WACO, Texas — A $376.1 million facilities master plan will being presented to the Waco ISD board Thursday evening. 
The plan comes with recommendations made by the Community Advisory Committee, which consisted of more than 60 parents, educators and other community members, after they studied Waco ISD's long-term facility needs over the past five months.
"It's a comprehensive plan, it's ambitious and we want to bring that forward to the board," Dr. Susan Kincannon said, Waco ISD's superintendent. 
The plan includes replacing four of the district's oldest schools.
When it came to replacing these campuses with larger buildings, the committee suggested the following:
Build a large enough campus to replace G.W. Carver Middle School that could also accommodate students attending Indian Spring Middle School
Build a large enough campus to replace Kendrick Elementary that could also serve students attending Alta Vista Elementary
It is anticipated that moving forward with this project would cost about $376.1 million. This cost includes renovations at a different elementary school, but the district didn't say which one in its release.
 

DANVILLE Va. – The approval of the referendum regarding the 1 percent increase on local sales tax has been under scrutiny by some Danvillians since its announcement a couple of weeks ago. This tax is aimed at funding the improvement of Danville Public Schools (DPS) infrastructure. It will not be applied to food, drugs or pharmaceuticals.
During the Danville School Board meeting held Thursday, June 3, superintendent Dr. Angela Hairston assured the Danville community of the importance of this new tax.
Board member Brandon Atkins was firm in his stance towards funding Danville Public school infrastructure.
“This is an investment that needs to be done… people that haven’t been [to Danville] in a while are amazed by the current state of the city. We want people to feel this way about our public schools.” Atkins said. He is right that there is a need and duty of Danville to participate and support the facilitation of education. Superintendent Hairston further added to Atkins’s statement, “Most of our schools are 50 years old and do not meet the requirements needed for our students and teachers to succeed.”
There seems to be unanimity among Dr. Hairston and members of the school board for this raised tax.
 

Several area school districts closed early today as an official heat wave hit the region and coronavirus precautions — such as wearing masks — added to the discomfort of students and teachers.
The National Weather Service in Norton, Massachusetts, said a heat wave is categorized as three consecutive days of 90 degrees or hotter.
Since Saturday, temperatures at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks have reached that mark, and today’s highs were expected to be in the mid-90s, Alan Dunham, meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said.
“Today would be the third day, marking an official heat wave,” he said.
Vernon Superintendent Joseph Macary noted that a heat advisory — when the heat index values reach between 95 and 99 — is in effect for Hartford and Tolland counties, making it a less than ideal learning environment.
COVID-19 precautions also come into play.
“The X factor this time was the masks,” Macary said, as teachers and students are still required to wear masks when indoors.
Contributing to excessive heat is the lack of air conditioners in many classrooms, meaning windows and doors would have to be opened, bringing in more hot and humid air, he said.
“By 1 or 2 o’clock, it’s going to be extremely hot in those classrooms,” Macary said.
 

In 2018, parents of students attending Jersey City’s Rafael Cordero y Molina Public School were concerned about the heat.
During heat waves, the aging Hamilton Park school, also known as School 37, got so hot that students were sent home early. So parents raised more than $20,000 and bought air conditioners for the building.
But as New Jersey bakes under the first heat wave of the year, those 3-year-old air conditioners still have not been installed.
The situation at School 37 illustrates the dilemma that schools across Jersey City face. Out of the district’s 44 educational facilities, including schools and early childhood learning centers, only 13 are fully air-conditioned, according to Jersey City Public Schools Deputy Superintendent Norma Fernandez.
“Of the 33 that don’t (have A.C.), they may have air conditioning in some areas, like an auditorium or a cafeteria,” Fernandez said. “But the building classrooms are not air-conditioned.”
School 37 is one of those schools. Jennie Pu, the president of Cordero’s Parent Teacher Association, said the school, which serves Pre-K through Grade 8, is brutal in the summers. The auditorium gets “excruciatingly hot” and the library is “completely unbearable,” she said.
 

