By: Kyle Schmidt - PHS Secondary Principal
This year has had many discussions about facilities and the future of Plainview Public Schools.
It is without question that it is time for an update to the facilities. The last major improvement occurred in the early 1990s with the addition to the north side of the elementary school. However, the most recent bond levy utilized by the district dates back to 1977, when the west high school classrooms and the Pirate Gym were constructed.
That places us 49 years removed from the last major school renovation.
All things considered, it is astonishing to think that there has not been a major renovation in the last half-century. Businesses and corporations make updates and modifications much more frequently to keep up to date and stay current with the needs of communities and their customers. Our school system is no different.
Education has changed significantly over the past five decades, and the needs of students and demands of state regulations have also drastically increased.
These changes and demands have shaped the current needs of our district. We now have an opportunity to address those needs and set our students, staff, and community up for the foreseeable future.
In the coming weeks, I will be sharing several entries in the paper to highlight specific needs and explain their importance. I do not want to attempt to cover everything at once. That would lead to something important getting left out or more missed opportunities to engage the public. As always, community members are welcome to visit the school and engage in conversations about our facilities and needs at any time. My door is open.
This article focuses on the most frequently discussed topics regarding the school’s facilities: the gym, locker rooms, and fitness area.
These facilities are not used solely for athletic practice and competition. During the school day, the gym serves as an instructional space, functioning as both a classroom and a weight room. Nebraska Department of Education Rule 10, which all accredited schools must follow, requires districts to provide physical education and health instruction to all students in grades PK–12.
Within our current schedule, students receive 33.5 hours of instructional time per week. Teacher contract time is 40 hours, but with lunch, professional development, before and after school report times, there are 33.5 educational hours in total that we have in front of our students.
However, during a week, we offer 48.5 hours of physical education to our students. As a result, the gym and the weight room are in constant use, and there are 15 hours where time overlaps. We make do with the facilities that we have and use some inventive maneuvering to manage the overlapping time. But this is when everything is going as scheduled without any interruptions or changes regarding the use of the weight room and gym.
We have indoor recess, music rehearsals, concerts, blood drives, programs, etc., that often take place in these places. This situation is comparable to two math classes being scheduled in the same room at the same time, or a math class being displaced because the room is needed for another purpose. The gym and fitness areas are instructional classrooms and should be treated that way.
From a safety point of view, it is also imperative that we add shelter space.
Currently, we have 150 students (not including staff) in the 7-12 building that we have to get to safety in the event of a natural disaster. The only available spaces that we have are the two locker rooms under the stage. These two rooms are 25 feet x 20 feet in size, with lockers in the room as well. These spaces are not large enough to safely accommodate all students and staff in an emergency.
Adding new locker rooms as part of a gym addition would provide much-needed storm shelter space in addition to the locker rooms under the stage. In addition, when we host events, we only have two locker rooms for visiting teams. That means when we host multiple events on one day (which happens quite often), we are rotating locker rooms and even going without locker rooms for teams. This is not a great experience for our visitors.
Furthermore, new locker room space would benefit our district by allowing us to separate our junior high students from sharing a locker room with high school students. There is a big maturity gap between junior high and high school kids, so being able to separate those two age groups in a space that cannot be fully under surveillance would be a benefit.
Much of the conversation focuses on the gym itself. Outside of the educational day, the gym is the most visible and utilized space in the district. It is used by our youth and our community. We host a variety of events that bring people and financial support into our school and into our community. Some view the gym as athletics only and question the need for another gym when we host 5-10 volleyball games and 10-15 basketball games. We have two gyms to accommodate those needs. The Tartan Auditorium is more suited and utilized for performing arts: one-acts, music, band, dance, etc. The stage is located in the Tartan, but numerous updates need to be made to the stage, lights, and sound to adequately meet the needs of the performing arts.
As for using the Tartan for athletics, the floor is not regulation size for basketball, the ceiling is too short for volleyball, and only two mats can be adequately used for wrestling. Due to these shortcomings, we only have one functionally usable gym to host events.
In addition, we only have one full gym with a part of a gym for high school, junior high, and youth practices and the need overwhelms available space. For example, during a typical week of the winter sports season, we average 38 hours of practice for girls basketball, junior, and elementary. This is practice only.
We also have 41 competition home events between the fall and winter on the calendar. These are simply the DATES of the competitions. On these 41 dates, 110 games/competitions take place in volleyball, basketball, and wrestling. That is a lot of usage for the Pirate gym.
In closing, the gym is the only area of the school that is used consistently year round, both during the day and outside of school hours. General classrooms are utilized 179 student days and 185 teacher contract days a year. In contrast, gym facilities operate year-round, making them the district’s highest return investment.
Stakeholders surveys showed that academic space is the top priority, it is important to emphasize that the gym is an academic space for all of our PK-12 students for 48.5 hours a week, 179 days a year.
Not only is this space needed for education, but it is also desperately needed for all of our activities and community. We all know that this is a large investment, but it is also a major piece to solidifying Plainview Public Schools longevity and future.