Academy School Addition, Special Education Renovation

Academy School Addition, Special Education Renovation &

Window Replacement Prepared for:

Windham Southeast School District

Academy School Addition and Renovation

• Introduction Design Team

• Project Over View Overview – History (how we got here), Site Plan – Identify the (3) projects

• Project Objectives Educational Goals

Sustainability & Energy Goals

• Scope of Work Renovation - Special Education Resource Room

Addition - Academic Support & Special Education

Window Replacements

• Financial Report

ACADEMY SCHOOLEXISTING SITE PLAN

ACADEMY SCHOOLSCOPE OF WORK

Academy AdditionTown Information Night

May 6, 2021

Current Conditions“The White House”

● 1400 Sq. Ft.● Serves over 100 students per day- Targeted

interventions, 504s, IEPs● Houses 7 Staff Members● Open floor plan with dividers- no privacy or

quiet space● Must exit the school to gain entrance● Proximity to playground

The Resource Room

The Resource Room

● 684 Sq. Ft.● Serves over 60 students all on IEPs● Houses 7 staff members● Open floor plan with dividers- no

privacy or quiet space. Can’t hold meetings.

The ProjectWhat will be improved?

● Overall, tremendous improvement in teaching and learning for all students and staff members!

● Privacy- ability to have IEP meetings and make confidential phone calls● Less transition time to/ from homerooms for students● Inclusivity and equity- no need to leave the main building to go to a

separate space● Quiet environment to work and learn● Storage for intervention materials● Meet increased demand for specialized services (18% of Academy

students are on IEPs)

Testimonials

Rachel Glickman

Academic Support (grades 5 & 6)

I work with students who struggle to access the tier 1 (Universal) curriculum for a variety of reasons- gaps in foundational skills, lack of background knowledge, attendance / attention issues, or other situations that might impact their learning. Groupings are both mixed ability and needs-based. Throughout the school year, I will eventually work with most students in a grade level cohort.

The biggest challenge of my current work space is size and noise distraction. I am currently working in a space that is approximately 130 sq. ft and due to space limitations, I have been unable to meet with more than three students at a time in the "white house." While the Academy staff has been extremely creative and generous about sharing space for larger groups, this has resulted in inconsistency for students who often benefit from predictable routines. The other challenge has been noise as I share a room only divided by partitions with two other Academic Support Teachers, and we are often all three working with students simultaneously. Some of our most distractible students are having to work in noisy environments which can exacerbate attentional issues.

The remodeled space would provide more square footage to increase the number of students who may be receiving academic support and ensure a learning environment with fewer distractions. In addition, ASTs will have central space to store shared intervention materials and better opportunities to collaborate.

Ryan Cutting

Academic Support Teacher, Grade 3

What are some of the biggest challenges in your current workspace?

Some of the biggest challenges in my current workspace include having multiple groups too close to each other, travel time to and from the classroom’s, and having traffic interrupt lessons to get to their space. It’s more difficult to teach with multiple other teachers so close. It gets noisy and it’s more distracting for struggling learners. When pulling out of the classroom, it takes up lots of time traveling to and from the classroom to get to our current work space. At time’s, other groups are coming in and have to travel through a tight space to get to their own workspace and this interrupts groups and lessons.

What will be improved by having a remodeled space?

By having a remodeled workspace, the noise level and distractions will be much more conducive to a productive learning environment. Other teachers will not be so close and other students will not have to talk over or hear other groups working. By being closer to the classrooms, this will reduce travel time and allow more time for intervention and work time. Groups will not be traveling through other’s workspaces which will not interrupt and distract struggling learners like it does now. With a remodeled space, folks utilizing that space will also be able to hear announcements more clear than they do now.

A remodeled space will have a strong impact on providing students with the best environment for learning and the best environment for growing!

Sondra Haskins,

Special Education Paraprofessional

The hardest thing about teaching the Resource Room is that it is loud and distracting for students. The students need a quiet place to work and decompress, and we aren’t always able to provide it.

