Nose for News, By Sarah Stultz

Since I found out my son, Landon, would be attending Halverson Elementary School next fall, I have had a particular interest in the upcoming Albert Lea school referendum.

Although the upgrades at Hammer Complex and Albert Lea High School make up a majority of the $24.615 million request, I’d like to focus a little on the $2.92 million being proposed for improvements at Halverson.

Have you ever had the opportunity to be in that school?

Though I have not yet had a child attend there, I have had the chance to be in there several times since I moved to Albert Lea, whether it was to interview for stories for the newspaper or to volunteer with my Kiwanis club.

If you walk into Lakeview, Sibley or Hawthorne elementary schools, you only have to walk a few feet once you enter the front doors to be at the office, where there is usually a secretary and the principal’s office.

Things are different at Halverson. Though the front office is still within the line of sight of the front doors, a person would have to walk past the school’s library, a social worker’s office, a hallway, a classroom and another hallway on one side to actually get to the office. On the other side is a special education classroom and the school’s gym.

It is kind of unusual to have the office in the middle of the school, and not really a safe space, in my opinion, for several reasons. Even if you could see the front doors of the school from the office, you could not react quickly in case of an emergency simply because of the distance.

One of the proposed upgrades at Halverson included in the referendum involves moving this office to the front of the building, where there is currently a special education classroom. People entering the building would walk into the office area first before going into the rest of the building. The special education classroom would be moved to the old office space. 

As Halverson Principal Tonya Franks wrote in a column a few weeks ago, the new entrance would not only help the building remain secure, but it would lessen the amount of traffic — and distractions for students, in my opinion — throughout the building.

The second part of the upgrades at Halverson have probably been discussed more and that would be to expand the school’s gym space into a full-size gym.

Not only would this help provide more space for physical education activities during the school day, but it would provide for more space for school activities with students from multiple grades in attendance and community activities after school and in the evenings.

As a parent with a child soon to be attending this school, I appreciate the chance to make these projects a reality and feel they will not only benefit the students who go there, but also the community members who utilize the gym through other organizations.

Though there is a lot to consider before next week’s referendum vote — and this was only a small part — I encourage everyone to take the time to look at all of the projects being proposed.

We owe it to ourselves and the children in the community to be informed about the vote before we go to the polls.

Sarah Stultz is the managing editor of the Tribune. Her column appears every Tuesday.