BY KAREN BOSSICK
Students went back to school Monday morning. But even before the school day started, they celebrated their efforts from last year.
Three Wood River Middle school students—Cade London, Samantha Chambers and Josie Gilman—cut the ribbon on a $1.18 million-dollar locker room remodel that they had instigated.
More than three dozen students immediately flooded into the boys and girls locker rooms to check out the bright spacious facility that will provide more privacy and safety than before with a non-stick floor and bathroom doors that extend to within an inch of the floor.
“I like that it’s so big—it was crammed before,” said Sophia Vandenberg, who checked out the facility with Grendel Sprong, Samantha Chambers and Josephine Gilman.
The project came out of discussions about the school’s gender inclusion policy, during which much attention was given to the privacy and safety of the 700-plus students at the middle school, said Superintendent Gwen Carol Holmes, who oversees the district’s 3,400 students.
The students –part of Melanie Schraders’ leadership class—went before the school board last year with a bar graph presentation documenting how a lot of bathroom and shower stalls didn’t have locks that worked and how.
“There were a lot of sight issues in that particular locker room, as well, said Howard Royal, the Blaine County School District’ director of buildings and grounds. “It was like a little catacomb. Now it’s bright and spacious and you can see everything.”
School Superintendent Gwen Carol Holmes said the staff hadn’t been aware of the issues because they didn’t use the bathrooms and showers in the locker room.
“The old design was pretty unsafe—it had a long hallway that was not visible from the coach’s office. We came up with a completely new configuration, while reusing the old lockers to save money,” she said.
The project used funds from the Plant Facility Levy approved by voters in 2009. Conrad Brothers oversaw the project, which utilized Hank Brown Painting, Burks Excavation, Buffalo Electric, Clear Creek Disposal, Evans Plumbing, Merrick Construction, Precision Masonry, Interior Contracts and Thornton Heating & Sheetmetal.
Architect Jolyon Sawrey helped with the design.
Workers were able to complete what should have been a four- to five-month project in 10 weeks, said Royal.
In addition, a team of maintenance engineers inspected locker rooms and restrooms throughout the district for broken door latches, fixing those that were broken.
Holmes noted that students are empowered when they come to the table with not only a problem but also a potential solution.
“That’s what we want to students to do—to be leaders. And these students found a way to keep their school safe for all students,” she said. “We want them to collaboratively work together and solve problems. That’s something this country sorely needs and, hopefully, these kids are leading us, showing us the way.”
FREE CONFERENCE FOR HISPANIC PARENTS
A free educational conference will be held for Hispanic parents from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, at the Community Campus.
The keynote speaker will be Sam Byrd. The conference will cover things like how to use Skyward and answer questions about middle and high school.