CHAMPION, Ohio (WKBN) – The Champion Local School District is asking voters to renew a permanent improvement levy ahead of the May primary.
If it passes, the funding will be used to help maintain the high school and bus garage buildings.
Champion recently replaced the elementary and middle school buildings with a brand new facility, but the high school is approaching 75 years old.
Money generated from the levy will be put toward maintaining the roof, pavement, windows and doors, along with the heating and ventilation systems.
 

Remaining middle and high school campuses in the Los Angeles Unified School District began reopening Monday, meaning all students now have the option to be back on district campuses for the first time in more than a year.
"Reopening schools is an important part of the healing process," Superintendent Austin Beutner said Monday. "We need to build on this and make sure all students are back in the classroom where they belong."
Classrooms are being cleaned and disinfected, air is filtered through the equivalent of an N-95 mask, facilities have been reconfigured to keep people at a distance and everyone has been COVID tested before returning to school -- and regularly thereafter -- with LAUSD providing its millionth COVID-19 test this week, district officials said.
"If 90% of the people on a school campus are children who have not been vaccinated, the safest thing to do is to test everyone, children and adults, before they start school and regularly thereafter," Beutner said. "Our goal is regular, weekly tests, but on a few occasions it might be 8 or even 14 days between tests instead of five or seven … operating the most comprehensive system in the nation to keep COVID out of schools."
Still, Beutner said it's impossible to create an NBA-style bubble for the entire school district, and "as long as there are individuals with COVID-19 in the communities we serve, some of them may bring the virus to school."
Over the last three weeks, the district reported that 105 employees and 196 students tested positive for COVID-19 before their schools opened, preventing those individuals from immediately returning to campus. Los Angeles Unified is now testing about 25,000 to 30,000 people each day.
 

If Batavia Unit District 101 school buildings got grades, none would be proud of its report card.
Three of the eight are in poor condition, according to a consultant's analysis. The rest are in fair shape. None are "good" or "excellent."
Taking care of all the "must" and "should do" fix-up items would cost more than $86 million.
That's why a district committee says it would be more cost-effective to replace up to four elementary schools, and possibly eliminate one. But first, the committee is asking district residents what they think.
"Now it's time to get a little feedback," Superintendent Lisa Hichens told the Batavia City Council last week. "Because whatever vision we have for our facilities in Batavia, they should reflect the values of the community."
The proposals were unveiled about two weeks ago. Eleven videos, inspection reports and other documents are available at bps101.net, on the "Building Our Future Together" page.
 

The Trenton school district has filed a lawsuit to compel teachers to report to work after negotiations to head off an "illegal labor strike" broke down.
The district has said it spent about $10 million in COVID-19 upgrades to make school buildings safe for teachers and students to resume in-person instruction May 3.
Teachers were expected back in the building April 19; that date was pushed back to April 22 to allow leaders from the Trenton Education Association, the union representing 1,000 city educators, final walkthroughs of district facilities.
That day came and went, and “a significant number” of teachers didn’t report for duty, board attorney James Rolle Jr. wrote in the complaint.
The district said the TEA is engaging in a “concerted effort” to “obstruct” school reopening, and alleged the union has talked out of both sides of its mouth.
The union initially cited safety as a concern but has since opposed the district’s “synchronous instruction model” requiring educators to simultaneously teach in-person and remote students.
“These recently raised concerns are serving as a proxy for an objection to returning to in-person hybrid instruction with the ultimate goal of delaying the return to in-person instruction until after the end of this school year,” Rolle wrote. “Defendant’s actions instructing its members to attempt to thwart this effort to return students to in person instruction in clear contravention of State directives only serves to exacerbate the equity and achievement gaps that already exist.”
 

Students and teachers at Lovejoy Elementary School are preparing to say goodbye to their campus.
School board members told parents they had no choice but to close, due to budget concerns.
Parents weren't willing to accept that news so easily.
“We’ve been working on plans to keep these kids safe for a year, and now you’re going to take them and put them in two schools and pack them in like sardines? It raises a lot of concerns," parent Mary Dickinson said.
Lovejoy is a rather affluent area in Collin County. That's one of the things board members said was hurting the district. Home prices are rising so high that young families with young children aren't moving in. 
The district is also hurting from a change in funding model under Texas House Bill 3, which is reducing its income.
The Senate is also debating a change that would prohibit Lovejoy from charging tuition to students out of the district. It all means less money to operate.
 

