Features » Education

Subscribe

Calhoun County schools see upgrades after bond approval

Wing built to accommodate rise in number of enrolled students

  • Print
  • •
  • •
  • Post a Comment
  • •
  • Favorite
  • •
  • Report an error Report error
    • Thank you for your submission.
      Error report or correction
      Contact name (optional) Contact phone/e-mail (optional)  
      Sending report
    • Close
  • •
  • Tara Bozick •
  • Originally published November 30, 2008 at 11:08 p.m., updated November 30, 2008 at 11:08 p.m.

PORT LAVACA - The ninth-grade English teacher doesn't miss hauling materials around, as she did back when teachers shared classrooms.

John Herren, a retired head basketball coach from Port Lavaca, keeps his new classroom, replete with marker boards and a flat-screen TV, tidy. He spent the last 12 years looking at a huge mural on the back wall of his old classroom at Calhoun High School.

"I love it," he said, looking around. "Everything is new. I'm extremely happy."

The new freshman, 22,752-square-foot academic wing was finished in August, Superintendent Larry Nichols said. The $4.488 million high school project also included a 13,203-square-foot weight room.

The renovation of Jackson-Roosevelt Elementary School coincided with the high school construction, but that $17 million project will continue for another year, he said.

"Between the two of these, this is the largest public works in Calhoun County in a long time," Nichols said. "We're proud of the projects."

Residents voted on the bonds for the project in 2007 with an almost 90 percent approval.

The high school has grown from more than 900 students to about 1,300 in the last eight years, Nichols said. The academic building comprises 14 classrooms, a computer lab and two biology labs.

With new state initiatives requiring four years of science, the labs were built to increase access. The flat-screen televisions broadcast announcements, show documentaries or can hook up to the teacher's computer to show Power Point presentations.

The new weight room contains a 2,000-square-foot training area that serves 1,000 athletes from the entire district, said Frank Parker, head athletic trainer. That increased from 700 square feet in the old weight room.

Sixteen new units of weight training equipment, with squat rack and bench, face a mirrored wall in the new room. An area lined with turf serves for agility exercises. The old weight room couldn't handle the loads of people before and after school started.

Mario Valdera, a 16-year-old basketball player, let his ankle soak in the new whirlpool hot tub in the training area. He plans to use the new weight machines in the off-season. As for the new academic building, he wishes that he would have had that luxury as a freshman.

Like the high school, Jackson-Roosevelt didn't have enough room to hold all of its 900 students, Nichols said, adding that's twice the size of most elementary schools.

He pointed to 17 portable buildings behind the main buildings, calling it a "portable city." Some of the portables were set up to keep the school in operation during construction.

The kindergarten, first- and second-grade wings, containing 30 classrooms, will open in January as construction exits phase one. The next phase will complete the other grades' wings while the third phase will demolish the buildings too old to renovate.

The district had the option of gutting and renovating the 1950s buildings for $13 million or building new for $17 million, Nichols said.

The renovation will include creating another drop-off area for students, instead of relying solely on Jackson Street.


Sign Up
CLOSE

  • Print
  • •
  • •
  • Post a Comment
  • •
  • Favorite
  • •
  • Report an error Report error
    • Thank you for your submission.
      Error report or correction
      Contact name (optional) Contact phone/e-mail (optional)  
      Sending report
    • Close
  • •