 |
Mayors and Superintendents from Four Major American
Cities Attend and Brainstorm Innovative Solutions for Their
Schools
 |
The School Design Institute, a joint
initiative of the American Architectural Foundation (AAF)
and the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, was
held on July 20-22 in Washington, D.C. At this unprecedented event,
mayors, superintendents, and other officials from Bridgeport,
Conn.; Manchester, N.H.; Oklahoma City; and St. Louis gathered for
three days to discuss the pressing school design challenges and
opportunities in their respective cities. Central to their
discussion was a resource team of architects specializing in school
design, planning, and environmental design who provided feedback,
suggestions, and commentary on current trends in school
design.
As Ron Bogle, president and CEO of AAF, stated, “The thing
that can hold cities back is a lack of information and creative
dialogue around the challenges confronting them. The School Design
Institute was created to facilitate sharing of information between
city officials and design experts in an informal, constructive
setting. We believe this Institute has been a transformational
experience for the cities involved.”
The School Design Institute, modeled after the Mayors’
Institute on City Design, is an important part of AAF’s
national school design initiative Great Schools by Design. The
program was created in response to the growing recognition that
mayors and school leaders are seeking more constructive ways to
invest the almost $30 billion being spent annually on school
construction and renovation in the United States. The Mayors’
Institute on City Design is a program of the National Endowment for
the Arts that is administered by AAF and the U.S. Conference of
Mayors.
Pam Loeffelman, AIA, a resource team participant at the School
Design Institute and chair of the AIA Committee on Architecture for
Education, reflected, “The Institute was an effective first
step in illustrating to city leadership that schools must be
designed to acknowledge their overall context beyond the specifics
of the site in order to better leverage the investment. In
addition, changing demographics and the increased use of technology
which allows for the personalization of educational programs will
require that schools of tomorrow be designed to accommodate a
variety of ‘learning signatures.’ Prescriptive solutions
where one size fits all can no longer be the norm.”
The issues raised during the Institute covered a broad range of
topics, all brought to the table by the cities themselves:
• St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and Superintendent Creg
Williams of St. Louis raised the question of how to create schools
that serve as “centers of community” – reaching out
to neighborhood resources, engaging local residents, and creating
neighborhoods where children can walk to school. One of Mayor
Slay’s goals is to create a network of parks, recreation
centers, and after-school programs that children and residents can
use and enjoy.
• Bridgeport Mayor John Fabrizi and Superintendent John Ramos
investigated new approaches to building schools through community
engagement, shared facilities, adaptive reuse, and other
strategies. Their hope is to create schools that help stitch back
together the fabric of their communities and create inviting spaces
for families of all backgrounds.
• Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett and Superintendent Bob
Moore engaged the committee on the topic of creating an urban,
downtown elementary school that could rely on the existing
resources of the city itself. They pondered the ways in which a
dynamic urban environment and the varied experiences it offers can
help bolster a student’s educational experience.
• Manchester Mayor Robert Baines and Superintendent Michael
Ludwell explored the possibilities for creating a new downtown
school that would serve the growing immigrant populations in the
city center. Manchester’s case study also presented questions
about the adaptive reuse of existing buildings and examined the
possibilities of expanding the “campus” of a school
through agreements with existing neighborhood resources.
For many participants, the School Design Institute was a unique
opportunity to confer, collaborate, and gather information. As
Mayor John Fabrizi of Bridgeport said, “There are so many new
design ideas and opportunities out there that cities can take
advantage of to improve themselves. Working with other mayors,
superintendents, and experts has been a great experience for our
team, and should prove beneficial to the health and welfare of our
community.”
The gathering of mayors, superintendents, and experts was another
innovative feature of the School Design Institute. “In my 35
years in education, this is the first collaborative discussion
I’ve seen about the design and educational challenges that we
face,” said Bob Moore, superintendent of Oklahoma City Public
Schools. “The rich feedback we’ve received from experts
and our counterparts in other cities has been invaluable. The
holistic approach to school design and educational issues in these
meetings is unique.”
Participants in the School Design Institute:
Bridgeport, Conn.
John Fabrizi, mayor of the City of Bridgeport
Dr. John Ramos, superintendent of Bridgeport Schools
George Estrada, director of public facilities
Jack Butkus, executive director of operations
Manchester, N.H.
Robert Baines, mayor of the City of Manchester
Dr. Michael Ludwell, superintendent of Manchester School
District
Timothy Clougherty, chief facilities manager
Oklahoma City
Mick Cornett, mayor of the City of Oklahoma City
Bob Moore, superintendent of Oklahoma City Public Schools
Eric Wenger, program manager, MAPS for Kids
St. Louis
Francis Slay, mayor of the City of St. Louis
Dr. Creg Willilams, superintendent of St. Louis Public
Schools
Robbyn Wahby, executive assistant for Education Policy
Resource Team
Facilitator: Ron Bogle, president and CEO, American
Architectural Foundation
Constance Beaumont, State of Oregon, Salem, Ore.
Thomas Blurock, FAIA, Thomas Blurock Architects, Costa Mesa, Calif.
(past chair, AIA-CAE Leadership Group)
Hillary Brown, AIA, New Civic Works, New York City
Kerry Leonard, AIA, OWP&P Architects, Chicago (vice chair,
AIA-CAE Leadership Group)
Pam Loeffelman, AIA, Perkins Eastman Architects, Stamford, Conn.
(chair, AIA-CAE Leadership Group)
Robert Peck, Hon. AIA, president, Greater Washington Board of
Trade, Washington, D.C.
Roy Strickland, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
AAF’s funding and alliance partners share a common interest in
improving America’s communities and built environment through
good design.
Founding partners for Great Schools by Design are the
American Architectural Foundation, Herman Miller Inc., and
McGraw-Hill Construction. With AAF, KnowledgeWorks Foundation is
the coconvener of the National Summit on School Design and a
partner on the Great Schools by Design video series.
Additional funding partners include: Cisco Systems
Inc., National Endowment for the Arts, and the AIA. Alliance
partners include: American Association of School Administrators,
American Federation of Teachers, Council of the Great City Schools,
National Association of Elementary School Principals, National
Association of Secondary School Principals, National Clearinghouse
for Educational Facilities, National Education Association,
National School Boards Association, U.S. Conference of
Mayors.
Additional resources: The Great Schools by Design Web
portal offers video and resources.
The American Architectural Foundation has launched a new Web
portal for its program Great Schools by Design, a national
initiative that seeks to help improve the quality of America’s
schools through design excellence and dialog. The new portal
provides information about the program and other useful resources
highlighting the latest in school design. Users can watch a
streaming video about the program itself, or watch AAF’s
latest video case study titled “Schools as Centers of
Community: John A. Johnson Achievement Plus Elementary.” This
17-minute video describes one community’s successful creation
of a school that both serves as a center of its community and has
had a significant impact on student achievement. Copies of the
video may be ordered at no charge through AAF’s Web site. To
learn more, visit: www.archfoundation.org/aaf/gsbd.
|
