H.J. Cambie Site Visit

The Steering Committee visited H.J. Cambie Secondary on October 20th. Built in 1995, the new H.J. Cambie campus is part of a larger structure that houses the popular East Richmond Community Centre. We entered the school through the community center wing with a large reception area and displays of school art projects. This area offers Daycare, Dance instruction and recreation area with Pool table, Pingpong tables and fitness centre along with a large gym that is shared with the school. We arrived at the Rotunda social hub with a cafeteria opened for break and lunch.

The main entrance to the school has the office on the right and library on the left. The library is two stories with the research, resource are on the main floor and space for computers, instruction or private study area located in the loft. Large windows line that front entrance from the Library to display new books, resources and student work.

The office area has main entrance and one window that is not used at all. All desks face the main reception desk. Teacher mailboxes are located along the wall at the back of the office. Staff feel this generates unnecessary traffic to the office. The principals and vice-principals offices are down the hall. The principal felt it was to removed from the main office area. The main office connects with the counseling, Learning Resource program and medical room. A freight room is also in this are with an exterior entrance for delivery and shelves for storage. Secured room for student records, the general consensus by staff is the hallway space in the counseling area is a waste of space and work, meeting area should be larger.

Current enrollment is 940 the school was designed for 1200, prior to the new school being built the population reached 1400.The community center coordinators meets monthly with administration to schedule events. The Rotunda has a stage area with curtains, the stage is small, acoustics are poor in the Rotunda area. Administrator would have like a theatre, music, drama department is small, limited storage area for instruments and props.

WiFi is available throughout the school, mini notebooks are common for students to own and use. All classrooms are wider rather than longer, they all have large windows facing interior of building. Staff opinions vary, security concerns have been expressed. Lockers alternate between full and 1/2 full lockers are reserved for grade 12 students however this does not always work out well and limits the number of lockers. The technology department is home to Metal work and wood work programs electrical outlets are extended from the ceiling.

All classrooms provide private work offices for teaching staff and a couple rooms have large sliding doors that lead to the hallway. Teachers in these rooms admit to never using them.
Honeywell installed the heating/cooling system and they have experienced continuous problems with the system. H.J. Cambie offers a First Responder Career Prep program that works directly with paramedics so assist student medical needs. Washrooms are small with only 3 stalls, paper dispensers are not conveniently located at the exit.

Art department has large electrical doors to the outside with caged areas to work in. H.J. Cambie has full use of Tennis Courts, Soccer Field, Football Field, and Baseball Diamond. School has two gyms, one can be divided into two, shared use of the community center gym. Small weight room on upper level. Main gym has mechanical bleachers that store easily and do not restrict gym space. Change rooms for both girls and boys are very small. Exterior door students can exit to fields.

Staff room was large, located on upper level. All walking traffic must pass through Rotunda, some staff would like an alternate route around the exterior of the classrooms for foot traffic. Hallways are wide and students appear to move easily during block rotation.

To see more photos of H.J. Cambie, click here

RA McMath Site Visit

Members of the Steering Committee visited R.A. McMath High School in Richmond on Tuesday, October 20th. The exterior and interior main hallways were brick and wood and were in new condition. The Principal highly recommended these materials for longevity and durability. The school is about 10 years old and the walls were in new condition. Metal security screens were on the main entrance doors which would be comparable to the screens at the KIPP Center, although the principal was not fond of this addition admits it has improved security. It was necessary to install exterior mechanical blinds for all ground floor classrooms as well. The building allows for a great deal of natural lighting and the Rotunda is a social hub and is complete with a small stage area that opens to both the exterior and interior of the building. The stage area is small and acoustics are not very good in the Rotunda. The Principal would have liked a large theatre to seat between 100 and 250 and stressed the importance of a theatre. The main floor is considered the business area, counseling, Learning Assistance, special needs programs are located on this floor. Regular classrooms are up stairs.

At the main entrance you find the office which is adjacent to the Library. The office desks are in layers all facing the main reception desks. Principals, Vice Principals offices are down the hall.
The library has large windows along the main entrance of the building for display area. Cafeteria is located in the Rotunda and is open at break and lunch. Classrooms were designed wider rather than longer as at G.W. Graham, research states students are more engaged in closure proximity to instructor. All classes have large interior windows which allows natural lighting from the high ceiling Rotunda, however does present a security concern. Most classrooms had blinds installed, but the cost was substantial and these purchases were made over time. Classroom doors had circular windows like portholes the overall design theme was nautical.

