The Garden City Telegram
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More spacious Abe Hubert in the plan
Published 9/6/2008 in News : Education
Editor's note: This is the third in a five-part series examining the projects USD 457 would carry out if a $97.5 million bond issue was passed.
By EMILY BEHLMANN
ebehlmann@gctelegram.com
Greater security and more space for features like a writing lab are among the things Abe Hubert Middle School stands to gain by moving into the main building of Garden City High School, according to Abe Hubert Principal Gerald Neumann.
The move is part of a long-range facility plan approved by the USD 457 Board of Education that would be carried out if voters approve a $97.5 million bond issue in November.
Making the current high school building fit the needs of Abe Hubert students and staff would require a few alterations -- at an estimated total cost of $267,500, including architects' fees -- but the bulk of bond issue funds would be spent elsewhere.
The board's plan calls for construction of a new 2,000-student high school, with room to grow, at an estimated cost of $92.5 million. Abe Hubert would move into the vacated high school building, the former middle school would be converted into an elementary school and Garfield Elementary School would be expanded to house USD 457 and Head Start early childhood programs. In addition, J.D. Adams Hall, which sits on the GCHS campus, would be used for programs including the New Outlook Academy alternative high school.
Middle school move-in
According to architects' plans, preparing the GCHS building to become a middle school would require an upgrade of existing science rooms and remodeling the GCHS counselor suites into classroom space, since Abe Hubert would have a smaller administrative and counseling staff that could fit in the high school's main office.
The purpose of the science upgrade would mostly be to make the labs appropriate for middle school classes, Superintendent Rick Atha said.
Shelli Lalicker, a GCHS science teacher, said making them middle-school appropriate would require a lot less work than making the labs ideal for high school classes.
Several of the GCHS labs are lacking much of the equipment -- like electrical outlets and running water -- that should be available throughout the room for participatory labs, she said. At the middle school level, however, teachers are more likely to do demonstrations at the front of the room, so less equipment would be needed, she said.
The science lab work primarily would involve relocating items like plumbing and cabinetry, said architect Stuart Nelson, of the Garden City firm Gibson, Mancini, Carmichael & Nelson.
Reconverting the counselors' offices into classrooms, as they used to be several years ago, would require moving some walls, Nelson said. However, he said, the sheet-rock-and-metal-stud walls don't bear any of the building's load, so they are relatively simple to move.
Sizing up
The larger high school building, with classrooms that formerly served as counselors' offices, would give Abe Hubert Middle School enough room to keep all of its classes but music in one building, add a computer lab and expand its enrollment, Neumann said. Music classes likely would be housed in the separate building that is now used for GCHS band, orchestra and vocal classes.
Atha said the plan would be to change school boundaries so that 100 to 200 additional students would end up attending Abe Hubert instead of Kenneth Henderson Middle School. Currently, about 500 attend Abe Hubert, while Kenneth Henderson has closer to 600 students.
A shift in the student body would eliminate the need for the eight mobile classrooms that sit outside Kenneth Henderson, Atha said.
With the larger student body, Abe Hubert also would no longer need the mobile classrooms at its current facility. Currently, students leave the main school building to attend class in three trailers, each containing two rooms.
"Students go in and out, and that's a concern if there's bad weather, and for security," Neumann said.
Moving the high school students into a new building, reducing the number of the students in the current high school, also would allow the current high school building to do away with its 11 mobile classrooms.
Even with all students in one building, Abe Hubert would have enough space in its new home for a computer lab that would be used solely by core subject classes, he said. Teachers would take their students there for tasks like writing papers or conducting research -- something they often can't do now because of a lack of rooms. The current middle school has computer and technology labs, but they're used mainly for elective classes, Neumann said.
Getting used to it
Though Neumann said he sees mostly positive things coming out of a proposed move to the GCHS building, he said he's heard mixed opinions from his staff.
"They see the advantage of extra space for students, but the high school -- it's a big building," he said. "They would have to get accustomed to that."
The building, though, isn't much bigger in terms of classroom space, Atha said. The biggest size difference comes with features GCHS has that Abe Hubert lacks, like a 1,188-seat auditorium, a second gymnasium, a wrestling room and a weight room, he said.
Administrators at GCHS have said the high school, including additions like J.D. Adams Hall and the music building, would comfortably house about 1,500 people, although its current enrollment is about 1,900.
That means that if a middle school with an enrollment of 600 to 700 were to move into the main building, it would have room to grow, Atha said.
"The plan is there to make the conversion into what would be a very workable middle school facility," Neumann said.
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