Central Services Facility
NCSD invites community to help Create the Future
04.18.2011
High school design work kicks off in May with public input
The Natrona County School District is seeking community input to Create the Future of area high schools.
The district, in partnership with the Wyoming School Facilities Commission (WSFC), is preparing to remodel Kelly Walsh and Natrona County high schools and to build a new high school campus that will feature the new Center for Advanced and Professional Studies (CAPS) program, as well as Transitions Learning Center and Roosevelt High School.
Architects have been selected for each project, and preliminary planning for design of all three projects is starting next month. It will begin with community-wide input sessions from 4 to 5:30 p.m. and from 6 to 7:30 p.m. May 3 at Summit Elementary School. Join representatives from NCSD and the WSFC, as well as architects for all three projects, to explore the best of what today’s schools have to offer and what possibilities the future could hold. There will be opportunities for any community member to share ideas, concerns and comments with the design teams at these open sessions.
Community members who want to be more intimately involved in the design process can sign up to participate in the full charette process, which will take place May 4 and 5 and May 24-26. Participants will work closely with educators and architects to envision more specifics of each building project, in relation to academic and extracurricular programming. Participants should plan to be involved in all six days of meetings. The charette process, which will take place at the Casper Events Center, will involve groups working on individual school plans, as well as in collaboration with teams working on the other schools. To submit your name as a community representative on one of the three charette teams (KWHS, NCHS, new campus), e-mail your name, phone number, e-mail address and interest to Community_Partnerships@natronaschools.org or leave a message with your contact information at (307) 253-5370.
Following the first charettes, another community session will be planned to present the work of the design teams. The community report session is tentatively set for May 26, with details to be determined.
The design and construction of the new campus and remodels of existing high school campuses is part of a long-term effort to Create the Future for NCSD secondary schools. Modern high schools are built for an outdated form of high school education — one that served the industrial era when students graduated high schools and went to work in assembly-line factories. Today’s students experience a global society, ever-changing technology and instant communication, and most will go to work in fields that haven’t even been created yet.
In Creating the Future, NCSD wants to redesign the learning experience to fit 21st Century students and help every student be a champion. The existing facilities of Kelly Walsh and Natrona County high schools need significant improvements to meet modern educational needs. The new campus will help provide additional facilities to serve the growing number of youth in Natrona County and to provide a state-of-the-art environment for students to gain hands-on learning opportunities that support their future careers.
CAPS, specifically, will provide half-day programs for NCSD upper-classmen to take classes in one of four academies: Creative Arts, Communication & Design; Health Sciences & Human Services; Business, Agriculture & Natural Resources; and Architecture, Construction, Manufacturing & Engineering. Meanwhile, on the same campus, students re-engaging in school through Transitions will have access to career- and industry-linked programs, and Roosevelt High School will have appropriate facilities (as opposed to the current elementary school building).
The Wyoming Legislature has appropriated about $9.8 million for planning and design of the three projects, plus $14.4 million for the initial phase of construction at KWHS and NCHS and $85 million to complete the first phase of all three projects. The design and construction process will be planned carefully to ensure students continue to have a safe and positive learning environment during the remodels of the two existing schools.
Follow the latest news about NCSD construction online at www.natronaschools.org, under Departments>High School Planning, or follow NCSD on Facebook or Twitter.
More details:Create the Future FAQs
