Lakeland Elementary School
| Originally built: | 1952 | |
| Construction Status: | Opened in September, 2011 | |
| Address: | 35827 32nd Avenue South Auburn, WA 98001 | |
| Budget: | $17.5 million | |
Lakeland Elementary, built in 1952, is the second oldest of Federal Way’s schools. This school is proud of its history and its tradition of quality education delivered by a dedicated staff and supported by an active community.
Lakeland’s enthusiastic spirit is felt as soon as you enter its doors. This is a child-centered environment where student needs are given the highest priority. Students are encouraged to grow in all subject areas, and each child is given the help he or she needs to be successful.
The new Lakeland building makes better use of natural light. Students and teachers are more secure in the new school with entrances that can be monitored more effectively. A new building also means that students will no longer have to bundle up indoors to cope with an ancient and unreliable furnace. Modern wiring and building designs allow for state of the art technology.
The new Lakeland is designed to incorporate the latest research into how children learn best. The rebuilt school accommodates new instructional techniques, such as multi-age groupings, looping, teacher collaboration and small learning communities. The building is flexible so it can adapt to future instructional needs.
Students and staff enjoy a variety of the school’s new features:
- As required by the Washington Sustainable Schools Protocol, the school does not have wall-to-wall carpeting, which can contribute to asthma and upper respiratory infections among school children because of reduced air quality caused by dust accumulation and harsh chemicals used to clean the carpets. Instead, each classroom has concrete floors with radiant heat. Each room also has four six-by-six foot carpet squares to use as the teacher chooses. The carpet squares can be removed and cleaned off-site as needed.
- Classrooms measuring 900 square feet give teachers a comfortable space to provide multiple learning centers in the room.
- Long hallways are replaced with clusters of classrooms, allowing teachers and students to collaborate and work in teams.
- Bathroom facilities are easier to reach than in the old building.
- Small instructional areas are available throughout the school. Because they are nestled in private areas, they are perfect for intervention and personal, safe and healthy contact for staff and teachers.
- Wireless carts serve as mobile technology centers and allow easy transport of computers and equipment from room to room.
- Display boards in the hallways allow staff and students to rotate displayed work.
- There is additional storage in the new school.
- The new Lakeland provides higher capacity fiber optic cabling and conduits to run wires through cleanly. The conduits will allow faster and more efficient future technology upgrades.
- Students and staff are safer in the new building in the event of an earthquake because of additional earthquake resistance features.
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