Oswego High School’s gym is expected to remain closed until at least the middle of November after recent flooding damaged the main gym floor.

At the Sept. 8 Oswego School Board meeting, board members approved a contract with Wisconsin-based Stalker Sports Floors to replace the gym floor and subfloor. The project is expected to cost between $200,000 and $300,000.

District 308 filed an insurance claim and the district’s insurance company will be paying the majority of the project’s cost.

“Our cost for doing the work that wasn’t impacted by the flood is $41,000,” District 308 chief financial officer and chief school business official Raphael Obafemi told board members at the meeting.

The flooding happened only a couple of days after the start of the fall semester last month.

“I know we got close to seven inches of rain in a very short period of time,” Obafemi said.

He said the courtyard near the school filled with water.

“The courtyard is located by Door 39, which is the athletic department,” Obafemi said. “There was nowhere else for the water to go. It started seeping into the bottom of the building. The athletic office was flooded as well as the hallway and the gym there.”

“One thing is clear – water and hardwood floors don’t mix,” he said. “We have to replace the whole wood floor.”

A repair company determined the subfloor was not installed correctly when the main floor was originally installed.

“There were some divots there,” he said. “There were some holes that were just patched very quickly. So the floor was unstable in the first place.”

The project will take several weeks to complete.

“We’re hoping to get it done by the middle of November,” Obafemi said. “They’ve actually started the work already. They’ve removed the wood floor.”