Master Facilities Planning Overview
The process of completing a District-wide study is a stepping stone for developing a comprehensive plan for future needs and budget expenditures. The Assessment Study is a major component of the District’s Long Range Plan. Coupled with life safety, curriculum, demographic issues and future program needs, the study becomes a long-range planning document for helping to manage and maintain the District’s facilities in good working order, balanced with the required long-term expenditures.
Our study has found that the facilities are well cared for, clean and regularly maintained – a tribute to the District’s teachers, students, and maintenance staff. And while the facilities are well cared for, the fact remains that there are infrastructure and building components that are aging and will be in need of renovation and/or replacement in coming years.
The quality of educational space can be a direct reflection of how well students can focus and learn within their classrooms. Environments with poor thermal comfort, bad acoustics or simply classrooms that are too cluttered, inhibit the learning and teaching process.
The goal of the assessment centers around these facility needs, anticipating renovations and the replacement of equipment before there are failures. There is no question equipment can be repaired to “get a bit more life” out of the system, however, the point of diminishing returns makes these repairs more and more costly and ultimately not capable of renovation.
The process and priority of those renovations are something that the District Administration and DLA Architects should work together in developing as our next step. DLA will remain an active participant in helping to establish a renovation program that best meets the District’s goals and philosophical approach. In this manner, all of the students, faculty, and staff of Riverside District 96 will benefit.