District plans for future facilities

 

By Saebean Yi
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

The All Student Center will soon open but there is no firm plan for facilities improvements or additions afterwards at Davis High.

However, a Facilities Master Plan is currently being developed by the Davis Joint Unified School District.

Maria Clayton, the public information officer of the Davis Joint Unified School District (DJUSD), said that the Facilities Master Plan would be used to “identify long term demographic trends, assess current facilities conditions and envision educational program opportunities.”

The planning started on Oct. 17, during a meeting of the Superintendent’s Facilities Master Plan Advisory Committee. DHS science teacher Eric Bastin was one of the many attendees at the meeting. However, Bastin said the meeting wasn’t specific to DHS; it was just “laying out the framework for how things would proceed.”

While the meeting was only limited to staff, Clayton says there would be future opportunities for outside involvement.

“Community outreach is a key part of this process [. . .] there will be opportunities to get student input on the process as well,” Clayton said.

The district plans to hold two public forums in the near future that will be open to the community to discuss and plan facilities. Clayton said that any interested members of the school community are welcome to participate and can provide feedback.

“The final outcome will be a Facility Master Plan that will enable the Board of Education and DJUSD administration to make strategic decisions about investing on upgrades and new construction that will serve students and employees in the 21st century,” Clayton said.

The science facilities are one of the oldest parts of the school, and chemistry teacher David Van Muyden said that the school should start considering to improve them.

“The buildings here are old; some improvements wouldn’t hurt,” Van Muyden said.

Van Muyden also adds that chemistry rooms could use an improved and enlarged storage room.

“There are so many science classes at DHS, and there’s only one storage room for all of them [. . .] it can be difficult and hard at times,” Van Muyden said. “Most sophomores end up taking some sort of chemistry, it would be nice to see some building revamps in the future.”

Sophomore Jishnu Sen also had some ideas on what the school should try to improve on.

“Lots of bathrooms around the school have broken locks, and could be in better condition,” Sen said.

Sen believes that additional water fountains would be more convenient, as sometimes they can be too far to access.

Even as students wait for facilities to be improved, they still enjoy the school’s most recent improvements. The most notable recent change is the remodeled weight room.

Sophomore Arthur Konychev takes strength and conditioning.

“[The weight room is] definitely an improvement and it makes the experience better [. . .] it makes strength and conditioning more enjoyable, and the equipment is really nice,” Konychev said.