At Hite Associates, we believe a school should be responsive to more than an educational program or a set of environmental or energy standards. A school should also reflect good stewardship of the public trust. What does that mean, “stewardship of the public trust”? To us, it means strict adherence to a design philosophy that manifests itself as a set of principles that go beyond the creation of great spaces to learn and teach. Any school plan can be called a “prototype”. The Unitary Systems Approach, or “USA”, was developed as a school prototype system, not simply a set of plans, that is unique in its ability to save both initial construction costs and long term operational and maintenance costs. At the same time, USA schools have roofs that last the life of the building without replacement, walls that don’t leak or weather, and have the structural strength to allow safe refuge in weather emergencies. Perhaps most importantly, USA schools have the built-in ability to remain “state-of-the-art” throughout their life, even for technology not yet conceived. Dozens of new USA elementary, middle, and high schools and dozens more USA additions to existing schools have been constructed over the past fifteen years. For our clients, “USA” is the gold standard.