Coaches and principals in the Los Angeles Unified School District, get your sports wish lists together. The Board of Education approved a resolution Tuesday to use money from Measure RR to upgrade, modernize and develop athletic facilities at high schools across the district.

The measure was approved by voters this year and provides $7 billion to update school facilities.

District staff have been directed to return in 90 days with a plan for selecting and funding projects.

Roosevelt High baseball coach Ray Ruiz put out a note that his school hopes an expansion of the football field and upgrade of baseball and softball fields will take place after a building comes down at the school in 2023.

SEASIDE — After years of discussion, the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District board voted Tuesday night to close Highland Elementary and Foothill Elementary before the 2022-2023 school year and close Walter Colton Middle before the start of the 2023-2024 school year.

The school consolidations come after years of decreasing enrollment in the district and projections for that trend to continue. Over the past 10 years, the district’s enrollment shrunk by 1,016 students or 9.8%.

“Rather than kind of putting it off and kicking the can down the road, the board made the decision to put a thoughtful plan in place where we can right-size the district to reflect our declining enrollment but do it in a thoughtful way where we’re able to really plan and thoughtfully transition to a new model with less schools,” MPUSD Superintendent PK Diffenbaugh said.

Diffenbaugh said enrollment at Foothill is down to 246 students while Highland is at 285 students, adding that a “healthy” enrollment to financially support those schools is usually around 400 students. Diffenbaugh said the district’s enrollment decline accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

MURFREESBORO, TN (WSMV) - The Rutherford County Commission voted to adopt a School Facilities Tax in lieu of the Rutherford County Development Tax at its meeting last week.

The change becomes effective July 1.

Under the Rutherford County Development Tax, Rutherford County currently imposes a tax on each residential development in the amount of $1,500. Beginning July 1, in lieu of the Rutherford County Development Tax, a School Facilities Tax of $1 per square foot will be assessed for each residential development project in accordance with the provisions of the County Powers Relief Act. Fifty percent of the School Facilities Tax must be paid prior to a building permit being issued and the remaining 50% must be paid prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy.

“The County Commission and I have worked to find solutions to adding revenue to offset the demands upon the public school system caused by population growth,” Rutherford County Mayor Bill Ketron said in a news release. “The County Powers Relief Act gives us the ability to do that by implementing a School Facilities Tax. Funds collected by Building and Codes for the purpose of this tax will be used exclusively for funding capital expenditures for education.”

Ketron anticipates that with Rutherford County’s growth that an additional $6 to $8 million will be collected.

ROCK HILL, S.C. — When Rock Hill schools close for the summer, three of the district’s elementary schools won’t reopen. The district says closing Finley Road, Rosewood, and Belleview elementary schools will save it around $28 million over the next five years.
“We realize the change is difficult,” said Rock Hill School Board Chair Helena Miller. “We are trying to use our taxpayer dollars and educate kids. Money really needs to go into the classrooms and not to pay for buildings.”
Miller said all three schools have low enrollment – some as low as 50% – and aging buildings. Shutting down the schools and reassigning students will save the district around $28 million, plus an additional estimated $750,000 per year in maintenance and utility costs.
But some families who attend the schools say it’s a sad day.  Jessica Ivey was picking up her nephew on his last day of school at Belleview Elementary, and reminiscing of her own days as a student there.
“I’m real sad because I went to this school,” she said, adding “It’s grown a lot. It used to be just a small school. It’s really an emotional time.”
Other parents shared that they’re grateful to the teachers and staff for all the work they’ve put in.
“I have a daughter – she’s 9, Rosemary -- who goes to this school, and I have three boys that I pick up every day from this school. They’re all upset,” Tania Rosas said.
 

Hundreds of workers will still be private employees. Service requests will still go to a central staff. There will still be a vendor contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

But after years of outsourced management that featured filthy schools and slow service response times, the cleaning and maintenance of Chicago Public Schools’ 600-plus buildings is coming back under district control in October, with promises from district officials for increased staffing, better transparency and improved response times.

