Construction on a new student space at Windsor High School ground to halt on Thursday, when a handful of student and adult protesters planted themselves on the recently scraped patch of ground between the gym and the multi-purpose building.
The patch of ground is slated to become a student gathering area, proposed to have artificial turf, large rocks and trees for shade. The project and design was approved by the school board at their June 30 meeting. However, some students feel that their opinions were not appropriately considered in the approval process.
They were particularly concerned about the non-sustainable products being used in the turf and seating, as well as the usability of the turf, citing how hot it gets.
Senior Toby Feibusch organized the protest.
“There was a slight process of talking with some students on campus, but when separate students realized this was happening and the turf was being put in, they emailed and created petitions to the board, but the board didn’t really take us seriously,” she said. “For now, our main goal is to just have the board put a pause on the project. We’re not even trying to discuss if turf is good or bad or whatever. We want to have a conversation with the board and have the board take us seriously, because this is our space and we want to be a space the we enjoy. We will not be allowing construction to move forward until the board comes and meets us here and agrees to put a pause on the project and have a conversation with us.”
The space was discussed for close to an hour during the June 30 board meeting, and vice principal Amy Zigler outlined several outreach events which had occurred with students in advance of the project and the additional considerations that had to be considered in the design process.
“The project started with the idea we were losing a great deal of trees and shade and health benefits when the solar panels went up in parking lot. So, we were looking at opportunities to replace trees and do that within campus to provide shade,” Zigler said. “When we looked where we might add them, we realized we had this large area in middle of quad that was fallow. In addition, we’re always trying to keep students out of the parking lot so we needed more seating to accommodate students during lunch and break times.
“We had some ideas come through from students in regards to fruit trees and garden beds and a variety of trees and plants and some of that was nixed by the maintenance department because of concern for rodents and garden beds that require a lot of care and groundskeepers in short supply (the district just had to lay off most of its groundkeepers due to budget shortfalls),” she continued. “We started with designs and wanted to take to student designs, so we worked with students from Committee For Change and incorporated what we could. We wanted it to not just be a garden, but welcoming to all students, and we tried to address the issues maintenance brought up.”
Feibusch doesn’t feel those efforts were enough.
“She said they had a few meetings, which leads me to believe not that much consideration was given on that broad of a perspective. In fact, there was zero consideration, zero meetings with a wide range of students,” Feibusch said. “I assume that the students who were contacted about ideas were leadership students, which are not an accurate representation of student body as a whole. It was also presented to the core senate, and I am a core senator and when the project was presented it was presented as a point of information, not a point for discussion … it wasn’t put up to the whole student body. I never heard about it while it was being designed and I’m pretty active in school activities.”
The district’s construction manager Eric Van Pelt stated at the meeting that while the board could “definitely make changes to the contract,” it would depend on what items had already been paid for and that the district would “lose a portion of money on the mobilization piece, and then if we cancel the contract, we’ll have to do another review process, so maybe we’d be lining up for next summer, which will add another year and cost escalation.”
Feibusch said she and others were willing to have there be no project or improvements, rather than have a project they didn’t want, citing the fact that the patch of grass had been largely untouched since the building of the school.
Lisa Hadley Hill, a teacher at WHS, was there to support the protestors and believes more time is needed to discuss the project.
“Students were invited to partake in the design and the students did provide some designs, but then due to COVID that conversation stopped, so I think that’s where the disconnect happened,” Hadley Hill said. “The world went into pandemic; everything went crazy and this timeline was really pushed forward and we didn’t know there was this tight schedule and we were left out of that conversation. This quad has been this way throughout the entirety of WHS history … to have no project would be acceptable because it’s already been that way. Granted, now we have started this and have a mud pit, which will be a problem.”
She also was worried about the project’s sustainability.
“To have the plastic turf and the plastic rocks, as opposed to the natural, and with climate change happening, we just really don’t need to have any more plastics being produced and used. I know (Zigler) is trying hard to make a space for students, there is no one who is being malicious in the design. It’s just a matter of it was rushed so quickly and because of COVID those ideas didn’t have an opportunity to be fully vetted, and we were kind of left out of the decision-making process.”
Newly minted superintendent Jeremy Decker came to talk to Feibusch with board vice president Stephanie Ahmad, who had been a proponent of pausing the project during meeting deliberation, but who had been swayed by the financial and timing challenges.
“Toby, myself and Trustee Ahmad sat down and discussed the best way to move forward,” Decker said. “The project cannot be halted unless the majority of the board were to take action, and make that decision. As the next board meeting isn’t scheduled until Aug. 4, that proves to be problematic. Having said that, Toby has definitely made an impact on the project. Because of her civic engagement, we are looking at alternatives to some of the products called out to be used.”
Though he acknowledged the students halted work today, he said the plan is still for it to move forward.
“There are not any plans to pause the project at this time,” Decker said. “My understanding was that should it be paused, it could not be completed until next year, and usually projects increase in cost by roughly 8% each year. There could be other factors that I am not aware of as I have only been the Superintendent since July 1.”
Though the resolution remains murky, Decker was quick to praise Feibusch’s dedication and said it was already making changes to the project.
“I am really proud of Toby for what she did today. She stood up for what she believed in, and when sitting down with Trustee Ahmad and myself, was very articulate in what she hoped to accomplish,” he said. “Because of Toby’s civic engagement and advocacy, the district will be replacing some of the artificial features that were planned with green options instead. While the turf will be moving forward, it is important to note that the district had already made the decision to use organic infill instead of the rubber that is commonly used. In addition, myself and Dr. (Lamar) Collins will be setting up a mechanism with which to gain greater insight from Toby and others for how gain valuable feedback on items of interest to students.”
