This is the third in a three-part series examining plans included in Hays USD 489's bond proposal.
By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
A space that the current Hays High School has never had is an auditorium — a dream that would finally be realized under the a bond proposal up for vote May 10.
"The auditorium is the feature conversation," Shawn Henderson, HHS principal, said. "Yesterday, when we had the talent show, the gym-atorium is just limited from a speaker standpoint, from a lighting standpoint. Those are opportunities that we simply can't provide."
The $143.5 million bond that is being proposed by USD 489 would include building a new high school, renovating the current high school into a middle school, renovating the current middle school into an elementary school and closing Wilson and Lincoln as elementary schools. Roosevelt and O'Loughlin elementary schools would be renovated.
The new high school would be built on land the district already owns along 13th Street east of the current high school .
Because neither the high school nor the middle school have auditoriums but both would be located on the same campus under the bond proposal, school officials hope both schools could use the auditorium at the new high school.
The schools are now forced to have performances or assemblies in their gyms, use the 12th Street Auditorium at Rockwell Administration Center or rent the Beach Schmidt Performing Arts Center from Fort Hays State University.
The district paid FHSU $1,570 for the most recent HMS concert.
The 12th Street Auditorium is small for many of the high school's performances. Because it's offsite, Henderson said the HHS can't offer classes, such as stagecraft and others that would be tied to the performing arts.
Until recent repairs, the 12th Street auditorium's roof leaked. The damage to the ceiling tiles is still visible.
As with bond discussions at all of the other district schools, space is a focus. HHS, as are all the other district schools, with the exception of Lincoln Elementary, over capacity. The school has an enrollment of 905 students in a building built for 862. The new high school would have a capacity for 1,200 students.
Classrooms are holding 20 to 30 students.
"One of the things we've talked about in the bond is what is the right size classroom for the kids that we have," Henderson said. "You can look in here and see how small this is. It's an interior room with no windows and airflow [issues]."
Henderson said employers are wanting graduates to be able to work in teams and collaborate, but there's no space in HHS's current classrooms to do so.
"The skills that industry tells us that we need ... we need students who can think and collaborate and communicate," Henderson said.
Students have to sit or lie on the floor in the hallways to work with partners or in small groups.
Science labs are similarly very cramped, Henderson said. The new high school would have more square footage for those labs with dedicated spaces for both lecture and experiments.
"What you're looking at from the renderings are varied space," Henderson said. "There are spaces where you're getting direct instruction, but then you have collaborative space ..."
A math classroom barely had enough space to fit tables and chairs for the 30 students per section who are taught in that space. The room had no windows, so the teacher had installed a light box with a picture of a tree hung with curtains on the wall for the students.
The tables in that room were so tight, it was hard to maneuver around the room.
"I know there are a lot of old-school folks out there who think reading, writing and arithmetic was good enough for me, but we don't teach that way anymore," said said HHS assistant principal and activities director Lance Krannawitter. "This ideally should be cooperative tables instead of a mini-lecture hall."
Hays High also has no commons area. Learning commons could not only be places for students to gather for collaborative academics, but for activities as well, Henderson said.
The school recently hosted a wrestling tournament. Two hundred fifty students were coming in for a tournament toward the end of the school day, but the school had nowhere for those students to be while they waited to get into locker rooms prior to the competition.
Henderson said he would like to see a commons connected to the cafeteria.
The cafeteria holds a maximum of 288 students. The school has to split lunches into four sections in order to get all the students through. Henderson said more space would allow the school to cut that to three lunch sections, which would help with scheduling.
Henderson said he would also like to see a place for students to be able to eat outside, so they could have a chance to get some fresh air and sunshine.
New gyms would be part of the new HHS bond plan. The current HHS gym is not large enough to hold the crowds for certain events, Krannawitter said. This sometimes leads to events with standing-room only.
Because of the way the seating is designed in the main gym, people coming and going have to walk onto the court to get to their seats. Krannawitter said this is a hazard. Young children returning to their seats have almost been run over by referees during play.
Henderson added there is a choke point of about 1,000 square feet as people enter the hallway in front of the gym. People are entering the building, entering the gym and stand in line for concessions all in that space.
When HHS has basketball tournaments, it has to use the gym at HMS because the auxiliary gym at HHS is not large enough for competition. Krannawitter said there would be advantages to having two competition gyms on the same campus, which would include a competition gym at the new HHS and the main gym at the current HHS building that would become HMS.
The current HHS gym is booked solid, not only with USD 489 events, but also with community events and sports. Krannawitter said he would like see that community use continue at the new high school.
The current wrestling room is also heavily booked in season. HHS, HMS and youth wrestling are all using the same facility.
With the emergence of girls wrestling, HHS is running out of space for practice and competition, Krannawitter said. The district is projecting as many as 65 high school wrestlers between girls and boys practicing on two mats a the same time next year.
The HHS bond plans also include a culinary arts classroom. Helping Hands, a culinary class for special education students, is using a culinary facility at Rockwell Administration Center and students have to be bused there. They lose at least 25 minutes of class time per day due to busing, Chris Hipp, assistant superintendent, said.
The addition of the culinary arts classroom could also open the possibility of additional career technical education classes for that industry at HHS.
Although the focus of the bond is not on athletics and outdoor athletic facilities are not included in the current bond, if the bond passes in May, long-term plans would be to expand and improve athletic facilities on the new combined HHS/HMS campus.
Some of the facilities that district would like to eventually add at the high school/middle school campus would be more tennis courts, a turfed football practice field, a softball field and turfed soccer fields.
Like other activities, tennis has to split its tournaments between city and FHSU facilities. The current football and JV competition football fields are grass and in poor condition, Krannawitter said.
"If we are able to put in these facilities," he said, "these are facilities we can use as a community to bring in multiple events during the summer that would bring outside income into the community."
Soccer competes on a grass field at the high school. That terrain is so rough, players have turned their ankles.
Softball has no place to practice or play at all at the current high school campus. They typically practice at Glassman Field and compete at Bickle Schmidt Sports Complex. Krannawitter said there are issues with underclassmen driving to practice off campus. The field at Glassman is also dirt, which can be an issue when it rains.
The deadline to register to vote for the Hays USD 489 bond election is April 19. In-person early voting begins on April 25 and will be at the Ellis County Administration Center, 718 Main. In-person early voting ends at 4:30 p.m. May 9. In-person voting is May 10.