By JEFF LIPTON
The school district is organizing focus group sessions to help residents stay informed about the district's ongoing Master Facilities Plan, which is being developed by school officials, with the help of district architect CS Arch, to map out the future of all district buildings and grounds. The sessions are another way to measure the community's temperature on what direction the school district should take in the coming years.
The district held an Envisioning Day at Long Beach High School on March 29, kicking off the creation of a road map for Long Beach schools over the next five to 10 years that will chart student achievement, curriculum and instruction, community interaction, finances and facilities. The focus groups will be held in the Lindell Elementary School auditorium on Tuesday and in the Long Beach Middle School cafeteria on Thursday, both at 7 p.m. The sessions will include an overview of the master plan process, a presentation of demographic information, a review of community input at previous Envisioning workshops and a presentation of findings by the citizens' Facilities Advisory Committee (FAC).
The focus groups will address energy, classroom design and community use of facilities. Attendees will break up into groups and discuss priorities and goals, and the next steps toward the long-term preservation and improvement of the district's infrastructure, officials said.
"The whole master planning exercise we're going through is to try to create the best facilities for the future, in our district and for education in general," said school board President Frank Alvarado. "We want the buildings to serve as community focal points, and that's why we want to hear from the community. It's their facilities, so we want to make the process as open as possible."
Alvarado said that some of the buildings are outdated, and one proposal may include building a new facility to replace an old one. He added that constructing a new school may be seen as a last resort, since fixing the existing facilities may not cost as much. That is why community input is welcomed, he said.
The schools most likely to need renovations, Alvarado said, are the East School and Lindell. He also mentioned that the science labs at the high school and the music facilities at the middle school and high school are in need of attention.
Frank Ruggiero, assistant superintendent for business, said the school board would study residents' input over the summer and come up with a list of recommendations in early fall. The district hopes to offer a capital improvement referendum for a vote next year, he added. "It's all part of the process to improve education, by providing quality facilities and quality programs," Ruggiero said.
He explained that the proposal may include increasing the educational space for science and technology, improving outdoor athletic facilities and upgrading the heating and ventilation systems in the district's buildings.
The Master Facilities Plan builds on the report developed by the FAC, a group of more than 30 volunteer district residents who toured and studied all of its facilities last year. The group regularly reported to the Long Beach school board before compiling a final report, which was submitted to the board last June.
Residents are invited to attend one or both sessions next week. For more information, call Ruggiero at (516) 897-2090. To view the complete FAC report, visit the district Web site, lbeach.org.
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