For decades, maintenance and engineering managers in the nation’s K-12 school districts have struggled with mountains of deferred maintenance plaguing their facilities. As roofs leaked, paint peeled, and HVAC systems faltered, managers made do with less and less. On the rare occasions that taxpayers approved bond issues to pay for school repairs and upgrades, the funds often were much too little, much too late.

Now, as Congress debates the size and scope of President Biden’s proposed infrastructure bill, research demonstrates the tangible benefits of finally putting substantial funds into K-12 facilities, especially HVAC system upgrades.

According to researchers with the Brooking Institute, there is evidence that school ventilation protects children from contracting COVID-19 and other viruses in schools. The research suggests that COVID-19 spreads in schools in situations where there are high case rates in the surrounding community, and children can still catch COVID-19 in school buildings that are not properly ventilated.

The Orangeburg County School District is in the process having its 26 campus facilities assessed in an effort to better allocate resources and understand maintenance needs.
The district also had a demographic study done to assess enrollment trends and projections.
“The final piece of this puzzle will come from the performance contracting report where we’ll learn more about the status of mechanical units within our buildings,” Superintendent Dr. Shawn Foster said. “We’ll take all of this information out into the community in the coming months as we search together for solutions.”
The school district commissioned the facilities study to help it plan for school maintenance and improvements.
LS3P Associates Ltd., an architecture and planning firm, was hired to conduct the facilities study.
Most schools are in good condition and need just minor repairs, such as replacing single-pane windows and walkway canopies.
Others are in need of more extensive renovations, such as creating interior corridors to replace exterior-facing classrooms and investigating moisture issues.
Of greatest concern is the state of an original, unoccupied portion of Vance-Providence Elementary School, which is no longer in use. The school is the district's oldest, having been built in 1930.
 

RICHMOND — Virginia schools received nearly $2 billion from the federal government in its latest round of COVID-19 relief funding for public education.

But while current guidance allows that money to pay for pandemic-related improvements — including new HVAC systems, window repairs or replacing carpeted areas with tile — it strongly discourages new school construction, according to James Lane, the state’s superintendent for public instruction. Local administrators are worried those restrictions could lead to millions of dollars in spending on school buildings that should be replaced.

“Outside of teacher pay, I can’t imagine there’s a bigger need for public education in the state than school construction,” said Keith Perrigan, superintendent for Bristol Public Schools and president of the Coalition for Small and Rural Schools of Virginia. “So the fact that we may be forced into a situation where we put good money into old buildings is very frustrating for us.”

It’s an issue that’s become especially resonant as state legislators consider how to address years of underfunding in public school infrastructure. School construction is a perennial debate in the state’s General Assembly, but the most recent session led to the formation of a commission specifically tasked with studying the issue.

At a recent meeting, Lane presented new information on the state’s current building inventory — the first time data has been updated since a 2013 study ordered by then-Gov. Bob McDonnell. A survey of nearly every local division found that more than half of all school buildings are more than 50 years old (the state’s oldest facility was built 184 years ago, according to the Virginia Department of Education).

Eight years ago, VDOE estimated it would cost roughly $18 billion to renovate all schools more than 30 years old. The department’s latest survey now estimates it would cost the state more than $24.7 billion to fully replace every building more than 50 years old.

“When we surveyed school divisions, there were more than 1,000 buildings that met that criteria,” Lane told legislators. Some of those could potentially be renovated rather than fully replaced, he said. But a review of capital spending by local districts over the last decade indicated that renovations and additions were only slightly less expensive — and generally don’t last as long as a newly constructed facility.

“I would not assume you’d get the same longevity out of renovation as you would with a brand-new school,” Lane said.

