School board votes to change gears on safety plan; courtyard out of play
By Tara Brandl
Tracy Area High School will have a new look to the administration office and the safety entrance of the school at the start of the 2020-2021 school year. However, that look won’t include the courtyard that was part of a plan that was previously approved by the school board.
The safety of the students is still the No. 1 priority as the School Safety Office Relocation Plans move forward, Supt. Chad Anderson said.
“If the kids feel safe and happy coming to school, everybody can learn,” Anderson said at Monday’s school board meeting. “And just in light of all the different things going on in the world right now, we’re always keeping that safety in the forefront. That’s why I wrote the grant for that amount because that’s what I knew at minimum it would take to get some of those things taken care of.”
Previously, the board approved the School Safety Office Relocation Plans to include remodeling the courtyard into the central administrative office area and increasing the ability to monitor the parking lots and people entering the school throughout the day. However, the Supervisor of the Construction Codes and Licensing/Building Plan Review Department of the Department of Labor and Industry revised his opinion and notified the architects that if the plan was to go forward, the school would be required to add a sprinkler system to the entire school. During an Aug. 15 meeting with the MLA Architects and Building and Grounds Committee, the sprinkler system cost was discussed.
See this week’s Headlight Herald for more on this article.