In Session - Spring 2017

IN SESSION

Topics and trends for educators and administrators from LaBella’s educational design & engineering team

SPRING 2017

Lessons in design for K-12

SPRING SYLLABUS

What Educators Can Learn From Google

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From Referendums to Addendums: Capital Project Basics

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STEM Education Comes To Life at Imagine RIT Festival

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New Albany Office Offers Acoustics Specialty

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Multi-purpose Athletic Fields Bring Many Sports Under the Lights

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Lead in Drinking Water: An Update 11

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In Session LaBella Associates |

Spring 2017

“THE MORE I LEARN, THE MORE I LEARN THAT I NEED TO LEARN MORE.”

WELCOME TO IN SESSION At LaBella, we frequently discuss the importance of change. While it’s not always comfortable, it’s essential to a thriving business.

It’s easy to rest on the expertise acquired in over 30 years of design for K-12. We’ve completed over $800 million in Capital Projects for schools and along the way we’ve learned a thing or two.

However, we believe experience alone isn’t enough to add real value to our clients. Just as our industry and business has evolved, so has education. The science of learning has advanced, and so too must our classrooms.

In Session is an awareness that for us, school is always in session. We continue to seek opportunities to learn from experts in pedagogy, benchmark projects from across the country, and explore new material and technology applications. We spend time researching the questions and issues facing our clients, and share what we learn here with you.

We’re committed to being a resource and an advocate for our clients. We hope you will enjoy this first issue, and contact us at insession@labellapc.com if we can explore a topic of interest to you.

Want more education about design for education?

Meet Dr. Robert Dillon this fall.

LaBella Associates is proud to host Dr. Robert Dillon for our fall seminar on October 26, 2017. Dr. Dillon is a teacher, principal, and author of four books on best practices in learning. Dr. Dillon is passionate about changing the educational landscape by creating excellent, engaging schools for all students. He provides guidance and support to districts throughout the country on a variety of areas that focus on change and innovation. His work has helped schools to break through barriers to success for kids and build lasting solutions that support real change over time.

His book The Space: A Guide for Educators has inspirational and practical techniques for optimizing classroom design and layout for learning. He walks educators through a series of questions and ideas on how learning spaces can support collaboration, showcase learning, and deliver a learner’s need for quiet on a realistic budget.

This session will be approached from the educator’s perspective.

Registration is available on our In Session page, www.labellapc. com/schools-in-session.

In Session LaBella Associates |

In 2016, Britain’s National Research Council allowed the public to suggest a name for a new $287 million polar research ship. Suggested names like Shackleton and Endeavor quickly lost ground to the public’s most popular choice, RMS Boaty McBoatface. The public loved Boaty McBoatface so much they crashed the website. The National Research Council quickly overrode the results of their contest, and named the ship the RMS Sir David Attenborough, to the public’s despair. The NRC eventually caved to pressure and named the ship’s submersibles Boaty McBoatface.

Spring 2017

Best Practices

How to Achieve Project Buy-In Without Opening the Floodgates As the Boaty McBoatface incident suggests, allowing input from too many people can quickly derail a project. However, without buy-in from end users, a design can’t be customized to your organization’s needs. LaBella’s Project Visualization process engages faculty, staff, and yes, even students, to create a common vision for your district.

The moral of this story is that inviting the public into decision making can have mixed results. But without buyin from users, the project may not address all of the district’s needs.

LaBella’s Project Visualization process (pictured in our Rochester office with Webster CSD) allows representatives from the student body, faculty and staff to participate in focus group sessions (led by our design team) that uses a series of exercises and benchmarked project images to identify project priorities, desired features, and intangible qualities like mood and feeling.

The process strengthens the client team’s ability to make future decisions as the exercises bring concensus around an articulated vision.

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Two sessions were held for the Webster CSD to enable participation from all areas of the district while keeping the session small and interactive.

Project Visualization is an interactive process to bring clarity to the words you may use to describe your organization and project.

The words are developed and reinforced with visual images to establish common language between you and the design team.

Participants break into small groups for the exercise, and then present back to the overall group.

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In Session LaBella Associates |

Spring 2017

Feature

Googlers for a Day: Our Trip to Google’s NYC Offices In late January, members of our educational design team joined the Webster Central School District team for a tour and presentation of Google’s New York City offices. As Webster CSD prepares to begin a capital project, our design team has worked closely with their leadership in exploring topics of district culture, use of technology, and preparing students for new work environments.

