New Central Office

CHALLENGE

When budget cuts leave a Superintendent in a time crunch to find an office space for 300 Central Office employees, MKThink is enlisted to help. Serving 35,000 students, pre-K through 12th grade, on over 90 campuses, the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) depends heavily on the support of the Central Office. Since 2016, the Central Office staff, including the Superintendent, have operated out of leased office space in downtown Oakland; however, in 2020, a new OUSD Board of Directors voted to slash the construction budget for a new central office building by 30% and, at the same time voted to end the lease on the downtown office space by 2023. This abrupt decision left the Superintendent with a logistical hurdle and little time to solve it.

APPROACH

MKThink developed a space program and operational model for a 'collaborative hub' office to bring staff together around in-person meetings and events while leveraging remote work activities where appropriate to task and function. MKThink also helped the district analyze the pros and cons of alternatives to new construction, including repurposing existing underutilized school facilities at 8 locations.

The team determined that OUSD could operate a collaborative Central Office hub on existing district property within 40% of the space and 2/3 of the budget of the original project. The alternatives would take up to 24 months longer to complete, require an additional $2.8 MM in lease payments, and a total cost of around $50 M. The Board voted to approve the collaborative Central Office hub. After a robust engagement period with staff and leadership, MKThink devised an organizational approach that leveraged a mix of space sharing, remote workspace, policy, and technology initiatives to reduce the OUSD office footprint by 40% and related construction costs by 25%. To help the transition, MKThink rolled out a robust change management and training program with OUSD staff to prepare them for the shift towards a hybrid work culture.

RESULT

The MKThink framework avoided unnecessary costs and created a collaborative space for the OUSD Central Office staff. Space scheduling metrics allowed for the optimal utilization of space, and by using existing DSA-approved designs, MKThink saved the district its initial design investment, diverting about $23 MM in capital savings in favor of education-focused projects. Furthermore, the new design kept $2.8 MM in General Fund obligations by retiring monthly lease payments and avoided $1 MM in sunk costs by leveraging existing DSA-approved designs for building superstructures. Additionally, there was an increase in staff retention. By building less, the OUSD was able to solve more.