District Challenges:

Outdated, inequitable and unwelcoming buildings
Lack of community support
Enrollment decline

Outcomes:

Passage of 1% County Wide Sales Tax, generating $70 million.
Reinvention of to high school buildings
Increased school pride, increased attendance, decrease in discipline rates
Award-winning school designs

Re•INVENT

Faced with aging facilities and lack of community support, a visionary Superintendent and Board of Education for Decatur Public Schools set on a path to Re•INVENT the district high schools.

The biggest hurdle would be getting voter support to pay for upgrades. BLDD led a comprehensive process of engagement to convey the potential and inspire the community to take action. A High School Task Force was developed to allow community input and ownership of solutions. Public tours of outdated buildings were led by teachers to increase awareness of the problems. Learning style quizzes and public opinion polling helped to give everyone a voice and perspective. Architects worked directly with the public to define goals and create plans for the renovation of the high schools.

Through the community engagement process, a reluctant community became one that believed: working together, we can Re•INVENT ourselves to become something more than any of us could have imaged individually.

Process Result: The community investment in this process was essential in the successful passage of a 1% county-wide sales tax that provided over $70 million in funding for the projects.

A community's plan for Re•INVENTION

Re•INVENTION is possible when a community works to build on their collective aspirations, and takes responsibility for delivering their future.

The district held dozens of meetings within the community, which were extremely well-attended and gave community members the opportunity to better understand the challenges the district was facing and help to develop solutions.

Proposed high school solutions:

Do nothing (keep the status quo).
Build one new large high school to replace the two existing high schools
Build one large addition to Stephen Decatur Middle School, converting it into one large high school to replace the two existing high schools
Renovate and build additions to the two existing high schools.

The board approved the final recommendation from the community engagement process to renovate both existing high schools.

The high school environments were completely Re•INVENTED, communicating in compelling ways that students are important, community is important, and that these places that can change your life.