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Franklin Public Schools – High School

Changing the way education is delivered through student-centered spaces

Franklin Public Schools' $33 million referendum addressed capacity issues and added a new Performing Arts Center to the High School campus. The district used this opportunity to completely transform the school, aesthetically and functionally, inside and out, to change the way they deliver education to the High School population. 

The school received a two-story Learning Space addition and a new performing arts center. The remainder of the facility underwent a substantial renovation, completely changing the way it delivered education from “teacher-centered” to “student-centered”.

To best serve student learning, the school was completely reorganized. The new organization abandoned the previous “silo” arrangement of disciplines and designed all new and renovated spaces to allow for interdisciplinary instruction models. We created three S.T.E.M. neighborhoods, including a combination of Math, Science and Project Lead the Way programs, a “creative wing” featuring an art and media based suite and a humanities neighborhood focusing on the Language Arts and Social Sciences. Each neighborhood places an emphasis on collaboration by incorporating a centrally located “think tank” space, where students and instructors can meet for office hours. 

All neighborhoods were arranged in unison with student commons areas or break out spaces to provide students with various areas to collaborate, socialize and foster independence outside of the classroom.

At the heart of the new performing arts center is an 850-seat auditorium with a full array of supporting amenities and state-of-the-art lighting and sound. The new PAC has become a beacon for the community, where outside groups from the community can now come to perform.