Spokane’s Adams Elementary School, across the street from Ferris High School, reminds us what schools looked like in the early 20th century.
“We’ve got three different stories and do not have an elevator, unfortunately. And so, that creates some difficulties for our students that maybe have broken a leg or they're on crutches,” Principal Beth Nye. “We had a kindergartner that was supposed to register with us for next year, but that kindergartner is in a wheelchair. So, obviously, that student cannot come to our school, which is unfortunate.”
Then there’s the gymnasium, which has multiple uses.
“We affectionately call our gym a cafetorium. It is our gym, it is our cafeteria, and it is also our auditorium. And, for example, today we're having promotion here, so we need to use it as an auditorium, which, you know, creates a situation for lunch,” she said. “So, we're going to have outside lunch today, which the kids will enjoy. PE classes will be outside, as well. Thankfully, it's a bright, sunny day, but had it been raining today, we would have to scramble very quickly to figure out what our alternate plan was going to be.”
Adams is Spokane’s oldest elementary school, built in 1909 and renovated several times since. It has three portable buildings with classrooms. It is on the project list if Spokane Public Schools’ $200 million bond issue is approved in November.
Nye says the facility is not only too small, it wasn’t built to accommodate modern-day security needs.
“You've got stairwells and you can't see around the corner. And so, we're always trying to really position ourselves in ways that we can monitor students for safety,” she said.
“One of the things that I am really looking forward to is that opportunity for our kiddos to have what I call an opportunity for education in a modern facility” that will be more accessible for handcapped students and their parents.
“We'll be able to accommodate our community, because I've had many families that have said we'll have to do a virtual conference, because the parent maybe has a situation where they can't navigate our stairs, and they're not able to get into our building,” Nye said.
Adams is one of two elementary schools that would be replaced, along with the city’s oldest Northside elementary school, Madison, adjacent to Franklin Park. The bond issue would fund a new Trades High School on the Spokane Community College campus, renovations at North Central High School and Garry Middle School and capital improvements at all 66 district facilities.
Many are paired with other community projects as a way to extend the benefits of taxpayer money.
For example, the school district plans to co-locate the new Madison Elementary School with a new field house operated by the city.
At Adams, the project includes a partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Spokane County.
Chief Executive Wendy Drum says her club would provide a variety of after-school services to children in that South Hill neighborhood.
“Homework help, literacy, STEM activities, all of those kind of standard things. And then we also do physical, mental, social, emotional wellness programs to make sure that those kids aren't just succeeding academically, but they're succeeding in every aspect of their life,” Drum said.
“We do character building. We do soft skills building, where we're preparing them for life after they graduate from school. And then we're also doing nutrition, physical education. Kids need to get their wiggles out. We provide meals for the kids. So when they go home with their parents, they just get to spend time with their families, and there's not those long list of chores that parents have after their work day. They just get to spend quality time with their families,” she said.
Drum says the Boys and Girls Club would share space in Adams.
“We have this arrangement with quite a few other school districts right now, where during the school day, the classrooms are used for K-12 education. And then after school, when those rooms are typically empty, we come in and we use a few of those classrooms or a few spaces to provide after school activities until about 6 or 6.30 every night. So it actually extends the day for the building, bringing in the after school programs like the Boys and Girls Clubs,” she said.
The Boys and Girls Club of Spokane County already has a presence in other parts of the metro area, but not the South Hill.
“We know that there is a need up here. We're looking to go where we're needed and this looks like we're needed here,” Drum said.
The school district’s bond issue will appear on the November ballot, as will the city of Spokane’s $240 million dollar parks property tax levy.
