WV students make up lost day
While other area high school students were sleeping in or heading off to the malls Thursday, West Valley students attended one more day of classes before their winter break.
The high school students were making up one of the two days they missed at the beginning of the school year when construction crews couldn’t get the school ready in time for the Sept. 6 opening.
Valerie McCartney, 16, a junior, said some teachers offered extra credit for students attending class on Thursday. “A lot more people showed up than I thought,” said McCartney. “It’s just a lazy day.”
Other schools in the West Valley district began their winter break on Thursday.
The four-phase, $30 million remodeling project is on schedule and should be wrapped up by the end of August. If everything goes as planned there won’t be any makeup days needed next year.
“We had to close school because when we moved in, all the boxes were in the teachers’ rooms. Garco met their timeline because they had their (occupancy) permit and we were in the building, but we didn’t want to bring kids into a building where the instructional rooms weren’t ready,” said Dave Smith, former West Valley superintendent and project manager.
Smith doesn’t consider a two-day setback on a two-year project much of a delay. “It’s going well. We just opened up phase 3 on Monday. We’re right on schedule and off and running on phase 4,” he said.
Students can use the newly finished strings and choir rooms and wrestling room. Coaches now have a film room and new windows brighten up the old and quieter “Thunder Dome” that will be used by the dance team and as a physical education gym. There’s also a large multipurpose room that can be used as a student learning center or by members of the community for meetings.
During the final phase, the theater, cafeteria area, shops, art room and classrooms south of the cafeteria will be renovated.
A new library, commons, kitchen, home economics classroom, ASB store, marketing and DECA store, high-needs classrooms,and drama and general instruction areas will also be finished by the end of August.
At their Sept. 13 meeting, school board members had to choose two makeup days so students would meet the state-required 180 days of instruction. They decided to start the high school’s holiday break a day late and to give up a regularly scheduled day off on Feb. 16, a state in-service day.
Principal Gary Neal said not one student mentioned or complained to him about having to be at school for the makeup day.
Neal said district officials could have tacked the two days on to the end of the school year, but instead wanted to use the time for instruction before 10th-graders take the WASL in April. “That was the main thrust behind that, to get the student contact days in so we could have as many days as we need to prepare for that,” said Neal.
“I’d rather come now and be able to get out on time,” said Brittney L. Anderson, 17, a senior. “It wasn’t really a big deal. If I wasn’t here I’d probably be home sleeping.”