During this time of looking at all aspects of a student’s day differently, we think there is an opportunity to consider a different experience for Dining. The reasons to reinvent the Dining experience extend beyond the safety factors that were required to address Covid concerns.

Most schools recognize that unstructured times of the day can be challenging for many students. School districts have anti-bullying policies, however, bullying also occurs through exclusion and social isolation which is a common anxiety provoking situation especially for middle and high schoolers. While learning the social skills to navigate the lunchroom and ultimately all social situations is an important soft skill and part of growing up, the re-design of dining spaces can make for a more humane experience.

Outside of social issues, food service and dining spaces can be difficult spaces for students with sensory processing disorders as the spaces typically feature high noise levels, strong odors and a constant buzz of movement. Knowing that these factors can impact all students, there are targeted strategies for space to promote and enhance a student’s feeling of safety and comfort.

The challenges facing today’s learners have evolved substantially since many of our nation’s schools were built. Intuitively, we have always known that the environment can have a positive impact on teaching and learning. Today, we have a much deeper understanding of the science behind how children learn and the environmental factors that promote positive results. Modern school design creates more opportunities for positive connections – learner to learner, teacher to teacher and learner to teacher.

In modern schools, the learning commons is the heart of the school, a place that students and staff want to be, one that provides access to student and staff resources, to study, collaborate or simply grab a juice or cup of joe. As a central component of the school, the learning commons facilitates daily interaction and contact as students and staff move through the commons throughout the school day.

The learning commons has been a central feature at several of our recent remodeling projects at Maine East, West, and South High Schools; Downers Grove North and South High Schools; Adlai E. Stevenson High School and New Trier High School; and in new construction at two schools for The Qatar Foundation in Doha, Qatar. The learning commons is also a feature in several recent projects including Sunset Ridge School in Northfield, and Northwoods Middle School in Highland Park.

The subject of students’ social-emotional well-being has dominated the conversation with our School District partners. When schools support social-emotional wellness, students typically have fewer disciplinary issues, can achieve greater levels of concentration, and can develop more advanced communication skills. Looking forward, it is crucial to maximize the opportunity we have to help support social-emotional wellness in the place where students spend most of their time.

Moving into the post-pandemic era has only increased the desire and need to find opportunities that address the many stressors our students face on a daily basis. Fortunately, as design and construction professionals, we have a variety of options to meet this complex challenge. Ergonomic furniture, thermal comfort, acoustic attenuation measures and lighting controls are just some examples of the type of systems/elements that can play a vital role in creating a supportive and comfortable learning environment for students. Biofiltration living walls are also another element that Wight & Company has been able to explore and implement in some of its most recent school projects, including Adlai E. Stevenson High School.

Upon project kick-off, there are three phases that are crucial communication points: design, construction, and pre-opening. Wight & Company is privileged to work with several Districts that deeply understand the value of storytelling in connecting their communities to these projects in meaningful, context-specific ways.

New and emerging technologies can be especially beneficial in visually conveying the project. For example, Enscape - a software capable of generating real-time renderings and virtual reality simulations - was used to create "digital walkthroughs" of the three high schools in Maine Township High School District 207 , offering community members a startlingly realistic look at the future of their facilities. The School District has created an entire web page around these and other videos.

North Shore School District 112 leveraged social media to bring fans and followers along as the old Northwood Junior High School transformed into Northwood Middle School, a state-of-the-art facility borne out of direct input from students, educators, and the community. Tools such as Facebook Live continue to be valuable in making events such as the recent Edgewood Middle School Groundbreaking Ceremony more accessible, including to alumni who are located all over the county, but still feel a strong connection with their experiences in District 112.

Even the most robust HVAC systems are challenged to control airflow and completely prevent dissemination of an infectious aerosol or droplets. However, changes to the operation of HVAC systems, can reduce airborne exposures. The impact of these changes will depend on a wide variety of technical and environmental design factors. Enhanced ventilation and filtration systems can reduce the airborne concentration of the virus and thus the risk of transmission through the air. To achieve healthier school environments in a post-COVID-19 world, existing HVAC systems will need to be modified with the latest filtration technology to enhance safety and well-being.

