When Pilgrim High School kickoff their game against Chariho High School under the lights on Friday night there won’t be any fans in the bleachers for the second straight week.

Last  Wednesday, two days before their homecoming game was scheduled to take place against city rival Toll Gate High School  the school learned the bleachers were in violation of code.

City Building director Al DeCorte said that the code calls for no more than a 4 inch opening between the seat and the floor below. The opening at the Vets bleachers is 18 inches. That discovery prompted DeCorte to look at other school bleachers. The Toll Gate bleachers that apparently were brought up to code when the field was rebuilt are fine, but the Pilgrim bleachers have an 18 inch gap.

Last Thursday, Mayor Frank Picozzi said that the school department informed him that “the bleachers will remain closed for the foreseeable future, including tomorrow night’s game. As I said I can’t by law reverse the building inspector’s decision but there is an appeal process that would stay the order until the appeal process is concluded,” Picozzi wrote.  “The school department wasn’t comfortable pursuing that. They said accommodations are being made for seating. This is all the information that I was able to get. I wish that I had better news and I wish that there was more that I could do.”

Superintendent Lynn Dambruch said that they filed an appeal for the decision but ultimately felt that it would be in the best interest of safety to have alternative seating arrangements for their games until the issue is resolved. 

“I would be very upset if a child or an adult was hurt because they were sitting in a bleacher that was deemed unsafe,” she said. “To me it's not worth the risk of someone getting hurt.”

Damburch said Monday schools were granted a permit to use plywood to fill the gap. Each bleacher will cost about $30,000 to repair. Pilgrim has two bleachers meaning it will cost the school district about $60,000 when all is said and done. She said that at least one bleacher should be done by the Thanksgiving game. For last week’s game the school arranged seating around the track in order for fans to watch the game, which will be the case for this week as well. 

The concern regarding school bleachers arose after a fan at a game at Warwick Vets Middle School brought his concerns to the City. 

“From what I’ve been told- several days ago a parent of a player from another city took some measurements and reported that the bleachers at Warwick Vets were not in compliance with a state code and reported it to the city’s building inspector,” Picozzi wrote on Facebook Thursday morning. “The building official was then obligated to inspect it and the ones at the other schools. He found that the bleachers were in violation of this code. The code was implemented decades ago and deals with the gap between the bench and the floor.”

“The building official, had to-by law-tell the school department that the bleachers can’t be used until the infraction is corrected. He did give some info on ways to accommodate compliance.

This has been being looked at,” Picozzi wrote. “This morning I met with members of the school administration and maintenance, along with the city’s DPW leadership and the building inspector. We discussed a couple of scenarios. The ball is in the school department’s court now. The DPW and I are standing by to lend whatever assistance that the school department asks of us.”

Following the news of the bleachers being blocked off, Peter SanGiovanni, a teacher at Pilgrim High School started an online petition, asking for Picozzi to intervene if possible. The petition has over 1,200 signatures thus far. 

“The Pilgrim High School Community has just learned that after 30 years of being out of code, the bleachers can no longer be used. This rash decision will disrupt home playoff games for girls and boys sports teams, as well as jeopardize the outdoor homecoming pep rally and the homecoming itself,” the petition stated. “Our community feels that the Mayor should execute any legal means at his disposal to delay this action until the fall sports season and homecoming activities have completed. After a dreadful nearly two years of conducting school during a pandemic, our students and families deserve better. Our school community of Pilgrim Patriots should not have to be punished for a decision that should have been made 30 years ago. Your constituents of the City of Warwick, and the Pilgrim High School community, are anxiously awaiting your immediate reply.”

Following a press conference with Picozzi and DeCorte,  SanGiovanni told reporters that he understood that the City had to take action regarding the bleachers but wanted to see if anything could be done which is why he started the petition. 

“I didn’t want to just sit there and do nothing because of the students I have every single day,” SanGiovanni said. 

The news came as a kick in the gut for Pilgrim Principal Gerry Habershaw.

“I’m disappointed,” he said Wednesday morning.

“With what’s been happening (the loss of events and activities because of the pandemic), these kids have been hurt. We were just back to normal and this happened.”

At Saturday’s Homecoming dance, Habershaw said the game worked out better than he had imagined and that the absence of bleachers didn’t dampen enthusiasm or the game.