Designing Special-Needs Schools
By Hurley-Schubert, Victoria
A GROWING population of special needs students is increasing the demand for schools in the state to serve them.
Firms addressing this demand include Jarmel Kizel Architects and Engineers in Livingston and KSS Architects in Princeton, which have designed or are working on three schools and two schools, respectively.
In Jersey City, DMR Architects of Hasbrouck Heights is designing a new $22 million St. Joseph’s School for the Blind.
“In a lot of these schools there’s a surge in the need for space,” says Matthew Jarmel, principal at Jarmel Kizel. “When I was growing up-and I’m in my late 30s-public schools were closing and [school districts] would warehouse them or lease them to a private school.
“Now they need those school buildings back, and a lot of those private schools are getting displaced.”
According to the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE), the number of students placed in special needs classes by school districts rose from 15,300 in 1995 to 20,300 in 2005. Most were in private day schools.
The NJDOE listed 178 such schools for students with disabilities for the 2005-2006 school year. Bergen County had the highest number with 23 schools; Salem and Warren counties had the fewest with one school each. Tuition is paid by the sending districts at stateset rates that range from between $25,600 to $92,250 per student per year.
In Montclair, Kizel is designing a three-story 15,000-square- foot addition to thee 40,000-square-foot.Deron School for children with learning and developmental delays. The addition, for which an application is pending before the township planning board, will improve accessibility for handicapped students and meet NJDOE classroom size requirements.
Special needs schools often require more classrooms because of the high ratio of teachers to students. “In a public school, you may have one teacher with 24 kids,” says Jarmel. “In a school that may be catering to children who aren’t functioning high on the autistic spectrum, they may have six kids in a classroom with six teachers, so the furniture in the classroom has to be designed for more adults and fewer children.”
In addition to the Moniclair site, which currently has 152 students, Jarmel has designed special-needs facilities for the 138- student Deron School in Union that underwent an expansion in 2003, and for Montgomery Academy for students with learning disabilities in Peapack-Gladstone that expanded last year.
“What I did in Union was to renovate through adaptive reuse an old industrial building of about 40,000 square feet and converted it into a school,” says Jarmel.
“Space is always a factor in these projects,” says Merilee Meacock, a project manager at KSS. Classrooms “function with a lot of breakout areas where an aide or a teacher can assist one or two students.” Extra space is also needed for student’s personal equipment such as walkers or special chairs.
KSS is designing a $5.4 million addition to The Calais School in Whippany, a private kindergarten-through-12th grade institution for students with physical and behavioral issues. The new 14,400-square- foot facility will include an elevator to allow students access to all three floors. The addition will increase space in the century- old, 33,000-square-foot school by nearly 45 percent.
Without state funding, says Meacock, paying for improvements can be difficult for private schools. Driving up costs are special features such as kitchens, sinks and bathrooms in every classroom.
At Calais, “we started with the master plan and the pieces of the plan that they needed to build right away,” Meacock says. Construction is being financed in part by New Jersey Economic Development Authority low-interest bonds.
The 140-student facility will be able to handle 185 students when the expansion is completed in May. Tuition is $34,500 per student.
Michael Shatken, a KSS partner, says curb appeal is important to parents and students at special-needs schools. The entrance should be inviting and transparent, he says. Using glass for a large entrance creates a bright, open space. Families “can see the lobby is inviting, they can see a series of classrooms and administrative offices,” he says.
Such openness allows the staff to observe students outside the school as they arrive and leave for the day. Students often come in vans and buses from many school districts, requiring faculty members to assist in the loading and unloading process. “It’s important to give the students safe passage into the school,” Meacocksays.
KSS is also designing a new facility for the A. Harry Moore School, which is run by the New Jersey City University and educates 175 severely disabled students. The three-story, 90,000-square-foot school would be built above retail space. Special areas are to include rooms for speech and motor-skills therapy and a therapeutic pool.
Also planned for Jersey City is the new St. Josephs School for the Blind. “We have to do a lot with lighting and difference in colors, textures, materials so dial children walking around the school get used to where they are,” says Lloyd Rosenberg, president and CEO of DMR Architects, which is designing the new school building.
The institution first opened in 1891 and has been in its present building since 1921. Tuition for the 70 students, which is paid by the school districts that send children to the school, is $62,000 per child per year.
The Calais School in Whippany will add 14,400 square feet. At right, interior shots of the school.
Features range from glass-enclosed entrances to extra-wide hallways and additional classrooms.
Without state funding, paying for improvements can be difficult for private special-needs schools.
Above, a teacher helps make lunch for students at the Calais School. Below, the school’s store.
E-mail victoriah@njbiz
Copyright Journal Publications Inc. Feb 5, 2007
(c) 2007 NJBIZ. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.