Orange County NC Website
8 <br />5. Student Support Areas Standards <br />The State provides space guidelines for smaller high schools with one guidance counselor. Larger <br />schools require additional counselor offices, and 3 or 5 offices are included in the 1,000 and 1,500 <br />student Orange County high school profiles, respectively. The reception area may need to be <br />expanded to handle the number of students who may use catalogs and other materials in the guidance <br />center. Areas designated for other student services may house social workers, psychologists, or other <br />health professionals. Overall student support space ranges from 1,550 to 1,850 square feet. <br />6. Staff Support Areas Standards <br />DPI recommends combined or shared office and workspace areas for teachers. This provides for more <br />efficient and flexible use of offices and workspaces. Guidelines state that efficiency can be <br />significantly enhanced by providing teacher office /planning areas in an area separate from but near to <br />the classroom. By providing a separate space for planning, telephoning, and other work, classrooms <br />are available for all periods of the day. In addition, workspace should be provided for instructional, <br />lab, and clerical teacher assistants. One office /workspace per projected itinerant teacher plus an <br />appropriate number for volunteers and student teachers is recommended. One or more centralized <br />workroom(s) is /are recommended for copy machines, specialized computers, and other equipment and <br />supplies that are not typically located in teacher offices /workspaces. Faculty size and building layout <br />will determine the size and number of lounges. It is recommended that limited kitchenette facilities be <br />included in each lounge. Orange County standard profiles provide for a range from 4,760 to 8,433 <br />square feet for staff support space, depending on the school's design capacity. <br />7. Cafeteria/Food Service Standards <br />The minimum guidelines for nutrition facilities are based on a traditional program that includes full - <br />service kitchen and seating to accommodate the entire student body in shifts. Dining room area may <br />be reduced for schools with open lunch policies, although this is not assumed in Orange County <br />standards. The dining area size is determined by dividing the number of participating children by the <br />number of Beatings multiplied by the square footage per pupil (size = ADM / number of seatings x <br />square foot per pupil). For the Orange County standards, three seatings are assumed for the 1,000 - <br />student high school while four seatings are assumed for the 1,500- student school. <br />8. Commons /Circulation/Entries/Building Support Standards <br />This area includes corridors, stairs, school commons areas, entries, mechanical areas, and storage. <br />Corridors receive a high volume of traffic during class changes. Wide, generous corridors of 12 feet <br />significantly enhance safety and security. Commons, not corridors, should be designed as the social <br />center for students. Location and design of commons areas are more important than size. Bus rider <br />entries and automobile rider entries should receive equal attention. DPI square footage guidelines for <br />building support areas vary from school to school. For Orange County standards, a larger allowance <br />for circulation and building support is provided at the high school level than at the elementary (33 %) <br />or middle school (35 %) level. The high school profile allows 45% of other building square footage <br />for these functions. <br />4 <br />