Kearny Board of Education
Early Childhood Classrooms

Overview

To implement a district-wide ‘Early Childhood Program’ to accommodate Pre-K and full-day Kindergarten, the Board of Education undertook significant changes to two schools in the district. We worked with the district to develop plans that provided 10 new classrooms between the two schools.

At Washington School, underutilized locker room space was converted to create three early childhood classrooms. The plan still provided smaller boys’ and girls’ locker rooms within these spaces. The library was also renovated to include a computer lab.

Design Issues

• Deal with dark and dreary space of the old locker rooms
• Overcome space limitations due to load bearing walls and transfer beams