Case Study: Philadelphia Charter School
The Client
In five short years, The Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter School of Philadelphia evolved from Veronica Joyner’s vision to a successful reality. As a person of influence in her community, Joyner has built one of the largest, most-respected charter schools in the state of Pennsylvania.
Joyner’s life is dedicated to making a positive impact on the lives of children. In addition to her 30-year career in education, Joyner is the founder of Parents United For Better Schools, Inc., a parent advocacy program. Since 1983, the program has empowered parents to become involved in their local schools, and provided academic tutoring, clothing, school supplies and textbooks to children.
“Through our tutoring efforts, I realized there was a serious deficit in the infrastructure of our public education system,” Joyner said. “I decided to establish a school that would provide children the structure and instruction they desperately needed.”
In 1999, Joyner opened the Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter School of Philadelphia to 720 children, grades 1 – 9. The innovative concept lead the way in today’s growing trend of charter schools around the United States.
The Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter School of Philadelphia graduated its first senior class in 2002. The school has also grown to 1,000 students grades 1 – 12. A waiting list of 5,000 students has existed for several years. The rapid growth posed an immediate dilemma for Joyner. The school needed more space – fast!
The school started out in a building in downtown Philadelphia as a temporary location. As land became available, Joyner decided to purchase the building and surrounding land, and firmly established it’s permanent location.
Enter Modular Design Technology
Now, Joyner was faced with the challenge of reconfiguring the building to fit the needs of the growing school.
Ms. Joyner had known for quite sometime, that this day would come. She had been collecting information from various companies, and knew modular construction was a fast, cost effective, yet quality form of construction.
“Going forward with this project, I had three requirements—time, money and we had to match the addition’s exterior with the existing building,” said Joyner. “ We wanted to be good neighbors and respect the architecture of the beautiful buildings in downtown Philadelphia.”
“My research showed we needed modular construction. From there, MDT could match our addition with the existing structure. We got started right away.”
Modular seemed to be the answer. Ms. Joyner’s requirements were met and MDT was a perfect match for the school’s situation.
The Project
Joyner met with her business manager, an architect and MDT to begin the design process. It was imperative the build-out be fluid with the current building and maintain the integrity of the surrounding architecture, preserving the integrity of the downtown area. MDT assured Joyner that this could be accomplished.
Another choice Joyner, the architect and MDT faced were the limitations of the land available. There simply was not enough room to build out. MDT’s solution? Build up.
“This building started out as a 2-story addition,” said Jim Gabriel of MDT. “As plans developed, we were approached about building a 3-story building. And then again, we were approached about building a 4-story. All along the way, we just kept saying, ‘Yes, we can do it.’”
The final design called for:
- Four-story
- Four new classrooms and administrative offices
- 13,000 square feet
- Noncombustible steel and concrete
“There was an urgency in Ms. Joyner’s voice when we first met her,” Gabriel shared. “She needed additional classrooms without additional cost and hassle. We delivered an urgent remedy with modular construction.”
From construction to completion, the project took six months. MDT’s manufacturer built its first-ever four story building in only 16 weeks. Once funding came through, MDT delivered immediately.
Due to the location of the Charter School in downtown Philadelphia, MDT had several obstacles to overcome while transporting the building. It took two weeks to deliver 25 boxes on semis, each time with a police escort down the busy Philadelphia thoroughfare.
All the while, during the building assembly, MDT caused no disruption to the school, which was in session at the time.
The Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter School of Philadelphia celebrated its grand opening for the addition in November 2003.
The Outcome
- Modular construction is ideal for charter schools. It’s cost effective and 50 percent faster than conventional construction.
- Modular construction can save charter schools up to 30 percent in overall costs compared to conventional construction.
- Modular construction buildings must maintain states’ and cities’ requirements for electrical, construction, etc. codes, so the end result is truly no different from traditional construction projects.
- Because it is not easy for charter schools to obtain funding, Ms. Joyner pursued alternative financing options. She received a first-ever grant from the re-investment fund.
- Due to MDT’s flexibility, the charter school received a customized addition that fit its needs and limitations.
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