Tour Updates

A group of about a dozen Toledo community members toured Woodland HS, Hockinson MS and HS and Parkrose MS yesterday. Participants commented about how much natural light was present in all schools and how some schools did not take proper advantage of that light. The schools were all two story structures and participants noted that the configuration didn't isolate students or create divisions. Ordinary classrooms were noted to have about 900 sf while Science and Art classrooms had 1200 sf. Technology included rooms with multiple teaching stations, projectors or monitors on the wall as well as amplification for teachers to help students hear instruction better. Woodland noted that their card lock system was added after the design phase. They noted that this had been a problem for them.

In talking about the tour on Jan. 30, participants noted that they would like to visit Bud Hawk Elementary in Bremerton. Photos of this school received the most positive feedback during the Jan. 10 visioning meeting. Ross Parker called this morning to say that one of the schools we'd planned to visit isn't ready for visitors yet. He worked out a plan that would allow our group to leave a little later in the morning, arrive back to Toledo a little later in the evening and be able to make the trip to Bremerton to see this school. Itinerary for this trip is below. Given the interest in the photos of this school, I think it makes sense to make the change. If you'd like to participate, please notify Dale Merten at ToledoTel. A limited number of seats may be available.

In all, participants on yesterday's tour remarked that they'd seen things that they liked and things that we should not include in our designs. Both pieces of information are valuable to the process. We hope you'll be involved if you're able.