Policy 7.02

Educational Facilities Specifications

1. Purpose. The School Board recognizes there is a continuing need to plan, design and construct new educational facilities and to make changes through the renovation and remodeling of existing educational facilities, to support and enhance educational programs and to accommodate for changing educational needs. This policy is to ensure that all new construction, renovation and remodeling of District facilities are designed to meet the requirements of applicable state and federal laws and regulations and related District policies, and to accommodate and complement the educational program.

2. Policy Statement. School plant sites shall meet requirements as prescribed in the following: State Requirements for Educational Facilities, 2007(SREF), as now or hereafter amended; Palm Beach County School District Master Specification, 2007 (DMS), as now or hereafter amended; Palm Beach County School District Design Criteria, 2006 (DDC), as now or hereafter amended; and Board policies.

   1. At no time is a new facility to be constructed or an existing facility to be modernized or added to before the intended educational specifications are set forth in writing and approved by the Board. This provision does not apply when less than ten (10) relocatables are added to a facility OR in the case of an emergency.

3. Preparation of Specifications. The Superintendent or designee shall direct the preparation of educational specifications to apply to the design and construction of new facilities and the renovation or remodeling of existing facilities and shall present this material to the Board for its review and approval.

4. Specifications.

   1. The educational specifications are intended for use as a planning guide by architects and others responsible for developing physical facilities of the School District. The general concept embodied in the specifications is to provide general and adequate details for proposed spaces related to the construction, renovation or remodeling of a school plant site, while leaving ample flexibility for creativity and options in designs by the architects. Educational specifications prepared for a facility shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

      1. Introduction;

      2. Philosophy and Goals;

      3. Facility List by Area;

      4. General Considerations;

      5. General Security Considerations;

      6. Site Development;

      7. Traffic Control;

      8. Facility Space Summary;

      9. and Student Projected Population as provided in the District's Five (5) Year Plan.

   2. Specifications for the various program areas for the facility shall include a common listing of informational categories within each of the program areas. Specific information relative to each particular program area for the facility will be included under various headings as follows:

      1. Program Philosophy;

      2. Program Goals;

      3. Program Activities;

      4. Organizational Nomenclature;

      5. Innovations, Experimental Ideas, Other Planned Uses;

      6. Justification for Variance from SREF requirements;

      7. Program Facilities List;

      8. Program Furniture and Equipment;

      9. Special Consideration; and

      10. Spatial Relationships.

5. Facility Modernization or Addition. Under a modernization and/or addition of a facility(ies), the existing facilities will be analyzed by the project architect to determine the appropriate usage of the site and buildings for necessary renovations and remodeling to meet SREF size standards, ADA requirements and other building code issues.

6. Contractor's Obligations. The contractor of record for each capital project that has an educational specifications approved by the Board shall provide a detailed list of any deviation from the Board approved educational specifications. The detailed list shall be provided as an attachment to the Guarantee Maximum Price (GMP) for the contractor's project.