McMath has a current student population of 1275, the school was designed for 1300 students and has accommodated as many as 1500 students. The school has WiFi through out, several classrooms had projectors installed but this was technology that was introduced after construction. They continue to upgrade annually. ½ lockers are throughout the school extra gather centers have been installed in the centre of the hall in each wing with extra banks of lockers. 1300 lockers are installed.

McMaths technology programs are housed in one large area they offer a plumbing apprenticeship program, wood work, metal work. Administrator felt it was too busy in this area. Technology had additional instructional space but the program at McMath did not expand as anticipated, as a result the art depart expanded and made use of this area. Computer labs are mac labs, several students bring there own lap tops and can log in anywhere in the building.

Grant and Sinclair were the Architects. Sliding walls were installed between a couple classes to allow for larger group instruction. 30% of the school is French Immersion they also offer Japanese and ESL. The science area has a super lab with instructional classroom smaller and one large common lab area that is able to accommodate 4 classes in the same block. The Drama music area is very small, limited space for instruments and props.

This school has a Geo-thermal design and offers a cooling system rather than air conditioning. Although they experienced problems with the design the administrator felt it was the fault of the contractors not the architects. Lights were turned out in all unoccupied classrooms. Lights bulbs have all been upgraded to natural lighting. Group school staff pictures line the walls of the staff room.

The design is similar to H.J. Cambie with improvement made to colour tone and the use of more sustainable materials such as brick/concrete and wood rather than drywall.

Student response was very positive, they were proud of their school.

To see more pictures of R.A. McMath, click here

Heritage Woods Site Visit

On October 13th, the Steering Committee sent a team to visit Heritage Woods Secondary. The initial impression of this school was its imposing concrete facade. It is located in upscale hillside residential area and the building site is remarkably clean. The interior walls and stairs are concrete and student art work is used extensively for decoration. All the classrooms have internal and external windows and the Principal noted that in the case of a power failure, they continue instruction with very little interruption. The school timetable is a linear/semester mix very similar with ours, but they have seventy minute periods with a curricular thirty minute flex block between 1st and 2nd. The school shares playing fields with city parks and park employs an on-site caretaker which reduces vandalism.

The arts classes are grouped together in a specific area of the school. They have a 250 seat theatre off the main mall and the stage is used for dance class during the day. The photography is all digital and the dark room is used for storage, the decision to go digital was made by administration. The teachers have prep rooms between instructional areas and the art teacher felt more sinks would be useful.

All the science classrooms have interior windows and instructional classrooms have access to shared lab areas. The classrooms are small but the classes are capped at 24. The humanities classrooms all have interior windows and wireless connections are used extensively with bookable laptops and equipment brought from home.

The P.E. department has one full sized gym and one mini gym which is separate from the weight room. The staff prep area looks across a hallway into the windowed area of the gym. A budget driven decision was to not have a moveable gym wall to split the facility into two teaching areas. There is a second floor hallway with windows to look down into the gym and access to Municipal artificial fields.

The library has a small floor plan with very few print items. The library has a 30 machine bookable lab and budget for online subscriptions. The Tech Ed department has very small shop areas with little storage. No auto program but there is an auto program at a neighbouring school. There are a series of classrooms that allow access to common space and all tech programs are located in tech area of school. There is a staff prep area between instructional units.

Heritage Woods uses Geo-thermal energy and natural light reduces reliance on artificial lighting and with an abundance of stationary garbage containers reduces litter.

For all pictures of Heritage Woods, click here

Burnaby Central Secondary

On Tuesday, October 13th, the Steering committee visited Burnaby Central Secondary. Burnaby Central is an urban setting with limited space. The school is being rebuilt on the same site as the existing school, much the same as CSS will be. Construction began in August 2009 and the school will eventually enroll 1300 students. The Design Build model is being utilized, again the same as CSS, and the construction site begins right outside the main entrance to the old school. $50 million dollars is budgeted for the construction of the new school. The school is scheduled to be completed in September of 2011. The new school can only be finished when the gym in the old school is torn down due to space limitations. There is a full time project manager on site and both he and the school Principal gave the tour. Construction on the site has severely limited parking for staff and students. This problem is mitigated by the excellent public transit system in place. The school has used the Design Build process to leverage extra gym space in the new building. The school playing fields constitute a large part of the construction site and the school has arranged to use nearby community fields in the meantime. The school continues to offer its full range of programs so as students are not being negatively impacted as a result of the construction. The building team has done a good job of keeping the construction site neat and well kept. Although this will be a new school for Burnaby Central, some areas in the new school will be smaller. The new school is being constructed to emphasize some special programs like teaching kitchens which have access to a multi-purpose area for banquets and other events. The facility will see more sharing of classrooms by teachers and teachers will be using a classroom rather than owning a classroom. The school is engaged in a very complete inventory of resources to determine which equipment will be cost effective to replace and which needs to be retained and moved. The staff is being careful to determine that equipment that will be transferred will fit into its new space. The administration keeps track of time lines to make sure programs are prepared to move when the plan requires it. While many areas of the new building will be smaller, some areas, like science labs will be larger to accommodate current legislated size issues. Build into the design of the new school will be natural light, which will be an important feature. The school is going to utilize geothermal heating and all classrooms will have interior windows.

