Awaiting opening bell
There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]Sunday, June 3, 2007
By Lynze Wardle
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau lwardle@standard.net
lwardle@standard.net
Construction delays have kept faculty out
SYRACUSE -- If anything will inspire teenagers to pick up a book, Principal Craig Hansen thinks it will be the view from Syracuse High School's library.
"If I was a student, this is where I would want to study," Hansen said of picture windows on the library's west side, which provide a second-story view of the Great Salt Lake and Antelope Island.
The school, which has been under construction since 2004, will open to 10th- and 11th-grade students in August. A senior class will be added for the 2008-09 school year.
Windows are a recurring theme in the almost-complete, 385,000-square-foot structure. A glass-walled weight room on the second floor gives students a view of their classmates below. The school's multimedia center resembles a fishbowl, with three transparent sides and one solid wall.
"The idea is that the curriculum will be on display," said Bryan Turner, Davis School District director of new construction. "We want students to be able to walk by, look in a classroom and say, 'Hey, that looks pretty fun, maybe I'll take that class next year.' "
Glass-enclosed classrooms are just the start of modern features at the school, which include 25 surveillance cameras inside the school and five outside to monitor the 52-acre facility, and more computers than students.
Students and parents have been anxious to get a peek inside the building. Hansen said he gets five to 10 calls a week from people wondering when an open house will be held. Others, he said, have been unwilling to wait until the building opens to the public.
"People just wander in and start walking through," he said, adding that they are quickly escorted out by the construction crew.
No date has been set for a school open house, Hansen said.
The event may be scheduled for Aug. 17, the day of the school's first home football game.
Hansen hoped that teachers and administrators could start moving into the building by April, but the timeline has been pushed back to June 25.
Construction has been delayed because of a local shortage of contractors, Turner said. There is still plenty of time before the 2007-08 school year begins, he said, and the delay is not a significant setback for the school.
Although much of the land in front of the school is still dirt, Turner said eventually it will contain a natural pond. Rather than try to reroute an existing creek bed, the area will remain marshy.
"A lot of schools like it for their science curriculum," he said. "We could have put grass there, but it would have always been mushy and not really usable."
The rest of the school grounds also have a unique design. The school's athletic fields have been sodded with high-quality grass, but the areas in between are planted with a more hardy variety. During a drought, water can be diverted to the fields while the perimeter is allowed to temporarily dry out.
While attending a new high school is exciting for students, it can be bittersweet and challenging for teachers. Unlike administrators, Hansen said, teachers often stay at the same school for decades.
"For some, this will be their first change in 10, 15 or 20 years," he said.
Kelly Anderson said he is "leaving a lot of good friends" at Bountiful High School, where he has taught drivers' education, health and world civilizations for 14 years.
Anderson said the move to Syracuse High will reduce his commute to less than five minutes and allow him to spend more time with his family. He will teach drivers' education and be the athletic director at Syracuse, where he will oversee the brand-new athletic program.
"It's kind of scary," he said. "(Bountiful High) is pretty successful, but the new school doesn't have those kind of traditions yet. We're trying to establish them and hopefully, get everything started off on the right foot."
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