By David Morris
By David Morris
Twenty years ago, a group of faculty and administrators sat down and came up with this “24 Check List,” a list that would become the standard for classroom equipment throughout all three campuses.
This list is not campus policy, just a guideline that was created for the purpose to make the learning environment for student and faculty that more enjoyable and productive.
The list was not federally mandated or required by the State. It was a group of people in the education field that wanted to make life easier. Some items on the checklist include having the walls and floors clean, chairs and tables that match, Air conditoning working properly, pencil sharpener, stapler, lectern with college seal, sign “Please, no food or beverages,” American flag, instructions posted for; disaster, medical emergency, and the nearest telephone.
“The students and faculty shouldn’t have to be uncomfortable in their classrooms, they should have the necessary tools to do their jobs,” said Hunt.
Hunt mentioned that one item on the check list that is being followed up on is the window coverings in the Lovekin Portable classrooms. He didn’t know why they weren’t included in the original planning but it’s being fixed for the next semester.
Faculty can make a request for the proper equipment to be fixed or installed through their department heads and if it will involve purchasing new equipment then it will have to be passed up to the Dean of Instruction.
Professors teaching in the classrooms of the Lovekin Portables are weary about the classrooms following the requirements of the check list. Instructor George Jiang complained mostly about the noise emanating from the Air Conditioner unit, even if it was adjusted it was still loud. Instructor Gerard Forlenza was just forced to talk above the noise, even though his students have to be coaxed into speaking louder.
According to Jiang, the Lovekin portables are cleaner then the Quadrangle but the table for the table is too shaky, “when I tried to sit on it, I almost broke it.” He also spoke of an alarm that went off from the little box by the door, twice.
First year student, Kirsten Madrid said that she doesn’t really care about the condition of the classrooms, as long as the teachers can teach. “From what I’ve seen though they seem adequately equipped,” Madrid said. “They should have escalators from the lower campus to the upper.”
Forlenza, being a history teacher is bothered not so much by the high technology equipment that the rooms contain but the lack of ordinary maps. “All I need is a board, markers and maps.”
“Maps are relatively important to teaching history, I’ve had to make due with what’s there,” Forlenza said.
Forlenza mentioned that one of the door hinges in his classrooms slams, instead of closing quietly.
Forlenza says that the portables in Lovekin Field are pretty well maintained given the circumstances of them being portables and moving very quickly in the summer, but he says that this has the potential to fall apart very quickly. Things need to get jumped on soon so it doesn’t get out of hand.
