In a recent press conference, Dr. Fred Hayes revealed many changes that will occur for the 2006-2007 school year, including the opening of many classes in the new building and a possible schedule change.

The biggest change of all came February 27, when the school board voted against block scheduling. Block scheduling will not be returning for the 2006-2007 school year.

Dr. Hayes says he is disappointed by the decision and wanted the block schedule to help lower the instructional time lost. Walking between campuses causes Creek to lose instructional time, something Dr. Hayes has been very adamant about fixing.

“I feel like this campus needs to make up for a loss of instruction,” Dr. Hayes said. “Teachers don’t begin until three minutes after class starts. We lose instructional time other schools aren’t losing.”

Given that block scheduling will not be returning, new schedule ideas have been floating around to help reduce between campus traffic and give equal instructional time to Creek. All of the schedules involve extending the school day; one in particular begins at 9:30 am but does not get out until 4:40 pm.

Clear Creek will be divided into three sections next year: the new building, the construction staging zone, and the portables. The transition of students across campus will be the biggest challenge for next year according to Dr. Hayes.

“A lot of classes will be in the new area,” said Dr. Hayes. “The CLASS, Business, and Health Science [learning communities] will be moved into the new facility.”

Once the new building is open, the second stage of construction will begin.

In June, A, B, C, G, and the office buildings will all be torn down in order for new construction to begin.

The Health Science Learning Community, whose classes are currently held in the T-buildings behind the ninth grade center, will all be moved into the new building. Trooper school, in-school suspensions, and dual credit classes will all be moved into these buildings.

According to Dr. Hayes, parking will improve next year as well. A new faculty parking lot with 112 spaces will be opened by the front of the new building, allowing students to use the current section marked off for faculty this year. The gates at the entrances to the parking lots will be open longer in the mornings to allow students to park.

“Parking is actually going to bemoved to the front, and four rows will be given back to students,” said Dr. Hayes. He did add, however, that “just because we have four rows, [it] doesn’t solve the problem of parking. Student growth is still an issue.”

Certain issues and programs still have kinks to work out, says Dr. Hayes.

The Smaller Learning Communities are a slow process, and they have not had the opportunity to establish working relationships between teachers in the communities as quickly as desired.



“Students are unaware of the progress [of SLCs],” said Dr. Hayes. “It’s slower than I thought, but there are still some positives.”

Advisory is another issue that is slow to make progress. Dr. Hayes questions whether the adult advisors really know their students.

“Forty to sixty percent of students who aren’t involved in activities lack help and advisors,” Dr. Hayes said these are the students the advisory program is trying to reach. “Advisory needs to be revisited. [Teachers] need some ideas; they need some comfort. It’s not this formula that everyone is supposed to follow.”

Dr. Hayes has also expressed concern about the walkway that students must walk through to go back and forth between the new building and the rest of campus.

“The major corridor is not very wide,” said Dr. Hayes. “With thousands of students walking through, you have to ask how does that effect time on campus.”

Some things will stay the same after the rebuild. Creek will remain an open campus, but will be slightly different than the older campus. Each building will be closed, but students will still walk outside if they need to walk from one building to another.

“The whole idea of the new campus is centered around the courtyard,” said Dr. Hayes. “The new campus will have a degree of an open campus.”

The Homecoming Carnival will not be impacted by construction, as the courtyard will still be open for use. Students will have the same amount of time to walk to their next classes during the passing periods, and busses will continue to load and unload at the ninth grade center.

The new building will have 36 general use classrooms, five special education classes, seven business and technology labs, eight science labs, and office suites.

On April 24, a dozen Creek students will have the opportunity to tour the new building. Dr. Hayes urges students to look into this opportunity to be among the first to see the new building.

Though there have been many complaints about construction and the current state of the school, Dr. Hayes assures students that the end result will be worth it.

“Let’s not get down,” said Dr. Hayes about the transition period that Creek is currently in. “The end result is going to be good.”