In this episode of Tuesday Tips, we were joined by design expert Niki Blaker to discuss visual communication strategies for school leaders creating materials without formal design training.
Here are this session’s top 3 tips:
Choose colors strategically for brand and accessibility. Navy and burgundy convey trust and tradition for established institutions, while bright blues and greens signal innovation for STEM or progressive schools. Build a palette of 5-6 colors (two primary, two accent, plus dark and light neutrals) and maintain a 4.5:1 contrast ratio for readability. Use tools like coolors.co to generate palettes and check accessibility.
Apply the CRAP principle for effective layouts (it’s a terrible name, but it’s memorable!) Contrast makes important information pop, Repetition keeps materials cohesive, Alignment ensures intentional placement, and Proximity groups related information together. Use the “5-second test”—if someone can’t understand your main message in 5 seconds, simplify. Remember: when everything competes for attention, nothing gets it.
Master typography with two main fonts and clear hierarchy. Choose one font for headings, one for body text, ensuring they’re sufficiently different in weight and visual density. Create hierarchy with size and weight, not just color. Use tools like fontjoy.com or fontpair.co for pairing suggestions. Avoid fonts that undermine credibility like Comic Sans.
Watch the Whole Conversation Here
Lease agreements represent one of the ongoing expenses for schools, often consuming 10-20% of annual revenue. Yet many school leaders approach lease negotiations without commercial real estate experience, focusing primarily on rent amount while overlooking terms that could save thousands of dollars annually and provide crucial operational flexibility.
Having worked with numerous schools on lease negotiations, I’ve seen how strategic lease structuring can make the difference between agreements that support educational missions and those that constrain growth and drain resources. The key is understanding that effective lease negotiation extends far beyond securing the lowest possible rent.
1. The Foundation: Aligning Lease Terms with School Mission and Goals
The most successful school lease negotiations start with a clear understanding of how the space will serve your educational mission. This means looking beyond location preferences to consider how the physical environment will support your specific instructional approach.
Mission-Driven Space Requirements
Different educational approaches require different spatial configurations. An art-focused school needs open studio spaces with proper ventilation and natural light, while a sports-oriented program requires fields, equipment storage, and locker room facilities. A STEM school might prioritize laboratory spaces and maker areas, while a Montessori program needs flexible classroom configurations.
These mission-specific requirements should drive your lease negotiations, not be afterthoughts once you’ve secured a space. I’ve seen schools choose facilities based primarily on rent or location, only to discover later that the space fundamentally doesn’t support their educational approach.
The Full Financial Picture
Many schools make the mistake of negotiating only on base rent while overlooking the total cost of occupancy. Your lease negotiation should address:
Property expense responsibilities and how they’re calculated
Utility arrangements and cost allocation methods
Security requirements and associated costs
Repair and maintenance responsibilities
Insurance requirements and premium responsibilities
Tax implications and assessment responsibilities
Understanding these additional costs upfront prevents budget surprises and allows for more accurate financial planning.
Conservative Enrollment Planning
It’s tempting to negotiate lease terms based on optimistic enrollment projections, but this approach often leads to financial stress. Base your lease obligations on conservative enrollment forecasts that account for potential variations in student numbers.
Build your lease structure to accommodate growth when it happens, but ensure you can meet obligations even if enrollment doesn’t reach projected levels. This approach provides financial stability while positioning you to capitalize on growth opportunities.
2. Building Flexibility for Future Growth
One of the most costly mistakes schools make is negotiating inflexible lease terms that require complete renegotiation when circumstances change. Building flexibility into your initial agreement saves money and provides strategic advantages as your school evolves.
Phased Expansion Planning
The most effective approach to accommodating growth is planning expansion in phases from the beginning. This involves including specific language in your lease that accounts for your desire to grow and expand over time.
Consider negotiating rights of first refusal for additional space within the same building. Many schools can start by occupying a portion of a larger building—perhaps 25% initially—with clear pathways to expand as enrollment grows. This approach provides immediate cost savings while securing future growth options.
Expansion Mechanisms Several lease provisions can facilitate future expansion:
Right of First Refusal: Gives you the first opportunity to lease additional space in the same building when it becomes available
Predetermined Expansion Schedule: Establishes timeline and terms for taking additional space based on enrollment milestones
Modular Addition Rights: Allows for temporary or permanent modular classroom additions on available land
Space Reconfiguration Rights: Permits internal modifications to optimize space utilization
Exit and Assignment Options Flexibility also means having options when circumstances change unexpectedly. Negotiate early termination rights for specific scenarios, such as charter authorization issues or significant program changes. Include assignment and subletting rights that allow you to share space with complementary programs or transfer obligations if necessary.
These flexibility provisions are typically easier and less expensive to negotiate during initial lease discussions rather than trying to modify existing agreements later.
3. Strategic Tenant Improvement Negotiations
Tenant improvements (TIs) represent opportunities to customize space for your educational mission while managing capital expenditures strategically. Effective TI negotiation requires understanding both your educational needs and financial capacity.
