The Future Of Dallastown Schools
"If you were to leave now and not come back until the construction was finished, you would find very little to be the same as it is now," said Dr. William Thompson Dallastown's Superintendent. Many changes will be taking place through the next few years. The Middle and High School will be changed to meet many needs of the students. By the end of this report you will know and understand the changes occurring in the Dallastown School District.
Technology is a big issue for the schools. Dr. Thompson said, "If we ran the cable for the Internet now, it is very expensive." "The construction would just tear it apart." "When the construction is finished the schools will have cable access, four drops, and a teacher station in each classroom." "Also Distance Learning with Millersville college may start before the construction is over." "If you are a Sophomore or Junior and real good at Math you could take a college course from Millersville through Distance Learning."
"The gym in the Middle and High School will be renovated. Both gyms will be doubled in size," commented Dr. Thompson. "The High School will also be getting an additional weight room, training room, and wrestling room put in."
"There are going to be many changes done to the Middle and High School," replied Dr. Thompson. "The High School will be separated into departments. The library will be moved to the central core of the building. There will be eighteen to twenty new classrooms put in. This means about twenty five additional kids in each grade or five hundred more kids in the school," commented Dr. Thompson
"As for the Middle School, the office will be moved to the new entrance which will be where the cafeteria lobby is now," stated Dr. Thompson. "All the music will be moved together. (Bands, Strings, Chorus.) The Middle School will be separated into teams, now they are split up."
The population of the Dallastown Schools has been studied closely the past few years. Dr. Thompson recalled, "The paper here shows the population will in fact increase as we move closer to the year 2000."
"We so far have a Master Technology Plan headed by John Sherwood," replied Mr. Niles Morton who is in charge of the construction project.
"The plan will take us well into ten years. All buildings will be linked together and we will have access to the World Wide Web." The High School and Middle School hace contracts to take care of fiber technology and work stations."
"It is an intense and expensive program," recalled Mr. Morton.
"The pool will be changed immensely," replied Mr. Morton. "It will be made one third deeper for safety regulations, there will be a new roof put over the pool, and the seating in the pool area will also be increased roughly by five hundred people."
"The cat walks in the Middle School will eventually be removed," commented Mr. Morton. "The entire space will have new buildings put in with more class rooms. The cat walk closest to where the busses park now will probably be taken down in January of 1999."
Everything that regular students can do in the Middle and High School will be made so Handicap people can use these things also. "By State, Local, and Federal law these new facilities have to be handicap equip," replied Mr. Morton. "This means if someone is hearing impaired there will be special seats or stations in the auditorium for people in wheel chairs. The building will be rebuilt automatically to accommodate everything a handicap person needs," explained Mr. Morton.
For the many activites held at the football field/track there will be some changes done to meet those needs. "The visitor bleachers will be replaced with new bleachers," commented Mr. Morton. "On the home side of the field the two metal bleachers will be replaced and meet all handicap needs."
The parking lots will be increased for the many activities held at the field. "Parking lots basically stay where they are but we are increasing the number of parking spaces by twelve hundred," replied Mr. Morton.
There will probably be many more changes done to the schools. We are fortunate to be involved in such an exciting process. As students in the buildings, we're lucky to see the changes happening before our very eyes.
