By Betsy McKinney, Superintendent
It might be easier to answer the question, “What’s Not New?” this year. First, our school district will have many new people on staff as you can see in this month’s newsletter. This includes two new principals, a new superintendent, and a new transportation director, along with several other positions.
Secondly, there are lots of new facilities on our campus, thanks to community support of our bond issue and a Board of Education that remains committed to the improvement of our school. We have a brand new elementary wing for our pre-kindergarteners through second graders. The new classrooms are large and are equipped with interactive Smartboards. One of the classes (the three-year-old class) also serves as a new safe room in the case of a tornado. The addition of the elementary wing has led to a different layout for our elementary playground more centrally located than in the past. We also have a new auxiliary gymnasium that will be used primarily for Pre-K through sixth grade physical education classes and after-school practices. It comes complete with two locker rooms which will help greatly in tournament play. As a part of the auxiliary gym addition, there is a PE equipment storage room and an office for the elementary PE teacher. Connected to the gym is a permanent concession stand and also a weight room which that in the future will be available to community members. The weight room is also another safe room for use by both students and the citizens of Langdon. Out around the back of the campus we will still have our circular drive so that parents can drop off or pick up their children at school without interfering with bus traffic out front.
Another facilities change will involve the removal of the older modular in the back of the campus. It should be gone by the start of August. The teachers who had classrooms there will now relocate to the main middle school/high school hallways. There have also been electrical updates throughout the entire campus, as well as an addition of a new HVAC unit to cool the library. Another upcoming change will involve replacing outdated plumbing and piping in the boiler room. In what was formerly the Pre-K and Kindergarten modular, the rooms will now be used for the district daycare, a permanent Board of Education meeting room and a technology workshop/storage area.
Phase Two of the construction process is going full steam at this point, and the cafeteria expansion and kitchen renovation is well under way. The kitchen is not projected to be done until a few weeks into the school year, so we will be flexible in our meal planning and most likely serve our meals out of the concession stand for the first few weeks of school. The FMS/FHS office complex is also being totally renovated and redesigned, complete with a safe vestibule entryway where patrons and guests will enter the district. Security concerns will be addressed in several different ways this year at Fairfield, including camera systems and secured entryways.
There are also going to be some new programs at Fairfield this year. One is the district daycare program where children under age three can stay during the school day at the expense of their parents. There is presently one spot open in this program; we have a maximum of six children or infants. Another new program will involve the reintegration of a greenhouse for students interested in that field. We also have updated our water well system and are all excited about the addition of an industrial-sized emergency generator in case our electricity shuts down.
If you would like to take a look at our new facilities, please mark Friday, August 24th, on your calendars. That will be our “Back-To-School Bash” event, and activities will kick off shortly after school dismisses at 3:30 pm. There will be middle school and high school football and volleyball scrimmages and a “Welcome Back Night night for elementary students grades K-6. FES students and parents may bring their child’s school supplies to school to make the first day of school (August 27th) a bit easier for everyone. They may also visit their new classrooms for the upcoming year. Also during this evening the excellent young leaders of our FFA will be coordinating tours of our new facilities so that people will have directions on where to go to see everything. In addition the Fairfield Parent Organization will be serving a hot-dog meal to all people present. Finally, the end of the evening will involve required informational meetings for the parents/guardian of any fall Fairfield athlete in grades 6-12. Elsewhere in this newsletter you will find a schedule of this evening with specific times for the events. Please try to make it out to Fairfield on this evening. We’d love to show you all the new things we are excited about for the upcoming school year!