St. Clair R-XIII and Meramec Valley R-III school districts are considering pressing the pause button on some major renovation projects due to rising construction costs.
At a June 2 special meeting, St. Clair board of education members discussed halting some of the capital project work funded by their $12.75 million bond issue. 
Pacific officials are predicting they will use almost all of the district’s $3 million set aside for unexpected costs for the Zitzman Elementary School expansion. The project was originally budgeted at $6.2 million.
Construction costs have increased due to a rise in material prices in the COVID-19 pandemic. 
At the St. Clair board meeting, members commiserated with one another about the price of lumber — a 2-by-4 costs $14, they said. Members recalled previously spending $2 to $5 per 2-by-4 board when purchasing them for home projects.
 

After three years of delays, the state Legislature has finally approved the $475 million third phase of the Rochester Schools Modernization Program.

The vast renovation program will have lasted 20 years and cost about $1.2 billion by the time the last nail is hammered in. It was approved by the Legislature in 2007, and the first two phases are essentially complete.

The third phase, though, stalled in Albany in 2018 and 2019 before being overlooked during the pandemic in 2020. It recently passed in both the Assembly and Senate and awaits the signature of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Nine schools will be affected in phase three, said Mike Schmidt, the city school district's chief of operations.

Two, East and Monroe high schools, will receive relatively minor improvements after having featured prominently in previous phases. Monroe will get a new swimming pool and new windows, while East will get upgrades in the fine arts section and the athletics complex.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Schools in 13 Kentucky counties are receiving a total of $127 million to fund construction and renovation projects as part of the Better Kentucky Plan, which will direct $1.3 billion to schools, expanding internet access and delivering clean drinking water and quality sewer systems across Kentucky.

The Kentucky School Facilities Construction Commission has voted  to recommend funding for projects in the following districts: Hart, Martin, Floyd, Boyd, Bellevue, Mayfield, Jackson, Grant, Breckinridge, Bath, Cumberland, Pendleton and Carter.

The funding to build and renovate schools is part of the $1.3 billion Better Kentucky Plan, which will create 14,500 jobs while expanding broadband, delivering clean drinking water and building new schools. Gov. Beshear and Kentucky lawmakers reached a bipartisan agreement at the close of the 2021 General Assembly to invest federal relief funds in infrastructure.

The Kentucky School Facilities Construction Commission voted to make an offer of assistance to 13 school projects around the state. The school districts will receive the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds this summer, contingent on allocation by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The ARPA money is being allocated as gap funding. The state education commissioner needs to approve the offers and then the local school districts must accept or decline the offer.

Each school district in Kentucky must maintain a standing facilities plan. Those plans are prioritized at the state level by the School Facilities Commission. If one of the chosen school districts does not accept the allocated funding, the funds will be applied to the next project on the state’s priority list.

The following school districts and funding amounts have been conditionally approved by the commission:

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC)-More than half of the state’s school buildings are more than 50 years old and the price tag of a total replacement would be nearly $25 billion, according to a new survey conducted by the Virginia Department of Education. 
The results were presented to the General Assembly’s Commission on School Construction and Modernization on Thursday morning. Members of the group called it the most comprehensive look at school infrastructure problems since 2013.   
Bristol City Schools Superintendent Dr. Keith Perrigan, who also serves as President for the Coalition of Small and Rural Schools, said the findings represent little progress since the last time this data was collected. 
“We are in much more of a dire situation than I ever imagined,” Perrigan said in an interview after the meeting. “The needle has not moved at all.”
It comes amid a bipartisan push to increase state spending on this issue and as some school districts are hoping to tap into federal coronavirus relief funds to offset the cost of long-overdue construction needs.   
“It’s a moonshot opportunity, especially for high poverty school divisions,” Perrigan said. 
The VDOE survey was based on self reporting from 128 of 132 school divisions, accounting for 97 percent of about 2,005 school buildings, according to State Superintendent Dr. James Lane.
State Sen. Jennifer McClella, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate who also chairs the commission, said the theoretical $25 billion estimate for a total rebuild of the state’s oldest schools doesn’t include the cost of renovations elsewhere. 
 

