Sticker shock hit the Community School District (CSD) Board of Trustees Jan. 8. Estimates for prioritized repairs to both schools came in around $1 million higher than expected, mostly for a new dry sprinkler system at the elementary school. 

“It was a surprise,” Chair Troy Lewis told the Register.  

In October, the board requested estimates to update old prices for a potential bond to repair what they defined as critical issues. The district said it prioritized repairs to systems that could cause significant disruptions to learning and cost significantly more if they fail.  

Wednesday, Alternative Organizational Structure 98 Superintendent Robert Kahler and Director of Facilities Dave Benner updated the trustees: After further research and several bids from contractors, the total estimate had increased from around $1.66 million to around $2.7 million.  

Repair issues at the high school include the roof, a fuel tank, two entrances and the heating and ventilation control system. At the elementary school, projects include the roof and parapets, and another fuel tank. Kahler reported estimates totaling $734,564 at the high school and $1,923,150 at the elementary school. 

DANVERS — Danvers Electric announced Wednesday that the newly installed solar arrays on Smith Elementary, Highlands Elementary and Danvers High School are now live.

The panels installed on these school rooftops are now generating clean, renewable energy directly integrated into towns public power supply.

Danvers Electric partnered with Solect Energy to complete the project that installed enough solar panels to generate 1.2 megawatts of power into Danvers homes each year.

“We are thrilled to bring these three systems online, delivering carbon-free, in-town electricity to our customers,” Electric Utility Director Clint Allen said.

“By leveraging this clean energy, we can reduce reliance on natural gas power plants and offset 950 metric tons of CO2 emissions each year, equivalent to removing over 200 gasoline-powered vehicles from the road.”

The Greenon Local School District is planning to put a permanent improvement levy on the May ballot after voters rejected a similar one in November.

The proposed five-year, 2.78-mill property tax levy would fund the construction of a new transportation facility, a multipurpose room at the athletic facility and the finishing of the “white space” of the K-6 elementary building, according to Superintendent Darrin Knapke. The board has other small projects as well such as updating the weight room and track repair plans.

The levy would generate $1,042,873 a year and cost a taxpayer $97.30 per $100,000 in appraised property value. The estimated cost of the new transportation facility is $1.5 million, plus $1.75 million for the elementary school work, and $400,000 for the multipurpose room, and other improvement projects around the district.

For Irina Contreras, a program manager for Los Angeles County's Department of Arts and Culture, outdoor education was a refuge for both her and her daughter during the pandemic.

Now, much of that refuge has been burned in the raging wildfires around Los Angeles.

Her 7-year-old daughter, Ceiba, hikes with a kid's adventure group called Hawks and attended Matilija, a bilingual forest school for preschool and kindergarten. Rain or shine, she and her friends would spend their days climbing, jumping, hiking, and swimming in places like Eaton Canyon Nature Area, a 77-hectare (190-acre) preserve near Altadena, now destroyed by fire.

Ceiba learned to ask plants for permission before taking samples to glue into her nature journal. Once, her group discovered a hidden path that led behind a waterfall. Ceiba couldn't stop talking about it for days.

For parents like Contreras, the wildfires have been devastating not just because of the loss of life and thousands of homes. They are mourning natural and educational areas that served as sanctuaries and learning spaces for local families, especially in the years since the pandemic. The fires have torn through natural areas that served every type of educational setting: public and private schools, nature-based preschools, homeschool groups, summer camps and more.

TOPEKA — Two Kansas legislators prefiled a bill that would deliver millions in voter-approved school bonds that were blocked earlier this year because of a strict ruling from the Kansas attorney general.

Voters in the Greeley County school district approved in May a $4.6 million school bond that was to be used for upgrades and renovations, but because the county — the smallest in Kansas with a population of just less than 1,200 — doesn’t have an elections website, the Kansas Attorney General’s Office refused to release the funds.