MASSENA — A Massena Central School District building conditions survey conducted by the IBI Group, the district’s architectural firm, rated all of the buildings “unsatisfactory.” But that doesn’t mean their doors should be closed.
“All of the buildings are safe and all of the buildings currently have a certificate of occupancy in place so that it is safe for instruction,” Edward Bernhauer, an architect for the IBI Group told Board of Education members Monday night.
He presented the board with an itemized list of what was deemed unsatisfactory in each building. But, he said, they are already being addressed to allow the building rating to change to satisfactory.
“The (capital) project right now is taking care of those items that were deemed unsatisfactory,” Mr. Bernhauer said.
The unsatisfactory items at Jefferson Elementary School included paving, exterior steps, stairs and ramps, heat generating system, ventilation, air conditioning, pipping system, ductwork systems, control systems and kitchen hood systems.
Unsatisfactory items at Madison and Nightengale elementary schools included paving at Madison Elementary only, exterior steps, stairs and ramps, roofing, heat generating systems, ventilation, air conditioning, piping systems, ductwork systems, controls systems and kitchen hood systems.
“All of these again are included in the current project,” Mr. Bernhauer said.
 

School funding has become a hot issue in town because of the need to make emergency repairs at North Mianus School after a flood and ceiling collapse.
The League of Women Voters of Greenwich and the PTA Council will host a forum on the issue called “Fixing Greenwich Public Schools’ Infrastructure: The Plan and the Cost” via Zoom at 7 p.m. April 29.
The panel will include Superintendent of Schools Toni Jones; Board of Education Chair Peter Bernstein; Dan Watson, the school district’s director of facilities; Sean O’Keefe, the district’s chief operations officer; and Board of Education Vice Chair Kathleen Stowe.
The discussion will focus on funding improvements in the public schools as well as the process for setting priorities for projects. A question-and-answer session will follow.
Questions can be submitted and registration can be submitted at www.lwvgreenwich.org/. The discussion is free and open to the public.
League President Sandra Waters said the school’s master facilities plan will be discussed.
“Many (residents) do not understand what the facilities master plan is, what the district sees as high priorities and how much implementation will cost,” Waters said. “Some are already differentiating between its ‘need to haves’ and the ‘nice to haves,’ presumably to reduce the latter. The league encourages the public to be informed about what the plan includes, why and to make a personal determination about whether the work is necessary.”
The Board of Education recently sought $8.1 million from the Board of Estimate and Taxation for the emergency repairs at North Mianus. But the BET, in a contentious vote, reduced that amount to $2.1 million and pledged to approve additional funds after the Board of Education calculates a final price tag for the work.
 

MAHOMET — The Mahomet-Seymour school district hosted the first in a series of engagement meetings Thursday night about addressing continued increasing enrollment in the district.
About 75 members of the public turned out at Middletown Prairie Elementary School to hear what the district’s needs are and provided thoughts on where the development focus should be headed.
Mahomet is one of the few communities in Illinois that is bucking the trend of migration out of the state, seeing continued growth over the past few years. That has led to increased enrollment in Mahomet-Seymour schools, and the district now faces some major decisions of how to accommodate that continued expansion.
Damien Schlitt, senior associate for BLDD Architects, presented figures that showed the district has physical needs totaling more than $63 million in its four schools plus its bus barn. Topping the list are the high school ($27.6 million) and junior high ($23.3 million).
Total cost to replace all of the buildings was put at $175 million.
The district was formed in 1949, and prior to 2018, when the first phase of Middletown Prairie School was opened, there had been no new schools built since 1981, when the new high school was constructed. There have been additions and renovations. Between 1998 and 2011, no additional capacity was added.
Enrollment has grown from 2,704 in 2009 to 3,220 this year and is projected to climb to close to 3,600 by the end of the decade.
 

KINGSTON, N.Y. — School officials have updated the five-year capital plan to reflect $98.37 million in work needed at 12 buildings.
The projects were discussed during a School district capital plan gets update video conference Board of Education meeting Wednesday, April 21. Architectural consultant Armand Quadrini said the plan is required by state law to identify structural issues that could become safety problems.
“It is a roof-to-basement conditions analysis,” he said.
Included in the plan are secure vestibules that are proposed to be covered through the $5.3 million provided through the Smart Schools Bond Act. However, most of the costs involve updating outdated heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems; plumbing repairs and replacements; electrical upgrades; improvements to building interiors, and exterior site work.
“Aging infrastructure is far and away the biggest driver of costs for ... school districts,” Quadrini said. “The lens that we use to evaluate whether or not a project is worthy of becoming part of the five-year capital plan is making sure that all elements or all items within the proposed scope are mission-critical needs of the school district.
“We work really hard ... to make sure that any green initiative has a payback," he added. "So LED lighting is a great example. These are really common-sense improvements to our schools (that are) better for the environment, better for our children, and reduces our carbon footprint.”
 

