New Jr. High

[Garin]

Looks like they are clearing dirt for the new jr high on S. Penn between 134 & 149.

[Zuplar]

The district sure has a lot going on. Building 3 elementary schools now with another one too come and this junior high. Plus they are remodeling the junior high stadium as well as work on highland east and the admin building. I don't envy them at all.

[Garin]

They do , but it's all needed very badly. The only bad thing is the two lane roads that all these schools are being built on.

[Zuplar]

No I agree. I don't mean this as harsh, but the district is getting some nice upgrades and some of that can be linked to the tornado. All the donations are really giving them the funds to do what's needed to be done.

[MsDarkstar]

I wish they could figure out a solution to the overcrowding issue during the Freshman lunch at Moore High School. The Freshmen aren't allowed to go off campus for lunch and they all share a lunch hour. That's about 600 students crowded into "the commons" aka the cafeteria. They no longer have the concession stand open at the field house during lunch, so the only place to go is the cafeteria or outside, but outside there's only I think 2 tables. The outside tables & benches are VERY new also, donations from the alumni association. The students just sit in the floor, which has got to be some kind of fire code violation because they're almost blocking a hallway.

[bombermwc]

Moore did a pretty piss-poor job of working to integrate the 9th graders. Still having 1/2 day Kindergarten is pathetic too. They should have kept a better eye on bonding needs to fund construction tasks at the elementary and high school levels for things other than just gyms and auditoriums.

One thing I've seen to counter the freshman issue is keeping them on a totally different schedule. Moore isn't unique in that it's cafeteria isn't large enough to hold everyone at once. The better way to do that is to take 1/2 at a time. Quite a few schools will split a class so that 1/2 of them go in the first half of class, and the other half in the second half of class. Even if it's 3rd hour (if block), it still ensures everyone eats before 1pm. AND you can do it that way so that all grades are back in sync for the last periods. Yeah, there are complications to figure out, but if they don't even have enough tables for people to sit at and make them sit on the floor.....that's not acceptable.

[MsDarkstar]

Before the big stadium remodel the issue wasn't quite so bad because the concession stand was open and there were several tables in there. It helped split the load. Now all the stress is on the cafeteria & it's just not working. You are very correct in saying they did a piss-poor job of integrating the 9th graders. The courtyard area is VERY large, with very little landscaping (it's really pretty sad looking out there). I know it wouldn't work for bad weather/cold days but just putting more picnic tables out there would help.