Challenges

Understand our district's needs.

Safety and space needs are the biggest challenges for our school district. Students cross County Road 28 multiple times during the day going back and forth between the high school and elementary school in Newfolden. This poses multiple safety risks. Enrollment in our district has increased by about 60 students in the past seven years. Projections indicate this trend will continue and we won't have space to accommodate all of our students.

*2020 drop in enrollment related to COVID-19 pandemic.

Safety Concerns

Parents in our school district indicated their top concern, in a 2019 survey, is student traffic across County Road 28. This is a result of our students sharing facilities between the high school and elementary school. High school students use the cafeteria in the elementary school and elementary students use the library, music room, and art room in the high school. 

Elementary and high school students cross County Road 28 multiple times every day to access shared facilities between the buildings.

315
Number of students crossing County Road 28 every day.

50
Number of weekly instructional minutes lost for each student walking between the school buildings.

5
Number of times an elementary student may cross County Road 28 in one day.

Space Needs

Viking Elementary Space Needs

• The music room is undersized and not handicapped accessible. We need a larger music room that can allowed elementary age students to move while they sing and provide more flexibility in programming options.
• The existing kitchen/cafeteria is very small and does not provide enough room for our needs. The hallway entering the cafeteria is also very small creating delays when groups are entering/leaving cafeteria.
• Preschool and Head Start currently share one classroom, which forces us to alternate schedules. There is significant community demand to increase the number of days for both programs, but we don't have the space.​​

The cafeteria at Viking Elementary School is undersized.

• The staff lunch room is too small to accommodate staff.
  
• Students and staff currently share bathrooms, which creates privacy issues and delays due to limited fixtures. 
• Our speech teacher and social worker share space on the old elementary stage. This room is adjacent to our music classroom and gym. One-on-one time with children is difficult due to noise level and activity.
• Our nurses area is also located on the stage, and is a long way from the main office. We share a nurse with another school district, which means half of our days we are without a nurse. We try to check on sick children when the nurse is gone, but it's not ideal. Most teachers keep sick children in their classroom on the floor until their parent arrives.​

The old stage at Viking Elementary is shared by the nurse, speech teacher, and social worker.

Newfolden Elementary Space Needs

• Elementary students cross County Road 28 every day for music class at the high school. Due to expansion of the elevator in Newfolden and other business north and east of Newfolden an increase in truck traffic along this county highway raises safety concerns. 
• The cafeteria is undersized for current needs, which creates long lines and additional lunch shifts.
• Students cross County Road 28 when they need to use the library. The old elementary library was repurposed into a classroom due to increased enrollment.
• There is no additional classroom space for specialty classes like art and science labs. Teachers use their existing classrooms but the space is not conducive to these activities.​​

Students do art, science, and music activities in their regular classrooms because we don't have space for rooms dedicated to these subjects.

• We lack the appropriate space for our after-school and Freeze Kids program. The existing cafeteria space is loud and distracting for the academic support program. After school program currently remains in the cafeteria and Freeze Kids day care participants walk across street after snack to the High School Library.
• We need a larger gym for physical education and junior high games to meet recommendations provided by the Department of Education. The existing gym was built in 1941 and is very small. Safety concerns include minimal space between the court and walls, as well as between the court and stationary bleachers. We also do not have a locker room.
• The building lacks a parking lot to fit staff vehicles. They currently park along the street and the north side of the county highway which decreases visibility and inhibits traffic flow.

The Newfolden Elementary gym poses safety concerns with limited space and hazards around the perimeter.

MCC High School Space Needs

• The high school does not have a kitchen or cafeteria.  
• The high school lacks gym space for junior high practices and games resulting in need to use Newfolden Elementary gym which is undersized creating safety concerns.
• Shared use of Music room with elementary limits expansion of music program and scheduling flexibility.
• There is no dedicated parent drop off/pick up area resulting in sharing this space with buses. Parking lots have one entrance/exit causing congestion and safety concerns in morning and afternoon.

Participation in our Junior High Sports is outgrowing our elementary gym. Boundaries are very close to walls creating injury concerns.

• The weight room is undersized and does not meet current needs of students or demands of the community. 
• Our sidewalks and pavement need to be replaced. 
• The current gymnasium's multipurpose nature does not provide the necessary space when we have special events like programs, concerts, graduation, Home for the Holidays, and local trade shows. When we have those events our gym classes are displaced or students go into a classroom losing activity time.
• The building lacks automatic heating controls relying on older pneumatic systems. This creates constant monitoring and adjustments to control heating. The building also lacks dehumidification and cooling. When weather gets warm in late spring through early fall areas of the building are extremely warm and uncomfortable. 

Adding a second gym to our school would improve scheduling conflicts with special events, sports, music, and community activities.