STEP Students Making Blackout Curtains for Valley View Classrooms

Submitted by Valley View School District:

Students in Valley View School District 365U’s Secondary Transition Experience Program (S.T.E.P.) have taken on the immense task of creating blackout curtains for the windows on every classroom door in the district.

“These curtains will always be rolled up except when there is a lockdown,” said VVSD Facilities Director Mike Lopez. “The teacher will untie it and let it roll down to cover the window so an intruder can’t see into the classroom.”

“At first we thought oh my gosh 1,500 curtains are a lot of curtains to make,” said S.T.E.P. Principal Kristin Marks.

But after the Facilities Operations Department donated several sewing machines and Marks secured several others on loan from Jane Addams Middle School, she enlisted the help of teacher Sandra Jones and aide Meg Zeier to oversee the job.

“I’m really proud of our students for taking on such a large project. There is so much involved,” Jones said. “It’s very challenging. But they enjoy doing it. And they’re learning some great life skills.”

In addition to handling the sewing and arranging for distribution, the students go on shopping trips to buy materials, match prices at different stores to look for the best deals and use coupons to save the school district some money.

“It makes me feel like I am a team player,” said student Jessika Cannon. “I feel like I am a good helper.”

“It feels awesome,” added student Tiffany Tennial. “I line up the curtain and go slow at it. We may put them up in some places but other places we’ll pack them up and send them wherever they’re supposed to go.”

“We’ve incorporated a lot of what our students learn at STEP into this project,” Marks said.

Students are learning how to problem solve, and learning about math as well as budgeting, she added.

“A lot of planning went into this,” Lopez said. “Our building maintenance guys had to measure every door window in the district and our secretary, Julie Hansen, had to compile and organize all of the data. That was a big process in itself.”

Lopez said some of the curtains have already gone up in S.T.E.P. classrooms and will soon start appearing in Brooks Middle School classrooms.

“They’re going at a pretty good pace, so we’ll probably start installing them as soon as we get them,” he said.