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The new school was designed by Michael Brady Inc., based in Cleveland, Tenn., while Hewlett Spencer, LLC, out of Nashville, Tenn., served as the construction manager under a construction manager at-risk agreement.
The combined renovation and construction project, coming in at $30 million, will increase the capacity of the high school from 1,500 students to 2,000, along with improving facilities and adding a fire containment sprinkler system to the old structure. The renovation work also included upgrades to lighting systems and new ceilings, in addition to new paint on the exterior.

The new high school features a compact and efficient design with two gyms, the cafeteria and an auditorium located at the center of the structure, as opposed to being held in separate facilities, like in many older schools. Mike Brady, CEO at Michael Brady Inc. and lead designer on this project, explained this format drastically decreased the surface area of the external walls, by at least 30 percent compared to a standard school, which significantly increases the energy efficiency of the facility.

Centralizing these functions also created a more coherent feeling for the entrance of the school, which features a large two-story common space with high ceilings and a railing on the second floor, allowing students to look down over the entire area or gather and socialize before and after class. This common area also connects directly to the gyms and cafeteria, giving the school an open, organized and centralized feel.

Students will get to explore the new facilities early and often, as the school has a unique lunch schedule, where all students eat at one time and can take their meals anywhere they want.

As Brady explained, “The students have an hour to participate in lunch and extracurricular activities or exercise or counseling or journalism groups throughout the school. It’s really kind of a wild place at lunch, but it really is fun. It’s just a really positive environment. It takes quite a bit more kitchen and serving because you have to feed 2,000 students all at once.”

One popular eating location will most likely be the new auditorium, which has a variety of use and seating options.

“We did the auditorium where the first part of the floor is flat so they can have banquets in there and dances in there. Then we’ve got stadium seating so it gives a lot of flexibility and different ways to have fun in that auditorium, more uses for it,” Brady explained.

“We still have a regular full stage up there. That gives them a chance if they want to come out and extend that stage really simply or, if you want, to have a theatre in the round.”

The CEO added that the lines of vision were extremely good for all of these potential uses and “you can also come in there and do wrestling or volleyball even.”

Bill Steverson, principal at the design firm and project architect for this job, explained that wrestling was a very big sport in the local area and the school accordingly contains a large wrestling room with enough space for two mats, meaning multiple training matches can occur at once. The room also contains space for bleachers, allowing competitions or demonstrations to be held there.

“There’s also a weight training room inside the building that can be used by all the athletes, but it’s right there adjacent to the wrestling room and all the other locker rooms. They’ve also got separate locker rooms for track and cross-country and a coaches office area,” Steverson added.

Classrooms at the new facility are 9,000 square feet in size and contain a full wall of storage, along with a smart board.

“We have what we call a teacher technology control center where she can sit and network everything from her desk,” Stevenson explained.

The control center was designed with flexibility in mind, allowing the school to change out the technology hooked up to it as equipment and teaching styles evolve over time. Steverson added that the hallways had wiring for Internet that classrooms could tie into, but the school would mostly be wireless, with groups of servers spread throughout the facility. He said several computer labs were also included in the structure, located next to specific classroom clusters, meaning there are individual labs for math, English and foreign language studies.

The school also includes an on-site nursery for teachers and other staff members with small children. The nursery is similar to the classroom spaces in size, but includes a small kitchenette and has a separate entranceway, which leads to a fenced-in play area.

The existing structure continues to be used as a high school during the ongoing construction project, which is approximately 60 percent complete at this time. The two campuses were separated by fencing to keep students out of the construction site.

Most of the renovation work on the existing structures is being handled during the summer. “We worked just furiously during one summer period getting the sprinkler systems in place in what areas we could,” Brady explained.

The second and final summer of renovation work will begin this year and the project will be completed in time for the next school year.

“I think classes start the first week of August in the 2013-2014 school year so the teachers should have all of July, because the middle school teachers will also have to relocate into the new middle school. So the high school teachers will have to move out to the new high school,” Steverson explained.

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Darrell Smith, executive director of IWFA explained the benefits of using window film in renovations at schools, which include reduced energy costs, safety and security, overall cost savings and reduced time for installation.

The energy efficiency of window film has been proven to reduce energy costs, according to Smith. Smith also explained that 98 to 99 percent of UV rays are blocked from entering through glass windows if they are protected by window film.

“Another advantage of using window film is to combat heat loads, and balance out hot and cold spots in the building,” said Smith.

By using window film, it can regulate temperatures on opposite sides of the building, where temperatures may vary depending on the time of day. There is also the added benefit of receiving natural light in the building, while keeping indoor temperatures down. Some districts choose to use curtains to block out the sun’s glare and heat during the day, but this leads to classrooms using artificial lighting. With window film, classrooms are able to utilize natural lighting, while the tint of the window film helps to reflect solar heat gain from entering.

Smith recommended window film for almost every school district, but believes it is more beneficial during a renovation (compared to new construction, although it can be used for new construction to combat glare) in order to save time, money and the environment.

