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Facilities News - Since 2001
Check out the green transformations of these five schoolyards-- On Milwaukee Wisconsin: October 07, 2024 [ abstract] This week, green schoolyards will be inaugurated at five more Milwaukee Public Schools thanks to Reflo’s Green and Healthy Schools program in partnership with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.
The five schoolyards this year, serving six schools – Milwaukee Sign Language School and Morse Middle School for the Gifted and Talented; Forest Home Avenue School; Greenfield Bilingual School; Lincoln Avenue School and Story Elementary School – were funded with $8.4 million from these partners and others, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
An official unveiling is set for Tuesday morning at Milwaukee Sign Language School and Morse Middle School for the Gifted and Talented, 7900 W. Acacia St., where the largest schoolyard greening project so far includes a densely planted and biodiverse microforest.
Forest Home Avenue School, appropriately, has also gotten a microforest.
Thirty-one schools in MPS have now taken part in the project, not counting schools like Maryland Avenue Montessori, which created its own greening project with some of the same partners before the Reflo program started in 2018.
As part of the greening, large sections of nonporous pavement at the schoolyards is removed and replaced with natural areas that not only serve as play and learning spaces but also help keep hundreds of thousands of gallons of stormwater on site and out of the combined sewer system.
The schools take part in the planning of each schoolyard transformation.
This helps prevent sewage releases into Lake Michigan.
-- Bobby Tanzilo Earthquake risk data for Washington public schools is incomplete and out of reach-- Washington State Standard Washington: September 30, 2024 [ abstract] Hundreds of public schools across Washington are located in areas where they could suffer damage in a major earthquake. But more than a decade after the state set out to evaluate school seismic risks, the information is difficult to access and harder to verify.
In the last school year, more than 378,000 students attended schools with buildings constructed before the adoption of modern seismic codes and that have no risk evaluations or retrofits, according to data from the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction obtained through a public records request. The majority of seismic risk data collected by school districts and the state is not shared with the public.
An additional 167,000 students attended schools already assessed as having “high” or “very high” seismic risks, based on their locations and building conditions.
Compiling the school seismic data is aimed at determining the scope of vulnerabilities across the state to prioritize building improvements and to inform emergency planning.
-- Emily Keller ODonnell Justice Department Webinar on Designing Accessible Public Schools is a Key Resource for School Safety Planning-- U.S. Department of Justice Federal: September 17, 2024 [ abstract] An important area for school safety planning that is often overlooked is school accessibility for students with disabilities. Accessibility barriers in public schools remain pervasive even decades after passage of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which bars disability discrimination by recipients of federal financial assistance, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Some of these barriers pose significant problems for ensuring school safety for students with disabilities. For example, students who use wheelchairs or mobility scooters must have an effective means of evacuating during a safety threat situation, such as a fire emergency, when elevators may not be used.
-- Staff Writer ‘Just amazing’: Trinity Intermediate students start school year in state-of-the-art building-- Observer Reporter Pennsylvania: September 03, 2024 [ abstract] “It’s absolutely beautiful. I love it. It’s incredible, just amazing,” said Trinity Area School District resident Lauren Leeper, standing in the middle of Trinity Intermediate School’s second-floor media center.
Leeper, accompanied by her sons, Ryan, a third-grader, and Henry, a second-grader, was among the hundreds of parents, students and residents who turned out Thursday when the school district – which celebrates its 100th anniversary this school year – welcomed the public to tour the 106,658-square-foot intermediate school at a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house.
On Tuesday, the first day of school, about 600 fourth- and fifth-graders will walk into the state-of-the-art, three-story building, and launch Trinity Intermediate School’s inaugural academic year.
The open house capped off three years of planning and construction. The school board voted in 2021 to move forward with construction of the new school, in response to a rapidly growing student population in the district.
-- Karen Mansfield Lee County School District has a new proposed 10 year plan-- WINK Florida: June 26, 2024 [ abstract]
More than 27,000 students are on their way to Southwest Florida’s largest school district.
District leaders came to that number in their ten-year student growth forecast, which has helped them decide how they will use your money for improvements and building new schools.
The east zone, Lehigh Acres, is seeing the most growth in the area, according to the school district, which is why they are looking to build 10 new schools, across all school levels, in this area under the proposal.
While kids are enjoying their summer break, the Lee County School District is hard at work. A new presentation, new numbers, and a new plan is being proposed.
Dr. Adam Molloy, the Director of planning, Growth, and Capacity at the school district gave the presentation on Wednesday.
“The school district of Lee County is projected to have now 115,619 traditional K-12 students,” Molloy said.
“The accompanying graph shows student totals at 10-year intervals starting in 2003. Highlighting the significant population increase over the past decade, the school district of Lee County has experienced a compound annual growth rate of 1.61%. That translates to an average annual increase of 1328 students. If enrollment reaches 115,619 students as it’s projected by Davis Demographics, it will exceed our current students station capacity by 22,082 seats,” Molloy said.
The school district knows they have to do something soon. They said they are already at 94.3% of occupied seats and will not be able to keep up with the need.
-- Olivia Jean Community gardens flourish at Federal Way schools-- Federal Way Mirror Washington: June 08, 2024 [ abstract] There are now 16 community gardens within Federal Way Public Schools, including Twin Lakes Elementary, which held its grand opening on June 1.
There were fun activities and resources as well as food, music and performances, and special guests — including representatives from Swansons plant nursery in Seattle and the Seahawks — to encourage engagement with and around the school garden.
This year, Twin Lakes staff Marina Rojas and Alysia Morales led efforts to organize and build a community garden for the school, securing over $10,000 in donated funds and materials to make it happen, according to the district. They partnered with the Seahawks, working with them in planning and reaching out to additional community partners, including Swansons Nursery in Seattle, which shared resources, funds, and donated labor.
The garden will be a center where Twin Lakes Elementary families and neighbors can have free access to fresh fruits and vegetables and build relationships with each other.
Marine Hills Garden Club also supported this garden.
“We really like the idea of growing gardeners,” Radhika Kumar of the Marine Hills Garden Club said of their work with the gardens at Federal Way Public Schools.
-- Keelin Everly-Lang Polk schools get $174M in impact fees from county. Most would to toward a new high school-- The Ledger Florida: May 24, 2024 [ abstract] Polk County commissioners approved the release of more than $115 million in educational impact fees on Tuesday for a new Poinciana area high school among other school projects to accommodate the county's growing student population.
In all, educational impact fees of more than $174.2 million were released for the modernization and construction of additional capacity within the school system. The approval was by a unanimous decision of the County Commission.
New high school building costs
Among the funds released, Polk County Public Schools received $115.368 million to construct a new 2,500-student high school in Polk County’s Poinciana area, according to a staff analysis by the county’s Office of planning and Development.
-- Paul Nutcher Huntsville City Schools BOE approves 10-year capital plan-- WHNT.com Alabama: May 21, 2024 [ abstract] HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — The Huntsville City School Board has given final approval for the system’s 10-year capital plan.
The board approved the plan, which you can find a copy of here, after weeks of consideration and public meetings to discuss how it would affect each school. The board voted to approve the plan unanimously.
All five board members spoke before the vote was taken, each explaining why they were in support of the plan. They all say there’s something for everyone in the district included in it.
HCS Board President Ryan Renaud says this plan pushes the district closer to a partial unitary status motion under its consent order.
“If we get a favorable review on the three partial unitary motions we have…that we’re planning to submit this year…we will be 4/7 of the way there which is more than halfway,” Renaud stated. “In 65 years of the desegregation order…that’s something Huntsville City Schools has never accomplished.”
-- Taylor Mitchell Virginia has history of underfunding school construction-- VPM NPR Virginia: May 17, 2024 [ abstract] Nature inspired the design of John Lewis Elementary School in Northwest D.C.
"We have our outside treehouse. I was pretty scared when I first saw that,” said Principal Nikeysha Jackson. “The kids loved it. It is their favorite thing in the building."
The district’s first net-zero building has all the bells and whistles: an outside amphitheater, eco-friendly ponds and solar panels. And as Jackson points out, all of the classrooms have retractable garage doors.
“Usually in the mornings, they'll be open as kids are walking in, and then they close them,” Jackson said. Some people teach with them open all day long.”
This new building is part of a long-term city effort to get all its schools in good shape. Not all of them are as impressive as John Lewis, but many were in worse shape a few decades ago.
‘planning isn’t reacting’
In 1992, a group of parents filed a lawsuit against Washington over fire code violations. Mary Filardo, executive director of the 21st Century School Fund, had children in D.C. Public Schools at the time.
She said there were a number of fire code violations: “because doors were chained shut, so that kids wouldn't be able to get out. Because the doors weren't working properly. There were breaches in the plaster and in the ceilings, because of roof leaks and other problems.”
