School board to consider adding doors to some Estancia High classrooms
The Newport-Mesa Unified School District board on Tuesday will consider approving an agreement with an Irvine design firm to study the feasibility of adding doors to many of Estancia High School’s classrooms.
The Westside Costa Mesa campus, which opened in 1966, was designed with an “open school” concept. For Estancia, that design has translated to many classrooms still lacking doors and instead containing large gated openings that face the hallways and common areas, where a door might otherwise be.
The $4,995 study by Studio+ Architecture will evaluate the effect of replacing the gates with doors and walls with a window. It will also study the impact of how the classrooms, now better enclosed, would affect the school’s systems, such as the fire sprinklers, heating and cooling ventilation.
“It was very common in late ‘60s early ‘70s to have what was referred to as an ‘open school’ concept, because people thought that big open space was more conducive to learning,” said Tim Marsh, the district’s administrative director of facilities and support services. “But what teachers soon found out was that it was conducive to the sound being able to travel everywhere and it was hard for them to teach with those distractions.”
The lack of enclosed spaces prompted the school to install the gates years later. The gates stay open during the school day and are closed when the rooms are not used.
“Those gates there are to prevent items from being stolen,” said district spokeswoman Annette Franco. “But by being able to study a more enclosed storefront, it’ll be easier to lock and keep things secure and people can get in and out in emergency situations.”
Twenty-five classrooms in the Academic Wing and seven classrooms in the Math & Science Wing of the school lack doors.
The school board meets at 6 p.m. at district headquarters, 2985 Bear St., Costa Mesa.
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Twitter: @AlexandraChan10
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