For more photos of Burnaby Central click here.

GW Graham Visit

On October 13th, the Steering Committee was given the opportunity to tour the new school G.W. Graham. G.W. Graham opened in 2006 and utilized innovative building design in several area's. Room design was wider verses length, by reducing the distance between student and instructor, research has found the student is more engaged in learning. Part of the geothermal design included mechanical shutters on the exterior of ground level windows which enhances security as well as providing additional insulation.

Wider hallways prevents clogs in foot traffic during block rotation. Entrance to classrooms are accented by clear glass windows providing visitors to the class a view of current classroom activities allowing individuals to select the appropriate time to enter a classroom to minimize any disruptions to instructional time. The flooring appeared to be a costly expense for repairs and maintenance for things such seam repairs, bubbles and regular waxing maintenance.

G.W. Graham has 4 computer labs but continues to struggle to meet the current demands for additional computer work stations in all teaching areas. The front of each classroom featured sliding whiteboards with locking storage cupboards below along with additional shelving behind the sliders. There was a consensus among staff for this design feature which frees 3 walls for use to display student work and/or resources. In some cases, blank walls are used as a projector screen.

G.W. Graham incorporated certain design concepts listed in readings of the 21st century classroom as observed in the science lab. Gas outlets and sinks are installed around the perimeter of the room. Desks and chairs are raised in height and accommodate groups of 4 students per desk. All furnishing is mobile allowing instructional area to be reconfigured for future instructional needs. Wifi was not available in all area's of the school and not all classrooms design included projectors or smart boards and the cost of installation at later dates is not cost effective. Floor power outlets should be considered with a locking mechanism for security.

G.W. Graham features 2 gyms. One of the gyms featured high windows on exterior walls which provided ample space for spectators, however, problems were experienced with the mechanics for the system. Storage did not hinder complete use of the gym area. Limited storage in various locations was an expressed concern, however, consideration should be given to providing surplus may result in clutter rather than practical storage use.

Caged area's outside shops are essential when working with paints and gases. Chain link design is not sufficient security for the downtown location so CSS may require stronger reinforcement. The office reception area design lacks the clarity of where visitors and/or students are to report. Reception desk and computer located so staff has back to window a visitor should report to. All clerical staff sit facing foyer but have their backs to staff members requiring assistance in the office area. Clerical area may benefit from slightly higher dividers. Principal and Vice Principals office area was sufficient but Business Managers office was far to small but the location of the office area's was well planned. The Counselling area had a very nice reception area and work space for students as well as private office area. The staff at Graham felt this area should be connected to office area and Career planning. The L.A. space included a very nice office but found the work area for students to be limited.

To visit the rest of G.W. Graham site visit photos, click here

Sardis Secondary Site Visit

On Thursday, October 8, 2009 a number of members of the CSS building committee toured Sardis Secondary to see and discuss some of the things that worked in that building process. On the tour were Chris Reilly, Brent Moore, Curtis Tieu, Martha Wiens, Sylvia Dyck, Deryn Barnes and Bob Patterson. It was particularly useful to have Bob Patterson and Sylvia Dyck present as they were heavily involved in the planning of the school back in 1993/94.

Some of the things that were noted as being highlights of the facility were the use of skylights and windows to bring natural light into the building, large standard classroom spaces, and a well utilized centre court to the space.

Some aspects of the facility that did not seem to work as well were the acoustics to the performance area, a concern that high ceiling class space could be better utilized space, some small elective class rooms, and shared teaching spaces that were not used as shared teaching spaces. It was understood that many of the limitations to the space were as a result of the building requirements of the day.

VISIT SITE PHOTOS

CSS Student Discussion

On Wednesday, October 8th, the Steering Committee met with student representatives to discuss the new school, the old school, what they would like to take with them and what they would leave behind. The student representatives present were
CJ Lindblad
Jess Foote
Shelby Prodeahl
Elia Julian
Steven Burgoyne
Danielle Weber
Jeremy Giesbrecht
Matt Gibson
Ashlyn Tegg
Ben Hooper
Brady Moore
Brad Hoogenraad

These students were asked the following questions with their top 3 answers given below:

What makes CSS unique…If you had to describe your school to someone new to the school, what would you say that separates CSS from other schools?

