[Vision2020] Fix Elementaries

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (April 24, 2005) Lewiston Morning Tribune with a special thanks
to Lori Maxwell

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Fix elementaries


Our community will have the opportunity to vote on a $29 million facilities
bond levy on Tuesday. Much has been said about the proposal to build a new
high school. I would like to highlight the proposed improvements to the West
Park and Russell elementary schools. 

While all four of Moscow's elementary schools offer a comparable,
high-quality education to K-6th grade students, their facilities needs are
quite dissimilar. West Park and Russell, unlike Lena Whitmore and McDonald,
have not had major facility improvements for a number of years. This bond
levy would provide major electrical and plumbing upgrades at both schools to
meet the needs of our students. It would allow West Park kindergarten
students to attend classes at West Park, rather than on the University of
Idaho campus, expanding their opportunities to interact with their school
community. Classes would no longer be held on the stage at West Park while
PE is loudly occurring next door. Children who become sick while at school
would have the privacy of resting comfortably in a room adjacent to the
office, rather than lying in an office shared by school personnel. 

At Russell, this bond levy would allow accessibility for all students by
providing an elevator for students who cannot climb stairs. Classrooms would
be enlarged, so that the same number of students, desks, computers, etc.
would fit comfortably as they do in the other three elementary schools.
Sinks would be installed in the classrooms so that students can wash their
hands, get a drink, and participate in science experiments with minimal
disruption. ... 

Lori Maxwell 
Moscow

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Take care, Moscow.

Tom Hansen

Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will
stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving
path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so
far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.

-Sir Winston Churchill