Because my space is backed up to the communal sink, there is always coming and going through my groups. I can only fit 3 kids at my table, which really limits my group size.

I have worked for 22 years at Academy School, but have only had an instructional space for about four years. For most of my time here, I traveled with a cart, and pulled kids out into the hallway or used any available space. This was a big challenge, because there wasn’t always a predictable space available. Now, fire code doesn’t allow for tables and chairs in the hallway, which eliminates the potential for any work space.

Another challenge of the Resource Room is that students who are hard of hearing need voices to be loud instructionally, but I can’t raise my voice because it will distract the students working in the other spaces. Similarly, years ago I used to work with a student with a visual impairment who had a large magnifier, which was stored on the cart. I had to find a place to plug it in, in the hallway, and the student had an incredibly hard time focusing due to the hallway traffic.

Whitney Lynde, Special Education Teacher

I have been a special education teacher at Academy School for the past seven years. While Covid has been incredibly stressful and challenging in many ways, a silver lining for me has been that there are only two teachers using the Resource Room. In a typical year, there are 6-7 teachers and paraeducators who are working in the Resource Room simultaneously. Each of us has a small space with our own groups of children, sometimes up to 6 kids at a time. While I love my colleagues and working collaboratively with them, having all of us crammed into one classroom is dysfunctional for us and for kids. This means that one of our most vulnerable populations of kids is learning in an environment where they are taught to "whisper-learn," so that everyone can focus. For students with attention differences, executive functioning challenges and very individualized and specific learning needs, this is unfair.

Additionally, this plan would solve the serious issue of meeting spaces at Academy. In any given week, I have approximately 4-6 meetings ranging from evaluation planning to IEP development or behavior consultations. Finding spaces for meetings and confidential conversations is extremely difficult at this time. I have held IEP and eligibility meetings outside in order to ensure that they are confidential. Having an enclosed teaching space would allow me to use this for meetings with parents, families and colleagues. I am also often in contact with outside agencies such as HCRS, DCF and Easter Seals. These conversations would be much more private with the changes proposed for the addition.

This addition would directly impact my ability to sing and play with my children without worrying that we are being too loud. It would allow my students to focus rather than being distracted by the other groups in the room. It would allow me to have confidential phone conversations and meetings with parents regarding their children's learning. Frankly, it would allow me to do my job as a special educator.

Please vote to pass the proposed budget for this addition at Academy and give our students who are on IEPs learning spaces that meet their needs. Thank you!

SUSTAINABILITY APPROACH FOR ACADEMY SCHOOL ADDITION + RENOVATION

Nadav Malin, President, BuildingGreen, Inc.

Space Structure Budget

Space Structure Budget

Space Structure Budget

Learn

Thrive

Space Structure Budget

ComfortableGood

acoustics

Daylight

Good air

quality

Energy

efficient

Healthy

materials

Space Structure Budget

ComfortableGood

acoustics

Daylight

Good air

quality

Energy

efficient

Healthy

materials

Low-impact

materials

Protect local

ecosystems

Water-saving

fixtures

Climate

Smart

Our Process

With input from the School Board, specialty

consultants, and the administration we:

1. Clarified the goals

2. Generated long lists of possible strategies

to achieve those goals.

3. Prioritized and vetted the strategies

4. Performed technical analyses to see

which approaches pencil out

5. Made the key decisions about location

and form

6. Set the stage for ongoing work on the

details.

ACADEMY SCHOOLPROJECT OBJECTIVES

• Renovation - Special Education Resource Room

• Addition - Academic Support

•Window Replacements

•Architectural Project Over View

ACADEMY SCHOOLPROJECT OBJECTIVES

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

• Support the overall academic excellence and success of students

participating in Special Educational Services and Academic Support

Programs

• Address overcrowded conditions

• Provide visual and acoustical separation to improve student focus

• Provide learning spaces that foster equality and a sense of

belonging to the larger school community. (Special Education and

Academic Support should not be separate and apart)

• Use materials, mechanical systems and methods of construction

that support the environment, the health and well being of

occupants, are energy efficient in design and are fiscally responsible.

