| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
Col. Wm. Casey School is in dire need of replacement Temperatures can't be regulated. The building has leaks. Mobile Units lose power. Electrical system won't support Whiteboards. "The bigger picture is that we have a great school at Col. Wm. Casey, but we house it in an inadequate building," Patty Jones says. Funds must be provided for an adequate building to provide the education Adair County kids need to compete in the 21st Century By Patty Jones, Principal, Col. Wm. Casey Elementary School As principal of Col. Wm. Casey Elementary School it would only stand to reason that I am strongly in favor of the additional funds to allow construction to begin on a new elementary school. It is true that I see firsthand on a daily basis the many reasons a new school for our district is needed. Just in the past week the students and staff at Casey have had to deal with several common problems. A major leak in the front hall was repaired again. This leak has occurred several times over the years and is always repaired; however the flat design of our roof lends itself to common leaks. Space heaters cause breakers to blow We had breakers blowing when the rooms at the end of the hall had to plug in space heaters to remain comfortable. We have had to decide whether to turn on the heat and run air conditioners in the hot rooms or to leave the heat off and run space heaters in the cold rooms. Our heating system has only two settings, "on" and "off". There is no regulating the heat and therefore we end up with certain rooms being blazing hot while others are icy cold. During the fall most mornings are very cold and we end up turning the heat on. It takes 2-3 hours for the boiler to get warm air to most rooms. By noon most rooms are burning up. If the heat is turned off it takes another 2-3 hours for the rooms to cool back down. This is a constant cycle for our school. Main circulaton pump in boiler room failed this morning This morning (Monday) when we made the decision to go with "on" we were greeted by a main circulation pump that had gone out in the boiler system and needed to be replaced. As I write maintenance workers are on our stage replacing the pump. During the same time period the mobile unit that houses our Family Resource Center and Primary Talent Pool classroom lost power and could not locate the blown breaker. Our custodian was able to locate the problem and get power restored. Unfortunately this is a common scene for our school during this time of year. The bigger picture is that we have a great school at Col. Wm. Casey, but we house it in an inadequate building. Our teachers and staff work extremely hard. Most come in well before our 7:50am start time and stay well past the 3:00pm end of the day. Our staff stays abreast of current trends in instructional strategies and assessment. They monitor students regularly to assure that they are making progress. They communicate with parents to maximize the potential of each and every student they teach. They nurture and care about their students. In addition they use every tool in their arsenal to make our rooms and facilities appealing and comfortable. Our custodial staff works hard at maintaining the cleanliness and safety of our building. This past summer we painted most of our building in an attempt to make our school as fresh and bright as possible. So many obstacles which just can't be overcome with present building However, we still have obstacles that we cannot overcome. Currently we have the funding to purchase the Active Whiteboards that most schools in the state now utilize. Unfortunately we do not have the electrical capacity to support them. We have ordered two new computers for each classroom. These will have to replace some of our older computers in each room due to the fact that we cannot add additional computers without overloading the capacity of each room. There are several other technologies that are used statewide that we would like to have but know that it would be futile due to the fact that our building simply could not handle the electrical overload. We are also the only remaining school in the district that has only one common room in which to bring our student body. We must shut down our physical education program every day for lunch and every time we wish to have an assembly or gathering of any size. Quality students and quality teachers deserve a quality building To say that a new school is needed would certainly be an understatement. However, no matter what the future brings students at Col. Wm. Casey will continue to receive a quality education. It would simply be my hope that these quality students and quality educators would be able to provide this in a quality facility. As we move deeper into the 21st Century the skills and knowledge that is needed by our students becomes much more reliant on technology. In order to provide our students with a 21st Century education that prepares them for a successful life we must have the capabilities to teach them technology skills. We simply are not able to do this in the current facility that houses Col. Wm. Casey. We, as Adair Countians, have the opportunity to make a decision that can help the future of our community. Strong schools produce strong citizens. It is true that a building does not make a good school but it can make a good school better. I ask that you support making our schools better by voting to support good schools for great students! -Sincerely, Patty R. Jones, Principal Col. Wm. Casey Elementary School This story was posted on 2009-11-02 16:38:38
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic Education:
KCTCS President seeks support to maintain SCC funding ACES has walking away from drugs event today Col. Casey Fall Festival on today, rain or shine Adair School Bd. meeting report October 28, 20009 Board of Education faces issues on tax recall Gov. Beshear will be at Russell Springs, KY, Nov. 12, 2009 Petition turned in to stop small building tax for schools Thanks to a special bus driver: Michelle Foster CU Vision 2025 a blueprint to prepare Christian leaders Site Based Council at Col. Wm Casey meets today, Oct. 20, 2009 View even more articles in topic Education |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
