While Patriots enjoy their well-deserved time off this summer, Yorktown will undergo a series of physical renovations in order to gear up for the next school year. These changes come out of preparation for a variety of factors, most notably the arrival of what will be an exceptionally large freshman class. The upcoming changes to the building’s structure will, for the most part, be minimal – although some changes will likely affect student life in one way or another.
The upcoming renovations are the results of decisions made by the Capital Improvement Committee (CIC), a group of Yorktown teachers and administrators responsible for assessing the school’s physical needs moving forward. Jeff Stahl, a counselor and member of the Capital Improvement Committee, was able to offer additional insight on the changes which will occur over the summer.
“Even though Yorktown is not that old, it was renovated in 2012, we’re kind of running out of space. What … [the (CIC)] did was sit down, look at the building as a whole, look where there’s extra space and look at whether we’re making effective use of all the space that we have here,” Stahl said.
Evidently, after its review of the school, the CIC intended to leave no space in the building unused. Practically all free space in the building is being contributed towards the construction of additional classrooms and collaboration spaces, including a much larger Special Education suite. Endowing especially towards the development of new learning spaces are the school’s computer-oriented areas, such as the computer alcove in the library (which is being converted into part of the Special Education suite) or the computer lab (which is being cut in half and divided into two new classrooms).
Even still, there remains a commitment to maintaining spaces for work and collaboration throughout the school.
“A big theme of what we looked at was collaboration space, places for teachers to work together more and places for students to work together more …. one of the big parts of the renovation was to look at making more faculty spaces. We’re also making a lot of the spaces more student friendly … we’re looking at spaces where there might be charging stations for [students] to sit down and study. [It wasn’t entirely about] making a bunch more classrooms, it was more about how [the school] would look for students. We looked at the pods … we’re looking at how to make this a little bit more student friendly, so when [students] come back, [they] might see more furniture, more tables, more areas for students to work,” Stahl said.
Evidence of these commitments to comfort are already visible in the current blueprints for the renovation, which feature additions of new lounge seating in spaces like the science commons, charging stations and walk-up counters in the atrium and cafeteria and a new indoor bike storage space near the gym.
Despite all of the developments being made, the school could easily still be hard-pressed to accomodate for the 2018-19 student population.
“Next year, we anticipate all of the classrooms being used. Every teacher might not have their own classroom – there’s going to be a lot more shared rooms,” Stahl said.
Even still, he remains optimistic, and seems confident that the work done by the CIC should help to make life easier for the Yorktown community.
“I think it’s gonna be a good thing,” he said. “… In terms of student life, I think it’ll make the whole building feel a little more comfortable. … I’m hoping we did a good job of making spaces where [students] can hang out and do work.”
