Long Term Facilities Plan Summary
The Oregon School for the Deaf (OSD) exists primarily to educate Deaf and hard of hearing children in the State of Oregon; they also serve Oregon’s statewide educational system as a resource for best practices, professional training, and advocacy on all matters related to deafness, Deaf culture, and all challenges inherent in preparing Deaf students for productive, independent lives.
From the outset of the planning process, thorough analysis allowed the design team to identify and prioritize a wide range of recommended improvements and replacement projects, targeted to address deferred maintenance or end-of-life conditions in buildings or systems that negatively affect human health, efficient operation, or the fidelity of visual communication.
A wider range of more strategic changes to the campus and its buildings is informed by recent developments affecting best practices in Deaf education, and more broadly, the current evolution of 21st Century curricula, standards, and pedagogical standards for teaching and learning. The relevance of these trends toward improving outcomes for OSD’s students and graduates was confirmed in programming workshops with students, faculty, and administrators throughout the planning process.
Improvements to OSD’s buildings and campus recommended in this report were developed to maximize impact on both objectives – to address legacy deficiencies that are holding OSD back, and to create campus facilities that support improved educational outcomes at all levels. In response to OSD’s current role in statewide Deaf and special needs education, along with OSD’s desire to increase its impact within the state of Oregon’s educational system on behalf of Deaf students and their families throughout the state, the LRFP focuses on creating facilities that support programs that are focused on early childhood and career readiness.
A new Family Center for pre-school-age children and family education is conceived as part of the existing Lower School Program to address the critical need to assess and remediate hearing-related developmental delays before children age out of the period of brain development where early intervention can make the greatest difference. Equipping three- to five-year-old children and their families with essential training and support has proven universally to improve educational and independent living outcomes across the lifespan.
A new Career Pathways Center for career training and readiness will be developed as part of the existing Upper School Program, consolidating and reimagining existing program offerings with the goal of training and preparing OSD’s secondary students with industry knowledge, real-world experience, and practical skills necessary for successful transition directly into the 21st Century workforce. Carefully integrated into improved high school academic facilities, and leveraging existing programs such as the Nightmare Factory, we can ease transitions and leverage connections with a growing STEM curriculum, and simultaneously increase students’ daily exposure to a broadening world of employment options.