Phased Improvement Planning
Rather than trying to complete all improvements at once, consider phasing improvements to match your growth trajectory and cash flow. For example, you might negotiate immediate classroom improvements with future gymnasium or laboratory additions tied to enrollment milestones.
This approach allows you to optimize your budget while ensuring improvements align with actual growth rather than projected growth.
Landlord Financing Options
Many landlords are willing to finance tenant improvements through slightly increased rent payments rather than requiring upfront capital. This arrangement can unlock improvements that might otherwise strain your cash flow, while spreading costs over the lease term at predetermined interest rates.
When negotiating these arrangements, establish clear milestones tied to certificates of occupancy or other objective completion standards. This ensures you don’t pay for improvements until they’re actually usable.
Creative Improvement Solutions
Some of the most effective tenant improvement negotiations involve creative solutions that serve both landlord and tenant interests. This might include:
Improvements that enhance overall building value
Modifications that could benefit future tenants
Energy efficiency upgrades that reduce operating costs
Technology infrastructure that serves building-wide needs
These improvements often receive more favorable landlord contributions because they provide benefits beyond your specific tenancy.
Moving Forward Strategically
Effective lease negotiation for schools requires balancing immediate needs with long-term vision, financial constraints with educational requirements, and operational flexibility with commitment certainty. The schools that achieve the best lease outcomes understand that successful negotiation extends far beyond rent reduction.
The key is approaching lease negotiations as strategic tools that support your educational mission rather than simply expense management exercises. When lease terms align with educational goals, provide operational flexibility, and maintain financial sustainability, they create foundations for long-term school success.
About the Author
Tabatha was born and raised in Brazil, where she graduated in Hospitality Management. At Grow Schools, she helps schools get where they’re going by helping them get into their forever homes.
Facility decisions represent some of the largest investments schools will ever make, yet many educational leaders approach these choices based on emotion, immediate pressure, or gut instinct rather than enrollment data. This approach leads to expensive mistakes—schools that overextend financially, outgrow their solutions too quickly, or commit to spaces that don’t align with their actual growth patterns.
The solution requires discipline: let enrollment data drive facility decisions. By understanding your enrollment patterns, projections, and key metrics, schools can make facility choices that support sustainable growth while protecting their financial stability.
Understanding Your Enrollment Reality
Before making facility decisions—whether lease renewal, expansion, or property purchase—schools need a clear picture of their enrollment reality beyond current student count.
Historical Pattern Analysis
Analyze at least 5-10 years of enrollment data if available. Look for patterns in growth, stability, and attrition. Pay attention to grade-level trends. Do you consistently see drops from 6th to 7th grade? Are kindergarten classes growing while middle school grades remain stable? These patterns reveal crucial information about facility needs.
Some schools discover natural enrollment breaks at certain grade levels, often due to program transitions or when families choose different educational paths. Understanding these patterns helps predict future space needs more accurately than assuming linear growth across all grades.
Community Context
Research demographic changes and housing developments in your area. Is your community growing or declining? Are birth rates increasing or decreasing? New housing developments, major employers relocating to your area, or significant economic changes all impact enrollment projections.
We’ve worked with schools where new processing plants brought job growth to the area, creating enrollment opportunities that weren’t immediately obvious from historical data. Conversely, some schools face challenges when major employers leave their regions, affecting family stability and enrollment retention.
Waitlist Reality Check
Many schools point to waitlists as evidence of facility demand, but waitlist depth alone doesn’t tell the complete story. The critical metric is waitlist conversion rate. We’ve seen schools with impressive waitlists discover that when spots actually open, families often don’t convert to enrollment.
Track not just waitlist size, but actual conversion rates when spots become available. A smaller, highly-converting waitlist often indicates stronger demand than a large list with poor conversion.
Key Enrollment Metrics for Facility Decisions
1. Average Daily Attendance (ADA) Targets
The most important metric for facility planning is achieving about 80% of your target ADA consistently. If you’re targeting 500 ADA, having 400 or more students in seats daily puts you in strong financial position for facility investments.
ADA differs from enrollment because it accounts for actual attendance patterns. Some schools enroll 500 students but average only 450 in daily attendance due to chronic absenteeism or other factors. For facility planning, ADA provides a more realistic picture of your operational capacity needs.
2. Multi-Year Consistency
Single-year enrollment success doesn’t provide sufficient foundation for major facility decisions. Look for 3-5 years of meeting enrollment targets consistently. Occasional blips aren’t disqualifying, but you want evidence of sustained enrollment health before committing to significant facility investments.
3. Grade-Level Distribution
Understanding enrollment distribution across grades helps predict facility needs. Elementary-heavy schools need different space configurations than middle school-focused institutions. Some schools discover their enrollment is heavily weighted toward certain grade bands, affecting everything from bathroom ratios to classroom sizes.
Strategic Timing for Facility Investments
The Two-Year Rule
Start facility planning at least two years before you need the space. This timeline accounts for the reality that everything takes longer than expected—finding suitable space, securing financing, navigating permitting processes, and completing improvements.
This extended timeline also allows for facility improvements while you’re still in your current location, enabling transitions during natural break periods like summer rather than disrupting the school year.