Top 3 Ideas

1. We're proud of our history - backlog of image (graduates / councils)
2. We're open minded and teach each other to be accepting of other people and possibilities
3. We showcase every student's talent whether it is in music, art, drama, culinary, sports, automotive, etc!

We know that not all students learn in the same way and at the same rate. Some students are hands on learners, some prefer to work in groups, some prefer to work in isolation, some learn better through online experiences allowing for more flexibility in their schedule...we know that schools need to provide for all types of learners and learning styles. What implications does this have for our new CSS?

Top 3 Ideas

1. Online courses (teacher support offered)
2. Culinary Arts, Agriculture, Trades, Beautician, AP Courses
3. Teachers teaching in a variety of ways - Smart Boards, interactive classroom

Building a school to meet the needs of today’s students as well as the needs of students in 2050…What do you think we need to incorporate in the new CSS in order to meet the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s students? (technology, green initiatives, program offerings, services)

Top 3 Ideas

1. Green roof
2. LED lighting (energy efficient)
3. WiFi

At the District Level we have had discussion that not all of our High Schools can offer the same specialty programs. For example, Ace-It Culinary Program – should that be offered at just CSS or should it be offered at all our high schools? What about Level C Welding? Hospitality / Tourism? Beautician Programs???

Top 3 Ideas

1. Keep Trades but incorporate more computerized/electronic component learning
2. Engineering Prep Programs
3. Eco-constructors class

Neighbourhood of Learning Piece – The Ministry will provide the possibility of an additional 15% space to new school if we incorporate the needs of the Community within the school. In order to support our District Aim, what might be included in the NOL space?

Top 3 Ideas

1. Display room open to public (sell paintings, photography, show CSS history, bring community into school)
2. Conference room - similar to Kipp Centre
3. Outdoor stage - school band or pro band!

If you were making recommendations to the Steering Committee overseeing the new school what would be the essentials?

Top 3 Ideas

1. Balance of classes; academic, arts and trades
2. Efficiency using large space well, stay green and a place where everyone is comfortable
3. Greater participation from students within the school and parents to create clubs and a greater amount of school spirit.

Meeting Number 2

The Steering Committee met again on October 6. In addition to finalizing a time line, the committee was asked to arrange site visits to various schools around the Lower Mainland and the Fraser Valley. The purpose of these visits is to see what new schools in various districts are doing and what they look like. The committee had no shortage of volunteers to visit these schools and as the site visits are completed, photos and a brief description will be added to this blog.
The committee then got to work within the 5 various groups. The task for each group was to give them some direction, narrow down what the groups will be working towards in the coming months and give some focus. To do this, the groups were asked to answer a few questions or statements.

Question 1: Clearly identify the purpose of the group

Group 1 Identify Community Groups and Services our School could accommodate.

Seniors - come to cafeteria
Sports Fields
Beautician (Hair Salon)???
Trades?
Automotive
Retail Space? Tim Horton/Subway
Theater - Here or community
Tennis Courts
Youth Workers - Dale Cuthbertson/Rod Santiago

Group 2 To meet the technology demands of business / teachers/ students / custodians / admin and possibly extend to community. We need to meet these demands at present and have flexibility for future.

Group 5 To focus on how can the school facility be built to best support the instructional program that will be offered at CSS

Question 2: What questions do we have for community interaction?

Group 1 asked "What are other schools doing? In Chilliwack? In Vancouver?
Are we looking for income generating / cost recovery?

Group 2 asked
What ways can energy efficiency be increased?
What options are available to us? (solar panels)
Who will make the ultimate decision? (re. technology, repairs)
What will a technologically advanced classroom look like? Now and in the future
What will student technology look like? Now and in the future (bringing to class, capabilities)
How do we link everyone in the school seamlessly?
Who is paying for all this?
What are we bringing to the new school from here?
* Are we incorporating Kipp?

Group 5 asked
What will be taught in the new building
Will the new school house any specialized configuration initiatives?

Question 3: Where do we go for answers?

Group 1 thought the Theater: Cultural Center, sports fields, site visits

Group 2 suggested Site visits, the district, demolition companies, research on Green schools and buildings, and Ray Velestuk (the Secretary Treasurer)

Group 5 thought the group for Curriculum Considerations and Program Offerings would be important