Day 16

Yesterday I drove down to Richmond for the Virginia School Board Conference. Wyck Knox and I presented "Lessons and Opportunities of Net Zero Energy Schools." Although I was eager to speak to the educational opportunities, most people wanted to get down to the dollars and "sense" of it all. Bottom line, net zero energy schools are a no brainer for Wyck and I, but we enjoyed taking people through the why. Wyck answered many great questions (I always learn something new when I am around him) and we both enjoyed meeting people from all over the state. Dr. Patrick Murphy and Deirdra McLaughlin also were in attendance and conducted a session called "Building Community Engagement for a Smooth Budget Process." To be honest, they did the session five times, as did we. I wish I had gotten to some of the other sessions, but I was too engaged with my favorite topic to wander around. Governor Terry McAuliffe made remarks, but the Westside Elementary School Debate Team really stole the show. Three students demonstrated their debate skills on the topic of Brown vs. Board of Education. These fine eleven and twelve year olds made an impression on the nearly four hundred attendees. I was supremely impressed by their teacher/coach Mr. Jeffery May who exuded high expectations and positive praise. Way to go Westside Elementary!

Day 11

Attended my first Weekly Progress Meeting. This is where APS staff, SIGAL Construction, and Heery International staff all discuss the building progress. It is fascinating to learn all that goes into building such a structure. It definitely takes a coordination from many people and I'm grateful to APS staff for keeping such great tabs on all details. We talked a little bit about water flow for faucets and am hoping to sample the different options soon. In addition we began detailed discussions on the bus loop and car loop. Dr. McCarty and I will further the discussion on the joint bus loop next week. I learned about the energy of several different appliances and realized quickly realized individual refrigerators, coffee machines, and microwaves are a no go in this new building! But don't worry, there are several teacher hubs with all the necessary amenities. I can not wait to tour people through the building. I will say that I may not have a degree in Architecture and Design, Construction Management, and/or Renewable Energy, but I'm getting the lingo down! Lastly of course, no project discussion is complete these days with a detailed talk on growing Bermuda grass.

Day 5

Learning more about my "I" everything today and how technology can support instruction.

Beautiful signage by VMDO for Cougar Elementary

Day 6

Just more pictures...However, researching into other ways we can reduce and reuse has proven to be a fascinating journey. There are many schools across the country with a great recycling and composting systems as well as other green practices. We can also learn much from international schools such as the International School of Kuala Lampur where students track data on electricity, water, paper and copy use and air travel carbon emissions. Learn more about how they are hoping to achieve a zero-waste cafeteria at the green schools alliance website.

Bus Loop

Day 4

Spent the day at McKinley Elementary. Summer school was in full action. Thank you Colin Brown, Eileen Wentzel, and Mitch Pascal for sharing your insights and answering my questions. Drop off and pick up require careful planning and it is interesting to see how each school addresses it differently, but always with a commitment to safety first. Spent a lot of time thinking through how these processes will work at the new school and know there is much more research to do.

Day 3

Home of the future shared bus loop...

Day 2

Day 2 means there are 433 days until September 8th, 2015...

Enough said.

Day 1

I met VMDO's Wyck and Brittany at Cougar Elementary in Manassas Park. By pointing out similarities and differences between Cougar Elementary and ES#1 (can't wait until we have a name), I got a better feel for what it might be like to be in our finished school. Cougar is a very cool school!  It's one thing to read about Tubular Daylighting Devices and quite another to stand in an interior classroom completely lit by natural daylight. I received a crash course in reading design documents and we discussed signage, colors, and themes as part of the wayfinding process. Don't know what that means? I don't have an exact definition, but what it means to us, is that architecture, colors, and signage are all themed so that people can easily navigate and make sense of the building. I really appreciate their child-centered thinking. It was a great first day! In fact, it was so exciting, that we forgot to eat. I didn't exactly forget, but I didn't want to stop. We side tracked off into discussions of paperless schools and lunchroom recycling (two passions of mine) and before I knew it the day was over!

I couldn't resist..I had to take some first day pictures!