Planning For Success

1. Planning For Success Facilities Planning Study September/October 2009

2. Presentation Objective • Share recommendations from Facilities Planning for Success Committee, including: • Turf Field Project • Special Education Space Needs • Community Services Space Needs • Elementary Facilities • Secondary Facilities

3. Facilities Planning for Success Goal • Update BPS Facilities Master Plan • Committee Charge • Plan must: • Address educational facility plans for 5 years • Include timeline of major benchmark dates • Include a cost and financial budget • Address Special Education space needs for current and future programs provided by District 287

4. Facilities Planning Team • 33 members comprised of: • Staff (teachers, administrators) • Parents • Community Residents • 4 Subcommittees: • Community Services/Special Education • Athletic Fields • Elementary School Issues • Secondary School Issues

6. Values • Seek to serve diverse population of students • Ensure fiscal responsibility • Align facilities plan with Strategic Plan • Forward thinking in regard to how decisions affect the entire community • Allow for creativity that will enable educational programs to look different • Maximize learning opportunities for students

7. Enrollment

8. Movement Patterns • Active movement patterns exist between schools at all levels (K-12) • Movement affects enrollment consistency from one year to the next, which in turn affects staffing • Movement contributes to the racial isolation of some schools

9. Impact of Concentrated Poverty • A student’s poverty level has an effect on academic achievement • As socio-economic status decreases, so do test scores and other student performance indicators • Level of poverty school-wide affects individual student achievement, whether or not that student is in poverty • Test scores of ALL students, both poor and non-poor, decline as schools’ concentrated poverty increases

10. Poverty Levels • Valley View Elementary 76% • Oak Grove Elementary 53% • Indian Mounds 52% • Washburn 52% • Valley View Middle 51% • Kennedy 42% • Westwood 31% • Olson Elementary 28% • Oak Grove Middle 27% • Poplar Bridge 18% • Olson Middle 18% • Normandale Hills 18% • Ridgeview 18% • Hillcrest 17% • Jefferson 16%

11. Racial Isolation • Defined as a school with 20% more students of color than a like school within same district • Valley View Elementary and Middle schools are identified as “racially isolated” by MDE • Kennedy High School will soon be a “racially isolated” school based on increased ethnic membership

12. Special Education • Intermediate District 287: A consortium of districts, including BPS, currently provides low-incidence special education services • In past 10 years, BPS has increased its capacity to provide these same services to its resident special education students • Space is desired to enable BPS to serve students in their home district • A net financial gain can also be achieved

13. Community Services • Currently leases space in former Lincoln High School for offices, SHAPE and adult basic education • Lease expires December 2011 • Space is also needed for adult enrichment classes during day • Space requirements include 19 classrooms, computer lab, offices, testing rooms totaling 24,600 square feet • 3 other districts pay proportional lease, operational costs because of shared services

14. Community Services

15. Athletic Fields/Lincoln Stadium • Stadium field is overused with three high school sports (Fall: football, soccer; Spring: lacrosse) • Field’s grass surface cannot recover, resulting in potential for greater athlete injury • District owns stadium, but not parking lot. An easement for the parking lot expires 2011 • District and City fields are fully utilized and near capacity use by school, city recreation programs, and outside athletic groups

16. Playgrounds • BPS partners with City to replace school playgrounds. • Overall playground cost: $90,000-$100,000 • City pays 50%; Health & Safety covers 10% of project cost for soft ground cover. • PTSAs raised remaining funds; typically around $40,000/project • Amount has become burdensome for PTSAs

17. School Capacity (square foot/student) • District exceeds state guidelines & metro average in sf/student • Activity Centers & auditoriums inflate the square footage maintained • Excess sf capacity at all levels is not enough to take building offline without significant renovation and additions to remaining site • Middle schools least efficient sites on a sf basis (due to large hallways, mechanical areas, etc.)

18. Available Acreage • 9 of 12 K-12 sites are below MDE guidelines for acreage • Deductions for usable acres is considered by MDE and reduces total acreage area • If sharing of adjacent City owned lands removed, 1 site would meet minimum guideline • No sites exceed the upper limit of the guidelines

19. Committee Priorities • Identify space to return special education students currently served by District 287 • Locate space for Community Services • Address safety issues, parking at current stadium • Balance building enrollments • Alleviate the concentration of poverty in high-poverty schools • Address racial isolation in schools

20. Preliminary Recommendations

21. Elementary Facilities • Explore boundary adjustments to: • Balance enrollments to current or revised building capacities • Eliminate racially isolated schools • Lower poverty percent per building to below 50% • All schools should be considered for possible adjustments

22. Elementary Facilities (continued) Explore a magnet or theme-based option school to allow for academic choice district-wide. Explore the placement of a curriculum-based early childhood program in each elementary school. Support the expansion of Dimensions Academy.

23. Secondary Facilities Ensure space is available for innovative programs, such as magnet schools. Support the expansion of Dimensions Academy at the middle school level. Continue with two high schools. Engage in further study to assess the impact adjusting boundaries might have to address racial isolation and level out building enrollments.

24. Special Education • Relocate transition programs from Pond and OGM to OLM to co-locate with BOTE (Bloomington Occupational Training and Evaluation) program. • May require re-organization of programming at OLM, construction costs to adapt the space. • Requires moving Volunteer Connections offices to Southwood at minimal costs. • Continue to reclaim programs for BPS students provided by District 287.

25. Community Services • Relocate administrative offices to space vacated by Pond Center’s Transitions program. • Options for new space for Adult Basic Education classrooms and administration: • Constructing new space on Valley View site. • Lease existing or new space. • By moving programs to Southwood and administrative offices to Pond, two Early Childhood Centers are needed.

26. Fields and Stadium • Initiate the field project currently on hold to install artificial turf on one field each at Kennedy, Jefferson. • Varsity soccer, football to remain at Bloomington Stadium • Varsity lacrosse to move to the high schools sites • Future: Develop turf fields into small school-site stadiums.

27. Acreage District owned property and fields are fully utilized. Recommendation is to NOT sell any of this land. Sell the existing stadium site.

28. Playgrounds PTSA fund raising target = $5,000 City of Bloomington pays 50% of project cost Facility Services and Health and Safety provide remainder of project costs School leadership, PTSA, Physical Education, Student Services, and Facility Services work with the City of Bloomington to design the playground project.

29. Community Information Meetings • September 29 • Valley View Middle School Auditorium, 6:30 • October 1 • Olson Middle School Auditorium, 6:30 • October 6 • Oak Grove Middle School Auditorium, 6:30

30. Next Steps Recommendations are preliminary and may be adjusted per staff, community, or school board feedback. Board action on recommendations: November 2009 For more detailed information, go to: www.bloomingtonschools.info