Section Two
Livingston Union School District | Facilities Master Plan
S t a n d a r d s
Educational, Technology and Material Standards
How were the Standards Developed?
One of the first activities in the Facilities Master Planning process is the
development of Standards. Darden Architects engaged the District to define
their Standards related to educational technology and materials, to create a
basis of comparison for the Facility Assessments.
Having Standards is essential in creating equity throughout the District. Fairness
and equity among all the sites allows the District staff and Board of Trustees
to make accurate decisions that may allocate more funding towards a lower
scoring school and lesser funds to a higher-scoring school.
The Planning Team met with members of the Steering Sub-Committee to
develop a series of rubrics for assessing whether a facility met, was above, or fell
below the standard. The rubrics were reviewed by Steering Sub-Committee, so
that all engaged in the Facility Assessments would have a firm understanding of
the Standards for the purpose of accurately evaluating the facility conditions.
The areas where Standards were defined were:
• Building Materials and Conditions
• Technology Infrastructure and Systems
• Educational Suitability
• School Site Parking and Drop-Off Lanes
BUILDING MATERIALS AND CONDITIONS
Darden Architects prepared a baseline list of building materials and systems,
and reviewed these materials and buildings systems with the MOT Director Nick
Jones. The results of this review were rolled into a document that helped define
the Building Material Standards. As further discussions were held and decisions
made, these Building Material Standards were updated. As current and future
facility projects are developed, the Building Material Standards should be looked
at to define the quality of the materials and systems, and updated as needed to
reflect the desired standards of the District.
For the purpose of the Facility Assessments, this information was used to
determine what building components needed to be upgraded or improved
upon.
TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUC TURE AND SYSTEMS
In the last several years a significant investment into the Technology
Infrastructure and Systems at the District sites has been made, and funded by
E-Rate. Since most of the Technology Systems have been improved upon, all
the school sites currently have generally equitable Technology Systems. Some
improvements are needed for bandwidth, and to upgrade the equipment.
To assess the current systems and define what might be needed moving
forward, a Technology Infrastructure and Systems rubric was developed. Tiffany
Pickle, the Director of Instructional Technology, helped to define the rubric
and respond to questions posed. During the site walks the District facilities
were assessed using the rubric, as a check list for what was determined to be
acceptable for facility improvements.
EDUC ATIONAL SUITABILIT Y
To determine how the teaching sp aces function and perform, an Educational
Suitability rubric was developed to help define a system for assessments.
Educational Suitability cannot be assessed like a Building Materials or
Technology Systems. Instead, the suitability of the teaching spaces is more
qualitative and subjective.
One the largest influences in Educational Suitability is the number of students
housed for instruction in these spaces. Teaching spaces that are traditionally
900-SqFt and 960-SqFt are inadequate when too many students are placed in
these rooms. The qualitative measure of a flexible teaching space can never
be achieved when the rooms are filled with students and desks. There is a fine
balance between the actual usable size of a teaching space and the optimal
number of students placed in these rooms. Student loading standards and
capacity are discussed in greater detail in Section 5.
SCHOOL SITE PARKING AND DROP-OFF L ANES
One of the largest areas of dissatisfaction at the school sites is the limited ability
for easy and safe student drop-off and pick-up. Frustrations increase as more
and more parents want to drop their children off at school in a private vehicle.
The parking lot spaces and drop-off zones have not increased in size but the
pressure on these spaces has grown with increased use. Re-configuring the
existing lots and drop-off zones was a goal, but there was no District standard
for what should be considered good, better and best parking and drop-off
layout.
John Gordon a Field Representative with the California Department of
Education, visited LUSD and reviewed with the Steering Sub-Committee some of
the guidelines used for reviewing parking lots and drop-off zones. John handed
out an exhibit used to help define the standards for planning parking lots and
drop-off zones. This handout became a reference when looking at the existing
sites and trying to envision improvements. Some of the key standards shared by
John Gordon were the following:
1. Separate Staff and Visitor Parking.
2. Provide parking spaces close to the Kindergarten classrooms.
3. Provide a barrier between the parking lots and the drop-off areas to
prevent drivers from backing into the drop-off lanes.
4. Whenever possible, avoid pedestrians from having to cross a driveway.
5. When using on-site drop-off lanes, the vehicles should fully enter the site
and allow for some stacking space within the lot, to avoid stacking backups into the streets.
6. Define how the students walk to school without having to cross driveways.
7. Use planting and fences and other visual features to guide and route
walking students to designated walking paths.
8. Buses should have separate drop-off areas, away from the walking paths
and other parking lots.
Like the process used for technology, a rubric was developed with the help
of Kuljinder Sekhon, Director of Educational Services. This rubric was used as
a basis for group discussion on the future needs and goals for the teaching
spaces. Since the teaching spaces are not going to be made larger, future facility
improvements should focus on improving upon the teachings spaces. The
District is re-thinking the style and type of furniture being purchased for the
teaching spaces. The traditional heavy desks should be replaced with lighter
desks and other furniture types that allow the classroom to be easily configured
for a variety of teaching styles and modalities.
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