Crest View and Foothill kick-off construction with groundbreaking ceremonies

Students and staff at Crest View, Foothill and Boulder High recently joined Board of Education President Helayne Jones, board members Lesley Smith, Jean Paxton and Ken Roberge and Jim Reed, Superintendent Chris King and Deputy Superintendent Ellen Miller-Brown to celebrate the start of construction for their bond projects.

 
Principal Ned Levine celebrates the start of construction with his students.

These celebrations mark the fruition of many months of work by design advisory teams, bond program staff, the project architects and general contractors.

When construction is complete in August 2009, students at Crest View will enjoy a new cafeteria, a performing platform in the gym, small group instructional spaces and six additional classrooms. Other bond work at the school includes enlarging the administrative offices, upgrading the local- and wide-area network system, playground improvements and mechanical and electrical systems upgrades.

At Foothill Elementary, the $9.5 million project includes a 15,000-square foot addition which will include a new IMC, four new classrooms and literacy spaces. The project also includes renovations to the cafeteria, Kindergarten classrooms and administrative offices. Other bond work at the school will include IT infrastructure upgrades, playground improvements, upgrades to mechanical and electrical systems, restroom renovations and interior finishes improvements.

Boulder High’s $11.8 million project includes a 20,000-square-foot addition which will house our new main gym, weightroom, multi-purpose room and team rooms. Other improvements include a visitor’s team room at Recht field, renovations to special education and consumer and family studies classrooms, 2,000 square feet of storage for the auditorium and a 2,000-square-foot addition to the administration and counseling offices. Other bond work at the school will include a new fire detection system, restroom renovations, IT infrastructure upgrades, improved signage, site paving and repair, and upgrades to building systems such as HVAC and electrical wiring.

Read more about the project at Boulder High . . .

The new Casey Middle School begins to take shape
After months of nearly weekly meetings, this week the Casey Middle School design advisory team got to see the concepts and ideas they’ve been discussing take shape in the schematic design. The schematic design is still preliminary in nature and subject to change, but it is a good representation of how the final building will likely look and function.

The proposed design for the new school shifts the main entry to High Street and creates an educational plaza in front of the school on the southeast corner of the lot. High Street is far less busy than 13th where the main entrance is currently and was seen as a safer access point. The proposed design for the plaza includes an amphitheatre, outdoor classroom space and formal and informal play areas. The plaza also provides areas for students to gather before and after school.

This idea of a commons area for students is repeated just inside the main entry with a large open space with tables and chairs which will provide seating during lunches and space for students to gather and study or socialize at other times of the day. The entryway is designed with security in mind—visitors will not be allowed through locked doors until they’ve checked in and received badges from the receptionist.

One of the prominent features in the design is the incorporation of natural daylight into learning spaces which has been shown to increase health and productivity. To make the best use of available light, most of the core classrooms in the new school are located on in a three-story section on the north side of the building where lighting is more consistent and glare free.

The new building incorporates the south and west facades of the original 1924 structure and behind these walls are the art room, library and electives rooms.

Some of the more innovative features of the design are a rooftop garden, small group spaces and flexible indoor/outdoor space that converts with a garage-door like feature. The green roof will reduce storm drainage and keep the building cooler. 

With the Casey project, BVSD is aiming to achieve LEED gold certification. LEED is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It is the industry-recognized, voluntary rating system that defines high-performing green buildings. The rating system provides proven strategies for achieving a green project.

A number of features in the proposed design will help the school gain points toward certification. Some of these are more obviously ‘green,’ like the array of photovoltaic panels stationed on the south side of the school. Others, are less obvious, like the garden-level parking garage to be located under the gym. Locating the parking in the same footprint as the building will reduce the hard surface area on the site, which creates less run-off and reduces the ‘heat island’ effect. Less hard surface area also means more space is preserved for student play areas or outdoor learning. This is especially important on a small site like Casey’s. The parking lot reserves priority spaces for alternative fuel vehicles and carpools.

The landscape design calls for the use of pervious materials in paved areas and utilizes low water vegetation throughout the site. The play fields at the school will be replaced with synthetic turf which requires less water and maintenance and fewer chemicals. Because there is only one play field at Casey, it receives much more use than fields at other middle schools in the district. The synthetic turf will allow the field to endure this heavy use.

