My elementary school in Indiana was single level, but when we moved to the more populous DC region in the early 60s, both my elementary school and high school had 2 levels. I'm not sure what you may be driving at. I always figured that required capacity drove the design.
The school I attended in northeastern Indiana, which was grades 1 thru 12 in the same building, was only one level. I graduated in May 1968 and, compared to todays graduation class, mine was extremely small.
Good afternoon to all- Schools are built on a single level plan for simple, but logical reasons. First, small kids aren't as likely to fall and be hurt when transitioning in a single level school. Stairs can be a nightmare for little ones, especially in the case of a fire drill or God help us, a real fire. Second, schools must be accessible for ALL students, and kids in wheel chairs have trouble negotiatiing stairs. And finally, and it is a shame to have to say this, single story buildings are easier to secure in the case of an emergency with a non- school person on campus looking to do harm. Many of the schools I attended- and that was a LLLOOOONNNGGG time ago- were multi-story buildings, but nearly all new buildings are ground level only. you all be safe and keep well- Ed
John Brunner During my years teaching I have seen "more than few accidents" caused by kids running down the stairs. Are you aware that most people do not follow the directions practiced in the fire drills? Is a lot easier to exit a building if you are at the ground level My elementary / secondary schools both had four emergency doors...one on each side of the building..
The elementary school building I attended was brick, 3 stories, built in the 1920s, and it had wooden stairs with no fire escapes. Had it caught on fire, we would have been toast. We had fire drills regularly, but there probably would have a disaster of epic proportions.
Mary Robi, Without a doubt. Each town / city should have enough -one story- schools. They are building a school 5 blocks from my home...A beautiful ""THREE STORIES"" PLACE.
This is the junior high school I attended--grades 6, 7, 8. (Now called "middle school.") A long time ago and I'm not sure if it's still in operation.
My middle school was 7th & 8th grades. Single story & overcrowded so we had a bunch of single-classroom trailers out back.
With expensive real estate, I imagine they have to "go up" to get the capacity they need. We had an earthquake centered here in 2011 that did damage from Louisiana through Canada. We lost a couple of old schools that got rebuilt to modern standards. Fortunately, no one died. I'm sure all new schools are built to modern safety standards, with fire-resistant materials and sprinkler systems.
John Brunner, The expensive real estate will become cheap if a kid gets trampled over / burned / killed by his classmates running down the floors.
The high school I attended had three levels, four with the basement, which was used for classrooms. However, since I graduated, they rebuilt that part of the school, which appears to be all on one level now. There were no elevators, but I'm unaware anyone had an accident on the stairs. Maybe we weren't as clumsy as kids are today. Elementary schools were on one level, but not high schools.
Every school I ever attended had 2 levels. The school of hard knocks had many. If they are so worried about a kid's safety, why no seat belts in school busses?