Recently, when Guilford County Schools’ officials updated the Guilford County Board of Commissioners on projects being funded by the county school bond ballot referendums of 2020 and 2022, school system leaders let the commissioners know that those projects – like most construction projects these days – will be coming in way over budget.
Guilford County Commissioner Alan Perdue suggested an idea that he thought might help: have the school system explore building more “cookie-cutter” schools. That is, each school would not have a unique design but instead would look a lot like other schools.
Perdue, who was a long-time head of the Guilford County Emergency Services Department before becoming a county commissioner – knows a thing or two about construction since he oversaw the building of a variety of facilities.
“I understand sites are different,” Perdue said. “Sitework may change but building the same building multiple times certainly has its advantages.”
Some of those benefits include not having to pay for new plans for new schools, reduction in construction costs and maintenance due to familiarity with projects, fewer work order changes, and savings from economies of scale.
Most Emergency Services stations across the county look very similar – and there’s a reason why the department does it that way.
Also, some school systems in the state have saved big by having their schools look alike.
Guilford County Schools superintend Whitney Oakley said it’s hard to do that when programs are specialized.
“It works, of course, when we are doing more traditional programs,” she said. “When we are doing more specialized programs we have to take that into account. I also think we can’t just throw up these rectangles filled with rectangular classrooms.”
She said space and desk arrangement in traditional schools often make it difficult for students to work together in unique ways.
Oakley cited Grimsley High School as an example.
“You can’t let kids collaborate,” she said of those classrooms, adding that there’s not enough room often to move the desks around and build a truly collaborative learning environment.
She said designs for new school buildings don’t have to be “brave, new and innovative,” but they do need to “match what we know about how kids learn.”
Having been a child over 70 years ago I can speak to this issue.
Children don’t recognize the difference in buildings, they recognize the difference in caring teachers.
Make them cookie cutter design, save the money and put it toward education.
Very good point on all points Believer. In the past kids did pretty good learning in little red schoolhouses that were cookie cutter design.
I remarked a good while ago, when I saw a new McDonald’s going up inside of two weeks, from empty lot to a fully functioning restaurant, that school could be built along the same lines.
NC schools should adopt a fully functional design that would allow school systems to built new schools when needed, quickly and efficiently with a modularity that would allow for expansion if necessary. A standardized design would allow school systems to know building costs better in terms of materials and labor.
This would obviate the necessities of having a new design for each school and the cost associated with archetects amd engineers. One basic Shake and Bake design that can be used over and over.
i have suggested that Guidford County Personnel meet with the folks from Randolph county as their schoold are very nice but do not cost nearly as much as Guilford schools
We want no advice from counties that are not as dynamic as we are. Maybe lender county should take their advice
You are a total moron
But ken, if they do that who and how will they get their kickback?
The kids learn what they see on the Idiot Box and the DumbPhone. Certainly not from the parent(s), or (gasp) a book.
The buildings have little impact on the children, just as in an Animal Shelter or at a Vet. It is what they are taught that matters: how to think, not what to think.
Based on reports, kids are failing, not learning. Guess you can’t blame covid anymore and a new expensive building will help grade improvement. So ” match what we know about how kids learn.” What a joke!
Best schools in the state yes better then Raleigh a million times better then Forsyth l
And you obviously can’t read the stats about our schools. Go back 3rd grade reading class
“You can’t let kids collaborate,” — Good! Though it’s been a number of years since my daughters were in school, I well recall those times when the assignment was to ‘collaborate’ on a paper–wanna guess how that worked? If you guessed that the only real work was done by one–two if lucky–student{s}–while the rest of the group rarely bothered to contribute BUT in the end, had the benefit of the good grade earned due to the one or two who did do the work, you’d get an ‘A’! ‘Collabration’ is a sneaky way to get good grades for those who don’t deserve them…and, consequently, make the teacher look good. If ‘collaboration’ is that important, let ’em congregate in the gym.
How about buildings that have heat and water. See Madison Elementary. See wfmy2 article.
Everytime she whines, reduce her budget by a hundred million dollars. I bet the problem gets solved fairly quick.
Looks like Skip Alston is sleeping? Good idea, try new construction methods like pole buildings?
When our current schools are crumbling from neglected maintenance why overspend on blueprints? Rectangles are standard for a reason and zero folks are advocating for tiny classrooms like cited at Grimsley’s main older building. I went to school in a building that was a depression era school and guess what most of us learned a lot because of the amazing teachers and parents that were involved, not because our facilities allowed desks to be moved around. Leftists want largesse but decline taking care of what we have. Tax dollars are not infinite.
Given the county’s admitted issues with “deferred maintenance,” it would seem that easily maintained “cookie cutter” buildings would be the best choice by far. But, renderings that have been presented appear to be maintenance nightmares. That along with the now obvious busted budgets can only lead to one thing. More and more “deferred maintenance” and more bond referendums to follow.
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
When it comes to things like schools and other government buildings, Henry Ford had the right idea. He designed and built cars that were “cookie cutter” because they could be built quickly and, best of all, cheaper. The cars were of a good quality and reasonably priced when it came to maintenance. because parts could be kept on hand and used anywhere. Why do you think the military standardizes their equipment.
But then again, how would certain people get their kickback with that kind of system?
Someone please wake skip up so he can understand what’s going on. And tell the black lady next to him that crossed arms is a sign of defiance and of someone who’s made up their mind and is not willing to listen to anyone else That’s a democrat if you can’t tell. Perfect Kodak photo. Chairman sleeping, vice chair defiant. No hope for us.