An architect suggested specific ways to improve the safety and security of the Starkville School District”s four primary campuses in a meeting where the board handled just a few items of business.
Three members of the board were present for the regular scheduled meeting Tuesday night. Lee Brand Jr. and Bill Weeks were absent. The business handled was mostly routine, and a large part of the meeting was devoted to a safety and athletic facilities report from the Education Design Institute at Mississippi State University.
Starkville architect Chris Cosper made the presentation. He said MSU architecture students helped evaluate the schools and compile the suggestions to improve the safety and function of district facilities.
“We”re aware that building on campuses (completed with bond issue money) may have created some safety concerns,” Cosper said. “We also wanted to look at upgrading some facilities.”
The group used a 45-page safety and security checklist and met with principals and school district administrators as part of the evaluation. Their findings include:
n Sudduth Elementary is in pretty good shape. He did recommend a gate be placed to block public access to an inner courtyard on the east side of the school.
n Henderson Ward Stewart Elementary needs to equip playground monitors with walkie-talkies so they could alert others if needed if a danger presented itself on the somewhat remote new playground. He also recommended crash bars be installed on the inside of gates, allowing them to be opened from the inside even when they are locked from the outside.
n Armstrong Middle would benefit from the removal of the canopy that connects the main building to the gymnasium. The canopy contributes to some of the water leak problems in the gym and prevents light from entering that dark area. Cosper also recommended repairing the gym”s entrance and closing the south courtyard to public access.
n Starkville High would benefit from fencing along its south and west property lines to prevent walk-through traffic on campus. He recommended a new gymnasium to replace the existing facility and safety improvements made to the baseball bleachers.
Cosper said a 30,600 square foot high school gym would be about three times larger than the too-small existing gym and would cost between $2.9 million and $5.3 million. A 9,900 square foot multi-purpose PE building at Armstrong would cost between $950,000 and $1.3 million. The high school also needs a new field house for athletics.
Cosper also addressed the size of the district”s schools, saying EDI recommendations for elementary schools in large school districts, such as Starkville”s, are to not exceed 300-400 students. Middle schools should have not more than 500-600 students, and high schools should serve between 800 and 1,000 students.
Board member Pickett Wilson explained why Starkville”s schools exceed these recommended sizes.
“We”re under a federal court order. We can only have one grade (in the district, rather than two or more schools housing a single grade),” Wilson said. “So we would have to have one-grade schools to meet these numbers.”
Cosper suggested that perhaps “the time has come to challenge the federal court order.”
“I made the recommendation for the school board”s consideration (because) … with the exception of the high school, which I consider medium, our schools are large,” Cosper said.
The board asked several questions but took no action on the report. Board member Keith Coble did ask the institute to examine exterior lighting around the schools.
The meeting ended with Superintendent Judy Couey stating a draft of the goal the school board set for the district at a recent retreat. The board wants to see 65 percent of their students scoring proficient or above by 2012. The federal No Child Left Behind act requires all students to be proficient or advanced by 2014.
Couey said specific goals under that general aim include offering more flexible learning opportunities, increasing readiness opportunities for pre-kindergartners, increasing the graduation rate from the current 60.4 percent to 75 percent by 2012 and increasing the number of students with a Mississippi Scholars or Honors diploma.
The board may hold a lunch work session to hammer out details of these goals next week. Their next regular scheduled board meeting is at 6 p.m. Nov. 2 in the Greensboro Center.
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