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.

The fate of this upcoming school year for approximately 12,000 Guam Department of Education students remains murky. 

As GDOE clarifies, 19 public schools look to have their doors shut as they await sanitary inspections by Public Health. 

The legislature headed into day two of an emergency session with education and Public Health officials as they sort out if Bill 317, which seeks to keep schools pending inspections open, is a solution worth passing. 

Francine Salas is a Health Management Analyst with the Department of Public Health’s Division of Environmental Health and she said, “The thing is, once the school hits 41 demerits, they cannot operate. They pretty much failed the inspection. So should Bill 317 pass the way it is written now and they had failed before the enactments, they wouldn't be able to operate if we were to shut down that school.” 

Salas added whether or not the legislation passes has a greater impact on Guam DOE. 

However, on the DEH inspector's end, she said on average, inspection of a school takes roughly one week. 

The start of the school year begins Aug. 8. 

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.

WENDELL, N.C. (WTVD) -- The first day of school is never a good time for the air conditioning in a heat wave to stop working, but that's exactly what happened for students at Lake Myra Elementary in Wendell.

"It felt sweaty," said kindergarten student Trace.

Trace was just one of the pupils who barely got through orientation on his first day of kindergarten before about an hour later parents got the call to pick up their children. A broken AC unit made the classroom unbearable.

"When they're so excited they're starting kindergarten, you're trying to get them into a routine and you're just not sure day to day if you're going to be able to go to school or not, it makes it hard," said Trace's mom Ashley Harris.

For parents, the quick turnaround was a challenge. The Wake County Public School System told ABC11 that it has the parts on hand and HVAC specialists are making the repairs.

Two-thirds of Vancouver high schools are considered at high risk of severe damage or collapse during an earthquake, according to a report from the Vancouver school district.
That means more than 21,000 students in the 2023-24 school year were enrolled in high schools that B.C. engineers determined could collapse in an earthquake. A disproportionately high number of the schools are in southeast Vancouver, where there are no seismically safe high schools.

For now, the schoolyard at Samuel Clemens School in Milwaukee is a large slab of asphalt with a few basketball hoops in the corner. The only shade cover is provided by a row of trees near the fence — away from any play areas — and a metal structure without any seating.

Allyson Moore, the school support teacher, said students often cool off in the shaded areas before dashing back to games they're playing in the center of the asphalt. Recess time is limited, and they want to make the most of it despite the sometimes high temperatures.

However, recess is set to look very different for students at Clemens in fall 2025.

Thanks to a $12 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Urban and Community Forestry Program to a group of applicants from Milwaukee, the school's yard will soon include a turf soccer field, outdoor classroom seating, raised garden beds, a GaGa Ball Pit and 45 stormwater trees to provide shade. About 43,100 square feet of asphalt will be replaced with synthetic grass, native plants, bioswales and walking paths.