iep2 - Pondering Facility Planning

Let’s go!   We are towards the end of three master plans (Two K-12 Districts and one County) at the moment and I always find it interesting to see how the final decision process plays out.  For what feels like years to some stakeholders involved with the process, we have been collecting data from all sources and completing assessments, a demographic study and many discussions and meetings. Now  we are here *deep breath* at implementation and let's go!  But wait….. Sometimes the ones who are so anxious to get the ball rolling are also the ones who first put the brakes on.  Wait a minute; we don’t know our exact funding stream or timeline or….yikes! The panic ensues.  A master plan, when completed with transparency, involvement from all stakeholders and formed through interactive work sessions will challenge the status quo. As with all “future telling” activities, a master plan will pull on both ends of our logical thinking. On one hand, we are making plans and choosing options

At just another regular day of meetings at school district office, I (Ellen) just had to laugh.  Even with well-informed architects in the building, there was one room with the heater on and another room with the door open and the air conditioner pumping away.  Yap, we have a problem.  It brought flashbacks to a day I met with the facilities staff at a school district. They told me, in no uncertain terms, there will be no operable windows in the District. What no operable windows?!? We are in California.  Fall, spring and lately half of winter, big savings could come from using what Mother Nature is providing by opening a window.  They added, not so jokingly, if only we could control the doors too. At the time I was beside myself.  Today, however, on some level, I understand. This is not the first meeting I have been in where doors and windows are open with the air conditioner on and it is hotter outside than in.  Still, I don’t think total crackdown is the best answer.  A

iep2 has been involved in many meetings where building or replacing administration spaces is on the table. This is when the controversy begins.  Many people are concerned, rightly so, about facility bond money going to “space for the student”, not non-student space, such as the administration office.  Don’t get us wrong we are all about improving student environments and understand that they are why we have schools in the first place, BUT just for a moment we ask you to consider something that often gets over looked. Typical high priority list items in school planning are: Safety Welcoming Environments (AKA don’t make it look like a prison) Community / Parent Involvement Collaboration Creating   a Campus Identity Now let’s consider what the offices designed at most 1940’s-1960’s schools have to deal with: No walk through access (which does not allow visitors to walk in one door pass through an office space and walk out inside the schools “safe perimeter

While at a Kiwanis event this past weekend I (Ellen) ended up sitting at a table with all educators except for me and one other person, who asked how are kids different these days?  One of the educators replied with, “they are part of the microwave generation , zap and here is the answer.”  It is interesting to ponder a group of people, who for all their life, when presented with a question had the ability to just ask Google .  One of the educators went on to say that it is hard to get her students to work into the depths of a problem.  Of course, that is exactly where you want them to go, deep into a problem because Google is there for everyone, right?  So, what does going deeper into a problem look like in a classroom?  What tools and what environments provide support to the “microwave generation” to move beyond the quick answer?  Access to the internet only gives them Google…. At a workshop, I also attended recently, a STEM ( STEM   is an acronym referring to the academi