Liberty High School to feature award-winning design concept

The design for Liberty High School features innovative study spaces for students and better access to counselors and faculty. Photos courtesy of BakerNowicki Design Studio

By Tommie Brown, Staff Writer

Ever since voting results came through in favor of Bond Measure W last November, the new Liberty High School in Menifee has been the center of much conversation.

Joining the existing high schools in the Perris Union High School District, Liberty High is being built on Leon Road between Wickerd Road and Garbani Road. The $160 million project will cover 52 acres and serve approximately 2,000 students. The school will open in August 2021.

While news of the school’s arrival has spread rapidly throughout the city, what most do not
know is that the new school has made waves not only within the city, but across the country, and even in numerous countries around the world. Its design is being considered one of the first of its kind for a high school.

Though approval for the remainder of the funding for the school took place in 2018, the architects working on Liberty High have been project planning since 2013. In 2015, BakerNowicki Design Studio won the Council of Educational Facility Planners (CEFPI) Award and the CASH Award of Honor for design, which is the highest award for the state of California.

Alongside the state award, in 2015 BakerNowicki took home the international Association for Learning Environments (A4LE) LEsolutions Planning and Design Award, given to them by the world’s largest jury of high-quality learning environments. These honors have put both BakerNowicki and the soon to come Liberty High School in near world-renowned esteem.

Menifee 24/7 sat down with the award-winning architects from BakerNowicki Design Studio to get details on the ground-breaking school coming to Menifee.

“We are honored to have received the awards,” says Candace Reines, deputy superintendent
of PUHSD, “but what’s more important is that before any awards were given, we got together
with over 100 people to really gather ideas on what would be best for the students.”

The meeting Reines referred to was the Design Symposium of 2015, which called together
teachers, administrators, business leaders, colleges such as MSJC, and members of the
Menifee community for a four-day congressional event.

In the symposium, the attendees collectively gathered their ideas on all matters of the future
school, from academic programs and student needs to studying the campus’ topography, traffic
pattern, adjoining neighbors, and even drainage patterns. After the group members completed their discussions and observations, they drew up zoning maps to match the school’s academic goals with the site itself.

“What’s really interesting to me,” says project architect Julie Zimmerman, “is that the admin is
going to be something very different; it’s very untraditional. You’ve got the principal, athletic
director, and other leadership in the main office. But the actual counselors and others of the like
are going to be dispersed throughout the campus to have a closer connection to the students.
That improves their learning and gets them more engaged.”

“When we show this model to educators who have been teaching for a really long time,
sometimes the reaction we get is negative because it’s not what they’re used to,” said Reines.
“But we have to get out of the mindset of looking for what works for adults, but rather looking at
what’s best for the students.”

If the administration offices seem untraditional, the entire layout of the academic space within
the campus will surely come as a refreshing departure from conventional ways.

“The campus is designed with academic wings,” says Buddy Gessel of BakerNowicki, “and each
wing is broken up into basically four small schools within the school, called Small Learning
Communities. This is where the administration has offices within the academic buildings. It’s
putting the counselors and assistant principals more accessible to the students in order to see
them on a regular basis, which forms a community within the small school within a large school.”

Liberty High School acts as one large traditional school campus. However, the campus contains two building wings, and within those wings are four SLC’s that act as four mini, focused schools within the school’s entirety. Rather than classrooms spread out across the campus, as all PUHSD campuses have previously had, Liberty High will see indoor classrooms within one large building, internally divided by the four SLC’s and an arts complex, providing students with a personalized learning environment as well as decentralized administration in each building.

“We haven’t decided yet what the four SLC’s will be divided by,” explained Reines. “We can
separate them by grade level, by subject. That will be up to the school upon opening. But what
these SLC’s do is allow us to be flexible. Whether it’s a doctor’s office or a school, trends
change over time. The types of courses students want change. These small communities allow
us to adapt with the students.”

Within those SLC’s, students will also find the innovative Centers for Applied Learning (CAL’s).

Unlike the SLC’s, the CAL’s within the school have already been decided via the 2015
symposium, including gathered info from colleges and students, as well as research of the job
market and integration into local community colleges.

The CAL’s will see support in the studies of Global Business, Applied Technology, Health
Sciences, Public Safety and Services, and the Arts, and be individually placed per SLC in order
for the centers to “cross pollinate.”

