New Science Wing Provides Much-Needed Space at Parkway Central High

The boxes aren't quite unpacked and the sound of construction equipment still bounces through the hallways from time to time, but teachers and students moved into their new science wing this week. There's definitely a lot to ooh and aah over.

For starters, there's the outdoor rain garden and classroom space. Rainwater will be funneled here to plants and aquatic life students can observe and study.

And there's the mural featuring facets of all science disciplines. Students keep bumping into each other as they look at the mural, biology teacher Kathy Burnett said.

But, topping the list is more space. There's eight new classrooms in the science wing and, for the most part, each one is two times larger than the room teachers' previously had.

"It was less than half this, or maybe about half," Burnett said of her old classroom. Computers were packed into rows on the side of the room and students had little room to move about.

"It was really squishy," she said. The old classrooms were much the same as they had been since the school was built in 1961. The physics classrooms—which are not part of the new wing—got a facelift and more space by the beginning of the school year, but biology and chemistry classes were still cramped.

Not so anymore. Burnett's classroom, like others in the new wing, has two sets of tables—one for lab activities and the other for classroom instruction.

And there's storage. About five times more storage, Burnett estimates. Aside from cabinets in the room, two teachers share a prep rooms that are full of drawers and shelves.

"I haven't filled it up yet, but I will," she said. That's a welcome change for the teachers, who had been living out of boxes since the start of the school year in anticipation of the move, Burnett said.

Funded by the , construction on the new wing began in October 2009 and was originally supposed to be finished by the start of this school year. But, like it often happens, there were delays. Burnett said they knew before August they wouldn't be moving in right away. A move around Thanksgiving was discussed, but that was never firm either, she said.

Teachers got the go-ahead to move in last week. Burnett said she unpacked for three to five hours every day.

"You can tell I was really excited because I was even here on Friday night," she said.

Burnett said the contractors on the project—with Interior Construction Services—were very receptive to teacher's ideas. They gave her a nook for the rabbit she keeps in the classroom, for instance.

Chemistry teacher Jenny Proffitt agreed. There's a window cut-out to her shared prep room because she shares a lot of lab preps with her neighboring chemistry teacher. They wanted the ability to push things back and forth and communicate, she said.

The tables for chemistry labs slightly slope toward trough sinks in the center, so any spills are easily cleaned up. And there's another time saver for Proffitt—loads of white board space.

"There's enough board space that I can have instruction for labs prepped and still have space to teach," she said.

Burnett said the addition has invigorated student's interest in science. Students tell her they wish were taking a science class next semester so they could use the new wing. She's not sure if they'll be able to add a class, but said counselors are trying their best to make things work.

The new wing may inspire plenty of excitement, but in the end, Burnett said, it all comes back to teaching.

"It means we can do more labs," she said. "The kids will get the chance to do more hands-on learning safely. Some things we couldn't do before because of safety concerns. And kids learn best when it's hands-on."