Anticipating more growth in western Aiken County, the Aiken County Public School District doubled its planned capacity at the upcoming Highland Springs Middle School.
Plans for the new school, which include a construction budget that went from $32 million to $39,759,750, received Aiken County Board of Education approval at the meeting on April 20. 
The Highland Springs facility will be located between Belvedere and Clearwater, near Belvedere Clearwater Road and Old Sudlow Lake Road. It will house both a middle school and an elementary school in connected two-story buildings. The middle school will be built first.
Dr. Corey Murphy, chief officer of operations and student services in the school district, said the middle school’s planned capacity has grown from 350 to 750 to accommodate a potentially large influx of students from the growing community.
“We have had a lot of changes in our projections of the growth and that area,” Murphy said. “We still have elementary school space in the area, but middle school space is at a premium. And so, in order to make this school actually worth building … we had to increase the size from 350 to 750 for the middle school.”
 

The Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC) has approved more than $154 million in state funding for school construction projects in six Ohio school districts.
Combined with $181 million in local funding, these projects represent more than $336 million in public construction work, the commission says.
“OFCC is excited to partner with these districts to build high-quality, flexible learning environments that support their community’s vision for educational success,” says OFCC Executive Director Cheryl J. Lyman.
The local districts have already secured funds though bond elections; the state's share will enable them to move forward with the projects.
 

Despite the fact that it currently doesn’t have a full-time facilities director, the Washougal School District has completed several building improvement projects during the 2020-21 school year and is moving ahead with plans to launch more “big-ticket items” in the near future.

The district is currently accepting bids to appraise and replace the roofs at Cape Horn-Skye Elementary School and Washougal High School, Jesse Miller, the district’s transportation director, said during an April 13 school board meeting.

“They are composite roofs, and they have a 20-year life span,” Miller said. “They were installed in 2001, so they are at the end of their life span.”

The district’s maintenance team members have identified several other items for replacement, including the carpet at Hathaway Elementary School; the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems at every building except Jemtegaard Middle School; and the security systems at Washougal High, Cape Horn-Skye, Hathaway and Gause elementary schools and Canyon Creek Middle School, Miller said.

“The (carpet replacement) isn’t a huge project, but they’re getting worn out and they’re going to need to be replaced soon,” Miller said. “(Most of our) HVAC control systems are outdated, but the system at Jemtegaard Middle School works incredibly well, is efficient, and is what we’d like to bring all of our older systems up to.”

The U.S. Department of Education today released the names of the 2021 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools, District Sustainability Awardees, and Postsecondary Sustainability Awardees.

Across the country, 27 schools, three early learning centers, five districts, and five postsecondary institutions are being honored for their innovative efforts to reduce environmental impact and utility costs, improve health and wellness, and ensure effective sustainability education. 

Three state education officials, Joseph DaSilva, Manuel Cordero, and Mario Carreno, at the Rhode Island Department of Education School Building Authority are also being recognized for their efforts to advance school sustainability.

"The pandemic has driven home the vital importance of school buildings and grounds; health and wellness; and hands-on authentic learning," said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.  "I congratulate the selected schools, districts, and postsecondary institutions, which are, through their sustainability practices, offering healthy, safe, efficient school environments and protecting our planet.  Not surprisingly, many of our honorees support students in underserved communities, proving once again that green schools' practices, encompassing best practices school operations, health, and environmental learning, are critical tools to advance equity."

The honorees were named from a pool of candidates nominated by 20 states. The selectees include 24 public schools – among them, five charter schools and one magnet school – as well as three nonpublic schools. Over half of the 2021 honorees are in communities where over 40 percent of the student body are eligible for free and reduced lunch.  

FAIRFIELD, NJ — Fairfield residents overwhelmingly voted against the $30 million school expansion and renovation referendum in Tuesday’s election. There were 206 votes in favor of the referendum and 787 against it, 20.75 percent of voters to 79.25 percent, respectively. 