Enrollment Stability Requirements
Facility investments should only be considered when you’re either at capacity with strong waitlists or maintaining consistent enrollment at target levels. Making facility decisions during enrollment decline or instability often leads to overextension and financial stress.
Moving Forward with Confidence
Enrollment-informed facility planning isn’t about eliminating all risk—it’s about making decisions based on data rather than emotion or external pressure. Schools that align facility decisions with enrollment reality position themselves for sustainable growth while protecting their financial stability and educational mission.
The key is patience and discipline. Wait for enrollment stability before major facility commitments. Invest in data collection and analysis. Partner with professionals who understand both enrollment and facility planning. Most importantly, remember that facility decisions should enhance your educational mission, not compromise it. When enrollment data drives facility decisions, schools make investments that support long-term success rather than create financial strain. This approach may require more time and analysis upfront, but it results in facility solutions that truly serve your school community for years to come.
About the Author
Ashley MacQuarrie has years of experience in education and the digital marketing industry, having gained classroom experience before managing content and social media teams, developing websites, and consulting for startups and large brands. Ashley now leads the Grow Schools Marketing Team and the Enrollment Marketing team.
In our recent webinar, Building for Growth: When Your Facility Holds You Back, we brought together facilities experts and a charter school leader who successfully navigated a complex expansion project. Here are the key takeaways that can help your school plan for sustainable growth.
The Hidden Cost of Reactive Maintenance
Michael Soh, Construction and Development Project Manager at Grow Schools, highlighted a sobering statistic: emergency repairs can cost two to five times more than planned maintenance.
“The cost of immediate repairs can be two to five times higher than planned maintenance,” Michael explained. “If you have to get a rush in there, overtime, urgent services, expedited shipping for parts, and things like that.”
His recommendation? Develop a proactive maintenance plan that categorizes issues into three buckets:
Critical: Major items needing immediate fixes (HVAC failures, fire alarm malfunctions)
High Priority: Issues that should be addressed soon (roof leaks, kitchen equipment)
Routine Fixes: Worn items that aren’t critical to daily operations
Aligning Facilities with Enrollment Growth
Tony Solorzano, of Grow Schools emphasized the interconnected nature of facilities, funding, and enrollment—what he calls “the virtuous cycle.”
His key financial guideline: Keep your facility budget between 10-20% of annual school revenue, with 15% being the sweet spot for most schools.
Before embarking on expansion, Tony recommends asking critical questions:
Is your balance sheet healthy?
What’s the cost of recruiting new students?
Do you have a waiting list?
How will additional students affect staffing needs?
“You need enrollment in order to increase your funding in order to get the facility that you’re hoping to bring,” Tony noted. “They’re dependent on each other, and they all kind of rotate with each other in order to build a healthy school.”
Real-World Lessons from Dr. Tandria Callins
Dr. Tandria Callins, Executive Director and Principal at Language and Literacy Academy for Learning in Winter Haven, Florida, shared her firsthand experience navigating a facility expansion while operating her school across two temporary locations.
Her biggest piece of advice? Talk to your neighbors early.
“I wish I would have done that a little bit earlier, really had an opportunity to have a conversation with some of my neighbors,” Dr. Callans reflected. “When it was first day of school and during my ribbon cutting, we did have some challenges and we had some issues, and they weren’t very welcoming.”
Other critical lessons from Dr. Callans:
Maintain cash reserves beyond your initial budget—unexpected needs will arise
Choose architects with education experience—she had to switch architects mid-project when design issues emerged
Have a strong team—you can’t manage a facility project and run your school alone
On working with construction managers versus contractors, she noted: “Everything was more transparent. The change orders, instead of having multiple, because change orders can be expensive…there’s cost savings in going the construction manager route.”
The Bottom Line
Successful facility planning requires three essential elements:
Proactive maintenance to avoid costly emergencies
Strategic alignment between facilities, finances, and enrollment goals
Expert partnerships to guide you through complex construction processes
As Dr. Callins put it: “Having a single point of contact definitely allowed me to continue to run the charter and take lead on the facility expansion…I would not have been able to do any of it if I didn’t have a team.”
Facility decisions can make or break a school’s budget and growth trajectory. Having worked with numerous schools on complex construction and renovation projects, I’ve witnessed how the difference between a smooth and bumpy project often comes down to strategic planning, professional guidance, and understanding where schools commonly go wrong.
The reality is that most school leaders are educators first—and that’s exactly how it should be. However, when it comes to facility planning, this expertise gap can lead to decisions that cost significantly more money down the road. Understanding these potential pitfalls and implementing strategic approaches can save schools hundreds of thousands of dollars while positioning them for sustainable growth.
The Most Costly Mistake: Last-Minute Construction Changes
Imagine you’ve designed and begun constructing a new building, and during a walkthrough, you realize you actually need more classrooms or additional bathrooms. Making this change during construction involves:
1. High-cost change orders that far exceed the original pricing
2. Work stoppages that affect your entire project timeline
3. Re-engineering and redesigning portions of the project
4. Reordering materials, often at premium pricing due to rush orders
5. Additional labor costs for demolition and reconstruction
6. Potential domino effects on other building systems
Work that could have been included in the original scope for standard pricing suddenly costs two to three times more when it is through a change order during construction. There will also impact the schedule and potentially delay your school’s opening.
