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Public reviews school concept
Even after closing West Ward, McCook has too many elementary buildings and the ones it has are old, unsafe and inefficient, people were told at a special meeting Thursday night.
It is up to the school board and ultimately the voters, to decide whether the latest plan for elementary facilities is the answer.
Approximately 70 people turned out at the Junior High cafeteria to see details an elementary-only building and remodeling project proposed by W Design Associates.
Following short presentations by designers, administration and staff, school board members, designers and the public broke into three small groups for detailed discussion.
After two larger proposals were turned down by the voters, and a group asked the board to study remodeling of the present facilities, the latest study began in April, Larson said.
"This is just a model concept," he said. "Realistically, we have too many buildings for our district," Larson added. At the same time, the school needs to consider possible growth. Because of possible changes in state aid, more consolidations are likely.
While the timeline is uncertain, "eventually, something is going to happen."
The other important factors behind the proposal are curriculum or having facilities that make learning easier, and safety.
Architect Dave Wilson walked the audience through the design evolution, and how previous proposals had left problems with safety, food service, growth, closing the special education center, parking and traffic.
The proposed single McCook Elementary K-3 building at the North Ward site promotes better security with controlled access to all the buildings and allows kitchen facilities to be operated at the site.
Currently, meals are prepared at the Junior High and hauled to the elementary schools.
The building includes multi purpose rooms with and physical education space appropriate for children in kindergarten through third grade, Wilson said.
The current site has space for 400 students and parking for 51 cars. The new facilities would have room for 580 students and parking for 150 cars, with an adequate 2.09 acres of playground, divided into one area for K-1 grade and another for second and third graders. Estimated cost is $5.297,038, Wilson said.
The design would result in energy savings of $17,612 per year, staff efficiency and curriculum continuity, he said.
Dennis Berry, principal at the Junior High and Central Elementary, said he memorized a speech when he learned he had to address the crowd.
"Four score and seven years ago ... no, that's the wrong speech, but that's about as old as the building we're working to replace," he said.
Officials have identified 79 safety improvements which need to be made in school facilities. Forty of them, at North Ward and the special education center, are "big-ticket items" such as handicap accessabilty issues, he said.
Adding computers has led to "a bunch of extension cords" strung around the building, with fire, evacuation and security "major cost issues," Berry said.
North Ward kindergarten teacher Bev Klein said adequate space was needed in order to provide the "hands-on" learning that is most effective for young children.
She said the effective student-teacher ratio for kindergarten students is 13 to 17 per teacher, with 1,380 square feet of classroom needed.
"We have a huge deficit" in space, she said, with classes in the modular buildings at North Ward operating with about half of the nominal area.
With the switch to all-day kindergarten, the schools have become the "primary daycare as well as education for 100 students," Klein said.
"There's also an 'equity' issue in McCook," she said, where students may not have the same educational opportunities at different schools.
Klein noted that she was wearing a pin with the motto, "you can do what you can dream."
"I believe this quote is a dream is a dream that we can do. It would create such a proud image for our school and our community," she said.
East Ward teacher Cherie Wallace expanded on the equity and "curriculum continuity" theme.
She distributed a sheet with the following points in favor of the one-site K-3 proposal:
* all students receive the same program opportunities.
* class size will be equalized within each grade level.
* use of resources and materials, such as trade books, math manipulatives and science equipment can be shared instead of having to acquire duplicates.
* assembly programs can tailored to age-appropriate audiences at one site instead of two or more.
* grade-level meetings would occur more frequently.
* ideas, instructional and problem-solving strategies will be easier to create with teachers of one level grouped together.
* while all are working toward the same goals, there would still be room for the individuality of teachers.
* less isolation, more communication and collaboration between parents, teachers, students and community, resulting in a stronger educational program for our children.