A flurry of activity has been under way this summer at buildings around the Lincoln County School District School.

The Lincoln County Leader reached out for specific information about the nearly $1.5 million in projects and received the following details from the LCSD Facilities Director Rich Belloni, Business Services Director Kim Cusick, and Superintendent Dr. Majalise Tolan.

Oceanlake Elementary School — creating a new entrance to the student drop-off and pick-up driveway on 21st Street, allowing two lanes of traffic in the off-street parking/drop-off area. This should alleviate traffic congestion around the school during drop-off and pick-up times. This is being done in conjunction with Lincoln City’s grant project to add sidewalks along 21st Street. Also, two classrooms received new flooring, and asbestos tile was abated in those classrooms.

The Tuscaloosa County Schools system is working to get rid of mold in one of the district's elementary schools.
A statement was sent out to Englewood Elementary parents explaining that the lunchroom seating area would be renovated.
The district said moisture was found in the seating area about a week ago, but it is not a health or safety risk to students or staff.
Englewood elementary students are spending their lunch hour in the classrooms with grab and go style lunches.
"A plan had to made quickly to get the food to the kids and kind of redo the logistics of how kids were going to eat in the school, while this renovation is done to remedy this situation in that area," said Tuscaloosa County school system rep Terri Brewer.
 

When the air conditioning broke in a Terrebonne Parish school, it sometimes got so hot that kids fainted or had asthma attacks, and the school had to call an ambulance.
More often, the school sent kids home early. In the best-case scenario, students packed into classrooms with working AC or relocated to the gym or cafeteria to escape the southeast Louisiana heat.
So when the school district got its final federal COVID-19 relief package in 2021, school officials made fixing the AC a top priority. Nearly $23 million — more than 40% of the district's aid allotment — went to replace the most dire HVAC systems in seven schools.
"It gives us the confidence that we're not going to have to cancel school, the kids are not going to get sick," Superintendent Bubba Orgeron said. "When it's either too hot or too cold … kids are focused on that instead of learning."
Handed billions of dollars with few strings attached, thousands of school leaders made a similar calculation that year. Across 21 states with publicly available data, schools on average planned to spend 18% of their third and largest COVID-19 aid package on facilities, a Chalkbeat analysis found. That's nearly as much as they were required to spend on academic recovery.
In Mississippi, schools put nearly 40% of their final aid package toward buildings. In South Dakota, it was more than half.
As the nation takes stock of its return on this massive one-time investment, many school leaders stand behind their decision to go big on facilities, and say this will pay dividends for academics and student engagement. A growing body of research suggests a child's learning environment affects their test scores and attendance.
But recent research points to a potentially troubling trend: High-poverty districts, like Terrebonne Parish, were more likely to budget a greater share of their final aid package for facilities and operations, especially costly projects like new construction and building repairs. That left them less to spend on academic recovery — even though they educate the kids who've had the most academic ground to make up.
 

SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. — When the state of New York became the first in the nation to require all public schools to test their drinking water for lead in 2016, Keyry Broncano learned that water drawn from 68 different taps at her high school contained dangerously high lead levels.
Then Broncano, at the time a high school junior, discovered that the water she’d been drinking since kindergarten in the East Ramapo Central School District, about an hour north of New York City, probably contained elevated lead levels: Water from 23 taps at her elementary school was found to contain at least 15 parts per billion of lead. At her middle school, 85 taps had high lead levels.
“I was like, ‘I think I’ve been drinking poison,’” Broncano said, recalling rushing home to explain the news to her mother, a Guatemalan immigrant.
It’s an experience that has been repeated in schools across the country since 2014, when a crisis involving lead in the water in Flint, Mich., prompted some states to adopt new testing requirements for schools and day-care centers.
Whenever states, counties or school districts have decided to test the water in their schools, lead has often been discovered.
 

GRANGEVILLE — “I’m impressed with the upkeep of your district’s buildings and the proactive stance Ty [Reuter] and the maintenance crew, the board, the district as a whole has done to keep things upgraded and maintained,” Richard Bauscher told the Mountain View School District 244 board of trustees.

