As the Madison School District prepares for an overhaul of its high schools, some parents are questioning how fair it is — and whether it’s a violation of district policy — to let the two more-affluent high schools raise potentially tens of millions in donations to bolster referendum-funded renovations.
Parents, alumni, staff and students at Memorial and West high schools have formed capital campaign committees to raise money for extra projects not included in renovation plans being funded by the $317 million facilities referendum voters approved last fall.
But at a board meeting last week, La Follette parents of former, current and future students urged the board to consider what approving donor-funded projects at Memorial and West will mean for the more economically disadvantaged La Follette and East high schools.
“Both of my kids will be long graduated from La Follette and the (Madison) school system before these projects are complete, so I don’t speak with the framework of leaving something for my kids,” Greg Murray told the board. “I speak with the framework of someone who’s had his kids go through the East Side high schools for many years and seen the disparities.”
 

There is a trend happening in Weld County schools now: major construction.

With the population growth in the county and in northern Colorado comes the need for districts to upgrade existing school facilities or to invest in new buildings, and both are in progress in multiple local districts.

Eight different Weld districts have passed voter-approved, multi-million-dollar bond measures to fund capital or significant building projects since 2016. Over the same five-year span, eight school systems won property tax increases on a mill levy override, or MLO, which is the other main source of revenue for high-level expenses. The MLO pays for in-classroom needs such as personnel and curriculum.

In 2019, Greeley-Evans School District 6, the county’s biggest and most diverse district, passed its first significant bond in nearly two decades — a $395 million measure outlined to touch every school in the district including charter schools.

Yellow Springs is working toward a decision on what to do with its school facilities.

Three state-funded proposals and one proposal without state funding are being considered by a Community Advisory Team, which includes parents, administrators and community members. The Community Advisory Team will decide on which plan to submit to the Yellow Springs Board of Education in April.

The district says the current school buildings do not currently meet its needs.

The cost of the options are between $31 million and $34 million before reimbursement of about 26% of the cost through the state, said Terri Holden, the district’s superintendent.The district says it will know the cost by the end of April.

If the district chose to use state funds, it will need a new school levy. Holden said during a meeting with the public on Feb. 18 if state funding is chosen, a ballot initiative would likely be put on the November ballot.

When the winter storm hit Texas last week, the overhead sprinklers across the hall from Valerie Malone’s first-grade classroom broke and flooded rooms on both sides.

Malone’s elementary school is one of seven in the Arlington Independent School District that couldn’t open for in-person learning this week, joining dozens across the state. The fast-plummeting frigid temperatures and power outages froze sprinkler systems, destroyed flooring and disrupted crucial services to school buildings, temporarily preventing some from providing students with food and shelter.

School leaders are still surveying the damage and calculating their losses. Some schools might not be able to reopen for in-person learning at all this school year, adding instability to an academic year already complicated by a pandemic.

nd so it’s come to this: House Democrats care so little about the poorest localities in the state that they won’t even vote on two measures intended to fix up their decaying school buildings.

They lack the political courage to actually vote these bills down so they’ve resorted to a procedural trick: The two bills have been left to die, unacted upon, in the House Appropriations Committee — the legislative equivalent of running out the clock on something House Democratic leaders have found strangely inconvenient.

Earlier that same committee also quietly strangled a bill by Del. Israel O’Quinn, R-Washington, that would have created a state fund for school construction. There was no money attached, mind you, just an empty shell of a fund but apparently even that was anathema. Now that same committee has done the same to two measures by state Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County. One would have created a state fund (again, unfunded) to help schools pay for repairing roofs and certain maintenance. The other would have set a statewide advisory referendum on whether to issue $3 billion in bonds for school construction.

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - As the state Department of Education works to bring students back to in-person learning, some public schools on Maui are setting up tents to teach classes outdoors.

The “Temptation Island” TV show that filmed on Maui recently donated six event tents to Kihei schools: Kamalii Elementary, Lokelani Intermediate, Kihei Elementary and Kihei Public Charter School.

The tents are worth about $20,000.

“This enables us to take more classes outdoors with shade on our campus and further provide ventilation which enables safer learning,” said Michael Stubbs, Kihei Public Charter head of school. The K-12 school has 650 students.

Stubbs says bringing kids back safely with 6-foot social distancing has been a challenge.

State Rep. Tina Wildberger, who represents Kihei, Wailea and Makena, helped facilitate the tent donation. She says teachers wanted safe workplaces, but some schools lack space and were built with little ventilation.

“We put the two tents at the schools that had the greatest need. For example, Kamalii Elementary was built during the height of the cane burning,” she said.

