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 First off was the demolition of the old part of
Mount Pulaski High School, which was built in 1912. Then in the fall
of the year 2019, the excavation process began to build the new 2020
addition. Over the winter the walls went up and the construction of
the new building is showing signs of progress.
If you drive by the construction site now, you will see the
Multi-Purpose Room is beginning to take shape. Just like the title,
the room will have multiple purposes.
Superintendent Lamkey explains, “The community was concerned that it
was going to be just another gymnasium and I think there’s a little
bit of a resurgence in the community where people want to see
something for the arts and other things. So when we created the
room, it truly is not just going to be a gym for sports necessarily.
It’s going to be a multi-purpose room that we are going to use for
fine arts, for practices and for P.E.
Lamkey explained, if you go in the main gym right now, it has the
Topper colors, the banners and everything. The multi-purpose room is
going to be a little more muted. The floor is just going to be a
plain floor. The school colors, purple and gold, will be around the
gym with “Toppers” across the back wall.
"But it’s going to be set up more so to reflect performances,
whether it be Christmas concerts or musicals or plays. It’s truly
going to be a multi-use facility,” Lamkey said.
There will just be seating on one side of the room, directly across
from the stage. The basketball floor or volleyball court will be
running north and south. Bleachers will come down and there will be
plenty of space to set up seating across the floor.
The new addition to the high school will also feature plenty of
storage and new classrooms, and much needed new locker rooms.
The old locker rooms (part of the 1963 addition) would be demolished
in the Spring and moved up against that north wall of the gymnasium,
said Lamkey.
Students can also look forward to two new special education
classrooms and faculty can eagerly anticipate new offices will be
located along the Spring Street entrance.
According to Lamkey, a reception area, guidance counselor’s office,
principal’s office, conference room, nurse’s room, and a workroom
will all make up the new offices located on the Spring Street side
of the building.
The 2006 addition will remain the same. “It might get a fresh coat
of paint but it’s not going to be anything different,” he said. That
area includes the cafeteria, kitchen, and various classrooms.
Sports fans can look forward to a new main lobby entrance beginning
next fall. The existing lobby located on Spring Street will get a
whole new look, says Lamkey. The current lobby houses the trophy
cases and serves as the main entrance to the 1963 gymnasium. A fresh
look is long overdue and the details are yet to be finalized, but
there is still time.
“Right now we are trying to figure out how we are going to do the
trophies because this whole lobby is going to get redone,” said
Lamkey. “It’s going to have a whole new look from floor to ceiling.
We feel like we need to update our trophy cases but that’s pretty
costly. We are trying to find an efficient way to do that.”
The new high school addition will also feature more areas for data
and computer storage, a custodian’s closet and a training room. The
new training room will be big enough for a batting cage as well as
weight machines. “There will be glass windows going across to make
it look like you’re walking into a real gym,” said Lamkey.
There is also a new Athletic Director’s Office and more locker rooms
located near the new training room.
The second floor will feature restrooms, a staff lounge, staff
workroom, technology room and a media center.
Lamkey is excited about the media center. “It will kind of be set up
like a college lounge where there will be different work areas all
around in different settings, some tables and some sofas,” he said.
“It’s really going to be a bunch of different learning areas within
the Media Center. This will also serve as our library area.”
The floor plan for eight new classrooms also facilitates cooperative
learning opportunities. Between each two new classrooms is a shared
a space. “These rooms will be set up with a television and other
media and computer technology, so when kids are collaborating,
working on projects or doing things together, it is a shared room
that both teachers can have,” Lamkey said. By way of an example, the
Social Studies and World History classes could share the space in
between for the kids to work on projects.
There will also be a new entrance located on the west side of the
new addition for athletic and extra-circular events that will be
easier to access from the parking lot.
Because there is lot going on and a lot yet to be done, currently
the start of the next school year, following summer vacation, is set
for September 8, 2020.
“We feel very confident that we will have the classroom areas done
and the multi-purpose area done and ready for September 8th,” said
Lamkey. “We won’t need the modular classrooms anymore.”
