It is way, way worse than I thought. I attended the October 4 school board meeting and the tour of the high school afterwards. I wanted to get more information about the proposed new facility and to see the condition of the existing high school, from which I graduated 50 years ago, for myself.
The tour was the most depressing experience I’ve had in a very long time. Although the building is spotless (kudos to its custodians) it is poorly lit throughout, giving it a dismal feel. The hallways are nicely painted and many classrooms are plastered with posters and artwork in what I can’t help but feel are desperate attempts to distract from the pervasive gloom. Countless ceiling tiles are water-stained, some possibly from roof leaks but most apparently from excess condensation caused by the wildly fluctuating temperatures within the building due to an aging and grossly insufficient boiler system and a subpar air-handling system. I shudder to think what all that dampness and moisture is doing to the health of the students and staff who are our responsibility.
More to the point are the additional problems in most of the classrooms. By now I think everybody knows that the electrical system is insufficient for the demands of modern technology, but seeing for myself that classrooms typically have only two electrical outlets and then visualizing the tripping and fire hazards posed by extension cords snaking every which way through classrooms so that students can keep their Chromebooks charged really illustrates the point. Whatever one thinks or feels about the computer revolution and how it has changed the way children are taught and how they learn, that ship has already sailed.
Individual computers are a fact of daily life in both schools and workplaces, and our school buildings must facilitate their use in order to appropriately educate the students who are our responsibility.
Along these same lines, classrooms must be large enough to accommodate up to 24 students. Very few of BGHS’s existing classrooms meet this standard. When most of us were in high school, desks were arranged in a grid and students filed in, sat down, and stayed there while the teacher stood up front and lectured and wrote on the chalkboard. Our existing classrooms suffice for that; it’s what they were designed and built for. Unfortunately, that method of education is obsolete.
Learning is now – and has been for years – a collaborative undertaking that requires working in small groups. Student desks need to be easily movable, which in turn requires enough space to rearrange them in varying formations while still leaving enough room for the teacher to move from group to group.
If you’re sentimental about how things used to be, that’s fine. But they aren’t that way now and likely never will be again. Pragmatism must override sentiment when it comes to community investment and reinvestment in public services.
There are other problems as well (building security, science labs without water or gas or fume hoods, and the floor literally collapsing from the weight of equipment, for instance) but that’s enough for this space.
Constructing an addition to the building will not solve a single one of these problems and would, in fact, place additional strain on the undersized water, sewer, electrical, and HVAC systems in the existing building. On the other hand, remodeling the building in order to meet today’s needs would result in significantly fewer classrooms, but we
can’t spare any. Remodeling would also, by law, require us to bring the building up to code. All of the aforementioned utility systems would need to be replaced, and ADA requirements such as doorway widths, wheelchair turn radiuses, number and location of elevators, and fully accessible restrooms would have to be met. To make these sorts of changes in the existing building would cost astronomically more than constructing a new building to current codes.
There’s a reason large, for-profit businesses tear down old structures and build new, and that reason is money. It’s far cheaper to build new than it is to remodel the old to comply with current laws.
A final word. Accusations of building a new school merely to keep up with the Joneses are ridiculous. We’re all taxpayers. No one wants to spend unnecessary money just so our school building looks as good as everyone else’s. The fact that surrounding districts have newer facilities than BG simply demonstrates that those districts recognized the need for effective 21 st century modernization and accepted their responsibility to provide it long before the residents of the BGCSD. And those districts unanimously chose the cheapest option: building new.
Tammi Sharp
Bowling Green
