Remodeling at Weyauwega-Fremont schools
By Angie Landsverk
Reconfigured spaces and new furniture greeted students in the Weyauwega-Fremont School District when they returned to the classroom this week.
Before the first day of school arrived on Tuesday, Sept. 1, district staff spent the summer changing the way classrooms, office space and the high school commons looked.
District Administrator Scott Bleck showed some of those changes when the school board toured the grounds on Aug. 24.
He pointed out a new swing set for Weyauwega Elementary students, made possible from a donation for the school’s PTO.
In the elementary wing, board members looked at Rachel Carson’s third-grade classroom.
She moved the desks to create small group settings, and Bleck made notice of the pencil sharpeners and pencils which were placed in the middle of each setting.
In a first-grade classroom, Bleck talked about how that room has multiple areas for learning.
Elementary Principal Doug Nowak made the board members aware of how the large yellow balls placed under one of those tables may be used as chairs.
While in the elementary school, Bleck also talked about the current ventilation system, something the district is in the process of updating for the 2016-17 school year.
In the cafetorium, which is used for both middle and high school performances, Bleck said the sight lines for seeing students is a point of frustration for some community members.
“This is a targeted area – how can we improve the sight lines,” he said.
As the group headed from the middle school to the high school, gone were the doors separating the two spaces.
“The doors were original, from 1969. We took them down. We think it should work well,” Bleck said.
By removing the doors, the district believes there will be less congestion in the hallway.
In the high school, board members saw a new layout for the office.
Outside of the school, Bleck pointed out the new plantings which are a more manageable height and not something people may hide behind.
The parking lot in front of the high school now has angle parking, which he believes will be a good fit.
In the high school, the district remodeled the restrooms by the gym, put a new floor in the kitchen and added new tables and chairs in the commons as well as in the study hall, which is also used as the senior lunch room.
Both spaces include a variety of seating options for students.