Facilities Focus Group Report, 2011-2012

2011-2012 Report | Student Objectives Review | Profile | Progress Report | Focus Group Reports | Plan | Process

Facilities: An attractive, safe, well-maintained facility that enhances student learning

That’s the type of facilities CAJ strives to have—an attractive, safe, well-maintained facility that enhances student learning. Why? Because that’s the kind of facility CAJ needs to equip students to impact the world for Christ.

Strengths and Growth Areas

Strengths

1. CAJ’s facilities are adequate to meet CAJ’s mission and are safe, functional, and well maintained.
2. CAJ has policies, codes, procedures, and resources (e.g., facilities) that ensure a safe, healthy, nurturing environment.
3. CAJ strives to be a good steward regarding the consumption of natural resources.
4. Although the Resource Master Plan has not been developed yet, CAJ’s intention is for the Leadership Team and staff to make extensive use of research and information to form the facilities section of the Resource Master Plan when it is developed.

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Growth Areas

1. CAJ does not currently have a master resource plan that addresses facilities, although it will begin developing one in the spring of 2012.
2. There is no policy, code, or procedure to test and deal with elevated radioactive materials, as made evident following the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
3. There are periods during the day when the ACSI classroom floor space per student recommendation is not met for certain classrooms.

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Summary of Findings

Environment

1. CAJ has policies, codes, procedures, and resources (e.g., facilities) that ensure a safe, healthy, nurturing environment.
2. CAJ strives to be a good steward regarding the consumption of natural resources, and there are a number of procedures in place that are designed to conserve energy.
3. There is no policy, code, or procedure to test and deal with elevated radioactive materials, as made evident following the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

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Resource Management

1. CAJ’s facilities are adequate to meet CAJ’s mission and are safe, functional, and well maintained.

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Resource Planning

1. While CAJ does not currently have a master resource plan that addresses facilities, a Resource Master Plan is in the process of being developed to ensure responsible planning for the future. CAJ will begin developing this plan in the spring of 2012.
2. Although the Resource Master Plan has not been developed yet, CAJ’s intention is for the Leadership Team and staff to make extensive use of research and information to form the facilities section of the Resource Master Plan when it is developed.
3. Staff have mentioned a desire for expanded facilities in the elementary school.

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Findings

Environment

1. CAJ has policies, codes, procedures, and resources (e.g., facilities) that ensure a safe, healthy, nurturing environment.

Policies: We strongly agree that CAJ has policies that ensure a safe, healthy, nurturing environment that is conducive to learning. CAJ strives to have an attractive, safe, well-maintained facility that enhances student learning (Board Policy 1.6). Board policy requires the school to have facilities that offer privacy (Board Policy 2.3.6), have facility usage guidelines (Board Policy 2.7.13), maintain the facilities (Board Policy 2.8.2), and have campus crisis and security procedures (Board Policy 2.8.9) that will reasonably safeguard the health and safety of all.

In addition to board policy, CAJ has administrative policies on a range of topics including animals on campus, campus security, CPR training, Crisis Plan, emergency instructions, facilities usage guidelines, keys, facilities rentals, and theft.

Codes: We strongly agree that CAJ is in compliance with Japanese government inspection codes (for fire, elevator, water, and electricity) that ensure a safe and healthy environment that is conducive to learning. CAJ has consistently passed inspections (done every 6-12 months by authorized vendors who submit reports to governmental agencies), either outright or by remedying problems identified during these inspections, as evidenced by inspection and repair reports on file in the maintenance and business offices. CAJ works in partnership with governmental agencies and strives to comply with requests from these agencies.

Procedures: We strongly agree that CAJ has procedures that ensure a safe, secure campus. As part of campus safety, the maintenance staff complete security checks each morning and evening. Additionally, CAJ has emergency procedures in place such as:

• Emergency Contact Information, Staff
• Emergency Drill Schedule
• Emergency Procedures, for Event Supervisors
• Emergency Response
• Emergency School Closure
• Emergency Teams
• Evacuation area
• Evacuation Routes
• Evacuation, Staff List

Anecdotal evidence: The value of the school’s emergency procedures was evident in March of 2011, when we had an earthquake drill almost exactly 24 hours prior to the March 11 earthquake. We were able to evacuate the school building in an organized, efficient, and orderly manner, despite feelings of fear and panic, and this was in no small part due to the students/staff knowing what they needed to do and where they needed to go in the event of an earthquake.