Bauscher is a retired Middleton superintendent and current clinical associate professor at the University of Idaho. He is a facilities planner consultant who assesses and appraises school buildings and provides numbers of what it would cost to “make them whole.”

Bauscher’s survey of the school’s buildings came as a caveat to receiving upcoming state money (see sidebar), in that districts receiving the funds must produce a 10-year plan to the State Department of Education. Bauscher had already provided 35 district reports in the state.

It seems like school starts earlier every year — many kids across Arizona are already in back-to-school mode now, at the very beginning of August. And it’s hot — much hotter than summers past, with records being broken each year.

So, how are Arizona schools keeping kids cool — on buses and in classrooms in the hottest parts of the state?

To find out, The Show spoke to Cole Young, superintendent of the Mohave Valley School District — a rural district northwest of the Valley, not far from Needles, California — which just broke Phoenix’s record for the hottest monthly temperature in a U.S. city this July.

Full conversation
COLE YOUNG: So we're kind of in the tri-city area when it comes to Needles and Laughlin, Bullhead City. And we're just 17 miles south of Bullhead City. So Death Valley is only two hours away. We've got about 400 kids. We're a K-8 school district.

LAUREN GILGER: You mentioned you're not far from Death Valley. So we should not assume that because you're a little further north than us in the state of Arizona that it is not very hot there, I'm assuming.

YOUNG: It is. Yeah, we, we get plenty of heat. When we have a day that's under 100, we think it's a very cool day, maybe time for a shawl or something.

SPRINGFIELD – Following growing concerns within the 30th District about the health impacts of poor air quality, State Senator Adriane Johnson championed a vital new law that addresses and improves air quality in elementary and secondary schools.

“This law will have a significant impact on students with asthma and allergies by ensuring schools are equipped with the best resources and practices to maintain clean air,” said Johnson (D- Buffalo Grove). “This is a critical step in reducing health disparities and providing a safer, healthier environment for students, faculty and staff.”

Johnson’s law tasks the Illinois State Board of Education, in consultation with the Illinois Department of Public Health, to compile resources to assess air quality and maintain ventilation systems in schools. ISBE will implement outreach strategies to make these resources available to elementary and secondary schools within 30 days of compilation, with updates as necessary.

BURLINGTON - School officials are pursuing a long-term facilities master plan to help prioritize the department’s properties and building needs.

School Supt. Dr. Eric Conti brought the matter forth at the School Committee’s most recent meeting, and hopes this can be a plan that can be a template for the needs of the school properties

“I do not see this as a final conversation,” remarked Conti. “I really see this as a starting conversation, and we might need to have more conversation about this.”

The charge of the plan is discuss long-term facility needs with an evolving document that would prioritize major upgrades, repairs and new buildings for years to come in the school district.

This master plan is one of several in the works in town; the school system has already worked on a master plan for its athletic fields, and the Recreation Department is working on a complete master plan for all town fields and parks. This school facilities master plan would project expected repairs on things like HVAC systems, flooring, roofs and even entire new buildings. 

In a gentrifying city and socioeconomically segregated school system like Seattle’s, closing 20 elementary schools could trigger a demographic shake-up.  

Free lunch is guaranteed for all at schools where at least 30% of families are low-income. Multilingual teachers are stationed where English learners attend. Certain schools offer cultural programs that cater to students’ heritage. As the district makes plans to redirect thousands of students to new buildings, it faces pressure to preserve certain programs for kids who need them the most. 

Seattle Public Schools says it is prioritizing making schools “well-resourced” and diverse without exacerbating existing segregation. A 2023 Seattle Times investigation found Seattle schools are more segregated now than they were in the 1980s, with some school attendance zones mirroring areas that were once redlined to keep residents of color boxed into certain areas. 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—In support of the Biden-Harris administration’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced selections for the 2024 Renew America’s Schools Prize and Grant, a three-phase, $190 million investment to help K-12 public schools make energy upgrades that will decrease energy use and costs, improve indoor air quality, and foster healthier learning environments for students and teachers. DOE identified 21 phase-one winners who will earn a $300,000 cash prize for their work building teams and identifying facilities with compelling needs for improvements. In addition, 16 of these prize winners will advance to the next phases and enter cooperative agreements with DOE for up to $15 million in awards, with plans to invest in 320 school facilities across 25 states and directly benefitting over 123,000 students and 9,100 teachers. 

