New parking lot and bus loading zone helps make school a safer place
The start of a new school year will bring a few changes to Falls Elementary School, including a new parking lot and bus loading zone.
Principal Jerry Hilfer and Transportation Director Jeff Veeder said the parking lot work is intended to create a safer situation with separate school bus and vehicle pick-up and drop-off areas.
“It has been a problem for a long time,” Hilfer explained. “We’ve always needed to do something about the parking lot congestion and just never had the money to do anything.”
An accident last year involving a bus and a young student helped spur decisions about the parking issue.
“After the accident, we knew we had to make some necessary changes,” Hilfer said.
Veeder added, “As a school, we developed a Safe Routes to School Committee made up of school officials, city officials and parents to develop a new strategy to help with parking lot congestion.”
With the new parking lot system developed by the committee, only buses will be allowed into the loading zone. Traffic flow through the parking lot is one-way only and runs east to west. Distinct arrows have been painted on the pavement and will help direct traffic and the drop-off zones are marked with yellow, diagonal lines.
“The city wanted to eliminate parking on 15th Street,” Veeder explained. “With everyone parking there, there left little to no room for emergency vehicles to get through if they needed to,” he said.
“The new system will be safer for everyone involved,” Hilfer said.
Veeder agreed by saying that he believes the school has come a long way with this solution and he is happy with what has been established.
“The system will be a big safety boost,” Veeder said. “I’m confident it will help put parents as well as everyone involved at ease.”
The International Falls Police Department as well as school paraprofessionals will be on hand for the first few days of school to help with any confusion.
Other changes
Aside from a new parking lot system, Hilfer noted that there are 12 new teachers joining the Falls Elementary staff this year.
“There will be a lot of rotation of classes within the departments,” he explained “We’re pleased with the additions we’ve made to our staff.”
SMART boards are also making appearances in more classrooms. SMART boards are interactive white boards used to help improve student’s learning and understanding of concepts. These boards combine the simplicity of a white board with the power of a computer. The SMART board interactive white board allows teachers to deliver dynamic lessons, write notes in digital ink and save any finished or unfinished work — all with the touch of a finger.
“We have found these boards really enhance learning and we are pleased to put them in more and more classrooms,” Hilfer said.
Falls Elementary is also developing a new math series called “Everyday Math”. This style of math is a presentation of multiple methods or procedures for the basic operations of arithmetic — addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Everyday Math is designed to help students grasp concepts unclear to them and guide them in a way that is more easily understood.
“It is going to be quite different than what we had before,” Hilfer said. “It’ll be a new challenge that will hopefully help both students as well as teachers.”
The curriculum for spelling will also change with the coming school year. Instead of each student have a generic spelling list, they will each have their own list designed to fit their personal reading level.
“Test scores showed us that there are areas in need of improvements in the way we are running our schools,” Hilfer said. “We want to target instruction based on the student’s own level in hopes of improving some of these scores.”
With school starting Sept. 7, the changes will become more clear for everyone involved and Hilfer hopes this year will be a good one.
“I’m excited for school to start,” he said. “It is going to be an excellent year.”