In 2019, Elizabeth Goldberg, an emergency physician and associate professor at Brown University, stumbled upon an ecoRI News article about air quality in Providence schools.

Goldberg read about how Providence has 24 schools within 1,000 feet of major roads, when the recommended distance for newly constructed school buildings is at least 1,500 feet.

She also read how Vartan Gregorian Elementary School, which is at the corner of Wickenden and East streets and directly adjacent to Interstate 195, had high rates of black carbon and nitrogen dioxide both inside and outside the 67-year-old building.

As an emergency physician with a master’s in epidemiology, and as a parent of a child at Vartan Gregorian, Goldberg was shocked that nothing was being done about this.

“I take care of patients with asthma, kids and adults, and as a parent of a kid in the Providence public schools, at Gregorian, which is within 200 feet of a major highway … I was surprised that there wasn’t any kind of regular air monitoring,” Goldberg said. “I started looking at some air sensor data … and I saw that Boston generally had better air quality than Providence, and well, that was kind of eye-opening.”

Goldberg began advocating for stand-alone air purifiers to be put in all Providence schools, started contacting local officials, and was appointed to the Providence School Board.

Then, the coronavirus pandemic hit, and air quality monitoring and purification became hot topic issues.

WASHINGTON (WDVM) — The District of Columbia Public School system is making changes to Ward 2, by investing in two new schools for students.
The changes come from overcrowding, as the student population grows, but open the door for some exciting possibilities, including a new high school coming to the ward.
Ward 2 State Board of Education representative, Allister Chang, explained that it would be a big deal for a high school to open in Ward 2, as there is currently no in-boundary high school in the area. This creates an inconvenience for these students, as some have to travel outside of their ward to get to school every day.
If Ward 2 gets a new high school, the option involves moving students from Hardy Middle School to what is currently Georgetown Day School’s lower campus, and opening Hardy as a high school. Georgetown Day School’s campus (being called MacArthur at the moment) would be one of the properties purchased by the city.
While none of the options are certain right now, Chang explained that some things are certain. First, the Wilson feeder program is currently overcrowded, as the ten middle schools that feed into Woodrow Wilson High School are at 100 percent capacity or higher. Second, the city is investing in two new schools for Ward 2.
Currently, there are four options on the table. One of those options is moving the students from Hardy Middle School and opening the school as a high school. Another includes creating a new elementary school at a newly purchased location. There are also talks of moving some elementary schoolers from their current building to one of the new properties, as a means of helping with the overcrowding. Finally, the school system is contemplating opening up a new middle school.
 

Pittsburgh Public Schools late Monday released new details about the district’s plans to get its students back into the classroom this spring. 
The school system has been completely remote since March 2020 but is expected to phase in students for in-person instruction in early April. Students determined to have the most need will be eligible to return first. 
Superintendent Anthony Hamlet said Monday that while teachers should be given precedence for vaccines, “it is unrealistic to continue to postpone the reopening of our schools until every teacher is vaccinated.”
“Our administration understands the resistance from our teachers and their union, and we agree that our teachers should be prioritized to receive COVID-19 vaccine,” Mr. Hamlet said. “As a district, we are doing everything we can to work with our health care partners, like UPMC, to schedule vaccinations as quickly as possible as part of [Phase] 1B vaccinations.”

The district said it would launch a survey this week to help PPS officials finalize the order in which students will be able to return to in-person instruction when schools reopen. Students will be placed into four categories, with children identified as having the the highest level of need being given top priority. 

Category 4 includes pre-K and kindergarten students, as well as students who have not shown progress in remote learning. Students placed in that group — estimated to total 4,786 children districtwide — will be allowed to return April 6.

Category 3 includes students who have shown some progress in online learning. Those students — approximately 5,215 children — will be eligible to return April 26, according to the district.

Syracuse, N.Y. — As more Central New York parents clamor for in-person instruction and the coronavirus cases decline, some school districts are responding.
Two large school districts — Liverpool and North Syracuse — plan to bring more students back for in-person learning starting in early March. They are adding another day or more of instructional time for junior high or high school students.
The Central Square district is looking to transition to a hybrid model starting in April for its middle and high school students. They have been fully remote since the pandemic started in March.
The Syracuse schools — the region’s largest district — is exploring the possibility of bringing back students who want to attend for more than two days a week, said Michael Henesey, a spokesman.
Whether or not more school districts can bring back more students depends on what happens with the distancing rules, how far apart kids have to stay. Will the districts have to stay at keeping them 6 feet apart, or can that be reduced to 3 or 4 feet?
 

