Fairport Harbor EVSD Members Participate In An Educational Visioning Session
Fairport Harbor EVSD administration members, educators, parents, and students attended an Educational Visioning Session hosted by ThenDesign Architecture.

Fairport Harbor EVSD – Educational Visioning Update

On June 6th, Fairport Harbor EVSD administration members, educators, village services, parents, and students gathered to attend an Educational Visioning Session hosted by ThenDesign Architecture. This all-day session focused on collaboration and brainstorming on designs for their new school, its impact on the community, and how it will improve student’s education in the District.

Superintendent Domenic Paola commented: “Today, we came together with members of the community and stakeholders in this project to begin the process of creating a vision for this school.”

With over 70 in attendance, everyone had a say in the design activities throughout the day. “Collaboration is how we make progress in Fairport Harbor. I often refer to it as the engine that drives us. Everything we have accomplished in the District is a result of it, and with Visioning today, that is definitely the case.”

The new 116,000 sf PreK-12 will be located on the existing Harding High School site. It will replace the two aging buildings in the District and provide a modern educational environment better positioned to accommodate personalized student needs and foster learning and collaboration.

Today, we came together with members of the community and stakeholders in this project to begin the process of creating a vision for this school.
Domenic Paolo
Superintendent of Fairport Harbor EVSD

Fairport Harbor Educational Visioning Process

The day was broken up into various exercises geared towards educating stakeholders on the challenges and successes of existing facilities and drawing out their feedback on design priorities. Attendees experimented with spatial relationships inside the building and attempted to organize the major building sections on the site.

Early in the day, principals from Fairport Harbor, Katie Rumbarger, the Harding High School Principal, and Heidi Elmore, the McKinley Elementary School Principal, covered limitations of the over 100-year-old buildings, then the Superintendent, followed by encouraging attendees to think differently about how different sized spaces can be better used for personalized learning. This stands in contrast to having the same-sized classrooms throughout. Programs such as art, technology, and robotics can all benefit from this.

Fairport Harbor EVSD Visioning Session
Students will have state-of-the-art facilities which will help individual students go farther in their education ... I wish I had those same opportunities with technology and specialized learning. Perhaps I would have gone farther, but now, I am determined to provide that for others."
William Lukshaw
School Board Board Member

Katie commented, “In our school District, we focus on personalized learning. We focus on what every student needs, and I feel like our spaces aren’t now adaptable for that.” Educators are looking forward to having different spaces to tailor their educational approach. “What we are doing in the classroom every day doesn’t fit our environment. So, by going through this process, we can personalize our spaces to fit the needs of our students.”

Scenes from the Fairport Harbor EVSD Visioning Session

Design Activities

Activities throughout the day were designed to build off one another, each informing the next activity in the layout of the new school. This information is invaluable to the architectural design process since it demonstrates the stakeholder priorities on spatial relationships, building massing, and space usage.

Heidi Elmore, Principal of McKinley Elementary, shared, “It was a great first step to get different people’s perspectives. This is a starting point but helpful to hear a variety of ideas and understand what is important to the different groups.”

Attendees were split up into tables of 8 and given the opportunity to organize the interior layout of the school. Using paper cutouts scaled in relation to each other and the new school, the groups discussed how the pieces could be arranged to best suit how they saw the school functioning. They then reported the decision to the group and took questions from designers. This activity was designed to spark conversation about how they saw spaces interacting in their PreK-12 school.

Another activity allowed the groups to arrange that spatial diagram in 3D. Using colored blocks representing the school program’s square footage, they try to fit their building on the site while maintaining the spatial relationships from the earlier activity. This was a challenge for many.

Also attending the meeting was the Village Mayor, chief of police, and fire chief, who provided input on safety and security issues, traffic flow, building a presence in a residential neighborhood, and the importance this project represented to the community.

Building Animation of the new PreK-12 School:

Next Steps After Educational Visioning

With Educational Visioning complete, the design team is compiling a summary of the day’s activities and outcome report to be viewed by the community. The outcomes of these activities help inform the new school’s design.

Many were optimistic about how this new building would help educators expand their current programs.

Bill Lukshaw, a Board of Education member deeply involved in the process, commented, “When I joined the Board, I wanted to make sure every student had the opportunity for a quality education. This new school building will further this mission.”

For students who are used to buildings over 100 years old, the upgraded environment and new technology will be a welcomed change.

“Students will have state-of-the-art facilities which will help individual students go farther in their education.” Reflecting on his time in school, Bill commented, “I wish I had those same opportunities with technology and specialized learning. Perhaps I would have gone farther, but now, I am determined to provide that for others.”

This summer, architects will begin the schematic design phase. During this phase, initial plans are developed, which can be used for cost estimation.

Later this fall, the team plans to engage with educators to better understand their individual needs for inclusion in the new plans.

View the report from the visioning session to better understand the findings of the group that day. 

Fairport Harbor EVSD Groundbreaking Ceremony

Ryan Caswell

Ryan Caswell

Communications

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Ryan Caswell

Ryan Caswell

Ryan is a communications specialist who is passionate about using digital media to further the goals of organizations and communities in Northeast Ohio. With a background in construction and a degree in architecture, he spent over a decade in corporate video production and brings this mindset to videography, editing, photography and content marketing. He is passionate about supporting the arts, and can be found hiking in the parks system.
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