How old is your school building?

[SLP]

The district in which I live is having a special community vote on whether to build a new high school or renovate the old one.
I'm interested...
How old is the public school building in which you teach?
Is there air conditioning?
Are there fans?
Do your windows open and close? Are there blinds?
Does the heat work?
Do you have special meeting rooms for IEPs & other confidential meetings?
Is the band/orchestra room large enough to fit the entire band/orchestra?
Can the students fit their coats, backpacks, & all their books in their lockers? If not, where do they put them?
About how many people can be seated in your high school gym?
Do you have a pool? How old is it? Is it heated?
Anything else you want to share?

Feel free to answer any and all questions.

[dolmansaxlil]

I teach in a K-8 building, but I'm answering anyways. :P

Hmmm...I honestly don't know how old the building is. I know that it has an original building and then two wings that were added on later my guess is that my wing was added on in the 1970s, judging by the horrid colour scheme of the flooring!

There is no air conditioning, and no ceiling fans (floor fans are brought in for summer months. The windows open and we have curtains (really really old ugly curtains!) The heat works, but is more effective in some parts of the building than others.

We have a half sized classroom that doubles as a space for our half time rotary French teacher (she comes to the rooms to teach, so it's just her desk and "stuff"). She's rarely there, so it's used as a meeting room, professional library, and the testing/therapy room for when our paras are in the building. We also have another room that until last year was "the Braille room" (we had a blind student who has since graduated). This room is a combination of an office for the Child and Youth Worker and a storage room for junior/intermediate stuff. The school is FULL.

We don't have a band/orchestra, so N/A.

Coats, backpacks, etc, all fit in the lockers for our grade 6/7/8 students. Grade 5 down have hooks that they hang their stuff on in the classroom.

[javamomma]

My building is 20 years old. I have an interior room with no windows. They will open if you have one. I have my own independent air conditioner/heat for my room. I have a ceiling fan as well. Carpet on the floor that was replaced in the last 5 years.
Our elementary school does not have lockers, but the upper grades were taken out after the Columbine incedent. The students are assigned a set of books to keep at home and the teacher has a set in the room.
We have every possible spot used for classes so no extra meeting rooms. Hopefully that is being addressed by next school year.

[anyalee]

My school building is older than I am. This is my first year, and this building was opened in 1978- I was born in 1979. It is really weird to hear teachers here talking about when they moved over to the "new" building.

[SLP]

When I was in High School, there was a section of the building that we all called "The New Wing"....it had been built 15 years prior to when I attended! It was definitely newer than the rest of the school...maybe we should have called it "The Not Really Old Wing.!

[fireboat]

My school is a K-4 building built in the 70s. I love the way is was designed-- wide hallways, relatively big classrooms with sinks, and best of all-- lockers for the kids! The lockers are so much better than little hooks in the hallway. On the downside, we have no air conditioning and the heating system cannot maintain a constant temperature from day to day.

On another note-- I love architecture. When I was a kid I used to wish I could go to one of those giant, grand schools that were build a hundred years ago. I love all the stone architectural detail that those old building have. Is anyone fortunate enough to teach in one of those?

- Tim

[Ranchogirl]

How old is the public school building in which you teach? The school itself was built in the 50's but my building is only 2 years old.
Is there air conditioning? Yes, but it's controlled by the district office and it shuts off at 3:30 every day. Nothing like enouragement to get out the door and go home every afternoon...
Are there fans? No
Do your windows open and close? Are there blinds? Yes and yes
Does the heat work? Again - controlled by the district.
Do you have special meeting rooms for IEPs & other confidential meetings? Not in this building, but elsewhere in the school
Is the band/orchestra room large enough to fit the entire band/orchestra? N/A - elementary
Can the students fit their coats, backpacks, & all their books in their lockers? If not, where do they put them? N/A - elementary, but I do have two TINY coat closets that could not fit all of my kids coats and backpacks. Many (most) keep them at their seat.
About how many people can be seated in your high school gym? N/A - elementary
Do you have a pool? How old is it? Is it heated? N/A - elementary
Anything else you want to share? My classroom is nice but it's small. I have 36 students and there is barely enough room to talk around the desks, which are large. It was a bad design choice. I do want to share that I have my own private attached workroom, and that's super cool. :)

[Fransisca]

The school building is quite new. Some parts are still under construction. I'm teaching in a very new school-2 years old, and in a very new building-1 year old.
All rooms are air conditioned.
The windows are closed with no blinds. Sometimes I find this to be disturbing for the helpers keep cleaning the windows, creating stimulus bounds.
The school's gym and pool are still under construction.
Yes, we have special rooms for meetings, in the administration building.
Our cafe has a permanent stage for band performances-a small one.
The lockers are very small, so they hang their backpacks on hooks besides their tables.
We need no heater because we live in a tropical country.

