Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 6, 1994 TAG: 9401060302
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: W-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
And it is not arriving a minute too soon, according to Joe Coleman, principal.
"We've used every available space," he said. "We're bursting at the seams."
He hopes to move into the new space Jan. 14.
South Salem, the largest elementary school in Salem, is in a growing area. Enrollment this term is 492, and Coleman anticipates well over 500 by next year.
The building addition is a $435,000 wing that will add 6,000 square feet of floor space to the current 50,000 square feet.
This will provide space for the four first-grade units to have larger, more modern rooms, each with its own toilet, children's lockers, several chalkboards and plenty of wall space.
Each room will be 28 feet by 30 feet.
It also will provide space for a reading recovery room, used for one-on-one remedial reading instruction, which now is in what was the guidance office.
The guidance office, because of cramped space, had to move into a storage room.
Coleman and Louise Wolfe, a first-grade teacher and grade-level coordinator, are particularly looking forward to the reading recovery room, which they said will be as modern and up-to-date as it can be.
"This will be a demonstration room," Coleman said, meaning that educators from other schools will use it as a model for designing similar rooms in their own schools.
It also means that student teachers and other educators can observe the teaching process through a one-way glass without being seen or heard by the teacher or pupil.
The one-way glass will look like a mirror on the inside of the room and like a large glass window from adjoining space.
When the first grade moves into its new space, Coleman said that will free space that can be used for other activities.
In addition to getting the guidance office out of the storage room, it also will provide space for an art room, computer lab, a reading room, a conference room and perhaps a room for learning disabled pupils.
"It will give us the opportunity to spread out and be more effective," Wolfe said.
Both Coleman and Wolfe praised the Salem school administration for paying prompt attention to South Salem's building needs. School officials brought teachers and parents into the planning process, they said.
They had particular praise for Michael Bryant, assistant superintendent, who has construction experience. Coleman said Bryant did much of the planning for the addition, bringing together his background in education and construction, and during construction he has kept a watchful eye on the process.
South Salem has grades kindergarten through 5 with 24 teachers and a total staff of 50.
It is Salem's "round school" - the original structure, built in 1967, is circular shaped. Since then two wings have been added.
The school is on Carolyn Road off Mill Lane in the southwest area of Salem.
by CNB