As you may have noticed, Uni underwent some serious changes over the summer, including a new look (such as new tiling on the second and third floors and freshly painted lockers), a new security system, and even new soda machines. Online Gargoyle reporters Revathi Maturi and Katy Metcalf recently interviewed Director Steve Epperson about Uni's changes, as well as things yet to come, such as a new director and possibly even a new or expanded building.

Why were the renovations done at Uni?
Well, there hadn’t been very much done here for many, many years. In fact, there was a stencil over in the corner of my office indicating that the last time this room had been painted was 1987. So even buildings that have character and that we all like occasionally need to be painted and the plaster repaired. It was mainly just because it was in dire need.

Why now?
Basically we kind of lucked out. They do a rotation here on campus, and it turns out that the department, F&S, that handles all this kind of work, had decided that it was our turn this summer, and they had set aside in their budget quite a few dollars, in fact, to do improvements here.

Did students or faculty have input into the renovations?
I tried to involve them last spring, but nobody seemed too interested, except for when the blue door showed up. Several students had talked to me about having the lockers school colors, and so I asked some other student leaders last year if students would like to have input on the colors. I was told, no we don’t care about the colors, and then as soon as we painted one door blue I got about 50 e-mails about how they did not like blue. So that’s why the doors are still brown like they used to be and the lockers are kind of a neutral color because that’s what students indicated they preferred. So I tried to follow student wishes the best I could.

How were you involved in the renovations?
Mainly just kind of helping, getting the project organized and getting the timing of everything so that school was out when the workers would be here. In some of the classrooms the equipment had to be moved in and out. I kind of worked with the teachers on the plan to get that done, and then over the summer tried to keep monitoring so the building was ready in time for school to start.

What was the initial budget?
The number that I heard of was around $300,000, which is quite a bit of money.

How much was actually spent?
That I don’t know yet because they’re still finishing a few things up. We’re hoping that there’s some money left over because there’s three or four other rooms we’d like to get painted that weren’t in the original plans.

Now that Uni has a new look do you think that there’s going to be a new attitude from the staff and students?
I don’t know about that; I don’t know if we needed a new attitude per se. As I mentioned at the opening assembly the only thing I’m asking from students is that they just think twice and don’t purposefully create messes, and I felt the same way about the old — you know, before the improvements, as far as that goes. I can never condone purposeful destruction of school property. I don’t know if the building's really changed that much; some students say that the brighter hallways on the second and third floor look completely different. It seems to me that they kind of like that; it has a little bit more cheery type look to it than those ugly old dark brown floors that were up there forever.

Are there any other changes that are yet to come?
Not immediately other than the security things on the doors which aren’t completed yet. The three things that were primarily being done this summer were painting, I’d say 80 percent of the school was painted; the tile was replaced on the second and third floor and in some classrooms. And then third the lockers were repaired and painted. Those were the three things that we had targeted, and they’re all pretty well done at this point, so I don’t see any other work coming right up.

About the prox card system, why is it being implemented?
It’s a real priority for the University to secure some of the buildings and try to make the campus as safe as possible. I think partially because we have younger students here at Uni, that Uni High was kind of targeted as one of the early buildings in this initiative that the University started. Very few security systems that I know of are 100 percent infallible, and so what we’re trying to do with this system is to allow students to still come and go as they’ve done in the past with the one change in that they have to have a prox card to get in. What we’re trying to do is restrict access to people who don’t have any business here.

So was it the University’s idea to do this?
Well, I think when I came here a year ago that was one of the three priorities that they mentioned to me at the time — that Uni needed to take measures to improve the security of the building. But I happen to agree with them. The system will prevent kind of a random type thing where somebody is just walking into any open door.

How much did it cost?
The number I’ve heard is around $35,000 when it’s all installed.

Uni prides itself on its tradition of openness, but now that no longer applies. Was there any debate within administration about this?
We did talk about it, and I don’t think anyone involved in this really wanted to do it. But sometimes you have to make changes based on what’s going on around you, and I don’t think there’s any doubt that Virginia Tech had an impact on college campuses. This is just one of many steps the University is taking. We just want the students in this building to be absolutely safe while we’re here. It’s unfortunate, but we’re trying to do it in a way that impacts students as little as possible. But in a couple of weeks you won’t see the doors wide open at Uni High anymore.

Have students complained about this?
Not really, and I think it’s too early because we haven’t implemented this yet. I’m sure we’ll get some once we do. The biggest problem I think with students is going to be remembering their cards. If you forget, it’s going to be a pain because you’re going to have to buzz in at the door just like everybody else or wait for another student to come and let you in. There’ll be some inconvenience, but I think it’s going to be minimal. We’ll just have to see.

So there is a way to come in without a card? Like if someone else opened the door for you?
Yeah, that’s one of the things we don’t want students to do for other people who they don’t know. That’s one of the main things Ms. Kovacs [Assistant Director Sue Kovacs] and I are really going to try and emphasize to you guys is that you don’t do that. But certainly we’re not going to jump all over you for letting one of your classmates in. We just want you to be a little more careful with strangers.

Over the summer the CRC [Counseling Resource Center] was moved [from Room 110 to the second floor]; what’s in that room now?
The way the schedule worked out we needed another classroom this year. Room 110, which is where the CRC used to be, that had been the Latin room in the past and we decided that for instructional purposes we needed another classroom, so now the Latin classes are back in that room. The room on the second floor where the CRC is now wasn’t utilized much at all, and it’s turned out to work pretty well. The students that I’ve talked to, that are up there, seem to like it. It’s not as convenient to the SSO [Student Services Office] and the main office, but there is a computer up there and a copier up there, and it looks to me like a pretty comfortable setting. I hope it works out; we are continuing to explore other options because we’ve struggled this semester with finding rooms. Fifth period every room in the school is being used, and we’ve got one class that we’ve had to bounce around. We’re a little short on classrooms based on the number of classes that we offer now.

