The trite saying “every vote counts” applied to Olga Reed Elementary School, Los Alamos, Calif., when in 1997, a $2 million school bond issue passed by one vote. The result was a new library/media center that provides services for the K-8 rural elementary school, which is near Santa Barbara.
Within the next five years, Olga Reed is expected to grow from 250 to 330 students. The library/media center was built to prevent overcrowding and reduce class sizes to a 20-to-1 student-teacher ratio in every classroom.
Included in the project are two kindergarten classrooms, a third primary-grade classroom and a computer room for 32 students. A high-entry arcade leads to a sun-filled library and a porch entrance to the school office building. The project totaled 8,650 square feet.
A new school office and teachers' workroom/lounge is in a remodeled classroom wing.
Phillips Metsch Sweeney Moore Architects (Santa Barbara, Calif.) is the designer for the project.
For more information on these projects and others, visit www.schooldesigns.com.