-- Megan Pauly, Sean McGoey New ordinance would challenge subdivisions that cause school overcrowding-- Idahoenews.org Idaho: March 11, 2024 [ abstract] The Middleton City Council is considering an unprecedented ordinance that would restrict developers from building subdivisions that would overcrowd schools.
“Kids have a constitutional right to education in this state,” said Dave Murray, a Middleton councilman who sponsored the ordinance.
Developers must obtain a signed statement from any school district verifying that a proposed subdivision will not contribute to any public school that will be serving the subdivision to exceed 110% capacity, the ordinance reads.
“We are saying that if we are at capacity, you can’t build,” Murray said. “To our knowledge, this is the first of its kind in the entire state.”
Middleton’s planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing on March 25 and the city council expects to vote on the issue at its April 17 meeting. Middleton’s city attorney wrote the ordinance and it was reviewed by two outside attorneys.
And Murray is confident that the code is constitutionally legal in Idaho and federally.
“We wanted to make sure we did it right, because if it catches on it will cost developers money,” Murray said. “People are finally starting to pay attention. If we do this, and we make people aware, they will put pressure on their city and county to follow suit.”
-- Darren Svan Richardson ISD to close five schools, consolidate campuses due to declines in enrollment, funding-- NBCDFW Texas: February 23, 2024 [ abstract] The Richardson Independent School District plans to close four elementary schools and a Pre-K campus as part of its “Project RightSize” plan to respond to declining enrollment and lack of state funding.
The district said four elementary schools – Greenwood Hills, Springridge, Spring Valley, and Thurgood Marshall – will be consolidated into other elementary schools in the district starting in the 2024-2025 school year. The newly proposed attendance zones can be found here.
The Dobie Pre-Kindergarten campus will be closed completely beginning in 2025-2026.
Project RightSize is the result of months of planning, according to Superintendent Dr. Tabitha Branum.
“When I think about the role of a superintendent and the things that weigh on your heart, and on your mind, tonight‘s conversation is probably one of the hardest conversations that I’ve had to lead to this point, and may in a long time, in my career,” Branum said at the outset of the announcement Thursday.
Two main factors brought this major change about – declining enrollment and a lack of funding from Texas legislators.
On any given day, there are more than 9,000 empty seats in Richardson ISD classrooms, according to figures released by the district. The elementary schools in question are each at less than 60% capacity.
-- Ben Russell New Philadelphia residents offer opinions on whether to build new schools, and where-- Times Reporter Ohio: January 29, 2024 [ abstract]
NEW PHILADELPHIA ' Residents offered their input on whether the New Philadelphia City Schools District should build new buildings and where they should be located at a recent facility planning meeting.
The district is in the midst of developing a facilities master plan to address the issues surrounding its aging schools.
"I do agree that we need new buildings for our students. I have four kids in elementary, so I'm very vested in seeing them under one roof. Actually, that's my first concern," said Erin Neff, who attended the session.
Her husband is Ricky Neff, principal of Welty Middle School. She said her family is vested in having state-of-the-art facilities and safe locations for their children to attend.
-- John Baker DODEA looks to GDOE to accommodate projected student overflow-- Kuam News DoDEA: January 01, 2024 [ abstract] Department of Defense schools are preparing for an eventual large increase in military dependent students, and are looking to the Guam Department of Education to help accommodate the overflow. A DoD team recently toured multiple local campuses to see how it can help refurbish them ahead of the transfer of DODEA students.
GDOE superintendent Dr. Kenneth Swanson says the Department of Defense Education Activity team made up of planning and facility experts recently visited four campuses: Southern High, Oceanview Middle, Upi Elementary and Ukkudo High. "So they wanted to get a sense of the condition and the facilities that were there, so it was pretty much a walk and talk over the whole facility," he detailed.
Its not known yet when and how many military dependent students will attend GDOE schools, but the preparations are certainly underway. And Swanson says GDOE has plenty of room for more students.
-- Nestor Licanto State committee still saying maybe on state funds for Buckingham Elementary replacement-- OC Today Maryland: December 21, 2023 [ abstract] Maryland’s Interagency Commission on School Construction, or IAC, didn’t allocate any state funding to Buckingham Elementary’s replacement project in the agency’s preliminary 2025 capital improvement plan budget, but this could change once the budget is finalized in May.
At a meeting over Zoom last Thursday, the IAC approved staff recommendations for preliminary allocations and planning approvals for the 75 percent authorization round of their 2025 capital improvement plan after hearing testimony from the leaders of several education agencies in Maryland.
Superintendent of Worcester County Schools Lou Taylor, State Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-38) and County Commissioner President Chip Bertino testified for Buckingham’s construction funding.
-- Hunter Hine Savannah school district offers alternative facility, rezoning plan. Here's what it entails-- Savannah Morning News Georgia: December 15, 2023 [ abstract]
Alternatives for the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System facilities plan have been drafted and proposed to the public. These plans will dictate a slew of potential changes for students, including rezoning.
SCCPSS Superintendent Denise Watts and other district leaders presented Tuesday to parents and community members at West Chatham Middle School in Pooler. School board representatives Michael Johnson, Tonia Howard-Hall and School Board President Roger Moss were also in attendance.
“While the communication and the engagement tonight is around facilities, at the heart it is about your children,” Watts said to the District 7 Town Hall crowd on Wednesday Dec. 12 during the Facilities planning Update for Phase I.
The alternative proposals mostly discussed shifting school attendance zones that had been laid out in the initial plan. The schools discussed were Gould Elementary School, Rice Creek K-8, New Hampstead K-8, West Chatham Middle School, New Hampstead High School, Groves High School and Beach High School.
SCCPSS student rezoning challenges:With no vote taken on facilities plan, Savannah-Chatham superintendent back to drawing board
-- Joseph Schwartzburt A Delayed $1 Billion Bond to Fix Old School Buildings Has Students and Staff Sweating-- The Frisc California: December 08, 2023 [ abstract] Galileo Academy of Science & Technology, the public high school near San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf, has a lot of physical problems, as you might expect at a 102-year-old facility. After the pandemic, when workers tried to fix the heating system, classrooms instead became so hot that students were unable to focus, and the heat had to be shut off again.
Like many of San Francisco’s aging schools, Galileo has had to wait for major repairs. Nearly two dozen facilities, tabbed for repairs via a 2016 bond, instead saw their fixes postponed until the next bond. And now that next bond is delayed, again.
The public school district announced last week that the bond, slated to go to SF voters on the March 2024 ballot, would be pushed back to November. Perhaps more than $1 billion, it could be the city’s largest bond ever. Officials cited the need for more time for community engagement and project planning.
As The Frisc reported in 2022, the billion-dollar bond was a possibility for that year’s fall ballot. It was shelved, though, amid questions about the 2016 bond spending.
-- Gisselle Medina Growing student enrollment overwhelming Cheney Public Schools facilities-- KREM2 Washington: November 22, 2023 [ abstract] AIRWAY HEIGHTS, Wash. — The Cheney School District (CSD) serves more than 5,000 students in Airway Heights, Cheney and the West Plains.
“Those three distinct communities are experiencing a lot of growth, and have been pretty steadily for quite a while,” CSD parent Sonny Weathers said.
Weathers serves as co-chair on CSD's Long Range Facilities planning Committee. The committee formed in December 2022 to bring solutions to the local school board on how to accommodate future growth in the area.
-- Janelle Finch School districts work to meet requirements of Clean Buildings Act-- King 5 Washington: November 17, 2023 [ abstract]
PUYALLUP, Wash. — The Puyallup School District is one of many school districts across the state preparing to meet the requirements of the Washington state's Clean Buildings Act.
The district said the requirements accelerate the need for work already being pursued, but there are some challenges in regards to funding. The district is hopeful voters will support its efforts.
Meanwhile, the Washington State Department of Commerce is offering one-on-one assistance and other resources to try to help building operators meet the requirements passed by legislators.
The Clean Buildings Act passed in 2019 and expanded in 2022. It is meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the state's largest buildings. The original legislation applies to buildings over 50,000 square feet, and requires them to evaluate energy use in the building, keep maintenance and operations plans, and make adjustments to buildings to reduce energy use if they are over target amounts. The expanded legislation applies to buildings between 20,000 and 50,000 square feet, and for now only requires benchmarking and maintenance and operations planning. There are some exemptions, including for manufacturing, agriculture and industrial buildings. In many cases, incentives, and financing help are available.
-- Erica Zucco Reed Delivers $877K for RIDE School Modernization Plans-- Warwick Post Rhode Island: November 16, 2023 [ abstract] WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Jack Reed today announced a new $876,792 federal grant for the Rhode Island Department of Education – RIDE school modernization , preventing environmental health risks, improving maintenance, and planning long-term, under the Supporting America’s School Infrastructure Grant Program.