ACADEMY SCHOOL – Academic Support and IES Program & Space Requirement Needs

ACADEMY SCHOOLPROJECT OBJECTIVES

•Renovation – Existing Classroom

Special Education Resource Room

ACADEMY SCHOOLEXISTING RESOURCE ROOM – Instructional spaces for (IEP’s) Individualized Educational Plans

• Address

overcrowded

conditions

• Provide visual

and acoustical

separation to

improve student

focus

ACADEMY SCHOOLEXISTING PLAN – RESOURCE ROOM

• Renovation - Special Education Resource Room

ACADEMY SCHOOLPROPOSED PLAN – RESOURCE ROOM

ACADEMY SCHOOLPROJECT OBJECTIVES

• Academic Support

ACADEMY SCHOOLEXISTING MODULAR BUILDING – USED BY ACADEMIC SUPPORT

• Provide learning spaces that

foster equality and a sense of

belonging to the larger school

community. (Special Education

and Academic Support should

not be separate and apart)

ACADEMY SCHOOLPROPOSED MASSING STUDY – NEW ADDITION

ACADEMY SCHOOLPROPOSED PLAN – ADDITION

ACADEMY SCHOOLPERSPECTIVE STUDY – ADDITION

ACADEMY SCHOOLPROJECT OBJECTIVES

•Window Replacement

ACADEMY SCHOOLWINDOW REPLACEMENT

ACADEMY SCHOOLWINDOW REPLACEMENT

ACADEMY SCHOOLWINDOW REPLACEMENT – Existing Conditions

ACADEMY SCHOOLWINDOW REPLACEMENT – Existing Conditions

ACADEMY SCHOOLWINDOW REPLACEMENT – OPTIONS

•Solera Glazing System •Kalwall System

•Existing Windows

Option 1: Replace Existing with Kalwall Panels

and new Low-e Double Glazed Vision Glass

PRO:

1. Kalwall provides better diffusion than glass block to eliminate

solar glare at SW facade

2. Lower maintenance for new materials.

3. Improved thermal barrier to U=0.23 for Kalwall, 0.29 for

insulated low-e glass.

4. Whole system manufactured by one entity, relatively nearby

5. Façade retains a very similar appearance as before with divided

Kalwall panels

CON:

1. VLT of 0.23 Lowers daylight contribution more than others, but

still good for sunny days

2. Higher cost

3. Demolition and replacement is disruptive of school activity

4. Some maintenance of Kalwall surface to prevent long term

degradation

ACADEMY SCHOOLWINDOW REPLACEMENT – OPTIONS

ACADEMY SCHOOLWINDOW REPLACEMENT – OPTIONS

Option 2: Replace Existing with Solera Glass panels

and new Low-e Double Glazed Vision Glass

PRO:

1. Solera provides best daylighting overall due to diffusion and refraction

properties

2. Glass and new curtain wall surfaces have lowest long term maintenance

3. One of the best thermal performance with U=0.2, 0.11 with Aerogel

CON:

1. Highest cost

2. Demolition and replacement disruption

3. System components manufactured and supplied by different entities

ACADEMY SCHOOLWINDOW REPLACEMENT – Daylighting Comparison

ACADEMY SCHOOLAddition & Renovation

• Renovation - Special Education Resource

Room

• Addition - Academic Support & Special

Education

•MEP Considerations

HVAC:

Provide dedicated OA heat recovery system for

the proposed addition.

Provide cold climate ASHP for heating and

cooling.

Provide supplemental heating served from the

pellet boiler as first stage heat.

Plumbing:

Provide new underground sanitary waste and

vent piping connect to existing.

Connect cold water to existing distribution

piping.

Provide new electric water heater for the toilet

room and mop basin.

