Gratitude and grace: The Houston Middle School story

PALMER — Houston Junior/Senior High School Principal Ben Howard gave a detailed presentation to the Mat-Su Borough School District School Board on Wednesday about the three phases that the Houston School community has been working with in moving toward educating over 700 students in a building designed for 550.

“Those are the two things that are most important to parents when they send their kids to school, are they safe and are they learning. So that has been a priority for us to get that message out about how we’re doing that each and every day,” Howard said.

Howard began his presentation with a mantra that was printed on hooded sweatshirts and given out to each HJHS student and each School Board member, “Nothing Shocks the Hawks.” Following the Nov. 30, 2018, earthquake, Houston Middle was condemned and deemed unsafe for the students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Part of phase one was to continue operations up to the winter break. The School District worked with the Mat-Su Borough to move 13 portables to HJHS for the middle school students, who were largely kept isolated in portables and did not share the Houston High building with the 9-12th graders. When the quake struck, HMS had 380 students and HHS housed 340. During the weeks before the portables were in place, 200-250 students were taken on field trips daily to keep from overcrowding the building.

“It was a really great first start to a journey that we were going to begin,” Howard said.

Howard detailed the difficulties in changing plans on the fly to educate 750 kids in one location. HMS was built in 1985 and Concrete Masonry Units cinder blocks that had been lined up vertically instead of staggered were given blame for the building’s damage. HHS was built in 2003, and suffered only minor damage. None of the HMS staff that moved to HJHS were laid off, and the building now houses 92 total staff members. Howard said that challenges arose in dealing with 60 percent of the school on free and reduced lunches. School board member Ray Michaelson was particularly impressed with the meals on wheels program, where school lunches were put on buses and delivered to bus stops in the week immediately following the quake.

“It was amazing,” Howard said. “I would come to school, I’d see the buses parked out there getting loaded up and then it would go on and deliver meals and that’s another thing that happened in a really short amount of time. The amount of organization it takes to do that is significant, but it happened fairly quickly and I know people are really appreciative of that.”

Howard lauded the support of the community in donating time and resources to displaced HMS students.

“There are challenges but the bright spot is we’re prepared for that. We’ve got staff committed to that. We’ve got a community committed to helping that. So even though at times those challenges can seem significant, we're ready for that,” Howard said.

HJHS also has 163 students receiving special education and 35 students who are learning English as their second language. A total of 50 HJHS students come from families in transition. In dealing with the needs of the students in minimal space, creative solutions were offered to maximize the capacity for education. A school nurse’s office was put in the library, and a conference room was repurposed for students on Individual Education Plans. An 8th grade science class is held in a former home economics sewing room.

“We are making it work but we are definitely crammed for space,” Howard said.

Howard would like to add two more portables to facilitate the needs of 750 students. In moving forward with HJHS, Howard is in constant communication with staff about refining processes and procedures to maximize instruction capacity in their limited space. A decision has not yet been made on whether to demolish or repair HMS, and likely won’t be determined for over a month, according to MSBSD Superintendent Dr. Monica Goyette. Howard hopes to have students help build the two new portables with assistance of construction professionals.

“I would love for our kids to be a part of building something that they’re going to use and have some ownership with so we’re really working to make that happen,” Howard said.

“We have an opportunity for us to reinvent ourselves and that has a lot to to with career and technical education.”

Howard and Goyette hinted at a possibility that if HMS is demolished and rebuilt, it may serve as a Career and Technical education center for schools in the area such as Redington Jr/Sr High and Su Valley.

Howard thanked not only the community, but Bill Johnson, who had been serving as the HHS principal, for their work in the smooth transition.

“There’s a lot of tradition and connectedness in Big Lake and Houston. We had people coming out of the woodwork to provide support for us,” Howard said. “We were flying the plane while we were building it.”

Houston’s athletic teams found gym space at other schools throughout the Valley to use while HMS is unsafe.

“We will continue and we will educate our students and you guys as the Houston school community have exemplified that and we appreciate that and you guys have done a great job,” School Board Vice President Kelsey Trimmer said.

Contact Frontiersman reporter Tim Rockey at tim.rockey@frontiersman.com.