With this funding, RIDE’s School Building Authority would increase necessary supports to assist local education agencies (LEAs) with improving building conditions and educational environments for students and teachers. Additional staff would coordinate energy efficiency and air quality audits, while aiding districts with procurement, technical assistance, and professional development.
Senator Reed helped the U.S. Department of Education recently launch the Supporting America’s School Infrastructure Grant Program to enhance the ability of state departments of education to address school facilities matters.
-- Rob Borkowski Is your school zone changing? New facilities plan to impact hundreds of Savannah students-- Savannah Now Georgia: November 09, 2023 [ abstract] “This does not impact every student,” explained Superintendent Denise Watts, Ed.D., of the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) Long-Range Facilities Plan.
According to SCCPSS, the plan "calls for the shifting of attendance zone boundaries for a number of schools, as well as the closure of two schools and repurposing of those facilities. The changes will also better align school attendance boundaries to improve transportation efficiencies and reduce the distances many students currently travel to school.”
In other words, hundreds of students' and families' assigned schools will change.
“This does not impact every school or every family,” Watts continued while speaking at a press conference on Nov. 6, at the Whitney Administrative Complex, 2 Laura Ave. She introduced the plan at the Nov. 1 School Board Informal Session, and the plan will be voted on at the next board meeting on Dec. 6. She stressed that stakeholders should understand that only certain groups of families will be affected by shifting facilities based on where they live. SCCPSS.com has a dedicated Family planning Guide available for review online.
-- Joseph Schwartzburt The Missing Data For Systemic Improvements To U.S. Public School Facilities-- Federation of American Scientists National: November 07, 2023 [ abstract] Peter Drucker famously said, “You can’t improve what you don’t measure.” Data on facilities helps public schools to make equitable decisions, prevent environmental health risks, ensure regular maintenance, and conduct long-term planning. Publicly available data increases transparency and accountability, resulting in more informed decision making and quality analysis. Across the U.S., public schools lack the resources to track their facilities and operations, resulting in missed opportunities to ensure equitable access to high quality learning environments. As public schools face increasing challenges to infrastructure, such as climate change, this data gap becomes more pronounced.
Why Do We Need Data On School Facilities?
School facilities affect student health and learning. The conditions of a school building directly impact the health and learning outcomes of students. The COVID-19 pandemic brought the importance of indoor air quality into the public consciousness. Many other chronic diseases are exacerbated by inadequate facilities, causing absenteeism and learning loss. From asthma to obesity to lead poisoning, the condition of the places where children spend their time impacts their health, wellbeing, and ability to learn. Better data on the physical environment helps us understand the conditions that hinder student learning.
-- NAOMI STERN Protests and unrest continue at Nelson County Schools amid merger backlash. What we know-- Courier Journal Kentucky: October 25, 2023 [ abstract]
Multiple protests, two days of cancelled classes, a board member resignation and a lawsuit have followed the Nelson County Board of Education's vote last week to move forward with potentially merging the district's two high schools into one campus.
The Bardstown district of about 4,300 students was forced to close schools Thursday and Friday after hundreds of teachers called out sick but participated in protests.
"It appears staffing shortages are in response to ongoing district facility planning decisions," Superintendent Wes Bradley said in a letter to families about the closure.
Classes resumed this week, though a walkout was conducted by students at one middle school Monday.
The unrest followed the 3-2 vote on Oct. 17 in support of the district developing a plan to merge Thomas Nelson and Nelson County high schools. The unified campus would be at Nelson County.
Both schools are well under capacity. Thomas Nelson was operating at about 67% capacity with less than 700 students in 2019, according to the district's facilities plan. Nelson County was operating at about 59% capacity with about 780 students.
-- Krista Johnson Washoe County School District holds heated meeting about how Incline schools fit in its facility plan-- Tahoe Daily Tribune Nevada: October 20, 2023 [ abstract] INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. – More than 50 people including parents, Washoe County School District staff, board members, local teachers, and longtime residents filled the Duffield Theatre at the Incline Village High School on the evening of October 12 to discuss the School District’s Facility Modernization Plan in the hopes of creating some guidelines for a working group that can help move the District forward regarding its capital improvement options for Incline’s schools.
The District has held more than two dozen public meetings throughout the region over the past year to discuss the FMP and its potential outcomes while also collecting input from the community before any decisions are made.
The District hired CannonDesign to help complete a comprehensive facility assessment and assist in a transparent planning process with key stakeholders. At the October 12 meeting, outside consultant Margaret Schultz facilitated the meeting, showing a presentation that noted the key takeaways from the April 5 and May 3 meetings and ensured the audience that “any change that takes place needs your input”. She then said that the goal of the meeting was to create guidelines for a working group, and wanted the audience’s input on who the membership should be.
-- Kayla Anderson GL long-range facilities plan sparks more debate-- Latrobe Bulletin Pennsylvania: October 18, 2023 [ abstract] The Greater Latrobe School District’s recently adopted facilities master plan continues to spark discord from taxpayers as several took the opportunity to speak out Tuesday against tax increases attached to the plan.
During the portion of public comment when those in attendance may speak on any subject, several people got up and spoke out against the board’s decision to plan, design and construct new facilities rather than just simply maintain the buildings they have. Both options presented to the board and recommended by the facilities, operations and planning committee involved a significant and long-term tax increase.
Nick Carota, a 1968 graduate of Greater Latrobe, said he wanted to have an open mind about the process, but he is concerned that the tax increases could be a burden on too many taxpayers, a burden that they just can’t handle.
It is estimated that tax increases of up to 2.5 mills would be required yearly for anywhere from 10 to 15 years.
-- Amy Fauth Governor Hochul Signs Legislation to Ensure Safe Schools-- New York State Governor New York: October 18, 2023 [ abstract] Governor Kathy Hochul signed the “Safe Schools by Design Act” that will require all school districts’ five-year capital facilities plans to consider incorporating design principles that will provide a safe, secure, and healthy school environment. The legislation also expands eligible expenses for Extended Day and School Violence Prevention Grants to include programs that facilitate and promote community involvement in school facility planning.
“A safe school environment is an essential component to providing the best education for our students,” Governor Hochul said. “This legislation highlights our commitment to our students and educators by ensuring that health and safety are considered at the outset of all school construction projects.”
Current law requires that five-year capital facilities plans are developed by each school district to include a building inventory, estimated expenses for building construction, repairs, or renovation, and estimated expenses for building maintenance and energy consumption.
Legislation S.2629A/A.286A amends the education law by requiring that school districts consider the incorporation of design principles and strategies, pursuant to guidance issued by the Commissioner of Education, in their five-year capital plan as part of a comprehensive approach to providing a healthy, secure, and safe school environment. In addition, the legislation includes programs which facilitate and promote community involvement in school facility planning to be eligible expenses for Extended Day and School Violence Prevention Grants.
-- Staff Writer Orleans Parish school officials want to see school maintenance tax approved-- WGNO Louisiana: October 11, 2023 [ abstract] Orleans Parish voters are being asked to renew a millage dedicated to the maintenance and repairs for school facilities.
In advance of the vote, NOLA Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Avis Williams and Orleans Parish School Board President Olin Parker stopped by WGNO’s Good Morning New Orleans show to discuss the millage.
“In 2014, New Orleans voters overwhelmingly approved a millage to keep our school facilities in good condition. After the storm, the federal government invested $2 billion in our schools. The voters of New Orleans stepped up and said, ‘Yes, we want to continue taking care of these schools this Saturday.’ We’re just asking voters to do the same thing, renew a tax that they’ve already been paying. It’s not a new tax and it’s something that benefits every single student and every single teacher in our parish,” said Parker.
This time, voters would be asked to renew the tax for a 20-year term.
“It’s important for long-range planning. When we think about capital planning, we know that even with our newest facilities, they’re going to need new HVAC systems and new roofs, and heaven forbid we have any natural disasters. We have to be ready to make those repairs and renovations as necessary. We just want to make sure that we have an opportunity for long-range planning and commitment for our new strategic plan of action is operational excellence. This is part of it. Our scholars deserve to learn in safe and healthy buildings that allow them to do innovative things to prepare them for their future,” said Williams.
-- Staff Writer New York City DOE working group shares proposals for class size reduction-- Columbia Spectator New York: October 05, 2023 [ abstract] The working group on class sizes for the New York City Department of Education unveiled its preliminary proposals for smaller class sizes at the Martin Luther King Jr. Educational Campus auditorium on Monday.
During the event, working group members—comprised of parents, teachers, and school principals—and other stakeholders presented their proposals under six subcommittees: enrollment planning, capital planning, staffing and hiring, instructional implications and programming options, special education and integrated co-teaching, and budgeting and financing. Each subcommittee was dedicated to addressing different challenges with reducing class sizes.
