JACKSON GEARS UP FOR MATH AND SCIENCE

Jackson High School's new Math and Science Building, which opens with the start of another school year next month, is a fitting example of the emphasis the school district and its students have put on technology.

The $3.23 million building will set Jackson School District apart from others in the region in terms of teaching and providing an atmosphere for learning math and science. The building's two stories contain seven combination classrooms and laboratories and eight math classrooms. A sizable science-math technology center will contain as many as 35 computers.

The Math and Science Building, the new South Elementary School in Jackson and a 10-classroom addition at North Elementary School in Fruitland are being built through a $7.8 million bond issue passed by voters two years ago. Residents of the growing Jackson School District in recent years have generously supported proposals for new school buildings and improvements, and the Math and Science Building stands out among them all.

The district was in desperate need for the building since a single laboratory served all of the high school's chemistry and physics students. The building's technology center will be open all day for use by various science and math classes.

The district is planning ahead. Eventually the technology center will be used to teach other parts of the curriculum such as social studies and English. All the computers in the building will be networked and eventually linked with every building on the high school campus. All the classrooms are wired for computers and cable TV, which is being used by more and more schools as an added educational tool.

All of this is being done with expectations of the high school class increasing by 50 students next year. That trend is expected to continue in the years ahead.

The architect of the Math and Science Building, John Dudley, said, "We wanted to emphasize to the students as they entered the building dedicated to math and science that what they are taught here would control the fate of our globe."

Dudley's words were well chosen, for in today's world of high technology, math and science have become mainstays of education. They realize that at Jackson, as evidenced by the fact that more than 50 percent of the high school's 1,000 students take chemistry and physics, an unusually high percentage.

It is good to know they now will be able to learn in a modern, spacious facility.