News

Kudos for Leander ISD's high school design charette

Print this story | Email this story

OPINION BY VIC VILLARREAL

Several months ago I wrote you regarding the city of Leander's TOD (Transit Oriented Development) district charette process - this was an open public input process intended to incorporate citizen ideas, vision and design participation within the TOD's overall plan. Along these lines, today I am very pleased to offer you my impressions on LISD's own charette process for high school #6 - to be built within the Leander area in the next few years.

First, I was not only pleased, but also excited to have seen LISD continue their ongoing initiative to meet the changing needs of students - that is, I was very pleased to see that school design has remained a top priority. Also, I was honored to have been invited to participate in the six-day charette and certainly took away a greater appreciation for the tedious nature of public school facilities design. The charette included six day-long five- to seven-hour sessions featuring discussions on almost every aspect of school design, from individual square foot room sizes, to opportunities for public facilities use, to even overall building shape, common spaces rationale and onsite business presence. This charette was truly a dedicated approach to students, school and community.

Further, from my perspective, LISD's high school of tomorrow will certainly enhance municipal new urbanism planning efforts already underway in Leander. Designing schools that will continue to engage and motivate students in the learning process while also meeting community needs is beneficial and imperative - we all win when schools are designed with student and community needs in mind. Cohesion in planning among public sector bodies such as the city and the school district enhances everyone's quality of life. As a result, our city, school district, business and community partnerships become meaningful -without exception, meaningful.

I must mention how impressed I was to see such a broad cross-section of our community involved in the charette. Strong community involvement from area colleges, businesses, local governments and architect firms was evident, along with LISD Board of Trustees members, Superintendent Dr. Bret Champion, various school principals, departmental leaders, and yes, even real high school students. We all gave our constructive input within the process.

Kudos for Patrick Girard and all LISD administrators who managed the charette - they performed excellent work!

Finally, please know that serious thought, deliberation and input goes into our schools' design and overall functionality - moreso than you may think, certainly and admittedly moreso than I personally and originally thought.

Let's support our school district board members and administration as they strive to continuously improve our schools. Let's also thank our school officials for their vision and stewardship of our tax dollars. Meeting changing student needs is challenging. It takes a great deal of planning, but it is also so very imperative.

As residents and business owners ourselves, let's keep continuously improving, and let's keep working together, pushing forward for our children, our families and our community.

Vic Villarreal, Ph.D.

Leander City Council Member

Villarreal, a professor at Austin Community College, has also served on the LISD's Bond Task Force and has been a central figure in helping try to bring an ACC campus to Leander.

Reader Comments