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Dale Public Schools’ new cafeteria is now open and ready for students, faculty and employees and will be available to view at an open house slated for Sunday, Jan. 8.
The new cafeteria is twice the size of the old one, has a state-of-the-art kitchen and is a dome-shaped building that was built to withstand the winds from an F-5 tornado, said Charlie Dickinson, Dale School superintendent.
He said the storm shelter combined with the cafeteria were two things that were desperately needed at Dale Schools.
He also said there will be no more crouching down in the hallways when a tornado arises. Instead, students and faculty will be able to locate in the cafeteria.
The cafeteria can comfortably house all 700 students, 75 employees and have a little room for about 50 extra people.
“It is quite a unique building and it’s the first dome in the Shawnee area,” he said.
Dale’s new cafeteria/safe room was the product of a recent bond issue worth about $2 million of bond money for the school to spend.
The allotment from the bond money included the new cafeteria, restroom upgrades in the high school and a renovation of the old cafeteria into seven middle school classrooms.
“It’s going to be about $1.7 million being spent on the new cafeteria,” he said. “Funding is important for all Oklahoma school districts, and the new building and the way it was built, we have been told and expect it will cost about 60 percent less in utilities than a normal building its size would have been,” he said.
He said the structure of the building and the way it was built will aid to the lower utility costs.
“That’s [utilities] very important to the school district when you have new buildings going in,” Dickinson said.
Official construction on the new cafeteria began in February 2011, and it will be fully-operational Monday, Jan. 9.
He said for the past 10 years, the school has been at a disadvantage with the equipment they have been using, and what they have now is better and new appliances.
“We’re excited about it. It’s about to open and we want our community to know what’s happening,” Dickinson said.
“Our goal is to make the meals better for the children, to provide healthier meals for the children and more variety that we haven’t been able to do before.”
Dale Public Schools’ new cafeteria is now open and ready for students, faculty and employees and will be available to view at an open house slated for Sunday, Jan. 8.
The new cafeteria is twice the size of the old one, has a state-of-the-art kitchen and is a dome-shaped building that was built to withstand the winds from an F-5 tornado, said Charlie Dickinson, Dale School superintendent.
He said the storm shelter combined with the cafeteria were two things that were desperately needed at Dale Schools.
He also said there will be no more crouching down in the hallways when a tornado arises. Instead, students and faculty will be able to locate in the cafeteria.
The cafeteria can comfortably house all 700 students, 75 employees and have a little room for about 50 extra people.
“It is quite a unique building and it’s the first dome in the Shawnee area,” he said.
Dale’s new cafeteria/safe room was the product of a recent bond issue worth about $2 million of bond money for the school to spend.
The allotment from the bond money included the new cafeteria, restroom upgrades in the high school and a renovation of the old cafeteria into seven middle school classrooms.
“It’s going to be about $1.7 million being spent on the new cafeteria,” he said. “Funding is important for all Oklahoma school districts, and the new building and the way it was built, we have been told and expect it will cost about 60 percent less in utilities than a normal building its size would have been,” he said.
He said the structure of the building and the way it was built will aid to the lower utility costs.
“That’s [utilities] very important to the school district when you have new buildings going in,” Dickinson said.
Official construction on the new cafeteria began in February 2011, and it will be fully-operational Monday, Jan. 9.
He said for the past 10 years, the school has been at a disadvantage with the equipment they have been using, and what they have now is better and new appliances.
“We’re excited about it. It’s about to open and we want our community to know what’s happening,” Dickinson said.
“Our goal is to make the meals better for the children, to provide healthier meals for the children and more variety that we haven’t been able to do before.”
