The Altoona Area High School is in desperate need of renovation. More than that, a new high school needs to be built. The building is over 90 years old and does not accommodate the needs of students today.

The classrooms are cramped and make learning difficult for the students and teaching difficult for the teachers. Since the architect is starting from scratch with a new building, accomplishing the increase of the classroom sizes is a big deal. A new high school would be the best thing for students and teachers in the district.

“It stood the test of time, but in terms of meeting the needs of the 21st century, we have our challenges,” new assistant superintendent Brad Hatch said.

The school’s age prevents the ease of using technology in the classroom. Students have too many barriers preventing them from taking full advantage of the technology provided.

The location and size of the small flat screens in every AAJHS classroom, for instance. Or the amount of whiteboard space that each classroom could have with simple adjustments.

With a new building, better plans can be made to accommodate the full use of technology. Renovating would lead to more problems than solutions. In classrooms, projectors can be installed instead of the teacher dragging a cart in just so the Promethean board can be used. Also with better plans the Promethean board can be placed in a way all students can see without having to move from seats. With a new building, comes the possibility of having laptop carts in all classrooms.      

The lockers are also small. Students are not allowed to carry their book bags around school, so that leaves very limited space in lockers for books. It would be best for everyone that attends the school and the future students that will attend the school that a new school is built that is bigger and fits more with the 21st century.

Many people will disagree with building the new school and think renovations would be a better idea. When they start renovating the school they will run into many problems during renovation. They would have to make the sacrifice of removing technology needed for a 21st century classroom. Desk placement would still be crowded since they are working with the same size. Renovations cannot turn the old building into the new state of the art facility that is needed.

The Altoona Area High School is a very old building and worked for the time it was built. A new building would be in the best interest of the teachers, students and future students to come.

The current AAJHS accommodates all students.  There is no shortage of room, has more modern technology and has larger lockers.  The building was a great idea to build.  Now the district is faced with the opportunity to build a new high school and they should take it, so the future students will benefit greatly and have everything they need before going off to college.