Ten years ago, Loudon County, Va., became the second fastest growing county in the nation, and the rural community once characterized by sprawling farmland transformed into a hotbed of new home construction. Meanwhile, 60 miles east in Montgomery County, Md., the school system has been adding 2,500 students to the roster every year.
“That’s the equivalent of one whole high school’s worth of students a year,” observes Andrew Hess, president/CEO of Gaithersburg, Md.-based HESS Construction.
This population influx is becoming more commonplace, leading to a boom in K-12 construction activity. But the uptick isn’t isolated to the Mid-Atlantic; it’s a reflection of what’s taking place at a greater scale throughout the country.
“It seems everyone has capital improvement programs with aggressive plans for the next six to eight years, and activity should remain strong for at least the next five years,” Hess predicts.
Although the education market had been slow to show signs of the recession’s impact, it finally fell victim in 2010. Two years later, however, activity picked back up again, and bids have been increasing in both frequency and dollar amount ever since, according to Ben Johanneman, vice president of operations at McCarthy Building Companies’ Houston Division, where the metro area has billion in bonds expected to be passed in the next couple of years.
“Population growth is driving small school districts to become medium and medium to become large,” he adds.
Couple this expansion with a long list of deteriorating and outdated schools nationwide that were built at the beginning of the baby boomer generation, and it’s an ideal recipe for a hearty increase in construction.
To meet these demands, a combination of newly constructed, remodeled and expanded schools are being erected from coast to coast. But a change in demographics isn’t the only factor contributing to the change in overall climate. Today’s schools are being reshaped in direct response to three trends: safety, technology and sustainability.
Safety First
On Feb. 14, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., opened fire on his classmates, killing 17 people. In the 12 days that followed, 638 copycat threats targeted schools, according to a list compiled by the nonprofit Educator’s School Safety Network.
Amid this environment of heightened awareness, school districts are aggressively seeking more secure learning environments. Some of the most in-demand features include controlled entryways, security cameras and metal detectors. Shatter-proof glass film is also being requested, but is slow to catch on due to the higher price tag, explains Jennifer Boezwinkle, executive vice president of Rockford Construction in Grand Rapids, Mich.
“The focus on safety and security is a newer phenomenon, and schools across the country are trying to address that problem,” she says. “It is happening very quickly, and the challenge is that people are looking for a quick, easy fix, but that’s not possible.”
Recently, several states have passed laws to fund these safety measures. In March, Maryland committed $125 million to cover capital improvements such as metal detectors, card access, ID badges, security vestibules, doors and windows. The state also will spend another $50 million annually for resource officers, counselors and other measures.
In neighboring Virginia, the state has formed what it claims to be the first select committee of lawmakers in the Virginia House of Delegates in more than 150 years, and its purpose is to review and improve the security of school buildings. Farther south in Florida, Gov. Rick Scott signed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act (S.B. 7026), which in part dedicates $99 million to address safety needs in public schools. The Florida Department of Education also plans to establish the Office of Safe Schools to work with law enforcement to approve safety plans.
“There are things you can do to these school buildings to make them more secure, and these states are realizing it and doing something about it,” Hess acknowledges.
Given that many of the perpetrators are students who attend the school where the incident occurs, some experts are working with districts to identify behavioral adjustments that can help make the buildings as safe and secure as possible.
To address this, Rockford Construction has partnered with a specialized security consultant that provides a holistic approach by assessing each building and security risk piece by piece and then adding an element of training on top.
“It’s not responsible for us to add expensive equipment if behaviorally we’re not making it any safer,” Boezwinkle says.
Tech Talk
From a technology standpoint, the emphasis has shifted away from a post-industrial educational model, and the facilities of the past don’t support the evolution effectively.
What’s being adopted in higher education and the workplace is trickling down into K-12 schools.
As technology continues to drive curriculum, it is impacting the overall design, flexibility and function of the spaces where learning is taking place.
For starters, standard square classrooms with the desks facing forward focused on the teacher at the front are becoming extinct, while more open spaces that promote communal learning are becoming commonplace both inside and outside the classroom.
“The partitioned-off classroom is going away, and there is less emphasis on textbooks and more on collaborative learning using smart technology,” explains David Lewis, Central Florida regional vice president of Core Construction.
Today, thanks to wireless capabilities and the “Bring Your Own Device” movement, tethering devices to a station is becoming obsolete, too.
To accommodate the evolving technological landscape, more flexibility is now built into the structures, with walls, ceilings and flooring systems able to anticipate and accommodate future advancements and updates when needed. It’s even being integrated into furniture solutions.
“Technology is going to continue to be a key piece and it will move exponentially faster so software, apps and information available will push down to all levels of student learning,” Boezwinkle says.
Of course, this trend isn’t reserved just for functionality. Contractors are using the latest advances to assist with the design-build process, explains Wesley Moncrief, senior project manager for McCarthy Building Companies. Recently, the firm turned to virtual reality to help with the planning and design of the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Houston (Kinder HSPVA) project, which will be completed in the fall.
Built to accommodate 750 students focusing on one of five disciplines in the arts, the new five-story, 168,000-square-foot Kinder HSPVA replacement magnet school will boast a dramatic front entrance with double-high glass windows and a wide monumental stair, 800-seat main theater with a balcony, dance and music studios, 300-seat black box theater, rehearsal rooms, modern outdoor dining area, numerous creative or collaborative open work and meeting spaces, two levels of underground parking and an outdoor roof terrace.
The facility exemplifies the direction many modern schools are heading. In recent years, the variety of public, private and charter schools have made the playing field more competitive. As a result, there has been a big upswing in the construction of theme-based schools, which help differentiate the facility and create real-world, project-based educational opportunities—in many cases emphasizing the latest in technological advances.
In the last few years, this has been a major focus for Rockford Construction, which recently built a nature center academy, an aviation academy, a museum school and others that are centered on a specific curriculum.
Meanwhile, schools with a vocational focus also are coming back to the forefront, according to Johanneman. Passed in 2014, Texas H.B. 5 calls for high schools to partner with higher education institutions to supplement their course offerings. This will change the makeup of classroom designs and will factor in the need to set up more vocational training.
“For a long time, schools were getting away from welding or shop training and education, and now schools are beig designed and built with those things in mind again,” Johanneman says.
Energy Smarts
Today, sustainable design is commonplace at the K-12 level, with many jurisdictions requiring facilities to meet a LEED Silver rating or higher. Municipalities continue to place greater emphasis on designing energy-efficient and eco-friendly structures.
As of 2007, Maryland requires all state-funded facilities that exceed 5,000 square feet to achieve a minimum LEED Silver rating, but several counties often exceed that. For example, all new facilities in Montgomery and Arlington Counties are rated LEED Gold, Hess notes.
When it comes to sustainable design, some of the most sought after features include daylighting, low-VOC paint, casework and furniture, geothermal mechanical systems and energy-efficient lighting.
“The concept is not new, but now there is much more emphasis, and the lower jurisdictions are building some sort of sustainable features into just about all their projects,” Hess says.
Additionally, schools are making better use of single spaces, employing a “gymnacafetorium” concept, which joins together the gymnasium, cafeteria and auditorium. Combining multiple functions into one well-designed space is the new norm, Boezwinkle says.
“As the need to be more responsible with space grows, a greater emphasis will be placed on how to control operating costs so that the schools can keep more available funding in the classroom,” she concludes.
