text: Hortonville Area School District - Space Needs Study
  These are just a few of the facts that show Hortonville Area School District's pressing need for more space in the district. To address these space concerns, HASD has put together a Space Needs Study Team. "The goal behind this group is to take a look at our space needs in the district and what will need to be done in the future to address them," says Dr. Heidi Schmidt, HASD District Administrator.
  The team's first meeting took place on September 26, 2012 with twenty-five people in attendance. The group consists of a combination of elementary, middle, and high school teachers; administrators; board members; community members; and parents. During this meeting, concerns from each building in the district were addressed. Examples include:
  In GES, there are currently no vacant classrooms in the school, leading to closets being renovated for student needs, as well as turning a second lunch line room into a classroom
  HES has had to divide its media pit into two spaces: one for Special Education, and the other for a book room. They have also had to eliminate a computer lab to accommodate an additional classroom.
  HHS currently has 1100 students in the building, and is lacking common areas of a suitable size in areas such as cafeteria and halls. There are four lunch periods throughout the day with the current size of the cafeteria being too small to accommodate all students.
  The Technical Education department at HHS, which will be implementing its 3rd Project Lead the Way (PTLW) class next school year, currently does not have enough space for the equipment it will need to run the class.
  The Transportation Department's number one concern is safety. "There is such a large quantity of buses in a small area that it makes backing into the street dangerous, especially with students nearby," explains Schmidt. There is also no secure lot for the buses to be parked in, and due to the lack of space, this has many of the drivers taking their buses home each day.
  Bringing these concerns to light is important in order to make a well-informed recommendation to the School Board by mid-January on how to move forward and alleviate space concerns. The space needs team will follow a 7-step process to arrive at this recommendation:
  Analysis of district facilities (looking at building maps, usage per room, and condition of all buildings)
  Population analysis-enrollment study being completed by a third-party company
  Identification of needs—Mr. Steve Romatz of Blue Design Group will conduct several interviews with staff from all buildings to listen to space needs and future educational classroom needs
  Architectural program development—Review existing space and needs; program and population driven
  Committee recommendation and consensus
  The next Space Needs Study Team meeting will take place on October 10, 2012 at 5:00pm. An update from the meeting's discussion will follow, so stay tuned on this important topic!