HOUSTON – Some students and teachers are still feeling the impact of last week’s extreme winter weather. The damage to a number of school campuses has forced some school districts to extend their closures.
Tomball Independent School District
Busted pipes from the fire suppression system sent 10,000 gallons of water gushing out of the second floor ceiling in a wing of Tomball Memorial High School. The result was extensive damage to classrooms on both the second and first floors. The main hallways along with classroom after classroom were covered in about an inch of water.
Maintenance crews removed many of the drenched and waterlogged ceiling panels and strategically placed dehumidifiers and fans throughout the damaged areas in an effort to dry everything out. Tomball Memorial High School was one of at least six schools in the district that sustained some kind of damage during the sub-freezing temperatures.
Repairs should be finished by March 8.
Houston Independent School District
The recent subfreezing weather conditions resulted in more than 500 requests for service from HISD facilities. Many of the service calls were for frozen pipes, leaks, and heating system repairs.
 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WV News) — The West Virginia Board of Education passed a motion Tuesday requiring grades pre-K to eighth to return to full, five-day instruction. The motion replaces a Jan. 13 one that required counties to offer at least blended learning for families.
During a special meeting Tuesday, board members heard from the state’s coronavirus czar, Dr. Clay Marsh, who presented data on the transmission of COVID-19 within schools and noted minimal transmission, especially among younger students.
“Early in the pandemic, we thought school transmission was closely tied to community transmission rates,” said Marsh. “We’ve since learned this is not correct. We are finding that when mitigations are followed, schools are among the safest places for our children.”
In a unanimous vote, board members approved the motion to send pre-K-8 students back to school in-person five days a week no later than March 3, regardless of the county’s designation on the Department of Health and Human Resources’ County Alert System map.
The board also voted unanimously to include in the motion a provision that high school students will attend classes in-person unless their county is red on the County Alert System map. Also included in the motion is a recommendation that students in grades 9-12 in counties that are not red attend school five days per week.
 

A bill granting local school boards in Tennessee the authority to open and close schools during a state of emergency passed the state Senate on Monday.
If the bill becomes law, local school board members, as well as the governing body of charter schools, could consult health officials but would have the authority to determine whether to open or close schools during an emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or a natural disaster. The governor would also hold veto power to mandate school openings under the bill. 

 

Might Hardy Middle School at 1819 35th St. NW become a public high school? That was a proposal put forth on Feb. 11 at the first Foxhall and MacArthur School Planning Community Working Group Meeting.

Ward 2 is the only ward in the District without a comprehensive public high school, a fact that has long been a “to be discussed sometime in the future” topic of various parent and neighborhood organizations and DC Public Schools. But as of last week, ideas have been spreading more widely — perhaps a sign that the pandemic is almost over. It is also becoming clear that the burgeoning population at Hyde-Addison, Georgetown’s public elementary school, will in a few years inevitably spill into the middle school and high school system.

“Under the working group scenario last week, Hardy would move to an about-to-be purchased property at MacArthur & Q (formerly the Georgetown Day School lower campus),” Kishan Putta, the Georgetown/Burleith advisory neighborhood commission’s schools liaison, wrote to The Georgetowner on Feb. 19. “I don’t yet have any details about what proposals are being discussed for the potential high school that would theoretically open at the current Hardy site, but I heard there were questions about playing field space. I also don’t know about the possible timeline, but am told it would likely take a few years.” 

Brian Ragan, Director of Facilities and Construction presented to the Hernando County School Board on February 9, 2021, a proposal to install Permanent Concretables to solve imminent and future capacity problems in Hernando County schools.

Permanent Concretables, commonly called “prefab” or “pre-cast” are concrete structures manufactured in a plant, and shipped to the school campus.  These can be assembled on a traditional foundation and classified as Permanent capacity per state School Concurrency regulations. These one or two-story buildings can be finished to match other campus buildings. Rated for 220 MPH winds, the structures have bullet-resistant concrete walls and roofs. 

Maintaining School Concurrency is a legal obligation of the district. This is a system of land use regulations designed to meet the demands placed upon public school capacity by new residential development.  Before approving proposed residential development, local governments and school boards must jointly determine whether adequate school capacity will be available to accommodate the development. Local governments must deny applications for new residential development if adequate permanent capacity will not be available or under construction within three years of approving the application.

Today Howard County Executive Calvin Ball announced that the Interagency Commission on School Construction (IAC) increased its state funding recommendation for Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) priority construction projects by nearly $8 million dollars, bringing the total state funding recommendation to $28.6 million out of a requested $40.3 million.

“Ensuring the completion of these three critical school construction projects is a top priority of my administration,” said Howard County Executive Calvin Ball. “While I am encouraged that the IAC increased its recommendation of State support for our school construction efforts, fully funding the requests for High School #13 and Talbott Springs, there is work left to do to secure the remaining state requested funding for the Hammond High School project.”

