Carey considers $5.5 million school renovation
Consensus appears to develop on what Carey students need
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
Recognizing the importance of south-county involvement in any countywide
bond initiative, about 75 educators, parents and students met at the Carey School on
Monday night to discuss plans for improving district facilities and to look at how Carey
fits in with those plans.
"We want to make sure Carey realizes we’re cognizant of their
needs," district Superintendent Jim Lewis said during an interview before the
meeting.
With the district working on a $40 million facilities initiative for which
the district might soon be asking taxpayers for money, Lewis said he is particularly
concerned with getting as much public input as possible.
For the most part, people in Carey agreed with Lewis on what the Carey
School’s needs are.
The 251-student facility has five or six "suitability" issues,
to use Lewis’ word.
Most importantly, perhaps, teachers say facilities for high school
students in the K-12 school are inadequate.
With it’s impractical pie-shaped classrooms—a 1970s design that
Lewis calls "feel good" architecture—teachers and students have a difficult
time conducting science classes that are appropriate to high school students.
Similarly, Carey School principal Joni Cordell said the school’s
too-small library does not measure up to the needs of high school students.
Other problems include collapsible walls that allow noise to travel
between classrooms, a general lack of space, an outdated kitchen and a music room that is
too small.
Lewis presented plans to remedy these problems in a series of drawings and
a brief talk.
Given the fact that most of the school’s facilities problems involve
high school students, the $5.5 million Carey School renovation project would be dominated
by a new high school wing.
Plans for the wing include a media center, two science labs and new
regular classrooms.
Also, the school would get a technical academy that focuses on giving
students real-world experience in residential construction.
"It was a great meeting," Cordell said during a telephone
conversation on Tuesday.
Cordell was encouraged by the meeting’s high turn-out and the overall
positive responses.
"There wasn’t anyone who said they couldn’t support the
plan," she said.
When the meeting was over, Cordell explained, educators, parents and
students "really had fun" looking at the drawings and discussing possibilities.
That was evidence for Cordell that they were accepting the ideas.
"You could tell," she said, "they could see it in their
mind’s eye."
