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Elk River Area School District 728
The Elk River Area School District (ERASD) serves over 50,000 residents and more than 10,800 students in all or parts of Albertville, Dayton, Elk River, Otsego, Ramsey, Rogers, St. Michael, Zimmerman and the townships of Big Lake, Baldwin, Burns, Hassan, Livonia, Nowthen, Orrock and Stanford.
The district has eight elementary schools (K-5), four middle schools (6-8), three high schools (9-12) and a secondary-level alternative school. Two new elementary schools are under construction. Another elementary school is set to open in September 2006 in the eastern part of Elk River.
Over the past few years, the District has changed its approach to building schools. To ensure that these new buildings were built to meet the needs of the population, the School Board and Administration decided to embark on a performance-based approach in their design and construction.
Recognizing the need to improve the quality of facilities in order to enhance learning and maintain financial integrity, the district has developed high performance principles that emphasize an integrated approach to design, enhanced resource efficiency, improved indoor environmental quality, and lower life cycle costs. The approach is not a new building style, rather a "renaissance" of how the District thinks about designing, constructing and operating buildings. The key goal of a high performance school is to construct a "building that is functional, not fancy." The School Board and Administration expectations were provided early to the architects and engineers:
-Schools filled with natural daylight and fresh air.To ensure success, one of the key design strategies was to shift mechanical costs to the building envelope. This provides a simpler building -- simpler to operate and maintain and significantly reduces energy use. The District presently projects an annual operation and maintenance savings of over $100,000 each year at the Rogers High School and over $50,000 each year at Westwood Elementary by utilizing high performance standards.
-Building materials that are durable and beautiful.
-A building that works with the climate and site rather than against it.
-A building that has a reasonable first cost and the lowest life cycle cost.
The School District believes that its children deserve a healthy environment to learn and grow. A healthy school enhances student health and performance, increased attendance, and increased staff satisfaction and production.
The District's long-term goal is to continuously re-examine operating conditions, budgets, and maintenance procedures to reduce life cycle costs.