Fairfield High School repaves parking lot

FAIRFIELD — The Fairfield High School’s west parking lot was repaved this year, with a slightly different configuration that will allow for more parking spaces.

Fairfield High School Principal Addiy Phomvisay said the barriers on the old parking lot had deteriorated so much from cars driving over them that they had become a safety issue. Another problem that this new parking lot solves is getting rid of a big tree that was obscuring visibility.

“I witnessed several close calls by that tree,” Phomvisay said. “We also got rid of the islands, which were hard to maintain. This will help with cost savings and time during snow removal.”

The newly paved parking lot has orange and black paint — Trojan colors — and they were striped in a perpendicular fashion to the road instead of at an angle. Phomvisay said that this new configuration, without the angled parking and without the angles, has allowed FHS to add 20 spaces.

The new parking lot cost the district about $380,000. Though most of the west parking lot was repaved, there was a strip of parking spots on the western edge that was left alone. Phomvisay said that strip was still in good shape, and the district wanted to save money, so it decided not to repave it.

In addition to this renovation to the parking lot, the interior of Fairfield High School is being spruced up over the summer, too. Phomvisay said all interior hallways are being painted, except for those portions of the building that were recently remodeled.

“The interior is much brighter and cleaner than before,” Phomvisay said.

Something new to look forward to this coming school year is the Leader In Me development program in every building.

“We’re going to focus on the seven habits of highly effective people by creating a culture of leadership and empowerment for all students and staff,” Phomvisay said.

In an effort to better prepare high school students for a career after graduation, the high school plans to hire former Fairfield Middle School Associate Principal Matt Jones as its work-based learning coordinator. Phomvisay said the idea will be to expose high school students to a variety of careers, so that by the time they graduate, they will have some work experience, and a better idea of the career they’d like to pursue.

“Through the state’s Ready Iowa Initiative, high schools are creating programs that focus on work-based learning and apprenticeships,” Phomvisay said. “That’s helpful not just for core academic learning, but also helps students develop soft skills and technical skills.”

Phomvisay added that, as school administrators prepare for the upcoming fall semester, he’s been proud of all the work done by maintenance and custodial staff this summer.

“I really appreciate those teams, and we can’t do our work without them,” he said.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com