New gyms, improvements to WV schools
Students and teachers at Pasadena Park Elementary are thrilled with their four new classrooms, music room and gym. Second-grade teacher Kristy Dahlin loves her new room, which has plenty of windows for natural light.
“It’s a larger room, which is very nice,” she said. She also likes the new microphone system that allows her students to hear her. “I can turn my back and the kids can still hear me.”
The school is one of four in the West Valley School District finishing or in the process of new construction. The projects are being paid for by a $35 million bond passed in 2004.
Teachers especially like the new Smartboards. Essentially giant computer screens mounted on the wall, they function as touch screens and are fully interactive. Teachers can do anything with the Smartboards that they can with the computers they are attached to – play videos, create documents and use other multimedia.
The new gym at Pasadena, which opened this week, boasts indirect lighting, acoustic panels on the walls to absorb sound and six retractable basketball hoops.
Principal Robyn Davis is glad to see the end of cramped quarters. A converted shower room served as a classroom and the stage in the gym was walled off to create a music room. The gym itself doubled as the cafeteria. “We’re breathing a little sigh of relief,” she said. “We’re full but not crammed. We have every available space well utilized.”
Principal Mike Lollar at Ness Elementary is looking forward to the days when his cafeteria is no longer in the gym. Two new classrooms and a new gym are under construction and are expected to be ready by next school year. “We’re at capacity,” he said. “Some reading groups meet in the hallway.”
When the P.E. students arrive after breakfast or lunch has just been served, they must wait for the room to be cleaned. “They have to sit in a small group while the custodian hurries to clean up,” he said.
The old gym will be the cafeteria after construction is complete, but there are no plans to remove the gym floor. “This will still be used in the evening for community volleyball,” he said.
The number of students at Ness, now at 350, has been growing steadily. A large surge in the number of kindergarteners this year has meant that some of them are being bussed to other schools. The new classrooms will hopefully end the bussing.
Like all the schools getting new space, the teachers and staff at Ness were allowed to select what was built. Each school was allotted a certain number of square feet for new construction based on current student population and projected growth. The staff could decide to have classrooms, a music room or both. “We opted for new classrooms,” Lollar said. “The space is really greatly appreciated.”
Lollar also appreciates how well the construction is going. Construction is limited to one end of the school and the crew from Garco Construction has kept the disruption to a minimum. “They’ve been very sensitive to the setting they’re in,” he said.
Other projects recently completed include a new music room and gym at Seth Woodard Elementary and new classrooms and a gym at Orchard Center Elementary are under construction.