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Forget using the old transparency projectors and slides to teach her eighth-grade language arts students; Lindsay Brake's classroom is high-tech.

Her students at Southern Middle School fill out diagrams on computerized data projectors, sketching responses on electronic tablets. They answer multiple-choice questions with blue remote controls and complete classwork using Microsoft PowerPoint.

Soon, students will research assignments at school on wireless laptop computers.

"It's something that needs to be in all schools," Brake said. "It reduces classroom management issues and captures their interest more."

Is this the future of Guilford County's classrooms? Or will new schools still get stocked with projectors and desktop PCs?

Will classrooms be filled with neat rows of individual desks or "flexible" furniture for team learning?

And will the next generation of local schools be small and accommodating or large learning centers with more than 1,000 students?

The answers to these questions are at the heart of an intense community discussion that is building toward what will likely be a major school construction bond referendum next May.

Hundreds of millions of public money is at stake, as is the nature of teaching the next generation of students.

As Guilford County Schools Superintendent Terry Grier says, "What is the price of academic achievement in our schools?"

Building blocks

The Board of Education has been working since summer 2006 to determine where to build schools, which ones call for expansion and which need updating.

That list is largely settled, although its price — between $440 million and $460 million — is in flux.

The board wanted to ask voters for the money this November. But the Board of Commissioners, which controls the school system's local money and the ballot schedule, prefers to wait until May, when more people are expected to turn out at polls for the statewide primary.

This would be the third construction bond referendum since 2000 and the largest sum requested. Voters approved a $200 million bond in 2000 and a $300 million bond in 2003.

At times, board members' discussion of school construction has been mundane: optimal enrollment size, square footage.

But Grier and some others think the discussion has not been full enough. Instead, they say, the county needs to discuss broad criteria for school construction, such as:

l Should schools use "green" heating and cooling systems that cost more up front but save money down the road?

l Should class sizes and overall enrollment be small and manageable — in keeping with national trends toward smaller schools — or larger to minimize costs?

l Should schools go to year-round schedules to make the best use of their buildings and equipment or keep a standard calendar?

Since school systems in Greensboro, High Point and the county merged in 1993, the district has never had a set of standards for school construction. Instead, the district has built school by school, with prototype blueprints providing guidance along the way.

School board member Darlene Garrett says it's this lack of a consensus that has landed the school system in controversy at times with the community over construction costs.

"I really think that's what's causing a lot of our problems because we don't have those specifications and those guidelines," Garrett said.

Grier said he is concerned about the board's tendency to build large middle and high schools to save money, instead of focusing on reducing discipline problems and creating a more intimate learning environment with smaller schools.

"We complain about what are we going to do to get a handle on gang activity," Grier said. "The public's losing faith.

"Yet we'll go straight back out to bid and build a 1,600-student high school or we'll have a 1,200-student middle school on the table.

"I keep thinking: 'Don't we need to stop and pause and think through this? Don't we need to come to a consensus with county commissioners?'"

Building trust

Commissioners and school board members have talked about building schools. The reality coloring the discussion is that debt taken out for construction ultimately will have to get repaid with higher taxes.

That has many commissioners and a number of parent groups blanching at cost projections for some features. Yet there is reluctance by parents to use schools year-round, with students attending in alternating tracks.

That process could accommodate more students overall and buy the district more time between building projects.

"I think economics will dictate the political will," Commissioner Carolyn Coleman said about public resistance toward year-round calendars. "As people start paying higher taxes, much of that will change."

The school board has taken some steps to address design issues, including appointing an advisory committee to review current and future construction.

Garrett requested the committee last year after the public became outraged over structural flaws, delayed construction and cost overruns with some schools.

Joe Hill, the school district's facilities consultant, welcomes extensive input.

"We need to give clear direction on what we need to see when we go into a new school," Hill said.

Jeff Deal, a project manager for Laughlin-Sutton Construction Co. who serves on the advisory committee, said he hopes the group will soon move toward helping the district iron out those details and keep construction costs low.

"It's easily arguable that there are some public confidence issues," Deal said.

Moving forward

Much remains unsettled as Guilford moves toward another construction bond vote.

Criteria to be decided include:

l School size.

Although small schools have gained widespread attention in recent years, few districts in North Carolina are building that way, said Steve Taynton, chief of school planning with the state Department of Public Instruction. The department studied the trend in 2000 and found a national push for small schools in walkable residential communities.

"The problem is for the most part North Carolina doesn't have the density to support small, walkable schools," Taynton said.

Guilford has experience with some small school settings, particularly with its separate early college academies at High Point Central and Smith high schools. Smith Academy, which will move into a renovated commercial building this fall at a cost of about $5.7 million, will have about 220 high school students.

Board member Anita Sharpe is one who questions the cost-effectiveness of the school.

"I think the board will be unpleasantly surprised when the cost per square foot is compared to the cost to build a new building," Sharpe said.

l Environmental changes.

Although the small-school trend has not yet caught on, what has taken off in both the state and Guilford County are "green" schools. These schools include energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, lighting and water use. Northern middle and high schools and Reedy Fork Elementary are new schools incorporating daylighting, solar panels and graywater recycling.

Members of the school board and the public have not decided whether the energy savings justify adding 2 percent to 3 percent to a school's initial costs.

"I love the trend," said board member Garth Hébert. "But we don't have the resources for that. We're denying regular space to many kids to give green schools to a few. I can't do it."

Robert Powell, a Greensboro architect and member of the district's construction advisory committee, sees energy-efficient features as worth it.

"For better or worse, it's going to take five years for people to appreciate the value of Northern Middle School," Powell said.

l Classroom composition.

Hill would like the school system to consider standardizing other features, such as moving from homogenous classrooms to multipurpose spaces that can better accommodate group work and labs, or allow a room to be used for dance practice one moment and house theatergoers the next. Hill also thinks schools should move from desktop computers to laptops.

Brake, the Southern Middle language arts teacher, said the technology at her school reduces paper waste and encourages student participation. "(Students) feel like you're giving them control, control of their learning."

Next steps

It's still unclear if Guilford County Schools can deliver a set of guidelines by May, but new Chief Operations Officer Leo Bobadilla isn't wasting time. He has ordered Hill to provide a preliminary timeline of the process to the construction advisory committee in October.

"We really need to be able to hit the ground running once those schools are approved," Hill said.

The commissioners, who have not agreed to put a bond referendum on the May ballot, have until January to consent.

Linda Shaw, one commissioner skeptical of another bond passing, believes the two boards need to talk about the next generation of schools.

"We question the costs of some of the schools and the sizes when a lot of counties seem to be doing it for a lot less," said Shaw, a Republican. "If we're a little bit more involved with it... maybe we will understand a little bit more."

In the construction business, time is money; knowing what you want up front can save money in the end.

Contact Morgan Josey Glover at 373-7078 or mjosey@news-record.com