By Tracy Ouellette
SLN Staff
The East Troy Community School District Board of Education approved a change order for an “outdoor classroom” between Little Prairie Primary and Prairie View Elementary schools as part of the referendum building project at the Feb. 13 meeting.
The idea was presented to the board by Doubek Principal Lindsey Harris and Prairie View Principal Mark Weerts, who said the idea of an outdoor classroom was something that was discussed in the early stages of the referendum planning, but set aside for a while.
The plan, which will cost about $116,000, creates an outdoor classroom between the schools and includes sidewalks, a central stage area, concrete seating for about 100 students and additional plantings.
Harris said because the location is central to both the elementary schools and within walking distance from the middle school and high school, it could be utilized by all the students in the district. She also pointed out it would make a nice community-space addition to East Troy.
The board members in attendance, Ted Zess, Dawn Buchholtz and Martha Bresler, expressed enthusiasm for the project and approved it unanimously.
“I think this makes it a beautiful campus,” Bresler said with Zess and Buchholtz answering, “It does”
Board members Steve Lambrechts and Sue Frohling were excused from the meeting.
Welding stations kept at six
The board discussed the number of welding stations at the high school again.
The issue was brought back at the board’s request after long discussions last year about upping the number of stations to 12. The board wanted to give it some time to see if the six stations would be enough before spending the money to add additional stations.
High school co-principal Kevin Kitslaar told the board that the metals teacher had been keeping the students on a rotating schedule so there weren’t students waiting to use the welders and that when he visited the classroom he hadn’t seen students waiting in line to use the welders.
Kitslaar said the high school has about 30 kids in metals, split into two sections; and 24 kids in advanced metals, also in two sections, on average. He said the six stations were working at the moment.
Bresler asked how metals/shop teacher Jack Hart felt about only having six stations.
Kitslaar said Hart would prefer to have the additional stations so the students wouldn’t have to wait to have welding time, but was working things out by staggering projects.
“His concern is if he doesn’t get the booths now, he’ll never get them,” District Administrator Chris Hibner said. “Our recommendation is not to invest in this at this time and to continue to look at it and if the need presents itself in the future, we address it.”
The issue with adding more welding booths is not just the cost of the booths themselves, which would be about $75,000, but the cost of revamping the ventilation system to handle the additional welding stations, which Buildings and Grounds Director Bob Ellis said was the bigger issue and he cautioned the board about the HVAC work that needed to be done for the added stations.
“I don’t want anyone to believe we have everything there to increase the welding at anytime,” Ellis said.
