Ideas on how to make the space more inviting to staff and students which will lead to increased use.
- We were told there was no money to purchase conduit to cover the exposed cords on the wall.
- purchase our own conduit or hold a conduit fundraiser. $150 plus labor still gets us ugly stuff running on the walls.
- get some ivy or strings of floral items etc from rummage sales and wind it around the conduit to make it at least look artsy
- Find other discarded wires and cords of different colors, hang them on the walls and call it "texture"
- Furniture is from the 1970's
- spray paint the chairs
- contact the tech ed department to see if they could make new tables and chairs
- gather cool, sturdy comfortable seating from garage sales and staff to make sections of comfy furniture to use
- Lighting is terrible
- Find extra lamps and end tables to use
- take off old plastic
- experiment with different wattage bulbs
- Paint job is terrible
- make graffiti type displays
- plaster up cool photos and pictures on top of paint job
Hi, Janel,
ReplyDeleteCan you get your students or local artists or both to work on some of the painting projects? Student murals -- including a graphic novel/hip hop graffiti type display would be very cool. A student artist painted flowers on a section of our cinder block wall last year and it was amazing what a difference it made.
Manitowoc's art community has done a painted chair fundraiser (sort of like the Chicago Cows or Sturgeon Bay Sturgeons or Appleton Lions, except not outside) and it was amazing what people came up with for chairs. You could try that one of two ways -- either have students redesign/paint the chairs so they look better, OR turn the chairs into original art, sell them, and buy comfy furniture.
The ivy or scarves or whatever sounds like a potential fire hazard to me, but maybe you could try for an industrial punk look with the hanging wires. Put a label on the wall that says "Information Highway, 1990" and see what comments you get. :) Has Mr. Fire Inspector seen the cords hanging on the walls? Isn't conduit or something a requirement????
I strongly recommend that the next board of education meeting and the next PTA meeting be held in the library as is --- maybe with the current LJ issue with the architectural winners as a display item. [ok, maybe not the last part. but you could ask for help or suggestions and see what happens]
Ask the students what they want -- maybe an online poll that the community could also participate in?
What's your nearest home repair superstore? Lowe's? Home Depot? See if they do local grants or if they would work with you on a low cost makeover.
I would encourage you to consider that home furniture doesn't really stand up to industrial level use -- I worked in a library where the principal bought furniture from a discount furniture store and created a little living room in a corner of the library. The kids loved it, and were actually very careful and respectful, but it really lasted only one school year. It did however, include end tables and lamps.
My late night brainstorming. . . let's see what others think.
What an interesting project! And Amy has some great ideas for you too! I'm not too creative most of the time, so I don't have too much for you now. But I agree with Amy about the cords hanging -- I'm pretty sure that they are considered a fire hazard. I was told at one of my schools that the cords needed to be in conduit for the fire dept. even in the ceiling (Perhaps they could be asked in to look at something else -- maybe the 6 ft. aisle(which you would have) -- and they could see the hanging cords all by themselves!)
ReplyDeleteAt Stockbridge we had computer carrels created by tech ed. students. They were OK, but eventually they were replaced with Formica-type counter-tops with bracing at appropriate intervals. Since my computer lab ran along the outside walls of the media center, that worked quite well. They were plenty deep for the monitors, and the towers divided the space well for the students. I would have preferred that there be enough space between the computers so that two students could share computers, but since no one asked me what I wanted.
Personally, I wouldn't run just a conduit fundraiser; I'd go for an entire redo for the library (including new books). Have you asked for anything on www.donorschoose.org? I haven't used it, but I know a couple of teachers who have and they were pleased with the result. You could try to get the PTOs for the district to donate the Boxtops money or other similar programs money for this too.
Just a few thoughts. It will be interesting to see what others come up with.