The first step in creating Lakota East High School was identifying the community s values related to school design. For instance, one such value in this case was that parents feel welcome and comfortable when visiting the school. Next, the values were refined and prioritized via telephone and mail surveys with nearly 300 other customers in the district. For instance, one of the most important values in the Lakota district was that the classrooms be adaptable to different teaching and learning styles. Not only was this value deemed important, but the community felt that the current schools were not performing as well as they could on that point.
Customers have terrific ideas.
These two-day sessions were led by a trained facilitator who encouraged the group to be creative, while at the same time stay focused on fulfilling the established values. The moderator also helped the group stay at an appropriate solution level. One value that emerged in Lakota East s case was having proper traffic flow to avoid discipline and safety problems. This and the other design concepts were placed at the top of the Quality house. But, as previously noted, the Schoolhouse of Quality process works because it s not just a glorified brainstorming session.