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<\/a><\/p>\nOutside, hallways are also being transformed to have collaborative works spaces with white boards and even green screens where students can produce commercials or advertisements for the product ideas that they are pitching or developing in their entrepreneurial classes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been working with what we\u2019ve got out of a couple of different spaces,\u201d said Meghan Timlin, coordinator of Kempsville\u2019s academy, which recently won first place at the World Series of Entrepreneurship competition.<\/a> \u201cThis will really give us a whole hallmark of an area that is denoted as ours and it puts a mark on Kempsville High School that the academy is here.\u201d<\/p>\n The Kempsville EBA project is one of several infrastructure projects currently underway this summer.<\/p>\n \u201cInfrastructure projects are different than routine maintenance,\u201d said Executive Director of Facilities Services Tony Arnold. \u201cWhile some of them can be multi-school or larger projects such as painting a few high schools in one summer or re-roofing a building, oftentimes they are complex projects such as constructing parking lots, re-designing classroom spaces or replacing field lighting. Typically these projects require the services of professional architects and engineers.”<\/p>\n Design efforts for those projects begin with architects and engineers who are familiar with K-12 work.<\/p>\n Oftentimes, initial project specifications provided by the architects and engineers are more than initial plans from the Facilities Office. Typically, they are the result of multiple design charrettes involving school and sometimes community stakeholders.<\/p>\n Project plans are reviewed at every stage by the school division\u2019s facilities team, which is comprised of professionals who themselves have strong architectural, engineering and project planning backgrounds. These plans are also reviewed by the division\u2019s maintenance staff.<\/p>\n On projects, such as total school replacement or modernizations, the division will often look to value engineering teams, architects and engineers from other firms to provide recommendations on cost-saving measures.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the design is completed on these larger projects, we also have these plans checked by an additional third-party firm to correct errors, omissions or conflicts and to ensure the bid document is a quality package that is ready for bidding through the school division\u2019s procurement process,\u201d Arnold added.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we have an obligation as a public agency to accept the lowest responsive and responsible bid, we also have the bid evaluated by the design team and our office to determine that it is, in fact, a bid that meets our specifications and is in accordance with School Board policy.”<\/p>\n The planning process for large scale infrastructure work typically occurs 12\u201324 months in advance of the work actually taking place.<\/p>\n A good example is the work at Kempsville\u2019s academy.<\/p>\n Some additional infrastructure projects occurring this summer include baseball field lighting at Green Run High School; running track renovations at Landstown High School; roof replacement at Salem Middle School; carpet replacement at both Landstown and Ocean Lakes high schools; parking lot construction at the Plaza Annex; boiler replacements; and a multitude of heating, ventilation and air conditioning replacement projects at several elementary and middle schools. All of this work is done in collaboration with the school division\u2019s maintenance team. That team is also currently working on numerous maintenance projects this summer.<\/a><\/p>\n