The working group’s co-chairs, Johanna Garcia, chief of staff for State Sen. Robert Jackson, and David Marmor, a Queens high school principal, moderated the event to hear feedback from parents and other stakeholders.
The working group laid out five recommendations with regard to enrollment planning, including supporting schools that are already in compliance with the law, surveying key stakeholders such as principals, teachers, and support staff, limiting enrollment at overcrowded schools that do not have the space to comply with the new class size caps, and relocating 3-K and pre-K programs from district schools.
Members of the working group said one of the biggest issues for small class sizes is finding adequate space for classrooms. The capital planning committee, whose duties include addressing challenges related to the construction of new schools, planning existing spaces, and consolidating schools, proposed 25 preliminary recommendations. Some suggested measures included repurposing existing “unutilized or underutilized” facilities, merging co-located schools, and building new school buildings.
-- AISSATOU DIALLO Draft Report Stunner: Wilton Faces $100 Million Price Tag on School Building Repairs/Upgrades Over 10 Years-- Good Morning Wilton Connecticut: October 03, 2023 [ abstract]
With little fanfare, First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice added an agenda item to the Oct. 2 Board of Selectmen (BOS) meeting about the status of an ongoing needs assessment being conducted for Wilton’s school buildings.
She then delivered some truly stunning news, from the draft report which outlined the repairs, improvements and upgrades needed in Wilton schools over the next 10 years.
“The cost is in excess of $100,000,000,” she said.
“It’s still a draft and I wouldn’t normally speak about a draft, [but] with the upcoming election and my term ending shortly, I think it’s important, now that I have seen the 10-year projected costs, that I share it in advance of the report,” Vanderslice said.
“It’s a lot of money,” she added, especially considering that cost escalation factors were only included through 2026, making the actual cost of the 10-year plan even higher.
Vanderslice discussed the school buildings assessment in the context of other infrastructure investment and as part of a longterm financial planning process.
“Over the last eight years, we have focused on investment in infrastructure with almost $42 million in the renovation and reconfiguration of Miller-Driscoll [School], assisted by $6 million in state grants; the restoration of roads…; the study by the state of all our bridges, and we have a plan to get that work done; we have done trail building; and of course the construction of the police headquarters. The last three were all assisted with about $30 million in grants.”
-- Kathy Bonnist Is Amidon-Bowen Swinging Too Far?-- Hillrag District of Columbia: October 02, 2023 [ abstract] The Amidon-Bowen Elementary School community is reeling, frustrated after DC Public Schools (DCPS) suggested a swing space for the 2027 fiscal year that is 3.5 miles away from their home campus at 401 I St. SW.
Amidon-Bowen is slated to be modernized in 2027 and reopened in 2029. The Amidon-Bowen population is set to move into a temporary space from 2027 to 2029 during the planning, design and construction phases. The fully modernized school is scheduled to reopen for the 2029-2030 school year. The project will cost an estmiated $84.2 million and the new building will be able to serve 373 students.
Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!
Through the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) planning Actively for Comprehensive Education Facilities (PACE) Annual Supplement for Fiscal Year 2024-2029, Amidon-Bowen community members learned the former Meyer Elementary School (2501 11th St. NW) would be the temporary campus for their PreK to Fifth grade students.
“It was frustrating to hear about the swing space plan for the first time because a parent happened to see the reference to Meyer in the Mayor’s CIP plan,” said Sarah Buckley,a member of the Amidon-Bowen PTA Advocacy Group (ABPTAAG). “We feel like we can’t count on DCPS to keep us informed, let alone take the community’s views into account.”
-- Rachel Royster Parents concerned over proposed plan to consolidate two schools in Walker County-- abc3340 Alabama: October 02, 2023 [ abstract]
CORDOVA, Ala. (WBMA) — Parents have expressed frustrations regarding plans from Walker County Board of Education to consolidate Cordova Elementary School with Bankhead Middle School.
We reached out for more information about the proposed plan. Superintendent Dr. Dennis Willingham said this is still in the preliminary planning phases so there is nothing to publicly comment about at this time.
Cordova Mayor Jeremy Pate provided ABC 33/40 with a copy of the plan from the Board of Education.
The plans show that there would be new classrooms built on to Bankhead Middle. There would also be a two story classroom building, additional parking and a new gymnasium. It appears the lunch room would be shared.
"You’re talking about a school of 350-400 now with a lunch room and you’re going to import another 400 students, so before they even open the doors, you have 800 kids there," said Pate. "If we grow any in the next two to three years, before they even get the school open, they are going to be overcrowded. Of course the lunch room is going to be overcrowded before they even open the doors and then the classroom sizes are a question for some people and the sheer ability to be on the same campus and share that many kids in the same area."
-- Valerie Bell D.C. school boundary study sparks debate, worry from parents-- The Washington Post District of Columbia: September 30, 2023 [ abstract] D.C. is again planning to redraw school boundaries. And as in adjustments past, the process that overhauls attendance zones has also drawn ire from families in the city’s most in-demand feeder system: the Jackson-Reed High School cluster.
The process is still in its early stages — the advisory committee running it will deliver a report to D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) sometime this winter, and its suggested changes will not take effect until the 2025-2026 school year at the earliest. But families who settled near, or lotteried into, popular schools worry their children will be redistricted.
The city, meanwhile, has its own priorities: to foster diversity, reduce overcrowding in some schools, fill seats at others and provide equitable access to high-quality public schools.
Several attendees at a virtual town hall about the redistricting process Wednesday shared concerns about the Jackson-Reed cluster. One of the middle schools that feeds it, Alice Deal, was at least 95 percent full during the 2021-2022 school year, according to the city’s most recent master facilities plan. While officials have yet to offer up any plans, families fret that an elementary school may be removed from the boundary to free up space at Deal — a suggestion that came up after the last boundary study in 2014 — which some say already feels too crowded.
-- Lauren Lumpkin Does Capital Spending on Schools Improve Education?-- Yale Insights National: September 26, 2023 [ abstract] As anyone who is planning to move to a new city or neighborhood with a school-aged child knows, not all public schools are created equal. Some have shinier athletic facilities or bigger classrooms or newer equipment in the science and computer labs, all indications to anxious parents that their children will receive a superior education, which will better equip them to prosper and succeed in life.
New athletic fields and computers and improvements to school buildings all cost money, of course, which school districts raise through capital bonds, financed by property taxes. The community as a whole, even voters who don’t have kids or any connection to the school, votes on the bond issues during municipal elections. For many parents, and even many members of the community who don’t have children in local public schools, higher taxes are a price they are willing to pay for better schools.
But does every capital project lead to a better education, at least as measured by test scores? Economists have been studying this question for a few decades and have come up with widely divergent answers. Some say any educational investment is worthwhile. Others say the positive effects are greatly exaggerated. Barbara Biasi, a labor economist at Yale SOM, and her colleagues Julien Lafortune of the Public Policy Institute of California and David Schönholzer of Stockholm University suspected that the answers varied so widely because they were based on studies that looked at very different contexts.
-- Barbara Biasi Bibb County education board seeks state funding for Howard school renovations-- WGXA News Georgia: September 22, 2023 [ abstract] BIBB COUNTY, Ga. (WGXA) - The Bibb County Board of Education approved funding at its meeting Thursday for renovations and upgrades at several District schools.
The Board voted to seek state capital funds for renovations at Howard Middle and Howard High Schools. The aging schools are part of the District's long-term facilities improvement plan. Additional funding will come from a sales tax approved by voters in 2019.
Approval was also granted to revise capital funding applications for completed renovations at Heritage Elementary, Ingram-Pye Elementary, and Lane Elementary. The changes reflect shifts in project scopes during the planning process.
Heritage's application was revised as roof, serving line, dishwasher, and HVAC upgrades were ultimately not completed. At Ingram-Pye, a similar shift occurred. At Lane Elementary, planned bus and car rider canopies were not finished.
-- JEFF COX COLUMN: Is A/C the new ABC? As the country gets hotter, schools need upgrades-- The Hechinger Report National: September 06, 2023 [ abstract] Tempers get short. Test scores suffer. On the worst days, schools close, and students lose days of learning while parents’ schedules are disrupted.
Yorkwood Elementary in Baltimore, before it finally got air conditioning last year, was subject to closure by the district on any day the forecast hit 90 degrees by 10 a.m. And the number of those days has been rising over time.
“I remember one year we literally had seven [closure] days before we were able to have a full week of school because of the heat,” said Tonya Redd, the principal.
