The community forum planned by Wayland Union School District officials Monday night revealed one perhaps overlooked aspect of the bond project that was approved by voters almost a year ago.
Lisa Gulch, who serves as coordinator of the local senior citizens group activities, brought up wants and needs of elderly citizens in the district.
Interestingly, she said seniors probably could use community space for cooking classes.
“They’ve lost incentives to cook,” Gulch said, but right now it’s too costly to transport them to classes in Grand Rapids or Kalamazoo. She said creating a local space for the art would be beneficial.
“A kitchen with an island would be outstanding,” she said.
Gulch also said the seniors could use more round tables for better socializing and rectangular ones for instruction. Furthermore, parking, especially for handicapped people, would be desirable, as would a new sound system.
Supt. Tim Reeves acknowledged that perhaps seniors’ wants and needs hasn’t been discussed enough in public and he assured Gulch that, “Our goal (in the projects) is to create more community space.”
The senior citizens’ program associated with what used to be called community education has been meeting two Wednesdays each month at the district’s transportation building on Wildcat Drive. Though the site is adequate, Reeves said it might be desirable to find a better, more appropriate place.
Reeves told the dozen who attended the forum that he and school board members wanted to talk about branding, which seems difficult in a district that includes communities other than Wayland, particularly Dorr, Moline and Yankee Springs.
He said lacking branding makes its difficult for the schools to located a uniform identity.
And, Gulch added, “The kids have a very different perspective than adults about our identity.”
Discussion about the progress of $49 million bond project was inevitable.
Reeves was asked about plans for a room for robotics and he indicated that part of the project is in Phase Two while Phase One has just started.
“We haven’t knocked on that door yet,” while reporting the first phase has been all about getting ready for a new pool, making roof and windows repairs and completing a parking lot project the high school.
While discussing the pool, the superintendent assured those present, “We want to build a Chevy, not a Cadillac,” meaning keeping costs down will be a priority.
The superintendent said every effort will be made in the next couple of years to avoid sinking any money into the aging pool.
“We don’t want to put any more dollars into a car that’s just going (eventually) to the junkyard.”
Reeves said it has been customary for him to meet periodically with citizens for coffee, but attendance has been sparse.
“We’re trying to do something a little bit different here tonight,” speaking of the venue as the Lumberyard Events Center on the west side of Maple Street.
