Sue Robertson, REFP President, Planning Alliance

Sue Robertson, REFPPresident, Planning Alliance

Alex C. James, AIADirector, SC Office of School Facilities

Planning for SchoolsAs Centers of Community

CEFPI ConferenceSan Diego

September 2008

“We made the case …that educators and school boards have to be much more open to reaching out to the entire community in the design and planning of our schools. Those school districts that do this well are seeing the direct benefit from this effort. They have come to realize that the school is the community - that the democratic aspirations of the community are lived daily by how people in the community come together to use the school as a community - wide “anchor.”

U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley March 26, 1999

Schools Are Not the Only Infrastructure

• As we look at the political will of communities, educators need to realize that communities are faced with increasing needs from all sectors: highways, water and sewer, downtown revitalization, etc.

• How do schools step up to the challenge to provide ongoing educational needs as well as meeting community needs to make themselves more viable?

Programming for Community Schools

• The State Department of Education in SC does not have jurisdiction over programming for school facilities beyond education requirements.

• The Office of School Facilities enforces only code and regulatory requirements.

• School Districts program their schools and are already overwhelmed with state and federal requirements.

Whose Problem Is Poverty?

• “If you send 2 groups of students to equally high-quality schools, the group with greater socioeconomic disadvantage will necessarily have lower average achievement than the more fortunate group.”

Rothstein, Richard. Whose Problem Is Poverty. ASCD – Educational Leadership, April 2008

• Low income children often have no health insurance and no routine preventive medical and dental care, leading to more absence.

• Children in low-income families are more prone to asthma, leading to sleeplessness and irritability.

• They experience lower birth weight as well as more lead poisoning and iron-deficiency anemia, leading to diminished cognitive ability and more behavior problems.



• Their families frequently fall behind in rent and move more often, losing continuity of instruction.

• Poor children, in general, are not read aloud to as often or exposed to complex language and large vocabularies• A 1995 study of families living in poverty found that

children living in families receiving welfare heard approximately 10 million words by age three; children in families in which parents were classified as professionals heard approximately 30 million words in the same period.C



Trend 1: The “Baby Boomers vs. the“New Majority

What is Occurring:• In 1980 about 75% of this country’s school-age

population was white. By 2040 the combination of Hispanics and African-Americans will constitute the majority of youth.

• They will, on average, come from homes where: the chances of living in poverty are greater; parents are less likely to be well educated; access to pre-school experiences to develop readiness skills is limited, and health care is insufficient (pre-natal and natal).

Educational Facilities within the Context of a Changing 21st Century America. By Kenneth R. Stevenson, University of South Carolina, 2006, National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities

400 200 0 200 400

0-4

5-9

10-14

15-19

20-24

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60-64

65-69

70-74

75-79

80-84

85+

Males Females

Bolivia Elementary2000 Census

Jessie Mae Monroe Elementary2000 Census

600 400 200 0 200 400 600

0-4

5-9

10-14

15-19

20-24

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60-64

65-69

70-74

75-79

80-84

85+

Males Females

Trend 1: The “Baby Boomers vs. the “New Majority”

The Issues:• Baby boomers will have the numbers, the wealth,

and a history of political activism that will yield great control over the political process.

• They will likely demand that public dollars be spent on health care, adult recreational facilities, and good roads.


Facility Implications:• Educational systems will find it increasingly difficult

to get support for bond referenda.• Schools must be full-service centers

Policy Implications:• Educators and policymakers should explore ways to

re-conceptualize the place called school.• School: a place that any member of the community,

regardless of age, can come most any time for personal development, human services support, and human interaction.


Trend 1: The “Baby Boomers vs. the “New Majority”

This Is Not an Attempt to Ask School Districts to Do More

• It is an attempt to dialogue with school districts and legislators to determine if there is merit in the community school concept.

• How can this be developed without adding more bureaucracy?

Eisenhower Community Center & Elementary School

Hopkins, Minnesota

Cuningham Group Architecture, PA

U N I F I E D N E W O R L E A N S P L A N

RECOVERYRECOVERYandand REBUILDINGREBUILDING

Concordia Architecture & PlanningConcordia Architecture & Planning

schools as centers of community

1. Enhance learning for all students2. Schools as Centers of Community3. Involve all stakeholders4. Maximize available resources5. Health and Safety6. Flexibility


Maximize Resources

“Public and private investments must be mutually beneficial and reinforcing to the community as a whole.”

