West High school |
Romig Middle School |
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“School as a Center of Community” concept emerges in planning for West High and Romig Middle schools' renewal
West High School was originally built in 1953; Romig Middle School in 1963. Since then, each facility has had various additions and renovations. The most recent were completed in the 1990s before districtwide educational specifications for high schools and middle schools were developed to establish standards of parity. For years, West High School was “Anchorage High School”. Its 1,845-seat auditorium served as Anchorage’s major venue for performing arts. More than an educational facility, it was Anchorage’s community center. Residents of the area served by West High and Romig Middle Schools have expressed a desire for the facilities and their campus to be revived through the “School as a Center of Community” concept. It is a de facto recognition of this role that more than 60 community groups presently use the campus on a regular basis.
Residents have expressed a desire for the facilities and their campus to be revived through the “School as a Center of Community” concept.
Fanning/Howey Associates, Inc., a nationally-recognized planning firm, facilitated development of a vision for the campus as “School as a Center of Community” and its relationship to a 21st Century schools education delivery philosophy. This Pre-planning Vision Report was presented to the school board in March 2008. They then held a work session in August to discuss the vision. The work session resulted in setting parameters for master planning and encouraged exploration of some options offered by the visioning effort. Essential qualities of the vision are relevance of education and flexibility. These have been guiding the master planning goal to renew and extend the facilities’ functional life another 50 years.
This project is funded by district funds obtained through legislative grants and interest earnings.
The planning process
Residents attended a public forum or "charrette" on March 17 - 18, 2009, to respond to the West-Romig Pre-planning Vision Report and offer input.
Get involved
See the public/student involvement page to read more about public and student participation in this project.
We encourage the public to:
Mailing list
Receive project updates, additional information and notice of public forums by subscribing to the West-Romig e-mail list. Send an e-mail to westromig@risealaska.com and ask to be added to the list.
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 Status report
April 20, 2009
School board work session
The Anchorage School Board met in a special work session April 20 to discuss West/Romig reconstruction.
See a list of topics discussed. (PDF)
Listen to audio from the meeting:
Part 1 (MP3)
Part 2 (MP3)
April 2, 2009
The planning team headed by Fanning/Howey Associates, Inc. has been working with the community, students and district staff to develop a master plan that will specifically meet the long term needs of West High and Romig Middle schools’ campus and its community for up to 50 years. These needs were expressed in a May 2008 Pre-planning Vision Report that includes principles of 21st Century learning and “School as a Center of Community." In August 2008, the school board focused on the report in a work session. They concluded the work session by directing the district to explore options offered by the Vision Report.
Fanning/Howey and its team of local professionals, McCool Carlson Green and USKH, were retained to facilitate this exploration through a master planning effort. The effort involved more than 300 Romig Middle School students who participated in a February planning workshop to express their needs and visions for a renewed school campus (see drawings of student ideas) Focus groups, representing areas of expertise both in the broader community and within the district, are also identifying issues specific to their present and future needs. Among these topics are traffic and parking, career and technology paths, athletics and sports.
March 17-18, 2009
A two-day master planning intensive workshop, or “charrette," was held on March 17 and 18 to explore possible physical responses to the Vision Report possibilities and identify potential issues that will need to be addressed as the planning process continues. Results of this charrette were presented for discussion in a public forum on March 19. The planning process includes an assessment of the condition of the schools’ existing infrastructure, which was begun over the December 2008 school session break. The planning process is to be completed in December 2009.
This Web site will post planning information and public comments. Public input will continue to play an important part in the planning process. |
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