The Logan City School District Board of Education approved a proposal to build a new special education classroom at Bridger Elementary School over the summer. This project will allow the school to have two Essential Elements classrooms, compared to only one currently.
Don Bell, the district's facilities manager, said more Essential Elements classrooms need to be added to accommodate current and future students. Essential Elements is a program that teaches students with mental disabilities.
“Every year at this time I make a list of district-wide capital requests and try to prioritize the ones that will be submitted for review in April,” Bell said.
“One of the requests identified so far is the need for more Essential Elements classrooms at Bridger Elementary School.”
Bell said the reason he is bringing the project to council earlier than usual is because it needs to get started sooner in order to be completed on time.
“This is a big enough project that if we waited until April, we would probably be delayed in completing it by the start of school in the fall,” Bell said.
Bell said they need to start planning and bidding now so construction can begin as soon as the school year ends. He said the project is expected to cost between $250,000 and $300,000.
The proposal would split Bridger Elementary School's learning center into two sections and use them as two new classrooms. We also plan to incorporate the storage room and extra space around it into the new classroom to allow for larger classrooms.
The room currently being used as the only Essential Elements classroom will be converted back into a kindergarten classroom.
The learning center, which will house the new classrooms, is currently a hallway area that can be divided into rooms, Bell said.
“These learning centers are expandable sections of the hallway,” Bell said. “It has an accordion-shaped wall that can be folded down to create a collaboration or meeting space. However, it is currently not being used as a classroom.”
In the new Essential Elements classroom, remove the accordion wall and build a regular one.
Marcy Elliott, director of special education, said the expansion is necessary because more special education students are enrolled. Elliott said Bridger Elementary School's special education department is already close to full, with the school only losing one fifth-grader after this year and adding four to six new students.
After speaking with staff, Bell said he believes the changes will eliminate the need for special education classrooms at Bridger Elementary School for at least the next five years.
After presentations and discussion, the Logan City School District Board of Education unanimously approved the proposal.