Paul Farmer, FAICP

Executive Director and CEO

American Planning Association

Feb 14, 2008, NCEFP

N E X U S P L A N N I N GPROGRAMS


Shared Community ResourcesCould Include

• A Community Library and Media Center

• K-8 Learning Center

• A Community Health Center

• Emergency Services

• A Community Garden

• A Fitness Center

• A Recycling Center

• A Transit Station

• Shops and RestaurantsConcordia Architecture & PlanningConcordia Architecture & Planning

community nexus centercommunity nexus centerConcordia Architecture & Concordia Architecture &

PlanningPlanning

Health Clinic

Health Clinic

Community Health Care

There are quasi public, nonprofits that place young physicians in needy areas for periods of time to fulfill an obligation the nonprofit places on them for paying medical education expenses.

What if these young professionals (doctors and dentist) were placed in or near school related facilities?

Raising Social Order

“The educational system of a country is

worthless unless it revolutionizes the

social order.”

Dr. Carter G. Woodson

Raising Social Order

“The road out of the poorhouse, leads

thru the schoolhouse.”

Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter

South Carolina House

Sumter SC School District 17

• Child care center for children ages 6 months and up

Public School Assets for Community Use

• Athletic Facilities – Gyms, Playing Fields

• Auditoriums• Cafeterias

Eisenhower Community Center & Elementary School

Hopkins, Minnesota

Cuningham Group Architecture, PA

Public School Assets for Community Use

• Libraries• Classrooms• Health Centers• Other

– Virtual classrooms,– K-19– Future solutions

Rock Hill School District –

Natatorium constructed by the school district – managed &

maintained by the local YMCA

Planning for SchoolsAs Centers of Community

“May there never develop in me the notion that my education is complete, but give me the strength and

leisure and zeal continually to enlarge my knowledge.”Maimonedes – 12th century

Aiken Model: Citizens Tax Work-Off Program

Analysis Instrument

Component Healthcare

Potential Private/Public Sector Alternate User

Pediatrician

Potential Building Cost Savings 50%

Potential Operating Cost Savings 100%

Potential Liability ??? Security

Potential Solution Zoning

James Elementary School

So, Where Do We Go Now?

Start

Develop your own community school• Utilize the analysis instrument

Alternative Use + Potential Building / Operating Cost Savings + Potential Liability + Potential Solutions

• Challenge the imagination of the community • Honor the political will of the community

“Many schools are like little islands set apart from the mainland of life by a deep moat of convention and tradition. A drawbridge is lowered at certain periods during the day in order that the part-time inhabitants may cross over to the island in the morning and back to the mainland at night. Why do these young people go out to the island? They go there in order to learn

how to live on the mainland.”

W. G. Carr. (1942) “Linking Schools with Life.” In F.C. Bingham (ed.) Community Life in a Democracy. Chicago: National Congress of Parents and Teachers

Do Community Schools Work?

If so, HOW DO WE MOVE

FORWARD????

Potential Organization

OWNER ARCHITECT

FACILITATOR

LEGALALTERNATE

USER

When Do You Start?

• Allow at least 2 years for the community process to determine what programs to include and necessary support

• Land banking

• For schools to change turf protection will have to fall

The Economy

As we look at efficiency in our use of energy in our facilities, so we will increasingly need to be efficient with the moneys expended for these facilities. As the value of the dollar decreases, this is another way to more efficiently use our tax dollars.

Scotland

Good enough for yesterday will not serve as good enough for tomorrow.

Ted Sizer

Can We Facilitate

• At the end of the day, the success of the community schools will be the ability to evolve how we merge education as a seamless component of our society.

• The hope and trust is that American ingenuity is still viable enough to make it happen.

Websites for Community Schools

• www.edfacilities.org/rl/index.cfm (National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities), see Preplanning

• www.cefpi.org (Council of Educational Facilities Planners International)

• www.richardrileyaward (Centers of Community)

Contact Us

Alex James

[email protected]

Sue Robertson

[email protected]

Documents

Sue Robertson, REFP President, Planning Alliance