Stewart gym gets a makeover

The gymnasium at Stewart School is getting a makeover this fall. The Stewart Boosters led the efforts to make the gym look nicer and to make it more comfortable for the teachers and students.

The entire gym was repainted in August. Panels were put on the walls to absorb sound so the room wasn?t so loud. New basketball hoops have been ordered and are almost ready to install. The school is also receiving blinds to cover the tall windows on the north side of the gym.

April Cuddeback is the president of the Stewart Boosters. Cuddeback said the windows in the gym were installed with the other new energy-efficient windows in the building last year. She said the windows are great but the school needs blinds for them. The gym is occasionally used for Powerpoint presentations such as at parent orientation or school assemblies.

?The gym is used for presentations several times a year,? Cuddeback said. ?It?s an important resource we can share with the community.?

The only problem with the new windows is that they are too tall for the blinds the Boosters wanted. The Boosters wanted to install mechanical blinds that could be adjusted with a remote control. However, they learned from a company that quoted them a price that the mechanical blinds would be too heavy if they stretched the height of the windows, which are just over 10 feet tall. The largest mechanical blinds the company had were 7 feet tall. Cuddeback said the Boosters now have to find manual blinds of that size.

Large pads were put high on the walls around the gym as a way of stopping the sound from bouncing off and creating a racket. Mindi Rees, treasurer of the Stewart Boosters, said the room was especially noisy during lunch when the room was filled with students who were all talking and clinking their plates and silverware.

The gym will get new basketball hoops that will be transparent, unlike the ones now, which have an orange backboard. Cuddeback said the baskets will be adjustable, which is ideal for a school with small children at Stewart. The baskets could be low enough for young children in preschool and kindergarten, but they could be raised for older children or adults.

Rees said that the idea to remodel the gym came from somebody who attended a Booster meeting about a year and a half ago.

?We have an open forum at our meeting where people can say, ?I?ve got this idea to improve the school,? and that?s exactly what this parent did,? Rees said. ?We already had some big expenses that year with the sign outside the school, so we decided to pursue it this year.?

Stewart principal Adam Miller said he was really impressed with the work the Stewart Boosters put into organizing the remodeling.

?The Boosters always ask for input from our staff about what needs to be done around the school,? he said. ?We give them ideas and they figure out a way to make it happen.?

The Stewart Boosters consists of four cabinet positions. Miller attends the meetings, as do two teacher liaisons. Parents of Stewart students are also encouraged to attend the meetings.

Rees said the next meeting will be a pizza party. The meeting is at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the media center at Stewart. Child care is provided. The meeting is open to anyone who is either a parent or guardian of children at Stewart.

The Boosters donated $3,500 toward the remodeling project. The Washington County Riverboat Foundation awarded the Boosters $9,210, which is the amount of money the Boosters asked for.