>> Good evening and welcome to Metro focus.

I am Jenna Flanagan.

The days of school libraries being a place for only books and getting shushed are a thing of the past.

At least in some communities.

Baldwin high school is among them, transforming its traditional library space into a collaborative hub with 21st century type.

Dubbed the learning collaboratory.

This base is geared toward preparing students for the real world of work.

If you know Baldwin, that shouldn't come as a surprise.

The district has pioneered a specialized school to clear program with seven distinct academies focusing on everything from medicine to business and tech.

We visited Ballwin several years back to see what makes their approach to learning so unique.

Here is a quick look.

>> What industry is looking for, and critical thinkers, communicators.

They are for creativity.

If we want our students to gain the skills, we have to create opportunities when they learn them and use them.

Place recruiting education is a passion of the superintendent of Baldwin public schools.

Ever since she joined the district in 20 14, she has worked to make the education experience more meaningful for students.

>> We as a team have visited Google, Mashable, we works.

Our students will be working in those environments.

If they are going to be working in those environments, we really felt compelled to make sure that our environment inside the walls of our schools mirrors what the world looks like.

>> Dr. Kami sat down with her district teachers and asked them what they needed to make their classrooms feel less institutional and more adaptable to their teaching style.

They also implemented the Academy system which allows students to test out fields of study and even careers while they are still in high school.

>> It emphasizes learning rather than schooling.

We thought our kids go from high school or college and they go from college to career.

And where they actually get the opportunity to learn about careers?

>> This is part of our chasing the dream coverage.

The Baldwin superintendent who led the push to transform the district high school library.

It is so good to see you again on Metro focus.

>> Are nice to be here.

-- it is so nice to be here.

Jenna: Tell us about the school collaboratory.

This goes against everything that so many of us knew about our high school experiences.

What is this brand-new situation you've created?

>> We recognize that schools in 2023 need to look different than they looked in 1893.

As we have been redesigning our physical spaces, one of the spaces that really stood out was this idea of a library.

Do we believe in books?

Yes.

Do we still have book collections that our students can reserve and take out?

Of course but given the need for space and looking at what we really need the space for, we decided that what Baldwin needed is what we are calling a learning collaboratory and that really is exactly as it is described.

It is where learning happens, is where collaboration happens, it is a laboratory where kids work together.

The space is beautiful.

When you are in a beautiful space, you feel ready to do amazing things and ultimately that is what we hope for our students.

>> This sounds kind of like a student led co-working space that adults might be familiar with.

>> You are absolutely getting warm.

It is kind of funny.

We consider ourselves future focused here in Baldwin.

I don't think we could have realized when we started the plans for the learning collaboratory that in 2023, the world of work would have changed.

That many people are either working from home, office space has been reduced.

If you are not coming into work every day, you certainly don't need the space you need a before and you need space where you can collaborate, space where you can have quiet time and do some work and ultimately our learning collaboratory is exactly that.

I feel that we helped to invent the future of work before industry invented the future of work.

>> Going against so many remember of our library.

>> There is no shushing going on here.

This is about young people getting together to solve problems, to work together.

You can't work together in quiet.

There are spaces where if you need quiet, you can have quiet but the idea is all about discussing and collaborating and working together with your colleagues.

>> How does this enhance Alban's already existing academies programs?

>> One of the things we pride ourselves on in Baldwin is the curriculum we have developed and continue to develop his all-around essential questions.

Big questions that don't have a yes or no answer.

They generally don't have a right answer.

This is become the physical space where you can do the work that the curriculum is -- has been designed around.

You talk about the way we think or thought about a library.

You can probably for the word classroom in there.

The way to think about classes, there would be thought about classrooms.

If your curriculum is very frontal based and lecture based, you can do it in a traditional classroom.

If it is really all about kids working together, the physical space needs to change as well.

This is a place where learning comes alive, where thinking comes alive, where if you walk into that space, you can't escape the energy.

