The Woefully Ignored Stone House

For the sake of expansion, Galloway rents out a space that we call the Stone House, and the building is mainly used for foreign language classes. Many teachers who have worked in the Stone House, present and former, have expressed concern about the lack of communication with other parts of the school because of the distance from the other buildings. In Gresham, there are little to no issues and when there are, the issues get fixed relatively quickly. The same does not apply to the facilities inside the Stone House.

I talked to three teachers, all of whom requested anonymity and who have worked predominantly in the Stone House during their time at Galloway. We discussed their main concerns and problems: the lack of connection, the lack of safety, and the lack of problem-solving. 

All of the teachers I interviewed said that they felt extremely close with their other department members, but also spoke about how it’s a double-edged sword. One teacher continued by saying, “It does separate us from the rest of the campus in a way that feels like we're maybe neglected sometimes.” 

The Stone House has a lot of great parts, but there are safety issues that come with it. The building is right next to the pool, and there have been a few experiences where “the front doors don't work and then anyone can get into the building. We have had people who are looking to get into the pool and walk right through the building.” It usually gets fixed relatively quickly, but it does come up as an issue of well-being. 

One teacher observed that while “There are a lot of issues with the Stone House, there's a lot of good.” It isn’t a part of the main buildings, so the Stone House “does get put on the back burner a lot.” The problems have been fixed several times throughout the years, but the fixes don’t seem sustainable, as the issues come back every few years. 

In all of the interviews conducted, two teachers said similar statements about admissions tours, both resembling this sentence: “I always thought it was interesting that we don’t bring tours down there.” The tours usually visit Gresham and Chaddick, but there are seldom tours that go through the Stone House. Every student has at least one class in the Stone House, and the language courses taught there are a core part of the curriculum. Since language classes are such an important part of our learning, it would be beneficial to launch more beautification projects and more sustainable problem solving, which would better the building for our community and our campus.

Throughout the years, the Stone House has brought the language department together, despite the building’s recurring issues. The faculty try their best to make the Stone House a great place for students, and the atmosphere of the Stone House is improved significantly by it. 

By Caroline Lackey