The adjusted IAC recommendation elevated the Hammond High School Renovation and Addition project from a B local planning status and a C funding status, both to A statuses, adding $5.37 million of prior year appropriations for recommended state funding out of a requested $14 million to the project after recommending no state funding to support the project in December. Additionally, the IAC state funding recommendation for the Talbott Springs Elementary School Replacement project increased by $2.6 million ​through prior year appropriations, fully funding the $8.2 million in requested state funding. The $15 million state funding request for High School #13 was recommended by IAC to be fully funded in December. Final approvals on funding levels for projects in the FY2022 capital budget will be made by IAC in May.

To help rebuild New York in the post-pandemic era, Mayor Bill de Blasio is turning to one of his administration’s biggest construction experts to help get the job done.

On Monday, de Blasio named President and CEO of the New York City School Construction Authority and Commissioner of the Department of Design and Construction Lorraine Grillo senior advisor and “recovery czar” tasked with “supercharging” New York City’s rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We want a recovery that is strong, that vibrant, that brings New York City back to where it was and then some in terms of economic activity and people’s livelihoods,” said de Blasio during a Monday press conference. “Every single city agency must be a part of the recovery effort. Recovery for all of us is about everything.” 

RUTHER GLEN, Va. (WWBT) - Engineering and robotics students at Carmel School built and designed three air filters for each building on campus. The students learned about air quality and filtration before building the units.
The systems will be used in the Lower School, Middle/Upper School, and Athletic Center buildings.
The filters were built based on the “Comparetto Cube” design by Neil Comparetto.
“This project is exciting because the students built working units capable of filtering COVID-19 as well as many allergens. The units can be used by the school to help us continue to stay safe and healthy,” Ms. Kember Forcke, Robotics & Engineering Teacher said. “Each unit should last six months and will filter approximately 60,000 cubic feet per hour,” she continued.
On February 10, the class teams presented the units to Mrs. Carolyn Williamson, Head of School, Mr. Stephen Griggs, Head of Middle and Upper School, and Dr. Melanie Casper, Head of Lower School.
 

ROCKCASTLE CO., Ky. (WKYT) - Rockcastle County was hit hard by this week’s weather and countless are still without power.
A warming shelter was opened at Rockcastle County Middle School to provide people without heat or water a safe place to sleep.
New friendships, it seems, can start anywhere. Terry Horton and Michael Reeb met at the warming center at Rockcastle County Middle School.
“This gentleman, he sticks with me like glue,” Terry says.
“Terry is the greatest storyteller I’ve ever met, I wish I could tell a story like him, but maybe if I can around him long enough, maybe he’ll rub off,” Michael says.
Terry was one of the countless people in Rockcastle County to lose power after this week’s weather, but that’s not his only obstacle. He lives alone with hearing difficulties and is blind in his left eye. Still, after spending a few days at the shelter, he’s choosing to be optimistic.
“It’s warm, it’s friendly, I haven’t heard anybody say a bad thing about anybody, so I’m grateful,” Terry says.
Terry’s cot was one of 36 at the middle school gym, with each cot placed 6-feet-apart to practice social distancing.
“Rockcastle County Schools, our motto is to educate, feed, and support, and that doesn’t end with our students, that ends with our entire community,” says superintendent Carrie Ballinger.
Ballinger says while outages bring challenges any year, COVID-19 has made it even more difficult to bring people shelter. She says luckily they learned lessons holding classes in an era of social distancing.
“We kinda had those protocols down, so we just transferred that to this current situation,” Ballinger says.
To Terry, it’s about taking it one step at a time and making sure to enjoy the company on the way.
 

The Columbus Board of Education has taken the first step to relaunch a defunct school-rebuilding program it started nearly 20 years ago.
Board members voted 7-0 Tuesday to approve a nearly $800,000 contract between Columbus City Schools and Legat Architects for "educational planning and master facility planning services."
The district selected the firm, which is based in Chicago and has offices in Downtown Columbus, from among eight applicants. There was no discussion of the matter at the board meeting. The Dispatch has requested a copy of the contract.
The facility planning process is expected to last more than a year, through July 2022. Planning for a bond issue to fund any proposed construction would follow, Columbus City Schools spokeswoman Jacqueline Bryant said in an email to The Dispatch.
"Before we seek the public's financial support, it is important that we engage our community to determine how to best meet the needs of our current and future students, as well as the greater community," Bryant said.
It's not clear when a levy request might occur. Historically, the district has had success asking voters to support tax levies and bond issues during presidential election years. The district contemplated going on the November 2020 ballot but those plans never panned out, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.