Middle High Schools Help Communities Make the Most of Educational and Financial Resources
When faced with replacing or modernizing aging middle and high schools, communities must grapple with significant financial and educational challenges. In many cases, particularly where existing schools are small, it makes sound financial and educational sense to combine academic programs into a single facility. Below are a few of the strategies that HMFH incorporates when working with school districts and communities to design co-located middle high schools.
Efficiency Through Shared Spaces
Designing middle high schools creates the opportunity for districts to share essential spaces, thereby eliminating the duplication of facilities such as:
- Kitchens
- Gymnasiums, alternative physical education spaces, fitness rooms, outdoor sports fields and tracks
- Theaters and auditoriums
- Music spaces including chorus and band rooms
- Media centers or libraries
If these facilities were built separately, each school would need its own, leading to higher construction and operational costs. Additionally, by combining the schools, expensive but often infrequently used spaces such as theaters or auditoriums can achieve cost effectiveness simply by increasing utilization rates. In these cases, middle school students also benefit from having access to sophisticated performance and assembly spaces not typically available in standalone middle school buildings.
Operational, Environmental, and Logistical Improvements
Beyond construction cost savings, co-locating middle and high schools results in operational efficiencies as well. A shared mechanical plant, for instance, lowers ongoing facility-wide expenses, requires fewer personnel to manage its services, and leads to a significant reduction in long-term expenditures. Equally valuable, shared HVAC and electrical systems almost certainly reduce a facility’s overall energy expenditure, creating opportunities for minimizing the school’s environmental impact.
Combining middle and high schools also allows for more efficient transportation to and from the facility. Buses can serve both student populations, reducing the number of trips required while lowering transportation costs and reducing fuel consumption.
Educational Benefits of Co-located Schools
While the financial benefits are compelling, the educational advantages of a combined middle and high school are equally significant. Shared facilities mean students experience fewer transitions between buildings throughout their educational career. Transitioning from middle to high school can be a challenging time for students, and a combined school can provide a more fluid educational journey.
A combined school also creates opportunities for increased collaboration among educators. Middle and high school teachers can work together more effectively, gaining a deeper understanding of their students’ needs and academic progress. This collaboration can lead to more personalized and consistent support for students as they move from one grade to the next.
Additionally, middle school students in a co-located school may have access to high school-level classes and specialized spaces such as maker spaces, robotics labs, career technical education (CTE) shops, and advanced science labs. These resources, which are typically unavailable in standalone middle schools, enrich the educational experience and provide early exposure to advanced course work. For high school programs that feature strong CTE opportunities, a middle school population can serve as a feeder, introducing students to career pathways earlier in their academic careers.
HMFH Advances the Middle High School Model
When designing middle high schools, we use strategies that result in optimal educational experiences, cost savings, operational efficiencies, and lowered energy consumption. Our expertise in designing for this relatively new program type continues to grow. To date, we have completed eight middle high schools, including the award-winning Saugus Middle High School and the Josiah Quincy Upper School for the City of Boston. And we are currently in design for the first Middle High School in the State of Rhode Island.
The advantages of combined middle high schools are clear in addressing the challenge of modernizing or replacing aging school facilities. HMFH meets these challenges with design expertise and a passionate commitment to creating schools that offer long-term benefits to students, teachers, administrators, and the communities where they stand.