“Schools can extend the life of existing buildings by using window film,” he said. “Window film also helps to improve the energy efficiency of the building. I think it is important to consider window film before ripping out and putting in new windows. It’s a no brainer that window film is cost-effective and you can get the same energy control as new windows, as well as some other added benefits.”

Other benefits include safety and security, such as bomb blast window film products, “which have been tested and are listed in the General Services Administration bomb blast criteria,” said Smith. “If there is a bomb inside the building it protects the people inside and in close proximity outside from falling glass fragments caused by the windows.”

The chosen tint of the window film also helps with added security, as outsiders cannot always see indoors if specific window film is used.

Along with safety, window film is also efficient when it comes to installation as well as return on investment.

“Installation only takes one day [after school] and does not disrupt classes, so it is perfect for schools looking to renovate their windows but on a tight schedule or tight budget,” said Smith.

The cost of window film varies depending on which film is selected and the area in which the film will be used. However, Smith explained that the lower cost of film would range from approximately $4 to $6 per square-foot, while the higher cost of film would range from approximately $5 to $9 per square-foot.

Smith explained that window film has been popular since the late 1970s and increases in popularity every time there is an energy and/or financial crisis, where people look for cost-effective and energy-efficient ways to renovate properties.

Although IWFA does not supply or manufacturer window film, they do provide information on where to locate professional window film personnel, including suppliers, manufacturers, dealers and/or distributors. In order to find out more information about window film and whether or not it is right for your school or school district, please visit, www.iwfa.com.

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The district signed the $3.6 million ESPC with Framingham, Mass.-based Ameresco, Inc., an energy efficiency company that has worked on renewable energy solutions for facilities throughout the country. The contract will focus on infrastructure upgrades to 19 schools and four administrative buildings that serve over 8,400 students.

There are a total of eight elementary schools, five middle schools, four high schools and one K-12 and the Western Nevada Regional Youth Center — an alternative school. All schools in the district will receive energy efficient upgrades as part of the contract.

“Lyon County School District is proud of the relationship it has developed with Ameresco. We have been extremely pleased with their professionalism, expertise and commitment to the district’s project,” said Keith Savage, Deputy Superintendent of Lyon County School District. “The bottom line is that Ameresco delivers what they say they will deliver.”

Energy efficiency measures scheduled for completion by October 2012 include lighting systems, vending machine controls, computer power management, trash compactors, demand controlled ventilation and programmable thermostats.

“As one of the largest school districts in Nevada, Lyon County School District is setting a powerful example for other districts and communities,” said B.N. Tripathi, Vice President of Ameresco. “We are pleased to partner with such a forward-looking school district. We worked to ensure that this project has both short and long term benefits by hiring local contractors and vendors to complete the project.”

The energy conservation measures will help reduce energy demand and consumption — and are expected to cut LCSD’s operations and maintenance costs by nearly $25,000 by retrofitting light installations district wide. The energy efficient upgrades also allow the district to save $77,000 in rebates from the local natural gas and electric utility companies.

The greenhouse gas reduction benefits of the LCSD upgrades include the avoidance of 1,928 standard tons of carbon dioxide per year. This reduction in carbon dioxide emissions is equivalent to powering 208 homes each year.

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IRVINE, Calif. — A recent study published by University of California researchers found that LED light bulbs considered environmentally preferable to traditional light bulbs contain lead, arsenic and a dozen other potentially hazardous substances, according to newly published research.

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Yurko

Amy Yurko is founder of Brain Spaces, a Chicago-based consulting firm that offers efficiency programming and planning services for schools. She is a scheduled speaker at the 2009 annual Council of Educational Facility Planners, International conference. Her workshop focuses on ways that schools with budget constraints can make the most of available space. She spoke with School Construction News in a phone interview.

Q: What are the key components of school utilization and efficiency?

A: There are several components that need to be addressed. The first one is capacity, which is determined in a couple of different ways, including how many students are enrolled in the school and how many students participate in each one of the programs.

Another key component is scheduling. One thing that we’ve found is when we look at the schedule, we can often find a scheduling strategy that helps to make the building more efficient.

For example, a series of classrooms might sit empty while the students are in gym class. If you back-schedule with foreign language or other classes, then that classroom could be used and not sitting empty. It might help with the facility crunch.

Q: In your experience, are most K-12 school districts underutilizing their schools?

A: No. That is actually a trick question. Most of my clients have utilizations higher than the national average for classrooms. But there are also a number of caveats and specifics that need to be considered when you’re doing those kinds of calculations.

For example, if I have five students taking advanced German, do those five students use a whole classroom, when actually that classroom was designed for 25 students? You are not really using that space wisely. If you have an office space that could easily hold five students, schedule a class there. Leave that bigger classroom open for another larger class.

Consider scheduling, and also the number of students, the size of the space, and whether it’s appropriately sized for that program and number of students.

Q: How do you develop a scheduling strategy that increases building efficiency?

A: We look at schedules, the overall enrollments, the individual course-type enrollments and all the spaces in the buildings to align the use of those spaces with the people and the programs of the school.

That usually causes a reshuffling of room assignments. They don’t necessarily need to be reshuffled every period, but it may mean that if we swap two teachers, it could make all the difference in how that program is offered and how those students can occupy those rooms.