Yet, the construction is quite poor, so we have experienced several leaks during the rainy season.

[Lceoff]

The school I taught in was built in the early 60's. I attended the school in the late 60's and my daughter will attend it in two years. Originally it did not have air conditioning, but it was added in the early 90's. Each room has four "push out" windows. (I think the school was originally designed for air conditioning.) That made it really tough when we relied on box fans to cool the classrooms. The classrooms have their own sink and restroom. There are hooks in the classroom for coats and backpacks, but no lockers. The floors were originally cement, but carpet was added in the 80's. It does not have a gym. In inclement weather the cafeteria has to be used for P.E. activities.

The building originally had a flat roof. This created a problem with standing water on the roof. Because of this, the building has had lots of leaks over the years. It has also created many problems for the students and teachers with mold and mildew.

[leelondon]

The main building was built just before WW2 and was made to accommodate for a range of different services such as being a hospital,shelter and base camp for the army.

The other building was built in the mid 1980's and is absolutely horrible!!!

[fireboat]

>The district in which I live is having a special
> community vote on whether to build a new high school or
> renovate the old one.

Cool! Can I vote? Probably not, but here's my opinion anyway:

I hate to see the school buildings that are architectural gems get closed down. You know-- the big, brick ones with ornate details..... the ones built in the early 1900s.

But if you have a 1950s-70s building-- why not just build a new one with up-to-date facilities. Almost all school buildings built since the 50s are ugly. :)

> How old is the public school building in which you teach?

It was built in 1972, I think. 70-something. I should look at the little cornerstone behind the overgrown bush.

> Is there air conditioning?

Heck, no. And we don't want it either. As soon as a school puts in air conditioning, the community starts rallying for year-round school.

> Are there fans?

We bring in our own fans.

> Do your windows open and close? Are there blinds?

Mostly.

> Does the heat work?

Sure. My classroom is 95 degrees in January. But teachers at the other end of the school complain about being cold.

> Do you have special meeting rooms for IEPs
> & other confidential meetings?

Doesn't every school?

> Is the band/orchestra room large enough to fit the
> entire band/orchestra?

I teach in a K-5 building. The band room is a new addition.

> Can the students fit their coats, backpacks,
> & all their books in their lockers?

Oh yes.... most elementary schools have "hooks" for coats. But my school has lockers (without locks). I think ALL elementary schools should have lockers. They're much more roomy and it keeps the school looking a lot neater.

>If not, where do they put them?

Well, even though they have lockers.... most kids throw their coats and boots and mittens all over the floor. When you tell them to pick it up, they say it's not theirs. Then, when you show them that their name is on the coat, the actually do pick it up.

> About how many people can be seated in your high
> school gym?

About 500, I think.

> Do you have a pool? How old is it? Is it heated?

Our high school has a pool... and it's right behind the Elementary school, so our kids do get to go swimming for gym class. Yes, it's heated. ...but then the kids have to walk back to the elementary school through the snow. :)

> Anything else you want to share?

If you're going to build a new school, emphasize the need for BIG classrooms with lots of space. Rally for STORAGE-- cabinets AND closets. And, if your district is actually listening to you, press your luck and tell them to put a SINK in every classroom.

- Fireboat

[Just ducky]

If you are still interested in this topic, I would suggest contacting someone in the New Castle, Indiana school district. They had the same situation, ended up remodeling and have a gorgeous new looking building. The school was renovated around their prize----the 9,300 seat high school gymnasium. It is quite a sight!!! In fact was featured in USA Today as the best high school gym in the country! You really can combine old and new. I think they could tell you how it went throughout the process.

