Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Facilities topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Brenda Hubbard, Del Rio teacher, urges removal of campus schoolhouse and Hogan over safety, calls for ADA-compliant sidewalk
Summary
Brenda Hubbard, a fourth-grade teacher at Del Rio Elementary, said the school will remove a one-room schoolhouse and a Hogan because of infestations and mold and will replace the area with an outdoor reading and garden space; she also said an adjacent sidewalk will be replaced because it is a tripping hazard and not ADA compliant.
Brenda Hubbard, a fourth-grade teacher at Del Rio Elementary, urged school leaders to remove a one-room schoolhouse and a Hogan from the campus because of safety and health concerns.
Hubbard, who said she taught fourth grade at Del Rio Elementary for about 25 years, told the meeting that the Hogan is "a breeding ground for black widows and scorpions" and that both structures have critters living in and under them and a buildup of mold. "For the safety of our campus and for the safety of our students, we have to remove the one-room schoolhouse and Hogan," she said.
The schoolhouse and Hogan, Hubbard said, were built by community members and have been used for hands-on Arizona history lessons—activities she described as including branding and gold panning and a long-running Arizona history day. "For 20 years, the fourth graders have used the schoolhouse to create many memories and for hands-on teaching," she said, describing the structures as central to the curriculum.
Hubbard said the removed structures will not be left as empty space: the area will be converted into an outdoor reading and garden area intended to support students' literacy goals. "We're going to make it an area for students to be able to reach their million words," she said, adding that water infrastructure has already been installed and that the work is starting.
She also raised accessibility and safety concerns about a sidewalk adjacent to the schoolhouse. "Over the years, it's become a tripping hazard and it's certainly not ADA compliant for those students that we have that are in wheelchairs," Hubbard said. She said the sidewalk will be removed and replaced with new concrete and curbing, with accents that will "harken back to our history."
The comments were delivered as a public statement; Hubbard framed the changes as being made "for the safety of our campus and for the safety of our students." The transcript includes a later line—"It's my fourth year at Del Rio"—that appears inconsistent with her earlier statement that she taught fourth grade at the school for about 25 years; both lines appear in the record. Hubbard ended her remarks by urging the community to "stay tuned" and by saying, "it's always a great day to be a Cougar."
