New Elementary School Plans

[pepelect]

Will it be sprinklered?

According to Kansas fire codes  the building would only have to sprinkled if it housed more than 500 students.  This is the reason the building will be built 30ft away from the existing structure.  The old building is built in the seventies but is not sprinkled as it was not required at the time.  The building size is such that it will have to have at least one interior fire wall. 

The sprinkling issue is bigger than just putting in a system in the building.   There has to be enough water available to sprinkle at a certain flow rate to be used for fire suppression.  If we have to sprinkle I think we will have to do massive infastructure improvements to our municiple water system.  If we can drain the water tower in 45 minutes with just one truck the fact that the school is a mile of pipe away from the water source is an issue.  We have hydraunts close to the school but we have a limited (50K)gallons of water available.

[Rudy Taylor]

PEP,

Good report and explanations.  Thanks.

[pepelect]

No art room?

Every room is an art room..........as well as every teacher is a music instructor, we currently have no elementary music program but are planning for it with a big room......I guess.


If you notice the eliminated  computer room.   It serves no purpose in the modern age.   It is also cheaper to buy every student in the school a computer and have it in their class room than to dedicate a room for that purpose.  Some of the more vocal teachers wanted a dedicated IT guy to handle this new move to electronic learning because it eats up their teaching time fixing computers.   

I don't remember having a specific guy to hand out the chalk...........We don't have chalkboards anymore.......Did we have a dry erase person?...    We must certainly need a smart guy for the new smart boards that will be in every elementary classroom....

Planned obsolescence......

[Mom70x7]

There's also a planned library, to the left of the main entrance, as you come in the front door.

[Tobina+1]

I know it's hard to tell from the drawing, but the playground for the grade school looks kind of close to the highway?

[sixdogsmom]

This is not a done deal despite what some would like to believe.

[pepelect]

It is a done deal. 

We have a plan for a new elementary school that will be put on the ballot for the public to vote on.

We decided to present a plan with the project as complete as possible to be as clear and well thought out as possible instead of just saying we need 10 million dollars to build new school.   We have had open meetings with all members of the public from across the entire district.  We have been told from the community that this is what they would like to see done with the school.  It will be more cost effective in the long run.

The goal is to quit spending every spare dollar on capitol improvements, bussing, redundant teaching positions, and repairs for the next 20 years and spend money on better programs and teaching.

It is very good deal.



We could now use a principal if any of you know where we could get a good used one. 






Positions open:   Music, Spanish, elementary principal.........A SPANISH MUSICIAN with GOOD MANAGEMENT SKILLS>

[momof 2boys]

I wish that those in the community (meaning the West Elk county community, not just Howard, Severy, or Moline) that are so against a new more efficient grade school, would come to these meetings to hear the facts.  Then they would see how it would benefit all in the county.  Do people realize that if we don't do something to make our district more cost efficient, then the state can come in and close us down and send our children to Eureka, Sedan, etc.   Then Elk county could no longer claim to provide such a wonderful education to its youth.  See what your property values do then. 

Go into this with an open mind and get the facts.  It may surprise you.

[Mom70x7]

Tobina -  The elementary playground is west of the proposed school - on the opposite from the highway.

And . . .

SDM - You're right, it's not a done deal. It still needs to be voted upon by the school district patrons. The layout is pretty well fixed, though, following the working meetings the school board has held. Tweaking is still being done. If there are major objections to the design, and those objections turn out to be valid, then I think the school board members would be interested and listen. There has been a lot of discussion at the meetings I've attended, and it sounds like there was that same free flowing of ideas at the meetings I've not attended.

I think it's a good design. I think it's a workable project.

The board is looking at having another special meeting, date still to be set, to discuss bond issues and more facilities issues. Paula will probably announce that meeting on this forum. Plan on attending.

[wasadeay]

Will the elementary students be using the existing cafeteria? What is the proposed plan for meals?