Home > Building Our 2nd Century II Capital Project > Continuation of 21st-Century Learning Needs

Continuation of 21st-Century Learning Needs

 

 

Chalkboard on a wall with old tables and stools in an old classroom
Outdated high school Family And Consumer Science classrooms, which are among some of the oldest, most dated rooms in the school. These rooms are in the original section of the high school, built in 1955, and have received very few upgrades over the year.

Continuation of 21st-Century Learning Needs

Estimated $3.32 million for districtwide improvements

Today’s students are growing up and learning in a fast-paced, digitized world. Gone are the days of small classrooms with desks neatly lined in rows facing a chalkboard. Students now have information at their fingertips, are able to share and receive news as it is breaking, and can connect with people all around the world. And, they can do all of this through a hand-held device.

The 21st-century has, indeed, changed the way students are taught and how teachers teach. To meet the changing needs of students, today’s teachers now must teach students how to access, sort, filter, and use the vast amount of information that could so easily inundate them. In order to do this, today’s classroom spaces and technology must allow students to collaborate, communicate, design, create, invent, solve problems, and think critically.

While the 2013 referendum included classroom upgrades in several areas throughout the district, there are still many more classrooms and instructional spaces districtwide that need to be updated to support the instructional needs of 21st-century learners.

The proposal includes:

  • Renovating and upgrading outdated classrooms for 21st-century learning throughout the district (new lighting, floors, ceilings; flexible work spaces; electrical upgrades; technology infrastructure improvements; etc.).
  • Reconstructing and modernizing the original Business and Family & Consumer Science classrooms at the high school, which are some of the oldest, most outdated classrooms in the school. (See image, left.)
  • Renovating and upgrading the Pashley Elementary School Library Media Center.
  • Renovating and upgrading Stevens Elementary School Gymnasium and repairing the partition wall.
  • Installing a running/athletic track at Pashley Elementary School to replace the
    school’s current dirt track. (The Pashley PTA is donating $100,000 for the school’s new track. Therefore, no local tax impact is anticipated for this project.)
  • Replacing the cracked and damaged wall coverings and padding in the
    middle school’s back gym.
  • Renovating and upgrading the Charlton Heights Elementary School Gymnasium.
  • Resurfacing the cracked and deteriorated tennis courts at the high school.
old desks lined up in an outdated classroom
The Building Our 2nd Century II proposal includes plans for upgrading outdated classrooms districtwide, like the middle school classroom pictured above, to ensure they meet 21st-century learning needs. This includes new lighting, floors, ceilings and technology infrastructure upgrades to support today’s learning devices such as high-definition interactive projectors, document cameras, and large screen whiteboards. It also includes the creation of flexible work spaces that allow students to collaborate, create, communicate, design, solve problems, and think critically.