When I go into this scope of work, I never know what I’m going to find. It could be that one of the recommendations is to put together a committee to study the building scheduling.

I worked with a small middle school in Illinois. When we shuffled the schedule, we were able to take the number of teachers who had to roam from classroom to classroom from 80 percent to 20 percent. Teacher roaming has a huge impact on teacher satisfaction and turnover rates.

Q: What level of involvement is required from a district to successfully implement these changes and sustain them?

A: There are different ways in which districts prefer it to happen, and we have to work within their parameters. You can have a range of involvement from the district level. Depending on the level of involvement, the data varies.

I prefer to engage the district staff on several levels. First, I like to meet with the district leadership — all the people who work at the district level — to make sure that every school has standards that are being followed.

Q: How do you start the process with a district?

A: We look at the overall district guidelines, the district-level curriculum, and big overarching goals. Then we meet with the site-based leadership — the principal, assistant principal, and perhaps the special-needs director and curriculum coordinators — to get schoolwide goals.

We walk the building, and I usually like to be walked through the building by either teachers or students, depending on the grade level. At a high school, the students will really tell you what’s working and what’s not.

In a lot of cases, you take multiple tours, hopefully with students, teachers and/or administrators, and finally with a building engineer or maintenance director, because they have their own idea of what works.

Q: How do you ensure a school implements your recommendations?

A: It’s always good to follow through. Once you work with school districts with this level of intensity, you can’t help but have friends at the end of it. There is constant interaction and ideas thrown back and forth. It’s almost never a quick fix. It often takes a phased approach because of the complexity.

Oftentimes, we will provide a series of recommendations for things that can be done immediately within a school or classroom, then things that can be phased in that might take a little more time, and then a third phase with recommendations that might be more long-term or immediately cost-prohibitive.

It seems like every district goes into the process with the same thinking of what they’re going to come out with, and it’s never the same.

Q: What are some immediate changes that districts can make to create more space?

A: I can’t tell you how many places I’ve gone where a storage room has a quarter-inch of dust on everything. A lot of space needs are just about weeding and throwing out. Get off-site storage if you can’t throw stuff out. There is a lot of clutter in classrooms. Less clutter can make a space feel bigger, and it actually is bigger when you take stuff out that you really don’t need every day.

One way to facilitate that — of course, nobody wants to throw away their stuff — is to reorganize or switch teachers to a different classroom because it means they have to pack up their stuff and move. When they’re packing up their things, they always find stuff they don’t need and throw it out.

The other strategy is to consider school enrollments across a district and try to align them with the capacity for each of those schools. That usually entails ability to transfer from one school to another across boundary lines or a shifting of boundary lines. You don’t always have to do it with a boundary line. You could do it with vouchers or volunteers to move.

Q: Would you say the majority of changes are organizational, not architectural?

A: You can do different levels of change. There are administrative and organizational changes, including room reassignments, which you could make tomorrow. You can also do architectural interventions.

Classrooms can be divided into two spaces to better accommodate small groups and free bigger classrooms for something else.

Q: How do most school districts feel about sharing classrooms and other teaching spaces?

A: A little sharing can go a really long way, but it’s tied to teacher preference. Some teachers want their own rooms because they feel it’s important. But if a school district can’t afford to do that, then they have to cut programs. We have very little control over that, but sometimes if we talk to the teachers and show them what would be possible if they shared more spaces, they will get behind it.

Q: Do you see an equal amount of new schools and older schools experience similar growing pains?

A: I often find that the older buildings, the 1880s- to 1920s-era schools, are very easy to adapt in terms of space. Then you have the schools from the 1930s through the 1970s. Those buildings are hell.

Q: Why is that?

A: They are more industrial, with classrooms going down the hall and nothing extra. They’re very linear, with no windows, and are just difficult architecturally.

In general, within the last 20 years or so, it seems as though there has been a new awareness of the ability of a school to flex for future unknown programs.

Still, every school has its maximum capacity. When a new school suddenly does not have enough room, it is more of a demographic error than an architectural one. If the demographic projections are way off, you are going to need a new school sooner than you thought, or you might have a school that sits empty.

It’s really important to get a quality demographic projection done when you’re embarking on any process that has to do with facilities.

Q: Have you worked with school districts dealing with under-enrollment? How do you address that issue?

A: Yes. Then it’s an issue of how to use the facility. We talk about outside entities that could come in and rent space, and sharing with a community college or another educational institution that could use the space. Partnerships are almost always a great option to explore.

Q: What trends have you observed in the last year?

A: One of the main trends is districts are generally becoming more skeptical that they will be able to enhance facilities in the near future. More districts are looking for ways to utilize their space.

One of the key challenges I’m seeing in space utilization is an increase in the extent of special programs and services. There are general education and special education components, and the services for those are being widely increased.

Another trend is a higher emphasis on hands-on learning, which at the high school level involves a career-tech component. Any kind of project-based, hands-on learning often requires a little bit more space than a regular classroom.

It’s pretty difficult to go into a regular classroom and add 200 square feet. We have to look at other creative ways to share space or reduce enrollment in a class in order to allow fewer students but more equipment.

Brain Spaces

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