CRESTVIEW NEW SCHOOLS TAKING SHAPE - READY FOR 2009/2010 SCHOOL YEAR

Crestview School system is getting ready in a big way for the massive growth expected for Crestview.

By BRIAN HUGHES Florida Freedom Newspapers

CRESTVIEW - The future Riverside Elementerry School and Shoal River Middle School buildings taking shape on the east side of town have different architects and individual charac tors, but their collaboration assures a cohesiveness to the schools' design. By having red brick exteriors, blue metal roofs and many fixtures and furnishings in common, the Okaloosa County School District benefited from being able to share materials between the schools. Both schools are going up, but Riverside is further along than Shoal River. They will be ready for the start of 2009-10 school year. Riverside will replace Southside Elementary School. Shoal River will replace Richbourg Middle School. The contractor for both jobs is Jacobs/Titan. The company has designed, built and refurbished schools for the county for 14 years. "A child can go to school from kindergarten through eighth grade right on this site," Jacob/Titan's Thomas Mitchell said during a tour of Riverside earlier this month. Inside Riverside, work ers were laying carpet and installing trim and technology hook-ups. A “full-blown A/V system,” as Mitchell described it, was being installed in the multi-purpose room. Outside, the bus ramp is complete. Its rigid aluminum construction will keep children dry on rainy days and hold up to hurricane-strength winds. “We haven’t lost one to wind yet,” Jacobs/ Titan program manager Joel Lindner said of using the same system on other schools. Out front, masons and metalworkers were well along on the front entrance and parents’ drop-off ramp. By keeping school buses and parents’ vehicles separate, traffic will flow much better and reduce the risk of injury to a child. Riverside’s 50 classrooms open both to the central hallway running the length of each wing and to outdoor courtyards between the five wings. Cubbyholes run along the wall beneath the large windows. Each room has 10 computer and phone/Internet hookups. Floors are carpeted and windows have impactrated glazing. “You could actually house kids here during a hurricane,” said Lindner. Each classroom has its own restroom and shares a teacher planning room with the room next door. Energy-saving features include occupancy sensors that turn lights off after a room is vacated. Rather than a large, cumbersome central heating and cooling plant that requires special mechanical skills to maintain, several classrooms share a smaller, almost residential-style unit. In addition to easing maintenance, it allows teachers to regulate the environment in their classrooms. For students’ security, visitors only can go into the front office after entering the school’s lobby. Each classroom has its own telephone. Classroom doors have “intruder function locksets,” to allow teachers to secure rooms from inside. Jacobs/Titan’s designers consulted with teachers, students and administrators when designing the new schools. The company used Antioch Elementary School and Davidson Middle School as models. “Plus, our kids go to district schools,” Mitchell said. “I get a daily report from my son about what he doesn’t like or what does work in his scho