Declining enrollment – Inequity – Increased security concerns – Aging facilities – Failing test scores – Multiple open-plan schools – Reduced funding – New mandates: For Dorchester County on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the hits kept coming with no relief in sight. Recognizing that addressing these issues as in the past wasn’t an option and that resilience internally within the schools and externally across their communities was called for, County leadership decided that a time-out and re-set was needed. A District-wide Facility Plan was commissioned, charged with making recommendations for facility improvements that would support their Vision for Learning, reduce the overall inventory of school space, address the open-plan and other critical facility deficits, and provide learning environments for ALL Learners to succeed. This session will provide a behind-the-curtain look at the process, efforts, and results of this process. How to scale a time-tested process template to respond to the unique factors at the district will be discussed, along with key take-aways of the challenges and successes the team faced. Attendees will engage in different activities that will help them explore ways this approach can be adapted to a variety of large-scale planning scenarios.

Learning Objectives:

1. This session will help expand one’s ability to conduct a holistic facility planning process that truly welcomes and engages ALL members of a community into the conversation recognizing that the unique needs and styles of various cultures require tailoring one’s approach.
2. Additionally, in light of the increase in school violence, the session will help broaden one’s understanding of the elements critical for creating safe, secure and welcoming environments that celebrate the brilliance of all learners.
3. It will also assist in expanding the range of techniques that can be used to effectively/realistically assess a facility’s ability to support a culture of care, safety, equity, and inclusion – attributes critical for learning.
4. Finally, the session is designed to provide participants with a renewed sense of optimism and resilience by seeing how even the more severe of situations can be made better through a thoughtful, scalable and wholistic process.