Oakland charter school unveils upgrades

OAKLAND — Many of the pieces of Oakland’s past — and present — have been joined together in shades of green and yellow and brown, preserved for their importance in the West Orange County town.

There’s the historic town hall nestled in the towering oaks. The fishing dock and the West Orange Trail are there, too; as are the charter school, the town’s white gazebo and Grover Tubb Fountain; plus several historic houses, the Speer Park playground and the nature preserve.

Local artist Lana Wilken captured many of the town’s attributes in a new mural that spans the northern wall of the cafeteria at Oakland Avenue Charter School.

The PTO raises money for school improvements and agreed to allocate funds for Principal Pamela Wolfcale’s lunchroom plan. Wilken, whose three children attended the school, made a list of important pieces of the community and shared them with Wolfcale. And then she started sketching and outlining and painting.

The mural includes several hidden eagles, the school mascot, for students to find.

Other improvements in the cafeteria include bright curtains created by former OACS parents Leslie and Al Smith of LeA Interiors, new tables and waxed floors.

The front office and teacher’s lounge were spruced up, too, with new furniture, a coat of paint and fresh décor.

Renovations went beyond the school’s front buildings, though.

CLASSROOM CHANGES

Over the summer, the town of Oakland and school administration filled, moved and unpacked boxes all around the campus to make room for a new media/technology lab, art room and science lab. A modular building was added to the east end of the school that houses two large classrooms utilizing a co-teaching model of education. Two third-grade teachers share teaching responsibilities for 36 students, and two fourth-grade instructors have 44 children. The main building also has a co-teaching first-grade classroom.

Wolfcale said by moving four teachers and 80 students to the new building, three classrooms were freed up for specials, including art, science and computer technology.

Art teacher Mark Moreland now has his own room for his students’ ongoing projects and doesn’t have to pack up after each lesson. Before, he toted his supplies around to each classroom on a cart.

In the science lab, a rabbit and guinea pig mingle in one large cage while two birds talk incessantly nearby. A turtle, bearded dragon and chameleon live in the room, too.

Next to the front office is the new media/technology lab, where 45 computers are set up on one side of the room for students’ twice-a-week enrichment specials.

“They will be learning how to use the computer and integrating some applications that are out there,” Wolfcale said. “It will be grade-level specific.”

At the other end is a library staffed with a media specialist — a big improvement to the cramped space that once housed the school’s books.

Wolfcale is pleased with the outcome of this summer’s hard work and the broadened opportunity the upgrades will provide for students and teachers.

She likened the previous way of presenting art, science and media to “push-in specials” because teachers had to take the lessons to the students. Now, the students can go to an actual classroom designated for each subject matter.

“We lost a little bit of its spunk, its value,” Wolfcale said of the specials program. “(The upgrades) opened it up to more creativity, more space.”

OACS has enhanced its guidance special, called “living well,” which emphasizes health and character education. Students will be participating in town-sponsored activities, including a re-enactment of Oakland’s history at this fall’s heritage festival.

“We have to invest in our children,” Wolfcale said. “We have to teach our kids that connection — that Oakland Avenue Charter School is here because the town cared about the community.”

Contact Amy Quesinberry Rhode at [email protected].