A year after announcing it would transition away from its maligned relationship with Aramark and Sodexo, the district on Monday is unveiling its new facilities management model — including a three-year, $375 million contract with new vendor Jones Lang LaSalle — that officials hope will fix longstanding problems.

The move is the latest in a series of initiatives — along with a new district-wide curriculum, a COVID-19 recovery plan and the regained control of schools under private management — announced in the last couple weeks of outgoing CEO Janice Jackson’s tenure.

Under the old model, fully implemented in 2017, vendors Aramark and Sodexo had complete control of CPS’ building upkeep, from janitorial work to landscaping, snow removal and pest control services. Any subcontracts went through those two vendors, as did principals’ service requests. And the vendors had their own management and human resources staffing.

This year the state has the opportunity to address massive inequities in our education funding system. We have an unexpected budget surplus, a large “rainy day fund” and a one-time influx of federal dollars.
Yet rather than choosing to live up to the Constitution’s demand that the state provide a “general and uniform” public school education for all Arizona children, our legislators are considering a tax cut that predominantly benefits only the wealthiest Arizonans.
It doesn’t need to be this way. Our state has a unique opportunity this year to address the unfairness of a system under which districts with high property wealth consistently get to spend 300-400% of what districts without that wealth can spend on capital needs.
We could responsibly provide districts with the resources to keep their facilities in good shape, to buy buses when they are needed, to enable all school districts to have up-to-date technology, quality air conditioners, walls that are not crumbling, and reasonable safety and security to protect our students and teachers.
Instead, our legislators are being asked to vote for a budget that continues to shortchange our children.
Rich schools can fund repairs. Poor schools can't
For so many years, the Legislature and the governor justified gutting capital funding for schools on the basis that Arizona had to make difficult decisions because of the Great Recession. It is a fact that Arizona cut more school funding during the recession than any other state.
And we have consistently ranked among the very bottom of states nationwide in our funding of schools. Our districts are being asked to educate our kids using $5,000 less per child than the average state. Year after year, our school districts’ capital budgets were slashed up to 85%.
 

The infrastructure crisis facing West Virginia, and other rural states across America, is not just confined to our roads and bridges. This crisis also affects our school buildings and other school-related infrastructure, especially in the most rural counties.
This infrastructure includes broadband access. The COVID crisis laid bare the importance of broadband as essential infrastructure for the 21st century for learning and working.
Lack of adequate school building infrastructure is not only bad for the health and well-being of our students and teachers, it also hurts the pride of our communities.
In a state that has been losing population, it is hard for counties lacking up-to-date school facilities to attract new people if we cannot compete with surrounding states.
New, modern school facilities will also save our communities much needed money on utility bills; this is money that can be used elsewhere to improve education outcomes for our children.
Expanded broadband access will make certain we are prepared for future public health crises, and that students can seamlessly learn remotely when necessary.
Luckily, we have a tremendous opportunity right now to change these dynamics in our state. The American Jobs Plan calls for building, preserving, and retrofitting more than two million homes and commercial buildings, modernizing our nation’s schools and child care facilities, and upgrading veterans’ hospitals and federal buildings. This will not only create good jobs that our communities need, but also improve educational outcomes.
Too many students attend school in buildings that are run-down, unsafe, and pose health risks. These conditions do not create a positive learning environment for our kids and exist disproportionately in schools with a high percentage of low-income students.
 

An alliance of state organizations is hosting a “crumbling schools tour” and inviting local, state and federal lawmakers to participate.

Virginia’s Coalition of Small and Rural Schools is working with several other organizations to showcase eight examples of schools in urgent need of repair or replacement.

“Although the condition of school facilities in Virginia is well documented, the crumbling schools tour will allow decision makers to have a first-hand account of the conditions our students and staff endure on a daily basis,” according to information promoting the tour.

The tour starts Tuesday at King and Queen Elementary, which was built in 1937, in Mattaponi in King and Queen County. The Department of Education divides Virginia into eight regions, and one school from each region has been selected for the tour, according to Keith Perrigan, president of the Coalition of Small and Rural Schools and the superintendent of Bristol schools.

