My Plan

[Eldon McFarling]

Just a note here, the drawings I have posted are my own doodlings I use while brainstorming. If you can't understand what I was thinking contact me and I'll try to explain it better

I spent lots of time looking over the 2007 proposed plan. I spent many hours looking at the various options presented. I stared at the aerial photo for days. I walked all around the buildings, especially the junior high buildings. I spent lots of time on the phone with a few teachers, principals and parents. I spent some time with Curtis Johnson with DLR. There are some goals I have in mind for improvements that will become the foundation for a functional, efficient facility that will last our district for many years. I am going to put the highlights here and discuss the rationale for my recommendations with more detail in my blog. When I spoke to both elementary principals I found out the recent growth in the district has our elementary buildings at capacity. This creates a need for more space. The most logical solution is to move the 6th grade from Valparaiso to the high school site. The 6,7,8 middle school concept was studied as a part of a elementary bond issue about 15 years ago. I was one of the panel that participated along with Dr.Gould and several board members. Everyone liked the concept, however the bond issue failed and without some additional space at the high school the 6th grade had to remain in Val. Now we have the opportunity to include moving the 6th grade as a part of our improvements. This will give our students more educational opportunities, free up needed space at the elementary buildings, and make the transportation, athletics, and parent interaction more efficient. It's a win, WIN, WIN situation for everyone and is number one on my list. Next I looked at ways to make the traffic flow, and access to classrooms, restrooms, lunch room, Gym, football field, etc work better. It is a real challenge with multiple buildings, stairways, different levels, lack of restrooms and the like. The speech and music teachers get quite a workout hiking to lunch and going to the restroom. the real problem that I could not solve was the different levels between the original military buildings and the high school. [edit] just to clarify what I meant here, there is not a simple way that I can think of to 1 eliminate the stairs and 2 connect the entrance at the linkway to the entrance north of the Mustang room [\edit] the south building with offices is in poor condition and does not function well. The kitchen is not usable. The classroom wing is mediocre at best needing major remodeling and upgrading to remain functional, however the curse of the stairs would remain and the access and functionality would not be acceptable for continued use. Number 2 is the junior high wing will need to go away. The weight / wrestling building is poor condition and non functional so it also needs to go. the admin building could remain if necessary and can be used for sped and alt ed as well as administration. After removing the old buildings I used a modular approach to the layout locating the most used areas near the entrance/ commons area for good access. A major improvement needs to be a performance / flexible use area. I like the functionality of a lecture hall type room with a capacity of around 300 seats with room to add another 200 on the floor when needed.

good acoustics, and good visibility with tiered seating would make the room extremely useful for everything from music performances, plays and speech to teachers and board meetings. The location would be west of the mustang room and business classroom. This is number 3 and forms the main hub of the complex with excellent access to the gym and main entrance. Next I placed classrooms near the performance hall for speech / Drama and Band/ music. the kitchen / serving area is in the commons / cafeteria area close to the entrance and ta da REST ROOMS! The middle school class room wing would be located similar to the existing building with a competition gym, wrestling and weightlifting located on the north end with excellent access to the football field, track and event parking. Here is a rough sketch of the layout. Click on image for a larger view.

The final phase of the plan will be remodeling the senior high, reassigning some rooms, adding restrooms on the northeast side, replacing the paint booth, additional space for DI, AG, IT, etc.