You can't escape the collaboration amongst our students and the excitement.

We have a group of students called YC LC.

It is a youth collaborative and they have identified really important topics in our world that need some problem-solving.

For example, the environment.

The students have mentors in the field of business that are working with them to solve some of those problems.

They meet in the YC LC every afternoon.

They know exactly where to go.

They are thinking and going on what we would think as video conferencing their mentors.

They are doing their research, speaking to experts in the field and ultimately they are presenting forward what they considered to be a plan for a fix to a current problem.

>> The word energy is not a word I think most people would associate with traditional library.

Why was it important to not only redesign but more importantly rebrand it so it is not the library, it is the collaboratory?

>> Words matter.

We know that.

Words inspire thoughts and when you use old words, they inspire old thoughts.

We spent a lot of time talking about what the space would be called.

When we think about the learning collaboratory, the two essential components to that learning and collaboration are in there.

That is essentially what we are hoping for, not only in that space but in our schools in general.

If we are thinking about what we want to call it, we have to represent what we expect to be happening in it.

We think about a library as you point out, you think about shushing, books, quiet.

You probably think about wood furniture and maybe even a darkness.

That has been my experience.

When I think about libraries, I think quiet and dark.

This is the exact opposite.

It is bright and airy.

Lots of technology.

It has less stuff in it.

That is kind of interesting.

It has access to information.

It doesn't really have the information right there.

>> I am also wondering if this was something you guys of Baldwin came up with on your own or were there other libraries you look to for inspiration?

Did you just draw your inspiration from the adult co-working spaces that seem to be popping up everywhere?

>> We have a lot of our thinking inside.

I think we are inspired by things we see outside but it really does come from a place of problem-solving.

If we want to do this type of work in a learning environment and the physical space is not allowing us to really maximize that, we look for a solution to that problem and in this particular case, doing what was the library into the learning collaboratory was the solution that we came up with.

I can give you another example.

Next year in 2324 school year, we are introducing a new course called the senior experience.

We are merging English, the study of English, social studies and business together where our seniors will be working on curriculum projects that merge those three areas.

Much like the YC LC.

Those students will be working in the learning collaboratory.

They will have a problem in front of them.

Essential questions in front of them.

It will be very much student directed.

A lot of work outside school.

Branded with internships.

If I am studying the field of medicine and maybe something's -- on the specific, I will spend some of my time in courses in the learning collaboratory and I will spend the rest of my time in the field of medicine.

>> For people who might be seeing the segment but aren't in the Baldwin school District and their thinking this sounds so great, where are they doing this at kids school?

What advice would you give to someone who is hearing what amazing things are going on at Baldwin?

What if they are not sure it is even possible?

Is that too big to drink?

>> I would say it is -- nothing is ever too big to dream.

The minute we stop dreaming big, we stop progressing.

That is number one.

Number two we have lots of houses for sale here in Baldwin.

We are happy to welcome you.

We have embarked on this topic that -- there are four areas that need to get together to maximize the kinds of things we are doing in other places.

Industry, K-12, higher education and policy, we need to get together in order to fundamentally rethink what learning looks like in the future for us in the present and how we support one another.

How does higher education support the training of teachers so that the people we hire are prepared in this area?

What does industry need?

How does Clayton -- K-12 support what industry needs?

How does policy support innovative work as opposed to living in the past and having policies in place that force you to live in two worlds at once?

That is where we find ourselves right now.

For people thinking about their public school systems and what they could do, I think just raising the level of conversation, creating opportunities, opening up dialogue, dreaming big and thinking about what is possible, that is certainly one way to go.

My national organization is always hosting big thinking events that bring together people who want to think differently, who want to expand.

You need to take the first step and provide specific examples of what is happening, what is possible and do it in a way that allows people to hear your message.

If you are thinking about dreaming big for the purpose of your kids, no one is going to shut you out.

They are going to listen.