Lamkey also said that the area that will become the new offices
along Spring Street will not be started until the day after
graduation, which is May 17th. That means a start date of May 18th
on the new office construction. The crews will have to hustle this
summer to get the new offices open by the 2020-21 school year.
“It’s going to take a lot of things coordinating going well, and it
can happen,” said Lamkey. “We are just going to have to wait and
see.”
Right now, Lamkey is pleased that the weather is cooperating and the
crews already have the walls up and the steel is going up at this
moment too.
“We are hoping that by mid-April we will have roofs starting to go
on and then the inside work will start as well,” said Lamkey.
As far as the 2020 addition goes, Lamkey added, “It’s been fun and
exciting watching it all go up. The difference in this facility,
what it’s going to do for this district, everybody kind of thinks
they have an idea, but they really don’t even know.
"I toured Decatur Eisenhower about a year after they opened up and I
had a chance to talk with their principal, and they said when they
renovated their facility and they added to their facility, the very
next year, and this wasn’t the only factor but it was one of the
main factors, our attendance improved of teachers and students, our
discipline went down and our achievement improved.”
The Decatur Eisenhower principal gave a lot of credit to the
improvements to the school, said Lamkey and he sees that making a
difference at Mount Pulaski also.
“So, I think people understanding the amount of pride that goes into
this will especially happen here,” said Lamkey. “There has been
nothing wrong with Mount Pulaski schools, but when you’ve got a 1912
and a 1926 building, and now everything is going to come across and
feel really new, it will make a big difference about how we feel
about ourselves, and I think about what other people think when they
come to our community. All those things excite people and get people
more interested and make people work harder. We are really looking
forward to all the outcomes that are going to come from this new
building.”
“When I interviewed for this job a little over a year ago, one of
the things that excited me was that we were putting a new building
up,” continued Lamkey. “To be able to be a part of the process has
been very exciting and very worthwhile and it’s something that
excited me about the job.”
Not only has Lamkey been busy with the new construction business,
but he’s also in the midst of staff changes. This year Mount Pulaski
Grade School has two teachers retiring and so their replacements are
currently being sought after.
With Mount Pulaski Grade School Principal Gene
Newton retiring at the end of the current school year, Mr. Lamkey
and the school board were also busy finding a new principal. The
announcement was recently made that Danielle Lora of Lincoln will be
the new principal at MPGS.
“We just hired a new elementary principal,
Danielle Lora,” said Lamkey. “We feel like she’s going to be a
really good fit for us. She’s a really strong educator and she’s
already been on the job. She’s been participating in interviews for
the two new teachers we need to hire.”
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Lamkey is also excited about the Strategic
Planning Meeting that will include Lora. That all-day process has
attracted strong attention, “We are getting close to 50
participants. That’s a really strong number. I am probably most
excited about that Strategic Planning Meeting because that’s going
to shape where we go. Strategic Planning is designed to give us a
three to five-year plan for what our vision of our district is. So
that draws the big picture of where we’re going, what we’re doing."
Patrick Allen from the Illinois Association of School Boards will
facilitate the session, then draw the conclusions. In that manner,
Lamkey said, "This isn’t what my vision of the district is, it’s not
the vision of our principals, it is a collective view of the
district."
"From there we will have systems that we follow, we are going to
have directions that we go, we are going to have a clear vision for
what it is we are doing," he said.
"We are going to have leadership teams at both the high school and
the grade school which consist of an administrator and five or six
teachers. They’re the ones who are going to be driving where the
buildings go, what improvements we make, what changes we make. So it
doesn’t all fall on the shoulders of a principal or a superintendent
or one or two teachers.
"That’s probably what I am most excited about, is seeing that
process take place because you start getting people engaged in the
process who haven’t been engaged before and watching them really
take ownership of decision and the things that are happening, it
really helps things progress. When people have a say in how they are
doing their work and what they are doing, they become even more
committed to it.”
The Mount Pulaski
Community Unit School District 23 Board of Education has hired
Danielle Lora to fill the position of Mount Pulaski Grade School
Principal effective July 1, 2020. - Danielle Lora Hired as new
Principal for Mount Pulaski Grade School
New Kid on the Block - here comes Principal Danielle Lora
A bright future is ahead for Mount Pulaski. A new kid on the block,
so to speak, is coming soon. Mount Pulaski recently hired Danielle
Lora to fill the soon-to-be-vacated position of Mount Pulaski Grade
School Principal.