July 2023 was the world’s hottest month on record. And America’s schools weren’t built for this. According to a 2021 study by the Center for Climate Integrity, more than 13,700 public schools that did not need cooling systems in 1970 have installed — or will need to install — HVAC systems by 2025,based on the increasing number of very hot days during the school year. Total estimated cost: over $40 billion.
The good news is, there are many design and architectural innovations that can keep students, faculty and staff comfortable, while also creating healthier, greener and even more engaging places to learn. And there’s federal funding to pay for it.
But, installing air conditioners without making other renovations, which is often the cheapest and most expedient option, raises a school’s fossil fuel consumption, ultimately making the problem of climate change worse.
Baltimore is an example of a district that’s had to rapidly upgrade for a changing climate. Six years ago, 75 out of its 140 school buildings, including Yorkwood Elementary, lacked air conditioning.
Now, that number is down to 11, according to Cyndi Smith, the district’s executive director for facilities planning, design and construction. “It has been a big challenge,” she said. “We have the oldest average-age buildings [of every district] in the state, going back to the late 1800s.”
-- ANYA KAMENETZ State has money for new Cheyenne elementary school; details to be worked out-- Wyoming Tribune Eagle Wyoming: September 01, 2023 [ abstract]
CHEYENNE — The Wyoming School Facilities Commission announced during a special meeting Wednesday the proposed replacement of a Cheyenne elementary school as part of the $95 million the Legislature set aside for school construction this year.
Laramie County School District 1, under the design and construction portion of the state’s budget, flags on three capacities and three conditions, with two of the conditions being “very high,” according to Jerry Vincent, director of the State Construction Department. Three Laramie County elementary schools have the highest capacity need in the state, with Arp Elementary School in the lead, according to the SCD report
Capacity need refers to the number of students which can be legally contained in a classroom, and condition refers to the safety and functioning space of the physical building.
Andy Knapp, executive director of facilities and planning for LCSD1, said the state would not specifically name what the project funds are for, and there are “several schools in need of condition remedies” in the district.
“I would anticipate we would be making some sort of plan to deal with Arp,” said Knapp, who confirmed the south Cheyenne elementary school was one of the top priorities.
-- Hannah Shields Lincoln Public Schools discusses proposed boundary changes-- Lincoln Journal Star Nebraska: August 30, 2023 [ abstract] Lincoln Public Schools hosted a webinar Tuesday night to allow community members the chance to ask questions and voice their opinions on proposed boundary changes for Kooser and Campbell elementary schools.
The Lincoln Board of Education's planning Committee proposed the changes in an attempt to decrease enrollment at Kooser and increase it at Campbell, which has seen drops in attendance in the past 10 years. The new boundary would assign Campbell the area from Folkways Boulevard to Interstate 80, and 14th to 27th streets, which was previously part of Kooser's zone.
Only three people were in attendance at the virtual meeting, questioning if other neighborhoods were considered for the proposal and what happens to students when they hit middle school.
The committee looked at three other north Lincoln neighborhoods within Kooser's boundary before deciding on the proposed area, said Liz Standish, associate superintendent for business affairs at LPS.
The committee chose this area because it believed it would provide a good balance of families to avoid shifting too many students to Campbell, Standish said.
One parent also asked about middle school boundary lines and how students can avoid being split up from their classmates.
Campbell students are assigned to either Dawes or Goodrich middle schools, and all of the proposed area is included within the Dawes attendance zone.
It's common across all of Lincoln for elementary schools to be split among middle schools, Standish said. There are currently no proposed changes to middle school boundaries.
-- Jenna Ebbers Court ruling on Pa. education funding puts school infrastructure in spotlight-- Triblive.com Pennsylvania: August 27, 2023 [ abstract] As residents of Hempfield recently learned, the cost associated with school building projects can easily climb above $100 million.
For decades, school administrators could turn to what was known as PlanCon to pursue state funding to help ease the local burden.
PlanCon — short for the planning and Construction Workbook — was a set of forms and procedures school districts could use to apply for state reimbursement of large building projects.
That ground to a halt in 2012.
PlanCon has fallen by the wayside as a potential funding source for new projects, but a recent state court decision has led to an upcoming series of fall hearings across the state, where school infrastructure once again will be a big part of the discussion.
When PlanCon was active, school districts underwent a lengthy process to enroll renovation and construction projects in the program in order to secure a percentage of reimbursement, but a backlog of projects waiting on those payments — estimated at more than $1 billion in the mid-2010s — ultimately led to a 2012 moratorium on new applications.
While partial state reimbursement for school construction projects has been happening in some form since the 1950s, PlanCon’s current form took shape in the 1970s, and the state has contributed more than $8 billion to the program since the late 1970s.
-- Patrick Varine New York’s School Construction Authority is preparing for a school building boom-- Archinect News New York: August 25, 2023 [ abstract] The body in charge of K-12 planning and construction in New York City was recently profiled by the AIA New York as it prepares for a surge in student enrollment that’s expected over the next decade.
The New York School Construction Authority (or SCA) is a specialty city agency that employs 1,100 people and is tasked with the delivery and maintenance of school buildings in the New York City Public Schools arsenal, a charge which makes it directly responsible for the well-being, safety, and learning environments of more than 1.1 million students.
With a staff that currently includes 170 architects, Stephen Zacks for the AIANY writes the SCA has a unique talent when it comes to the delivery of high-quality structures within challenging construction schedules and have become national examples of the implementation of efficient project management at a time when the cost of labor and construction materials are hampering projects of all different building types across the country.
-- Josh Niland Local Officials Discuss Master Planning, Infrastructure, and School Maintenance in Meeting-- The Southern Maryland Chronicle Maryland: August 22, 2023 [ abstract] In a recent public meeting, various speakers discussed the development and master planning in their community, the differentiation between capital improvements and maintenance, collaboration between entities, and strategies to maximize funding opportunities. This article aims to detail the key conversations from this meeting.
One speaker raised concerns about the lack of master planning within development districts, villages, and town centers. They stated: “We have done a very poor job about master planning.” The speaker suggested a more delineated approach, addressing roadways, water, and sewer. They acknowledged their limited success with small area master plans, expressing uncertainty about future developments.
Another speaker emphasized the relationships they have built and how they tackle planning by absorbing information and making the best plans possible. They mentioned working closely with George Erickson at MetCom and looking forward to a new relationship with Ms. Andre.
-- David M. Higgins II Redrawing School Boundaries-- HillRag District of Columbia: August 16, 2023 [ abstract] The process of changing school boundaries for DC Public Schools (DCPS) is underway. The 2023 Boundary and Student Assignment Study, or Boundary Study, reviews boundaries and feeder patterns and District-wide public school student assignment policies and makes recommendations to the mayor for changes. Recommendations are due to be submitted to Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) no later than February 2024.
The study was launched in March through the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME). It is the first update to school by-right attendance boundaries since 2013-2014, when DC undertook its first comprehensive review of boundaries in 40 years.
DME is running a Master Facilities Plan (MFP) study at the same time and the two have some overlap in the review of building condition, resources and utilization. Any potential boundary modifications and feeder recommendations would take effect no sooner than the 2025-26 school year, i.e., August of 2025.
“We are embarking on a city-wide planning process that will provide strategic, data-informed recommendations to ensure more students have access to great schools and facilities that meet their needs,” said Deputy Mayor for Education Paul Kihn.
-- Elizabeth OGorek Escambia County schools undergo $22 million summer renovations, more upgrades planned-- Wear News 3 Florida: August 09, 2023 [ abstract]
ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. -- The Escambia County School District has been making renovations to a number of its schools since the end of last school year.
With classes set to start back Thursday, maintenance crews were putting some eleventh hour finishing touches on various projects before the doors open.
The Escambia County School District director of facilities planning says these improvements were needed and there's more to come.
School officials tell WEAR News, renovations during summer break totaled about $22 million.
"We have a considerable amount of federal funding that we're using to replace air conditioning and exterior envelopes -- windows specifically," Director of Facilities planning Keith Wasdin said.
Wasdin says the money came from emergency relief funds designed for elementary and secondary schools. He says sales tax money is also being used to help fund the renovations.
-- Sha'de Ray 4 ways schools are rethinking building design-- K-12 Dive National: August 08, 2023 [ abstract] Schools investing in campus upgrades are putting more emphasis on spaces that encourage student engagement, allow flexibility for changing enrollments, and ensure student and staff safety, according to experts in school architecture.
Before new spaces are built or existing areas reconfigured, however, there’s a lot of planning between school officials and designers about how best to maximize a district’s desires with what is practically and financially possible.
″It was with that kind of question that we pulled together diverse thought leaders … to come together and kind of try to answer this question of what is the school of the future,” said Melissa Turnbaugh, a board member of the Learning Environments Action Research Network, or LEARN, and partner at PBK, a K-12 and higher education school design firm. LEARN, a new nonprofit organization, is a collaboration of education design experts, district officials and others working to promote safety, access, innovation, health and sustainability in schools.
