What about our current 6th, 7th and 8th graders?
Was the current middle school ever thoroughly evaluated for renovation when the facilities committee members were discussing the pros and cons of renovating or building a new middle school?
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)
In February, the district sent out an email to parents in the district. It states:
"STEM is not being done in our science classrooms because
the facilities do not meet the needs of the program."
This is not acceptable!
Is the district just planning on not concerning
themselves with our current students?
Kerry Drake, PhD, School Board Member initiated a middle school tour on March 10 to see what could be done about this. He said, "There was a general theme based on the observation of a lack of emphasis on overall facilities organization and sub-optimal space management in the middle school."
​
STEM Recommendations:
Hire a facilities management consultant with experience in educational work spaces to objectively look at the organization of our buildings and help us optimize it.
-
For example, the first art class we saw was cavernous and huge and had the “best storage of the building”. Then we saw the 6th grade science class that was small and over cramped.
-
Another example: we are using prime technology space in the former metal shop to house a computer lab. This is under-utilization of the wide open high bay ceiling space typically used for hands on activities or fabrication equipment.
There are some great suggestions in Kerry Drake's STEM Walkthrough Observations and there's a few safety issues that need to be fixed immediately but there's been no feedback from the district administration on his ideas so far.
​​
Will these great ideas be discussed among the administration and the school board or just ignored?
Why haven't these suggestions been discussed yet in public?
We Don't Need a New Middle School.
They WANT a New Middle School.
​
It seems the district is so distracted with
building a new middle school that they're already neglecting the rest of our Upper Perk students.
"All renovated school buildings must be brought up to code and will have the same life expectancy of a new school." See 'Renovate!' page