Principal Gene Newton leaves on June 15, 2020, after 18 years, Mount
Pulaski is lucky to have Lora take on the challenge of guiding Mount
Pulaski in the future.
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work in Mount Pulaski CUSD
#23 as the next principal at Mount Pulaski Grade School,” said Lora.
“I am looking forward to the wonderful things that are happening and
the future of Mount Pulaski schools. I am most excited about getting
into the building as much as possible before the end of the school
year so that I can begin building relationships with the teachers,
support staff, students and parents. Building these relationships is
so important, especially before summer and the start of next school
year.
"Taking this next step in my career is going to allow me the
opportunity to work with some amazing teachers and create a strong
educational environment for the students of Mount Pulaski where we
are creating lifelong learners. The people of Mount Pulaski have
been so warm and welcoming and I thank them for that. I look forward
to working with all school stakeholders as we continue to move Mount
Pulaski CUSD #23 forward.”
Lora was born and raised in Lincoln and graduated in 2005 from
Millikin University in Decatur. She lived in the Dominican Republic
for two years where she met her husband, Ismael. They moved back to
Lincoln and have been married since 2008. They are the parents of
two children.
Lora has 14 years experience in education and has worked the last
eight years for Lincoln Elementary District #27. She will begin
working officially for District #23 on July 1, 2020.
Mrs. Lora’s hiring is a perfect fit for the district as Principal
Newton prepares for his upcoming retirement.
A revolving door - Gene Newton looks ahead to retirement
“I’ve met Danielle,” said Newton. “She’s been into the office a few
times. We are actually interviewing people together for the teaching
positions that we will have open at the end of the school year. I am
impressed with Danielle. I think she will do very well.”
Prior to coming to Mount Pulaski, Newton served one year as
principal at Farmington and taught Math at Hanna City for 10 years.
He is a Lincoln native who attended Lincoln College and Illinois
State University.
After nearly two decades on the job at Mount Pulaski, Newton is
leaving his own legacy.
“The
biggest legacy that I am leaving is the people,” said Newton.
Principal Newton said, “I got a chance to work with a lot of great
people, students and parents over 18 years. I’ve met most everybody
in this town. A lot of the ones who are 30 years old and younger, I
had in school. The staff here, the faculty, I hired all the new
teachers. There are just a handful of teachers still here that were
hired before I got here.
"When I first got here they had a great group of teachers who were
very good to me. They made it very easy for me and I am sure this
group will do the same for our new principal.”
“Other retired teachers have told me that you don’t realize you are
retired until the next school year starts because you’ve got the
summer off,” said Newton. “I plan on playing a lot of golf and
enjoying football season. I may sub a little bit, I don’t know yet.
My wife is still planning on teaching one more year maybe, so I’ll
be around. My last day is June 15 and I am not far away, so if they
need me for anything, all they have to do is call me.”
As for the students he leaves behind, Newton says, “They keep you
young. The kids are different now, but fourth graders are still nine
to 10 years old.”
Newton has a lot of great memories and summed up his time at MPGS
pretty simply, “I’ve had a great time here. The town has been very
good to me. It’s been fun.”
Just like that, one door closes and another one opens. The community
of Mount Pulaski has a lot to look forward to, with education at the
center of it all.
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Read all the articles in our
new
2020 Education Magazine
Title
CLICK ON TITLES TO GO TO PAGES |
Page |
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Introduction |
4 |
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Teaching students to cope with stress |
5 |
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First of its kind Illinois school meal program
at Lincoln Elementary School District # 27
achieves high marks in the opening semester |
8 |
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West Lincoln-Broadwell students actualize
studies in comet data mission |
14 |
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Students gain mental acuity at Hart-Em Chess
Club |
19 |
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Exciting things ahead for the future of Mount
Pulaski CUSD # 23 |
23 |
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School Report: Mount Pulaski Community
Unit District #23 |
30 |
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Logan County School Information |
31 |
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