EudoraNews.com

The motto of the design firm DLR Group is "Listen. Design. Deliver." And that is exactly what its representatives did Thursday night at a Eudora USD 491 Board of Education meeting where they presented the final drawing of the new elementary school that will house grades first through fifth.

"We're really happy with the ideas and concepts that they've had from the standpoint of marrying the designs to what we're trying to deliver with the curriculum," Superintendent Marty Kobza said.

The school district had been working on the preliminary designs since July. In a philosophy and vision document, school district officials said that they wanted the school to be personal; designed for learning; flexible in how it can be used; and healthy and safe.

One of the manners in which the school will be personal is in the fact that they asked for teacher input.

Emily Sorensen, a first-grade teacher at Nottingham Elementary School who participated in the design process, was taken aback by the school district's request.

"I was completely surprised how much they really took into consideration what we wanted," she said. "They took all of our suggestions and they just ran with it. It makes me even more excited because I see my ideas actually being used. They've really done a good job of including us and making sure that it's exactly what we want and what's going to work with us."

Teachers had been meeting with representatives from DLR since the beginning of the school year. Sorensen, who teaches in one of the modular units at Nottingham, said that she loved everything she saw on the final plans and that she and the other teachers can't wait to teach in actual classrooms.

One of the highlights of the design, within the context of safety, is the space dedicated to different types of vehicles and the different reasons why each vehicle will be at the school.

The parking lot will have enough space for 430 cars, and driveways will have the capacity to stack 95 cars at once, all with direct access to sidewalks in front of the school.

School board member Belinda Rehmer was pleased with the safety this will provide.

"It will be so nice to not have that line of cars out on the street," she said, referring to the traffic jams that occur when parents drop off students Nottingham.

Busses, which also will have their own gated drive, can be stacked 15 at a time when dropping off students. A loading dock that can fit two trucks will be in the back of the building.

But the biggest piece of the safety puzzle will come in the form of the storm shelter that will be located in the center of the school. It will not be underground and will be able to withstand projectiles moving at speeds up to 250 mph.

Kobza said the school district heard from the Douglas County Emergency Management Department right after school bond passed. They said funds were available for creating storm shelters. As a result, that department will provide 75 percent of the money needed for storm shelter.

"In essence, what it does is make it the safest place in Eudora, which we're really excited about because all of our first through fifth graders will be there," he said.

The school still will separate each grade into neighborhoods, but with a twist: each pod will feature a different ecosystem as its theme. The ecosystems have not been chosen yet, but those that currently are being considered are the Arctic, Savannah, Desert, Grasslands, Rainforest and Oceans.

While this change will not only make the school seem less drab and institutional, the school district officials and DLR designers view it as a way to foster an environment of learning.

"I think that it's really student centered," Kobza said. "I think that the whole concept of the ecosystems rather than the neighborhoods and integrating learning into the building is really awesome."

Rooms and areas that all students use, such as the music room and cafeteria, will be centrally located. The older students will be the farthest distance away from these areas.

"Even though we have a larger sized building, one of the things that we wanted to do was reduce travel time for kids," Kobza said.

The only negative that was brought up by the board was that the use of natural light could make it hard to keep the building warm during the winter. DLR representatives said the windows would never be open and the glass would be thick enough to prevent such problems.

The building will be wireless throughout and feature a library and media center. Kobza said these and other technological elements would create a facility in which learning and teaching will be intuitive.

"The opportunities are good for not only kids, but from a teaching standpoint, we've got a completely wireless environment so that kids can literally learn anytime, anyplace, anywhere, as opposed to the obstacles that they're trying to overcome now."

Sorensen said that the features at the new facilities could allow her and other teachers the ability to concern themselves with the act of teaching, as opposed to the logistical concerns that they now deal with.

"It's going to totally change my teaching and every aspect of my day," she said. "Hopefully, we'll be able to focus more on teaching the kids than all the little things that interfere with our day and the things that we can't do because of what we don't have."

The general design and site plans for the school are finished. The school district now is looking at types of materials to use and the jobs will go out to bid no later than February. Kobza hopes to break ground at the end of February or early March.

In other business, the board:

¢ Officially ratified the terms of the contract for the teachers. The newly approved pay rate will be retroactive to the start of the contract year.

¢ Approve the purchase of 100 Apple laptops for $924 each and 18 iMacs for $860 each.