This is why I require 3D renderings and virtual walk-throughs for every project I oversee. These tools provide genuine visualization of your space, allowing you to “walk through” your facility digitally before construction begins. Virtual reality capabilities take this even further, letting you experience the space as if you’re physically there.
This investment in visualization technology pays for itself many times over by catching design issues during the planning phase when changes are inexpensive rather than during construction when they’re prohibitively costly.
The Professional Expertise Gap
The second major mistake I observe is schools attempting to manage complex facility projects without adequate professional support. While some school administrators may have construction or real estate backgrounds, most are educators who should be focusing on what they do best: education.
The Roles You Need
Essential professional roles for successful facility projects include:
1. Project Manager or Owner’s Representative: Someone dedicated to managing budgets, schedules, and serving as your advocate throughout the process
2. Architect with Education Experience: Designers who understand the unique requirements of educational facilities
3. Contractors with School Experience: Builders familiar with education-specific codes, requirements, and operational considerations
4. Legal Support: Professionals who can review contracts and protect your interests
Schools that try to save money by skipping professional expertise often end up paying far more through:
1. Higher overall project costs due to inefficient planning
2. Expensive change orders during design or construction from poor initial guidance
3. Legal fees from unfavorable contract terms
4. Extended timelines from inexperienced project management
5. Suboptimal facility design that doesn’t serve educational needs
The investment in professional expertise typically represents 10-15% of total project costs but can prevent cost overruns that far exceed this investment.
Future-Proofing: Infrastructure and Flexibility
Schools often focus on the visible aspects of their facilities—classrooms, hallways, common areas—while neglecting the infrastructure that enables modern learning. This shortsighted approach leads to expensive retrofitting when technology needs evolve.
Design spaces that can adapt to changing educational needs:
1. Moveable partitions instead of fixed walls where possible
2. Flexible furniture that can be rearranged for different learning styles
3. Classroom sizing that can accommodate various teaching methods
4. Multi-purpose spaces that serve different functions throughout the day
This approach costs slightly more initially but saves enormous amounts when educational approaches evolve or enrollment patterns change.
Moving Forward Strategically
Successful facility planning requires balancing immediate needs with long-term vision, adequate professional support with budget constraints, and flexibility with functionality. The schools that achieve the best outcomes treat facility decisions as strategic investments rather than necessary expenses.
The key is starting with comprehensive planning, investing in professional expertise appropriate to your project scope, building in adequate contingencies, and designing for future adaptability. While these approaches require more upfront investment in planning and professional services, they consistently result in better facilities at lower total costs with fewer unexpected problems.
Remember: facility projects represent some of the largest investments schools will ever make. The cost of getting them wrong—both financially and operationally—far exceeds the investment required to get them right from the beginning.
About the Author
Michael Soh helps schools expand and improve their facilities. Along with a degree from USC in Civil Engineering, Michael has nearly a decade of experience—having managed projects in New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. He has expertise in mixed-use, multifamily, office, and commercial projects, allowing him to support schools through ground-up construction, building and space improvements, and redevelopment initiatives.
In today’s competitive educational landscape, the visual materials you create often serve as the first impression families have of your school. Understanding basic design principles can make the difference between materials that get noticed.
The truth is, design isn’t about having an artistic eye or expensive software. It’s about understanding how visual elements communicate and applying proven principles that guide the viewer’s attention exactly where you want it to go.
Color: Your Brand Ambassador
Colors communicate before your words do. In Western cultures, we already associate certain feelings and values with specific colors, making color choice a powerful tool for brand positioning.
Color Psychology in Action
Navy and burgundy convey trust and tradition—perfect for established institutions with decades of history and strong academic reputations. These colors signal stability and gravitas, appealing to families seeking time-tested educational excellence.
Conversely, bright blues and greens signal innovation and energy—ideal for STEM programs, progressive schools, or institutions emphasizing project-based learning and maker spaces. These colors communicate forward-thinking approaches and dynamic learning environments.
Building Your Strategic Palette
Start by asking: What is your school’s personality? Are you a traditional institution focusing on rigorous academics, or an innovative charter school with cutting-edge programs? Your color choices should align with these values.
Aim for 5-6 colors total: two primary brand colors, two accent colors, plus dark and light neutrals. This gives you enough variety for visual interest while maintaining cohesion across all materials.
Accessibility Isn’t Optional
Once you’ve chosen colors that reflect your values, ensure they work for everyone. Accessibility isn’t just good practice—it’s often legally required. Maintain a 4.5:1 contrast ratio between text and backgrounds. This ensures readability for people with varying vision abilities.
I recommend coolors.co for both generating color palettes and checking contrast ratios. This tool allows you to lock specific colors and suggests complementary options while testing accessibility compliance.
