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Bringing Wayland High School into the 21st Century
By Lea Anderson, Chairman, High School Building Committee
March 5, 2007 - The same building which served 1,300 Wayland High School students in 1970, is running out of space for the 920 students there today. The tremendous number of changes in the educational program over the past half-century since Wayland High School was built is driving the need for a very different school today.
According
to Timothy B. Lee, local educational consultant and
President of the Independent Educational Consultants
Association, "The college admissions process continues to
become more competitive. Top schools are looking for
students to distinguish themselves with a challenging
curriculum and deeper and richer extracurricular
experiences."
WHS students are
responding to the challenge by placing a much greater demand
on the school today. For example, 95% of students take
4 years of laboratory science, up from 60% in the 1960’s.
60% of students take 2 or more years of a foreign language
versus 8-10% 40 years ago. In addition, the number of
sports teams has more than doubled, and the number of
students in the orchestra has more than tripled since the
1960’s. The bottom line is that it takes more
classrooms and more athletic space to serve the same number
of students than a few decades ago.
Federal and state regulations affecting education have also had an impact on the utilization of space. In the past 30 years, the educational program at Wayland High School has been significantly affected by regulations such as No Child Left Behind, MCAS, “special needs” legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title IX, more stringent environmental and building codes, air quality standards, and other health and safety rules. For example, in 1970 there was no space allocated for delivering “special needs” education. About 17% of Wayland students are served by special education (the statewide average is 20%.) Today, 6,300 square feet of classroom space is committed to this program, in addition to regular classroom space for these students.
Another development in the educational program is the reliance on technology for science labs, teaching, learning and administration. Wayland High School did not consider technology in its design and as a result, electrical wiring is completely inadequate. There was no space provided for computer labs or servers and no provision made for the air conditioning and other needs of this equipment. According to Kevin Delaney, Department Chairman, Social Studies & Business, “The immense frustration with the setup, slowness and unreliability of the technology, on the whole, results in teachers simply deciding not to use it. So that's a load of bad news for our 21st century students.” As a stopgap solution, a limited network and some computer labs have been installed, but this was at the expense of 4,200 square feet of classroom space.
Overcrowding and technology issues have also affected the science program at Wayland High School. Jay Chandler, WHS Chemistry Teachers says, “Lack of space and overcrowding has resulted in the elimination of most of the complex lab demonstrations that I used to do when I first came here 16 years ago. With AP Chemistry tests putting more emphasis on labs, I am concerned that our AP students will be missing some of their lab experiences.” Many of the labs also lack current safety features such as eyewash stations and sinks, facilities for the storage and disposal of chemicals, and proper ventilation and exhaust.
If Wayland High School does not have the space, the alternative is to begin denying access to certain academic, athletic and extracurricular programs that have been part of the Wayland High School experience for many decades. While this cannot help but compromise the education that students receive, Wayland is quickly moving in that direction because the high school is out of space.
Lea Anderson is Chairman of the High School Building Committee and can be reached at LeaAnders@comcast.net.
Articles in Series:
Bringing Wayland High School in
the 21st Century
Wayland High School: News
from the State
What to do about Falling Concrete
at Wayland High School?