In keeping a safe and healthy campus, CAJ also maintains a large number of maintenance cycles such as for air conditioners, carpets, emergency supplies, light bulbs, and vehicle maintenance and inspection. The treatment of garbage in Japan is highly important. To that end, CAJ has procedures in place to collect, separate, recycle, and dispose of garbage. These procedures contribute to a safe and healthy school environment. Furthermore, CAJ contracts a company for janitorial services and employs two part-time cleaners in collaboration with this company. This company and cleaners follow a schedule to ensure that all facilities are cleaned.

On a day-to-day basis, CAJ enables staff to make requests of the maintenance staff when they encounter a maintenance issue such as heating and cooling, janitorial services, lights, and damage.

Lastly, CAJ has procedures in place to allow for the use of our facilities outside of school time. These include procedures for outside organizations, personal use by staff members, and student council.

Resources: We strongly agree that CAJ has adequate resources to ensure a safe, healthy, nurturing learning environment. As noted in the school profile, CAJ has:

• A 4-acre main campus in the western suburbs of Tokyo
• Two 3-level buildings with 32 classrooms
• Science and computer labs
• Home economics and industrial arts facilities
• 370-seat auditorium
• 26,000-volume library with a periodicals collection, an elementary library, and internet access
• 450-seat gymnasium
• 3 tennis courts
• Dining hall with hot lunch program

Besides the above, CAJ also has:

• A ceramics lab equipped with a kiln
• An athletic field equipped with lighting

To the end of keeping a safe campus environment, the maintenance staff maintain perimeter fences, security cameras, security lighting, and shatterproof film on windows.

CAJ’s staff feel that the facilities are adequate to meet the mission and are safe, clean, and usable, as indicated by their answers to the 2011 Staff Survey: 40, 72, 76, and 77.

In addition to being secure, the CAJ campus is also inviting, with a large central outdoor plaza containing 12 picnic tables shaded by cherry blossom and gingko trees (see Student Life photos).

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2. CAJ strives to be a good steward regarding the consumption of natural resources, and there are a number of procedures in place that are designed to conserve energy.

While these procedures do not directly create a safe, healthy or nurturing environment for the students, they do reflect a mindset of wise resource management that enables CAJ to better serve the students through the school’s facilities (Electricity Conservation, Energy Conservation).

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3. There is no policy, code, or procedure to test and deal with elevated radioactive materials, as made evident following the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

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Resource Management

1. CAJ’s facilities are adequate to meet CAJ’s mission and are safe, functional, and well maintained.

Adequacy to meet CAJ’s mission: We agree that CAJ’s facilities are adequate to meet CAJ’s mission. CAJ has general-purpose classrooms as well as special-purpose classrooms and athletic facilities to support all areas of its program, as noted in the campus section of the School Profile.

In regards to floor space per student, CAJ is in compliance with local Japanese regulations, and also strives to comply with the ACSI recommendation of providing 30 square feet of floor space per student when assigning classes to classrooms, although there are periods during the day when the ACSI recommendation is not met for certain classrooms.

CAJ’s staff feel that the facilities are adequate to meet the mission, as indicated by their answers to the 2011 Staff Survey: 40, 72, 76, and 77.

Safety: We strongly agree that CAJ’s facilities are safe. CAJ has equipment in place to ensure safety, such as fire alarms (including external monitoring by SECOM), fences and gates, security cameras, security lighting, and shatter-proofing of all windows on campus. CAJ also has AEDs installed in the gym, the high school/middle school building, and near the Health Center. CAJ’s staff feel that the facilities are safe, as indicated by their answers to 2011 Staff Survey: 40 and 76. The parents of CAJ students feel that the facilities are safe (2010 Parent Survey: 6).

