Lake Washington School District officials ran their own version of the popular TV show “Extreme Makeover” at a special April 29 meeting for future Kangs and their parents.
Students making up the Lake Washington High class of 2012 and their parents gathered at Rose Hill Junior High for an unveiling of school district plans for a new high school. District officials advocated not only a new campus of 21st century architecture and hi-tech features, but also re-imagining of the how the school’s curriculum is organized and taught.
“We are always looking to see if we can do things better,” LWSD Communications Director Kathryn Reith said. “This is a complete re-imagining. The large comprehensive high school of today is not meeting the needs of our kids.”
Administrators consulted with district teachers and McGranahan Architects to implement a school in-line with LWSD’s Vision 2020 initiative on improving education. After district voters approved a $436 million bond in 2006 for modernizing Lake Washington High and 10 other schools, the district sent a team across the country to find out what was working elsewhere and replicate those successes here.
While the new school, at about 18,000-square-feet, will include the latest in green building features and technology, Reith said the primary changes are in how the classrooms and curriculum are organized.
Replacing the 1940s-era layout, the new school will include four “student houses” on the second and third floors that accommodate 300 students each. Teachers will be specifically dedicated to each house. The individual houses will contain a science classroom, six dedicated core curriculum classrooms, two elective classrooms and a “shared instructional area” where students can use the internet, do research or gather for larger functions of 90 or more people.
Reith said the changes are a recognition that more can be done to get students ready for careers on a global scale. The problem, she said, is some students are falling through the cracks in the present system because teachers can’t focus on every individual.
“Right now, a teacher (at Lake Washington High School) may have a different student for every single class,” she said. “By going smaller, teachers can get to know the students better.”
Plans call for upgrading the student spaces with school communication flat-screen displays in the hallways, new computers, LCD projectors in each classroom, an energy efficient recycled water system, automatically adjusting interior lighting and more.
Citing the gathering spaces as “pretty darn awesome,” David Zeitlin, the district’s construction manager for the design, said the changes will break down the barriers between the students and faculty and foster interdisciplinary study between the classrooms.
“When you break things down into smaller components, the more students get to know everyone,” he said.
A larger 400-seat, state-of-the-art theatre and an improved gymnasium will be built on either side of the complex, complete with better exterior access for extra-curricular events. Northstar Junior High, a small LWSD Choice school, will find a permanent home in the new building on the first floor.
The hybrid system between the present large, comprehensive model and smaller, “magnet” type schools is what LWHS principal Brad Malloy hopes for. He believes the change will improve student learning skills while preserving the unity of the student body.
“It’s important that every student still have the choices of a learning program available at a large comprehensive high school, and we maintain the spirit of Lake Washington High,” he said. “We are all still Kangs. This is important to our community.”
Construction will begin on the site this summer, officials said, and will open in time for the beginning of the school year in the fall of 2011.
