By: Deborah Johnson Wood
This week, approximately 400 residents attended community dialogue sessions sponsored by Grand Rapids Public Schools designed to root out community ideas for building learning facilities, and specifically high schools, fit for the 21st century.
The sessions begin Phase II of the district's plan to enhance student achievement and prepare kids to compete for the jobs of the future by renovating existing high schools or perhaps building entirely new ones.
Dr. William DeJong of Dublin, Ohio-based DeJong Inc., the consultant hired to oversee the facilities planning, says some common themes have begun to emerge from the process, although he cautioned that this is only a preliminary review.
"People seem to be indicating they want a kind of hybrid district made up of traditional comprehensive high schools and thematic high schools," says DeJong, a native of Grand Rapids. "They also seem to want the schools organized as small learning communities or 'schools within schools.'"
While the district has not identified any definitive themes that future schools might be organized around, some examples include healthcare and science, performing arts, business, and technology.
A majority of the participants indicated they would support a bond issue in the $100 million to $200 million range to fund the schools.
"Participants are also interested in alternative financing to offset some of the bond requirements, such as, historic tax credits, private/public partnerships, and Brownfield Redevelopment tax credits," Dr. DeJong says.
DeJong Inc. will compile the results of the dialogue sessions and the online survey that will soon be available for completion on the GRPS web site.
The Facilities Steering Committee will receive the data in early January, and will have several work sessions to review it and make recommendations to the superintendent of schools.
The committee hopes to present the final recommendations to the board of education in February. The board will then begin the final decision-making process to determine specific goals and the best strategies to achieve them.
Source: Dr. William DeJong, DeJong, Inc.
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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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