By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Laura Penzoil, Fanning/Howey interior decorator, updated the Dowagiac Board of Education Dec. 13 at McKinley Elementary School on new middle school loose furnishings going out for bid Jan. 3, 2005.
Bids will be accepted until early February so equipment can be delivered in early May and placed by June.
Administrative recommendations will be presented to the school board at the end of February.
Penzoil has been working primarily with Superintendent Larry Crandall, Assistant Superintendent for Business/Operations Hal Davis and Central Principal Mike Frazier for the past six to eight months.
A "typical classroom layout" contains 25 student desks.
The bandroom can seat 100 students. There will be a grand piano for the auditorium, an "acoustic piano" and a digital keyboard.
An acoustical shell for the auditorium will be bid as an alternate.
The art classroom, in addition to tables and chairs, will be getting a kiln and pottery wheels.
Round, 54-inch tabletops in the cafeteria will be on wheels for ease of movement setting up from one event to another. "They have a durable, tilt-top mechanism. They can easily stack them or 'nest' them together, which is a nice feature to have in a dining space," Penzoil said. "To create a bit more excitement for students, along the window wall we've designed in some tall-top, 42-inch-high tables, to create a couple of different environments within that area." The gymnasium will be outfitted with 15 "team chairs" with the Chieftain logo and orange and black school colors.
Penzoil said the "loose furnishings and equipment package" going out for bid in January also includes wooden case goods for the administrative area, all chairs for the facility, choral risers and music stands, file cabinets, tables, industrial technology equipment, from band saws to tools, and life skills equipment, such as sewing machines, physical education equipment and microscopes and other science equipment.