Construction is a normal part of our daily lives. If you drive down any road the chances that you will see some buildings being worked on or built is very high. So, for Greenwood High School to be doing work on the building doesn’t seem out of the ordinary or weird does it. Since construction is part of our normal lives people don’t usually put much thought into who or what it might affect. The construction that is going on at Greenwood High School is affecting people in more ways than you would think.
The new remodeling of the school is supposed to be done in 2-3 years. So the freshmen and sophomores at GHS now will get to experience all of the new changes and the finished school. While some students have been here the whole time to be affected or graduate before it’s done, the teachers working here have been through it all and still have to put up with it. For instance part of the remodeling is replacing the floors. Some of the teachers have to move out of their classrooms to get their floors replaced. On top of that in some of the classrooms they are doing work on the ceilings. So the teachers that have to move out of their classrooms have to stay out for a while. Ms. Sells the choir teacher here at GHS, is very affected by the construction. Ms. Sells had to vacate her room and move to the auditorium as her classroom. Ms. Sells said, “…that space had become a home for all of us. And getting away from that emotionally was a little hard for a lot of people but we have made it work.” She also said, “It’s nice to have your own space again and kind of have your own privacy and your own little corner of the world. As students, I think it’s important to have a place that’s familiar to you. The auditorium is lovely but it’s just very public.” Ms. Sells feels there are more distractions being in the auditorium than being in her classroom.
She will not get her classroom back until the fall of next year. She feels that it’s important for students to have a place to go and that her classroom was a home for many of her returning students. Not having her classroom is affecting her, and her students in a way that most people wouldn’t think about.
Along with having to move out of the classroom the noises of construction can be heard all over the building. Ms. Kilcoyne just moved to GHS from Drakes Creek Middle school this year so she hasn’t been here long, but the construction has still affected her. Ms. Kilcoyne was the art teacher for Drakes, and is now one of the art teachers for GHS. Ms. Kilcoyne said, “There is some loud banging upstairs”. The loud noises can cause problems for the students and teacher. The students might have a hard time hearing the teacher. The loud noise can also cause distraction to the students and it can be hard for them to focus and concentrate on their work. There are already distractions in the classroom already, such as phones or computers, so there doesn’t need to be anymore. The loud noises also can cause problems for teachers because it can be distracting to them too. The noises and sounds could cause them to lose their train of thought and make it hard for them to teach.
With all the work happening there are so many extra people in the building. Ms. McGinty is one of the language arts teachers at GHS. Ms. McGinty said, “the distractions, or all the loud noises, and the extra adult humans randomly walking around the school buildings…”. They cause distractions for her and her students. These people are doing their jobs but so are the teachers. So while the construction is getting done it is causing distractions in many different ways.
Even though the work on the building is causing distractions and some people are displaced, the school needed to be updated. Ms. Kilcoyne, Ms. McGinty, and Ms. Sells all commented on how the building was old and needed to be updated. They all, in some form, said that the school is going to be better when it’s finished and they are happy that the school is getting remodeled despite what distractions and other inconveniences it’s causing. Ms. McGinty said, “I think we needed an upgrade, and I’m especially looking forward to the new library.” She also feels that the teachers should have gotten an opinion on some things with the construction. Ms. McGinty does not like the new floors. If the teachers have to be displaced when they got their floors done then the teachers should have had some opinion in the say of what type of floors got installed.
While there are good things about the construction at GHS, there are also the bad things. The school needed a change and is going to be new and better, but in the process some of the teachers are unhappy because there are many distractions, and teachers are displaced all over the school. Sometimes the construction can be an inconvenience but in the end it will all be worth it.