One hundred media centers are being renovated at schools throughout Broward County as part of the SMART Bond Program, which focuses on improvements in the areas of Safety, Music and art, Athletics, Renovation and Technology.
At Driftwood Middle School, renovations to the space were completed in August 2022 and included new carpeting, furniture and technology. The staff at the school is excited about how the new space is impacting student learning. “Everyone has questions they want answered and it starts with reading books,” said Lauren Martino, Media Specialist at the school. “One question will lead to the next, that’s how kids gain knowledge and opinions and their passions. Books are life.”
Media center improvements are a significant scope of the SMART Bond Program, consisting of a $20.5 million investment across the District – including Apollo Middle, Attucks Middle, Boulevard Heights Elementary, Driftwood Middle, Hollywood Hills High, Hollywood Park Elementary, McArthur High, Oakridge Elementary, Sheridan Hills Elementary AND South Broward High. The upgraded centers are equipped with new technology, books, supplies and furniture that help enhance the learning experience for students across the school district.
The renovated center at Driftwood Middle was designed to be more spacious, giving students more room to connect and learn together. The school was allocated $8,930,700 from the SMART Program budget to improve the media center, as well as their music/art labs, roofing, electrical systems, fire sprinkler systems, HVAC systems, and safety/security.
To highlight the impact of the media center renovations at Driftwood and other Broward County Public Schools, the ‘What SMART Means to Me’ campaign launched a new initiative titled Sparking the Joy of Reading. The campaign consists of a series of videos featuring school staff and students discussing how the media centers have impacted their schools.
Driftwood Middle’s new media center is featured in the video campaign. The school’s upgraded space incorporates modern learning styles and provides resources that support the school’s curriculum to help students improve their literacy skills at their own pace. Students are provided with a variety of new books that pique their interest, encouraging a lifelong love of reading.
The SMART Bond Program has invested about $1.4 billion in improving the quality of the BCPS educational experience, making a positive impact on the lives of students and staff, and giving communities across Broward County something to be proud of through renovation.
To highlight the impact of the media center renovations at Broward County Public Schools, the “What SMART Means to Me” campaign launched a new initiative titled Sparking the Joy of Reading. Follow along with the progress of media center improvements across BCPS, by visiting the SMART Futures website (www.bcpssmartfutures.com). The SMART Futures website serves as an accessible, easy-to-use, comprehensive place for school communities and key stakeholders to find information about all SMART projects and the latest happenings in the Program.
