Rock Hill schools plan STEAM renovations, updates, new construction

David Consalvi’s Oakdale Elementary students were shredding carrots, beets and flowers in an outdoor classroom last week as part of their study of light and color.

Consalvi, a coach in the Rock Hill school district science, technology, engineering, arts and math program, or STEAM, said students use the shredded material to make pigments for their own paintings.

The project is part of their study of wavelengths and the light spectrum, Consalvi said. Students learn that the color of plant pigment isn’t always the same as the reflected color that is visible to the eye.

Hands-on experiments like this are part of a STEAM school choice program at Oakdale and Saluda Middle schools. The program will be expanded to South Pointe High School with the ninth-grade class entering in the fall.

Rock Hill educators say the program, with an emphasis on hands-on, project-based learning, requires a different way of teaching. But it also requires learning spaces far different from many Rock Hill school buildings, some of which date to 1949.

District leaders have earmarked around $2.3 million in STEAM building updates to Oakdale, Saluda Trail and South Pointe. That includes about $400,000 for work at South Pointe and $250,000 at Saluda Trail.

Deputy Superintendent Tony Cox said some of the building improvements will take place this summer; others will be phased in over the next several years.

“We’re kind of doing this thing in waves, that allow us to not drop a huge investment in something,” he said.

The school STEAM updates are part of hundreds of construction projects, both large and small, that are underway or planned following voter approval last year of a five-year, $110 million Rock Hill school bond.

Construction on the two largest projects, an $18.4 million language immersion academy on the campus at Sullivan Middle School, and a $5 million Montessori center at Ebenezer Avenue Elementary School, are expected to begin late this summer and continue during the following school year.

‘Maker lab’

The South Pointe project, most of which is expected to be completed this summer, involves renovating two computer labs and a hallway and office space.

Plans call for the space to be transformed into a large, open 2,500-square foot “maker space” for collaborative learning projects, with a moveable glass wall that can be drawn on by students and teachers, Cox said.

“The maker lab is going to be something that will be significantly different,” said South Pointe Principal Al Leonard. “That is essential for schools that successfully implemented the STEAM program.”

Leonard said the maker lab would be an area where students and teachers can use audio and video technology for production. He said it will include a donated 3D printer that will allow students to design and produce items.

He said leaders are evaluating what other equipment and technology would be needed for the lab area.

He said the STEAM curriculum will be implemented with ninth grade in the fall of 2016, and will be expanded to the incoming ninth-grade class for the next three years.

“We have been working and planning on becoming a STEAM school for quite a while,” said Leonard. He said those plans have included visits to other STEAM schools, teacher training and developing curriculum units.

Cox said STEAM renovation plans also call for around $1.9 million in updates to Oakdale Elementary, where the A building that dates to 1949 is among Rock Hill’s oldest school buildings.

Future STEAM improvements also are planned for Saluda Trail, though Cox said fewer renovations are needed there because the school’s design better fits the needs of the program.

Oakdale, which started STEM in 2011, and added an arts emphasis to become a STEAM school this year, needs classroom spaces better suited to its educational goals, said Principal Denise Khaalid.

They include large, open flexible spaces well suited for group learning projects and the use of technology, and flexible furniture, she said. There is a need for both indoor and outdoor spaces, she said.

“We want collaborative spaces,” Khaalid said. “We would like to expand our studio and our media center to really make that an audio-visual setting for students that would want to use that for production purposes.”

Khaalid said the school also would like to have a STEAM lab, “a place where students K-5 can experience robotics, coding, technology.”

Some painting and cosmetic improvements have already been made, Khaalid said, including a garden wall with plants in front of the school and an artifical turf play area.

Plans call for adding five solar panels on top of outdoor canopies over the summer, which could be tied into classroom lessons, she said.

However, Khaalid and Cox said the more significant STEAM classroom renovations at Oakdale will not begin this summer, and will probably take place over the next few years.

Other major Rock Hill school construction projects that are expected to begin or to be completed this summer include:

▪  Initial work at Ebinport Elementary on a $2.4 million office space conversion and A building renovation to add classroom space. Mobile units will be added and some interior work is to begin; the renovation is to be completed summer 2017.

▪  About $540,000 in athletics facility improvements at Northwestern, Rock Hill and South Pointe high schools, including baseball field lighting, bleachers, painting, training room relocation and renovation and softball support buildings.

▪  Initial work on about $6 million in cosmetic renovations inside Sullivan Middle School, including paint, ceiling tiles, windows, bathroom renovations, a food and consumer science area renovation and modernizing F wing for fourth- and fifth-grade language immersion. The project is expected to continue over the next year.

▪  About $2.4 million for exterior brick veneer and window replacements at Northwestern and Rock Hill high school D and E buildings.

This story was originally published May 14, 2016 at 7:58 PM with the headline "Rock Hill schools plan STEAM renovations, updates, new construction."