New drafting tables provide an inviting work surface for McMain art students. |
The Visual Arts room at Eleanor McMain Secondary School was buzzing with anticipation earlier this month. UTNO members, OPSB and city officials, Lowe’s staff, AFL/CIO members, community volunteers and students waited excitedly for art teacher Natalie Maloney to see her brand new classroom for the first time. The new art room is the result of the efforts of union members and community partners who donated time, supplies and money to redo this formerly drab, crowded space into an open and inviting room for artistically talented students.
UTNO members, community volunteers, trade union members, and teachers from several states who were part of AFT's Summer Volunteer project worked together to tear down a wall, repaint the room, put together new drafting tables and stools, assemble storage cabinets and unpack supplies. The biggest challenge was bringing running water into the room. The students previously had to run down the hall to wash their brushes or haul in buckets of water. But thanks to local plumbers and crafts people from the AFL/CIO, a shiny new sink now stands in the corner of the room.
Last year UTNO was selected as one of two locals, nationally, to participate in the Extreme Classroom/Library Makeover Challenge. UTNO’s “Bridging the Gap Classroom Makeover” redid a special needs classroom at Joseph S. Clark High School.
This year, UTNO committed to providing two classroom makeovers. An OPSB school, McMain, and an RSD school, Martin Luther King Charter School, were chosen as the winners from a group of essays submitted by UTNO teachers. The science room makeover will begin later this fall.
McMain Visual Arts Teacher Natalie Maloney gleams over the new sink installed in her art room.
The Extreme Classroom Makeover is sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), working in conjunction with the American Library Association to encourage communities to improve classrooms, libraries, media centers and other student-centered areas of the school. Many people joined together to make the Classroom Makeover a success including NCPERS (National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems), APRI (A. Phillip Randolph Institute), AFL/CIO, Lowe’s, Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff’s office, Acorn, Harry’s Ace Hardware, Boh Bros., OPSB, Allied Waste Services, Day & Zimmerman NPS, and the UTNO Retiree Chapter.
