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.