Three Takeaways from Iowa City School District Steering Committee Meeting Number Two

Note: PDF of the Steering Committee Slideshow attached above.

Very soon, the entire Iowa City Community School District community will have opportunities to weigh-in on the development of the Facilities Master Plan, which will determine the priorities for how much and when the school district will spend money on school facilities.

The walk trhough assessment of the school's facilities by BLDD Architects has been completed and was presented to the Iowa City School District's Facilities Steering Committee last night. The members of the steering committee were able to ask questions about some of the information, but the main priorities will likely be set, at least at first, by the public in a series of Visioning Workshops. 

These “Visioning Workshops” are set for April 6 (at 9:00 a.m.), April 8 (at 9 a.m., with childcare available) and April 9 (at 6:00 p.m.).  All members of the community are invited.

Sam Johnson, a co-lead on the project with BLDD architects, said last night at the meeting that the purpose of the workshop is to engage the public to determine what they feel are the largest and most pressing gaps in where the district facilities are now and where they ought to be after looking at BLDD's assessment of the district. 

The steering committee will then react to these stated priorities in their third meeting on April 17, eventually developing priorities of their own in the process of providing a recommendation to the school board.

For More info on this meeting read: Facilities report nears completion (Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Report: Iowa City high schools’ capacity lower than believed (Gazette)

Why Capacity Will Continue To Be A Moving Target

Like I mentioned when the report was first released, capacity is less of a concrete number than many people have been led to believe in the past, and it's going to become even less fixed than it used to be if the BLDD number becomes the norm.

See Also: Analyzing the Iowa City Schools Facilities Assessment by BLDD Architects 

Why is this? And why are the capacity numbers even lower than the district had them at before BLDD's analysis?

Take it away, Sam Johnson of BLDD:

"Student capacity should be driven by function, the function of the space," Johnson said.

That is what Johnson told the steering committee last night as part of his explanation of BLDD's capacity numbers. This is important to note because Johnson said the capacity of buildings was determined using the district's current programming mapped onto the spaces the district has now. It was then weighted using student loads for different kinds of classroom needs, such as special education, and for an overall emphasis on optimizing the buildings for 21st Century Learning.

What is needed in 21st Century Learning?

Take it away, Sam Johnson of BLDD:

"Fluidity and flexibility are really important for schools of the future," Johnson said. "I don't want to give the impression that capacity is accurate down to the last student. I think the most important thing is to allow the space for you to be flexible."

Johnson told the group that all indications are that learning of the future will be more mobile, wireless, small group, project and activity based than the rote stare forward at the school board instructor model of the 20th century. 

What this will require is more space for each student, and the more space required by each student means the lower the capacity of the building. As most of the Iowa City School District's buildings were built in the 20th century, it is perhaps not surprising that their current layouts have them lacking capacity based on 21st century learning standards. The challenge is how to adapt the district to meet these standards.

It also means that, along with the portables currently in use not being factored into the equation, most of the schools in the district will be shown to be over capacity for the ideal instruction of the programming they have now.

Mitch Gross, a Coralville City Council member, asked if since the capacity numbers were based on programming, those numbers could change as soon as the programming changed. 

School board member Jeff McGinness answered in the affirmative:

"I think the end result is capacity becomes much more fluid than it used to be," McGinness said. 

McGinness later emphasized though that the public should be informed that these capacity numbers are more ideals for the future, rather than current tipping points.

"We're also using absolute best case scenario factors, I think that's a good goal, but I want people to know there is some time it will take to get there," McGinness said.

The Hierarchy of Needs: What is Safety?

At the end of the meeting, Johnson asked that the steering committee prioritize its building based on a hierarchy of needs, with urgent facility upgrades on the bottom of the pyramid and ideal learning conditions at the top. The bottom slab, as shown in slide 35 of the attached PDF, is "The School is Safe, Secure, and Weather Tight."

