James R Thompson AIA
Architect and Planner
Pennsylvania School Board Director
• Principal Architect for over 100 Schools
Six LEED schools and Seventeen PlanCon Projects
• Educational Facility Planner for
31 District-wide Master Plans
• Harrisburg School Board Vice President
Financially-distressed Urban School District
Great Recession
• Operational Savings / Consolidation
Belt-tightening eventually became Program Cuts
• Cuts Impacted Student Performance
Alternative to Cuts: Politically Distasteful Tax Increases
• Urban vs Rural vs Suburban School Districts
Each had its Unique Financial vs Academic Priorities
Harrisburg City School District
Great Recession - OMG
Harrisburg Schools Context – 2008 to 2012:
• Hovered near bankruptcy – financial and academic!
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Shuttered 6 of 16 schools
Eliminated Pre-K and cut Kindergarten to half-day
Closed Career / Tech and Alternative schools
Furloughed hundreds (including librarians)
Froze compensation – hemorrhaged talent
Families fled to charters and private schools
Entered PDE Financial Recovery Program
Harrisburg City School District
Great Recession Recovery
Harrisburg Context – Today:
• Comprehensive Five-year Recovery Plan
• Fund Balance $32 million – we are more popular
• Academic insolvency – our kids perform among the
worst in the State
Harrisburg Context – Our Kids:
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6500 students + 1000 Charter / tuition students
Diverse: 60% African American, 30% Hispanic, 6% Asian
500 homeless students – 1 or 2 kids in each classroom
30% speak something other than English at home
22% of our kids have Individualized Educational Plans
Walk a mile in their shoes
Educators and School Boards need help:
• Cost / Benefit Analyses for Student Outcomes
• Prioritizing Competing Options
• Skeptical of ‘Research Sez’
Upper St Clair High School Adds and Alts courtesy of Fanning/Howey Associates
Facility Design Impacts Student Health /
Performance and Operational Efficiency:
• Association for Learning Environments (formerly
CEFPI)
• Erica Cochran PhD – Carnegie Mellon University
• Lorraine Maxwell PhD – Cornell University
• C Kenneth Tanner EdD REFP – University of Georgia
Design Affects Performance
• Clear Wayfinding
• Effective Use of Natural Daylight
• Overall Quality of Appearance (But, Not too Distracting)
• Connections to the Environment – including Outdoor
Learning Opportunities
• Educational Technology Readily Available to Students
• Educational Technology Readily Available to Faculty
• Effective Acoustic Control
Sensory Garden courtesy of Fanning Howey Associates
Walk a mile in their shoes
Facilities Impacted by Educational Policy and
Program Priorities:
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School choice through charter schools
Preschool programming to prepare at-risk kids
Full- vs half-day kindergarten
Smaller class sizes for early elementary grades
Library, art and music programming
Student activities and athletics
Erdenheim Elementary School – School District of Springfield Township
courtesy of Hayes Large Architects
District-wide Planning Perspective
Zero-sum Budget Strategies
• Avoid structural deficits – don’t drain fund balance
• Produce more revenue
• Reduce expenses – the focus of District-wide planning
Right-sizing Student Capacity
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Independent enrollment projection costs $16K
A new school costs about $37K per child
Resist the Temptation to Over-build
Plan for Future Expansion – Infrastructure, too
Make Durable Changes
• Un-sustainable Excess Capacity is Quickly Un-done
• Build Consensus from the Earliest Planning Phases
• Make Performance-based Decisions
Make Durable Planning Decisions
Rural District - Like-new District-wide K-8
• Capacity 850 students – Enrollment 500 and declining
• Debt service bankrupting the District – Options?
• State Intervention
• District Merger Partner
• Increase Property Taxes
• Full- vs half-day Kindergarten
• Cut programs (Library, Art, Family and
Consumer Science)
• Increase Pupil to Teacher Ratio
Custom Design vs Flexible Space
Suburban District –
Optimizing Special Education Space Use
• 12-student Mini-Lab serves 60-80 IEP Science Students
• Ignored PlanCon Conventional Wisdom
• Smaller Classrooms Inflexible for Adding Seats or Push-in
type Pupil Support Services
Schedule Impacts Outcomes
Urban District – 40 Preschool Classrooms
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Spread throughout 15 Baltimore City Schools
Total Capacity - 720 At-Risk, 4-year-old Students
2009 Federal-stimulus, Design-Build Project
Authorization to Proceed with Design in April 2009
Children in Preschool in August 2009 – 4 ½ Months
Perfect was the enemy of good (and on-time), for
these 720 at-risk kids
Baltimore City Public Schools courtesy of Hayes Large Architects
Weigh Impact of School-to-School
Transitions on Outcomes
Suburban District – Facility Study
• 10-Year Projection Identified Declining Enrollment
• Explored District-wide K-2 and 3-5 Consolidation vs Two
K-5 Attendance Area Options
• Consolidation Makes Financial Sense – Reduced Faculty
Cost
• Weigh the Impact on Student Academic Performance:
• Increase in Bus Transportation Time
• School Transition between Grades 2 and 3
Erdenheim Elementary School – School District of Springfield Township
courtesy of Hayes Large Architects
Planning Affects Performance
• Understand Financial and Academic Realities
• Make Durable, Sustainable Decisions
• Optimize Student Outcomes
• Don’t Overbuild (Plan Future Expansion, Instead)
• Make Construction Schedules Work for Students
• Minimize Disruptions (like School Transitions)
• Plan for Long-term Flexibility
• Grade Configurations
• Technology Infrastructure
• Special Education and Pupil Support Services
Upper St Clair High School Adds and Alts courtesy of Fanning/Howey Associates