FINDLAY, OH (WTOL) - A local high school has found a way to re-purpose an old space into a new model for educational collaboration.
A room on the second floor of Findlay High School was once filled with cubicles for teachers. But now with all teachers having their own assigned class rooms, the space was no longer needed.
Therefore, the school renovated it with an open floor plan to become an educational flex space for teachers and students to use.
It is called Synergy Central, referring to one of the habits in the book "The 7 habits of Highly Effective People".
"We don't know whats going to come around the corner in education and technology and that sort of thing," Findlay High School Librarian Amanda Brasfield said. "So, we wanted a space that was going to last a long time and allow teachers to do whatever it is they needed to do to deliver their content."
The renovation has little overhead for the district and now can act as a space to be used by the community after school or on the weekends.
Teachers can sign out the room to use for a class time session, with options of technology, a giant white board or just using the larger, open area for alternative lessons.
"An opportunity for teachers to see how they can create these collaborative environments, how you can redesign using furniture within different collaborative spaces and that could help be a template for what they can create their own classroom to look like," Findlay High School Principal Ryan Imke explained.
Also, honor class students have begun using the space for one on one tutoring options during lunch hours.
"Those students give up their lunch for any student who wants to come in and have lunch and they can receive tutoring three days a week," Brasfield said.
The hope is as education continues to evolve, spaces like this synergy space will become a more common place in schools around the country.
