Parents, students and community members can all have a say in how Natrona County School District's newest elementary building will look and be used.

The district has planned two days of community meetings to gather ideas and input about the new school, which will be located in the Centennial Hills area on the east side of Casper. People participating will have the opportunity to become part of a charrette, or a full-blown design process for the school.

Charettes are intensive planning sessions where citizens, designers and educators collaborate on school design. Kelly Eastes, community partnerships coordinator, said the district is looking for a wide variety of input about the school.

"We want our community represented as much as possible," Eastes said.

Thursday's meetings will be at the Child Development Center, at noon, 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Friday's meetings will be at the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, at 9 a.m., noon and 4 p.m. Each meeting will last two hours.

Representatives from RB+B Architecture and Lee H. Skolnick Architecture and Design Partnership will provide examples of schools being built around the country.

Lee Skolnick said Thursday and Friday's meetings are mainly to encourage community participation.

"The really key part is that we really want involvement from the community," Skolnick said. "The more input we get, we feel the more we can really answer people's needs and create a vision that everyone can feel ownership of."

Reach education reporter Jasa Santos at (307) 266-0593 or at Jasa.Santos@trib.com. Read her blog at my.trib.com/jasasantos.

Meeting times

Thursday, Child Development Center of Natrona County, 2020 E. 12th Street

Noon to 2 p.m.; 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.; 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Friday, Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, 2211 King Blvd.

9 a.m. to 11 a.m.; noon to 2 p.m.; 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.