Architects unveil Elm Medina High School concept: new admin/classroom building estimated at about $26M; teacher urges lighting and safety upgrades

Architectural firm Perkins Eastman presented the Orange Unified School District board with a concept design on March 12 to replace Elm Medina High School's small, one-story administration building with a new administration center and four flexible classrooms, a secure single-point entry and a reconfigured parking area where portables currently sit.

Kimberly Coffin, Perkins Eastman principal, told the board the project scope includes demolition of the existing administration building, relocation of one nature-center portable, new perimeter fencing, and a campus promenade that brings the front of campus closer to Spring Street. A third-party cost estimator produced a preliminary construction budget of about $26 million; the estimate did not yet include the cost of moving the nature-center portable, Coffin said.

Coffin described design goals as improving curb presence and visitor flow, adding a secure front lobby, clustering flex classrooms that can open into a larger professional-development/learning space, and improving student access to counseling and health services on site. Renderings showed increased glazing and a campus marquee; Perkins Eastman said it would refine glazing/security choices and sightlines in response to trustee questions.

Teacher and parent Sharon Mleair, who identified herself as an Elm Medina teacher, spoke in support of the project and urged the board to add lighting to frequently used outdoor spaces and to consider shade or photovoltaic panels in the new parking areas to improve safety and heat mitigation.

Trustees probed the design on several practical points: whether the new parking would include shade/solar structures (Perkins Eastman proposed tree shade in the concept and said solar could be explored), how much glass was appropriate for staff offices (discussion about sightlines and possible screening), and whether relocating the nature center would yield additional parking. Perkins Eastman agreed to study view corridors, glazing treatments, and entry fencing in later design phases.

The Elm Medina concept was presented as an information item; no project vote or contract award occurred. District staff and architects said detailed cost refinement and site planning will continue before any future authorization requests are brought to the board for approval.