The Shawano School Board voted unanimously Monday to fund a renovation project that will bring the science labs at Shawano Community Middle School into the 21st century.
The board approved spending $185,000 from the school district’s fund balance to remove old equipment and replace it with up-to-date equipment. After a tour of the labs, board members were horrified at what they saw.
“This is humiliating to me. I cannot believe we have had a significant number of science classes go without for so long,” outgoing board president Julie Van Dyck said. “I don’t feel this is a want. This is a need.”
Jeff Easter, who was hired as the district’s maintenance director in 2013, made it a priority to visit every room in every school to check on the district’s needs. He was surprised when he made it to the middle school and found out the science labs had not been updated since 1970, when the middle school was Shawano High School.
“I thought, ‘Oh, no, this doesn’t look good,’” Easter said.
Faucets in one lab did not work. Faucets in another lab had been removed because they no longer worked. The work stations are not compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act, and in some cases, all the stations are connected to one electrical source, which has caused some fuses to blow.
Easter has fixed the nonfunctioning faucets in the one lab, but he said it was evident that a lot more needed to be done to make the lab functional again.
“I met with all the science teachers and asked them what they needed to satisfy their current curriculum,” Easter said.
The district will pay about $175,000 to Diversified Casework, a Suring-based company that specializes in lab furniture and fixtures, to fabricate and install the equipment. The remaining money will go toward the demolition work, which will be done by Easter’s employees, and the electrical work, which will done by a company to be determined.
Easter and Superintendent Gary Cumberland said it was important to get the work done this year. When board members expressed concern that the project did not go out for bids, Cumberland noted that the price tag to do the work could be higher if the district waits a year.
Several board members agreed the renovations should take place as soon as possible.
“Walking through the school, we’ve updated the lockers and the floors and everything to make it beautiful in appearance for the community with the taxpayers’ dollars, and yet we’re not giving these teachers the facilities they need,” board member Marcia Yeager said. “I think this project should have been done 10 years ago.”
“The equipment is hopelessly outdated. It should be sold at antique shops,” board member Michael Sleeper said.
The renovation work will take place this summer so the labs can be ready for the new school year in September.
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