Polk County Education
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • March 2, 2016 15A
Planning underway
for kitchen upgrades
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
Peter Pan (Jeppie Johnson), second from right, plans his next move with the soon-to-be “Lost Boys” in a scene from
LaCreole Middle School’s production of “Tick Tock.” The musical runs Friday and Saturday at the school.
A time before Neverland
LaCreole Middle School’s musical ‘Tick Tock’ tells Peter Pan back story
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Ever wonder
how Peter Pan’s Lost Boys
became the Lost Boys?
Or why Peter loves to an-
tagonize Captain Hook?
Or why Peter and Tinker
Bell are so close in the origi-
nal story?
LaCreole Middle School’s
spring musical “Tick Tock,” a
prequel to the story of the
boy who doesn’t age, an-
swers those questions and
more.
“This is the back story to
how Neverland became
Neverland,” said eighth-
grader Kade Metzger, who
plays Capt. James Hook.
“Tick Tock” takes the stage
at the school on Friday and
Saturday.
The beginning of the play
finds Tinker Bell, Captain
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
Peter (Jeppie Johnson) and Tinker Bell (Rachael Ruman)
sing a duet during a scene in “Tick Tock.”
Hook’s daughter, and Peter
innocently flirting.
“Tinker Bell is a highly
spirited girl who really loves
Peter and wants him to feel
the same way about her,”
said Rachael Ruman, who
plays Tinker Bell.
Needless to say, Hook isn’t
too happy about their bud-
ding romance.
He’s so angry that he en-
lists the “evil witch” to cast a
spell to break them up.
Thus begins the first es-
capade of the classic ene-
mies.
“He’s kind of good and
bad,” Kade said of Hook. “He
is angry, but he’s definitely
overprotective of Tinker
Bell.”
For his part, Peter em-
ploys a crew of Hook’s ship
hands, soon-to-be known as
the “Lost Boys,” to spy on
the captain’s every move.
“Tick Tock” is based on a
book by Mitch Garrison with
music by Katie Kibota.
Fans of the original Peter
Pan story said they like de-
tails revealed in the prequel
musical.
See TICK TOCK, Page 14A
DALLAS — Construction
on new multipurpose
rooms at Oakdale Heights
a n d Ly l e e l e m e n t a r y
schools in Dallas is slated
to begin this summer.
At its meeting Feb. 22,
the Dallas School Board got
a first glimpse of what the
additions, which will dou-
ble as kitchens and cafete-
rias, will look like during a
presentation from architect
AC + Co.
At both schools, the mul-
tipurpose rooms will re-
place the gyms as the loca-
tion for lunch service and
sorely outdated kitchens.
Facilities Manager Kevin
Montague said when the
updates were first dis-
cussed, the plan wasn’t to
move the kitchens. The
more he and building prin-
cipals looked at how space
was being used compared
to other schools, the more
the idea made sense.
“If we are going to be
doing this — doing up-
grades in the kitchen,
which we need — let’s go a
little bit further and put the
kitchen where it belongs,
and that is where we serve
the kids,” Montague said.
He said increasing re-
quirements for physical ed-
ucation class time also
played into the decisions.
“If you ask the principals,
they will tell you it’s actually
impossible to meet the P.E.
requirements that are com-
ing with our current situa-
tion,” he said.
Montague said kitchen
equipment across the dis-
trict is on the verge of fail-
ing or becoming impossi-
ble to repair because parts
are no longer made.
Richard Rothweiler, a
senior architect with AC +
Co., said the construction
project will take care of
both problems of ineffi-
ciently used space and fail-
ing equipment.
“All the equipment will
be brand new and up-to-
date, energy efficient, of the
right size, and of the right
capacity so everything
could be handled correct-
ly,” he said.
Oakdale’s multipurpose
room will be built where
the covered play area is
now, using the existing roof
and side walls.
A new covered play area
will be built on the play-
ground.
The old kitchens in both
schools will be converted
into classroom space, and
other areas will be remod-
eled for P.E. offices, equip-
ment storage and other
uses.
At Lyle, the addition will
be located in the space be-
tween the gym and covered
play area.
The design allows the
school to open the gym
and/or multipurpose room
to the public for events
while closing off access to
the rest of the school.
Both schools will have
their front entrances re-
modeled to add extra secu-
rity. Rothweiler said a sec-
ond set of doors will be
added to restrict access to
the buildings.
“You can exit, but you
won’t be able to get in un-
less you are buzzered in,”
Rothweiler said.
Cost estimates for the
work haven’t been penciled
out yet, but Rothweiler said
he wants to work quickly to
get the projects out to bid.
He said construction com-
panies are increasingly
busy, and that means costs
are going up.
“If there’s any indication
in our office, we are the
busiest we’ve been in 10
years. Everybody is build-
ing,” he said. “We are work-
ing really hard to get these
things out to bid right away
for start of this summer
construction.”