Along the way, their project led them into all kinds of other topics and problems. They researched federal and state guidelines for handicapped accessibility. They met with Principal Michael H. Graner, Dean of Students Michael Lovetere, and Buildings and Grounds Superintendent J. William Couillard to obtain specifications for the wing and determine what construction problems a ramp might entail. They asked architect Mark Commeau and his intern, Mike Riccard, whose sister, Stephanie, is one of the algebra students to visit the class and explain design and construction requirements. All of this opened the students' eyes to a new type of problem because proposals that were algebraically possible didn't necessarily meet construction requirements.
Space is available for a switch-back ramp and stairway.
However, we would be ramping into the building rather than out of the building. Armed with all their data and proposals, the students appeared before the Waterford Board of Education in early March to lobby for the ramp project. Three students Larry Maskell, Stephanie Riccard and Theresa Jump addressed the board on behalf of the class. Larry presented a videotape showing the board the problems faced by a wheelchair-bound student at the high school. Theresa pointed out the need to solve the problem because in an emergency situation a student in a wheelchair would have no way out of the school.