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ADA plans started at CCHS |
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Wednesday, February 11 2009 |
By Chris Meyers
Staff writer
In light of some of the obstacles in the way for people with limited mobility at Columbia City High School, plans are underway for how to best improve the facility with money that’s available.
In October 2008, a local parent, a Homestead High School student and a local resident who all must use wheelchairs showed administration at the high school how difficult everyday life was at CCHS without full leg or arm movement.
Since then, staff and administration at the high school have created a list of items that need improved and work is underway.
“I think we have covered about all our bases,” CCHS Principal Gregg Goewert said at this month’s work session meeting of the board of school trustees, regarding conversations with fire officials and others about the access at the building.
Even without any major changes, he said he has seen people in wheelchairs attending athletic events and they seem to be “doing fine” in terms of access to the facility.
He highlighted changes to two of the building’s entrances as being the top priority for creating easy access to the building.
The front doors under the marquee and the doors that lead to the main hallway from the portable classrooms are the entrances most likely to be fixed with automatic door openers because they see the most use by students and the public.
Getting some cold patch asphalt material for filling a large gap between the pavement and a ramp which leads to the weight room south of the portables is also a possibility.
As for the inside, the highest priorities are to make sure students in wheelchairs have easy access to the elevator and lift.
“We think it would make sense to remove having a key,” Goewert said of one possible change. Students must currently wait for a custodian to come operate the lift and elevator.
As for the lift, it may be replaced with a ramp so students can use it without needing to wait for someone with a key.
“It’s commonly referred to as the lift of shame,” Goewert said of the lift which, according to those on the tour of the high school in October, moves much more slowly than most lifts in public places.
Goewert said maintenance director Dan Rex was meeting with contractors to get prices and specifications for a ramp if one was to be built. The ramp would most likely not affect the senior lockers in the main hallway.
WCCS has about $300,000 budgeted from 2008 specifically for improvements at the high school that could be used for some of the ADA improvements.
“That’s money that’s sitting there that can be used for high school improvements,” Tony Zickgraf, business director for WCCS, said today.
An additional $368,000 has been budgeted for CCHS for 2009, but has not been finalized.
“I feel good about where we’re at with the investigation of it all,” Goewert said.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, February 12 2009 )
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