Thursday, August 21, 2008

343 board tours new, remodeled facilities

Story by Carolyn Kaberline

Members of the USD 343 Board of Education got their first look at the new greenhouse and remodeled science facilities before their August meeting and seemed quite impressed with what they saw.

According to biology teacher Kelly Haggard, who explained the features of the greenhouse, the almost 700 square feet of table space will be used by K-12 students.

"It will primarily be used for the Botany and Greenhouse management classes for research and production growth," Haggard said, adding that an annual production sale held in the spring will be the culminating project of the classes.

While Haggard said that the exact plants to be offered for sale have not yet been decided, he thought that out of season tomatoes would be big sellers.

Haggard also noted that the grade school has already asked for table space in the greenhouse.

The greenhouse offers many state of the art features including automated climate and irrigation systems in the 30' x 48' structure; a large composting container is also located in the building. The greenhouse was constructed by Hummert International at a cost of $65,000, which was funded through capital outlay.

Two of the first things noticed about the new science classrooms on the south side of PLHS are the space and extra lighting.

"Plus there's lots of storage that we didn't have before," said chemistry instructor John Culvahouse.

The new chemistry room makes used of space formerly occupied by physical science and foreign language classrooms while the former chemistry room now houses an Earth/space science classroom. While the biology classroom occupies its former space, much updating has been done. The updating includes such things as additional lab stations and an enlarged demonstration area for teacher use.

While these classrooms are now in use, some work -- such as completion of an integrated audio-visual system and refinishing of desks -- is still occurring. The science classroom renovations cost approximately $560,000, which came from capital outlay. Kelley Construction was the general contractor for the renovations.

In addition to touring the new greenhouse and science classrooms, Board of Education members also viewed the changes in the new gym; these changes included realignment of the volleyball nets and refinishing of the floor. Changes in the outdoor sports areas, including new sod on the football field, were also viewed as part of the tour.