Print vs. Digital Considerations
Don’t forget about format requirements. Digital materials use RGB or HEX values, while print requires CMYK color processes. If you produce significant promotional materials, you may also need Pantone color specifications. Document these equivalents as you build your palette to ensure consistency across all mediums.
Finally, test your colors in real-world conditions. Print them on paper, view them on different devices, and ask staff with varying vision abilities to review materials before finalizing anything.
Typography: Where Small Changes Create Big Impact
Typography might seem like a minor detail, but it’s often where amateur materials reveal themselves. The good news? Small changes here create disproportionately large improvements in perceived professionalism.
The Two-Font Rule
Stick to two main fonts: one for headings, one for body text. Occasionally, a third font for small accents is acceptable, but resist the urge to use more. Font variety doesn’t equal visual interest—it usually creates chaos.
Contrast Is Key
Your typefaces should be sufficiently different in weight and visual density. Apply the squint test: even when you can’t read individual words, you should easily distinguish between headlines and body copy. This ensures clear hierarchy regardless of viewing conditions.
Create Hierarchy Beyond Color
Don’t rely solely on color to establish information hierarchy. Use size and weight differences so your materials work in black and white printing or for viewers with color vision differences.
Helpful Tools for Font Pairing
Use resources like fontjoy.com, fontpair.co, or mixfont.com for pairing suggestions. These tools let you preview font combinations and even lock specific fonts while suggesting complementary options.
Size Standards for Readability
Follow minimum size requirements: 16 pixels for digital materials, 12-point for print. These aren’t arbitrary numbers—they ensure readability across different viewing conditions and age ranges in your community.
Moving Forward With Confidence
Professional design isn’t about artistic talent or expensive software—it’s about understanding how visual elements guide attention and communicate values. By applying these principles consistently, schools can create materials that build trust, communicate clearly, and compete effectively for family attention.
Remember: every visual touchpoint is an opportunity to reinforce your school’s professionalism and values. When materials look polished and intentional, families assume the same care extends to educational programming.
About the Author
Niki is a design expert and visual communications specialist who helps schools create professional, effective marketing materials that support their enrollment and community engagement goals.
Niki Blaker is a design strategist and founder of Five Sigma Studio—a design firm focused on bringing brand strategy, user experience, design, and content together. Her work is guided by an emphasis on cross-discipline collaboration and in-depth research that makes meaningful brand strategy and design experiences possible.
Crafting a clear mission statement is essential to defining how a school fulfills the responsibility of educating its students. More than just words posted in the lobby and on classroom walls, the mission statement offers direction for how leaders lead, teachers teach, and students learn. Board members and school administrators take the responsibility of writing a mission statement very seriously, often spending hours, days, and weeks refining the language. Whether your school is developing a new mission statement or revising an existing one, here are some guidelines for the process.
Keep It Clear, Achievable, and Repeatable
The mission statement is not a multi-point dissertation about a school’s philosophy of education. It is a simple articulation of the school’s educational goals. So, keep it simple, but significant.
Easy to Remember & Repeat – 25 words or fewer is the goal so that every staff member, student, parent, and Board member can recite the statement from memory.
Believable & Achievable—The statement should focus on realistic goals within the school community and include provable, measurable results. This is important when it comes to reauthorization and accreditation.
Rooted in reality – Idealistic statements lack authenticity and are often difficult to validate.
Your Mission Statement is a Living Document
Many schools treat the mission statement as untouchable. This may be a mistake. Schools are innovative places. Does a mission statement written decades ago reflect how students are learning today?
The school I attended – and loved – has a 100-word mission statement that has not changed in its 150-year history. It’s more of a historical document written in the 19th century than a reflection of the 21st-century education the school now offers.
While the mission statement does not need to be constantly reviewed, an occasional assessment is valuable. Is the school now doing what we said we were going to do when we wrote this?
Changing Your Mission Statement
Schools grow and evolve, and their mission statements should do the same. Nothing should be set in stone. If a school’s mission no longer aligns with its students’ needs, it may be time for a revision. Even a few words or phrases that reflect the new direction add value to the statement.
Who Should Be Involved in the Process?
Every member of the school community should believe in fulfilling the mission statement. Giving them the opportunity to participate in crafting it not only ensures buy-in but also makes the message authentic.
Board Members often kick off the process as the ones responsible for vision-casting and governance.
School Leaders & Teachers, the boots-on-the-ground whose daily work reflects the mission, can add value to the words.
Parents & Families add perspective as the consumers.
Students, the beneficiaries of the mission, will offer honest feedback and insights into what truly matters in their school experience.
How to Gather Input Effectively
Managing input from multiple groups can be tricky, but there are ways to streamline the process:
Surveys & Word Clouds – Ask stakeholders to submit keywords that resonate with them.
Draft and Revise – Have the Board create a draft, then circulate it for feedback, empowering readers to add suggestions.
Student Focus Groups – Students can provide real, unfiltered insight into what their school represents.
A school’s mission statement is an important guiding star. Creating one that is realistic, achievable, and measurable is critical to accomplishing the school’s educational goal.