Provide new roof drain system with overflow

scuppers, connect system to existing storm

drainage system.

Academy school project planning Time line, cc WSESD Finance Committee3.25.21 & Board 4.6.21

Action Items: Timeline/Requirements to pre‐qualify bidders Timeline/Milestone/Schedule for Public Information Hearing and Vote  

Timeline Milestones: 

• September 2019, Academy School Addition and Special Education RenovationProject Feasibility Study completed by Stevens & Associates

• February 5, 2020 WSESD Board MeetingAcademy Capital Projects, pursue next steps to implement the project

• April 15, 2020, Board adopts project sustainability goals• December 29, 2020, Workshop with Board reps. and energy consultants, reviewed

sustainability recommendations to be integrated into project design consistent with Board goals

• Jan 19, 2021, Board Meeting, authorization move forward with design services,approved $202k Stevens & Associates service proposal

• January 20, 2021, Resume Schematic Design development to Inform Final Design• Mar 2, 2021, Board approved recommended project timeline and Civil Engineering

Services to be provided by Stevens & Associates• Mar 3, 2021, Formal Authorization-AIA Contract executed with Stevens & Assoc.• March 16, 2021, Board established date of public vote authorizing Borrowing of

Funds pursuant to VSA 24s1786a; consider the following article; (May 11 2021)“Shall the Board of School Directors of the Windham Southeast School District be authorized toborrow a sum not to exceed $2,000,000, subject to reduction from available reserves, state andfederal grants-in-aid, and repayable over a term not to exceed five years, for the purpose of financingimprovements at the Academy School Building, namely, a necessary addition and renovation tostudent learning environments, the estimated cost of such improvements being$2,000,000?”

• March 25, 2021 Workshop #2 with Board reps. and energy consultants, reviewedsustainability recommendations to be integrated into project design consistent with Board goals

• April 6, 2021, Board approval of schematic design (design lock) needed to proceedwith Final Design Development and construction documents

• April 7 – July Final Design Development, select final materials• 2 Weeks – Professional Cost Estimate (concurrent) Design Development Cost Estimate

• April 27, 2021, Board Authorizes Bidder Prequalification process• May 6, 2021, Board conducts public information hearing on proposed project• May 11, 2021, Warned meeting of the District Voters conducted via Australian ballot

format due to Pandemic, vote on authorization to borrow funds• June 8, 2021, Board selects Prequalified Bidders to participate in Bid process• June 9 to July 31, Contract Document development, complete construction

documents/specifications

Early August Submit Bid documents to prequalified bidders End – August Bid Opening Mid – September Bid Award Late September Start Construction 

ACADEMY SCHOOLAddition & Renovation

• Financing

WINDHAM SOUTHEAST SCHOOL DISTRICT ESTIMATED DEBT SERVICE SCHEDULE

5 YEAR AMORTIZATION

Effective DATE: June 1, 2021 BORROWING  AMOUNT: 1,500,000             

PURPOSE: Building Renovation

DUE DATE

PRINCIPAL PAYMENT INTEREST RATE  INTEREST COST 

 TOTAL     

AMOUNT DUE 

 BALANCE AFTER 

PYMT 

1‐Jun‐22 300,000  1.90% 28,500$                  328,500                  1,200,000             

1‐Jun‐23 300,000  1.90% 22,800$                  322,800                  900,000                 

1‐Jun‐24 300,000  1.90% 17,100$                  317,100                  600,000                 

1‐Jun‐25 300,000  1.90% 11,400$ 311,400 300,000                 

1‐Jun‐26 300,000  1.90% 5,700$ 305,700 ‐

TOTAL: 1,500,000 85,500$ 1,585,500

Estimated Average Annual Homestead School Property Tax Rate Impact: 0.012$  

Estimated Average Annual Homestead School Property Tax $ impact

on $100k tax assessed home value: 12.33$  

ACADEMY SCHOOLAddition & Renovation

END

Additional Resources: https://www.wsesu.org/building-improvements.html