Highland Park administrators and principals discussed how to accommodate district growth Tuesday, Jan. 7 at a special meeting.
After hearing detailed propositions from architects about everything from tearing down existing schools and building new ones to putting fifth graders back into Park Cities elementary schools (and even talking about potential costs), HPHS Principal Walter Kelly and MIS/HPMS Principal Laurie Hitzelberger shared with the school board their schools' most basic needs in the immediate future.
Since Highland Park High School was built in 1936 and was last renovated in 1998 before the internet was widely relevant, Kelly said the educational facility isn't fit for the kind of environment his staff is seeking to create—one that embraces digital learning.
"We need to have the ability for every student to be online at the same time streaming video," Kelly said to the board. HPHS students are already accustomed to some online studying and independent learning, but as online learning becomes more prevalent, the high school's structure should be conducive to carrying schoolwork around.
"We're not looking to be impressive," Kelly said. "We just don't want to be limited by our facilities."
The flexibility of open, common areas and conference rooms where students and instructors can gather to discuss assignments and collaborate would be a good solution for increasingly digital, portable learning processes, Kelly said. The challenge, however, is how to strategically place these common areas.
Kelly suggested building a second-deck commons area in the HPHS cafeteria with small rooms and comfortable seating in pod-like arrangements that would invite students to do group work or study quietly.
The principal noted that students were spending less time being lectured directly and more time learning independently.
Additionally, HPHS Librarian Abby Harrison said the school's library could benefit from some technological updates. Harrison suggested multimedia stations and a design that would allow students to access online databases, as well as work together.
Still, she said, "there will still be books."
Highlander Band Director Reagan Brumley appealed to the school board that the marching band needs more rehearsal space, storage, rooms for private lessons and a specialized percussion room.
"It's impossible to rehearse the full marching band at one time," Brumley said—a challenge the Highlander Band has had to overcome since growing from 45 members in 1998 to 140 today. The band is projected to grow incrementally each year, so it will only get tighter, barring a major add-on in the band hall.
Shifting gears, Hitzelberger told the board that her biggest concern in providing new educational spaces at the middle and intermediate schools is considering a "whole-child approach."
"Middle school has the challenge of being developmentally responsive," she said. "It's a balancing act," teetering between encouraging academic rigor and helping young students develop strong social skills, healthy friendships and good self-esteem.
Fifth-graders are broken into "teams" and "pods" at McCollough Intermediate School, so they only travel between four classrooms on a rotated basis. This "microcosm" serves as a good transition for students who are fresh out of self-contained elementary school classrooms, where they stayed with one teacher all day long. Hitzelberger said having fifth-graders at MIS serves as an easier transition into the middle school.
And, she said, asking Park Cities elementary teachers to take on fifth graders in self-contained classroom environments would make it difficult to prep students for the STAAR tests all fifth-graders must pass, including Reading, Math and Science. It would also stifle their ability to "develop relationships" with the students, who are about ten years old at that time.
Because fifth grade teachers at MIS are subject-specific, they are more equipped to prepare the students for state tests.
On the other hand, because of the growth projected for MIS/HPMS over the next ten years, Hitzelberger said relieving the middle school of fifth grade would leverage room to grow and allow for more individual attention.
No decisions were made at Tuesday's meeting, and the discussion about each HPISD school's individual needs will continue at the Jan. 21 regular board meeting with Highland Park elementary schools presenting to trustees.
Click here and here for the last two updates on HPISD growth discussions.