A massive crack climbs the wall in Room B25 at West Junior High School.

“It’s pretty bad when you can see into the class next door,” West ninth-grader Scott Shreders said. “People pass notes.”

But that’s nothing, added classmate Bridgit Hoffman. Just turn on a shower in the girls’ locker room.

“The water is brown,” she said. “It’s disgusting.”

Those are two of the infrastructure problems at West that officials say would be fixed if voters on April 1 approve the Lawrence school board’s $59 million bond issue for school renovation and construction.

Half the bond — $30 million — is earmarked for the district’s four junior high schools. West and Central junior high schools would receive $3.2 million for interior renovations. The plan at Southwest is to use $2.5 million for a classroom addition and cafeteria expansion. At South, $21.1 million is set aside to replace the junior high.

The balance of the bond: $15.7 million for high schools and $12.8 million for elementary schools.

Debt would be paid off over 20 years through a property-tax increase estimated to be $5.80 a month for owners of a home with a $100,000 assessed valuation.

Central Mustangs

The senior citizen among Lawrence junior high school buildings is Central, a towering red-brick structure at 14th and Massachusetts streets.

Its heritage as former Liberty Memorial High School makes the school a Lawrence landmark. But the place is showing its age.

Southwest Junior High School students make their way to the school's west entrance after attending civics class in a portable classroom. If the proposed 9 million bond issue passes April 1, new classrooms would be added to replace the portable classrooms.

“A lot of people value this building,” said Ted Juneau, Central’s principal. “If people really want to value it, we need to do some upgrading.”

Stepping back in time is easy at Central. Visit the rest rooms inside Central’s front door. Narrow overhead windows, wood panel stalls and hardware are of pre-World War II vintage.

But some of the windows haven’t functioned for 15 years. The trim is distressed. Stall doors are missing.

Move on to Central’s main gym. It’s unlike any other in the district. Seating is limited to several rows of red bench seats anchored to a balcony that hangs over the court.

“It’s ‘Hoosiers’ about 1923,” Juneau said.

The bond would provide $3.26 million to renovate 30,800 square feet of space at Central. It would permit the school to accommodate 600 students.

The project at Central would be finished in June 2005.

Central’s classrooms would get new paint, carpet and ceiling tiles and lights.

“It’s also our hope that we can reconfigure some of them,” Juneau said. “We’re stacked on top of each other.”

Windows, doors and exterior walls would be repaired. Improved accessibility for people with disabilities are included in the plan. The main entrance would be changed to improve security.

“We can’t do a good job right now of seeing who comes in or out,” Juneau said.

South Cougars

There is support even among vocal anti-bond activists for the notion that South Junior High School’s building is a failed experiment that can be remedied only with a wrecking ball.

“Many people have never been in that building, so they don’t know how bad it is,” said Jack Davidson, the lone school board member to vote against the bond plan.

The bond issue would buy a new 120,000-square-foot junior high for $21.19 million. It would be built east of Broken Arrow School, which sits about 30 feet north of the existing junior high building. Once construction was finished, the old South would be demolished.

South Principal Russell Blackbird said a walk through the school usually was enough to get visitors lost and convince them that renovation isn’t a better option. The school’s circular design and open classrooms no longer meet student needs.

“Some classrooms cannot accommodate the enrollment,” he said. “We have an open library that is not suitable for instructional purposes. The theater is vastly inadequate for fine arts. Asbestos prevents our building from being wired appropriately for technology.”

The situation at South is unhealthy and dangerous, Blackbird said.

Skunks and mice live beneath portable classrooms on the school’s east side, known as “SJHS East.”

“Kids walk through the building and you can tell they’ve been in a portable. (The smell) permeates their clothes,” he said.

Curved walls inside South make it impossible for a teacher monitoring any hall to see more than 10 yards in either direction.

Under the bond proposal, Broken Arrow School and South would share a commons area and cafeteria.

“I don’t think there is hardly a soul who doesn’t think there needs to be a new junior high school, probably on that spot, sooner or later,” said Burdett Loomis, a frequent critic of the proposed bond.

Southwest Bulldogs

Principal Trish Bransky is blasted by chilly winter weather when she steps out the back door at Southwest Junior High School on her way to the school’s academic suburb.

Southwest, the district’s biggest and newest junior high, has the distinction of using the most portable classroom trailers in the district — six.

Under the bond, $2.51 million would be spent to build a classroom addition to replace the portables. The school’s cafeteria also would be expanded.

“These are a security problem,” Bransky said after hustling inside an old double-wide portable. “Every 45 minutes we have an average of 135 kids coming in or going out. It’s impossible to secure the doors to the main building.”

Inclement weather poses safety risks for students and teachers in the portables, she said.

Bransky said academic issues also come into play with portables. The seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders at Southwest are less likely to visit the library or counseling office because they have so much farther to go. Teachers in portables feel somewhat isolated from the rest of the faculty, she said.

New classrooms would be on the school’s back side. The cafeteria extension on the east would alleviate severe crowding at lunchtime. Two small special-education resource rooms also would be tacked on. Construction would be finished in January 2005.

West Warhawks

Math teacher Kathy Wagner has grown accustomed to the crack on her wall of Room B25 at West. Same goes for the slanted floor behind her desk. The roof leak has been plugged, at least for now. Ceiling tiles that got wet haven’t been replaced.

“They painted over the mold stain,” Wagner said.

Under the bond proposal, 30,000 square feet of space at West would be renovated at a cost of $3.28 million. The work would be done in February 2005.

Originally, the idea was to build an addition to replace West’s portables. Mick Lowe has been West’s principal for 18 years, and one of the school’s portable classrooms predates that.

“I’m convinced one bolt is holding it together,” he said.

¢ Photo gallery¢ 6News video: Area elementary schools would benefit from bond (3-15-03)¢ Class size incites ‘passionate argument (3-16-03)¢ More stories on the school bond issue

But the plan changed after parents, students and teachers at West raised concerns about the school’s infrastructure. All the money would go to renovate the existing building.

“We’re concerned about the level of upkeep,” said Jeannie Robinson, chair of the site council at West. “It has just about inadequate everything.”

Shreders, the West ninth-grader, said his parents were leaning against voting for the bond. But he’s convinced something needs to be done to put a little shine on West. The crumbling building is a morale-killer, he said.

“It makes the school look dumb.”