In recent weeks, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe; current Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax; Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, who chairs a new committee on school construction needs; and Dels. Jay Jones, D-Norfolk, and Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, visited Bristol city schools. All were candidates in this month’s Democratic primaries for statewide office.

“As legislators from across Virginia toured our facilities this spring, it became very apparent that a firsthand look at school facility needs in areas outside their immediate area were enlightening,” Perrigan said. “Our coalition and partner organizations decided that a tour in every region in the commonwealth would be a very good way to draw attention to these issues and to share the message that localities can’t do it on their own. Adding an urban division to the tour (Petersburg) demonstrates that this issue is not only a rural issue, but urban as well.”

Two years of planning pays off this summer as construction starts on several major building projects.
There are three elementary school replacement projects that are scheduled to take two years to complete. Phase II modernization of a high school will take place over the next year. Plus, three school addition projects are scheduled to take one year as is a project to replace several systems in one school building. Lastly, the end of the school year kicks off multiple smaller projects traditionally done during summer break.
Replacement Projects
All three schools include sustainable design features that work toward the district's net-zero energy goals and eliminate the use of fossil fuels. Geothermal heating and energy-efficient LED lighting reduce energy usage. Each school is being built to accommodate installation of solar panels in the future.
 

Cindy Soule’s fourth-graders lined up outside of Gerald E. Talbot Community School in Portland, ready to walk to their outdoor classroom. Soule taught the morning math lesson inside, and the student spent the remainder of the school day outdoors.
Each student carried a 5-gallon plastic bucket, which holds all of their supplies for their reading lesson: a notebook, pen, a book and a snack.
“It’s very fun to be outside instead of sitting inside all day. I prefer it more,” said Francis Orlandi, 10.
Francis and the rest of his classmates walked about 50 yards down the sidewalk and arrived at their classroom: a blue canopy with two wooden picnic tables, a few big rocks and lush green trees and flowers nearby.
Soule’s class is one of hundreds of outdoor classrooms that have popped up across Maine this year since the coronavirus pandemic upended traditional schooling. Now, Portland Public Schools have become a national leader in outdoor education.
“I can’t have two to a rock,” Soule said as the students found their seats. Social distancing is still a thing, after all.
 

After enduring a decade of crowding in its elementary schools that was only partly remedied by contentious boundary changes and expanded campuses, the Boca Raton region is about to get its first large scale solution: a new elementary school. 
Palm Beach County school leaders ceremonially broke ground on a 1,000-seat elementary school just south of Don Estridge High Tech Middle Wednesday afternoon.
Work on the nearly $30 million, yet-to-be-named campus is expected to be completed by the fall of 2022. 
The region from Linton Boulevard to the south county line is home to 13 elementary schools, a handful of which have been rebuilt from the ground up, but this will be the first new school to go up since Sunrise Park opened in 2001.
While construction doesn't get fully underway until this summer, the 15 acres where it will be built along Military Trail has been hosting students on campus two years. 
 

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- A test, required annually by the Commonwealth of Virginia, to protect drinking water is not being done consistently by the Chesterfield County Public School System (CCPS).
A former CCPS maintenance worker, who asked the CBS 6 Problem Solvers to protect his identity, said he warned district leaders they were not keeping up with the required backflow preventer testing.
A backflow device is installed to prevent contamination by keeping water flowing in one direction.
"I told them that they were putting a lot of lives in jeopardy by not adhering to the laws," the former CCPS employee said. “Once I didn't get any indication that they were actually proceeding in the right direction, it really it started bothering me. I realized, of course, that it was widespread."
The employee took his school and public water contamination concerns to the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), along with pictures and videos of water lines that lacked inspection tags.
 

Voter approval of the June 22 school referendum will set the stage for the future of education in Grand Forks, bring facilities up to date, and provide a safe and equitable learning experience for all K-12 students – no matter where in the district the student lives, proponents say.

A yes vote “really illustrates that there’s support for the entire school district,” Superintendent Terry Brenner told the Herald editorial board.

