Helena school district giveaway brings new life to unused furniture
Helena Public Schools opened the doors of its historic Seventh Avenue Gym, now used to store excess furniture, to members of the public Thursday, allowing them to take as much of the old classroom furnishings as they needed.
The school district is in discussions to lease the facility to Queen City Football Club and needed to clear out the tables, chairs, desks, cork boards and filing cabinets piled on the basketball court and in the adjacent rooms.
People peruse excess furniture from Helena Public Schools during a giveaway event at the Seventh Avenue Gym on Thursday morning.
THOM BRIDGE, Independent Record
“Everything in this building is excessive furniture that’s no longer usable by the district,” Helena Public Schools Director of Facilities Todd Verrill said. “For years we’ve moved all this stuff around. In the last five years, it’s been moved five times.”
This stuff amounts to, off the top of Verrill’s head, upward of 800 molded plastic chairs, 30 tables and hundreds of student desks. Old elementary student-height library bookshelves labeled “NONFICTION,” adult-size desks and old computer carts lined the walls of