[FrazzleDazzle]

My building is just starting it's second school year. Before that, the building we were in was from 1935, with additions being added in the 1950s and 1970s. Ventilation wasn't good; in the winter, some classrooms had the windows open because they were so hot while students in other rooms wore their mittens to class; the upstairs hallway was littered with buckets every rainstorm; and the building was just not built for the technology of the 21st century.

It took a long time for the town to agree to build new. Two years ago, a retiring teacher told the story of his first day at the school in 1968. A mentor teacher took him aside and said, "The classrooms are overcrowded right now, but it's OK because they are going to build a new school and we'll have plenty of room." And it only took 38 years to happen!

[kingrichie]

Our school is 40 years old and falling apart.

[Chef Dave]

How old is the public school building in which you teach?

Our building is 9 years old.


Is there air conditioning??

Yes, we have central air.


Are there fans??

The only fans are portable.


Do your windows open and close? Are there blinds??

Our windows do not open. All windows have blinds.


Does the heat work??

Yes.


Do you have special meeting rooms for IEPs & other confidential meetings??

Yes, we have a conference room adjacent to the office.


Is the band/orchestra room large enough to fit the entire band/orchestra??

Yes, our band room is quite large. It's located next to the culinary arts lab and restaurant. Culinary Arts and Band occupy an entire wing of our high school.


Can the students fit their coats, backpacks, & all their books in their lockers? If not, where do they put them??

We have no lockers due to concerns about drugs and weapons. All classrooms have a double issue of textbooks. One set goes home with the students and is due back at year's end. The other set remains in the class for student use.

The only exception to this policy is culinary arts and physical education. Both of these departments have lockers.


About how many people can be seated in your high school gym??

One side of the gym can accomodate the entire student body and faculty. We also have bleachers on the other side of the gym and if need be, rows of chairs can be set up on the gym floor as well.


Do you have a pool? How old is it? Is it heated??

We have no pool.


Anything else you want to share??

Our school has a student operated commercially licensed restaurant. We have two computer labs with a third smaller lab in the library. All labs have internet access.

Each wing of the school connects to the "commons area." The commons area has a large stage. It also has dozens of tables to accomodate students during lunch.

[RibbityRibbit]

> How old is the public school building in which you teach?

It was built in the 70's I think, and updated in 2004

> Is there air conditioning?

Nope... but it doesn't get very hot here at all!

> Are there fans?

No, but we have skylights that open with this special tool that reaches up to the ceiling!!

> Do your windows open and close? Are there blinds?

Yes, but no real blinds. Only these blinds that are only supposed to be used in case of lock down.

> Does the heat work?

Yes

> Do you have special meeting rooms for IEPs
> & other confidential meetings?

Yes

> Is the band/orchestra room large enough to fit the
> entire band/orchestra?

No orchestra room, no stage, auditorium etc. We have two large meeting rooms. One fits the whole school, the other fits the whole intermediate program at once. We set up chairs for meetings, performances, etc.

> Can the students fit their coats, backpacks,
> & all their books in their lockers?

No lockers, this is an elementary school and each classroom has cubbies for each child, and a coat hook for each child

>If not, where do they put them?

see above

> About how many people can be seated in your high
> school gym?

no gym!! Just a multi-purpose room. It can seat probably 250? We're a small school, just 180 students

> Do you have a pool? How old is it? Is it heated?

no pool, but we use one down the street every week as part of our PE program

> Anything else you want to share?

For everything we lack, we have 12 acres of woods, a childrne's garden, a meadow and lots of run around room! We also have a building that someday may be started that will be an auditorium with a stage and a proper gym.

[Boxcar]

If someone can answer "yes" to all of those questions, they have a very nice school!

[teach1027]

My building is old it used to be a grocery store.

[englishchick]

Ha Ha Ha!!!

Sorry have to laugh at this post.
Over here in the UK the majority of schools were built at the turn of the last century. 1970s is certainly NOT old!!!
Air conditioning? nope
swimming pools? only if you're lucky
seating in a gym? yeah right! Never seen that ever in a British school
Heating? supposedly. My class room is freezing and I have to plug in electric heaters!

Sorry I'm not having a go. I just think it is cute that you think things are old when we think they are relatively new!