The now shuttered Bon Air elementary sits just down the street from Heather Beveridge, its towering presence a reminder of the school experience her two children could have.

Ms. Beveridge homeschools her 5 and 3-year-old boys — she said people at her church do it, too — but if the school was open, she’d probably send them there. The small Pittsburgh neighborhood has been without a community school since the elementary closed in 2008.

Elementary children in her neighborhood today attend Roosevelt PreK-5 in Carrick, about a 30 minute walk from Bon Air. But Bon Air, and Ms. Beveridge, continue to struggle with the loss of the neighborhood school.

“There are kids here, but it’s hard to see,” she said, her sons running through sprinklers on a hot July day. “If the school was open, I’m sure we’d have a lot more friends.”

A new Frederick County work group on school construction met for the first time on Thursday to discuss solutions for overcrowded schools and aging buildings.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed HB1016 into law in April, which mandated the formation of a committee to address significant Frederick County Public Schools facility construction issues.

Del. April Miller (R-4), who was voted chair of the work group at the meeting, said the biggest issues in FCPS are a rapid increase in county population growth, which leads to overcrowding, and an aging school infrastructure.

She said in an interview that she hopes the nine other members, leaders at the state and county levels, can be innovative in coming up with solutions to the lack of funding for school construction.

Approximately three acres of Park Terrace Park in eastern Carson City will be transferred to the school district at no cost following the Board of Supervisors unanimous approval of a resolution Thursday.

According to the resolution, the Carson City School District will cover all improvements and costs associated with the transfer including maintenance. CCSD will also provide public access to the acreage through a new fence when not in school use.

“When school is not in session or the property is not being used for school purposes, CCSD must permit public access and public recreational use of the field,” reads the resolution.

After a lot line adjustment, the 5.4 acres of Park Terrace Park will be reduced to 2.4 acres, but the transfer will benefit students at Empire Elementary, which is the smallest school in the district by acreage, according to school district officials.

“The city and the school district have been great partners for a very long time,” said CCSD Superintendent Andrew Feuling. “When Empire was built back in ’88, what was happening across the country is we were trying to find these joint-use opportunities, and so the idea that the elementary school is right next to the park, it was a very simple way to kind of be more efficient with land use — but clearly the world has changed a lot since then.”

CHESTERFIELD, Va. (WWBT) - On Thursday afternoon, Chesterfield school leaders cut a ribbon to commemorate a new chapter for Falling Creek Middle School, which will welcome students and teachers into a new building for the start of the school year on Aug. 19.
“My excitement is really for the community and the students,” said Falling Creek Middle School Principal Quincy Waller. “Throughout the past 10 months, it’s gone from just a skeletal structure to what you see here today.”
Chesterfield school leaders tell us this building is the county’s first 3-story middle school and the largest middle school in central Virginia.
The space, which includes a gym, cafeteria and classroom space, will have the capacity to serve 1,800 students.
 

The Eastern Cape Department of Education (ECDoE) in South Africa faces significant infrastructure challenges in rural schools, including inadequate funding, poor maintenance, and a shortage of essential facilities. These challenges hinder quality education provision and violate the Minimum Uniform Norms and Standards for Public School Infrastructure (MUNS-PSI) regulations. This study investigates these infrastructure challenges and proposes strategies to improve adherence to MUNS-PSI regulations. An interpretivist philosophy and inductive approach were adopted, focusing on a case study strategy. The study employed a mono-method qualitative approach, collecting data through semi-structured interviews with ten school managers and senior managers within the Chris Hani East District infrastructure delivery section. Purposive sampling was used to select participants, and thematic analysis was applied to the data. The findings revealed that the ECDoE lacks credible plans, sound systems, and effective leadership, resulting in poor governance and non-service delivery. Key challenges identified include the absence of a retention plan and a shortage of technological expertise. The study suggests forming a cross-functional group led by the head of the Department of Education to manage school infrastructure effectively. Training officials on technical skills related to the built environment and implementing the Infrastructure Delivery Management System are recommended. These strategies aim to enhance adherence to MUNS-PSI regulations, thereby improving the educational infrastructure and quality of education in the Eastern Cape.

Jefferson Union High School District used to lose a quarter of its staff every year, which meant that it began every school year scrambling to fill vacancies. That changed in 2022 when the Daly City-based district developed affordable housing for its staff.

The district built 122 units on school district-owned land that is now fully occupied by 25% of the district’s staff. Board member Andy Lie said the district is beginning the new school year with zero vacancies, a transformation he calls “remarkable” and “unheard of in public education.”

In January, legislation to ease zoning requirements for school districts interested in building affordable housing took effect. Jefferson Union High and a handful of other districts in the state are ahead of others in providing housing for both teachers and classified staff.

Districts with success stories, as well as local and state leaders, will be at an Aug. 14 housing summit convened by the California Department of Education (CDE). During a news conference Tuesday at department headquarters, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said schools own 75,000 acres of undeveloped land that could be used to build 2.3 million units. Thurmond wants to see these units built over the next eight years as a way to address California’s teacher shortage.

STAMFORD — A revised estimate for the total cost of a new Westhill High School has shot up 53 percent since the original budget for the project was presented in 2022.
The new total is now $461 million, a big jump from the $301 million project city officials originally expected.
Kemp Morhardt, a principal at SLAM Architects, described the elevated price as "sticker shock," but said the team working on the project has looked for ways to find savings.
“We have scrutinized this project and it is where the market is today," he said during a special meeting of the Board of Finance held Tuesday morning.
A big driver of the increased cost is escalation, which has "continued to increase in an unprecedented fashion since the pandemic," read an update posted to a website created by the city and dedicated to Stamford Public Schools construction projects.
 

ANCHORAGE, Ky. —
Students at Anchorage Public School are set to return to class a week from Wednesday, but the superintendent is requesting a delay.
In a letter to parents, superintendent Karen Solise said last week’s heavy rains caused roof leaks and led to the discovery of mold in the building.
Solise released a statement Wednesday morning.
"On July 22 and 23, heavy rains and roof leaks led to the discovery of mold within certain areas of the Anchorage Independent School District building," said Solise. "Professional mold and air testing has been taking place since that time. Using the protocol provided by the testing company, we have secured an expert mold evaluation and removal contractor which has already begun work, while simultaneously making roof repairs and HVAC adjustments as necessary, all following state and federal guidelines."
 

Central Grade School, a stately, red-brick building in Traverse City, has a long history. The first school building was constructed there in the 1870s, got expanded, and was severely damaged by a fire in the 1930s before getting rebuilt.

“You can see on that sign it used to be a junior high school,” said Suzannah Tobin, walking around the outside of the school, which is three stories tall at its highest point and stretches for a block on each side. Tobin is an architect who grew up in the area. Until recently, she served on the Historic Districts Commission.

Discussions of maintenance and renovations to Central Grade go back years; officials have said it needs major updates, like reopening a shuttered third floor that hasn’t been used by students since the 1970s due to health concerns. A 2023 facilities assessment recommended replacing the entire electrical distribution system.

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction took a first pass Wednesday at telling state lawmakers how much it would cost to fully protect students from the risks of carbon monoxide and radon gas in classrooms.

The answer: $85 million, though school facilities director Nathan Maune told the state Board of Education that numbers are preliminary.

Many older North Carolina schools don’t have carbon monoxide detectors, and radon mitigation systems in schools are almost unheard of.

Last year, the General Assembly ordered DPI to survey schools to figure out the cost of adding carbon monoxide detectors to older schools, as the building code now requires for new construction, and testing for radon.

Maune said not all school districts have responded to the survey, but so far it looks like almost 3,800 classroom buildings have fuel-burning boilers or appliances that could create a carbon monoxide leak.