We were fortunate to be invited to visit one of the global leaders in innovation, workplace culture, and educational leadership: Google.

Google’s Transformation Center is an online hub for school leadership, offering a dynamic forum for sharing ideas, templates, inspiration, case studies, and links to more resources.

The Google brand is as famous for its staff perks – pool tables and bowling alleys, free food and gym memberships – as it is for its technology, and even employs a chief happiness officer whose sole job is to keep employees happy and maintain productivity. They are now taking their philosophy beyond the office to educators and students across the country with Google for Education. The idea behind it is simple: learning for everyone, everywhere. Affordable devices, educational content, programs, and innovative tools designed for learning and built for the classroom. Technology to inspire curiosity and boost productivity.

It doesn’t matter how big your school or budget is.

In Session LaBella Associates |

The knowledge and photos acquired on our trip have been shared with our entire design team and already have inspired many projects in our studio.

Google For Education is a focused team within Google with a variety of resources for educators. Their Transformation Center is an online hub for school leadership, offering a dynamic forum for sharing ideas, templates, inspiration, case studies, and links to more resources. It’s a great place for district leadership to learn from each other and avoid “reinventing the wheel” when it comes to implementing ideas.

Schools can’t meaningfully change with technology alone and often times don’t know what other districts are working on or have done that has been successful.

They’ve categorized the Transformation Center into seven elements of transformation: vision, learning, culture, technology, professional development, funding & sustainability, and community engagement. As designers specializing in design for K-12, the Transformation Center helps us explore evolving education principles that shape technology needs

Google has identified four key space types: focus, collaborate, learn and socialize. Different colors and themes stimulate creativity.

and guide the design of the built environment.

Of course, there’s no better place to see ideas in action than at Google itself. Google’s philosophy towards the work environment is focused on the Googler experience, health and well being of their team, and sustainability and environmental responsibility.

Perhaps the most striking takeaway from our tour and photographs is the sheer variety of spaces within the Google workspace. Google has identified four key space types throughout their facility: quiet focus, collaboration, learning/ education, and socialization. Dynamic environments that incorporate varying textures, colors, themes and lighting stimulate creativity and keep people engaged. The variety of collision spaces promote interaction and foster engagement with all employees.

There’s also a prevalence of cafés and kitchens throughout the office space. The free kitchens and cafés promote healthy food and beverage choices, and paired with exercise facilities and game rooms, promote health and well being. This ultimately leads to happier, healthier, and more productive Googlers.

These same principles can be applied to the education environment. We can look for opportunities to promote

Spring 2017

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student-teacher interaction with flexible learning environments that stimulate creativity and innovation.

Different spaces may be required for collaborative interaction, quiet work, and demonstrative teaching.

Giving teachers the tools they need to customize their classrooms is a recurring theme that can drive classroom layout, finishes, and furniture.

Change is hard and we have seen the resistance that new technology often faces upon introduction to any organization. Educators may struggle to break old habits or to find the best way to incorporate new tech into their teaching. The result is students who aren’t ready for the future. Students who are deskbound in traditional classrooms aren’t practicing the collaborative, mobile methods of modern workplaces.

Learning centers and blended learning tools can’t simply be replacements for traditional classrooms. Flexible spaces and learning tools give teachers freedom to choose how students will learn – and even change that approach from day to day and student by student. As teachers embrace new approaches to personalized learning, they begin to see themselves more as coaches, working with students side by side to achieve their learning goals. The result: students also begin to take more responsibility for their own learning.

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In Session LaBella Associates |

Spring 2017

Seminar

From Referendum to Addendum: LaBella Hosts Capital Projects Seminar For Supers You don’t need to have a dozen capital projects under your belt to lead your district through the intricate process - you can learn from those that have.

The first session of our live program series focused on the basics of how to initiate and complete a capital improvement project in your school district. Attendees included new superintendents and business officials, as well as seasoned professionals. Our 6-hour, one day seminar held at the Woodcliff Hotel & Spa in Fairport, NY on April 26th took a step-by-step look at the process from project initiation through construction.

