John Rogers SDAT

School Design Advisory Team

Seattle Public Schools (SPS) created the School Design Advisory Team (SDAT) process to allow each school community to have input into renovation of or construction of their school building.

SPS has educational specifications (ed specs) for each level of schools. These are the standards for school buildings and furnishings. These ed specs are aligned with the district’s strategic plan, Seattle Excellence. Since every school is different, it’s important for the design team to understand the school community and culture.

Seattle Public Schools hires an architectural firm to design each construction project. The architects lead the design team for each project. Design teams sometimes include engineers and other professionals.

Early in the design process, representatives from the school community come together to form a school’s SDAT. SDATs typically include school and district staff, parents, and community members. Students are sometimes included for all or part of the process. The project construction managers also take part.

The design team leads the SDAT in workshop meetings and tours. Over the three- to four-month process, the group identifies the vision, philosophy, and goals of the school and community. SDATs advise on the school design. They also provide a voice for the school and community during the pre-design and schematic design phase.

The SDAT collaboration will result in a school-specific design for the new John Rogers Elementary School that also meets district standards.

SDAT Members

Brent Ostbye, JRES Principal

April Boyce, JRES Teacher

Daisha Ganaway, JRES Teacher

Mahlon Landis, JRES Librarian

Jennifer Mackler, JRES Teacher

Lexie Thomas, JRES Teacher

Tina-Marie Tudor, JRES Teacher

Veronica Ainsa, Parent

Kristina Bartleson, Parent

Ned Gignoux, Neighbor

Tim Jarsky, Parent

Lacy Muhich, Parent

Walt Bubelis, Neighbor

Jason Jones, Neighbor

Terousha Thomas, Neighbor

The SDAT also includes two 5th grade students

SDAT Meeting Minutes

These schemes were shared in SDAT meeting 5.

From the minutes: “As we look towards the 3 schemes that are shared, we are NOT selecting a scheme. We are talking about positive’s and negatives of aspects of each scheme. The images below showcase the variety of site access and building program location options that the SDAT group discussed.”