re: $60M Allen football stadium deemed 'not safe,' will close this season

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Texas Constitution says the State has to provide equal education for all students. This includes an equal dollar amount spent on each student.

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Yeah I can't really be mad at this law. The people who make up Allen's tax base don't live in a vacuum. I'm guessing a lot of them earn a living in Dallas and the surrounding areas.

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The engineer and architect will just say the contractor didn't adhere to the plans.

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Yep and unless there is some kind of QA/QC firm who signed off on the way it was done or another testing firm the contractor will take the hit.

I'm sure it was. But the honeycomb effect is due to the concrete being improperly placed, as with the rebar not being tied correctly. Both causing decreased compression strength.

Ah ok, I'm just talking about my head here.

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Allen has over 4k high school students

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I believe

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the band has 900 members alone

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I don't believe

Lol. Both will file bankruptcy and not pay a dime. The insurance company will hold it up in court, and the district will be left holding their dick. This, my friends, is why the owner needs to hire a 4th party QA/QC firm. Regardless of who's fault, the owner is always responsible. It's their money.

Y'all are all really overstating how good of a school Allen is. Sure, it's good, but it's not even in the Top 5 Public Schools in Dallas. Southlake, TAG, Plano West, Coppell, and Highland Park are all much better than Allen. Even the McKinney schools and the other Plano's are better. When you count in the top privates like Hockaday, Jesuit, Ursuline, Cistercian, St. Mark's, and Greenhill, all of which are on the same level or higher than the top 5 public schools, you realize that Allen isn't that great of a school in comparison to the other many schools in Dallas. I know several families who moved out of Allen's school district once their children started approaching high school age because of the immense size of it.

I will tell you how this will play out more than likely. The insurance company/companies for one or more of the entities in the next paragraph will pay for this problem.

There are four major entities with liability assumptions involved. 1.) The General Contractor 2.) The Testing Company
3.)The Concrete Supplier 4.) The Concrete Place and Finish sub (unless the GC self performs that scope which is rare these days due to issues exactly like this)

The Structural Engineer and the Architect will only share any liability if it is shown that there was a design flaw. If so, throw them in the mix.

I have been involved in this type of process before and you can hardly imagine the amount of blame game and finger pointing going around in this case. Right now, there are meetings upon meeting going on between all parties and everyone involved is forming their premise on why they are not to blame. I can tell you almost with certainty that most everyone is pointing fingers at the concrete supplier claiming the concrete was bad and not to design specification. The concrete supplier is saying it was delivered to the specification of the Structural Engineer. The Structural Engineer is saying the design is not the issue...it is something else. Concrete supplier will not challenge the SE and probably has no grounds to anyway. The supplier will focus attention on the testing lab. The testing lab will refer back to all documentation showing where the mud was sampled and cured properly in a moisture room and all concrete placed was within design specification. The owners rep will take offense because he hired the testing lab and there is no way the infallible lab could perform faulty testing(which is actually fairly common). Focus will intensify on the concrete supplier as he is merely a supplier. Dozens of tests will be done including core samples, Windsor probes and actually calculating cement/aggregate/chemical/water ratios in the placed mix on the concourse.

In the end, the testing lab will avoid any blame even if they contributed to the problem. Owners Reps never, ever blame the lab they hired. They are the only ones whose job performance is never questioned even if evidence is shown to be otherwise. The place and finish company is probably off the hook as well. The SE, unless it can be demonstrated that the actual issue was a design flaw rather than a production flaw is off the hook. The place and finish company will skate.This will come down to the GC and their concrete supplier for the project. There is a possibility that they might share blame but more than likely, the supplier will be found at fault. Their insurance company will end up paying out the money to tear out and re-pour the concourse.

I went through two of these type scenarios before. It is not fun for anyone involved, and shouldn't be. Saw an entire 3rd level lightweight concrete floor have to be evacuated, reformed and re-poured after two floors above had already been formed and poured. That cost our insurance company around $750k. Will be surprised if this comes in under a million,as the article implies.

A few things to keep in mind. The stadium came with a $120 million bond deal to upgrade an extraordinary amount of infrastructure in the district. The HS performing arts hall is extraordinary as a result of the same bond election. The working industrial kitchen for those interested in restaurant and hotel management is amazing. The television studio is first class. The number of AP/IB courses at Allen is ridiculous - just like many other top public schools in north Texas. The number of kids going to top 10 Universities is crazy. I could go on and on. And frankly, I'm really not a Kool-aid drinking homer here. One of my kids went private because it was a better fit for him.

And the band does have a ton of members. I think that 900 number includes our version of the Golden Girls and Flag Corp.:
[link=(Band)]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-Y7o0JEgU4[/link]

Total Enrollment 5,989
Allen High School Enrollment 4,424
Lowery Freshman Center Enrollment 1,565

Graduation Rate 98.1%
Completion Rate 99.3%
Minimum graduation plan enrollment 7%
Recommended graduation plan enrollment 64%
Distinguished graduation plan enrollment 29%
Dual college course enrollment 367 (taking 1 - 4 classes in conjunction with Collin College)
Advanced Placement class enrollment 1,422
International Baccalaureate class enrollment 501
Lowery Pre-AP/AP and IB enrollment 1,003 (with 325 students enrolled in AP Geography)

Extracurricular Participation 4,795
Fine Arts programs 934 (Band, Cheer, Tallenettes, Color Guard)
Athletics 1,140
Clubs and Organizations 2,721 (29 of the 52 active clubs reported their membership)


I went to public schools in La. I went to LSU. I moved here a long time ago. It is a great pace to raise a family and the quality of life is top notch. I miss La. more than a little, but I like where I am too. I don't understand all the hate.

That said -it sucks that the stadium will need repairs. It will get fixed. And all will be well.

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Y'all are all really overstating how good of a school Allen is

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I don't think so - I agree with you that the schools you mentioned are all top notch. And I don't think anybody claims any of the public schools are on the level with Dallas' top privates - which are some of the best privates in the country. But I think Allen is every bit as good - especially for those interested in pursuing a top education - as any of the other public schools you mentioned. Plus you don't have to spend $1.5 million to live in HP.

It is big - and if big is scary - then Lovejoy is where some are moving. Also a great district right next door. But none of the folks I know made that choice because Allen was deficient. They did it because they were concerned about their particular child getting lost in a big school.