When school buildings are aging, a decision must be made as to whether to continue to maintain the existing building, renovate building, or build new. Very seldom is extending the existing buildings life over building a new building. If renovation costs exceed 50% of the cost of new construction, it is better to build instead of renovating. The taxpayers in your community will have much to say on whether to renovate or build new. Much emphasis should be given to taxpayer input before the school board makes a final decision. School administrators are responsible to the community for maintaining school buildings and they owe an explanation to the community of what has been done to protect existing school buildings. This book is developed to help aspiring teachers who want to become principals, business managers or superintendents, that existing buildings need to be properly maintained and functional and can continue to serve the public for many years to come.

A Guide to Leading and Managing Indiana School Facilities

By Thomas J. Dykiel Charles F. Hobbs William E. Roberson

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2009 Dr. Tom Dykiel, Dr. Charles Hobbs and Dr. William E. Roberson
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4389-6160-6

Contents

Chapter 1 The Evolution of Educational Facilities....................................................................7Chapter 2 Department of Local Government Finance.....................................................................18Chapter 3 School Building and Site Assessment........................................................................36Chapter 4 Creation of a Master Plan and Funding of New Construction, Renovation, and Maintenance.....................63Chapter 5 Design-Build Projects......................................................................................88Chapter 6 Maintenance................................................................................................99Chapter 7 School Renovations.........................................................................................111Chapter 8 New Construction...........................................................................................123Chapter 9 Custodial Responsibilities.................................................................................136Chapter 10 Guaranteed Energy Savings Contracts........................................................................151Chapter 11 Energy Conservation........................................................................................167Chapter 12 Environmental Concerns.....................................................................................178Chapter 13 Building a Professional Team for Construction Projects.....................................................194Appendix 1 Department of Local Government Finance Building Information Sheets.........................................204Appendix 2 Custodial Job Descriptions.................................................................................231Appendix 3 Building Rental Charges....................................................................................234Appendix 4 Guaranteed Energy Savings Additional Information...........................................................240Appendix 5 Energy Policy..............................................................................................265Appendix 6 Pest Control Administrative Policy.........................................................................274Appendix 7 American School & University Graphs........................................................................277Appendix 8 2008: New Construction Project Approval Process............................................................278

Chapter One

The Evolution of Educational Facilities

KEY TERMS

Architect, Educational Specifications, Facility Planning

INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses the formation of education in America from colonial times to the present. It looks at the size of the classroom, the building, and the change in curriculum over the years. Emphasis is also given to the early educational planners and the creation of the National Council on Schoolhouse Construction. The end of this chapter discusses the procedures one should use when selecting an architect.

Historical Perspective

During colonial times, education was the responsibility of the church. Early settlers believed that every child must learn to read the Bible in order to gain salvation. Therefore, church buildings not only served as religious buildings but also as schoolhouses. As time progressed, the one-room schoolhouse became the norm in educating the youth of the time.

American Schools in the Early Nineteenth Century

As America changed, so did the schoolhouse. As the country progressed from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy, and new cities were created from formerly wilderness, schoolhouses changed. The Lancastrian school system of England arrived in the early nineteenth century. The classroom facilities were constructed to house large numbers of students regardless of age or achievement level. It was not unusual to have city schools holding up to 500 students seated in a single 50-by-100-foot room. The use of benches rather than desks allowed the room to accommodate one student for each ten square feet of space (Educational Facilities Laboratories, 1960).

Although the Lancastrian system only survived in America for approximately forty years, the influence it had on development of the educational system was substantial. The Lancastrian system established rational principles of group instruction and education for all children and provided a basis for the free tax-supported public schooling we have today (Educational Facilities Laboratories, 1960).

The Lancastrian system began to disappear during the 1830s, due in part to the ideas of Henry Bernard and Horace Mann, who believed that educational facilities were more than shelters. William Alcott (cited in McClintock & McClintock, 1970), in his prize-winning essay on the construction of schoolhouses, stated that the appearance of the classroom and the way in which it was arranged had extensive influence on forming the character of the students housed within. Henry Bernard, who was instrumental in early school building reform, painted a dismal picture of the condition of most pre-Civil War schoolhouses (p. 31):

They are universally badly located, exposed to the noise, dust and danger of the highway, unattractive, if not positively repulsive in their external and internal appearance, and built at the least possible expense of material and labor.

Bernard (cited in McClintock & McClintock, 1970, p. 38) also quoted the New York Superintendent of Education, who made the following statement to the New York State Legislature in 1844:

The total number of schoolhouses visited and inspected by the county superintendent during the year was 9,368 of which 8,795 consisted of one room only. The number of these schools having no privy is 6,432 and the number that contained no suitable desks, etc. is 5,972. The number lacking in proper facilities for ventilation is stated at 7,889.

