By Natalie Carroll
School districts are confronting a complex challenge: how to modernize aging campuses while preserving the history and memories that generations of families hold dear. This challenge isn’t just a construction assignment — it’s a responsibility. And the path to success begins with one essential step: listening.
Community Listening: The Foundation of Every Great School Campus Renovation
Many contractors can renovate a school, but when construction and design teams seek input from the community about what makes a school unique, those qualities can be reflected in the renovated school campus. McCarthy Building Companies’ Education team members regularly participate in parent forums, neighborhood workshops, teacher feedback sessions and design charrettes to uncover ideas that may not otherwise come to the surface when a school renovation is being planned. Listening efforts often reveal traditions, symbols or architectural elements that help anchor a campus’ reimagined identity.
At Galveston Elementary School in Arizona’s Chandler Unified School District — opened in 1963 — these conversations shaped the direction of the school’s $35 million transformation. Community members shared memories of outdoor gathering spaces that once served as the heart of campus life. Their insights guided the design of new shade structures, flexible courtyards and shared areas that blend nostalgia with modern learning environments.
“It doesn’t matter how sophisticated the design plans are — if the campus doesn’t reflect the heart of the community, something is missing,” said Matt Lyons, business unit leader with McCarthy’s Education team in Phoenix. “The best campus renovations happen when we infuse the school’s heritage directly into the new build.”
Shifting Campus Learning Environments to Meet Modern Education Needs
Today’s students pursue a broader range of interests than ever — spanning arts, STEM, CTE, athletics and more. As a result, modernizing and remodeling K-12 campuses increasingly includes adding or expanding multipurpose spaces, flexible classrooms and outdoor teaching areas designed for multidisciplinary learning.
The new Galveston Elementary campus transitioned its traditional learning space to include arts-focused classrooms, multipurpose collaboration zones, outdoor learning spaces and flexible environments that support both small-group instruction and larger activities. Teachers and administrators emphasized the need for spaces that make hands-on learning creative, social and academically connected.
Two major Phoenix-based renovations now underway — Madison Rose Lane Elementary School and Metro Tech High School — are incorporating similar principles.
As one of the oldest schools in Madison’s 135-year-old district, Madison Rose Lane carries significant historic value. Early listening sessions revealed a desire to honor the school’s legacy through preserved architectural elements, pathway updates reflecting original circulation patterns and spaces that highlight its longstanding arts identity.
The remodel will also deliver expanded arts classrooms, enhanced safety features, outdoor learning areas and flexible indoor environments that can adapt as student needs evolve.
“Working with McCarthy has been a collaborative and inspiring experience. Through the listening sessions, their team actively engaged with us, gathering ideas and finding solutions,” said Andre Reyes, Madison Rose Lane Principal. “They showed a real commitment to understanding what makes Madison Rose Lane special, and in doing so, they are building a school that our students, teachers and community truly deserve. We always say that Madison Rose Lane CARES, and McCarthy has exemplified that same spirit of care and partnership throughout this process.”
Metro Tech High School — originally opened as West High in 1949 and repurposed as a vocational school in 1985 — is also undergoing major modernization. Today, Metro Tech is one of Phoenix Union’s most dynamic CTE-focused campuses, yet its facilities require significant updates to match modern technological capabilities and modern career training program needs.
Metro Tech High School Principal Shawna Wright said, “This renovation shifts what’s possible for our students in real, tangible ways. We’re not just updating walls and equipment. We’re building collaborative spaces that will give students the skills they need to exceed in jobs we have not even imagined yet.”
Local businesses, neighbors, faculty and students were engaged to provide DLR Group and McCarthy input on Metro Tech’s campus remodel. As a result, the campus is adding new collaborative labs with space for future program growth; technology infrastructure updates; and improving the campus flow to enhance the student experience. Adding to the project’s complexity is the sequencing of eight construction phases on the active campus, where safety is a priority, while accommodating the successful renovation and relocation of the ballfields, gymnasium, utilities and parking lot.
Hands-On Learning: Bringing Students into the Construction Process
Another value central to McCarthy’s Education team is engaging students through construction-themed learning opportunities and activities to help make the renovation process more fun for students and teachers being displaced during the project, and to show students how construction enhances our communities and can be a rewarding career.
Construction Clubs, which McCarthy hosts in elementary and middle schools across the Southwest for over a decade, allow students to experience working in the construction trades firsthand. Students engage in activities involving carpentry, plumbing, electrical, virtual modeling and other tasks, applying skills from classes like math, science, technology, art and others, while being guided by McCarthy team members and others on the project team to work on an aspect of construction that’s happening on the project at their school. For example, during construction at Metro Tech, students in the school’s construction and electrical programs are being given these opportunities as their campus transforms around them
At Galveston Elementary, the McCarthy team engaged students a little differently by creating an “Elf on the Shelf” construction challenge that involved daily math and reading clues tied to the campus renovation. The activity generated schoolwide excitement and gave students a sense of excitement and ownership in the transformation happening around them.
Programs like these deepen students’ connection to their evolving campus and simultaneously introduces them to potential career pathways while seeing the way what they are learning in school has application in the future.
Natalie Carroll is Business Development Manager for McCarthy’s K-12 Education Team based in Phoenix.