The Kingston Public School system had multiple new things for students to start the new year. The schools were busy updating and adding new things over the past year, and especially over the summer.
Some of the updates and additions include remodeled bathrooms, flooring and lockers, a STEM room for the elementary school, and Esports room, artificial turf on the football field, a new special needs classroom, weight room, Ag classroom and animal barn. Kingston Superintendent Brian Brister said they always look for ways to improve the schools for students.
“We are constantly looking at our campus and areas we need to improve on and update,” he said. “Our lockers, some of our flooring, and some of our bathrooms had gotten old and outdated and required some attention.”
Theelementaryschoolhas a new STEM room. Brister saidtheadditionoftheSTEM room was important for the elementary students.
“OurSTEMclassroomwill give our elementary students opportunities to engage in more hands-on learning which is really exciting.”
The Kingston campus also has a new special needs classroom in the works. Brister said they should be breaking ground on it soon, and they are hoping it will be done and ready for the 2024-2025 school year.
“This new building will offer our special needs students the latest technology and resources they need to learn and grow while giving us room for future growth.”
Brister also wanted to highlight the new and updated safety features available around the campus. There are two resource officers, cameras all over campus and security systems in place.
“Last year, we hired our first ever full-time resource officer,” Brister said. “He did a tremendous job, so this year, we have added a second full-time officer. It’s very rare for a school our size to have a full-time officer, much less two.”
“We are doing everything we possibly can to keep our students and staff safe while on our campus,” Brister continued. “We have cameras in all areas of our campus, and security systems at all main entrances where visitors have to be identified before they are allowed access. Our entirecampusislockeddown, including interior doors.”
Another new addition to the campus is the new Ag room, and animal barn. The animal barn is climate controlled, making it a nicer environmentforstudentsand animals.
The bus area has new covered areas. This keeps the busses out of the weather, and to keep stray baseballs from damaging them.
The athletic program received a few upgrades, as well. The high school campus has a new E-sports room. The room has the latest technology for students, along with gaming chairs. Brister said adding the E-sports room was just as important as any other updates to the athletic department.
“The E-sports room will open up opportunities for students who don’t participate in the traditional activities schools offer,” Brister said.
The football field is getting new artificial turf. Brister said this will benefit every aspect of the school.
“Installing artificial turf on the football field will benefit several groups, from athletes to band, cheerleading and others,” Brister said. “It will also relieve the many hours and high cost of field maintenance that we are currently dealing with.”
Brister said they are still looking for ways to update the campuses.
“These are just some of the recent projects, there will be many more down the road,” Brister said. “We will constantly be looking for ways to improve the learning experience of our students.”