Mot people know hoe adaptable educators have always had to be. As the Summer of 2020 progresses, however, it is important to realize that these times will require even more adaptations than in the past. And in addition to the incredible amounts of time that educators will need to invest in creating a flexible teaching approach to the many possible situations, the school districts themselves will also need to create a series of FLEXIBLE SPACES in their school buildings:

• Finding a way to navigate these difficult times will require thinking outside of the box. In fact, it is important to make sure that schools and other public spaces are retrofitted as needed.
• Letting students get back to in person classes will require that special considerations are made, including everything from installing more hand washing stations and designating alternative hallways as one way passages.
• Estimates continue to indicate that there will likely be a second wave of Covid-19 cases. This is important to realize as schools are the places that so many parents need to have open, every possible consideration will be needed.
• X-tra attention to the physical settings that are provided in a school will be needed if it is going to be possible to return to classes in the fall.
• Instead of leaving large, open spaces like gyms and auditoriums empty, it is possible that there are many ways that the use of materials used in plant offices will create more flexible spacing.
• By creating the safest classrooms, educators can help students create a new, healthier kind of normal.
• Leading engineers offer many options tp make sure that there are ways that current spaces can be used in new, innovative ways to not only create better learning spaces, but also limit the health risks of both students and teachers.
• Evidence indicates that the latest with the latest safe air exchange programs, there is a way to make spaces significantly safer.






• Social studies, English, and science classrooms each operate in different ways, so it is important that every space in a building is carefully considered as the 2020-2021 school year begins.
• Politicians can distribute or withhold the duding that is needed to make next year’s classrooms as effect and successful as possible.
• As long as we have to wait for a vaccine that can protect us from the Coronavirus it will be important to make sure that the current educational spaces are retrofitted to be as safe as possible.
• Cinstruction of warehouse partitioning systems has long been a practice in many industries, so it should come as no surprise that these same prefabricated offices can easily br transitioned into other solutions as well.
• Estimates from past projects indicate that the best modular methods allow for speedier construction times while still maintaining quality. One Chinese modular construction company, for example, recently built a 57-story building in just 19 days. And whole school modifications will not need this large of a result, there are many times when the same warehouse partitioning systems used in offices can be of benefit.
• Statistics from 2011, indicate that prefabricated and modular construction was particularly popular for certain commercial applications. For instance, 49% of respondents used these processes for healthcare facilities, 42% used them for dormitories and other college buildings, and 42% used these methods to construct manufacturing facilities. Who’s to say that these same warehouse partitioning systems and other prefabricated materials could not be used to transform current classroom spaces?

From warehouse partitioning systems that can be used to create additional classrooms that will accommodate the need for smaller in person gatherings to the modular office buildings that will be needed to keep office staff in their own spaces, the need for flexible learning approaches, as well as flexible physical spaces will be in high demand.

As recently as the last few years, as many as 90% of engineers, 84% of contractors, and 76% of architects indicated that they use prefabricated and modular construction processes on at least some of their projects. As educational administrators continue to deal with challenges of safe spaces in these most challenging times, it is very likely that engineers will be utilized in classrooms too.