As Columbia Public Schools looks to plan its next 10 years in facility management, Columbia residents said Monday night the district should focus on increasing outdoor learning opportunities and playground activities.
The themes emerged during a World Café roundtable discussion Monday night at the Stoney Creek Hotel & Conference Center. World Café is a community engagement meeting held annually by Columbia Public Schools that is used to garner ideas and input about district priorities. Participants’ thoughts and questions are recorded and used in future board meetings.
Monday's meeting was with the Long-Range Facilities Planning Committee, which makes decisions about the district's 10-year facilities plan. The previous 10-year plan focused on maintaining existing facilities, eliminating some trailers used as classrooms and growth of the district.
Columbia Public Schools spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark said the World Café meetings are important in gathering the community's needs and expectations.
"The first community conversation around long-range planning was actually held back in 2005 when we began the initial planning process for developing a long-range facilities plan," Baumstark said. "It's carried us a long way."
Resident Christine Roberson wants the district to have more greenhouses. She said it could help students learn about the environment more effectively.
"This is direct-contact learning for a whole range of students, but you can talk about world hunger, climate and the cool little green things that you got from there," Roberson said.
Karla Yung, a teacher and parent of two children at New Haven Elementary, said the district should consider having more outdoor classrooms.
"Rock Bridge Elementary has a fabulous outdoor classroom," Yung said. "They even have seating out there and a pond, where they try to keep track of wildlife, and it backs up to that Rock Bridge woods."
The district should also push for more physical activities outdoors, resident Sara Snodderly said, so that children can burn off energy during the day.
"I think the outside piece is important — having the capability to expand on space when there is more physical activity, P.E., extracurriculars and sports," Snodderly said.
Besides expanding outdoor learning, community members at the meeting expressed that the district should focus on better facility maintenance.
Yung shared some of the general maintenance issues that she and other teachers have noticed in their school. Yung brought pictures of the issues she has seen, including duct tape being used to repair a bathroom door.
"As a parent with other teachers who are parents of kids there, we have a very high free-and-reduced lunch percentage, and so we want our kids to come to school and have a nice place," Yung said.
The district has three aging buildings — Ridgeway, Benton STEM and Two Mile Prairie elementary schools — and discussion was brought up about whether to expand and renovate the schools or build entirely new ones.
A few people, including Jolene Schulz, a retired employee of the district, said that expansion of historical school buildings is necessary.
"I don’t want to see those old schools destroyed because I think there’s a purpose for them," Schulz said. "I think it’s up to us to find out what that purpose is, and I think that comes from the teachers and the people who are in the school system right now."
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