About the Author
Susan Solomon Yem is a content strategist on the Enrollment Marketing Team at Grow Schools, where she helps schools define and communicate their mission and vision. She has worked in radio, television, film, and publishing, telling stories that resonate with educators, community leaders, and parents.
Every growing school eventually faces the same challenge: the physical space that once supported your mission now limits it. Whether it’s overcrowded classrooms, outdated infrastructure, or simply running out of room for new students, facility constraints can significantly impact your ability to deliver quality education and achieve sustainable growth.
The question isn’t if you’ll face these challenges, but when—and how strategically you’ll respond. With the right approach and adherence to best practices, a school building can become a powerful tool in advancing the mission and vision of your school. The schools that thrive understand that facility decisions require long-term thinking, careful planning, and creative problem-solving. Those that struggle often make rushed decisions that cost significantly more money and create ongoing operational headaches.
The Strategic Questions That Matter
Before diving into renovation, expansion, or relocation options, successful schools ask themselves fundamental questions that guide their decision-making process:
1. Start with the Problems
What are the core issues with your current space? Is it insufficient classroom count, lack of specialized areas like labs or maker spaces, poor accessibility, or outdated infrastructure? Understanding your fundamental problems helps determine whether renovation can address them or if more dramatic action is needed.
2. Assess Your Building’s Foundation
Evaluate the remaining useful life of your building’s core systems: HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and roofing. What would it cost to replace or significantly upgrade these systems? Sometimes the hidden infrastructure costs of maintaining an older building outweigh the benefits of staying put.
3. Consider Layout Flexibility
Can your current building adapt to future needs? Are walls movable? Can spaces be reconfigured? Some buildings offer excellent bones but poor layout, while others have fundamental structural limitations that make adaptation expensive or impossible.
4. Understand External Constraints
Physical and zoning limitations can severely impact your options. Lot size, setback requirements, historic preservation restrictions, and local zoning laws all influence whether expansion is feasible. Research these constraints early to avoid costly surprises later.
5. Project Your Future Needs
What are your enrollment projections for the next 5, 10, and 20 years? What facility requirements are non-negotiable for your school’s mission? A STEM-focused school might need extensive lab space, while an arts school requires performance venues. Understanding your long-term needs helps you avoid outgrowing your solution too quickly.
6. Face Financial Reality
What’s your realistic budget for this project? How will you raise capital—through fundraising, grants, donations, or financing? Get preliminary cost estimates from architects and contractors, even if your plans aren’t fully developed. Understanding ballpark costs early prevents pursuing unrealistic solutions.
7. Plan for Implementation
When do you need this project completed? What’s your realistic timeline? How will construction impact current students, and do you need temporary facilities? These logistical considerations often determine project feasibility as much as financial constraints.
8. Assess Risk Factors
What major risks accompany each option? Older buildings may harbor infrastructure surprises like asbestos or structural issues. New construction faces permit delays and cost overruns. Relocation involves market availability and transition challenges. Understanding these risks helps you plan and budget accordingly.
The Timeline Reality: Why Early Planning Matters
One of the biggest mistakes schools make is treating facility planning as a crisis response rather than an ongoing strategic process. When space becomes a last-minute emergency, options become limited and expensive. At the heart of every successful facility transition lies a clear set of goals, including a well-defined budget and a target timeline for delivery of the new space.
Facility planning should be a long-term, ongoing process. The timeline depends entirely on your project’s scale and complexity:
Design Phase Variations
Simple renovations or small additions might require only 3 months of design work, while large campus projects can take 18 months or more. A 20,000+ square foot building typically falls into the longer timeline category, especially when it involves complex programming or specialized spaces.
Permitting: The Wild Card
Permitting timelines vary dramatically by jurisdiction and project complexity. I’ve seen permits approved in one week in pro-development areas, while other projects face 24+ months of approvals due to environmental impact studies, zoning variances, or city council requirements.
California’s CEQA process, New York’s ULURP procedures, and similar regulatory frameworks in other states can add significant time to complex projects. Understanding your local requirements early helps set realistic expectations.
The Compound Effect
These timelines compound. A project requiring 18 months of design plus 18 months of permitting plus 12 months of construction means you need to start planning nearly four years before you need the space. Factor in fundraising time, and the planning horizon extends even further.
Creative Solutions for Immediate Relief
While long-term facility planning proceeds, schools often need immediate solutions to address current constraints. The most effective approaches maximize existing space while supporting future growth:
1. Modular Classroom Solutions
Portable or modular classrooms offer excellent short-term relief. They’re faster and cheaper than traditional construction, requiring minimal permitting and construction time. While not a permanent solution, they provide crucial breathing room during longer-term planning.
2. Reimagining Circulation Spaces
Progressive schools transform hallways from simple transit zones into learning commons. With modular furniture, whiteboards, and power outlets, corridors become informal study areas, quiet reading spaces, and collaborative work zones. This approach maximizes every square foot of your building.
3. Flexible Furniture and Equipment
Movable furniture transforms single-purpose rooms into multi-use spaces. A traditional classroom can quickly become a lab, workshop, or meeting space when furniture and equipment adapt to different needs. This flexibility is especially valuable in smaller schools where every room must serve multiple functions.
