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Original items on this page are Copyright 2005-2010 Diane Trudnowski.
The Seattle School Board approved the Maple Remodel Project
at their meeting on May, 18, 2005. Hooray! Thank you, Seattle
School Board! The remodel will be very important for Maple School -
we will be getting a brand new gymnasium, a cafeteria/auditorium/
multi-purpose room (Maple students currently eat lunch at their
desks in the classroom, as we do not have a lunchroom.), all of the
portables (7 total) will be removed - the three third classes (currently
in portables) will be moving into the current gym, which is going
to be converted into three classroom areas, there will be a brand new
main office, a daycare center space, an art classroom, a music room,
a brand new enlarged kindergarten classroom area, and much, much
more! There is a model of the project in Maple's front office area if
you would like to take a look!
Within days of the approval the construction crew from Kassel
Construction arrived on the school grounds. Their first job... removal
of Portable #7, which sat at the north end of the playground. Portable
#7 was split into two sections. Each section was lifted by a GIANT crane
onto a trailer, and then driven away (in the middle of the night - less
traffic!) to its new home at another school. Maple students got to watch
this whole event happen and it was very exciting!
 
 
A few days after Portable #7 was removed, Kassel construction
surrounded the entire Maple playground with cyclone construction
fencing. Now that the playground was "off limits", the intermediate
students had to have their recesses next door at Maplewood Park, while
the primary students had to have their recesses at the very southern-
most end of the current playground, in a tiny playground area where
the Monarch Jungle big toy is.
It only took about two days for the entire playground to be completely
dug up by the construction equipment, and boy, was that ever noisy!
 
June, 2005 Next, came the preparation of the footings and the
foundation for the new school buildings. Once they were ready, an
endless line of cement trucks came to pour the footings. This was
a very interesting process to watch. C-2 students would take "mini
field trips" outside to watch the progress.
 
Photos below were taken on June 29, 2005.
 
Photos below were taken on July 12, 2005.
 
These photos were taken on August 23, 2005.
 
 
The photos below were taken on Sept. 1, 2005.
 
 
The photos below were taken on Sept. 7, 2005.
 
These photos were taken on Sept. 14, 2005.
 
The official Groundbreaking Ceremony was
held on Sept. 20, 2005. Special visitors to the ceremony
included Superintendent Raj Manhas, School
Board representative Jan Kumasaka, and Louise Jones
Brown, a descendant of John Maple - whose family donated
the land for the original Maple School. The Maple
students sang two songs, including "The Heart of
America".
 
 
 
These photos were taken on Sept. 21, 2005.
 
These photos were taken on Sept. 30, 2005.
 
These photos were taken on Oct. 7, 2005.
 
These photos were taken on Oct. 10, 2005.
 
On October 26, 2005, the Maple Staff got
their first up-close view of the new wing
being built as part of the remodel project.
The staff got to (very carefully) walk
inside of the new building. The photos
below are of the inside of the new section.
This is the new staff room.
This is the new Art room.
This is the new stage. The stage sits at the
front of the gym/cafeteria/multi-purpose
room. Music classes will also be held on the
stage area. (The floor is wet in this photo
because the roof is not yet complete, and a
wind and rain storm had passed through the
day before.)
This is the new gym/cafeteria/multipurpose
room. (You can see the opening in the roof
where the rain came in.) The large wall opening
in the center of the photo (near the black
plastic) is where the new kitchen will be.
This is the south-facing side of the new
building. The new playground will be
just off to the left in this photo.
This is the view facing due south, looking
towards where the new playground will
be. On a clear day you can see Mount Rainier
from here.
This is the view of the front (side that faces
the street) of the new building. The roof
(shingle roof) is in the process of being
put on, and the bricks are being added.
This picture was taken on Nov. 4, 2005. It
was a very rainy and stormy day. If you
look very carefully, you can see one of the
construction workers seeking shelter from
the storm under the awning of the brand
new roof! (This photo was taken from our
classroom window.)
These pictures were taken on Dec. 10, 2005.
The remodel project is now about 45% complete.
You can see that the area in front of the school
now looks very different. The curving covered
walkway is almost finished, and there is now grass
in front of the Maple School sign.
 
These pictures were taken on Jan. 13, 2006.
This is the view of the south-facing side of the
new addition. Windows and doors have been added
and the concrete walls have been painted a dark
gray.
This is the gym/cafeteria, with the view looking
towards the new stage.
This is the view from the stage, looking towards
the back left side of the gym/cafeteria, showing
the new kitchen area.
This is the view from the stage, looking towards
the back right side of the gym/cafeteria.
 