Fairfield Board of Education President Brian Egan said, “It appears the referendum will be defeated once the results are official. It’s a sad day for the district and the future students of Fairfield. The district plans to move forward with our normal day-to-day operations and will address any issues that come up as best we can within the facilities we have. Currently, there is no plan for another referendum.”  

Fairfield’s Superintendent of Public Schools Dr. Susan Ciccotelli also responded to the results of Tuesday’s election by stating, “While I am very disappointed in the outcome of the election, we still have a responsibility to educate all the children in our care. The referendum would have addressed providing for the best educational practices and programs, as well as the various facilities issues. It was unfortunate that an anonymous and factually inaccurate mailer went out to voters. The board has made every effort to provide the facts to the voters, and we hope that the vote was based on facts instead of misinformation. Our community members deserved to have the facts upon which they determined their vote, which we did provide on numerous occasions.

"We accept that the board’s proposal was not approved by the voters and will now turn to reevaluate the space utilization and facility upgrades and repairs. We will continue to track enrollment, evaluate program requirements and assess students’ needs. We will closely monitor our aging infrastructure (boilers, electrical systems, and roofs) hoping that when repairs are needed, our current operational budget can sustain the restoration costs. Unfortunately, our needs shared during this referendum process will not go away. We still have the responsibility to address the identified needs and will address them in the best educational and fiscal way possible. Currently, there are no plans for another referendum.”

GREENVILLE — As bond construction at Greenville Public Schools (GPS) marches toward its end after nearly three years of ongoing work to renovate and improve the school district, an additional focus is being placed on more improvements upon its completion.
Nearly three years ago, shovels first struck the dirt at the school district’s Satterlee School as the implementation of the $46.4 million bond project approved by voters in November 2017 came underway.
Since that time, numerous improvements have occurred also at the school district’s four elementary schools, middle school and high school, with the final phase of projects to be completed this summer.
During the April 12 meeting of the Board of Education, Superintendent Linda Van Houten made the board aware that she intends to pursue additional projects once the bond construction concludes using federal COVID-19 monies.
Van Houten said the two additional projects she would like to see completed are the replacement of doors and windows at the middle school and the installation of air conditioning at the school district’s four elementary schools.
“We do have the opportunity to apply for some significant monies,” she said. “There are a couple of things that the federal government has identified as possible uses with those funds, and one of the uses is new doors and windows to help with ventilation within our school system — keeping the clean air in and the bad air out.”
Van Houten said she’s hopeful those future federal relief dollars can go toward some items that were left out of the 2017 bond, which before its passing in November 2017 had been offered as part of a $52 million bond proposed, but that proposal was turned down by voters in May 2017, then scaled down in project size and ultimately approved.
 

Shelby County Schools wants to "reimagine" its footprint in Shelby County with a plan that proposes building five new schoolsand closing about 13 to 15 others, mostly through consolidation.The plan proposes additions to at least 13 existing schools. 

The plan, unveiled for the first time in a presentation to district board members Monday, includes phases of work to take place over the next 10 years, through 2031. Capital projects require funding and approval from the county commission, which is scheduled to see the plan during a meeting Wednesday. 

New schools are proposed for Frayser, Orange Mound and Raleigh, as well as Grahamwood and southeast Shelby County and include many K-8 and a 6-12 school models, meaning the new buildings will combine grade levels as they also combine communities of schools.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state School Building Authority will decide Monday which school construction projects from across the state will get part of the funding in this year’s “needs grants” program.
The SBA is coming to the table with more money that originally thought. When 30 county school superintendents appeared before the authority with their projects last month it was believed there was approximately $51.4 million available for funding but now that’s been bumped up to approximately $75 million.
SBA Director of Architectural Services Ben Ashley said SBA Executive Director David Roach, the authority’s finance staff and finance committee were able to sweep accounts, take money left over from other projects and make some other moves to increase the amount available.
“We know that the need coming out of the first year of the CEFP (Comprehensive Education Facilities Plan) is tremendous and we’ve worked really hard to make sure we have as much money to address that as we can,” Ashley said.
Every 10 years each county school district is required to submit new CEFPs, which lays out their priorities for facility projects for the next decade. The counties have completed and submitted their plans during the past year and this is the first time projects associated with those new plans are before the SBA for funding.
“So everybody that’s brought a project has brought their best project,” Ashley said. “Authority members have some really, really tough decisions to make.”
 

This week, the Senate Education Committee unanimously approved bipartisan legislation that would support air quality improvement projects in Colorado schools.

