WORTHINGTON — The move to the Intermediate School has begun, as workers navigate around stacks of boxes and furniture to put the final touches in place for the future educational home of grades three through five.
Eventually, the school will house 650 students, with two grades moving there from Prairie Elementary and one from Worthington Middle School, which will significantly decrease overcrowding issues in those schools.
Principal Katie Clarke and Assistant Principal Cory VanBriesen gave a sneak peek of District 518’s newest completed building to visitors from Crailsheim, Germany, on Friday, leading them through spacious, airy hallways and brightly-lit gathering spaces, including the media center, cafeteria and gymnasium.
The gym, Clarke explained, doubles as a tornado shelter for the school, and features its own generator and restrooms. Should the city of Worthington lose power, it could even act as a crisis center for the town.
Primarily, though, it’s a gym large enough to accommodate two basketball courts, with the same chevron design motif that can be found repeated throughout the building, painted in red, black and white.
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“The chevron design is inspired by prairie grasses,” Clarke said.
Nearby, work was yet to be completed on a set of bathrooms, as the signage proclaimed “BOY” and “GIR” at their entrances, and in the offices, painters’ tape marked off locations for more red, black and white chevrons yet to be filled in.
Clarke explained the building’s security to the Crailsheim visitors, noting that all the doors except the front door will be locked during school hours. The front door leads to the office, and from there, visitors must be buzzed in to get into the school proper.
Immediately off the entrance is the media center, a two-story-high room filled with windows and light, plus a stunning view of the farm fields behind the Intermediate School. The chevrons there are in shades of blue and green, with decorative neon lights providing even more light.
The cafeteria’s chevrons share the blue and green motif, which can also be found in the brick pattern on the wall. The tables are still wrapped in clear plastic, but the buffet counters are partly set up and ready to be moved into place.
Music rooms have plenty of storage space, sound-absorbing panels and, in the band room, a tuba sink, much to the amusement of the visiting Crailsheimers.
There’s a special education area with classrooms, offices for counselors and therapists, and a large bathroom so that students who have their clothes changed can do so.
On the other side of the bow tie-shaped building from the specialty rooms lies the academic wing. Third grade students will occupy the upper floor, and fourth grade and fifth grade students will each occupy one side of the lower floor in a pod-style arrangement. Much like Prairie Elementary, classrooms are located around the outside of the building, with plenty of windows to the outdoors and also to the large commons area outside the classrooms. Eventually, the commons areas will have flexible seating and furniture.
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Each of the general education classrooms has its own sink, storage, whiteboards and more.
There are other specialty rooms too, including a science, technology, engineering and math lab, rooms for the school nurse, and an art room with no carpet and two sinks.
Teachers had to box up their classrooms before June 1 and the move began June 2, Clarke said.
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