The 'Eagle Times' Student Newspaper: News

School opens bids for construction next week

Bond issues preparing for launch

By Jerod Barker

November 09, 2007

The Silver Lake bond issue for $7.9 million was passed in April to solve some of the problems concerning lack of space, security, and accessibility in all three school buildings.

Bids for construction costs are scheduled to open next Tuesday, Nov. 13, after which dates will be finalized and plans will be set in motion.

One major change is the transfer of the kindergarten and preschool students to the elementary building. Ronda Pegram, elementary school principal, commented on her expectations of the project's results.

"I think this will definitely help the preschool kids because they won't have to cross the street every day," Pegram said. "It will also help a lot with classroom space."

These students will then be taught in five of the 10 new classrooms being built with bond issue money.

Preschool teacher Beth Lindstrom found the change would also help the school develop new programs to keep up with advancing curriculum.

"The expansion and renovations at the elementary building are necessary and overdue," Lindstrom said. "With advanced curriculum changes in recent years at the primary level, it is necessary to provide more spaces and larger rooms to accommodate an all-day kindergarten here in Silver Lake."

Having more space will also allow the district to take in more students who might not have otherwise been accepted.

Sophomore Shelby Brokaw thought the new classrooms were a very important change that would especially benefit those with younger siblings.

"As a sister of a 5-year-old, I've noticed the importance of expanding the classrooms in the grade school for preschool students that the district is currently unable to accept," Brokaw said.

The other five classrooms will be primarily for the first and second-grade students once construction is finished next August.

The district will also use the funds to renovate the cooling and heating system installed 38 years ago at the grade school, as well as adding a second gym and reorganizing the office. The old gym will still be used as a lunchroom, but the district decided to add a new gym so that physical education classes could be held all day without interfering with the lunch schedule.

Also, being a full, competitive-sized gym, the new facility will provide space for community use and high school practices after school hours. According to Dr. Randy Freeman, superintendent, the gym is scheduled to be ready for use by mid-September.

The changes scheduled for the grade school office are mainly for security purposes. With the way the office is set up now, visitors can often come in the building and roam freely and secretaries or other personnel might not even know they are there.

However, with the new system, the secretaries will know who enters and leaves the building and will have the opportunity to help them get where they need to be.

In addition to the elementary school, the high school building also suffers from a lack of space.

"Right now we're struggling because there aren't enough classrooms , and this bond issue is going to be able to afford us those classrooms, which I think in the long run will be great for kids," Winter explained. "Being able to upgrade the shop is important, along with the 'special needs' classrooms."

With the funds from the bond issue, the shop building will nearly double in size. The district will also furnish the main building with a much larger multimedia center after converting the current library into four "special needs" classrooms.

Another problem the issue is meant to resolve is teachers lacking classrooms of their own, and many students as well as the faculty are anxious for the results to reveal themselves.

"I'd like to see the project get underway immediately," Brokaw stated. "As a student, I'm aware of the teachers that have to share a classroom or don't have one at all."

According to teachers, administrators, and students, the bond issue has obviously been a long time coming and those involved wait in anticipation for the construction to begin.

With bids opening in November and construction on the grade school set for the beginning of December, they won't have to wait much longer for the upgrade.