'LWSD's First Assignment for 2012' - Conduct a facilities inventory and audit of classroom space, with Superintendent oversight

Is this is a classroom?  Can it be a classroom?   (LWSD photo)

OPINION:  LWSD’S FIRST ASSIGNMENT FOR 2012 – Do a facilties inventory and find out how much classroom space the school district really has. 

By Susan Wilkins
Redmond, WA.

UPDATED:  How much space does the Lake Washington School District have at its 31 elementary, 12 junior high and 8 high schools? How many classrooms are there and how many students can each school hold? How many students can all of the district’s schools hold? These are important questions considering we were just asked to spend $65,000,000 to build additional space for high school students.  Superintendent oversight is required.

The answers to these questions about classroom space can be found on page 24 in the district’s “Six-Year Capital Facilities Plan 2011-2016.” (This document can be found at http://www.lwsd.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/For-The-Community/Construction/Capital-Facility-Plan.pdf ) On a single page, the district counts all the classrooms in all the schools and then multiplies by the number of students each classroom can hold and then figures out the total capacity of the district’s facilities.
The trouble with this accounting system is that it is too simple. It assumes that if a classroom is used for an activity other than regular classroom teaching, it should not be counted in the inventory. If a classroom is used for Music, Computers, Art, ELL, preschool or even storage, it is not included in the total number of classrooms in a school.

Let’s look at Rockwell Elementary... Read More >>

Norman Rockwell Elementary School classrooms, 2011-2012 (click to enlarge)
This diagram is preferred by the Administration

Let's look at Rockwell Elementary located on Education Hill in Redmond. (See diagram.) The school has 3 pods – North, South and West with 7 classrooms in each pod and 3 kindergarten classrooms on the northeast corner. In the south pod, the classroom that faces the courtyard has been split into two rooms, one for tutoring and the other for counseling. In the west pod, one classroom is used for a preschool. Rockwell also has a Music room, a computer lab and an extended daycare room. All of these rooms could be used as regular classrooms.

How many classrooms does Rockwell have? Excluding the music, daycare and computer rooms, it appears that there are 21 rooms for grades 1-6 plus 3 kindergarten rooms for a total of 24 classrooms. Check the school district’s facilities inventory page and it says that Rockwell has only 20 classrooms. If a classroom isn’t used for regular instruction, it should not be omitted from the inventory count. This gives a distorted and inaccurate picture of how much space is available. (Note that Rockwell has 665 students and uses 4 additional portables so it is a school that is at maximum capacity.)

Alcott, Mead and Smith Elementary schools were all built from the same architectural plans as Rockwell in the mid-1980s and their classroom counts are listed as 18, 19 and 19 classrooms respectively. Collectively, these four schools should have 96 classrooms, but the district counts only 76. These unaccounted for classrooms are equivalent to an entire elementary school. A more extreme case is Juanita Elementary that was torn down and rebuilt in 2005. According to the district, the two-story 57,000 sq. ft. building has only 13 classrooms. In fact, Juanita Elementary has at least 19 regular classrooms plus a Music room, an Art/Science room, a Resource room and a computer lab. Additionally, there are 4 “shared learning spaces” that are each the size of a regular classroom. Three of the Juanita Elementary classrooms are used for preschool, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not classrooms and shouldn’t be counted.*

All across the district, in elementary, junior and senior high buildings, the LWSD Facilities Department has failed to accurately count the number of classrooms and in every case counts fewer classrooms than actually exist. How can they plan wisely when they don’t know how many and where their classrooms are located? How can they justify adding portables at one school and creating overcrowded classrooms, lunchrooms and PE facilities when there are schools with surplus rooms that are being used as dedicated resource, tutoring, preschool or storage rooms? How can they go to the State of Washington and ask for money from the Construction Assistance Fund for “unhoused students” when they don’t even know how many classrooms they really have?

The Lake Washington School District Facilities Department needs better oversight to determine if they’re using our school buildings as wisely and efficiently as possible. They should start with a school-by-school audit and inventory, preferably by an outside auditor. They need to adopt the definition of the word “classroom” as a room where at least 25 students can be taught on a regular basis and then count the total number of classrooms in each school and list the use of each classroom. It’s the middle of the school year, but this is not a task that should be left until next school year. The superintendent, the school board, taxpayers and LWSD parents should demand a classroom audit as a primary objective for this New Year.

*Note: on page 11 of the Six-Year Capital Facilities Plan 2011-2016, section III. Current District “Standard of Service” has an explanation about how special programs reduce the capacity in certain schools. The district’s inaccurate bookkeeping cannot be excused with this explanation.

Opinion By Susan Wilkins
Redmond resident, LWSD parent, PTSA volunteer
Updated:  1/31/12