The Attorney General’s Office, which is responsible for validating every bond election in the state, decided the bond election didn’t meet legal standards. County officials didn’t adhere to a recent law requiring them to publish notice of a bond election three weeks in advance on a county elections website, in addition to a traditional newspaper notice, the office said.

A New Hampshire elementary school was closed for inspection after hundreds of large bats were found hibernating in the building, forcing staff to dodge the flying pests.
Richards Elementary School in Newport was closed on Monday after staff began falling ill from the infestation. 
Newport School District Superintendent Donna Magoon told WMUR that hundreds of 'huge' bats were discovered at the school.
'They were hiding in poles, they were hanging from ceilings, they were everywhere,' she said. 
'I think people are thinking it's little, tiny black bats. It's not! It's huge,' she added.
Magoon added that the situation was worse than some may have thought.
'People are saying "it's just a bat", but bats carry rabies,' she told Valley News. 'If you work with young kids, [you know] if they see a bat they're going to try to touch it.'
The discovery came after staff illnesses prompted air-quality testing, Magoon told WMUR. 
'There's no type of mold or anything in our air, so what else could it be,' she said. 
The New Hampshire Department of Education said in a statement that it 'is aware of the situation...and has been in communication with its school leaders.'
'NHED will continue to correspond with school officials to ensure that students have a safe and healthy place to learn and that the bat infestation is adequately resolved,' it wrote. 

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- A local elementary school has been recognized for its efforts to reduce energy usage and its carbon footprint.

Johnson Elementary School has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Certification for superior energy performance.

According to a release, such buildings are verified to perform in the top 25 percent of buildings in the country, based on weather normalized source energy use that considers occupancy, hours of operation and other metrics.

“We’re honored to earn the ENERGY STAR for superior energy performance at Johnson Elementary School and appreciate the efforts of everyone who has been involved in its efficient operation,” said Kirk Vizzier, the City of Charlottesville’s energy management coordinator. “Saving energy is just one of the ways we show our community we care, and that we’re committed to doing our part to protect the environment and public health, both today and for future generations.”

WASHINGTON — Several public schools in the District are working to fix heating issues in the frigid cold. According to a DC Public Schools spokesperson, families at eleven schools have been notified of the issues. 

Deal Middle School Principal Diedre Neal sent a letter to parents saying the school is working with the DCPS Operations and Facilities team and the Department of General Services (DGS) to get a handle on the issue.

"DGS has dispatched contractors to evaluate the system and initiate repairs. While we await the permanent fix, we will continue working with our DCPS and DGS partners to arrange temporary heating solutions such as space or hanging heaters, or moving students to warmer spaces when necessary and possible," Neal wrote.

The Albia School Board heard a presentation on the facilities Master Plan for the district during their November meeting before approving it.
They heard from superintendent Richard Montgomery, Laura Peterson from Invision Architecture and Pete Perez from Boyd Jones as well as Kristin Mick and Ryan Ammons as members of the task force. that helped shape the plan.
Superintendent Montgomery stated that a lot of work had been done over the past year to help develop a master plan to present to the board.
The process began after the community failed to support a PPEL levy. The board and district decided to take a step back to evaluate their plans and to get more input from more community members about what they wanted the future of the district to look like. 
 “The Master Plan is intended to be fluid,,” said Perez. “It’s intended to be a live working document as you move through several years of facility improvements at the various locations.
Perez said that the district completed a facility assessment around 2017 and that spurred some improvements in the district. It also gave the district some priorities to focus on if they could get funding in place.
 

Nobody in a school district knows the school campus and grounds better than maintenance and engineering managers, says Kenneth Trump, president, National School Safety and Security Service.  
“Facility managers should have a seat at the table and be an integral part of each school’s and district’s safety and emergency teams,” Trump says. “They not onlyknow the physical operations but also, along with their staff, are the ‘eyes and ears’ of the school, who know who is coming, going and present on campus all day and evening.” 
Using these insights, managers can tailor safety protocols to each emergency. For example, in weather-related emergencies, the focus might be on securing windows, doors and electrical equipment. 
 

