tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8285353362748898720.post7637673520617624104..comments2024-03-28T06:53:24.022-05:00Comments on a blog about school: Buildings, budgets, boundaries: what’s missing?Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12919030671050831251noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8285353362748898720.post-18188486822226795142012-11-11T23:44:57.279-06:002012-11-11T23:44:57.279-06:00Karen -- That's a great point. Quoting Nick:
...Karen -- That's a great point. Quoting <a href="http://fromdc2iowa.blogspot.com/2012/08/do-iowas-school-districts-need.html" rel="nofollow">Nick</a>:<br /><br />"As I used to tell my colleagues, 'Normally before you ask an architect for advice you know whether you want to build a courthouse or an outhouse.' Only the board can decide what they want to do inside those school buildings -- not an architect, a committee, or a consultant. If they think team teaching and block scheduling are a good idea the walls will be in different places. If the board is persuaded by the available research that the optimum size of a high school is about 800 students, that will affect the size and cost of any new high schools. If the board decides, as advised by the National Commission for the High School Senior Year, that the best place for high school seniors is out of the high schools, that may reduce the 'overcrowding' that dictates the need for new buildings.<br /><br />The same thing can be said regarding school boundaries, class sizes, allocation of students from low income or homeless families. These all involve decisions that should be assumed, personally, by board members -- legally, politically, morally, and administratively -- not 'contracted out' to the superintendent, committees, or consultants."Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07559356125770114400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8285353362748898720.post-77273871114123055532012-11-11T19:11:18.219-06:002012-11-11T19:11:18.219-06:00I think Nick Johnson touched on this issue a short...I think Nick Johnson touched on this issue a short while ago on his blog, noting that it is really hard to make a facilities plan without regard to the educational program--otherwise, how do you know what to build? Buildings to support Montessori, blended learning, or more traditional looking programs are going to be different in some way from one another--maybe substantially. <br />Karen Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13075997477474697121noreply@blogger.com