If you take a look at Jeffco’s school buildings, you will see freshly painted and carpeted hallways with beautiful gyms and auditoriums, but what about Wheat Ridge? As a student at Wheat Ridge, seeing all these other schools in our district getting remodels while my school is struggling to get money to remodel ours makes me very disappointed. Our students and staff deserve better. 

Wheat Ridge has been trying to get a remodel for over eight years now. Golden High School got their building remodeled in 2008, Jefferson got remodeled last year, Alameda got remodeled in 2020, and Ralston Valley is currently renovating and expanding their building. All of these remodeling projects have gone over their budgets, and it has made the district hesitant to give Wheat Ridge money for renovations. 

Heather Christensen, a community member, posted on Facebook “the WRHS bond project will not be completed as promised due to rising construction costs, over spending at other locations, and being at the end of the bond project.” Seconding this statement, Alameda went $11 million over their original budget and Conifer and Arvada high schools went $3 million over their budgets. With that being said, you can see why Wheat Ridge is frustrated about not getting money for NEEDED renovations. 

Students and staff at Wheat Ridge have many complaints about our building. For example, many of our bathrooms are not handicap accessible. The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990. Why hasn’t our school been able to fix this problem, along with many others?  Our heating and cooling systems are around 30 years old;, on cold days many classrooms are its only a little warmer in the building than it is outside. These are all things we have been trying to get fixed for YEARS. 

“The carpeting in this school has been here since I was in high school,” said David Osse, math teacher and alumni Farmer who graduated in 1982. I have heard similar facts from a lot of alumni from Wheat Ridge Ridge and from current staff who have been here many years. In my opinion, and probably many others, it is ridiculous that we have the same carpeting from around the 198’s and we still haven’t been able to get money to fix it until now.

Our current principal Jef Fugita agrees. “It’s honestly kind of unfair,” he said.

In conclusion, it is about time Wheat Ridge gets the new and improved school we all were promised and deserve. There are many opinions on this subject, but if you ask me, I’m ready for a change and a better learning environment for current and upcoming Farmers.