It is in these miserable abodes of accumulated dirt and filth, deprived of wholesome air, or exposed without adequate protection to the assaults of the elements, with no facilities for necessary exercise or relaxation, no convenience for prosecuting their studies; crowded together on benches not admitting of a moment's rest in any position, and debarred the possibility o yielding to the ordinary calls of nature without violent inroads upon modesty and shame; that upwards of two hundred thousand children, scattered over various parts of the state, are compelled to spend an average of eight months during each year of their pupilage.

Knight (1957, p. 416) described the great majority of the schools in New York State in 1844 as:

naked and deformed, in comfortless and dilapidated buildings with un-hung doors, broken sashes, absent panes, stilted benches, yawning roof and muddy moldering floors ...

Only one third of the schoolhouses were reported in good repair, another third in only comfortable circumstances, while more than 3,300 were unfit for the reception of either Man or beast.

During the time period of 1820 through 1850, the battle for free public schools was fought and won. Through the efforts of men like Horace Mann and Henry Barnard, the value of a free public education was recognized. Schools of many types were being constructed throughout the country. The more elaborate ones were built in the cities.

Coming into the Twentieth Century

According to Knight (1957, p. 26):

Schools were either castles or palaces and their architectural style either Gothic, Renaissance, or Baroque, or a combination of styles.

Whatever their shapes or forms were, they in no way resembled a school (in the functional sense). The child's own scale was not taken into consideration, either practically or emotionally. Outsized entrances, corridors, stairways seem to be particularly selected by the architect for his "artistic" effects with the well-meant aim of contributing to the child's education.

It would be wrong and unfair to blame the architect alone. The absence of unbiased pedagogical conceptions, and of a curriculum based on them, were as much a cause of mistaken evolution as was the lack of close collaboration between the architect, educator and building authorities.

During this period, schoolhouses were not architecturally and visually pleasing. Many schools looked like boxes with red brick walls and a slanted roof. Inside, the boxes were divided up into smaller boxes or classrooms.

At the turn of the twentieth century, elementary education began to change. The United States started to accept the learning theories of Heinrich Pestalozzi and John Dewey. The average class size went from over fifty pupils down to the lower thirties, as knowledge increased concerning individual learning and child growth and development (Educational Facilities Laboratories, 1960).

American schoolhouses were greatly influenced by the consolidation movement that spread rapidly throughout the country. Thousand of one-room schoolhouses were abandoned immediately following World War I, and students were transported to so-called grammar schools, housing grades one through eight. Kindergartens were included in a few urban school systems (Castaldi, 1994).

According to Muse et al. (1987), one-room schoolhouses have not become extinct. There were still 837 one-teacher schools in rural American in 1984. Some of these schools are located in remote and sparsely populated areas, where consolidation is neither practical nor economically justifiable.

Pugg and Shumaker (1928) reiterated the importance of changes that took place in educational theory around the turn of the century. The inadequacy of the traditional school, with its formal regimented instruction, was becoming more evident to educators throughout the country. In 1899, John Dewey characterized turn-of-the-century instructional methodology as the "sitting and listening" school. As the emphasis upon particular needs of growing children continued to expand, the necessity for architecture became more apparent. This gradual transition in theory gave rise to a movement that considered school facilities as a place where children could "live as children," rather than as a place where the total objective was on preparation for adult life (Otto, 1944).

An early report by the National Education Association indicated that schools built prior to the turn of the century barely provided shelter for the students and were constructed in such a fashion as to render any program of modern education totally ineffective (Grieder & Rosenstengel, 1954). Students were required to memorize different curriculum, and during this period of time, rote memorization was being replaced by observation and investigation, and the need for more accommodating instructional space became evident. Progress in methodology and the introduction of new subject matter required a variety of learning environments.

Dewey proposed a classroom environment that was vastly different from what was common during his day. He accused the traditional classroom of "mechanically missing" the students through its passivity of attitude and uniformity of curriculum and method (Lucas, 1972).

Several experimental schools, reflective of progressive philosophy, were established and operated during this time. The Cook County Normal School, established by Colonel Francis W. Parker in 1883; the Horace Mann School, established in 1887; the Laboratory School of John Dewey, established in 1896; and the Spayer School, established in 1899 at Teacher's College, Columbia University, were examples of these institutions. The experimental schools were early attempts at developing educational programs that necessitated more space per pupil (Cubberley, 1934).

