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Expect diverse perspectives to guide your district’s facility projects to support academics and athletics

Public spaces such as school buildings, athletics fields and landscaping define the character of schools and neighborhoods. In small communities like ours, school facilities and grounds are important community spaces. Not surprisingly, when schools decide to make changes to buildings and athletic fields, everyone wants to share ideas and concerns.

As superintendent and athletic administrator in our small central New Jersey school district that serves roughly 2,100 students, we frequently juggle facilities projects. During the pandemic, we installed a $10 million HVAC system in our middle school and high school to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Soon, we will begin construction of our high school auditorium.

Sandwiched between these endeavors, we focused on the daily experience of students and teachers and considered how to reinforce academics and athletics. Our most expensive investments are the $20 million auditorium and just over $2 million stadium turf field, which is lined for a multitude of sports (football, boys and girls soccer and field hockey). The most anticipated improvement (at least for some) is the transformed eSport space.