Within the $86 million bond issue, “there is something for every campus, whether that’s safety and security, reconfiguring our front doors and office designs, moving offices to create safer sightlines to allow people in or not allow people in,” Brenner said.

“Classrooms really ought to have more than two outlets for the technological world we live in and our learning environments need spaces where our students can create and critically think and collaborate,” he said, noting the need for flexible spaces, unlike the traditional classroom, “that can be repurposed for anything from extra- to co-curriculars to academics – that just provides more opportunities.”

Safety and security, equity and learning spaces have been among the primary factors in much of the conversation about whether to renovate structures or build a new school, Brenner said.

“We really want to set up the community for the next generation with how our schools will be,” he said. “We also know that we’re part of this economic engine that drives the community.”

US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona says there "is much work to be done" to continue the progress being made on school reopenings nationwide. He notes the biggest challenges include aging school buildings and ventilation, adequate transportation, and ensuring overall equity and access to education, according to a memo Cardona sent President Biden's Chief of Staff Ron Klain on Friday that was obtained exclusively by CNN.

The memo outlines Cardona's findings from visiting 10 schools across nine states and Washington, DC, to observe how districts were handling reopening more than a year into the coronavirus pandemic. In some cases, he suggested the $130 billion of American Rescue Plan funding destined for schools could help districts address those challenges.
"I saw firsthand during my tour how difficult the school year has been for students, parents, teachers, and school staff," Cardona wrote. "Whether the school had just recently transitioned into a hybrid model or been fully open for months, the work has been challenging for all."

Since January, the number of public school districts offering hybrid or full-time in-person education has been on the rise, with more than 90% of K-8 schools open in April, according to the latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics. That does not, however, include high schools, which have reopened at a slower pace than elementary and middle schools.
That number is also not reflective of student attendance, which hovers just over 50% for fourth-graders and just over 40% for eighth-graders attending school fully in-person for the month of April.
In his memo to Klain, Cardona notes the racial and ethnic disparity in school enrollment, citing April 2021 data from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).

WEST HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — It’s more than a hundred years old and has served it’s purpose; Washington Elementary is now set to be torn down – making way for a brand new state of the art school.

“I’m sure that when it was built it was a great school, but it just doesn’t meet the needs and it needs to go,” said Neil Cavallaro, West Haven school superintendent.

It’s made possible thanks to a 400-million dollar construction grant for priority schools across the state. The bond chair state representative Dorinda Borer helped secure the 24-million dollar funding.

“It has no elevator, the restrooms are in the basement, the stairs are roped off…it’s not a facility that is conducive to learning,” said Borer.

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (7News) — June 11 marked the last day of classes for students in Fairfax County Public Schools, but that didn't stop members of the Environmental Club at Woodson High School from returning to campus early Monday morning.
They plan to take turns all summer, caring for the school garden that's giving back to the community.
"Getting into the harvesting and growing the food has really opened my eyes. It's changed me," said 16-year-old Kimberly Austin, a rising senior at Woodson. "It's made me more aware of the people who are in need of food in our communities."
That's because the garden that Austin and her fellow Environmental Club members have planted is now helping families in need in Fairfax County, as their harvests are all donated to local food banks.
"I was approached by the Fairfax Food Council, their urban agriculture work group, and they said hey, do you want to form a partnership with us," explained Woodson biology teacher Lauren Kinne, who serves as staff sponsor to the school's Environmental Club. "They said we'd love for you to expand your food garden, and we'd love for you to donate it to a local food bank. And that's something in my heart that I've always wanted to do."
The partnership comes as food insecurity has soared since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and food banks have seen increased demand as a result.
 

