For those of you who don't know I got an art teaching position in Hillsboro, OR. YAY! The name of the school is J.B. Thomas and it was originally a high school when it was built.....in 1928!
Sadly this is the last year for the school as it is currently taking up nearly 25% of the district's maintenance budget (there's something like 25 schools including two HUGE high schools). It may not be cost effective, it may not have air conditioning, it may leak when it rains and it may be WAY too big for a middle school but it is a pretty darned cool building. Let's take a tour!
I made good friends with the janitor and he took me down into "the catacombs" underneath the school. Apparently when they built the school they thought it would be a good idea to have this gun range. I'm not kidding, it's directly underneath the auditorium.
People swear that this area of the school is haunted by a student who committed suicide in the auditorium.
This is the place to hang out when you weren't practicing your shooting skills. The principal told me there are rooms down here that even he doesn't have keys for (like the one on the left). I thought the old benches were pretty sweet.
Also there is this crazy turbine looking thing that apparently produces steam heat for the entire building - I didn't get a picture this time but I will try to next time I'm down there.
The art room is in it's own separate building next to the shop. There were no signs, so I made one on an old door I found lying around.
Here is the front of the classroom (after extrensive cleaning was done).
Here is the back.
Renee came to help me clean and setup - this clay staton was her idea.