Secondary Schools

The concept of secondary schools had become generally accepted by the first decade of the twentieth century. Given legal impetus by the famous Kalamazoo decision Stuart v. Stuart District No. 1 of the Village of Kalamazoo, 30 Mich. 69 (1874), the high school became an extension of the common school program. This action paved the way for all children, regardless of socio-economic background, to earn a high school diploma (Alexander & Alexander, 1985). The requirements for size and variety of space increased as program requirements in secondary schools diversified and broadened (Educational Facilities Laboratories, 1960).

The First World War provided a major stimulus for changes in educational facilities. The size and shape of American schoolhouses were greatly influenced by the consolidation movement that spread rapidly throughout the country. Thousands of one-room schoolhouses were abandoned. Students were transported to so-called grammar schools housing grades one through eight. Increased emphasis was placed on physical education in the public schools. Gymnasiums, playing fields, and swimming pools were built across the country (Erickson, 1985). The consolidation movement was directly responsible for the rapid development of multiple-classroom school buildings.

It was also during the first two decades of the twentieth century that communities began to consider schools partially responsible for the health of the child. As a result, schools began to look at new space requirements for health clinics and nurses offices (Educational Facilities Laboratories, 1960). By 1917, vocational and physical education programs on the secondary level were being financially supported by the federal government. The curriculum also included science and commerce in addition to the normal college preparation classes.

The 1950s to the Present

Educational programs expanded during the first half of the twentieth century, with new and larger schools being built to house them. Utilization of plastics, glass, and concrete led to the single-story, flat-roofed structures of the 1950s. The sixties spawned a boom in schoolhouse construction, with the trend being more space for student movement, activity, and individualism (Council of Educational Facility Planners International [CEFPI], 1985). Carpeting, air conditioning, flexible walls, and teaching pods were some innovations emanating from this period. The "open concept" began its short life span during this time, becoming the initial effort in schoolhouse design based, in part, upon research in how students acquire knowledge.

During this time, school planners were moving to a systems or modular approach to school planning, design, and construction. This movement began in England after World War II, when new school buildings had to be rebuilt due to the heavy bombing that England suffered. Speed and economy of construction were the goals, and prefabrication of components to be assembled into varying designs became the vehicle. This movement reached its peak in the mid-1950s.

Several American states were experimenting with "stock" building plans in an effort to reduce building costs. This idea, while practical, was not in harmony with the prevailing concept of education in the United States: local control of schools. The answer would lie between the single design and construction approach and the stock plan approach.

Although old buildings vary greatly from state to state and also between school districts, almost 30 percent of all school buildings are approaching the end of their useful life at fifty years. According to a study of school buildings by Honeyman (1990), more than one half of the buildings were built before 1960 and are now nearly three quarters through the estimated fifty-year useful life of a well-constructed and maintained building. The Honeyman study (1990) looked at the number of school buildings per state and gave a percentage of the buildings that were inadequate and the percentage that were less than good. The results of this study are shown in Table 1.1.

1970s and 1980s

Educational planners in the 1970s coped with a new range of complex issues and needs: changing enrollments and the need for new spaces as well as new uses for old spaces; conservation of energy; career education and space needs; extension of the traditional school to new community uses; barrier-free facilities and accommodations for special-needs students; and modernization in a time of soaring costs.

1990s and Beyond

During the 1990s, education saw a boom in construction of new school buildings. Many of the existing buildings were built during the 1920s and 1930s and were approaching sixty to seventy years old. Technology became a big issue for schools: to how to incorporate it into the existing building structure. Other hot topics were removal of asbestos in floor/ceiling tiles and insulation, underground storage tanks, air quality, mold, and radon. Schools had to decide whether it was more economical to rid a school of all of these problems or just build a new school. Costs became a major issue in deciding whether to build new or refurbish the existing school. Architects and taxpayers became more vocal in support of keeping the older buildings since they were older buildings, some of which were built by some of the great education architects of the time. Men such as Frank Lloyd Wright, George Grant Elmslie, Percy Dwight Bentley, Louis Henri Sullivan, and Parker Noble Berry, to name a few, were very influential in Prairie Style Architecture.

As schools enter the twenty-first century, many educators and architects are aware of the need for planning an educational facility, but there are still boards of education that hand architects a one-page document and tell them to build a school around those specifications. Educational specifications were created to help the architect in designing the building. Educational specifications showed the architect, for example, what was expected to be in each classroom, from desks and chairs, to chalkboards, computers, lockers, bathrooms, the number of fixtures in each bathroom, and what type of electrical, plumbing, and heating and cooling system was to be provided.

With the increasing cost of energy, school boards have been requiring architects to come up with more efficient ways to heat and cool the building, thereby saving precious dollars for other huge increases, such as health insurance, workers' compensation insurance, and fuel for vehicles and buses.

EDUCATIONAL FACILITY PLANNING

Facility planning is an important part of the educational process. We will look at how educational facility planning has evolved through the years.

(Continues...)

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