The opportunity to pursue this certification has been made possible by partnership with the City of Boulder which has committed up to $1.8 million in Educational Excise Tax (EET) funds. The EET is a voter-approved 14 year-old municipal tax on new Boulder residential development for “development of public education facilities and services.”

Casey will be BVSD’s first LEED certified school.

An open house to share more information about the design is scheduled for April 23, 6:30 p.m. in the Casey auditorium. All are invited to attend.

For more information on the 2006 Bond Program, go to: http://bvsd.org/bondproject/Pages/default.aspx.

BVSD and Wonderland Hill Development Co. close on sale of the former Washington Elementary School site

Sale of three-acre parcel in north Boulder nets school district $4.1 million for capital improvements

BOULDER – On Wednesday, April 9, 2008, the Boulder Valley School District closed on the sale of the former Washington Elementary School site.  The closing took place six years to the date that BVSD entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the City of Boulder specifying the city’s and district’s roles in the future closure and sale of school facilities.  The three-acre parcel was purchased by Wonderland Hill Development Co. for $4.1 million. 

In response to the city’s request, BVSD agreed to a three-year extension of the MOU on March 8, 2005.  The MOU acknowledges the primary responsibility of BVSD to manage its assets in the best interests of the district to the benefit of student learning while also recognizing that the city’s schools are interwoven in the fabric of the Boulder community’s daily life.  In March 2008 the school board authorized the superintendent to negotiate a further extension of the MOU with the city.

This city/district agreement specifies the terms of the district’s collaboration with the city regarding any sale and development of school sites.  To allow the city to determine whether it wanted to purchase the site, the district leased the property to the city for one year in 2005.  Deciding not to purchase the site, the city, in 2006, initiated a request for proposal (RFP) process for site development of the school property which had closed in 2003.  As part of that BVSD/City of Boulder process, the city created a community review panel to consider development applications.  Pursuit of historic designation of the Washington school building was, per the MOU, a condition of the sale.

It was during this community review process that Wonderland Hill Development Co. was chosen as the site developer when the Boulder City Council unanimously referred this developer to BVSD as the purchaser of the former school site.

In accordance with the MOU, BVSD was required to accept Wonderland as the purchaser.  The Boulder Valley School Board unanimously approved the sale of the Washington Elementary property to Wonderland Hill Development Co. on October 10, 2006.  Final closing of the sale on April 9 formally ends BVSD involvement in this matter.   

BVSD administration will, as publicly stated earlier, recommend that the $4.1 million in sale proceeds be added to the 2006 bond dollars already committed to Columbine Elementary School in Boulder altering the Columbine project scope from a significant renovation to a complete replacement.  Such action requires consideration by the BVSD Citizens Bond Oversight Committee and an amendment to the BVSD Educational Facilities Master Plan by the school board. 

BVSD reorganization based on meeting student needs

For the past several months, BVSD Superintendent Chris King and Deputy Superintendent Ellen Miller-Brown, have been focused on how best to redirect existing BVSD resources to meet the needs of our most challenged students and attain the ambitious five-year achievement, equity, and organization goals established by the seven-member Boulder Valley Board of Education in November 2007.

Dr. King has stated over several meetings with various stakeholders, that BVSD does a measurably outstanding job of meeting the educational needs of approximately 20,000 of our students.  He further stated that one of his greatest challenges is to meet the other approximately 8,000 students where they are now at academically and give them and their teachers the tools necessary to bridge the achievement gaps confronting each of them.

The amount of financial resources available for this new approach are now being determined by Dr. Miller-Brown and the BVSD budget services staff as the district finalizes its 2008-2009 proposed budget for board review and action prior to the start of the new fiscal year on July 1, 2008.  These savings will be directed, on a school-by-school basis, into intervention strategies that make the most sense for that school’s student learning.  Principals will ultimately be responsible for determining how best to apply the additional resources that they receive in their school.

“As great as we are, we will not achieve our five-year challenges by standing still.  Our families expect more and we are doing everything possible to make certain that each of our students receive the learning resources that she or he requires,” stated Dr. King.