The Garden City Telegram
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Group identifies building needs
Published 5/22/2008 in News : Area coverage
By EMILY BEHLMANN
ebehlmann@gctelegram.com
HUGOTON -- The areas of Hugoton's middle school and high school that the public typically sees -- the front of the buildings, the gym and the auditorium -- are in good shape, say members of a community Facility Visioning Committee that has been meeting in the school district for the past several months.
But take a walk down the middle school's east academic wing, or into the weight room and wrestling facility, and needs start to arise, committee members and school district staff told architects on Wednesday. Among them are more space for students, more room for storage and a building free from leaks, they said.
The USD 210 Board of Education recently voted to move forward with a bond issue on the Nov. 4 ballot to fund a new or renovated east wing to Hugoton Middle School, an Early Childhood Development Center and improvements to athletic facilities, according to Superintendent Mark Crawford.
The issue's price tag can't be determined until architects develop building plans -- a process that got its start with a day full of meetings Wednesday with a visit by representatives from the two architectural firms the board hired. Ashley Fiss represented Fiss Architecture and Design, Hugoton, and Kenton Cox and Shannon Bohm represented Shaefer, Johnson, Cox and Fry, Wichita.
Architects met with groups that included teachers, office staff, athletic employees, kitchen and custodial staff, and the Facility Visioning Committee to do what Cox called a "needs assessment."
"It's like baking a pie," he said. "You have to figure out what your ingredients are before you start putting it together."
What is needed?
FREE FROM LEAKS: A comment from social studies teacher Brent Mahan that he'd like a classroom with dry floors brought chuckles from others at the meeting, but Mahan said he wasn't joking about the leak problem in the middle school's east wing. Teachers can't put computers by the windows or they'll be damaged in a rain, and Mahan has had plenty of papers get wet during a storm, he said.
Addressing the Hugoton Middle School facility, built in 1961, was the No. 1 priority of the Facilities Visioning Committee, according to Doug Martin, co-chairman of the group.
The wing has cracked aluminum siding that allows water, plus dust and wind, to enter the building, Crawford said. Maintenance workers caulk the cracks every year, but the building shifts, so cracks reappear, he said.
The buildup of water leads to mold, which has prompted district staff to rip off sections of carpet in the classrooms that have been wet time and again, he said.
The lack of insulation also makes the middle school energy inefficient, he said.
SPACE NEEDS: Core subject teachers at the middle school told architects their rooms lack sufficient room for storage.
In addition, the district is trying to brace for a possible increase in enrollment that could come as a result of the Abengoa Bioenergy plant expected to build in town. Cox said that although USD 210 expects to have between 155 to 160 students at its middle school next year, he's been advised to prepare plans for a school with 100 per grade in seventh and eighth grades.
That would mean more classrooms. Cox said he expects plans to include two "floating classrooms" that could be used as needed, plus possible new spaces for health, English as a Second Language, an at-risk program and special education. High school teachers also indicated there might be need for more classrooms in the future, he said.
Another area that needs to accommodate growth is the cafeteria, which is shared between the middle school and high school, staff members said. Bohm said she heard from food service employees that because USD 210 decided to stop open lunch for freshmen and sophomores next year, the goal would be for a cafeteria that accommodates about 300. The cafeteria now has seating for 150.
The closed lunch also necessitates more kitchen space, and the kitchen is due for an upgrade anyway, she said.
MORE NEEDS: Further needs were raised in the area of athletics. Martin recently told the school board that while the most visible facilities, like the football stadium and softball fields, are in good shape, the weight room, locker rooms and wrestling areas are in poor condition.
Mahan, the high school wrestling coach, said that the weight room is much too small, so students from there overflow into his adjacent wrestling facility.
Crawford said the district is considering a new weight room/wrestling facility that would be designed to use as a storm shelter. A Federal Emergency Management Agency program provides financial assistance to schools that erect storm shelters, according to Cox.
The committee also recommended construction of an early childhood center. The group said the current center, housed at Hugoton Elementary School, is short on space and could become more so if the state goes through with measures under discussion that would mandate full-day kindergarten.
What's next?
Cox said the architects will develop a more detailed list of needs based on Wednesday's meetings, to include information like dimensions of classrooms. That information will be presented to district staff and citizens June 6, and if approved, it will be the basis for building plans.
The architects also will work on a potential timeline for construction that would allow the work do be done without bringing classes to a halt, he said.
Will it pass?
Even as plans are developed, members of the staff and the facility committee expressed uncertainty about whether Hugoton residents would support the bond issue in November.
Stephanie Heger, a USD 210 parent and member of the Facilities Visioning Committee, said she doesn't think a lot of people realize that areas like the middle school's east wing have "deteriorated terribly." All they usually see are spaces more commonly used by the public, like the auditorium.
Then there are those who never enter the school at all, and who don't have children in the system, Mahan said. To them, "the school is just a building they pass by."
Committee members discussed the idea of holding open houses to show members of the public the reasons they are proposing a bond issue.
"It's definitely needed," Heger said. "I hope we can get that message across."
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