According to the National Center for Education Statistics, school buildings should be renovated every 20-30 years but CPM (the school and the building) just had its 51st anniversary. When polled, a few teachers gave their suggestions for improvement on the building. “Just having, you know, hallways that are closed so we’re not cold all the time,” said Ms. Evans.

She also brought up the fact that some of the techs aren’t fully up to date, including the security cameras. Ms. Collins said she has contacted the school board to get new security cameras put in, and CPM is next on the list.

Ms. Evans also mentioned that CPM’s design is based on a school in California that also had an open campus. This means that it’s possible for someone to walk into the school and be able to blend in with all the students, which could possibly be unsafe.

“Just safety,” Ms. Evans said. “Safety for students is the biggest thing right now.”

Staying with the idea of student safety, referring to the school building, Ms. Labiak said, ”It’s not very conducive for people who are disabled. Like with physical disabilities, It’s really hard for them to get around the school.”

She mentioned the tiers on the floor of her band room as well. She said that multiple people have slipped and fallen down them, spraining their ankles. It’s also been a problem because students in wheelchairs or on crutches haven’t been able to get up them very well.

Ms. Labiak also brought up the issue of needing more space: “One thing I would suggest is making the commons a little more versatile.” Having band concerts in the gym is fine, but if she could renovate the commons she would add seating that pulls into the wall and a stage so we could have band concerts in there and maybe even a small assembly.

Ms. Nanez mentioned size as well. “Students don’t really have anywhere to store their belongings.” CPM has lockers in the changing rooms, but because there has to be enough space in the hallways for students to walk, more lockers weren’t added.

She recommended adding “more collaborative space for students and staff.” Aside from the commons and classrooms, there really aren’t many places to have one-on-one or group meetings during school hours. Adding more spaces for that could have multiple benefits for CPM’s community.

Ms. Smith, CPM’s head custodian, said that there weren’t many problems with the campus, but she prevents most of the issues like water damage and possibly mold before they happen.

She and her team cleared all of the branches and leaves off of the roof so water can’t pool and possibly rot the wood, but she said that cutting down the trees that are too close to the building would help prevent that. She also said that she wanted to beautify the campus a bit more. “I want somewhere nice for the kids to be.”

Ms. Smith does a lot of the gardening that you see on campus and she wants to make sure it looks nice for everyone to enjoy. She wishes kids would pick up their lunch trash more because it’s bad for the environment and for the overall campus appearance.

Overall, most of the teachers have come to a consensus that CPM needs a remodel, but they’ve actually already made some improvements. Over spring break they replaced the majority of the tiles on the gym roof and added in some new tech.

Here’s the poll that was sent out to the teacher’s CPM: