THE STATE’S SYSTEM for financing the construction of new public schools is broken. Nowhere is that more apparent than the city of Lynn.
The number of students in Lynn’s schools has increased by 21 percent since 2008. Nearly half of our schools, 12 out of 26, are over 100 years old. We’ve been able to build just one new school in more than 20 years.
Despite significant efforts by the district and city to invest in our schools, we are still struggling mightily with poor building conditions and extremely limited capacity, as the Boston Globe has repeatedly reported.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shed further light on the challenges that students and teachers across the state face due to extremely overcrowded buildings or air-quality issues related to outdated HVAC systems. Many school districts, including Lynn, never had a fair shot at even considering in-person school at the beginning of the pandemic due to these conditions.
Four years ago, Lynn voted down a proposal to build two new schools. While there were many reasons why the vote for new schools failed, a main reason was the cost to the city. In a time of record prosperity, in one of the wealthiest regions in the world, an under-resourced city needed to come up with money it didn’t have if it wanted new schools it desperately needed.
Our method for determining state aid for school construction projects, which was developed in 2004, is now outdated and inequitable. The need for renovated or new buildings is also outpacing our ability to fund projects. In a report it filed with the Legislature in December 2020, the Massachusetts School Building Authority noted, “[a]lthough the MSBA program continues to have a far reach, there is still a significant unmet and continuing need for school projects in the Commonwealth.”
 

Amid reports of new schools with already malfunctioning HVAC systems and neglected air filters, the Board of Education is reconsidering its dependence on an outside facilities manager.
The board has asked for more information on the efficacy of the maintenance contractor, Go To Services and the cost of bringing those positions back in-house.
“I want to see if they are cost-effective and getting the job done,” said board member Darnell Goldson.
“I suspect not, but we’ll see the numbers,” 
When city building inspectors toured New Haven public schools this fall to prepare them for Covid-19 safety measures, they found air filters that hadn’t been changed in years, exhaust fans that had rusted because someone forgot to cover them, water damage and more.
Some of the maintenance problems have health or academic consequences, like when Wexler-Grant students were sent home because their school was too cold.
“Because of asthma, there are quite a few students that have chronic absenteeism. God forbid those filters were the cause of any of these children’s asthma to not be in control—that is something that has really been bothering me. People have to do their job. If their job is to change filters, we have filters for a reason,” said board member and pediatrician Tamiko Jackson-McArthur.
The most urgent problems related to Covid-19 safety have been fixed prior to schools reopening. But the maintenance issues have raised a question articulated by the Board of Alders after two schools closed for safety reasons: how did the products of New Haven’s $1.7 billion school construction boom deteriorate so quickly? Or, as Alder Rosa Santana said at a hearing on the subject: “Somebody didn’t do the work. Somebody bankrolled the money somewhere.”

Harrisburg, PA - The Wolf Administration today advised all schools and child care programs in Pennsylvania of the Voluntary Lead in Child Care and School Drinking Water Testing Program, which will provide $1.74 million from a federal grant for testing lead in drinking water.

Governor Tom Wolf first announced the funding from the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act in February 2020 as another component of his Lead-Free Pennsylvania plan to address lead across the commonwealth. Earlier this week, the departments of Education and Human Services sent direct communications to eligible facilities to advise them of the availability of funding and how to access it.

“Testing the water of thousands of child care centers and schools will give us a benchmark of the work we need to do next for removing lead from water and protecting our children,” Gov. Wolf said.

The Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST) launched the Pennsylvania Voluntary Lead in Child Care and School Drinking Water Testing Program at leadfree.pa.gov. Eligible schools and child cares can receive free water lead testing and related training and technical support.  

MONTPELIER — The Vermont House of Representatives Education Committee on Tuesday approved a trio of bills dealing with school facilities construction, a community schools program and a student literacy initiative.

The school assistance bill passed 10-1, with Rep. Casey Toof, R-Franklin 3-1, the lone no vote.

The bill requires the state Agency of Education to conduct a study of school facilities needs, as well as a study of how neighboring states have funded school building assistance programs.

Vermont’s neighbors all have such programs; the Green Mountain State last offered school building assistance funds in 2007.

FORT LAUDERDALE — A roof collapsed at an Oakland Park middle school on Friday, and more than 10 people were taken to the hospital after evacuating.
Scared and confused children evacuated James S. Rickards Middle School after the roof over the media center, or library, collapsed mid-morning. Many ditched their belongings as they hurried away.
No one was in the media center at the time because it was under construction, a district spokeswoman said.
More than 10 people — students and adults — were taken to Holy Cross and Broward Health hospitals in Fort Lauderdale with minor injuries, said Steve Gollan, a spokesman for Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue.
A school district statement said: “Several students and adults had minor medical complaints, including headaches, anxiety and issues related to asthma. They were treated by fire rescue and transported as a precaution to area hospitals.”
Principal Washington Collado discovered the collapsed roof after hearing a loud noise shortly before 10 a.m., said school district spokeswoman Keyla Concepcion.
 

When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced in mid-February its most detailed guidelines yet for how K-12 schools in the U.S. might reopen safely in the midst of a pandemic, it was what the agency didn’t say that confounded many experts. In an otherwise thorough examination of the factors contributing to the spread of COVID-19 and of the possible ways to mitigate them, the CDC devoted but a single paragraph to the problem of classroom and building ventilation, offering a link to more information.
“Ventilation is given lip service, with little guidance,” said Dr. Richard Corsi, an authority on indoor air quality, in a series of scathing tweets. “The lack of understanding of ventilation or its importance (or perhaps just disregard) is wholly obvious. Incredibly disappointing.”
It’s also the elephant in the living room of the discussion. Years of underinvestment in the upkeep of public-school facilities across the country have led to this moment, and the threat of a deadly virus has brought the problem to the fore. The simple truth is that for many school districts, the cost of upgrading or improving their ventilation (HVAC) systems, though critical to student and staff health, may be well beyond their means, particularly in poorer communities.
The numbers are stark. A June 2020 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that HVAC is the most widespread deficiency in public school facilities nationwide, with an estimated 40% of all schools needing to either update or entirely replace their systems. The Center for Cities + Schools at the University of California, Berkeley, meanwhile, found that in recent years more than four in 10 California school districts have underspent on both capital renewals (like replacing HVAC systems) and maintenance.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — While school systems in North Carolina make plans to reopen buildings to students as the threat of coronavirus wanes, Cumberland County is looking to permanently shut one of its schools down.
The doors of T.C. Berrein Elementary school have been closed to students since 2019 due to air quality concerns, mold and structural issues.
The announcement to make that closure permanent caught some parents and students by surprise.
Problems with air quality, mold and structural issues might cause the Cumberland County Board of Education to change districts that determine where students go to school.
"That came completely out of the blue. I didn't not even know that until you told me," said Reene Colon, who found out during an interview with WRAL.
Colon lives down the block from T.C. Berrien. She's new to the area and thought that would be her daughter's school.
Students like 8-year-old Kyayire Proctor, one of about 200 students assigned to the school, are unhappy about the decision.
"It's pretty sad because all those kids are going to be sad about it. And I think it's pretty sad also because they have very good teachers," said Proctor.
 

Questions about costs, the future of the Mills Lawn school property and recommendations by the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission dominated public comments last week during the first of three planned community forums to discuss the future of Yellow Springs’ public school buildings.

More than 70 people were present at the initial forum Thursday, Oct. 18, conducted online through the Zoom video-conference platform. Leading the meeting were representatives of the SHP architectural firm, which is working with the school district to develop a facilities master plan that district leaders hope to take to voters in November in the form of a bond levy. The district treasurer has estimated that at least $30 million will be needed to address all the issues that have been identified in the buildings, whether the community opts for renovation or new construction.

The current effort follows a failed attempt to pass a facilities levy in May 2018, when voters rejected an $18 million proposal to combine renovation and construction at the middle/high school campus, leaving consideration of Mills Lawn for a later time.

Discussions about affordability, maintenance, affordability and location were at the forefront of that endeavor, and similar concerns appear to hold fast within the community, as expressed during Thursday’s public forum.

SALEM — Since the start of the pandemic, the federal government has earmarked nearly $620 million in emergency funds for Oregon schools.
About $121 million that has arrived in Oregon so far has helped schools across the state purchase laptops, internet hotspots and program licenses to set up the virtual learning programs that have dominated the Oregon classroom experience over the last year.
But a second round of federal funds is expected to deliver another $499 million to school districts by the end of the month, the state’s share of a $900 billion relief bill passed in December 2020.
And the bulk of that money should go toward reopening schools.
What that looks like will differ from district to district.
Some may need to upgrade ventilation systems or purchase air filters and fans. Others might opt to renovate classrooms to provide more space for students as the pandemic wears on.
Mike Wiltfong, the Oregon Department of Education’s director of school finance and facilities, said schools that are already open for in-person instruction provide a glimpse at how districts will need to spend federal aid.
“We’re already seeing where schools are struggling — some students sit in the hallway,” he told The Oregonian.
Wiltfong is concerned that Oregon schools will start burning through their federal aid allocations as districts begin rolling out their in-person offerings. In December 2020, about 50,000 of Oregon’s 580,000 public K-12 students were getting some sort of in-person instruction.
As of last week, that number was just over 136,000.
 

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Columbia Public Schools is continually working to ensure its buildings have a safe place for students and staff to go in the case of severe weather, and the newest additions John Warner Middle School is no exception.
"This is the first year that John Warner has been open. We completed construction over the summer. It was a multi-year project. It's obviously a significant one for our community," said Michelle Baumstark with Columbia Public Schools.
"Just like any of our new facilities that have been constructed over the last several years, it does include some additional features related to storm shelters," she said.
There are three areas in John Warner Middle School that serve as storm shelters: the auxiliary gym, a locker room area, and a self-contained special education room.
"With the design of a building overall there are spaces that are specifically designated as areas where students can shelter, and so that might be a hallway that's reinforced with no windows," she said.
 

Applauding the de Blasio administration's decision was Carlo A. Scissura, president and CEO of the New York Building Congress.  Resuming work on the $17 billion initiative, he said in a press release, is an acknowledgment of the key role that the construction industry will have in New York City's recovery.

The work in the city's five boroughs includes:

Building more school capacity in underserved and overcrowded districts.
Affordable housing construction.
Coastal resiliency and climate change-related projects.
The Vision Zero initiative focused on roadway safety.
Parks.
Major library projects.
Repairing, replacing and upgrading sewer and wastewater management infrastructure.

Officials with Evanston-Skokie School District 65 are looking for parents, staff, caregivers and community members to serve on a Student Assignment Advisory Committee.
The group will help advise the district on where kids in different neighborhoods should attend school. The creation of the group comes as the district re-imagines its Student Assignment Plan, which designates the school to which students around Evanston are designated to attend.
The effort comes as officials seek to “modernize (District 65′s) structure and address historic inequities that continue to most significantly impact students of color,” said Superintendent Devon Horton, in the release. “This may include changes to school attendance areas, reconsideration of a more equitable selection process for magnet schools and programs, and establishing a local school for Fifth Ward families.”
District 65 has not reviewed its boundaries or recommended broad changes in the past 25 years, despite shifts in enrollment, student demographics, academic services and programs, according to the release.
 

Replacement of aging county government buildings was among issues discussed by the Wilkes County commissioners in their first fiscal 2021-22 budget work session on Feb. 25.

The board received data showing how Wilkes County’s demographics are changing and how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted low income Wilkes residents, plus data comparing Wilkes with peer county governments in funding education and other needs.

Commissioner Keith Elmore said the Wilkes board built a jail, converted former bank office buildings into a law enforcement center and ag center and built a culinary center at Wilkes Community College in recent years. He said the commissioners upgraded high school facilities and built four middle schools before that.

“It seems to me there may have been some neglect. We’ve got 50- to 70-year-old buildings” for the Wilkes Health Department, Wilkes Department of Social Services and other county government departments, he said.

“I would love to see us address these buildings and conditions and maybe combine our health department and social services” so citizens can have one location for addressing many basic needs. Elmore said new facilities are needed to replace the Wilkes County Office Building.

He recommended starting with cost estimates. Elmore added that the commissioners have been good stewards of county finances and the county has a good fund balance.

When he was in the health department building to be sworn in as a Wilkes Board of Health member, said Elmore, “it was obvious to me that it’s not really conducive to work.”

PAWTUCKET – With major renovations and reconstructions at four local schools taking place over the next several years, a proposed internship-style program will allow students the opportunity for hands-on training in different trades including plumbing, electrical, architectural, and more.

School Committee Chairman Jay Charbonneau told The Breeze last week that with a partnership with Rhode Island Student Advocates, the construction at Henry J. Winters Elementary School, as well as future projects at Shea High School, Baldwin Elementary School, and Tolman High School, will include a program for “students who want to learn a valuable trade,” he said. “That’s an exciting piece.”

Construction of the new Winters Elementary School on Broadway is slated to begin in the next few weeks, according to Charbonneau, and once they break ground he said he anticipates the first group of students will be mobilized.

“Incorporating students into these projects was critical to the committee,” he said, noting that the founding members of RISA, who are Pawtucket students, reached out to him and Roberto Moreno, chairman of the facilities subcommittee, and proposed the idea. “We thought it was brilliant,” Charbonneau said.

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.