BY NICOLE ASBURY
Following a winter break, Eudora High School students returned to a remodeled school library with new furniture and study spaces.
Library desks can now separate and move around to allow students to distance from one another. A new glass enclosure was moved into the library to create a separate study space. New shades also will be added to the space.
The changes required some electrical rewiring, as the library checkout desk moved into a separate section of the library, and some of the bookshelves had to be moved around to help make the change. In total, there are seven flexible spaces in the library.
“We had to take out some of our bookshelves for our library, but we were able to manipulate that furniture and reorganize it and put it back in there,” said Eudora High School Principal Ron Abel. “So we’ve had the same amount of book space as we’ve always had.”
The remodeled library was a hard push two years ago, Abel said. The Eudora Schools Foundation identified donors who could help make the changes.
The altered space is also part of ongoing changes to the building that help accommodate for growing class sizes. Each year, there has been an increase in the number of students in each class.
The Eudora School Board tours each facility firsthand to get a perspective of what’s happening in the schools each year, said Mark Dodge, the Eudora School District’s spokesperson. Over the past couple of years, there have been conversations about maximizing different spaces.
“It’s needed an update,” Dodge said. “But the opportunity to provide additional collaboration and additional learning spaces, it just was a good opportunity.”
The library’s remodeling also will be used as a space for classes as standardized testing comes up. For the upcoming ACT exam in February, a section of EHS’s building will be blocked out for juniors to take the test. Abel said the students who usually take classes in that section of the building will be able to come to the library instead.
Since the library has been remodeled, Abel said students have used the space when their workload gets heavy because the furniture is comfortable. Teachers also check out the space for class sessions.
“I would say this is used quite frequently,” Abel said.
The library had a small reopening ceremony earlier this month that remained socially distanced due to the coronavirus pandemic. It featured opening remarks from Abel and a ribbon cutting ceremony from the high school’s senior advisory group.
Reach reporter Nicole Asbury at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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