By Annie Nesbitt ’13, New Section Editor
As many students have realized, the gray “spinny chairs” with cushions and wheels have slowly but surely begun to disappear from Upper School classrooms. But why? I sat down with Mrs. Stephanie Luebbers, Head of the Upper School, to find out.
“The goal is to get rid of the chairs as they break, are torn, and are stained. As they have been falling apart, we’ve been buying black stacking chairs (sturdier ones) to replace them, and either throwing out or repurposing the old ones,” explained Mrs. Luebbers. Two years ago, Mrs. Luebbers noticed that many of the chairs were in disrepair. She originally intended to replace them all with the same model, but found that it would be too expensive. It would also be impossible to just change out pieces of the chairs because the wheels are usually stripped, and impossible to replace. She did not consider replacing them with knockoffs, because “they aren’t sturdy enough for long-term use in a high school classroom—they are moved around and up and down, things are dumped on them, people pick at them with pens—the wear and tear they receive is beyond that of formal office furniture.” She did say, though, that she would have replaced the chairs exactly had the budget allowed it.
There are mixed emotions about the spinny chairs throughout the Upper School. Some teachers think they allow kids to move around too much. Others, however, think that some movement is good for students and like being able to move the chairs around easily. Many of the upperclassmen, who started their freshman and sophomore years with nearly all rolling chairs, are upset that the chairs are disappearing. Abby McInturf ’13 claimed “they’re a key part of being a student at CCDS. Your teachers trust you to use them, and it’s good to have that responsibility.”
Many of the chairs still remain—in classrooms 201-204, most commonly used for things like tablet conferences, and in various classrooms where they have yet
to be fully replaced—but will eventually disappear as their conditions deteriorate. Mr. Black’s classroom, Mrs. Luebbers said, will always have rolling chairs because he loves them. Rolling chairs will also stay in science classrooms and labs.
Since we already have such nice tables (the Knoll brand long tables that fill most classrooms), Mrs. Luebbers believes that having smaller, sturdier, cleaner-looking chairs will benefit our school. Even though many students thought the administration was trying to remove the chairs sneakily, Mrs. Luebbers denied that vehemently; “I am not sneaky,” she said. And now, we all know the truth.
