OUR SCHOOLS’ NEEDS
Our buildings have been well-maintained but, after years of heavy use, they require updates to meet today’s standards for safety and education.
The health and safety of our students and staff is the district’s first priority. Our buildings need updates to ensure proper monitoring of visitors during the school day.
Currently, all school entrances are locked during the school day, and staff must buzz in all visitors. However, once visitors enter the school buildings, they can access classrooms without checking in at the office.
By updating our entrances to route visitors directly through the main offices, our staff will have direct contact with all visitors before they enter the rest of our buildings.
Our older students need updated science labs, and family and consumer science (FACS) classrooms.
Our high school’s science labs have not been updated since 1971, 10 years after the school was originally built. After 50 years, our science equipment and furniture are outdated and inflexible for transitions between lab work and other instruction.
In our science classrooms, labs are cramped and set tightly against the wall, with limited space for experiments. Most science classrooms have temporary walls, which causes sound issues.
In our chemistry lab, the fume hood is in the corner of the room, making it difficult for most students to see the teacher’s demonstrations.
In our FACS classroom, a large office intrudes on the room’s teaching space. Without any updates since 1971, the tables and kitchen areas are outdated and inflexible for hands-on learning.
Our youngest students need dedicated space for early childhood programs.
Right now, our school-aged childcare students are dropped off at an adjacent building from the elementary school, the community education building, which is a 59-year-old facility that fails to meet today’s standards for health and safety.
In addition, the community education building does not provide the space, accessibility or storage needed for early childhood programs.
Every day, school staff must walk outside with our youngest students to the elementary school where early childhood classes are held. This process causes delays, inefficiencies, and safety concerns.
Our elementary students need separate, dedicated spaces for physical education and the cafeteria.
Right now, the elementary gymnasium serves as both the cafeteria and physical education space, which limits gym time for students to only a few hours per day.
Students are served lunch in the hallway. This requires staff to monitor students in both the hallway and the cafeteria area.
Using the gym for both physical education and the cafeteria means our maintenance staff must set up, clean, and take down cafeteria tables each day, which is inefficient and reduces the total amount of maintenance and cleaning that can be accomplished each day.
Our high school needs dedicated space for visiting sports teams and officials to gather.
During busy sports seasons, visiting teams must change in a storage room or wait in the hallway for a storage room or locker room to become available.