Wight & Company has been carrying out this type of work in a variety of settings, even before the pandemic. Sunset Ridge School District 29, for example, replaced its 85-year-old building with a new collaborative, interactive, and technology-based learning environment. Beyond the ultra-efficient HVAC system, the LEED Platinum-certified facility serving approximately 300 fourth through eighth-grade students features a living wall of plants in the main corridor that contributes to improved air quality through biophilic design and a rain garden on the sky deck where rainwater is collected and recycled.

Over the last year, we were engaged by other school clients to execute multiple, concurrent ESSER-funded, rapid response projects that addressed challenges resulting from the pandemic. These projects were focused on HVAC improvements, air disinfection, technology upgrades, and builds-outs designed to provide safer staff and public engagement. Our integrated model supports the accelerated timelines required to meet the federal funding requirements, and additional dollars are still available to support air quality improvements and related upgrades. If you'd like to learn more about how your district could take advantage of these funds, please email us.

More than ever, curriculum is blurring the boundaries between academic subjects. Disciplines that have traditionally been taught in departmental “silos” are more frequently being conveyed as blended instruction that bridges subjects and instructors. STEAM and STEM are illustrative of only a few advantageous partnerships. With the insertion of "A" for the Arts, schools are finding natural relationships that equip students for real world problem solving and creativity.

The elements of STEAM instruction are contained in traditional classrooms and labs. The development of inter-disciplinary programs (and spaces to support them) that allow students to solve problems using aspects of all disciplines together is a major movement in educational facility design. The need for students to be well prepared for careers in these fields is highly documented. The creative application of this knowledge is a critical skill to prepare our students to solve the challenges of the future.

Adlai E. Stevenson High School’s East Building Addition is the first verified Net Zero Energy building in Illinois as acknowledged by the New Buildings Institute (NBI). The school has also achieved LEED Schools Platinum Certification and is certified as the first Living Architecture Performance Tool (LAPT) Platinum certified project in the world. Stevenson High School's cutting-edge sustainability features include a large active green wall system, rooftop greenhouse and exterior gardens support innovative instruction in biology and botany, with students producing food to demonstrate a farm-to-fork approach.

“We are grateful to have a longstanding partnership with the team at Wight & Company. Our appreciation of their expertise, including their commitment to sustainability, cannot be overstated. Our school facilities and community are stronger for it.” Dr. Eric Twadell, superintendent of Adlai E. Stevenson High School District 125

The 50,000-sf addition was designed to provide new learning environments aligned with the school’s educational paradigms. The new facility includes world language classrooms, maker labs, and multi-purpose presentation spaces for conferences and extended learning, as well as five advanced physics and engineering program labs. Unique aspects of the science spaces include reconfigurable labs with multiple teaching surfaces and a two-story atrium for vertical drops and robotics experiments.

A key element of Beyond Your Base’s pre-referendum strategy is to assemble a citizen task force to vet potential referendum proposals.

These committees, which often consist of business, civic, and education leaders, play an important role in making sure our clients’ funding proposals have a fighting chance of success at the polls. During the pandemic, Beyond Your Base has been involved with more than $360 million of successful tax-related referenda that have addressed the capital improvement and operating needs of school districts and other public entities in Illinois and Colorado. Our quick pivot to adapting to the virtual world played no small role in achieving this success.

When COVID-19 hit, we were concerned that Zoom and other videoconferencing tools would not be a good substitute for in-person task force meetings. To our surprise, the virtual approach to these meetings has been quite successful. Given their convenience, participation in virtual task force meetings has actually increased. Committee members also seem to be more at ease sharing their thoughts and recommendations in a virtual setting. Breakout groups, online polling, chat windows, and other tools have also allowed us to keep things engaging and productive.

Yes, there have been plenty of barking dogs, key ideas shared with a microphone muted, committee members accidentally leaving the breakout room, rogue chat rooms, and an inability to read body language. However, there has been a “we’re in this together” attitude that has allowed citizen task forces to survive and thrive.

Will we continue to do task force meetings virtually? Probably not all of them, but they will undoubtedly remain an important part of our pre-referendum toolbox as we continue focus on engaging taxpayers and other stakeholders to deliver capital improvement projects that are truly community-driven.