School Bond Changes : Expansion or Compression?
The OCSD School Bond will expand several CTE programs; in the process, offices used by teachers will be relocated. Is this going to be something worth the money spent? Or something that will go down as a notable change for the school. The plan is to go on right after school is out from the 2025-26 school year, occurring during the first months of that summer. June-August is the proposed timeline.
What is the Bond?
The plan is proposed to expand on three distinctive programs, with one program already happening at the school being moved into a proper CTE program. As transcribed from David Hobbs, Bond Director:
“So, there are three spaces in the high school… Building J is currently home to the JROTC program, which will be transitioned into an introduction to trades program. And then it’s B100, C100, and D100, which are the other three spaces that will be converted into CTE spaces. Or, for JROTC, which will become a CTE program in the J building.”
Each of those classrooms will be revamped for a specific purpose: B100 will become an Intro to Robotics class, C100 will become a Video Production class, and D100 will be the new JROTC class. Adding to these expansions, neighboring classrooms may also be repurposed. After being asked about the adjacent classrooms by The Elevator, Hobbs had to say: “Adjacent to digital media, which is also coming in here, will be a computer lab. Adjacent to that, for teaching spaces. I don’t believe we have an intention to use the one next to the intro to robotics lab for other purposes.”
Principal Greg Timmons directly addressed this, stating that the classrooms can really be moved anywhere since they’re standard classrooms. Classrooms that can be taken over by any other teacher if needed.
Students should not be directly impacted by the construction for this school year. Despite big changes being undergone, none of them are scheduled to begin over the summer, according to Bond Director Hobbs.
“We’re going to be starting construction in June, wrapping up in August,” said Hobbs. “So as soon as school is out, we vacate those spaces, and we start our work and wrap it up by mid-August to allow time to move back in.”
How Might It Affect The Teachers?
Teachers and staff alike use the offices for multiple purposes as it is. Currently, the D hall offices, D100, are used as a gathering space for several teachers from several different halls. They use it for storage, lunch time, and as a place to communicate with other teachers. When teacher Adam Thygeson was asked about what he uses the office spaces for:
“We have a lunch crew that meets there every day. We have a couple of people from E-wing, including me…,” Adam Thygeson said, “We got most of the downstairs D-wing people there. We have about three or four people from C-hall come and join us. We got teachers from the F-wing joining us as well. It’s just a chance for teachers to have adult conversations and just connect with other people to collaborate, and decompress for 30 minutes without students.”
Taking away that space that they use may negatively affect their work efficiency. They use that downtime to their advantage and to make time for themselves. Adam Thygeson did mention that people from E wing, including himself, and people from F wing also come down to take that time. Because it’s a simple gathering space? Maybe, but those from E and F hall don’t have offices for themselves. Adam Thygeson uses the rooms for uses like lunch clubs. “That’s one reason why we go down to the D100. My classroom used to be in D106 about four years ago, and it’s just that we’ve been using that lunch area,” said Adam Thygeson. “We have 7-10 people in there every day having lunch together. That’s been that way for years.”
When the plan reaches phase 2, when the CTE programs have been successfully established, the offices will no longer be used as offices. Even the second-floor offices will be repurposed for different uses. Timmons believes that the offices can be used for other purposes.
“Nowadays, we are in a space with our population where teachers can live in a room, and that’s their room, so they don’t need a specific office space.”
Timmons was also asked about alternatives that would be open for the teachers. He had to say that there may be spaces open for the teachers, especially depending on room assignment. There may be classrooms that aren’t being used that could be used as those new meeting spaces.
“We may have to consolidate and have fewer of those spaces,” Timmons said, “But we will still have spaces for teachers to eat their lunches and take care of themselves.”
The offices aren’t just used by the teachers; they’re used by the staff and students alike. Instructional Assistants (IAs) will use the classrooms. IAs will typically use the classrooms to specifically help certain students, whether it’s with reading tests out to them or for different purposes. Teacher Caralee Thygeson expressed this opinion when asked by The Elevator: “We’re losing space where Instructional Assistants take students who need tests read to them for additional support. And it’s a quiet space that’s nearby, so they’re not having trouble having to get across the school for individualized help during the class periods.”
Even with all of these changes that may result in changes to their everyday lives, teachers and administrators are doubly excited about the changes.
“We’re excited to have these programs coming here,” Caralee Thygeson said,” Teachers aren’t upset about the addition of programs; we mostly just want to know where we can eat lunch,… and we mostly want to know what the replacement space is for how we kind of use things.”
The opportunities that will open because of the program will expand to all sorts of projects. Opening options for students all around, granting new and exciting programs. Timmons believes that it may be challenging initially with all of the major changes, but it will overall improve the school’s climate.
“I’m really excited for this opportunity to expand the program; it’s really cool,” Timmons said, “Sometimes during these things, there are challenges with moving and how construction is gonna work. Altogether, this is really cool because we get to expand and create better spaces/programs for kids. And help build their future.”