The Student Council office has been switched to the kiln room [on the second floor], which will be a problem for the stereo. What will be done about that?
Well, as long as you have access to it I’m not sure what the problem would be. The old Student Council room was a part of the move of the CRC. So we’re using it as a small faculty lounge.

Isn’t the faculty lounge kind of small?
Yeah, but I did e-mail and talk to the faculty last spring about that, and only a couple people indicated that they ever used that room. The people that used it only used it if they were ill or something. In the new room we do have a lounge where they can go lie down and rest if they are not feeling well. I’ve got a couple other ideas for down the road, but they wouldn’t affect us this year.

The University is actually doing a facility usage study for Uni High, and I was interviewing architects [recently] about the study, and we’re trying to select a firm to actually do it. They’re going to be coming in and talking to students and teachers about what we need here that we don’t have. Even with our current student enrollment we could use a couple of new classrooms, because in this building there are only a handful of rooms that I would consider really good classrooms. I think the architects are going to hear that we do need additional space just to maintain our current programs. The science labs are really crowded and haven’t been remodeled in ages. I’m excited about the study because it’s the first step to make something happen. I think everybody wants to maintain the character of the old building, but we can still make improvements.

How long do you think it will take to get a new building?
The first part of the study is to decide whether we need a new building or renovating this building and building an addition off to the side. The next step will be finding the money to do it. That’ll hopefully be a combination of University support and private contributions as well. What will come out of this study is something for people to see, not just an idea.

Uni had a summer retreat in June. What were the main topics discussed?
Basically we were talking about things students don’t really care about, like mission and vision of the school. One of the big topics was the word “laboratory” in the name of the school and what it meant and whether it needed to be there and if we are a laboratory school what that meant for us. There was consensus in this group that Uni should keep that word in the name and that it should be a laboratory school. We need to do a better job of defining what that means because a traditional laboratory school has student teaching taking place, and Uni doesn’t have very many student teachers. Ours is more the area of curriculum development and unique instructional practices.

We also talked about what we want the title for the new leader to be because I’m going stay this year but there will be a search for a new director to take my place permanently. The recommendation is to go back to the title of director and Ms. Kovacs as assistant director. Another thing we talked about was what characteristics they were looking for in the new leader for the school. And the consulting firm doing the search was at the retreat and they talked to everybody and developed a profile for the future leader. We talked a lot about a lot of the philosophical type things like Uni and its future. The next step is to develop strategic goals. Students will have an opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns, which I will pass to the Provost’s Office. Overall, I thought it was a valuable exercise, but probably not interesting to students.

What firm is searching for the new director of Uni?
It’s Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, Ltd. They do a lot of these kinds of searches for K-12. The University’s process for searches is more college level, so that’s why they went outside and hired this firm.

Where is it located?
I believe they’re in Northbrook, Illinois. The actual consultants are from the St. Louis area but this is a national firm. They’ll get the word out and this group knows where the people are at and they’re not restricted just to Illinois. They [the University] chose an outside firm because you’re trying to draw a different kind of person to a high school as opposed to being a dean. The University thought that hiring professionals would be the best way to do this.

Who will select the finalists?
Generally, the firm will narrow it down to four or five finalists, and then the Provost’s Office will set up a search committee that will interview them. Beyond that, I’m not exactly sure. I just know that there will be a committee, but I don’t know who will make it up.

About the new soda machines, why were the beverages changed?
There actually is a state law in place now that forced us to take everything out except for diet, fruit drinks, Vitamin Water, and that kind of a thing. I can’t blame anyone for this, but it wasn’t really Dr. Epperson's or Ms. Kovacs’ decision. We’re actually a year behind; most high schools did this last year. I think that the University has also changed their contractor and everything’s changing to Pepsi, so eventually all these soda machines will be replaced by some way.

Have you received any complaints about this?
Not really. I mean it’s kind of early, but I’m sure people aren’t that happy about it, but I haven’t heard anything. There’s nothing that keeps you from going somewhere else to buy your Coke; it’s just that we can’t sell it.

This is your second year back as director. Where do you think Uni is heading?
I think this is one of the most exciting times that Uni High has been involved in. We’ve, in the last few months, received all kinds of national recognition for the jobs students do in the classrooms; the University has provided support for the school that was not there before. It seems to me like it’s a positive time to be at Uni High. People want to come here; I went through the admissions process, and four times the number of applications we have room for applied. I hope that things are going to get even better.

If Uni moved to a bigger building, would the number of students admitted rise as well?
That would have to take some really serious discussion. If Uni’s enrollment increased that would have a greater effect on the local schools around us, and I think they would be sensitive to that. In my mind, that’s not what the building improvements are about. To me, they’re about making our current classes and enrollment work better than what it does right now. That’s one thing the facility usage study will be looking at. Does it make more sense to keep this building and add onto it or build a brand new building? In the online survey last year I surveyed students, parents, faculty, and alumni, and I asked that very question, and 80 percent of the people who responded said to keep the old building. The main job of the architects this year is to talk to people, and I think they’ll hear that we should try and fix this building and maybe build something new at the gym and houses.