Moving School Facilities into the Future: CUSD’s Long Range Facility Master Plan
Schools are not just buildings. Schools are the talented teachers who help kindergartners learn to read, help sixth graders write poetry on chromebooks, and help tenth graders develop and promote their own businesses. Schools are the students who gather around a strawberry to extract its DNA or hoist a camera to produce a segment for this morning’s broadcast. Schools are the counselors who help 8th graders select their high school courses and help high school seniors write their college applications. Schools are the staff, the parents, and the leadership who support learning and innovation. But schools are also buildings. And our priority is that our school buildings be safe, secure, and well-maintained places where students can learn what they need. It is our mission to ensure that every student receives an extraordinary education in an inspiring environment.
It is clear that our schools, some built more than 50 years ago, do not always offer the modern learning spaces or instructional technology infrastructure that students need today to be successful in the jobs of the future. It is crucial that we have an on-going plan to update schools in need of modernization.
So last year our district began a conversation about our long range facility needs. Our Board of Trustees approved a contract with WLC Architects to conduct a Facility Condition Assessment and an Asset Inventory, and then a Long Range Facility Master Plan. Under the direction of our professional consultants, stakeholders from across the district have invested their time and tapped their creativity to envision the Facility Master Plan to modernize our schools for the next 15 to 20 years and beyond.
I appreciate the excellent work of those who contributed so valuably and diligently to the Facility Master Plan—our professional consultants; our school site principals, staff, teachers, and parents; our district staff, including Maintenance & Operations, Grounds, Custodial, Child Nutrition, Purchasing, Personnel, and Fiscal Services; the City of Carlsbad Fire, Police, and Transportation representatives; and other members of the Carlsbad Unified community. I am grateful for the leadership of our Board members, who have asked the tough questions and encouraged high quality work throughout this process.
The Long Range Facilities Master Plan is not a design solution or an implementation plan, or a wishlist of every possible improvement we could think of. Nor is it a funding document—while cost estimates are attached, funding sources have not yet been identified. Instead, the Master Plan is a roadmap that describes a 15-to 20-year vision for the future of our schools.
The plan lays out a set of guiding facilities principles or key ideas, including Energy Efficiency and Sustainability; Flexible Learning Spaces; Libraries as Innovation Centers; STEAM Labs and Makerspaces; and Ubiquitous Technology.
We’ve taken stakeholder feedback to heart, including elements specific to the needs of staff and students at each individual site. There are many things to get excited about in the plan. For example, we’ve included a proposed installation of solar and battery storage that will allow us to generate an amount of energy equal to the amount we use annually at each site.
We brought the final version of the Master Plan to the Board on January 17, and the Trustees voted unanimously to approve it. The plan is posted on the Board's webpage, and can be accessed here. Now that the plan has been approved, the Board will begin the challenging task of determining priorities, timelines, and funding sources for its implementation.
We believe that this plan, if funded and executed, will serve students, staff, and our community for the next 20 years and beyond. In Carlsbad, we know that extraordinary schools improve our quality of life and keep our community strong.
