Top design firms release tool kit to help prepare schools for reopening

by sadia_badhon | June 8, 2020 10:50 am

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Brooklyn Laboratory Charter Schools[2] (LAB) has launched “Back to School Facilities Tool Kit[3]” to serve as a resource for schools nationwide to create fair, equitable plans to reopen their doors, while protecting the well-being of all students, teachers, staff, and their families. The tool kit was developed through a partnership with Urban[4] Projects Collaborative[5] (UPS) and five leading design firms: Gensler[6], PBDW[7], PSF Projects[8], SITU[9], and WXY.[10]

The 100-page tool kit reflects insights and addresses early concerns from public health experts, students, teachers, parents, guardians, and schools. It serves as a visual guide for schools preparing to reopen after COVID-19 closures, presenting multiple ideas for facility interventions focused on creating an environment that supports social distancing and other health-related requirements for both the journey to school and the classroom experience.

The tool kit, which will continue to evolve to the realities of the pandemic, puts equity at the core, offering solutions that will serve all community members, particularly students with disabilities.

Ideas from the tool kit include the following.

1. How to map a journey from home to school that integrates new requirements for health and safety. The first set of ideas focuses on the arrival and entry process as students and staff transition into the building, taking into consideration the egress challenges LAB and many other schools face.
2. How to upgrade classrooms to comply with social-distancing requirements.The second set of ideas focuses on practical and feasible re-mapping of classrooms, breakout rooms, and common spaces. These classroom upgrades focus on service mandates for students with disabilities and the well-being of all members of the school community.

The tool kit aligns with standardized health and safety recommendations from education leaders, as well as LAB’s own goals to build equity into the school reopening design.

The standardized recommendations include:

• maintaining physical distancing;
• putting the infrastructure and resources in place to test, trace, and isolate new cases;
• deploying public health tools that comply with federal, state, and local guidelines regarding COVID-19; and
• involving workers, teachers, unions, families, students, and communities in all planning.

Source URL: https://www.constructionspecifier.com/top-design-firms-release-tool-kit-to-help-prepare-schools-for-reopening/

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