost to not exceed $64,000 for the vans and $6,500 for the detailing.

During the hearing of citizens, Jamie Ely spoke to the board about no longer having a wrestling room for the youth in the district. The wrestling program has about 60 participants, she said.

Whan addressed Ely’s concern and said the district’s wrestling coach is working with Juroff to get a practice room set before the season begins.

“I think the rough size I heard was nine practice rings, but they will be in district practice facilities,” Whan said. “It will be a Pathfinders [room], but I’ve heard the rough plans, and I think the program will benefit from it.”