A work group tasked with reviewing school construction funding in Frederick County Public Schools does not recommend having private companies work in partnership with the district to design, build, manage or finance new or renovated schools.

School construction funding in FCPS has been a topic of concern due to a rapidly growing student population, which in turn overpopulates schools and leads to an aging school infrastructure.

Due to the rapid growth, and a lack of state funding, the school district is struggling to maintain old school buildings and build new schools with the state funding available.

The Frederick County School Construction Master Plan work group met for a final time last month and released a report on Dec. 19 with recommendations on how to balance funding with the educational demands of FCPS.

The work group recommended not moving forward with public-private partnerships because the construction projects are completed more slowly and cost more.

County Mayor Weston Wamp and Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Justin Robertson on Wednesday proposed $32 million to address deferred maintenance and facility improvements across the district.

This funding is part of $60 million designated from the bond issue in August, the result of a budget compromise between the county and the school system in FY2024.

County Mayor Wamp said, “This investment is an important step to ensuring our county’s school facilities meet the needs of students, empower teachers, and give condence to parents.

"The majority of projects will focus on essential maintenance, including HVAC upgrades, roof replacements, athletic facility improvements, and other critical infrastructure investments aimed at strengthening the safety, functionality, and longevity of school facilities. This initial expenditure underscores the county and school system’s shared commitment to leveraging funds eciently and eectively to benet students, teachers, and the broader community.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Superintendent Mary Skipper officially announced on Tuesday that they plan to close three schools, including Excel High School in South Boston, at the end of the 2025-2026 school year.

Dever Elementary School and Mary Lyon Pilot High School would also close while the Winthrop and Clap elementary schools would merge. The merged school would move into the current Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School building near Grove Hall after that school closes this spring.

Wu said these proposals come after three years of “focused intentional work to get this right for every student and family.”

“Every family recognizes that these facilities issues are not new to the district,” said Wu. “I have a fourth grader and a second grader in BPS. I’ve seen directly how many stops and starts the district has had and the needs and gaps that have been holding us back for a very long time now.”

A San Francisco agency responsible for making sure all 259 public and private schools in the city are safe and prepared for fires and emergencies failed to inspect more than a third of them in fiscal 2017-18 — including 26 facilities the department didn’t know existed. 

An audit of the San Francisco Fire Department’s Bureau of Fire Prevention by the city’s controller found systemic failure in the agency’s facilities database, inspection data tracking system, and foundational culture, including a lack of formal ethical guidelines. In 2018, the same year it skipped 95 schools, the bureau also failed to inspect 689 businesses.

The audit covered inspections conducted from the 2016-17 to the 2018-19 fiscal years and did not include updated comprehensive data through 2024, when the report was completed. But when staff from the controller’s office met with fire officials in May to relay the findings, they learned that nearly all of the issues remained unresolved. 

NORTHFIELD — The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) has invited the Pioneer Valley Regional School District into its eligibility program for building a new school, the first major step in what could be a years-long process.

The MSBA’s board of directors extended the invitation to Pioneer for Northfield Elementary School — although the district has submitted all three of its schools — during its Dec. 13 meeting, which begins a 270-day period to complete several prerequisites before facing another vote to enter the actual feasibility study stage. During that same meeting, the MSBA also voted to invite the Athol-Royalston Regional School District into the eligibility period for Athol High School.

“It’s really ramping up the work of this long process of potentially building a new school,” said Pioneer’s Director of Finance and Operations Jordan Burns, emphasizing that no money has been spent thus far. “This isn’t an approval to build a new school building, it’s approval to continue the process.”

If every rural school district in Nevada had the funds it needed to keep all buildings modernized, the Nye County School District would do the kind of routine but necessary maintenance it does now — just faster.
The district is getting by, but it would like to do so a little more comfortably.
“There are roofs that could be replaced sooner than later. But we must cope with what we can afford,” said Joe Schmidt, the Nye County district’s director of maintenance, operations and safety and security. “HVAC, every year, it’s one year older, and that’s a silly thing to say, but we don’t want these units to be 25, 30, 40 years old because then they fail more than they work. And you close school when that happens.”
Nye County School District covers a sprawling 18,000-square-mile area. Its population center, Pahrump, is about an hour from Las Vegas. Its smallest country schools are in far corners of the county as much as a four-hour drive from the Pahrump base.
 

