Page 55 - spaces4learning, Fall 2022

weight and freeze issues for our campus.
We also looked at other business and office designs for
inspiration. We took the team out to Inventionland headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pa. They’re one of the largest invention factories in the world and have sixteen unique work areas, such as a pirate ship, tree house, creation cavern, and race track, where their people work. On our way back, we said, “Why can’t we do something like that?”, and eventually did precisely that in our new campus.
5. Align to Your Instructional Approach
these, as they will more than likely come up.
8. Choose your Partners Wisely
In pre-planning and touring different schools, ask the administrative staff and teachers what they liked and didn’t like in the new school build. Many vendors have glowing testimonials from past clients. Always try and dig a little deeper. Ask what issues arose during the building process and how they were handled. Getting the right people to work with you is essential, as a certain amount of conflict resolution will likely be necessary.
9. Add Time to your Schedule
In starting a new business, an old saying says, “It usually takes twice as long and twice as much as you think it’s going to.” In our case,
our costs were fixed and set, but that’s not to say we didn’t have to do some value engineering and find other sources of revenue through donors and corporate sponsors.
And our school took longer than we initially thought it would, primarily due to the pandemic, supply-chain issues, and staffing issues. So, while we thought we were conservative with our timing, my takeaway is we probably should have built even more of a time buffer.
10. Have Thick Skin and Expect the Unexpected
Our school district is committed to project-based learning (PBL) as a foundational element of our teaching method. We want our students not just to be able to memorize and repeat facts but learn through a multi- disciplinaryapproachthroughprojects that incorporate what they’ve learned.
THE PUBLIC SAW ONLY THE FINISHED CAMPUS—NOT ALL THE HARD WORK, FUNDING HURDLESANDDECISIONS THAT WERE MADE ALONG THE WAY. BUT THOSE IN THE SCHOOL-BUILDING PROCESS KNOW BETTER.
Final Thoughts
Building a new school or campus is a privilege and probably a once-in- a-lifetime opportunity. As educators, we already know we have a target on our backs. Building a new school has its challenges, especially with unanticipated situations that are bound to come up.
Put the extra layer of skin on, and be ready for the unexpected. You’ll almost certainly have people without full knowledge of the situation question your motives, decisions and approach. It simply goes with the territory.
This impacted our building
design. We have an “x-pattern,” with
four distinct wings that house PreK
through kindergarten, elementary-,
middle-, and high-school classrooms,
respectively. At the end of each wing,
we created project-based learning
spaces that are really fun, including
house, robot room, sci-fi area and more. We think it’s hard to be creative when working out of a beige box classroom all day long. But we did this because it aligned perfectly with our project-based learning approach, not simply for the sake of being different.
6. Hire an Owner Representative
One thing I wish I had done is to hire an owner representative. But, of course, that’s hindsight. Not having an owner representative made it harder on everyone since we’re not construction experts. Our finance team and school board members helped through the process, but I believe it would have been better with an owner representative.
7. Be Prepared for Value Engineering
You will most likely face the reality of cost issues versus your original wish list. So, my suggestion would be to be prepared for
Building a new school will turn your life upside down for sev- eral years, even in the best-case scenario. But you can make an enormous difference with the right team on your side. Be pre- pared for the ups and downs, unexpected circumstances, and potential naysayers you’ll meet along the way. But keeping your eye on the bigger picture of what this will mean for your com- munity will make it all worthwhile.
John Stoddard has been the superintendent of Berkshire Local Schools since 2017. Before Berkshire, Stoddard spent 17 years at Oak Hills Schools, a suburban Cincinnati school district where he held the role of Principal for J.F. Dulles Elementary School, Rapid Run Middle School, and Oak Hills High School.
a cabin, pirate ship, tree
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