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Hernando Today

New School Building Will Have Latest Technology

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By LINNEA BROWN

Published: February 25, 2008

SPRING HILL - SPRING HILL - SPRING HILL - SPRING HILL - It will be a school of futuristic "firsts."

Last week, officials got a sneak peak at Explorer K-8, the new 2,100-student school set to open this August off Northcliffe Boulevard in Spring Hill.

A prototype of Challenger K-8 School of Science and Mathematics in Spring Hill, the school's two-story architecture will look much like Challenger.

However, the new school's "high-tech" design is expected to set the stage for future school construction in Hernando County, with $43 million in construction costs paying for state-of-the-art hurricane protection, audio-enhancement technology and a rail system to help transport students with profound disabilities.

At an estimated $9,500 each, the school's 99 classrooms will be equipped with overhead speakers and small microphones that teachers will wear on their collars, said facilities director Roland "Bo" Bavota.

"That way, teachers won't have to speak in a loud voice," he said. "(The school) will open with the latest technology."

Much of the school will be wireless, or have Internet and network connections that do not require being connected via hard wires, and each classroom will have four desktop computers and one laptop. Intermediate students will also have 30 laptops in carts.

Other technology components include video cameras and screens in each classroom that can be used for teaching purposes, as well as "Interwrite Pads," or an interactive overhead projection system that will allow students to write on pads and have their work appear on screens.

The school's storm-proof roof system will also be unique.

Modeled after roofs in South Florida that have withstood hurricanes with no damage, the roof has a venting system with a suction and whirl cage structure, Bavota said.

"The harder the wind blows, the more the vents create suction and hold down the roof," he said. "It's a roof that sucks, basically."

The school will double as a hurricane shelter for area residents.

Unlike Challenger, which has cubbyholes lining its walls, Explorer will have limited storage in classrooms. Instead, teachers will have centralized storage and a common planning area.

Instead of group bathrooms, there will be single restrooms on each floor and in classrooms for primary grades.

With the possibility of future expansion on the horizon, the roof can be easily removed for the addition of a third floor, Bavota added.

A zoned school, the school will draw students from the immediate area, most of whom are currently attending Spring Hill, Deltona and J.D. Floyd Elementary Schools.

It will have a special transport equipment for 100 Exceptional Student Education students — many with profound disabilities — who currently attend Deltona and West Hernando Middle School, and may draw as many as 400 of the county's gifted students from across the district for the district's pilot centralized gifted program.

"Its population will certainly be unique, with students from one end of the structure to the other," Bavota said.

The school will house a media center, cafeteria and science and computer laboratories, as well as sports fields, tennis courts and a gymnasium.

Its sports programs will match that of other middle schools in the district, with sports such as basketball, baseball, softball, soccer and tennis.

Explorer will likely start around 9:30 a.m. and end around 4 p.m., though hours and transportation have not yet been finalized. This is similar to hours at the district's other K-8 programs at Challenger and J.D. Floyd.

Under the state's new class-size amendment, no classroom may contain more than 18 students for kindergarten through third grade, and no more than 22 students in third through eighth grade.

And Explorer won't be the only school getting a boost in technology. With a new, districtwide technology standard adopted in November, the Hernando County School Board has mandated that all future construction projects be as up-to-date as possible.

Last Tuesday, board members applauded a potential four-year, $8.1 million deal to lease computers from Dell.

Though the decision must still be finalized by an official vote, approximately 11,000 brand-new, leased machines would replace the district's current policy of buying 700 new computers per year. It would provide computers for every classroom and a laptop for every teacher.

"(Superintendent Wayne) Alexander's goal is to expand this (level of) technology to all schools," Bavota said.

A current expansion under way at Springstead High School in Spring Hill will garner 16 new classrooms, each outfitted with the same audio enhancement and projection systems.

Explorer's construction was paid for through a board-approved certificate of debt service.

The next new schools slated to be built are another K-8 and high school, built as two separate schools on a 76-acre parcel of U.S. 19 in Spring Hill. They are slated to open in August 2010.

Reporter Linnea Brown can be reached at 352-544-5289 or lbrown@hernandotoday.com.

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