Not
long after students left school in June for summer break, construction
workers arrived on campuses districtwide to begin making facility and
technology improvements that support student learning and enhance school
safety.
This
summer was particularly busy for schools following the successful
passage last February of two school district levy measures.
The
levies support projects such as improving aging school buildings,
updating classroom technology, enhancing school safety and security, and
making program changes such as the expansion of full-day kindergarten
this fall to all elementary schools districtwide.
Instructional and building improvements
Full-day kindergarten
Classrooms
have been modified in some schools and portable classroom buildings
added to others in support of the school board’s decision last spring to
expand full-day kindergarten to all elementary schools this fall.
Some portable classrooms have also been added at school sites to accommodate enrollment growth.
The
full-day kindergarten program, which provides enriched and expanded
learning opportunities, was offered last year at Firgrove, Spinning, and
Stewart elementary schools.
This fall, it replaces half-day programs at the district’s other 18 elementary schools.
At
several buildings, including Sunrise and Woodland elementary schools,
classes and programs have been moved to different areas of the school to
make room for full-day kindergarten programs.
Construction
work over the summer included moving desks and chairs, as well as
installing age-appropriate furniture in new kindergarten classrooms.
Late last month, for example, workers unpacked and installed wooden
kindergarten “cubbies” at Sunrise Elementary to hold young students’
jackets and backpacks.
Newly
purchased portable classrooms that have been located on some elementary
school campuses will most often be used to serve students in the
school’s upper grades and in specialty programs, said Director of
Capital Projects Gary Frentress.
Instructional technology
About $2.5 million is being invested this summer in instructional technology improvements.
One
of the most noticeable changes is at the elementary level, where every
classroom across the district that didn’t have interactive white board
technology when school let out in June will have it installed by the
time students return in September.
Interactive
white boards have been a proven instructional tool to enhance student
learning in this district, said Randy Averill, executive director of
technology services.
Classrooms
that already had interactive white boards (SmartBoards) but had
projectors on rolling carts will regain floor space with secure,
wall-mounted projectors. Nearly 200 of these projectors were installed
over summer.
Teaching
spaces that didn’t have the interactive technology (nearly 200 of them)
have had wall-mounted interactive projectors, which operate with basic
white boards, installed and ready for teaching and learning on the first
day of school. In some cases, white boards have been moved or replaced
with newer versions to accommodate the latest technology, Averill said.
Later this school year, interactive white board technology will begin to be expanded to junior high and high schools, he said.
Teachers
will also receive new laptop computers this summer and fall as part a
three-year laptop replacement program that launched last spring.
The
district will replace all 1,200 teacher laptops, representing the first
time in 10 years that new laptops have been distributed to teaching
staff.
The
goal, Averill said, will be to work into a replacement cycle so that
all teachers get new laptops every three years, with one-third replaced
annually. Used laptops will be repurposed for student use.
Other
technology work this summer includes replacing old computer network
wiring at Pope Elementary and upgrading the district’s backup system for
network storage to prevent information loss in the event of a system
failure.
Firgrove Elementary site improvements
Students and staff will immediately notice changes when they arrive back to school at Firgrove Elementary.
The
aging building received a fresh coat of paint inside and out, as well
as new carpeting throughout classrooms, the library, and support areas.
Some damaged floor and ceiling tiles, as well as double-paned windows where seals have failed, have also been replaced.
Additionally,
workers installed new student computer lab workstation surfaces, tack
boards in some hallway corridors to display student work or other
classroom materials, and fencing between the buildings to help prevent
students — especially those with special needs — from running toward the
heavily traveled Meridian Street.
Firgrove
Elementary parent Mike Macias, who is president of Macmor Inc.
Landscape and Irrigation in Puyallup, also volunteered to remove
overgrown shrubbery around the school. New landscaping will be planted
in its place, Frentress said.
The
$375,000 of school improvements are designed to bridge the gap in
support of student learning, at least for the next five to seven years,
until a new school can be built, said Chief Operations Officer Rudy
Fyles.
“We simply can’t wait anymore to make improvements on some of our older buildings like Firgrove,” Fyles said.
Safety improvements
Security cameras and keyless entries
Additional
security cameras and keyless door entries are being installed this
summer and fall in many of the district’s schools and support buildings.
Keyless
entries allow employees to swipe a card programmed to enter a building
from any door. They are also more efficient in school lockdowns, as all
doors can be locked simultaneously.
Basic
security camera systems are being added at elementary schools that did
not have the technology, while more comprehensive systems have been
added at some junior high and high schools to make them comparable with
other campuses districtwide.
Emergency response systems grant
The
additional security equipment, funded with 2014 school levy money, will
complement work that will be done over the next year to improve
emergency response systems.
The
district learned in May that it was awarded a $425,640 grant from the
state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to improve
school safety and police response times in the event of an emergency.
State
Sen. Bruce Dammeier, a former Puyallup School Board member who is vice
chair of the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee, was the
prime sponsor of Senate Bill 5197, which created the school safety
competitive grant program.
In
an opinion column he recently wrote for a local newspaper, Dammeier
said the legislation “recognized that coordination between local law
enforcement and school districts is essential.” He also wrote, “The
result is a great step forward toward improving student security for our
entire state, and especially Puyallup and all of Pierce County.”
Security
cameras, school intercoms, and keyless door systems throughout the
district will be integrated into a single computer software program that
will connect authorized school resource officers, emergency dispatch
personnel, and district staff to the latest emergency information.
This,
in turn, will speed up emergency response time by law enforcement and
provide more detailed information, such as live video camera feeds, once
officers arrive on scene.
Law
enforcement will also be able to hear activity and make announcements
over the building’s intercom systems, as well as control the locking and
unlocking of doors that are programmed with keyless entry.
“In
an emergency, time is of the essence,” said Puyallup Police Chief Bryan
Jeter. “Having real-time information will be a huge help.”
The
software program, which will be funded with the state grant, will
require detailed school site maps that accurately show room locations
and dimensions, as well as the location of video cameras.
In
preparation for the launch of this new technology, college interns
working this summer in the district’s Facilities department have been
updating maps for all of the district’s schools and support facilities.
The
maps will be more contextual than existing basic line drawings, which
will be converted into a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) format.
The maps will be interactive, much like Google maps, said Tom Shields,
construction management specialist and project manager for the emergency
response grant project.
In
an emergency, authorized viewers such as police dispatchers can zoom in
to get layers of detail and data for both indoor and outdoor areas,
Shields said. They can click a video camera icon, for instance, to get a
live feed of activity in that area.
The
maps will also provide the district with detailed information in
nonemergency situations for planning and instructional purposes, he
said.