Functionality: We agree that academic facilities have appropriate types of classrooms. In addition to standard classrooms, CAJ has special rooms for music (band room, individual music practice and lesson rooms equipped with pianos), science (3 labs), PE (gymnasium, mini gym, weight room), computer (2 labs), home economics, art, and industrial arts.

Maintenance: We strongly agree that CAJ’s facilities are well maintained. The Maintenance Department has an extensive system in place to efficiently and effectively maintain the physical environment of our school through maintenance schedules, cleaning schedules, and checklists, such as:

• Air Conditioners
• Auditorium Sewer Tank Cleaning
• Buildings/Grounds
• Carpets
• Cockroach Spraying
• Custodial
• Daily Campus Opening/Closing
• Drains
• Emergency Supply
• Filters
• Fire System Inspection
• Light bulbs
• Painting
• Plumbing
• Vehicle Fueling and Washing
• Vehicle Inspection
• Water tank cleaning

CAJ maintains its facilities in compliance with Japanese legal codes by using local vendors (who understand the requirements of these codes and who are able to file the necessary governmental reports on behalf of CAJ) and by using locally procured products (which satisfy the local safety standards) for its facilities.

CAJ’s staff, parents, and students feel that the facilities are well maintained (2011 Staff Survey: 40, 76, and 77, see the similar questions on the 2009 School Improvement Survey, and the 2010 Parent Survey: 6).

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Resource Planning

1. While CAJ does not currently have a master resource plan that addresses facilities, a Resource Master Plan is in the process of being developed to ensure responsible planning for the future. CAJ will begin developing this plan in the spring of 2012.

This plan will include a proposed cycle for replacing, remodeling, or adding facilities, and will be bound by clearly defined financial constraints. It will utilize outside expertise as needed, and will be executed by the administration and the board. This plan will also include a history of the existing facilities, providing information such as when the facility was built, its life expectancy, significant remodels or upgrades, and a safety evaluation. Some of this information is already documented in the Maintenance Wiki section on buildings.

Regular Examination: Since the Resource Master Plan has not been developed yet, there is currently no process for its regular examination. However, the Maintenance Wiki details procedures and cycles for regular examination and maintenance of current facilities to ensure the continual availability of current facilities to support CAJ’s mission and student objectives. The maintenance cycles include air conditioner maintenance, carpet cleaning, cockroach spraying, daily campus opening/closing, drain cleaning, electrical inspections, emergency supplies upkeep, air conditioner filter cleaning, fire systems inspection, light bulb replacement, painting schedules, plumbing inspections, vehicle fueling and washing, vehicle inspection, water tank cleaning, and custodial schedules.

Resources (ie. Furniture and Equipment): Established purchasing cycles for furniture and equipment ensure the continual availability of supplies. These include purchasing cycles for desks and chairs, musical instruments, phones, computers, chairs for events, maintenance tools, carts, cabinets, bookshelves, lockers, and sound and lighting equipment.

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2. Although the Resource Master Plan has not been developed yet, CAJ’s intention is for the Leadership Team and staff to make extensive use of research and information to form the facilities section of the Resource Master Plan when it is developed.

This plan will refer to the various maintenance and purchasing cycles currently being used to maintain school facilities in good working order, and this plan will also utilize the history of CAJ’s existing buildings to develop a proposed cycle for replacing, remodeling, or adding buildings. Feedback will be solicited from all stakeholders as the proposed cycle is being developed. Outside expertise (consultants, contractors, etc.) will also be utilized to develop this proposed cycle.

CAJ has already conducted parent and staff surveys to give its Leadership Team information to help formulate future plans. These are:

• 2011 Staff Survey: 40, 50-52, 72-77
• 2009 School Improvement Survey, questions similar to the above but also including responses from parents and students
• CAJ Staff Brainstorming Session conducted in Jan. 2010, Physical Plant Dream Exercise

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3. Staff have mentioned a desire for expanded facilities in the elementary school (Staff Input at Jan. 2010 Headmaster Meeting, Facilities Report 2011).

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