Facilities Plan

FRIT 7132 Administration of a School Library

600 Gum Springs Rd

Jefferson, GA

Lee Ann Pittman

Table of Contents Introduction Page GSES Vision and Mission Statement Message from the Principal Facts about GSES Mission of the Media Center Welcome to GSES Inside the Media Center Other Areas inside the Media Center Other Rooms inside the Media Center Original Facility Plan Facility Use Reading Incentive Programs Facility Policies Policies Continued Key Survey Findings Key Survey Comments Facility Changes and Updates Additional Facility Changes GSES Facilities Wiki GSES Updated Facility Plan Summary

GSES Vision and Mission Statement

VISION STATEMENTGum Springs Elementary is committed to the relentless pursuit of educational excellence.

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of Gum Springs Elementary is to provide and support challenging and rigorous educational opportunities to ensure academic excellence for all students in a safe and caring learning environment.

Message from the Principal

Gum Springs Elementary School Principal’s Message

Welcome to Gum Springs Elementary School’s website. I am very excited about our new school and staff. Hard work certainly brings a team together as we have all learned in opening Gum Springs Elementary School this fall. I am pleased to work with a highly qualified, dedicated, and caring staff of teachers and support staff.  As we begin the 2009-2010 school year we have committed to building a tradition of excellence for our students.  The staff at Gum Springs Elementary School is dedicated to the relentless pursuit of excellence in education for all of our students.

 It is our mission to provide and support challenging and rigorous standards based instruction to ensure academic excellence for all students in a safe and caring learning environment. We plan to build strong foundations in reading, language arts, math, science, social studies, technology and character to ensure the success of our students. We want to prepare them not just for the next grade in school but to be productive members of our community.    We know that partnerships with parents and the community are essential to the success of our students. We encourage parents to join us in our efforts to provide our students with the best education possible. There will be many opportunities for parents to get involved in their child’s education, and we encourage you to take part in as many of these as possible. Together we can make a difference!

  I look forward to working with you and your child to make the 2009-2010 school year an exciting learning filled year. If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

  Alisa Hanley Principal

Facts About

There are 779 students enrolled 60 certified teachers The school opened its doors in 2007. There are 10,517 titles in the Media Center There are 11,112 copies in the Media Center There are 1027 patrons in the Destiny computer

system. These are students, teachers, and parents who have checked out materials from the Media Center.

GSES is on the west side of Jackson County, located in Jefferson, Georgia

Mission of the GSES Media Center The Gum Springs Elementary School Media Center exists to provide

students, parents, and educators with access to information to further learning and to encourage pleasure reading. We believe that students must be able to do more than effectively retrieve information from a variety of sources, students must be able to evaluate, critique, and synthesize information as well. The media specialist collaborates with teachers to create meaningful lessons and works to educate students, parents, and educators in information technology and to create lifelong learners.

The mission of the library media program is to ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information.

This mission is accomplished by:

-providing intellectual and physical access to materials in all formats -providing instruction to foster competence and stimulate interest in

reading, viewing, and using information and ideas -working with other educators to design learning strategies to meet

individual needs of students

Welcome to GSES!

Front of Gum Springs Elementary

Entrance into the Media Center

The Media Center is located at the front of the school. Gum Springs is a two level facility and the Media Center is on the entrance floor immediately past the front office.

Inside the Media Center

The Media Help and Check Out Desk

Media Center Bookshelves

Other areas in the Media Center

Work and Reading tables for students

Story time Area

Computer Work Stations Extended view of the seating area and Story time area in the far back corner

Other rooms inside the Media Center

Teacher resource room Media Center work room

Continue…

Conference Room inside the Media Center

Original Facility Plan

Facility Use

Books are Checked-in and Checked-out Teacher Resources Student Research Computer Collaboration Lessons Lessons integrated with the Smart Board Live Broadcast/ Morning News Reading Bowl Activities Technology Equipment Use Assisting with the Accelerated Reader Program

Reading Incentive Programs at GSES

At Gum springs Elementary there are many opportunities for

students to become and exceed in their reading skills. All students participate in the Accelerated Reader program

earning points when tests are taken. Each month the school hosts a HAT Party and students receive incentive stickers on their hats letting everyone know their accomplishments.

Georgia Book Awards: This is a reading program sponsored by the University of Georgia that spotlights quality literature. During the school year, students are asked to read books from current nominee lists and then as a student body through the media center, students will vote on their favorite book. Students all across the state of Georgia will be doing the same thing.

