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Northland Community Schools has invested a ton of money to provide its students with the technology necessary to prepare them for college and careers after high school. This has been a real advantage for our students, but has been problematic for our infrastructure. Simply put, our buildings have not been designed to handle the energy demands of using and charging hundreds of laptops and Ipads. This results in tripped breakers and overheating issues that often cost valuable educational time. Our buildings also were not designed to be "tech friendly" in terms of wifi access, and, although we have found ways to work around this, a new facility built with these issues in mind would better serve our students.

The current model for how media centers are to be used is a flexible, energetic space where kids can share ideas, gather information and the space to allow for small group work, multiple classes during a class period without safety concerns, and cut back on congestion with a more efficient design. This is far from what is available at NCS. In the high school library there's only one entrance and students are going in and out of it hour after hour carrying expensive technology while trying to get to class on time. It's hard to believe an accident hasn't already occurred. Our students are also engaged in many classes online from MNInfinity and CLC, which they take in the library. The constant in and out is very distracting for these students, especially during testing. Finally, if a student does need a quieter place, it would be nice to offer them something other than a supply room.

The elementary library has issues of its own. It is a wide open space. This sounds advantageous in theory, but is difficult in practice. The library is part of the largest walking space in the school. There is constant traffic there. If you're the librarian and you're trying to do a read along for example, it's hard to keep 5-12 year old's interest when a constant stream of students are walking by. If you need the space for a student to make up a test, or flexibly group students for lessons, etc., there's nowhere to segment off or gain a quiet space to study. Even book checkout becomes difficult if a large group is in the racks and others are transitioning from lunch, physical education, or music classes.

The administration, faculty and staff have used creativity and patience to try to provide media centers for our students. We do the best we can with what we have. A new facility designed for today's model of education would benefit our students greatly. The way that students are educated is not the same as it was 50 years ago--it's not even the same as it was 5 or 10 years ago. So much is changing so quickly, our current facilities have really become inadequate for the future.

Please come out and Vote on November 9, 2015 to give all the students, families and educators at Northland Community School the building they deserve.[[In-content Ad]]

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