LaBella’s Architecture Manager Michael Short, AIA, K-12 Studio Manager Kevin Rademacher, AIA, and former School Business Official Steven Ayers led the day’s topics. Charles Bastian, Financial Planner and President of Bernie P. Donegan, Inc covered the financial implications portion of the presentation which included developing a budget, calculating building aid, local share, and bond considerations.

Other noteworthy topics included the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA - see sidebar) and State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), community

Community

ACE Mentor Program Awards Scholarships and Celebrates Student Projects The ACE Mentor Program is a national non-profit organization dedicated to introducing high school students to the design and construction (Architecture, Construction, and

LaBella’s Michael Short (right) and Kevin Rademacher (left) joined retired Business Super Steve Ayers for a day long overview of the Capital Project process.

involvement, the budget vote, the design process, NY State Education Department (SED) review, bidding, construction and closeout.

Our mission is to give you the knowledge and tools to undertake this endeavor with confidence and success. If you are interested in learning more about this session or attending in the future, please contact us at insession@labellapc.com.

Engineering) profession. It reaches over 8,000 students annually.

LaBella’s Michael Short founded the program’s Rochester chapter and the firm has been heavily involved ever since. LaBella, along with other local firms and construction companies, provides mentors throughout the year long program. At the culmination of the program, students present their final projects at a silent auction fundraiser at downtown Rochester’s

Strathallan hotel. This year’s event welcomed more than 150 attendees, including students, parents, industry professionals and local college and university representatives.

The event raised $14,000, and LaBella was thrilled to be one of several companies contributing to scholarships totaling $15,000.

ACE students presented their projects and standout participants recieved scholarship money at the 5th annual Silent Auction.

In Session LaBella Associates |

Spring 2017

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Vocabulary Lesson

What is “SEQRA� and how does it impact my project?

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EQRA stands for State Environmental Quality Review Act. Simply put, the law requires projects to complete a process identifying potential environmental impacts.

Most projects require some level of environmental review. As K-12 school-related projects are subject to State Education Department review, the correct level of compliance with SEQRA, as well as other regulations such as the State Historic Preservation Act, is a must.

Fortunately, LaBella has experienced SEQRA specialists within our Planning team to help you define, understand and comply with the regulations that shape your project. We have the expertise to present complex technical issues clearly, making it easy for School Board members and the general public to understand potential environmental impacts. Our goal in working with school districts is to streamline the process to meet project schedules and boost public acceptance.

Call us a bunch of engineers, but the science on display at Imagine RIT is simultaneously accssible and thrilling - perfect for students.

Community

LaBella Is the K-12 Sponsor for Imagine RIT Innovation + Creativity Festival

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aBella was proud to be the K-12 Sponsor for the 10th annual Imagine RIT Festival. The annual event, held on the Rochester Institute of Technology campus, brings STEM education to life for the public. Exhibits, interactive presentations, demonstrations, and research projects are teamed with live music and entertainment to make a day of exploring innovation and creativity fun for the whole family.

As K-12 Sponsor, LaBella supports the many K-12 student groups who make field trips to the festival, as well as supporting the free resources provided to educators and mentors. We also awarded a ribbon to the best student exhibit at the festival.

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In Session LaBella Associates |

Spring 2017

Athletics

LaBella’s Athletic Field Lighting Recognized

by Illuminating Engineering Society

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thletic field lighting plays an important role in competition, as well as athlete and spectator safety. Our recent work for the Town of Pittsford’s Thornell Farm Park was recently recognized for excellence in exterior lighting.

The lighting accompanied a new synthetic turf field, three new natural grass fields, tennis courts, parking, pavilions, walkways, and restrooms.

The project was designed with digital lighting control, allowing the Town of Pittsford to react to cancelled or post-poned games from a cell phone.

Successfully lighting an athletic field requires engineers to consider both spill light and glare. Spill light is when the light “spills” beyond the footprint of what is intended to be illuminated. It’s a nuisance to neighboring homes. Glare must be considered for both athletes and spectators - both need to be able to see the ball when it’s in the air.

Raising the height of the light fixtures addresses both problems. For the Town of Pittsford, we used forty foot poles at the tennis courts, and eighty foot poles at the soccer/lacrosse field. Selecting fixtures with internal louvers and external baffles also minimizes spill light and glare. The result: uniform lighting across the entire playing surface.

The Town of Pittsford’s Thornell Farm Park is efficiently and uniformly lit by LaBella’s awardwinning exterior lighting design.

