Cambridge City Schools investing in facilities and students
Cambridge City Schools has been working on a list of improvements that are designed to enhance students' learning experiences and environment.
Work is being completed at the primary and intermediate schools to replace playground equipment. The equipment is more than 20 years old and some of that came from other elementary schools according to John Charlton, communications director at Cambridge City Schools.
"There was some concerns about insurance and liability and we were going to have to make some improvements anyhow," Charlton said. "Once we started looking at it, it was more affordable and safer to replace it and put new in."
Once the new playgrounds are installed, new wood chips will be placed around all the equipment for safety purposes.
The cost of the playgrounds are $140,000 for the primary and $158,000 for the intermediate plus the cost of installation. Funds for this project came from the Permanent Improvement Funds.
At the middle school and pre-K, five classrooms will have carpet replaced with tile flooring at cost of $20,000, paid from the Permanent Improvement Fund.
With the completion of a new concrete patio right outside the cafeteria, middle school students will have space for additional outdoor activities and be able to enjoy lunch outside when weather permits.
According to Charlton, the addition of picnic tables and an outdoor eating space will allow students to spread out more. The project cost was $4,000 for the material and paid for from the Permanent Improvement Fund.
Also new at the middle school and high school are new pavilions to be used as an outdoor learning space where classes can go outside to work. The pavilions cost $23,000 each and were funded by a School Quality Improvement Grant. The concrete work for both pavilions and the outdoor patio was done by the district's own crew to be more cost efficient.
At the high school the basketball/volleyball lockers rooms are near completion and are expected to be done before the season begins. The locker room renovations at both the high school and McFarland Stadium cost $75,000, and were funded completely by anonymous donors.
Other improvements, which won't be noticed as much by students, include replaced HVAC controls and eight water sourced heat pumps, and new shingle roofs at the administration office, primary and intermediate schools and a flat roof at the middle school. The cost for the roofing is $1.45 million shingles and another $1.45 million for the flat. The HVAC, which is for all the district's building, cost $318 million. These three projects were funded with COVID-19 Relief Funds. Additional funding for the HVAC came from a$200,000 federal energy grant.
Charlton notes that while these are facilities' projects, they will enhance the learning environment for the students. These upgrades will make it easier to control the temperature in the classrooms so students are comfortable.
At McFarland Stadium, improvements include new turf on the field, the track being resealed and striped, bleacher and steel restoration, new soccer goals, football sleds, chutes, play clocks, benches.
The new football locker rooms will house a baseball batting cage which drops from the ceiling for use in the football's off months.
In addition to upgrades/improvements to the school buildings, ground has been broken on the district's new transportation facility which is expected to be ready for use by March.
The facility which will replace the current one. at Pine Field, 830 N 10th St., is being constructed on five acres of undeveloped land located on Wills Creek Valley Drive between Mayor Estates and the Cambridge Care and Rehabilitation Center.
Plans for the facility include an 8,500-square-foot garage with parking for 14 buses, four vans and 22 employee vehicles. The cost of the facility is $2.95 million dollars and is being paid for using COVID-19 Relief Funds.
Superintendent Dan Coffman previously said the new facility would greatly reduce the amount of bus traffic around Cambridge City Park, cut the amount of time students spend on a bus and reduce cost by reducing bus mileage with the facility being closer to the schools.
In addition to building improvements, the district is investing $1.5 million of COVID Relief Funds over the next three years into new curriculum for all the schools in the district.
"With these COVID Relief dollars we have the opportunity to update our curriculum in a number of areas," said Dave Caldwell, business manager " I don't believe we have bought curriculum in a long time because of the way things have been."
New math and phonics programs have been implemented at the primary school and they are in the process of selecting a new reading and writing program. Grades six through 12 will also have a new program, and the middle school and high school students will have a new ELA/Reading curriculum and a new vocabulary curriculum.
Additionally , the science and social studies departments at the middle and high schools are researching new programs to update the curriculum.
Charlton said it is important to note that none of the money for any of the projects has come out of the district's general fund. The funds used for the all projects were from the Permanent Improvement Fund which can only be used on assets that will last five years or more, COVID-19 relief or improvement funds, grants and donations.
Caldwell noted COVID-19 relief and COVID improvement money can only be used for certain things and is one time money that typically would not be in the general fund. It's one time money that they have the opportunity so do some neat things with for the students in the district.
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This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Cambridge City Schools investing in facilities and students
