A custodial closet will become a computer lab, and a rarely used locker room will be an art station as part of Wadena-Deer Creek Elementary remodeling projects.
Several remodeling projects are being planned for the Wadena-Deer Creek Elementary in Wadena to accommodate the kindergarten through sixth grade.
The school board decided to close the elementary school in Deer Creek and to move the fifth- and sixth-graders to Wadena this fall.
Superintendent Jerome Enget hopes to have cost estimates ready for the school boards approval at the March school board meeting.
Rooms to be affected include the office, locker room, a custodians storage room, east wing classrooms and the portable classroom.
ADVERTISEMENT
Its really utilizing the space better than we have in the past, Enget said.
Grades will be moved within the building, too. Fifth and sixth grade will attend classes in the east wing, where some third- and fourth-graders were. The second-, third- and fourth-graders will attend classes in the west wings lower and middle levels. First grade and kindergarten will move to the south. Other kindergarten classrooms will be between the gym and media center. Preschool programming will now be in the portable classroom.
The Wadena elementary school itself will undergo changes.
The locker room, which wasnt used much anymore, will have a new purpose, or multi-purposes, Enget said. The
lockers in the middle of the locker room will be removed and will replace the lockers against the walls in that room. The center of the room where the lockers were will become an art station. A new storage area will be created in the shower room.
Meanwhile, a 23-by-16-foot custodial storage room is being converted into a computer lab with 25 stations. Counters will be added, and the room will have a new suspended ceiling.
More computers will be in the east wing, where the fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms are. Classrooms will each have four
computers.
ADVERTISEMENT
The portable classroom will be used for some of the preschool programming. Some walls will be removed to create a larger classroom.
The building remodeling projects also include adding doors and repainting and carpeting.
Visitors will see some of the changes immediately when entering the building.
A new door will be positioned between the entrances double doors to allow visitors to go directly to the office after entering the first set of double doors.
The changes are to be completed before the next school year, Enget said.
