When a construction worker jumped out of Michelle Martinez’ classroom window, both Martinez and her students were shocked and humored by the encounter.
“A man just walked in front of me, said nothing [and] nodded to me, and then just opened the window and jumped right out,” Martinez said.
A construction worker had this interaction with Martinez during the second bell, causing a disruption to her lesson about the Subjunctive case. This wasn’t the first time construction workers had used her room.
“They used my stool as a ladder without asking me, and they put my chair out on the roof and used it to climb out there and do something,” Martinez said. “And then they brought it up and the guy said, ‘Did you know that your chair is wobbly? You should get that looked at,’ and I thanked him for the advice… As a result I did go to IKEA and buy a new chair.”
This is only one of the experiences since the ongoing construction, from the Bubble to the cafeteria. The outdoor dining area, an unpopular lunch spot among students, is currently being constructed to become an extension of the cafeteria.
“[When it rained] people were eating in the arcade… We didn’t design it for [students] to eat in, it was just a pass-through,” Executive Director of the Alumni Foundation, Debbie Heldman, said. “But it became where kids ate because there wasn’t enough space in the bill [the district gave us for expansions].”
Every year, the district sets a budget and a certain amount of square footage available for construction. However, the budget WHHS received did not increase enough to sufficiently accommodate the growing number of teachers and classes along with the changes made to the cafeteria.
“I did a graph of how many students and traveling teachers [we added], and importantly, which the district never remembers, we added about 20 support people,” Heldman said. “So what does that mean? That means [more] mental health people, more counselors, the Student Success Center, etc., but I didn’t get any more square footage. They just kept adding people.”
Originally, Heldman planned to add a new wing of classrooms to the Music Lyceum, but the district did not approve the plan. Because her choices were limited, she worked with the administration to find a different solution.
“I took care of [the students] and the teachers but the [support staff] were still going to be in closets because I didn’t have any more space,” Heldman said. “They said to me, ‘Well, maybe you can look at existing spaces in the building and figure out a better way to use them.'”
Over the summer, Heldman worked with administrators to redesign six spaces to utilize the square footage available and offer students more services. These resources are a part of the administrators’ larger goal to help students.
“We’re always looking for what’s on the horizon,” Heldman said. “You’ll see as you move forward that you want a liberal arts education even though you might be STEM-driven, [because] if you want to do research that’s one thing, but if you want to own a research company, then you need to be able to speak, and write and do all those [other] things.”
While Heldman realizes students may see the construction as an inconvenience, she believes that constant improvements are necessary.
“If you look at the bike rack or you look at the Veterans Memorial or you look at the benches in the arcade, all those are all things we’ve done,” Heldman said. “They weren’t just there, you know, and students don’t know any different… those are all enhancements to your overall experience here that we think are important.”