-- Kara Arundel Cedar Rapids schools ‘go back to the drawing board’ on parts of $445 million facility plan-- The Gazette Iowa: July 27, 2023 [ abstract] CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Rapids school leaders will be doing more “fact finding” and “go back to the drawing board to seek out other possibilities” for middle schools based on feedback they received from the city council about a facility plan, Superintendent Tawana Grover said.
The school board and Cedar Rapids City Council held their first joint meeting Wednesday to discuss a facility master plan proposed by the school district. The plan requires a combined $445 million bond referendum to be approved by voters — the first half of which could go to voters in November. The second bond referendum of $225 million could go to voters in November 2029.
Grover, who began as superintendent of the almost 16,000-student school district April 3, said she was “very grateful” the two councils could discuss the plan together. This was the first time the entities held a joint meeting since facility planning began with the school district’s elementary schools in 2018.
-- Grace King Cal Fire Grants To Fund Efforts To Protect School Campuses From Extreme Heat-- SFGate.com California: July 19, 2023 [ abstract] On days of extreme heat, schoolyards often turn from joyful sites of play to hazardous environments where asphalt particles fill the air and playgrounds overheat, giving children thermal burns.
With an understanding that extreme heat often disproportionately impacts California's children at school, Cal Fire is providing grants to convert pavement into green spaces, plant trees and other vegetation and create drought-tolerant natural areas on school campuses. It will also fund activities that help children connect with nature.
The first round of funding, which includes $47 million in grants, will provide an implementation grant to a project in the San Francisco Unified School District and includes planning grants for schools in Contra Costa, Sonoma, Monterey, Santa Clara, and Alameda counties.
-- Staff Writer CLE homeowners raise concerns about new school construction, Cudell Park impact-- News5 Cleveland Ohio: July 11, 2023 [ abstract]
CLEVELAND — Some Cleveland homeowners shared their last-minute concerns about the construction of a new Marion C. Seltzer school building on a significant portion of green space at Cudell Park and Recreation Center.
The planning and meetings on the project to replace the school building have been ongoing for several years, but some homeowners living across the street from the school, like Marlene Medley and Jamie Brazier, told News 5 they only learned about the project a few months ago.
“I was actually never notified until somebody in the neighborhood mentioned to me that the school was going to be torn down. This happened probably two months ago," Medley said. “In the City of Cleveland, if you go east, west, north or south of here, you will not see another park, I think this space is very, very important.”
Brazier showed News 5 a copy of the will submitted by prominent Cleveland Architect Frank Cudell, giving the park property to the City of Cleveland upon his death in 1916. Brazier read from a section of the will she believes instructs the city to keep the property as a park indefinitely.
-- Joe Pagonakis Grand jury report highlights safety issues in San Joaquin county schools-- CBS Bay Area California: June 14, 2023 [ abstract] STOCKTON - A report released this week by a civil grand jury in San Joaquin County said more could be done to keep schools in the county safe after examining 14 public schools and the county's Office of Education.
A civil grand jury is a panel convened in each county around the state annually to investigate and report on local government operations.
According to the San Joaquin County jury's report, a more unified approach to safety should be undertaken in local schools.
"Safety planning often consists of a patchwork of policies and procedures and many of the Comprehensive School Safety Plans (CSSPs) required by law are boilerplate documents that are rarely specific to school sites," stated the report.
A CSSP is a safety plan required by state law for each school-site operating K-12 grades.
The jury found that although the San Joaquin County Office of Education (SJCOE) and all of the districts had their safety plans approved, only a few appeared to have been drafted to address issues that were unique to a specific school site.
-- Staff Writer Lynchburg City Schools nearing release of draft scenarios for future of school buildings-- The News & Advance Virginia: June 11, 2023 [ abstract] After a multi-year lead up, Lynchburg City Schools is gearing up for the release of several draft scenarios of the facilities master plan, a project that will determine the future of school buildings and programming for the division.
LCS’ Deputy Superintendent for Strategic planning and Operations Reid Wodicka told the school board this week that he was hoping to provide five or six draft scenarios to the board for its consideration during the week of June 12, which will be followed by another community engagement period where LCS families and school stakeholders will have the chance to weigh in on the decision.
“Again, a very, very deliberate and intentional process that has taken some time,” Wodicka told the school board last week. “But we’re now to the point where we’re having some very concrete scenarios that you will have the opportunity to react to and give some feedback on as we move forward.”
-- Bryson Gordon State aid offer for new Boquet Valley school building falls short-- Sun Community News New York: June 02, 2023 [ abstract] ELIZABETHTOWN | After some 18 months of waiting, Boquet Valley Central School District heard back from New York State Education Department officials about how much aid they would provide for a new school building.
Their figure did not come in at 91 percent as planning and review with State Ed had suggested.
School Superintendent Joshua R. Meyer met with officials numerous times over the past six months, challenging their early aid calculations. The last meeting with State Education Commissioner Dr. Betty A. Rosa put the final offer at 55.6 percent.
"We filed a submission to State Ed in early March 2021," Meyer said. "It took about 18 months before the district heard back."
Pauses in project review, he said, were due to the COVID-19 pandemic, because people were not meeting together, working remotely instead.
The final amount of aid available from the state sits at $34,387,656, which would have been a larger percentage of initial building cost estimates around $50 million.
But delay and supply/demand struggles, plus rising costs for materials and labor have pushed the price for a new school building in Lewis to $61,859,000.
The local share would be $27,471,344 to build on a 75-acre parcel of county property at Thrall Dam in Lewis.
-- Kim Dedam CELEBRATING THE OPENING OF A NEW SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH CENTER AT HIGHLINE HIGH SCHOOL-- Public Health Insider Washington: May 03, 2023 [ abstract] School-based health centers offer a broad range of health care supports for students that may otherwise be difficult to access in their communities. At the health centers, overseen by Public Health—Seattle & King County, students can get mental health care, immunizations, family planning, and other care in the context of a school environment. What began as a pilot program in Rainier Beach High School in 1989, has expanded to 36 school-based health centers across King County.
-- Guest blogger Finally! Construction of a new Buford Middle School is about to begin-- Charlottesville Tomorrow Virginia: April 28, 2023 [ abstract] It’s finally happening. After decades of discussion and planning, the city will begin rebuilding Buford Middle School in June. It’s now a more than $90 million project that will take about three years to complete.
Plans for the new middle school are fairly grand. When finished, all the buildings will be either new structures or entirely re-built. There will be high-tech classrooms, collaborative spaces, a spot for a garden and a new performing arts center.
To really understand the significance of this moment, we need to start from the very beginning.
Buford Middle School and Walker Upper Elementary School both opened in 1966 as two middle schools. During this period in Charlottesville’s history, the city was at the tail end of overt massive resistance to integration, and the city’s neighborhoods remained starkly segregated. As a result, Buford received more Black students and Walker Middle School more white. Buford also served areas of the city where people with lower incomes lived. So it wasn’t long before Buford was perceived as inferior to Walker — and it received less investment as a result.
-- JESSIE HIGGINS School board narrows down options, but in the end some buildings will have to close-- Newton Daily News Iowa: April 13, 2023 [ abstract]
Newton school board members already received survey input from teachers and staff about proposed master planning options, but they want even more feedback from the elementary faculty who would be most affected by any building closures, which administrators hinted as a definite possibility in the coming years.
Elected officials also agreed that of the three scenarios presented by the master planning committee, only two seemed to be the most viable.
Here are the scenarios the master planning committee came up with:
• Scenario No. 1: Construct a new grades 1-4 elementary school at Thomas Jefferson or Aurora Heights site and demolish original buildings, selling Woodrow Wilson Elementary site for development and add and remodel Emerson Hough for a pre-K and kindergarten center. This scenario costs more than $40 million.
• Scenario No. 2: Add and remodel Emerson Hough for pre-K-1st grade center, add onto and remodel Thomas Jefferson Elementary into a nine-section grades 2-4 building and then sell the remaining sites for redevelopment. This scenario costs more than $20 million.
-- Christopher Braunschweig California schools face ‘deep trouble’ as flooding danger looms-- EdSource California: April 05, 2023 [ abstract] As heavy storms keep pounding California with torrential rains and a record Sierra snowpack is poised to melt and send rivers surging over their banks, more than a fifth of the state’s 10,000 K-12 schools are at a high or moderate risk of flooding, an analysis of federal data by EdSource shows.
Schools in flood-prone areas, in some cases protected by aging, weakened levees with poor safety ratings, face possible floods similar to those that have already swept through schools in Alameda, Merced and Monterey counties this year, causing millions of dollars in damages, Federal Emergency Management Agency data shows.
