The $100,000 classroom

Classrooms used to be so simple: chairs, desks and a blackboard.

Now, technology and movable furniture to emphasize teamwork and collaborative learning are on every principal's shopping list. Schools are racing to keep up with the fast-paced changes in learning, and are fundraising to supplement stretched budgets.

But this furniture comes with a hefty price tag.

Consider Canterbury School, a private school in Fort Myers. It won a $75,000 grant from Steelcase Education Solutions to outfit two rooms with the latest in movable furniture and computer screens. It was the only school in Florida to win the grant, beating out even some universities.

Fort Myers-based Office Furniture and Design Concepts' president and CEO Joe Gammons contributed another $30,000 to the project and collaborated with computer experts at Entech to equip the middle school's collaborative center, called the Cougar Den, and an upper school's classroom.

Canterbury will provide Steelcase with detailed feedback on how the students use the furniture, and other school officials will be able to observe how it functions. “This will be a showpiece for Joe and his team,” says Deborah Johnson, Canterbury's director of development.