The United School District of Antigo is asking for the support of the Antigo City Council on a school district application to a FEMA grant program used for building natural disaster shelters.

The Antigo City Council at its committee of the whole meeting on Jan. 2 discussed the request from the school district to become a sub-applicant on a potential grant application. The discussion was advanced to the city council’s Jan. 8 regular meeting, and will be discussed again during that meeting.

Jordan Buss, a consultant working with the school district on a grant opportunity, told the city council that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) offers a grant program to help communities nationwide build emergency shelter spaces and help areas reduce risk from natural disasters.

Buss, a longtime school board member from Spencer Wisconsin and owner of JBAD Solutions LLC Consulting firm, said he’s worked with 12 communities in recent years to secure FEMA funding to build natural disaster shelters that can also be used for other spaces, like athletics complexes, gymnasiums and other spaces.

Buss said the grant program is an effort by FEMA to help save local, state and federal funds previously used to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by natural disasters, by creating emergency shelter spaces to mitigate risk.

Heath City Schools recently announced it finished paying off construction bonds that will allow property owners to see a decrease in their tax bills this year.

In a Facebook post, the district said the Licking County Budget Commission approved its request to call the bonds, which can occur prior to their maturity date. The district in the post stated it would pay off the outstanding balance of the bonds and “all debt will be satisfied.” 

“The Heath City School District prides itself on being a great steward of the tax money allocated to us,” Superintendent Trevor Thomas said in a news release. “The payoff is happening earlier than we planned, but with an increase in collections we are able to save taxpayers on future interest payments, and with a decrease in their property tax bill in 2025. It is a win-win.” 

TOPEKA — The Kansas Attorney General’s Office blocked millions in school bond funds to a district in the state’s smallest county based on a rigid interpretation of a 2023 elections law. 

Voters in the Greeley County school district, headquartered in Tribune near the state’s westernmost edge, approved in May a $4.6 million school bond for renovations and new construction, but the Attorney General’s Office refused to approve the funds. 

“I feel like we have ignored a core tenet of our society and our government as a whole,” said John Niehues, the district superintendent. “You know, it’s the will of the people.”

The Attorney General’s Office determines whether any bond issue across the state meets legal standards. The Greeley County schools decision relied on a 2023 elections reform bill. It created a state law requiring county election officials to publish notice of an election three weeks in advance on a county election website, in addition to a traditional newspaper notice. 

However, Greeley County, with a population of about 1,200, doesn’t have a website.

The office found the county clerk’s “non-compliance with the website notification” was equal to a failure to follow the law, said Danedri Herbert, a spokeswoman for the attorney general. 

“This determination is purely one of compliance verification and not a judgment on the merits of or need for the bond in question,” she said. 

SHELBYVILLE — In the coming years, several schools in Shelby County will start to look a bit different, both inside and out. But building a brand new elementary school is not in the picture.
The Shelby County Public Schools Board of Education held a special meeting to discuss the details of renovations to multiple schools in the district. Representatives explained the renovations, how they will be used and how much they will cost.
West Middle School will undergo the most minor renovations. The upgrades and additions include a secure vestibule entrance, a new intercom system, and classroom PA systems.
To create the secure vestibule, the construction team will take part of the current vice principal’s office and remove a window to create the new front door.
After construction, the new smaller office will be given to the school’s resource officer. The current doors will remain and may be used for nighttime activities, sports, or car rider pickup and drop-off per the principal’s discretion. The new front doors will be decked out in security with a new buzzing system, badge reader and secure lock.
“The benefit here is that they will have a visual of who is coming to the front doors, the A phone check-in on the outer door, and an A phone check-in on the inner door,” said SCPS Superintendent Josh Matthews.