Not yet mentioned but highly focal to the school is the Science building, the Center for Advanced Science Exploration (CASE). Acting as the conjoiner of the two main academic wings, the CASE provides 12 specialized labs, six fully outfitted on each floor.

The Special Education department will also be given the same attention to detail and
opportunity. The classrooms will be furnished with kitchens and other household environments
in order to teach life skills that will promote independence and confidence.

Aside from the impressive academic setting of the campus, Liberty High is mapped out to be
outstandingly uniting, as well as aesthetically pleasing. Within each area of the SLC’s, students will find a large Student Collaboration Area equipped with soft seating, mobile white boards, interactive displays, and counseling offices.

“When you come into this space, its vision is to be inviting, a collaboration space, a kind of a
hub within each of the (SLC’s) for students to work together. It’s a teaching space out in the
open, not just a classroom with four walls,” says Gessel.

Each SLC will also be provided with a sort of backyard area, known as the Outdoor Learning
space, where students and teachers will have the freedom to bring their lessons, projects, or
experiments to an outdoor environment that is connected to each SLC via garage door-like
walls.

Within the standard classrooms and the CASE, students and staff will find an array of
collaborative designs. This includes everything from classroom walls that can be pushed open, creating one large, collaborative classroom, to unfixed furniture that can be rolled away, folded, and adjusted to fit whatever the lessons call for.

Within both wings of the main building, teachers and staff are given their own collaboration
space on the second floor - the Teacher’s Professional Center. These are also furnished with soft seating, mobile white boards, work stations, but also have the vast windows replacing enclosed walls, giving teachers supervision over the student quad.

“Teachers deserve a space that feels professional and welcoming for them to collaborate,” says
Reines. “Teachers meet every week to collect data and commune on what will work best for
students, and all teachers should be able to do that in a proper setting.”

The Liberty High theater will be suited with black box, an orchestra pit, seating for over 400, and
control room. The gymnasium will house a two-level entryway basketball court, giving the court the same layout as an arena. The gym will also see a downstairs weight room that will overlook the stadium.

The high school will have the standard baseball, softball, soccer, football, track, and tennis zones. A pool is not within the blueprint at this time; however, architects have made specific decisions of parking lot placements, so that in time a pool may be added.

Students will also be pleased to find the campus’ socialization areas, such as the Terrace.
Large step cutouts layered with grass run alongside the field, giving students a place to sit and
commune in a unique environment.

Adding to socialization, the campus will also see major communal areas in the school Quad.
The Cafe will give shaded outdoor dining, The Grove will give shaded outdoor study, and all
SLC’s will be centered around the area.

The Learning Commons, or the library, will look like anything but the traditional library found in
schools. The Learning Commons is placed on the second floor, above the kitchen / dining area,
and is designed to be a loud and lively place for the students. Rather than a silent room full of
books, the Learning Commons is an environment set to house collaborative learning groups
with interactive technology and wall-talker white boards. The Commons will have private project rooms as well, giving students quiet work areas if desired.

“Something we are excited about as a team is the student Promenade,” says Gessel.
The Promenade will be found at the entrance of the back end of campus, where the student
parking lot and bus drop-off will be placed. The area will give the look of another main entrance
way, with tools to hang banners or fliers that students should see, and will lead directly to the
center of campus.

“In school campuses, the student parking lots or bussing areas are usually at the back of the
campus, or shared with the main entrance,” explains Gessel. “We wanted to create a place that
was theirs. So that when they enter school, it feels welcoming and inviting. A place they feel
they belong.”

The first of its kind in the area, Liberty High is expected to hold itself as a collegiate, sophisticated environment. The layout gives students personal access to their advisors and supervision, while simultaneously giving them freedom and room to problem solve on their own.

However, the progressiveness of the school also falls on the intricate environment that
promotes both higher education, as well as joining the workforce. While high schools tend to be
strictly geared toward college, Liberty High is cradling both ends of the spectrum, as well as any
student who falls in between.

An important note to make is that no high school in the PUHSD will be left behind. As
construction is taking place on Leon Road for Liberty High, neighboring schools are going under
redevelopment as well.

Renovations at Perris High School already are underway, set to finish around the same time as Liberty High. Paloma Valley has also begun construction with programs like auto shop, and will soon see a renovated football stadium, as well as added classrooms that mirror the same flexibility and
community as Liberty.

“A school should feel like a place students want to be,” says Gessel. “They should want to stay
there and collaborate; they should be able to commune with both staff and friends. A school
should be a community that is inclusive to everyone.”