HASTINGS, Mich. — Worn chairs, aging classroom furniture and sound carrying between rooms are among the challenges Hastings High School educators say they face while teaching students.
A $24.8 million school bond proposal on the Nov. 3 ballot would fund improvements across Hastings Area School System, including renovations to high school classrooms.
The district projects no increase over its current bond millage rate if the proposal passes. That refers to the tax rate, rather than a guarantee that an individual property owner’s tax bill would remain unchanged.
For world history teacher Greer Putnam, the need for classroom updates shows up in the furniture students use each day.
“Some of my chairs that my students are currently sitting in have holes in them,” Putnam said. “A lot of them have weird things on the back of them that will catch student hair.”
Putnam said she has gathered desks and chairs from other parts of the school and district to furnish her classroom. She also brought her own desk from home.
Beyond their condition, Putnam said the tables and chairs can make it difficult to organize lessons that require students to work together.
“And when you want to do lesson plans that involve student engagement or group work, these tables and chairs become problematic at that point in time,” she said.
She says she wants a classroom where students can more easily move between group projects and independent assignments.
“Now, in a 21st century classroom where we want students to be dynamic with their learning, unfortunately, the classrooms are not dynamic anymore,” Putnam said.
Principal Clayton Powell said many classrooms have not been updated since the building was constructed in the 1970s.
“We have a lot of classrooms that are outdated, a lot of classrooms that could use some updates to help support our students as they progress in their new journey in life,” Powell said.
He says the building’s classroom partitions present another challenge.
Powell said sound carries between neighboring classrooms, making it harder for teachers to lead lively lessons without disrupting another class.
“If you look behind us in some of our classrooms, you'll see these old kind of partitioned walls aren't real conducive to learning,” he said.
Roughly 700 students use the building each day, according to Powell.
“And just over time, things get wore out, things get, you know, outdated and used up,” he said.
Powell said a previous bond paid for improvements to areas including bathrooms, locker rooms, the athletics commons and the media center. Classroom needs remain, he said.
The new proposal includes modernizing high school classrooms for core academic subjects and improving career and technical education spaces at the high school and middle school.
Safety and security upgrades are also included, although the district said those projects represent a relatively small portion of the proposal. They include secure entrance improvements, security window film, replacement public address systems and fire alarm systems.
“We want to make sure when they walk through these doors that they feel safe, they feel secure,” Powell said.
Putnam said teachers continue finding ways to work with the spaces and materials available to them.
“Educators are very creative individuals and really need to do what they can to make it work for themselves,” she said.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 3. A project overview is available on the district’s bond proposal page.
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