4. Retractable Walls and Partitions
Movable partitions allow large spaces to serve multiple purposes. A gymnasium can become two separate spaces for different activities, or a large classroom can divide for smaller group work. These solutions provide flexibility without permanent structural changes.
5. Activating Underutilized Spaces
Many schools have basement, attic, or storage areas that could become functional learning spaces with modest investment. Converting these areas into art studios, media centers, or specialized learning environments often costs less than adding new construction.
Outdoor Learning Extensions
Don’t limit learning to indoor spaces. Outdoor classrooms, community gardens, and covered learning areas extend your facility’s capacity while providing unique educational opportunities. These solutions often require minimal permitting and can be implemented relatively quickly.
Moving Forward Strategically
The most successful school facility projects share common characteristics: they start early, ask the right questions, consider multiple scenarios, and plan for flexibility. They treat facility decisions as strategic investments in educational mission rather than just space problems to solve.
Remember that your facility should support your educational vision, not constrain it. The schools that thrive understand that thoughtful facility planning creates opportunities for enhanced learning experiences, operational efficiency, and sustainable growth.
Whether you’re renovating, expanding, or relocating, the key is approaching facility decisions as ongoing strategic planning rather than crisis management. Start the conversation early, ask the hard questions, and remember that the best facility solution is the one that serves your students and mission both today and twenty years from now.
About the Author
Michael Soh helps schools expand and improve their facilities. Along with a degree from USC in Civil Engineering, Michael has nearly a decade of experience—having managed projects in New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. He has expertise in mixed-use, multifamily, office, and commercial projects, allowing him to support schools through ground-up construction, building and space improvements, and redevelopment initiatives.
When it comes to school websites, the stakes couldn’t be higher—your site is working 24/7 to attract prospective families. Unlike social media posts or printed brochures, your website must serve multiple audiences simultaneously while guiding families through one of their most important decisions: where to send their children to school.
School websites are often the deciding factor for over half of families making their final enrollment decisions. Here’s how schools can treat their websites as the powerful enrollment tools they should be.
Strategic Content for Every Enrollment Season
The most successful school websites adapt their messaging throughout the enrollment cycle.
October through February: Peak Application Season
Your homepage needs laser focus during this critical window. Prospective families are in decision mode, and your site should make their next steps crystal clear. Feature application deadlines prominently, highlight what makes your school unique, showcase success stories and testimonials, and ensure those “Apply Now” buttons are impossible to miss.
March through May: Decision Time
Families have typically applied and are now making final choices. This is when deeper content becomes crucial. Shift your homepage emphasis to virtual tours, detailed program information, and compelling video content. Parent and student testimonials about actual experiences at your school carry more weight than marketing copy. Most importantly, provide clear next steps for families who have been accepted.
Summer: Relationship Building
Don’t let your website go dormant during the summer months. This is prime time for building relationships with incoming families and keeping current families engaged. Feature welcome information for new families, highlight summer programs, announce community events, and provide preparation materials for the upcoming year.
Throughout every season, remember to balance statistics with storytelling. While academic achievements and test scores matter, families make emotional connections through authentic stories about real students and experiences at your school.
Measuring What Actually Drives Enrollment
Here’s where some schools might get stuck: taking stock in Google Analytics traffic numbers without understanding what actually drives enrollment. High traffic means nothing if those visitors aren’t converting into enrolled families.
Instead of vague goals like “increase enrollment,” implement SMART goals: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objectives. For example: “Increase applications submitted through our website by 10% in the next twelve months.”
Track These Conversion-Focused Metrics:
Application form completions (and abandonment rates)
Information session registrations originating from your website
Virtual tours that lead to scheduled campus visits
Contact form submissions from prospective families
Time spent on key pages like academics and admissions
Use tools like Google Tag Manager for conversion tracking and Microsoft Clarity for heat mapping—their free plan offers valuable insights into how users actually navigate your site.
But remember: these tools only provide quantitative data. The most successful schools combine analytics with qualitative feedback from families. Conduct user testing sessions and ask families directly about their website experience. Sometimes high engagement time means visitors are lost and frustrated, not deeply interested.
Creating Truly User-Friendly Experiences
As a designer, I’m constantly tempted by beautiful, complex designs. But the most successful websites focus on how they work and how they make people feel, not just how they look.
The Foundation: Information Architecture
Think of your website’s information architecture like a blueprint for a house. It’s how you organize and present content to balance your audience’s needs with your school’s goals. You might want visitors to “Enroll Now” immediately, but families need information before they’re ready to take that step.
Mobile-First Design Is Non-Negotiable
Over 50% of school website traffic comes from mobile devices. If your site doesn’t work perfectly on smartphones, you’re losing families before they even learn about your school.
Consider how parents actually use your website: they’re browsing during commutes, on lunch breaks, or while waiting in pickup lines. They’re multitasking and need information quickly and clearly.