Flooding in the Tulare and the San Joaquin basins in the Central Valley in the months ahead “is inevitable,” Jeffrey Mount, a geomorphologist and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California who studies flood and water management, told EdSource in an interview.
“We’re looking at a pretty epic spring in those places. We’re really going to see some considerable hardship in these small rural communities once this snow begins to melt,” he said. He urged local communities and public agencies like school districts to start planning now.
-- THOMAS PEELE, EMMA GALLEGOS, AND DANIEL J. WILLIS Facing rising costs and new priorities, school district to delay certain bond projects-- Palo Alto Online California: March 30, 2023 [ abstract] Facing rising costs and new priorities, the Palo Alto Unified School District is planning to indefinitely delay certain planned, bond-funded construction projects in favor of completing items that are deemed more urgent.
Palo Alto Unified is currently in the midst of construction projects on campuses throughout the district, funded by the Measure A and Z bonds, which voters passed in 2008 and 2018, respectively.
There is currently roughly $165 million left available to allocate towards projects, Director of Facilities and Construction Eric Holm told the school board at a Tuesday, March 28, meeting. District officials are planning to indefinitely delay $163.6 million in planned projects, in favor of a collection of projects totalling $141.3 million that the district deems to be higher priorities. That will leave $23.8 million in reserve to cover any further cost overruns or to pay for deferred maintenance projects, Holm said.
-- Zoe Morgan Kettering schools seek state help for long-term school building plans-- Dayton Daily News Ohio: March 22, 2023 [ abstract] KETTERING — The Kettering school district will seek state funding for long-term improvements to buildings and facilities.
The district wants to apply for an Ohio Facilities Construction Commission program to help with long-range planning, citing a higher percentage in state funding assistance than in previous years, said Kettering Business Services Director Jeff Johnson.
If the district is eligible for state money, the OFCC would assess its buildings at no charge and develop an agreement allowing Kettering “discretionary” decisions on projects, he said.
Kettering has not previously participated in the OFCC new building funding program, which has helped many area districts — including Xenia, Fairborn, West Carrollton and Valley View currently — to construct new schools.
-- Nick Blizzard DC Begins School Boundary Study-- HillRag District of Columbia: March 21, 2023 [ abstract] The process of changing school boundaries for DC Public Schools (DCPS) is about to begin.
On March 21 the Mayor’s office announced the launch of the Boundary and Student Assignment Study 2023, or Boundary Study, through the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME). The study will review boundaries and feeder patterns and District-wide public school student assignment policies.
It’s the first update to the Boundary Study since 2013-2014, when DC undertook its first comprehensive review of boundaries in 40 years. DME is running a Master Facilities Plan study at the same time and both studies will share foundational information. Any potential boundary modifications and feeder recommendations would take effect no sooner than School Year 2025-26, i.e. August of 2025.
“We are embarking on a city-wide planning process that will provide strategic, data-informed recommendations to ensure more students have access to great schools and facilities that meet their needs,” Deputy Mayor for Education Paul Kihn.
The process will be essential toward the ongoing work to not only recover from the pandemic, but to continue efforts to close the opportunity gap, Kihn added. “We know that residents will have strong thoughts and feedback, and we look forward to engaging directly with families, educators, and stakeholders over the coming weeks and months,” he said.
-- Elizabeth O'Gorek South Bend Schools presents Facilities Master Plan recommendations to public-- abc57.com Indiana: March 20, 2023 [ abstract] SOUTH BEND, Ind. -
HPM, the consulting firm managing this process for SBCSC has created its facilities master plan and shared it with the public Monday night.
An effort to “right-size” the South Bend Community School Corporation culminated Monday in a formal recommendation from consulting partners to the school board.
“Just the overall community voice and number of meetings we’ve had, it’s been extensive throughout this process,” said Scott Leopold, director of planning services for the firm.
Ultimately architecture firm Fanning Howey and consulting partner HPM recommended the closure of Clay High School.
“If you choose to keep Clay open, it’s going to cost $16.17 million over the next 5 years,” Leopold said, “and that means there are other projects that don’t get done.”
The news was much to the dismay of many in the crowd Monday.
“Clay has been done a disservice for far too long. Find a better way than closing it down,” one person said in front of the school board.
“You need a find a way to save Clay, these students have found a home here. Many 8th graders are already here, working on sports for next year. People want to go here,” said another person in attendance.
Recommendations also include facilitating clear “feeder patterns” from primary to secondary schools in the district.
-- Annie Kate School Board reviews facilities condition study-- Suffolk News-Herald Virginia: March 14, 2023 [ abstract]
The city’s School Board reviewed the condition of Suffolk Public Schools’ facilities during its Thursday, March 9 meeting. SPS Director of Facilities and planning Terry Napier provided the facilities condition assessment, with the help of Chief Financial Officer Wendy Forsman and Jeff Harris of RRMM Architects. “In 2021, it’s a joint project with the city, we did a facilities study to basically take a review of the actual facility conditions of all of our buildings,” Superintendent Dr. John B. Gordon III said. “The facilities study not only had recommendations for building new schools, but it also had recommendations for preventative maintenance, student enrollment projections as well as any other major projects that needed to occur over the next five to 10 years. Both the City of Suffolk and the School Board agree that this is going to be our facility bible, so to speak, moving forward.”
The presentation provided the facilities study timeline being commissioned by City Council with the School Board’s agreement in fall 2018. In 2019, a contract was awarded to RRMM Architects, which worked with Cooperative Strategies to provide SPS with a final report in April 2021. The document covers 18 schools and is 3,628 pages with the three major components — assessment executive summary, the executive summary appendix and the school facility condition assessment on individual schools. The appendix detailed information that was presented in public meetings such as the Joint Task Force Meeting Feb 25, 2020 and the joint City Council and School Board presentation Feb 23, 2021.
-- James W. Robinson Approved Capital Improvement Program Adds New Schools, Advances Commitment to Student Success-- Fairfax County Public Schools Virginia: February 10, 2023 [ abstract] Fairfax County School Board unanimously approved an annual update to the capital improvement program (CIP) that includes continuing work on upgrading school facilities across the County, the building of three new elementary schools, and acquiring land to be used for a new high school during the School Board meeting on Thursday evening.
The new elementary schools and acquisition of land for a new high school will address current and projected overcrowding.
Other projects in the FY 2024-28 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) include three new and/or repurposed school facilities, the renovation of 25 schools in the renovation queue, and the relocation of modular buildings. Timelines for capital projects will be posted on project web pages on the FCPS website.
“The CIP is more than a plan for building and renovating our schools,” said Dr. Michelle C. Reid, Superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools. “It expresses our values and priorities, chief of which is providing equitable access to high-quality public school environments for all students.”
The Fairfax County School Board adopted amendments to the CIP. One amendment is for staff to do a full scoping to determine if a boundary change, program change, or both are options to reduce capacity issues at Kent Gardens Elementary School. A second is to reallocate funding for the design and planning of an Early Childhood Education Center in the Route 1 area.
The board will consider follow on actions to the CIP at the next meeting on February 23.
-- Staff Writer MHPS planning new millage tax election as high school renovation costs rise to $60 million-- Mountain Home Observer Arkansas: January 09, 2023 [ abstract]
During a Mountain Home Public Schools strategic planning meeting this past Thursday, members of the school board, along with Superintendent Dr. Jake Long, strategized how to ask the public once more to swallow a millage tax increase to pay for the new construction of a replacement high school building.
“The needs have not gone away. They’re not going to go away,” Dr. Long said.
The existing high school structure remains an issue for students, teachers and support staff. For the last five years, Dr. Long and the district have been working to create a plan to fix the high school’s infrastructure problems.
The issue of rebuilding the high school goes back to the school board’s decision 30 years ago to simply cover up the high school campus’ aged 1960’s buildings with a giant metal roof to save money for voters.
While the can may have been kicked down the road 30 years ago, it can longer be ignored.
Last August, an election was held for voters inside the Mountain Home school district for the question of whether to raise millage rates for the purpose of covering new construction costs.
The measure failed with a 16-vote spread. Recent increases in Baxter County property tax assessments, misinformation and a national recession are the most likely suspects in the defeated millage increase.
-- Alison Fulton School board recommends using ‘extra’ money from fiscal year 2022 for urgent building maintenance and renovations-- Fauquier Times Virginia: December 19, 2022 [ abstract] The Fauquier school board at a special meeting Monday morning voted unanimously to recommend that $4.9 million in carryover funds (money left over from the previous year’s budget) be used to help pay for renovations and urgent maintenance at aging schools.
None of the unused money from the fiscal 2022 budget will go toward bonuses or salary hikes for teachers or other school staff. “In the original carryover, we had the raises for next year,” school board member Susan Pauling (Center District) said at the meeting. “So is there still a plan for us to be able to follow through with our commitment for the 5% in the ’24 school year?”
