Like their students, teachers usually get most of the summer off.
Not so this year for the staff at Joseph M. Demko School. Staff and teachers there have spent much of their summer break at work as they put the finishing touches on St. Albert’s newest school.
“I’ve basically been here the whole summer except for four days and weekends,” said principal Les Kirchner, busy every day co-ordinating supplies and contractors.
Kirchner said he got the keys to the building from the province on July 18, which meant he could bring in contractors to put in the intercoms, video wall, furniture and other systems. The library books arrived July 30, and a mob of volunteers shelved them all the next day.
Teachers got their room keys on Aug. 2 and spent much of August organizing their new classrooms.
It’s been a bit of a change for teacher Brad Shillington, who taught at Sir Alexander Mackenzie for the last 14 years.
“I decided to do a clean slate,” he said, and he’s designed an all-new layout to match his new furniture. He’s also been busy ordering the math-teaching tools for the whole school and planning the year’s activities for his Outdoor Pursuits students.
Gym teacher Glenn Mack said he was preparing for the start of school at Demko months before the last school year ended, as he’s now running a K-to-9 program instead of a K-to-6 one. That meant building the climbing wall, ordering all the balls and hockey sticks and jerseys, and planning all 20 school-wide phys-ed activities for the full year.
“I’ve got 350 new names to know,” he said, as unlike his old post at Muriel Martin he won’t know most of his students from the previous year.
The first week
Kirchner said the school will hold a welcome back barbecue on Aug. 28 so parents and kids can get their supplies, meet the teachers, and check out their rooms. Junior high students will have an options class orientation on either Aug. 29 or 30.
Shillington and Mack said the first day of school will be a busy one, as they’ll have to teach the kids all the safety procedures and where everything is in the building. It might also be tough on their throats, as they haven’t used their “teacher’s voice” for two months.
“The first week I always enjoy because the kids are always so excited to come back,” Shillington said. He personally is looking forward to reconnecting with teachers he hasn’t worked with for many years.
It’s been a busy summer, but Kirchner said it’s been worth it to see everything come together at the school.
“The kids will make the building come alive.”
St. Albert and Sturgeon County students head back to school Sept. 3.
