NEW ULM The perimeter of Jefferson Elementary is where most of the major changes have happened on its campus.

A new playground, offices, entrance, multipurpose room and bathrooms make up the physical changes to Jefferson. It now houses grades one through four and sports a new literacy program.

The entrance to Jefferson, like all the district’s schools, has had an enhanced security entrance added to it. The main doors that students enter after being dropped off lock once the school day starts and visitors’ only access is through a single door that leads to the office, where they must sign in.

A new addition to the building is the multipurpose room. This is a large, empty room with a rubberized floor that can be scheduled for use by teachers for their classes. It also serves as an indoor recreation area for children in the mornings.

The playground was moved from the rear end of the school to the front, between Jefferson and the middle school. Some pieces of Washington’s playground were moved to Jefferson due to age-appropriateness.

All of the bathrooms have been changed. Now there is an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant bathroom, a family bathroom and every restroom is now stall only meaning no urinals.

“The teachers really felt that the boys did not want to use the urinals, the young kids the little first and second grade boys did not want to use urinals,” Principal Adam Kluver said. “They wanted stalls they wanted that increased, added privacy and so we remodeled the bathrooms to allow for that.”

The final physical change is the addition of a road for less hazardous morning dropoffs behind Jefferson. Parents can enter from Garden Street, drive to Jefferson’s back entrance and exit onto Payne Street.

The curriculum has experienced some changes as well. The single largest piece is a new way to teach reading.

“It is called a balanced literacy model of reading instruction where you have a whole-group time, you have small-group time and you have independent time for reading,” Kluver said. “The teacher is not up at the front reading all of the time.”

The other changes involve the rotation of music and physical education classes. On off days, when students do not have music and phy-ed, they will have either art and media or art and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

Which pair a student attends will depend on their grade levels.