Johnson County Supervisor Rod Sullivan, a member of the steering committee, said he was uncomfortable proceeding with this hierarchy without a definition of what was meant by safe and secure. He said that he was worried that this would lead the district into focusing too much on preventing the worst case scenario.

"I don't think that there's anything that schools can do to prevent a shooter from getting into a school," Sullivan said, as an example. "I guess I've seen too much of an overreaction to a horrible instance, and I don't want to spend a lot of money reacting to this, when we have a lot of needs." 

Sullivan also asked if it was the priority of the board to make all buildings equally handicap accessible, as this could be a costly upgrade for some of the older buildings in the district.

Other committee members agreed, pointing to air-conditioning as a practical item that affects the health and well-being of multiple students every year, as well as the idea that turning schools into fortresses would work against the idea of schools as connectors to the community.

David Dude, who oversees facilities for the district, countered that he would hesitate to create a single definition for what was meant by safe and secure.

"I'm not sure if I could create a single definition that would survive after it had been applied to every building," Dude said. 

Dude said it would work better if the steering committee determined where projects should go in the hierarchy based on what they felt should come first. So if air-conditioning was determined to be a priority it should naturally be included in this definition. 

So the security versus air conditioning question could be something that could also be swayed by what is stated at the workshops by the public at large.

In one final note on security, Duane Van Hemert, head of the district's physical plant, told the steering committee that the district had already identified some of the district's security vulnerabilities. He said that some of these security improvements could be done quickly and cost effectively without the need for total building remodels.

Van Hemert declined to specify what these vulnerabilities and improvements were, saying student safety could be jeopardized by revealing this information.

Like Data? There's a Lot More Of It On the Way

The steering committee presentation is just a part of the puzzle that the public will have access to when judging the state of the district's facilities.

There also is a 300-page report that BLDD says will eventually be made available to the steering committee and the public, detailing the physical condition of components in every building in the district prioritized by need for replacement.

This coming Tuesday, there will also be revised enrollment projections presented to the board by a new consultant with projections that go out to 10-years. If these projections show continued growth in the district, more and more of the district's buildings will approach or exceed capacity in the coming years even under the old, more forgiving standards.

As part of their walkthrough, BLDD identified $1.6 million worth of the most pressing needs that the district should address, which included the abatement of asbestos problems. Dude indicated that these needs would likely be addressed this year as part of the board and district's already existing facilities plan.

After that low hanging fruit is gone, much of what remains will be up for debate.

The Current List of Steering Committee Members

• ICCSD Board Facilities Committee Chair, Mr. Jeff McGinness* 
• ICCSD Chief Operating Officer, Dr. David Dude* 
• ICCSD Physical Plant Director, Mr. Duane Van Hemert 
• BLDD Representatives, Ms. Barbara Meek and Mr. Sam Johnson 
• Practicing ICCSD Elementary Teacher, Ms. Ann Dillard (Longfellow) 
• Practicing ICCSD Secondary Teachers, Ms. Danelle Knoche (City), Ms. Joye Walker (West) 
• Representatives from the ICCSD DPO, Ms. Shari Shaffer (Coralville Central), Ms. Sara Baron (Wood) 
• Representative from the facilities department of University of Iowa, Kirkwood, ACT, or Pearson, Tom Kaldenberg 
• Representative selected by the Iowa City Area Development Group, Ms. DaLayne Williamson 
• Representative selected by the Iowa City City Council, Ms. Michelle Payne (Rick Dobyns was at 3/25 meeting as alternate) 
• Representative selected by the Coralville City Council, Mr. Mitch Gross 
• Representative selected by the University Heights City Council, Ms. Rosanne Hopson 
• Representative selected by the North Liberty City Council, Mr. Chris Hoffman 
• Representative selected by the Hills City Council, Mr. Tim Kemp 
• Representative selected by the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, Mr. Rod Sullivan 
• Representative selected by the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Building Trades Council, Mr. Royce Peterson 
• Representative selected by the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Alex Taylor