School board considers accessibility improvements at high school

In order to make Newton High School more accessible for people with disabilities or mobility issues, architects last week proposed the district install a platform lift to reach the second floor bleachers and also change the event entryway to the lower level east entrance and parking lot, which would need handicap stalls.

Rachelle Hines of FRK Architects + Engineers provided updated accessibility information to the Newton school board at its Feb. 24 meeting. As part of her presentation, she showed the route individuals would take to access the upper levels which are more difficult or even impossible for some students and visitors.

If the district moved forward with these changes, the high school’s east entrance would need new handicap parking and a new crosswalk. Hines also proposed good exterior signage would be needed to mark out the routes individuals would need to take to enter through the east side. Interior signs would be needed, too.

“You’d come in and you’d come down to that existing elevator there, so we might need to add some signage and spruce that up a bit.” Hines said. “…You’d then take the elevator up. Let’s say you wanted to get off and go to the gym or you wanted to get off and go to the commons or have events in the auditorium.”

Individuals would then exit the elevator on the first floor and make their way through the cafeteria and commons to the auditorium or gym, the latter of which has a ramp to access floor side. But right now if people in wheelchairs, for example, want to access the second floor, that provides a challenge.

Designs shared by the district’s architectural firm show those individuals could take the elevator to the second floor and access a wheelchair lift to the upper level seating in the gymnasium to get a better view of events. Hines said a small restroom area currently resides where the lift would be constructed.

Instead of narrowing the current stairs located nearby to fit the lift, Hines said it would be less invasive to build the lift in the adjacent storage/restroom area. If needed, the district would even install a second wheelchair lift located just to the west to access the third floor seating.

“I thought this was a better sequence,” Hines said. “…The sequence felt a little bit cleaner than having to go all the way to the gym, coming through that and then modifying that stairway there. The existing stairs there are kind of a nice feature, and it felt like you were doing such a huge loop.”

Hines noted this sequence would affect how the school takes tickets for events.

School board member Ray Whipple has long pushed for better ADA accessibility throughout the district. He was confused by the placement of the handicap parking stalls and said it would make more sense to put handicap parking along the roundabout. Hines said the designs were to help tighten travel distances.

“This was just keeping everything more isolated in the school so you weren’t having to travel completely through all those classroom areas,” Hines said.

Whipple argued if the district took eight feet off the south end of the roundabout on the northwest side, it would allow more stalls to be used by teachers during the day but also reserve spots for handicap parking. School board member Kristi Meyer said it would be ideal to have handicap parking in both areas.

“We need better parking everywhere,” Meyer said. “Handicap or not.”

Costs for these ADA improvements are estimated at $196,750. The lift to the second floor bleachers costs an estimated $96,750. The lift to the third floor costs $55,000. The new crosswalk and parking changes near the entryway could cost $20,000. Signage costs were yet to be determined. Designs would cost $25,000.

The school board took no vote on the improvements since this presentation was part of the superintendent’s report, which has no action items.

“This is not a decision day,” Hines said.

If the school board did decide to move forward with the ADA improvements to the high school, Hines said the construction could theoretically finish in the summer.