The roof leaks and in winter the rooms can hardly be heated. Yet the question remains whether the municipal council will give the green light next week for the new construction plans for the Hekakker primary school in Norg.
The ceiling tiles date from the 1970s. In many places they turn brown from previous leaks. Joey Jager (10) from group 8 can talk about it. “Droplets came down from the ceiling in the toilets,” he says. “I think it’s a nice school, but because of that leak, I think it needs to be renovated.”
Doomsday scenario
School director Han Kemker and director Han Sijbring of the umbrella school foundation in Noordenveld, OPON, wholeheartedly agree with this. School’s over. “It’s always postponement after postponement,” Kemker summarizes the past few years.
But just now that the starting signal for new construction is finally in sight, the largest party of Municipal Interests has doubts about new construction of the school at its current location.
Further postponement of the plans is a doomsday scenario for the school management. “That means another year of temporary housing. Because one thing is certain: we will leave here at the end of the school year,” says Kemker. A temporary place elsewhere is not something they are looking forward to. “You can never carry out your education as you intend.”
Patchwork
There are also financial consequences. “The budget for rehousing is public money. That cannot be used for anything else,” Sijbring says. “You also throw that money away. It is located in a temporary building that will be demolished after use. That is why temporary buildings are often the cheapest of the cheapest.”
Patchwork is no longer an option, they think. The problems at the school started after the roof was replaced in 2020. Attempts to fix the leaks have since cost more than €100,000 and it is no longer possible to solve them completely. The roof construction is not good. Because the roof can no longer support the water, the beams have collapsed in a few places.
No immediate danger
After a heavy rain shower, caretaker Mark Aalders knows what to do: take out buckets and mop. “The worst was a very large puddle in front of the stage,” he points out. “The entire library was also covered.” The scrubbing machine that the school foundation had left over has been temporarily parked in Norg. “I’ll be happy when I get rid of that treat,” sighs the caretaker.
“There is no immediate danger,” says Sijbring. They were afraid of that. “We had a construction investigation carried out. Our doom scenario was that, just like at De Marke primary school in Roden in 2018, we had to leave school overnight because it was too dangerous. That is not the case here.”
Really bad
The computer of the teacher of groups 4 and 5 fell victim to the leaks, and her desk was forced to be moved. Fortunately, no personal accidents occurred. Kemker walks to the group 8 room, where the children end the school week with painting and the music is playing pleasantly.
“It’s really bad here,” says the school director. “We have had a few times here where the lights went out due to leakage. I’m glad the emergency switch works. But you really don’t want a short circuit.”
Toy ball
Everyone agrees that the 230 students of De Hekakker deserve a new school building quickly. But why the doubts among Municipal Interests? In short, the school is now an unintentional plaything within a broader discussion.
Gerard Meijering, chairman of the Norg interest group, expressed his frustration at last week’s municipal meeting about the municipality’s failure to take up the village plans drawn up two years ago. The village plans include tackling the entire village center, where the school is also located.
Critical
The interest group also believes that too little effort has been made to gather responses from the village about the new construction of the school at its current location. Concerns about the future of the De Brinkhof multifunctional center also play a role in the discussion. Since 2014, there has been discussion about a possible move of the primary and secondary school in the village to that location.
The school itself does not like that at all. The school also believes that its vision has not been included in the village plans. “We have not signed it,” says Kemker, who emphasizes that the interest group and school are in good consultation with each other.
Two stories
Sijbring and Kemker recently spoke with members of the Municipal Interests faction. Although they express their confidence in the sequel, according to them it is not yet a done deal. They are eagerly looking forward to Thursday’s meeting.
In the meantime, they are not looking forward to winter at Hekakker. “I remember when I was in sixth grade and it was very cold. We had a large heater in the room and everyone immediately sat on it to get warm,” says Joey.
What does his new dream school look like? “In any case, it has two floors. When I went to the upper school I thought: then you have to take the stairs.” Laughing: “When I was in group 5, I searched for a long time. But there were no stairs.”