1963

1964

PIONEER
November 1963

Truck rides, roof climbs highlight tour
by Andy

   Written after a recent tour of Maine South

   Ffsstrook. Fffsstrook, Fffstrk. Ffstrk. Squealy windshield. Why not on a nice day?...Cluster of people. Must be it. Spkerrrch. Darn brakes
   "We have with us Dr. Swanson, President of the Board of Education..."
   "Now, let's climb in the trucks and get going."
   "All right, let's stop here. Hold it. Stop! I said. 'Stop!'"...We are gaining any income possible from the site while it is being developed. The sale of sand and clay overlay, particularly good for baseball diamonds, added $5,200 to school funds in October. Seventeen lots along the east side of the school will be sold at public auction....All right, let's start moving again. Tell the driver to start.
   "... Okay. Here we are. Fine. Hey, tell the driver to stop. Stop! Okay."
   But it doesn't smell like a new school.
   How should a new school smell?
   Not like this one.
   "As you can see, the auditorium here has an entrance directly off Dee Road so that it may be used by civic groups, women's organizations and others during the day when it might not be needed for school functions."
   Lots of nice cold, clammy concrete. But treacherous footing. Wire and pipes and beer cans. Take good notes. Gym seats three thousand. Football games to be played at Maine East field. There will have to be Saturday afternoon games.
   Now we're going up on the roof.
   The roof?
   Watch out for the skylights.
   "From up here I think you can get an idea of what we get excited about in regard to this school. Right now is a poor time to see it, but you can imagine the rich stretch of greenery that we will have across the street... Now over here is the commercial and math and language wing..."
   A shambles. Big hulks of classrooms.
   "Here we find classrooms designed specifically for definite learning needs. This one is a language room..."
   rrrrrrrRRRRRR (Hey, what's that?)
   RRR (What?)
   RRR (huh?) RRR
   RRR "Well, here we are in the" RRR "Say, can you hear me? I said, here we are in the Centers Area. This area is composed of the library, surrounded by homerooms. Unlike the present practice of having" RRR "students go to study halls, each student will spend free periods in his" RRR "homeroom."
   RRR "The library will provide" RRR "books, periodical,s and audiovisual materials. Students will study both in the library and in the homerooms. Now in the four corners of this Centers Area are located lecture rooms for television teaching and team teaching." RRRR "Any question?" RRRRRRR "Well, I guess that is it." RRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrr
   What do you mean it doesn't smell like a new school?