When students arrived for the first day of school, they noticed that the all-too-familiar smell in the main hallway was gone and newly remodeled bathrooms were ready for use.

  One of the things this year are the newly redone bathrooms. The smell was caused by the old plumbing that was going bad and rusted through.  There is no longer a smell due to the new plumbing and very good cleanings.

  “I feel like it was dearly needed,” said senior Travis Gibson. “I can actually stand the water this year.”

  The renovation of the bathrooms was needed to fix the plumbing, as well as to make it more pleasant for students, the community and other school guests.

  “It’s nice when the community comes into nice new bathrooms and they are touch free,” district assistant superintendent and facilities director Tim Thomas said.

   Principal Randy Luebbert said he is pleased that the stench is gone.

  For more convenience there were hydration stations put in to replace the old water fountains. Hydration stations are water fountains that have a unit at the top where students can fill their  water bottles, so they don’t have to hold their water bottles at an awkward angle.

  “We’ve got some high-quality H2O,” said junior Cade Chiles.

  In addition to plumbing and water lines, there were other new features installed, such as drop ceilings put in the main hallway to cover the plumbing and new movement sensitive lighting in the gym.

  According to district facilities director and assistant superintendent, Tim Thomas, the bathroom remodel cost approximately $580,000. The facility funds is what covered the cost of the faculty improvements. The  improvements last year which were the security doors, Tim Thomas said, cost about $90,000.

  “I like them, the bathrooms look nice, the front hallway looks nice with the new lighting and hydration stations are good too,” said teacher Brian Hrabe.

Teacher Stan Adler agreed that overall  the improvements were better for the school because it helped students have a better attitude coming into a school.

  “More building improvements at the high school are needed,” Principal Randy Luebbert said. Those include, drop ceilings, lockers, single pane windows, and new heat and air units.

  The bathroom project did not come without some hiccups. One of the issues when workers put in the new plumbing was that there were no set schematics of the school so they ran into electrical wiring that  they weren’t even aware was there. Bell systems in the high school now need repair due to wires being cut.