SB21-202, sponsored by Senator Dominick Moreno, is part of the Colorado Comeback state stimulus, a package of legislation that will invest roughly $800 million into helping Colorado recover faster and build back stronger.

“As we work to recover from the pandemic and build back stronger, we need to ensure that our students can learn in classrooms that are safe and healthy,” said Senator Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City. “We know from research that when students are uncomfortable in their environment, it impacts their ability to learn and perform well. This bill will support air quality improvement projects throughout the state to create healthier classrooms for students, improving their health and well-being while enhancing their school performance.”

Kids learn better in environments that are safe, clean, and healthy. Over the years, however, the need for maintenance, repairs and upgrades to Colorado’s school facilities has grown – particularly in rural areas.

The Richmond School Board voted this week to take back its authority to build new schools, a process that since 2018 had been led by a team of city and school officials. But the superintendent said he doesn’t think the division is equipped to oversee construction projects, and the city is researching whether the resolution is binding.
The decision could delay plans to solicit proposals to replace George Wythe High School, which was built in 1960.
Late in the night on Monday, the board voted 5-4 in favor of a resolution to give the Richmond School Board the authority to oversee new school construction. The resolution was introduced by 3rd District board member Kenya Gibson, who has long advocated for the school division to be in charge of new school construction.
“Residents of the city are largely surprised when they find out schools aren’t building schools in the first place. I think that folks in the city are also cognizant that these school construction processes have had problems,” she said in an interview.
Gibson’s resolution passed despite opposition from Superintendent Jason Kamras, who said that the board should reaffirm its commitment to continue collaborating with the city of Richmond on new school construction.
The board also directed Kamras to provide staffing recommendations for up to four new positions that would provide the school system with the capacity to oversee school construction, something Kamras said the division doesn’t have.
 

ALABASTER, Ala. (WIAT) — A bill to remove oversight on school construction projects could impact student safety in the future, according to some fire chiefs in the state.

Proponents of HB 220 say the measure will remove a level of bureaucracy and allow districts to complete projects quicker and cheaper, but opponents, including some fire officials, don’t want corners to be cut when it comes to safety.

“It’s some bad legislation, probably with some good intent,” said Alabaster Fire Chief Tim Love.

Love is also the head of the Alabama Association of Fire Chiefs. The group is joining several other construction organizations in opposing HB 220.

“We are concerned with your large scale issues, say a renovation and we have a fire protection system that fails or we have some sort of building collapse because there is a structural issue,” said Love.

Love said the proposal allows two year schools and community colleges to plan and construct a building without requiring a third party inspection or plans review.

Public K-12 school districts and institutions of higher learning would be able to plan and complete capital projects, repairs, or maintnance issues that are estimated to cost under $500,000.

Previously, the State Department of Finance’s Division of Construction Management had oversight during all aspects of projects, including planning, construction, and inspection.

Love, who previously was head of the city’s building department, knows all the complexities of codes and ordinances.

“Simple things like panic hardware on gates at schools, panic hardware on doors, did we make sure we had a proper area so that kids can exit a school and assemble in an area safe away from the school?” Love said.

Some state construction teams and contractors are also against the measure.

“Why would you take this away and give it to K-12? They’re in the business of education and that is where they need to be. They don’t have the people to staff this,” said Allen Harris, CEO of Bailey Harris Construction.

Harris previously served as chairman of the Association of Builders and Contractors in Alabama. His business has done work on several public school buildings.

According to Harris, the DCM process ensures that fire codes, building codes, structural codes, and others are followed. There are more than 10 codes that must be met in Alabama, Harris said.

“We have a good relationship. They do their job. They’re efficient and when it comes to the safety aspect as well, you just can’t risk anything,” said Harris.

Supporters of the bill believe it will remove red tape for school districts looking to complete projects.

“We also have architects and we have facility managers and we have construction managers that we do contract with, we do partner with, and we do work with,” said Dr. Jason Barnett, Superintendent of Dekalb County Schools.

Barnett said the bill would still require DCM on larger projects that exceed the $500,000 threshold.

The bill also allows districts to continue using DCM during the process.

According to Barnett, there have been past instances where his district schools planned to make repairs, only to learn the process would be delayed after making contact with DCM.

“Those repairs and the approval process and the drawings and all the things that we’ve done have taken months and all that time it created mold issues, it created weak floors, it created really more safety issues than it prevented,” said Barnett.