Book Fairs are held twice during the year and one half price sale at the end of the school year.

Facility Policies

The GSES Media Center uses the method of flexible scheduling. All media centers throughout Jackson County are required to maintain the same schedule. The hours of operation for the media center is 7:30am-4:00pm daily. The Jackson County Board of Education wants to encourage all students, staff, and parents to utilize the resources in the media centers throughout the county.

Meetings are allowed in the Media Center as long as the media center is not closed to student use.

If the Media Center has a conference on meeting space located within the facility then a calendar will be set for those wanted to utilize the space.

An instructional media committee shall be appointed by the principal in each school in collaboration with the media specialist. It is highly recommended that the committee be composed of administrators, media specialist's), teachers, students, and community representatives.

The media committee makes recommendations and decisions related to planning, operation, evaluation, and improvement of the media program. The committee shall annually evaluate media services and develop a multi-year media plan for budget and service priorities.

Policies Continued The media center at GSES has an open schedule policy. The media

specialist encourages students to come back and forth on an as needed basis. Students are allowed to come into the center with a pass from the teacher. Only one student is sent at a time. Each class will participate in a group visit one time per week.

Collaboration is very effective in the classroom setting. Teachers are asked to please schedule a collaboration lesson with the media specialist at least two weeks in advance in order to allow preparation.

If teachers and/or students need to use any technology related equipment must check the equipment out through the media center. If assistance is need, please schedule at least one week in advance to allow adequate time to adjust in scheduling conflicts.

Key Survey Findings

Gum Springs Elementary is a brand new facility. There were so many positive responses.

82% felt the Media Center needed a comfortable seating area to read and relax

62% would like to see a more defined story time area and location

95% really like the visual appeal of vertical shelving 51% felt that the computer area was in an awkward

area and should be placed in a different location inside the media center.

Key Survey comments:

3rd Grade student: “I would like a comfortable place to sit and read

1st Grade student: “I love to check out books.” 5th Grade student: I would like to see some cool

furniture.” 1st grade teacher: ”The vertical shelving is wonderful

when an entire class is visiting the media center. I can see all of my students between the shelves.”

3rd grade teacher:” The story time area should be more defined.”

Facility changes and updates

When Gum Springs Elementary opened in 2007 all items were purchased new. The school already has wifi and each teacher gets to choose whether they want a Macintosh or PC in the classroom along with smart boards. After many discussions with the teachers, students, and media specialist the list of changes were very obvious.

The number one issue in the media center is the fact that the shelves themselves are bolted into the ground. This restricts the opportunity to make very simple changes and open up the space.

We will remove the bolts and start moving the shelves. Many of the surveys indicated a need for a comfortable reading

area. The new plan will provide a space in the center of the room with comfortable chairs, a reading bench, and a soft cushion tulip table that will transform into additional seating.

Additional Facility Changes

In front of the reading area we will place a large story time rug. This will pull the current area out of the back corner and into the middle of the media center.

The vertical shelving in the media center is extremely popular so I left the vertical placement. I shifted the tables and chairs into two student learning areas allowing them to be utilized by two different groups if necessary.

I placed pedestal bookshelves in the back corner to allow additional shelving and possibly open up an opportunity to have themed book sections in one area.

The computer work station remains at the front of the media center, however it has been shifted to the right in order to see a clear view of the comfortable and inviting reading space in the center of the room.

GSES Wiki with sites listing furniture options:

http://www.gsesfacilitiesplan.wikispaces.com

Updated Facility Plan48

' 2"

7' 10"

16' 0

"

7' 8"

9' 4

"

22' 0"

10' 0

"

5' 0" 17' 0"

10' 0

"

56' 0"

1 1' 1

1"

3' 8"

3' 8

"

Electrical Office

Circulation Desk

Bookshelves

BookshelvesComputer Work Station

Story-time Rug

ReadingBench

Reading Chair

Reading Chair

Reading Chair

Tulip Table that will split into chairs

Mechanical Room

Conference Room

Media Production Room

9' 4

"Data StorageWork Room

Pedestal Shelves

5' 0"

22' 4

"

7' 10"60' 0"

Bookshelf

VF

2D

Filing System

Student Learning Area

Student Learning Area

19' 2"

9' 3

"

5' 8"4' 3" 5' 0"

7' 8

"

15' 0"

22 ' 0 "

10' 0

"

Bathroom

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Summary: In summary the Media Center at GSES is

a very active and amazing place to learn, read, and be challenged. I hope the changes that were made will only assist in the development of all children.