These two pictures are of the new Art classroom.
This is the new room for the Maple Staff.
This is the new ELL classroom.
The new tile is being installed in the student
bathrooms.
These pictures were taken on Feb. 27, 2006.
This was a very exciting day for everyone at Maple - it was
the first day that students and staff began using the
new building! We started off the morning by giving
all of the students a tour of the new building. In this
photo we are walking through the brand new gym/
lunchroom (notice the basketball hoops).
A few hours later we got to eat lunch for the very
first time in our brand new beautiful lunchroom!
As students go up to the lunch counter, they can
choose from two or three menu choices. Lunches
are served on trays. This is something that is totally
new for the students, having to learn how to carry
their lunch on a tray.
After picking up their lunch, students have to enter
their PIN number on the keypad while Mrs. Stalker
keeps an eye on things.
Each grade level has assigned lunch tables that they
eat at. Students are responsible for cleaning up
their area after they finish their lunch. (Notice
the stage area with its beautiful curtain in the
background.)
These pictures were taken on March 30, 2006.
This was another exciting day for the Maple
Staff and students - we got to enjoy the very
first assembly in our brand new "cafetorium"
(multi-purpose room)! The students were treated
by the Maple P.T.S.A. to an outstanding musical
play performed by a local theater group. In the
first photo, Principal Hunter prepares to open
the brand new stage curtains for the very first
time!
The musical begins!
 
These pictures were taken on March 14, 2006.
Work has now begun on remodeling the former gym
and turning it into three brand new third grade
classrooms. The old gym is being totally "gutted" -
everything from the removal of the roof to removing
the basketball hoops, etc. I have not been able to
get inside of the old gym to take a picture of the
"demolition" yet - it is too dangerous at this time.
I hope to get inside the old gym in the very near
future to get some photos.
This is the door which leads from the main hallway
in the building out to the old gym. As you can see,
it has been blocked off due to the demolition going
on just beyond the doors.
This photo was taken looking due south, towards
the covered walkway that we used to use to go
into the old gym. This was the closest that I could
get to take a photo of the gym remodel.
This picture was taken on March 20, 2006. The roof
of the old gym is being removed.
This picture was taken on March 30, 2006. This is
the covered walkway that we would use to walk
to the old gym. The entire sidewalk has been
jack-hammered into pieces (and boy, did that
make a lot of LOUD noise when that was happening!).
This area will eventually become an enclosed hallway
that will lead to the three third grade classrooms
that are taking the place of the old gym.
These two pictures were taken on April 21, 2006.
This was the first time that I had been able to
get access to the "old" gym to take a few
pictures of the demolition of the inside
(Thank you, Principal Hunter, for taking me
into the old gym to take these photos!). It was
a very rainy day that day, and lots of water
was leaking in (as the old roof had been
removed and has not yet been replaced).
That is why everything looks wet. The first
photo is the view as you walk into the old gym
and look left - this is the area that will be
becoming three new third grade classrooms.
The second photo is the view as you walk
into the old gym and look right - this is the
area that used to be the gym bathrooms and
sinks (notice that those are missing!).
 
These photos were taken on April 20, 2006.
The gardener was at school placing new plants
in the brand new flowerbeds.
 
These pictures were taken on May 23, 2006.
The "old gym" is still being converted into
classrooms - not much has changed since I
took pictures one month ago, however, you
can see that the holes for the windows have
been cut into the cement block walls. A few
days after these pictures were taken, a truck
full of sheetrock (wall board) was delivered to
the "old gym". Hopefully, in a few weeks I
will have some new photos showing the new
walls!
 
NEW CARPET BEING INSTALLED
These photos were taken on July 24, 2006. They
show different areas of the school in various
stages of having the new carpet installed.
This first photo show the display case near the front
office. The old carpet has been removed and the
original concrete foundation can be seen.
This picture shows the view from the computer lab,
looking north across to E Pod (fifth grade area). The
new carpet has been installed here.
This is the view from the library, looking west
towards D Pod (fourth grade area). New carpeting
has already been installed here.
This photo was taken in my classroom, C-2.
Nearly all of the furniture from the other pods
has been temporarily stored here! (That is why
I am making a funny face - I couldn't even walk
in my own classroom!) The new carpet has already
been installed in all of C Pod.
Right behind me is the C-1 classroom. More
furniture from the other classrooms in the school
has been temporarily stored here.
This is the view looking north into D Pod (fourth
grade) from the D-1 area across to D-3.
This is the view looking south into E Pod (fifth
grade) from the E-3 area across to E-1.
DEMOLITION OF THE PORTABLES
The Maple portable classrooms were demolished
during the second week of August. A special
thank you goes to Principal Pat Hunter for sharing
these digital pictures so that I could add them to the
website.
 
 
 
MAPLE DEDICATION CEREMONY
On October 5, 2006 we had the dedication celebration
for the new, improved, remodeled Maple! On hand at the
celebration were former Maple principals, former staff
members, and former students, as well as other special
visitors and dignitaries. The Franklin High School Lion
Dancers performed a blessing dance, and the Maple Folk
Dancers also performed two dances. Also, two descendants of
John Wesley Maple (one of the first founders of Seattle),
Louise Jones Brown and Robert Maple Norman, were on
hand to present a maple tree to the school. Following the
festivities, a reception and tours of the building took place
(the grown-ups were treated to cake and coffee, and the
students enjoyed popsicles). Adding to the celebration was the
beautiful warm weather!
 
 
 
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