This recent news story addresses a lot of issues that schools are having concerning budgets, however notice how many of the issues cited (kid's health, security, etc.) are in fact centered in providing gym lockers, more storage areas and overall basic concepts of safety?
This economy has strapped a lot of schools and their budgets. And the clear fact is that schools across the nation are getting older with each passing year. Unfortunately the years add up, and gyms, lockers, desks, benches, playgrounds and other aspects of a school facility are aging as well.
Take this school in Austin, Texas. The school is literally crumbling down around them—so much so that officials are considering shutting the school drama theater down due to the fact there is one dressing room…One dressing room which needs to accommodate the 800 students who are in the Bowie Theater Program.
Oh yes, and the ceiling is falling down--literally.
Furthermore it doesn’t help that the football team has been growing as well. According to one source; “My son's freshman football team had 103 players, and there are locker rooms for 44,” said one parent.
Also listed in the report are issues of “staph infection” possibly due to having to stack gear together in piles and not having enough gym lockers to accommodate those players. Scary stuff for any parent.
Also made mention in the report is the fact the limited lockers that are available don’t even come with locks, which leads to theft in an already deteriorating and miserable environment.
A school experience should NOT be like this. Schools should not resemble an episode of “Hoarders” and who suffers most from it? The students. Students who are supposed to be getting a quality education.
Now there are of course many solutions—the main one being the $892 million dollar bond that is going to be put before voters on May 11, 2013. But how did things get this bad?
If you are an administrator who is facing such issues with budgeting, and dare we say “overcrowding” and limited resources, then maybe looking outside the box is where viable answers might be found.
“Buying used lockers usually boils down to costs for a school,” said Tim Oliver, salesman for SchoolLockers.com.“That is the primary reason.”
Lockers are mentioned quite a bit in this news story and this is one area a school can cut costs, yet still effectively eliminate those gym “staph infections” and “theft issues.” Purchasing used lockers can also help the drama department’s overcrowding, let alone help solve the dangerous decisions to keep leaving stuff which impedes safe exits in emergencies.
The option of buying 'used' really isn’t a novel idea for most administrators.
“Usually by the time the customer comes to us on school lockers, they’re pretty much in the mindset they want used lockers,” adds Oliver. “What we often do is if there is huge budget constraints, we’ll offer them a couple different options. One is used lockers.”
“We’ll also offer them new lockers, un-assembled,” said Oliver. “Because some of the time, particularly if they are fund raising and so forth, they’ll have parents that might be interested in helping them assemble the new lockers rather than buying used lockers.”
That “sweat equity” allows big time savings to some schools that choose this cost cutting route.
“Assembling them will probably will cut costs from their budget by maybe between about 20 and 30 percent on average,” states Oliver. “It could vary a little from that, but between 20 and 30 percent of budget savings. We provide instructions, all the hardware and everything to do it, so there’s a lot of schools that have done it, and usually they are saving a lot of money by ordering un-assembled lockers—usually it works out between $25 and $40 dollars per column.”
Oliver emphasizes that when looking at potential used school or gym lockers, to check locking mechanisms, and one area especially—the condition of the hinges.
“Hinges are another factor.The hinge tends to wear over the years so they check that, make sure it is fully functional,” said Oliver. He recommends also thoroughly checking latch bars and attached hardware, handles, or basically any moving components.
Let’s hope that in Austin, Texas they will find feasible solutions for the students at this high school.
To view/read the actual new story concerning the Austin school and bond issues; click HERE