SMITHFIELD – The town has pulled all funding for school capital improvement projects from the 2021-2022 budget, according to Town Manager Randy Rossi, who said he hopes federal and state COVID-19 relief funds will pay for needed improvements.

Supt. Judy Paolucci said she understands the difficult financial decisions made during budget season, and said while she does not hold it against town officials for making the decision, she does not feel it is in the best interest of the community and its schools.

“All this does is to put off needs to taxpayers in the future,” she said.

The proposed budget request for Smithfield schools was for $40,418,021, with $32,849,327 in town appropriation. Paolucci said the increase of $311,152 is a 0.96 percent increase in town appropriation from the 2020-2021 adopted budget. After rate decreases in dental and health plans brought $161,658 in savings this year, the district’s proposed budget is less than anticipated.

Paolucci said she’d hoped those savings would transfer over to capital improvements, which she said will “take many millions more to keep up with our middle and high school facility needs.”

During Macon County Manager Derek Roland’s 2021-22 fiscal year budget proposal, he noted that an overwhelming majority of the county’s annual debt load is directly attributed to school construction that has been completed over the last decade. 

The annual principal and interest payment on outstanding debt will decrease by ($25,630) to $3,629,168 in FY 22’. Of the county’s current outstanding debt amount (principal and interest) of $33,482,390, $32,387,907 or 97 percent is attributable to debt associated with school projects.

Macon County is currently paying off debt associated with construction of Iotla Valley Elementary School, substantial renovations and expansions to South Macon Elementary and Highlands School. 

The county’s debt associated with schools construction is only expected to increase as beginning in FY 23’ the principal and interest portion of the Macon Middle School Renovation Project debt will come due increasing the annual principal and interest payment on outstanding debt by $361,618 to $3,990,786.

Who knew that the secret to getting children to eat their fruits and veggies is to teach them to grow their own?

It’s what the teachers at West Rockhill Elementary School in Sellersville have discovered since first launching their student-led garden on campus in 2015.

The community project was made possible with a grant from Project PA, a collaboration between the Pennsylvania Department of Education and Penn State University that works to help schools improve their nutrition environments.

From lettuce, tomatoes, pepper and zucchini to garlic, spinach and cucumbers, students can usually get their hands dirty with planting and growing seedlings in the gardening boxes outside their school throughout the year.

However, their garden visit in late May marked the first time in nearly two years that students could plant and grow together due to the impact of COVID-19.

In 2017, a blue-ribbon commission issued a comprehensive study of the cost of rehabbing Rhode Island public schools and in some cases replace the existing structures.
The cost on the low side to update the schools to a standard of “clean, safe and comfortable” was in excess of $3 billion dollars. In 2018, then-Governor Gina Raimondo rallied Rhode Island voters to support her proposed $250 million bond question.

“Tonight I'm calling on all of us to take action. Let's make a once-in-a-generation investment in our schools. Together with our cities and towns, let's commit to investing $1 billion over the next five years to fix our public schools,” said Raimondo in her state of the state speech.

But, Raimondo’s "billion" included $70 million that was already budgeted each year by the state and an additional $350 million in match from the cities and towns.

After inspecting the ventilation systems at various school buildings, the teachers’ union made public a series of videos that claims to show broken and incorrectly installed heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and old air filters.

“Our videos, photos, and parent testimonies tell the truth about the neglect. We have uncovered broken HVAC’s, filters with dates from 2018, and HVAC units that have been installed incorrectly,” said John McEntee, Jr, president of the Paterson Education Association, the teachers’ union. “We have also discovered what appears to be doctored Indoor Air Quality Log records and instances where filthy air filters were reused with new dates marked with a Sharpie marker.”

School officials initially barred the union from conducting inspections of ventilation systems and air filters during their previous walkthroughs ahead of a proposed re-opening of school buildings on June 1 for all teachers and June 8 for special education and bilingual students. They only allowed the union to inspect the air systems after the teachers’ secured a favorable decision from a state labor commission.

