Board Aims to Improve School Structures With Plan

That's the idea behind a new plan passed unanimously by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education on Thursday night. The plan looks at the physical structures of schools in the district.

The plan, which will be in effect for the construction of Elementary School No. 9, creates "High Performance Schools."

"High Performance Schools are designed to improve the learning environment while saving energy, materials and natural resources," said Steve Scroggs, assistant superintendent for support services.

Some parts of the plan are as mundane and sensible as high performance boilers and more efficient urinals, cutting costs and benefiting the environment simultaneously.

Other measures are intended to directly improve the learning environment.

"Daylighting," which already exists at Smith Middle School, is designed to provide students and staff with a connection to the outdoors.

Daylighting is a complex and expensive architectural design that evaluates the entire structure and dictates how to bring the most natural light into the building.

According to a report by Innovative Design, an architectural firm in Raleigh, students at a "daylit" school in Clayton outperformed students at other area schools that were not daylit by 5 to 14 percent on standardized tests.

Studies by the Mahone Group, which looked at schools in California, had similar results.

Other facets of the HPS plan, like improved air quality and ventilation, could have a positive effect on attendance. Scroggs said attendance in some school district buildings with poor air quality is 3 percent lower than in better-ventilated areas.

The school board expressed concern over the costs involved with the plan, but Scroggs assured them many of the structural changes would pay for themselves.

For example, if boilers could be brought in that functioned at 95 percent efficiency, as opposed to the current 80 percent, they would pay for themselves in two years. The estimated cost of high performance boilers is $20,000.

More efficient "waterless" urinals, costing $550 each, could pay for themselves in only four months.

However, the payback time on some other facilities could be longer, Scroggs said.

"But actually, we're improving the environment even though the payback period may be fairly lengthy," he said. "All of these are within reason, however."

Daylighting is the most expensive part of the plan. It has an estimated cost of $350,000 to $550,000.

"We're paying good money to do good things for our sites," Scroggs said.

While enthusiastic about including the measures in the construction of Elementary School No. 9, some board members requested further discussion before implementing the plan in existing schools.

"I think these are wonderful guidelines for new construction," said Nick Didow, a school board member. "However, we should think through some of the renovations we need at other schools and look at the costs associated with them before acting."

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.