Essential Mobile Optimization Elements:
Navigation limited to 7 or fewer main menu items
Important information (calendars, contact details) accessible within 1-2 clicks
Fast loading times (47% of visitors abandon sites that take more than 2 seconds to load)
Mobile-friendly enrollment applications with easy-to-tap buttons and simple form fields
Plain language instead of educational jargon
The Human Element
Your website should reflect your school’s voice, culture, and values while creating inclusive experiences for families of all backgrounds and abilities. This isn’t just about compliance—it’s about demonstrating the welcoming community families will join.
Remember that behind every website visitor is a family making one of the most important decisions they’ll face. They’re evaluating not just your academic programs, but whether their child will thrive in your community. Your website is often their first impression of that community.
Moving Forward with Purpose
The most effective school websites serve as 24/7 enrollment ambassadors, guiding families smoothly from curiosity to application. They adapt content strategically throughout enrollment seasons, measure meaningful conversion metrics rather than vanity statistics, and prioritize user experience over flashy design.
Your website isn’t just a digital brochure—it’s your most important enrollment tool. Make sure it’s working as hard as your admissions team to welcome the right families into your school community.
About the Author
Niki Blaker is a design strategist and founder of Five Sigma Studio, a design firm focused on integrating brand strategy, user experience, design, and content. Her work is guided by an emphasis on cross-discipline collaboration and in-depth research, which makes meaningful brand strategy and design experiences possible.
If you’re not alive and well on social media, you don’t exist, according to a lot of people. This reality might sound harsh, but it reflects the current landscape where prospective families research schools online long before they ever set foot on campus.
As we enter back-to-school season, schools have a critical window to capture the attention of families still making enrollment decisions. Late enrollments continue well into the school year, and social media provides an immediate, authentic way to showcase what makes your school special.
But here’s the challenge: posting just to post isn’t enough. Strategic, enrollment-focused social media requires intentional content that helps families visualize their child’s experience at your school.
1. Show the Faces That Make Your School Special
The most effective back-to-school social media content focuses on people, not just places. While beautiful facility photos have their place, families connect most deeply with the individuals who will shape their child’s daily experience.
Personal Video Introductions
Consider creating personal video introductions from your school leader and principal. These don’t need to be highly produced—authenticity trumps polish every time. Share your excitement about the upcoming year, your vision for students, and what families can expect from your school community.
Faculty introductions prove equally valuable, especially when highlighting new team members. If teachers return to campus early for preparation, this creates perfect opportunities to capture brief videos where they share what they’re excited about for the new school year. These glimpses behind the scenes help families begin building relationships with the educators who will impact their children daily.
Behind-the-Scenes Content That Tells Your Story
The preparation period before students arrive offers unique content opportunities. Showcase teachers setting up their classrooms, highlight any facility improvements completed over the summer, or document the installation of new playground equipment. These “before and after” moments demonstrate your school’s commitment to creating excellent learning environments.
The key is helping families visualize what their child’s daily experience will look like. Share glimpses of morning routines, classroom activities, transitions between spaces, and after-school programs. Even without students present, you can paint a picture of the vibrant community families will join.
2. Think Year-Round
One of the biggest strategic advantages schools can develop is thinking about social media content creation as a year-round process rather than a seasonal rush. The moments you capture throughout the school year become invaluable assets for future enrollment campaigns.
Capturing Content for Later Use
Those videos of engaged students during science experiments? Perfect for back-to-school excitement posts. Footage of your annual talent show? Ideal for highlighting your school’s creativity and community spirit. Documentation of your graduation ceremony? Powerful testimonial content for prospective families.
Smart schools approach content creation with this longer-term perspective, asking, “How might we use this moment in six months?” This strategic thinking transforms routine school activities into enrollment marketing opportunities.
Repurposing With Purpose
Consider creating countdown posts that build anticipation: “25 days until school starts—here are 25 things we’re looking forward to.” These posts allow you to highlight favorite traditions, showcase different academic programs, feature various faculty members, and demonstrate the breadth of experiences your school offers.
The beauty of this approach is that each countdown post can draw from authentic moments captured throughout the previous school year, creating a nostalgic connection for returning families while providing a comprehensive preview for prospective ones.
3. Use The Power of Authentic Testimonials
While behind-the-scenes content and faculty introductions build connection, authentic testimonials provide the social proof that drives enrollment decisions. The key is capturing these testimonials at moments when emotions naturally run high.
Strategic Timing for Maximum Impact
Graduation ceremonies offer ideal opportunities to capture powerful testimonials from students and families feeling genuinely grateful and excited about their school experience. These emotional moments translate into compelling content that resonates with prospective families months later.
Similarly, back-to-school events, achievement celebrations, and milestone moments throughout the year provide natural opportunities to gather authentic voices sharing their positive experiences.
Not every testimonial needs to be a polished video production. Some of the most effective approaches are beautifully simple: students holding signs explaining “why I chose this school,” brief video testimonials captured on smartphones, or compelling quotes paired with genuine photos of students and families.
These testimonials serve multiple purposes simultaneously—they support new family enrollment, strengthen current family re-engagement, and build overall community connection by celebrating the voices within your school.