Company News

LaBella Associates Opens Albany Office; Provides New Specialty In Acoustics We’re excited to bring our full service approach to the Capital Region and enhance our in-house expertise with new specialists

N Our new Albany office also provides proximity to the state agencies we regularly coordinate with, like the State Education Department.

ovus Engineering, headquartered in Delmar, NY, has now joined LaBella Associates! Novus was founded in 1981 and is renown in the Capital

Region for their expertise in energy efficiency and MEP services.

Additionally, the firm offers some unique capabilities, including a specialty in acoustical consulting.

While many projects utilize an acoustical consultant for spaces like music rooms or auditoriums, recent studies has shown that low-level background noise in classrooms can have a significant impact on concentration and retention.

Having an in-house specialist on our LaBella team will enable every project to be assessed for acoustical performance.

In Session LaBella Associates |

Spring 2017

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Multi-purpose Athletic Fields Can Bring Many Sports Under the Lights

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s schools, universities and municipal parks become increasingly landlocked, our clients are looking to balance the high demand of their sports programs with available althletic fields. As such, multi-purpose fields are becoming more and more popular. In our most recent blog post, we examine the benefits and drawbacks to multisport fields.

In addition to offering flexibility, multipurpose fields offer an egalitarian approach to athletics. Athletes and administrators alike want to feel a sense of pride when they walk out under the lights on their home field during a homecoming, sectional, or championship game, and providing a multi-sport field allows many teams the opportunity to use the school’s best venue.

The primary element that determines the size and layout of a multipurpose field is, of course, which

WE HEAR FROM ATHLETES THAT THOUGH THERE MAY BE SEVERAL DIFFERENT SPORTS STRIPED ON A FIELD, CONFUSION WHILE ON THE FIELD IS MINIMAL. ONCE THAT WHISTLE IS BLOWN, ALL OF THE OTHER LINES FALL AWAY AND THEY FOCUS ON THEIR SPORT.

combination of sports will need to be played on it. There can be any number of combinations, sometimes with up to 5 or 6 sports. Common combinations can include football, softball/baseball, lacrosse, and field hockey, all on one field. The largest sport that will be played (paired with the appropriate safety zones for each included sport) will regulate the dimensions of the overall field.

Required equipment, like bases, batting netting, and goal posts can be designed to be removable and configurable.

What do athletes think of fields with multiple markings and configuration options? Most athletes tell us superfluous markings quickly fade away from their notice. Spectators may have more trouble, however.

Visit our content hub at www. labellapc.com/schools-in-session to read our latest in depth blog post for more on this topic.

Many schools welcome the increased revenue that can be generated by giving multiple sports the opportunity to host tournaments and use concession facilities. Below, new concessions and press box for the Charles Finney School.

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In Session LaBella Associates |

Spring 2017

Energy

In Process

NYSERDA Cost-Sharing Available to Schools Studying Energy Efficiency Upgrades

East Irondequoit Central School District

NYSERDA is offering a 50% cost sharing grant to districts who would like to identify cost-effective energy efficiency projects. Projects that the studies explore could include upgrading HVAC systems for efficiency, energy-efficient windows or lighting, or seeking alternative energy sources like geothermal, solar or combined heat and power systems.

Typically this program is used by districts that are in the beginning stages of forming Capital Improvement Plans, or at the onset of an Energy Performance Contract project.

While there is extra cost to the consultant to use the NYSERDA process, it is due to NYSERDA’s rigorous reporting requirements and iterative review steps, and is more than neutralized by the incentives they provide. The quality of the final product must meet NYSERDA standards and is subject to an independent peer review by one of NYSERDA’s professional consultants.

The FlexTech program would allow each school district to receive a robust energy report for half of the study cost.

LaBella will perform an engineering analysis on various building systems and provide review services to NYSERDA for the program. Review services will involve reviewing energy measure calculations and methodologies, provide client support throughout the incentive process, recommending incentive levels, confirming project scopes, as well as verifying project completion and payment.

The East Irondequoit CSD Capital Improvement Project encompasses six different buildings in four phases of work totaling $20 million. Most of the buildings are scheduled for building wide renovations and upgrades including toilet rooms, building wide door security, and kitchen/cafeteria improvements. Phase 2 will start construction in the fall, and features the only building addition, a $4 million complete library redesign at Ivan Green Primary School.

