After learning about the firm's work through a presentation by educational facilities planner James W. Wilkes, who is a retired teacher and principal, the board agreed that investigating the district's facilities goes along with part of the vision of the continuous improvement plan, now in the final stages under the direction of Patterson. We're here to assist you in analyzing what you have and where you want to go. Education is an ever changing dynamic, Wilkes said, so planning must reflect the changes and the future in educational needs in Orrville.
Every district has different standards.
Wilkes said that the community will also participate in the information gathering stages. A narrative will then give options for those buildings and describe the areas of needs, strengths and improvement possibilities. Estimated costs for all options are included in each narratiave, Wilkes said, and have always fallen within 1 percent of actual construction costs. The science of facilities planning isn't all that new, Wilkes said, but assistant superintendent Steve McCumber noted that building planning based on educational needs, not just populuation predictions, is a sound planning process for building construction. A final report, due sometime in the fall, will list three or four possibilities for all of the district's three elementary buildings as well as the junior high and high schools.