From closets to classrooms

JACKSON, Mo.

Between classes Patti Miinch quickly maneuvers her traveling teacher cart through the crowded halls at R. O. Hawkins Junior High School, trying not to bump into any students or get stuck in a corner.

The daily ritual of toting her laptop computer, pens and pencils, 30 reading books for her students and other classroom supplies from one room to the next began two years ago when the school ran out of empty classrooms.

But all of that will change next fall when she, and five other transient teachers, finally get their own classrooms.

A $6.2 million renovation project, including 22 new classrooms, additional kitchen space and a new gym, is 35 percent complete, and at least the classrooms and kitchen are expected to be finished by the time school opens in the fall.

If the gym isn't done by then, it should be close, principal Dennis Parham said.

Miinch, who teaches English, can't wait to have her own room.

"The biggest difference will be for the students," she said. "I'll be able to let the students showcase their talents."

Moving up enrollment

Parham said the school currently has 34 rooms they call classrooms, although some are large closets converted into classrooms to accommodate for a jump in enrollment. Between 1995 and 2000, district enrollment grew by 3 percent annually. The school now has 800 students in a 600-student facility.

"We've been cramped for awhile now," Parham said. "There are some hours when we have no classrooms empty."

Jackson superintendent Ron Anderson said he doesn't see a break in the growth trend any time soon.

"For all practical purposes we are full across the district," Anderson said. "We would do some bouncing from school to school if we could, but we don't have the space."

In the fall, five classes currently taught in the basement will be moved upstairs and a total of nine teachers will be reassigned to new rooms.

The additional classrooms connect to the existing building on the north and west side and include an area for new administrative offices, a conference room and an office for the school nurse.

Eighth-grader Jacob Baugher says the new wing is going to help a lot to ease the congested halls.

"With the population of the kids growing and growing it will help to separate them by having more classrooms available," Baugher said. "The halls are bad right now."

The additional kitchen space, which will be used for storage and lunch lines, is located at the rear of the existing kitchen, and the new gymnasium is connected at the side of the school closest to Highway 34.

Minding time

School officials broke ground for the project in September. Since then construction crews have only missed a handful of days due to foul weather.

"It's been good construction weather," Anderson said. "We've lost only two or three days since Christmas."

Even though the majority of the construction takes place during school hours, school officials and students say it hasn't been much of an inconvenience.

"Sometimes I can hear hammering or drilling going on, but it's not ongoing and it doesn't really bother me," said eighth-grader Kayla Fitzgerald.

Ninth-grader Brianna Seabaugh said she's hardly notices any construction noise.

"In one class I can hear a little bit of noise," she said, "but it's nothing too distracting."

Anderson said the project, even though only 35 percent complete, is running on schedule. The district's original timeline estimated it would take between 18 and 24 months to complete.

But that was the hard part.

From 1984 to 2000 Jackson voters passed six of seven funding proposals by the board of education. The only measure to fail during that period was a 35-cent tax increase in 1992.

When the board put two issues on an April 2000 ballot, Anderson said he hoped voters would vote for the schools like they had done in the past.

He quickly learned history wasn't on the district's side when the measure failed. In August the board tried again, but the proposal was defeated one more time.

Finally, in November 2000, voters passed the measure.

Anderson said the students and staff are getting excited that the end of the project is near.

"The eighth-graders are really excited because they're finally going to have an opportunity to carry on education activities," Anderson said.

hkronmueller@semissourian.com

335-6611 extension 128