Carson City School District is moving ahead with several capital projects this summer ranging from campus expansions to athletic facility improvements.
Director of Operations Services Mark Korinek provided an update to the Board of Trustees in May on the most recent revision to the Capital Improvements Plan highlighting four major developments that are or will be active in the next few months or beyond.
The plan constantly reflects work from six years ago. Construction costs have escalated, impacting certain priorities, for example, the potential purchase of the former Capital Christian Church property at 1600 Snyder Ave., which also remains represented on the CIP, Korinek noted.
And notably this past year, the pandemic, too, had an effect on CCSD’s plan for its capital projects.
“COVID put a big delay (on these projects),” Korinek said at the May 25 meeting, going on to describe its biggest projects of significance this summer.
The largest project is the Eagle Valley Middle School expansion project, adding 23,000 square feet to the campus with 10 classrooms, two STEM labs, office and workroom space, restrooms and storage areas, and an existing SMART lab will be moved. The project begins Monday with a planned completion date for July 2022. The anticipated budget is approximately $14 million. The district hired CORE Construction as the contractor.
Carson High School’s turf resurfacing and track improvement project is scheduled to start Monday with planned completion for Aug. 13. The original turf was installed 13 years ago, and Korinek said the district has been “lucky and successful” with its maintenance.

BRISTOL, Va. — Deep inside the bowels of Highland View Elementary lies the 84-year-old school’s original boiler, a wall filled with electrical panels served by an aging nest of wires that carry power throughout the building and a sign on a vent warning “Danger: asbestos.”
When former Gov. Terry McAuliffe recently toured the space, he was admonished “not to touch anything.”
The Virginia Department of Education recommended that the city close Highland View in 1999 because it reached the end of its functional life. Some 22 years later, the school — which serves many of the city’s most economically challenged families — continues operating with no end in sight.
It has undergone a series of upgrades to address air quality, water quality, a leaking roof, handicapped accessibility and other issues. The Bristol Virginia School Board has worked for more than a decade to establish a replacement, but the money has never been available.
Virginia is full of Highland Views.
A new report by the Virginia Department of Education reveals 1,040 of the state’s 2,005 school buildings are 50 or more years old. That includes 55% of all Virginia elementary schools, 45% of middle schools and 46% of all high schools.
 

A major seismic event at the Cascadia Subduction Zone could strand most Pacific Northwest coast residents for weeks wherever they are when the earthquake and tsunami hit.
At about 9 p.m. on Jan. 26, 1700, an estimated magnitude 8.7 to 9.2 earthquake rippled the Earth through coastal villages from northern California to Washington. The offshore quake resulted in a tsunami, bringing a series of flooding waves to the coast throughout the night, which caused the most significant damage and loss of life.
Scientists have determined that such events historically occur in the Pacific Northwest every 500 years, on average, with smaller magnitude 8 events every 200-300 years. According to the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, “the odds over the next 50 years range from about one in three for a magnitude 8 in southern Oregon to about one in eight for a magnitude 9 spanning the entire subduction zone.”
“We don’t know when it’s going to happen, but we know it’s going to happen eventually,” Sue Graves, safety coordinator for the Lincoln County School District, said. If it happens when students and staff are at school, they’ll be faced with the same challenge as people in homes and businesses — surviving for an extended period of time on whatever is there. Because of the anticipated damage to roads inland, it will probably be weeks before outside help arrives to the coast, and local damage could isolate residents by neighborhood and block.
“We can really expect that basic services and basic needs are going to be really difficult. Roads will be closed, water systems won’t work, communications won’t work, we’re not going to be able to go to the store to buy food,” Graves said.
 

The Fulton and Atlanta school districts are preparing to ask voters to renew a one-cent sales tax to pay for building upgrades, technology and other expenses.

The Atlanta school board recently agreed to place a five-year extension of the Educational Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax on the Nov. 2 ballot. The Fulton school board is scheduled to vote Thursday to do the same.

Fulton County Schools could receive more than $1.2 billion if Fulton voters approve the tax. Atlanta Public Schools, which straddles Fulton and DeKalb counties, would collect an estimated $650 million if residents in both counties support the measure.

Sales-tax revenue is a key way Georgia districts pay for new schools and building upgrades. It’s also how they keep up with technology, transportation and security needs.

The Fulton school system is further along in its planning work than APS, where the board is not expected to sign off on a detailed list of projects until October.