The 10 Trends Reshaping Grand Rapids Public Schools

The Grand Rapids Public School system now faces a massive job of upgrading its facilities to establish state-of-the-art learning environments for the 21^st century.

The task is not that different from what private industry has had to do in the past 30 years. Not long ago, the near downtown area of Grand Rapids had many older factories which ultimately were replaced by modern manufacturing facilities. And numerous old buildings have either been replaced by new construction or converted to other uses such as loft housing, retail and offices.

The average age of city school buildings is approximately 65 years old. That means many of the buildings were built before OPEC and modern energy conservation standards; before the Americans with Disabilities Act and laws guaranteeing accessibility for people of all physical ability; and before the advent of the personal computer. Nearly all of the systems in GRPS buildings – roofs, boilers, electrical, mechanical, windows, etc. – have reached or are beyond their life expectancy.

Phase I of the Grand Rapids Facility Master Plan – funded by a $150 construction bond approved by city voters in 2004 – focused on renovating or replacing the worst elementary and middle schools. The public school system has done an excellent job with these projects. If you live in the city, you really owe it to yourself to visit these schools.

The projects included replacing old buildings with new schools at:

• Alger Middle
• Sibley Elementary
• Martin Luther King (formerly Henry)
• Gerald Ford Middle (formerly Madison)
• Dickenson Elementary (under construction)

They also included extensive and excellent renovations at:

• Harrison Elementary & Middle School
• Burton Elementary & Middle Schools (now under construction)
• Palmer Elementary
• Kent Hills Elementary

Even with the high escalation of construction costs in the past five years, these projects have been constructed within budget. In fact, GRPS leaders added an entirely new school, Hall Elementary, which will be built in 2009.

Building on this success, Phase II of the plan is now being developed. It will likely focus on city high schools. This is not to say that all of the elementary and middle schools are done. But Phase I did little to address the high school needs.

High schools, like the manufacturing plants of the past, are undergoing massive changes throughout the country. There is a much greater focus on smaller more effective high schools; developing high schools in partnership with other community stakeholders such as business, industry, and medical care facilities; and designing buildings which are flexible to adapt to future changes and showcase extensive technology.

Schools are expensive to build and last a long time. That’s why it’s imperative we recognize changing attitudes and practices to better understand how they will impact the education environment. The debate over what constitutes an effective school facility will continue for the foreseeable future. We can, however, agree on one thing: planning future public schools should be based upon recognizing 10 important and interrelated global, societal, and education trends. Those trends are:

1. Declining Enrollment. This phenomenon is well underway. We have experienced the Baby Boom, Baby Bust, Echo Boom, and now the Echo Bust. The decline is currently working its way through elementary and middle schools and will move through high schools within the next 10 years. That means there is tough work ahead, including downsizing and rightsizing staff, budgets, and facilities.

2. Life beyond No Child Left Behind. The past decade has been dominated by testing and meeting so called Adequate Yearly Progress guidelines, with a strong focus on augmenting English, math and science education. Unfortunately, the social sciences, arts and humanities have suffered. This does not mean testing and accountability are unimportant. However, as we move into the future, we will realize our country’s competitive edge in a global economy is creativity and innovation, which are derived, in part, from the arts.

3. Any Place, Any Time Learning. With advances in technology, learning can occur 24/7/365. High speed access is available in the home, on the streets, in malls, and even on school buses in some places. Students have always learned outside of school buildings, and new technological possibilities will challenge traditional school facilities even further. School buildings are already becoming a 24/7/365 entity because they are used more and more for early morning and after school programs, by parks and recreation departments, and by the community. Grand Rapids must plan new schools to accommodate these extended uses and not just “regular” education programs.

4. Flexible Buildings. We have a consensus: we agree we don’t know what the future will be. So multiple forms of educational programming continue to evolve. They include: self-contained, project based, teaming, schools within schools, magnet/thematic schools, and many others. School facility designs must allow for pedagogical changes, which means the concept of flexible buildings is moving to totally new definitions. With changing demographics, the advent of charter schools, an inability to make long-term decisions and uncertain futures, new forms of schools must emerge in which the same building (with minor alterations) can become an elementary school, middle school, or even a small high school.

5. Global Focus. Jobs that have gone off shore are not coming back. China is beginning to require schools to teach English. More than 10 percent of all of construction cranes in the world are in Dubai. Now fast forward 20 years … will the United States still be the center of the universe? Maybe, maybe not, it depends on how we address these challenges. We need to focus globally.

6. Modernizing Democracy. New forms of community involvement, collaboration, and decision making are evolving though Web-based questionnaires, blogs, and online community forums. A wide variety of independent school boards and/or committees are being considered as more schools become thematic or charter-based. Facility planning is becoming increasingly transparent as a result of new technologies and increased access to data.

7. Sustainability and Green Buildings. Green building has become a top priority. Future school designs will incorporate energy efficiency and a greater concern about the environment. New laws and standards are on the horizon, too. For example, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance buildings. LEED promotes a whole-building approach by recognizing performance in five key areas: sustainable site development, water saving, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

8. Geographical Information Systems. GIS has evolved as the new software standard for facility planning and management. It provides new ways to visually display complex data so it is more comprehensive and understandable. GIS is increasingly used for demographic planning and for visualizing facility options, such as school closures or redistricting alternatives.

9. Safety and Security. The tragedy at Virginia Tech reminds us how vitally important safety and security are. There is no question that the way a building is laid out or how programs are organized has a significant influence on the ability to deliver safety and security. This is far more important than active security systems like motion detectors or surveillance cameras.

10. Renovations, modernizations, and replacements. The school buildings built in the 1950's and 60's during the post WWII baby boom era are aging. Unfortunately, these were not our finest buildings. But the process is underway to fully modernize or replace these facilities. This will continue for the next 15 years.

Grand Rapids, like most urban school districts, is confronted with aging facilities, declining enrollment, and the need to develop a new generation of schools. When you string these trends together, you see the future of school facilities as centers of learning focused on rigor and academic achievement, smart buildings, lifelong learning centers, community buildings, multipurpose, 24/7/365, collaboratively planned and designed, true partnerships, environmentally friendly, fluid/flexible, embracing change, and welcoming.

Grand Rapids Public Schools has a long way to go to achieve these entirely necessary goals. But Phase I, a tremendous success by all accounts, proved it can be done. Now Phase II, with an intense focus on the high schools, aims to take the campaign to build the schools of the future to another level.