We’ll take a closer look at trends in school library design in our Fall issue.

The new library is to be the highlight of the school and includes an outdoor gathering area for students and teachers.

On the Quad: Trends from Higher Education

SUNY Geneseo’s New Trading Lab Provides Real-Time Data

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ow do you prepare students of today for careers in finance, economics, and accounting?

Simulation labs create opportunities for learning using real-time data display and analysis tools to make business education reflect Wall Street’s dynamism. At SUNY Geneseo, LaBella converted an existing South Hall computer lab into a new 1,100 square foot Trading Room.

The space was designed for team-oriented collaboration, featuring a variety of seating styles, a writable wall surface, and power and data access for a multitude of devices. The stock ticker tape and new electronic technology displays can be used for both real-time and

Team-oriented tables have dominated higher education classroom trends for several years. Lecture style seating is the exception, rather than the rule.

simulated trading.

“We wanted a space students would want to be in throughout the day, and not a space that sits empty until someone needs to access a Bloomberg terminal.

LaBella truly maximized the usefulness of the space we were converting by creating a room that can be both lounge and classroom,” SUNY Geneseo Dean of Business Dr. Denise Rotondo said. “We could not be happier with the result.”

In Session LaBella Associates |

Spring 2017

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In the News

Lead in Drinking Water: What We Know Now

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ollowing the recent spotlight thrown on the issues in Flint, Michigan, many communities around the US are taking action to address potential lead contamination in their drinking water. While federal regulations that govern the treatment and supply of water through public systems have been in place for over 25 years, there has been little coordinated oversight for K-12 facilities until very recently.

In 2016, New Jersey and New York became the first states to mandate testing for lead in drinking water in public school buildings. The testing protocols mainly follow voluntary guidance published by the US EPA in 2006 – the 3Ts for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water in Schools. However, understanding the nuances between regulations and guidance is important to safeguarding public health and explaining to concerned parents what a school or district is doing to protect their children.

LaBella has been assisting school districts in Ithaca and Rochester, New York, to identify the potential sources of contamination in their buildings and develop remediation plans according to the best available science. Some key facts and lessons we have learned include:

Our research shows the majority of issues in schools are with brass fixtures, such as faucets and drinking fountains.

Therefore, potential contamination likely comes from somewhere else.

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Our research shows the majority of issues in schools are with brass fixtures, such as faucets and drinking fountains. Until 2014, these fixtures could contain up to 8% lead by weight; now the standard is less than 0.25%.

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The current testing standard in New York requires action to be taken if the sample exceeds 15 parts per billion. Some districts have voluntarily implemented a more stringent action level, but it is important to note that a correlation scale between specific levels of lead in water and in blood has yet to be established, and, again, there is no safe level of lead to consume.

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Currently, the regulations require decisions to be made based on a single result. Note that the test on any given day can be affected by a number of factors, and that should be considered when designing a sampling plan.

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The US EPA and CDC indicate there is no safe level of lead to consume.

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Lead poisoning affects young children (under age 6), pregnant, and nursing mothers the most.

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Lead poisoning is a chronic issue – lead can be stored for up to 10 years in our bodies – so even after the contamination source is removed, it can still affect our health.

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There are many sources of lead poisoning, including paint and dust. As some sources are removed, others, such as water, become more important.

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Care should be taken when comparing results from residential and school tests. The sampling procedures may be different and represent different purposes.

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The highest risk of lead contamination in water comes from lead service lines, which run from a water main to a house.

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School buildings generally don’t have lead service lines because they require more water than a lead service line was typically sized to provide.

The most common permanent remediation method is to replace or isolate the fixture. Note that long term performance of various remedial actions is still under review, and more guidelines may be published in the future.

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More Questions? Call us at 877.626.6606

Sneak Peek at East Irondequoit Central School District, Page 10

Due to the growing number of athletes in need of a place to play, many of our clients are turning to multiple sport offerings on a single field. In addition to offering flexibility, multi-purpose fields offer an egalitarian solution.

Providing a multi-sport field allows many teams the opportunity to use the school’s best venue.

Our thoughts on multi-purpose sports fields, page 9

LEARN MORE: visit our website for more information

ph. 877.626.6606

www.labellapc.com/schools-in-session

insession@labellapc.com