When school buildings are aging, a decision must be made as to whether to continue to maintain the existing building, renovate building, or build new. Very seldom is extending the existing buildings life over building a new building. If renovation costs exceed 50% of the cost of new construction, it is better to build instead of renovating. The taxpayers in your community will have much to say on whether to renovate or build new. Much emphasis should be given to taxpayer input before the school board makes a final decision. School administrators are responsible to the community for maintaining school buildings and they owe an explanation to the community of what has been done to protect existing school buildings. This book is developed to help aspiring teachers who want to become principals, business managers or superintendents, that existing buildings need to be properly maintained and functional and can continue to serve the public for many years to come.

A Guide to Leading and Managing Indiana School Facilities

By Thomas J. Dykiel Charles F. Hobbs William E. Roberson

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2009 Dr. Tom Dykiel, Dr. Charles Hobbs and Dr. William E. Roberson
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4389-6160-6

Contents

Chapter 1 The Evolution of Educational Facilities....................................................................7Chapter 2 Department of Local Government Finance.....................................................................18Chapter 3 School Building and Site Assessment........................................................................36Chapter 4 Creation of a Master Plan and Funding of New Construction, Renovation, and Maintenance.....................63Chapter 5 Design-Build Projects......................................................................................88Chapter 6 Maintenance................................................................................................99Chapter 7 School Renovations.........................................................................................111Chapter 8 New Construction...........................................................................................123Chapter 9 Custodial Responsibilities.................................................................................136Chapter 10 Guaranteed Energy Savings Contracts........................................................................151Chapter 11 Energy Conservation........................................................................................167Chapter 12 Environmental Concerns.....................................................................................178Chapter 13 Building a Professional Team for Construction Projects.....................................................194Appendix 1 Department of Local Government Finance Building Information Sheets.........................................204Appendix 2 Custodial Job Descriptions.................................................................................231Appendix 3 Building Rental Charges....................................................................................234Appendix 4 Guaranteed Energy Savings Additional Information...........................................................240Appendix 5 Energy Policy..............................................................................................265Appendix 6 Pest Control Administrative Policy.........................................................................274Appendix 7 American School & University Graphs........................................................................277Appendix 8 2008: New Construction Project Approval Process............................................................278

Chapter One

The Evolution of Educational Facilities

KEY TERMS

Architect, Educational Specifications, Facility Planning

INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses the formation of education in America from colonial times to the present. It looks at the size of the classroom, the building, and the change in curriculum over the years. Emphasis is also given to the early educational planners and the creation of the National Council on Schoolhouse Construction. The end of this chapter discusses the procedures one should use when selecting an architect.

Historical Perspective

During colonial times, education was the responsibility of the church. Early settlers believed that every child must learn to read the Bible in order to gain salvation. Therefore, church buildings not only served as religious buildings but also as schoolhouses. As time progressed, the one-room schoolhouse became the norm in educating the youth of the time.

American Schools in the Early Nineteenth Century

As America changed, so did the schoolhouse. As the country progressed from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy, and new cities were created from formerly wilderness, schoolhouses changed. The Lancastrian school system of England arrived in the early nineteenth century. The classroom facilities were constructed to house large numbers of students regardless of age or achievement level. It was not unusual to have city schools holding up to 500 students seated in a single 50-by-100-foot room. The use of benches rather than desks allowed the room to accommodate one student for each ten square feet of space (Educational Facilities Laboratories, 1960).

Although the Lancastrian system only survived in America for approximately forty years, the influence it had on development of the educational system was substantial. The Lancastrian system established rational principles of group instruction and education for all children and provided a basis for the free tax-supported public schooling we have today (Educational Facilities Laboratories, 1960).

The Lancastrian system began to disappear during the 1830s, due in part to the ideas of Henry Bernard and Horace Mann, who believed that educational facilities were more than shelters. William Alcott (cited in McClintock & McClintock, 1970), in his prize-winning essay on the construction of schoolhouses, stated that the appearance of the classroom and the way in which it was arranged had extensive influence on forming the character of the students housed within. Henry Bernard, who was instrumental in early school building reform, painted a dismal picture of the condition of most pre-Civil War schoolhouses (p. 31):

They are universally badly located, exposed to the noise, dust and danger of the highway, unattractive, if not positively repulsive in their external and internal appearance, and built at the least possible expense of material and labor.

Bernard (cited in McClintock & McClintock, 1970, p. 38) also quoted the New York Superintendent of Education, who made the following statement to the New York State Legislature in 1844:

The total number of schoolhouses visited and inspected by the county superintendent during the year was 9,368 of which 8,795 consisted of one room only. The number of these schools having no privy is 6,432 and the number that contained no suitable desks, etc. is 5,972. The number lacking in proper facilities for ventilation is stated at 7,889.

It is in these miserable abodes of accumulated dirt and filth, deprived of wholesome air, or exposed without adequate protection to the assaults of the elements, with no facilities for necessary exercise or relaxation, no convenience for prosecuting their studies; crowded together on benches not admitting of a moment's rest in any position, and debarred the possibility o yielding to the ordinary calls of nature without violent inroads upon modesty and shame; that upwards of two hundred thousand children, scattered over various parts of the state, are compelled to spend an average of eight months during each year of their pupilage.

Knight (1957, p. 416) described the great majority of the schools in New York State in 1844 as:

naked and deformed, in comfortless and dilapidated buildings with un-hung doors, broken sashes, absent panes, stilted benches, yawning roof and muddy moldering floors ...

Only one third of the schoolhouses were reported in good repair, another third in only comfortable circumstances, while more than 3,300 were unfit for the reception of either Man or beast.

During the time period of 1820 through 1850, the battle for free public schools was fought and won. Through the efforts of men like Horace...