Courtyard Renovation has been Delayed Over and Over

It’s a neglected mess—a hodgepodge of waist-high weeds and mud-filled ponds. It boasts an enclosed fence that contains only rocks, and holds barns that are locked and remain that way. It’s a graveyard of what was once a thriving environmental lab.

So what hammered in the tombstone?

“Delay after delay after delay,” Environmental Science teacher James Lockard said. “Maintenance has been pushed back.”

It’s been a rough road for this small patch of land between the art and science wings. Since its humble beginnings as a necessary replacement for the outdoor smoking lounge, circumstance has fought the lab’s existence. Care from those understanding its importance–Eagle Scouts, a class of 10 students, the East community–has been its sole source of survival.

The class of 2005 cared enough to donate plans and funds for a rain garden, which would in theory soak up storm water. The plan also called for renovations of the outdoor lab.

Construction forced the plan’s delay. In 2008, crews stripped the land of its benches and flowing creek and stone walls. They uprooted undergrowth and trees to make way for the new north wing. The district restricted laborers from working on the rain garden or even performing maintenance procedures during the two years of renovations.

“Since construction, we have never caught up,” Lockard said.

The weeds continued to grow.

What was once a pen for barn animals now rusts. The Prairie Dog George cage overflows with weeds. The once-viable pond ecosystem is home to primarily mud.

Principal Karl Krawitz believes the limitations of the land are possible sources of the lab’s poor condition.

“We can do our best to simulate what goes on in the outside world, but in this land-locked populated area, you don’t go outside and run into a forest,” Dr. Krawitz said. “Without that lush undergrowth (removed by construction), the animals can’t feel like they’re in a natural habitat.”

So the funds for seed and facilities for barn animals disappeared. East stuck to its less than one-acre plot while SM South boasted its 22-acre SMESL (Shawnee Mission Environmental Science Laboratory) adjacent to the school.

Mud continued to seep into the pond.

East has offered Environmental Education 2, the class that would serve as labor for the rain garden, only twice in the past four years. However, despite construction, land limitations and lack of funds and labor, Environmental Education 2 teacher Russell Debey is optimistic that spring will bring new hope for the outdoor lab. After months dedicated to promoting recycling, Debey plans to begin labor come second semester.

“We’ve already cleared out 80 percent of the weeds and shrubs,” Debey said.

Dr. Krawitz is also optimistic, looking to the EPA and East Fund to relieve the financial burden of renovation. He points to the East Fund’s donation of $10,000 to the Environmental Science department’s solar project.
“Opportunities are out there,” Dr. Krawitz said. “Sometimes they just take time.”

Obstacles have battled the outdoor lab every mile of its journey, but they have fought back.

They are the Eagle Scouts who built the benches and stone walls and prairie dog cage in the first place. They are class of only 10 students who will dedicate themselves to the rain garden this spring. They are the individuals in the community who care for the lab and understand its purpose.

“It’s not just an environmental lab,” Lockard said. “It’s an outdoor classroom.”