Back to School for New Academic Year 2011/2012
Students returned to school for the new academic year on Monday 24
September 2011. The new academic year 2011/2012 started with
excitement at the major changes that have taken place during the
summer holiday. These changes finally brought Schneller School to a
standard of care and education that we are very proud of.
Finally, after five years of renovation projects, the boarding
department’s renovation plan for the boys boarding homes has been
completed. Furthermore, the building housing the girls’ boarding
homes had a major repair project that dealt with the water and damp
problems that it had from the very first days of its construction.
The detailed report that was kindly prepared by Mr. Douglas
Callander, BibleLands trustee who is a civil engineer, for the
repair and construction work needed to deal with the water and damp
problems in the building was executed with a generous grant form
BibleLands that covered the whole project. Major works were
conducted on the building including the construction of a concrete
water duct around the building, total removal and replacement of the
old waterproofing material on the roof, treatment of cracks in the
walls from the inside and out, removal and replacement of the
drainage pipes in the whole building, replacement of the toilet and
shower doors with resin ones, and painting and damp-treatment
of
the whole building inside and out. This project dealt in a major way
with the damp and water leakage problems of the building, once and
for all. We express our most sincere gratitude to BibleLands for the
grant and the professional advice that enabled us to deal with this
major problem.
The boys boarding homes housing our youngest groups were the last in
need of major repair and renovation. Boys Boarding Homes 4 and 5
were renovated with funds kindly provided by the EVS Foundation, the
National Evangelical Church in Beirut, and Mr. Toni Asfour. Two
rooms were added to Family 4 from Family 5. The Kindergarten area
was returned to Family 5 which had its old windows replaced with new
double-glazed aluminum windows. Additional toilets were constructed
and the educator’s room in Family 5 was equipped with toilet and
shower facilities. New furniture for the student lounge was bought
with a kind donation from Dr. Brigitte Menzel-Wortmann. Family 4 had
new showers constructed so that children no more need to go to the
showers of family 5. The additional two rooms meant that the maximum
number of children per room was brought down from fourteen to five.
Bunk-beds
were abandoned and all our very young children now sleep in standard
children’s beds, removing the risk of falling during sleep from the
very high bunk-beds which were totally unsuitable for their age. The
balcony and bathroom were fitted with metal rails to protect the
children from falling. At last, the maximum number of children per
bedroom in all our boarding homes is now five, which is a very good
standard and a fulfillment of our plan which was executed during the
last five years. We express our most sincere gratitude to the EVS
Foundation, the National Evangelical Church in Beirut, and Mr. Toni
Asfour for providing us with the grants needed to complete this
project.
The Rotary Foundation also continued its wonderful support of our
school through the solar water-heating project that was implemented.
The building housing Boarding Family 5 and that of the main kitchen
and laundry were both equipped with solar water-heating systems. We
express our most sincere gratitude to the Rotary Foundation, the
Rotary Club of Wasserburg - Germany, the Rotary Club of Santa Monica
- California, the Rotary Club of Beirut Cosmopolitan, the Rotary
Club of Beirut Phoenix, and Mr. Tony Asfour for this wonderful
project that provides a major part of the school with free
hot-running water, nine months per year, and saves us enormous
amounts on diesel and electricity bills. The inauguration ceremony
was held by our Rotary partners and friends on Sunday October 30 at
11.30 AM in JLSS.
The Italian Embassy and the Lebanese Ministry of Environment are
executing the last solar water-heating project in our school which
will cover the girls’ boarding homes and family 4.
We also implemented two major projects with a kind grant provided by
LBMS, the Lutheran Board of Mission - USA. A very advanced science
lab and a computer class were added to our facilities. The old
science lab was also renovated. We express our most sincere
gratitude to LBMS for this wonderful grant.
The
Kindergarten classes were relocated to the area near the main
office, and the top floor of the main office building now houses the
Kindergarten center. This is a temporary solution until we are able
to execute the Kindergarten project in the adjacent building. The
central heating system of the building housing the Academic School
and Boarding Families 4 and 5 was separated into two systems
allowing us to save on our diesel bills.
A new bicycle track was constructed in the newly acquired land
extension of the main campus of the school. This allows our children
to use the 90 bicycles we have.
Most of the furniture and work needed for the above projects were
done in our workshops saving JLSS enormous amounts of money. The
furniture produced for the science lab and computer class opens the
possibility for production of such items in our workshops. Staff of
the vocational department stayed at times until 6.00 PM to complete
the projects. They displayed a wonderful spirit of cooperation
unseen before among Schneller staff. They were the main man-power
that enabled us to complete projects, dismantle, move, and rebuild
furniture of all the boarding homes that were relocated. They
enabled our school to save enormous amounts of money on labor costs
doing even manual work which is totally outside their field of work.
We express our thanks to all the members of staff of the Vocational
Department and the Maintenance Department for their wonderful work
and dedicated loyalty to Schneller School.
It was a wonderful start to what we hope will be a wonderful
academic year.