If there was a silver lining to 5.7 magnitude earthquake that rocked the Wasatch Front on March 18, 2020, it’s that in-person learning had been suspended in schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving buildings empty so that no injuries occurred.

But the quake had significant financial impacts, especially where older schools had not been modified to survive a significant temblor.

The earthquake caused substantial damage to West Lake STEM Junior High in West Valley City, which was later deemed “a complete loss,” according to the March 2021 Wasatch Front Unreinforced Masonry Reduction Strategy report. The Granite Board of Education recently accepted a $37.4 million insurance settlement to repair the school.

Two other Granite District schools — Granite Park Junior High and Cyprus High — were also damaged. In the Davis School District, Clearfield High School and Davis Junior High both sustained damage to expansion joints and the latter had damage to flooring.

Schools in the Jordan, Weber and Tooele school districts also received minor and mostly cosmetic damage.

Yet in places like the Salt Lake City School District, which had been retrofitting schools for years, no damage was reported.

SALISBURY – An unprecedented injection of federal funding into local schools could be used to overhaul air systems across Rowan-Salisbury Schools.

The $66 million in federal COVID-19 relief the district is expecting must be used for offsetting learning loss and improving air quality in school facilities.

“One thing that we are working toward is updating our HVAC systems so we can bring fresh air into our classrooms,” Associate Superintendent of Operations Anthony Vann said. “Many of our systems are aged and they are not equipped to bring fresh air in.”

Vann said this is a once-in-a-lifetime block of funding that will allow the district to make those improvements. He estimated the cost of currently needed air quality projects to be about $15 million, which would ensure air pulled into classrooms is fresh and stagnant air would be expelled. Vann said systems would have to be designed for each facility that needs an upgrade.

WASHINGTON — As the District begins to reopen among a drop in COVID cases, some families most impacted by the virus are hesitant about reopening schools. 
Ward 7 and 8 parents told DC councilmembers in a nearly three-hour meeting Wednesday night what it would take for their children to return to school buildings. Allyson Criner Brown said many parents east of the river simply don’t trust DC Public Schools (DCPS) because of a history of broken promises.  
Criner Brown recalled a fire that broke out in the Anne Beers cafeteria back in June of 2019. 
The smoke alarm never went off, but everyone made it out safely. Parents at the Ward 7 elementary school asked repeatedly for sprinklers but were told the school was “grandfathered in” and didn’t need them. 
“We have a very real concern that when we voice things that are important to us and needs that are critical to us, we get told ‘no,” recalled Brown. 
Charles Boston, another parent, agrees with Brown.
“I’m appealing to you as a father, as a youth advocate, as a concerned citizen the violence you see it’s preventable give our young people options,” Boston said.
Parents are demanding renovated buildings, more resources, technology, tutoring and programs in schools that parents say have a history of broken promises.
 

MONTICELLO — When the final bill for Monticello’s school construction project is paid next month, the facilities upgrade will come in about $769,000 under its original $35.3 million budget.
The two-plus-year effort was completed several months early, so it also will not spill over into another fiscal year.
“It will be entirely paid out this fiscal year. I’m really excited it will be off the books,” School Superintendent Vic Zimmerman told the school board May 19.
The hard construction costs — the figure paid to construction manager Petry-Kuhne/P.J. Hoerr — will come in at $28,059,369, or $562,284 less than original estimates.
Other costs such as furniture, asbestos abatement and architect fees ended up more than $200,000 under budget, making for the overall $769,000 savings.
The project centered around the high school/Washington Elementary campus, and blended fresh construction of a new gymnasium, science wing and more elementary classrooms with renovations to the more historic areas of the buildings. That included an extensive rehab of the 1920s auditorium and the remainder of the high school.
The floor of a sunken pit gym was raised, making a little-used area into modern choir and agriculture classrooms. The high school offices were expanded when moved from the south to the north of the entrance, which is now a secured entryway.
When COVID-19 closed school the final two months of 2019-20, it actually helped construction accelerate as the project did not have to work around students.