Not with the carryover, said Denise Sandlin, assistant superintendent of business and planning. “We have used up the whole $4.9 million, which will not include the 5% salary increase,” she said. School board members will need to look elsewhere in the budget to help fund those raises, Sandlin said.
-- Colleen LaMay Granite School District votes to close 3 elementary schools-- KSLTV.com Utah: December 10, 2022 [ abstract] SALT LAKE CITY — The Granite School District Board of Education voted this week to close Millcreek, Twin Peaks and Spring Lane elementary schools.
Steve Hogan, director of planning and boundaries for the school district, presented the Population Analysis Committee’s recommendation for the proposed school closures. He said this decision has been a process that started in January and has included a “significant amount of feedback,” efforts in communication with communities through postcards, text, emails, newsletters and more, as well as almost 90 open meetings with members of the school communities.
The committee conducted a study with the goal of creating elementary schools with optimal enrollment of at least three teachers per grade level to “best serve our students and families.”
It originally had three closure options, but ultimately decided the best option would be to close Millcreek, Twin Peaks and Spring Lane elementaries.
-- CASSIDY WIXOM Lynchburg City Schools capital improvement plan proposes major renovations-- The News & Advance Virginia: December 07, 2022 [ abstract] Lynchburg City Schools’ new proposed five-year capital improvement plan lays out a road map for more than $100 million in building improvements, including potential large-scale renovations beginning in fiscal year 2026.
Administrators shared the division’s fiscal year 2024-2028 plan with the school board Tuesday night.
As the division balances a separate facilities master plan project, which will determine the future of school buildings in the city, Deputy Superintendent of Operations and Strategic planning Reid Wodicka said the division wanted to be “respectful” to the master plan as it projects its capital improvement needs over the next few years.
Because of this, Wodicka said the first two years of the capital improvement plan call for several smaller projects more focused on increasing school security and exterior repairs to aging school buildings than on larger renovation projects.
“Over the next couple of years, the projects that we put forward are projects that I think are critical to the long-term, structural stability of our existing buildings,” Wodicka said.
-- Bryson Gordon Philadelphia hits pause on blueprint for school building upgrades-- Chalkbeat Philadelphia Pennsylvania: November 18, 2022 [ abstract] Philadelphia Superintendent Tony Watlington said the district has paused the process it’s developed to decide on upgrades to school facilities, in order to align it more closely to the district’s future five-year strategic plan.
During a school board meeting Thursday, Watlington said the facilities planning process will be put on hold until the district adopts that strategic blueprint, but added that building work that’s already been approved will proceed.
The district’s “facilities planning process” sets long-term priorities for building and other infrastructure upgrades. In April, Philadelphia officials unveiled an interactive map that let people learn about specific conditions at neighborhood schools. And in May, the district announced public forums where people could discuss the best way to repair and upgrade the city’s aging public schools; the average Philadelphia school building is about 75 years old.
However, those moves occurred before Watlington took over as superintendent in mid-June. Since then, Watlington has focused much of his attention on trying to create that five-year roadmap for schools by — among other things — gathering input from the public and different groups and officials. The district aims to adopt that roadmap next year.
-- Nora Macaluso Updated LBUSD facilities timeline pushes HVAC projects forward by two years-- Signal Tribune California: November 03, 2022 [ abstract] The Long Beach Unified School District’s projected timeline for Measure E facility upgrades has been updated to prioritize Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) projects, according to information presented at the Wednesday, Nov. 2 board meeting.
Measure E is a $1.5 billion bond measure the district passed back in 2016 to fund repairs, technology, air conditioning and safety across school sites.
A shift in funding due to the governor’s budget that allocated one-time state funds to school facilities projects as well as unused contingencies from past projects are some of the main factors that prompted rebaselining.
The new timeline proposes advancing HVAC-type projects at Charles A Buffum Elementary, Patrick Henry Elementary School, Herbert Hoover Middle School, Beach K-12 Independent Study, James Monroe High School and Benjamin Tucker Elementary by two years.
Other school sites such as Stanford Middle School, Minnie Gant Elementary School, George Washington Carver Elementary School, Tincher Preparatory School and John Marshall Middle School can only be advanced up to a year, as Executive Director of Facilities Development and planning, David Miranda, stated it would not be feasible to start and finish construction in the span of two years.
-- BRIANA MENDEZ-PADILLA Committee receives preliminary report about condition of school district’s buildings as part of budget planning-- LJWorld Kansas: November 02, 2022 [ abstract] The committee tasked with coming up with budget recommendations for the Lawrence school district received some preliminary information about building conditions that will inform recommendations about potential school closures.
The Futures planning Committee met for the fourth time Wednesday evening at district offices and received some aggregated cost estimates — totaling about $30 million — for improvements to the district’s elementary and middle schools. Larry Englebrick, the district’s chief operations officer for facilities and operations, said the district has been taking an in-depth look at the condition of its buildings, and while they are generally in good condition, facility needs and funding must be planned.
“We look at available funding, the facility needs, and then we have to balance what available funding do we have each year based with the projection of when we’re going to hit specific building improvement needs and maintenance needs,” Englebrick said.
Englebrick said the district’s target is to have all schools at 80% overall condition — he said a brand-new building would be at 100% — and he provided an aggregated breakdown of what it would cost to attain that goal for the district’s 13 elementary schools and four middle schools. The cost to get schools to 80% condition was $16.92 million for the elementary schools and $12.32 million for the middle schools. A lesser number, the cost to return only the schools’ “priority systems” to 80% condition, was also given, and was $12.78 million for the elementary schools and $10.38 million for the middle schools.
-- ROCHELLE VALVERDE BPS may close more schools. Parents say it's past time for a detailed plan.-- wgbh.org Massachusetts: October 04, 2022 [ abstract] Boston Public School parents and local education activists are increasingly worried about what they fear will be inevitable school closings and consolidations as enrollment continues to decline. From 2015 to today, the number of students educated by the BPS has dropped by 15%, from 54,000 students to 46,000.
Parents and school reform advocates said they want a master plan for the $2 billion in school building changes that Mayor Michelle Wu proposed in the spring as part of her Green New Deal for BPS. Some said a detailed blueprint would give children more educational stability and allow families to plan for changes, as well as ensure racial fairness. Others said urgent and comprehensive planning is a financial necessity in a city where enrollment is trending downward.
Brenda Ramsey, a Dorchester mother of two, doesn’t like the current uncertainty. Her youngest daughter attends the PA Shaw, a school that may — or may not — be on the chopping block. She already experienced the closure of the Mattahunt Elementary five years ago with her oldest daughter and isn’t eager to go through that again.
“I don't know if [district leaders] know what it's like to have to go through a shutdown,” Ramsey said. “It's traumatic for the students, it’s traumatic for the families.”
-- Meg Woolhouse Worcester BOE approves $142.5 million CIP plan-- Ocean City Today Maryland: September 29, 2022 [ abstract] The Worcester County Board of Education unanimously approved several capital improvements projects last week, along with a $142.5 million capital improvement plan (CIP) for FY24.
The CIP is a six-year strategic plan that identifies capital improvement needs across the district, while attaching to each project a timeline and a budget.
The district’s CIP includes planning and designing requests for Buckingham Elementary School and a design funding request to replace the roof at Snow Hill Middle School/Cedar Chapel Special School.
The plan does not include any construction funding requests.
The district in January finished work on a new roof at Pocomoke Middle School and is now in the process of constructing a 24,800 square foot addition at Stephen Decatur Middle School.
According to district officials, work is proceeding on time and on budget for a December completion.
-- Greg Wehner Kalispell schools nearing capacity " District to start long-range facility planning-- Daily Inter Lake Montana: September 20, 2022 [ abstract] Kalispell Public Schools will begin extensive long-range facility planning as more of the district’s schools near capacity levels.
The district released a request for qualifications Monday to hire consultants to facilitate the planning process. The goal is to develop a “big picture” master plan that officials can reference for the next 20 years, Superintendent Micah Hill said.
The work will include a facilities review, a demographic study, recommendations and an implementation plan, among other items.
In addition to evaluating facilities in terms of capacity and condition, Hill said the district wants to look at long-term growth from both a city and county perspective, nodding to the surrounding 13 partner school districts whose students eventually attend Flathead and Glacier high schools. “What does that long-range growth look like? And then a demographic study — where are those things happening? What are the growth rates on individual grade levels or age groups?” he said.
The district’s hope is to complete the long-range facility planning process by June 2023.
-- HILARY MATHESON Davenport Schools' future: Long-range plan may include closing schools-- Quad-City Times Iowa: September 18, 2022 [ abstract] The Davenport Community School District is working on a long-range facilities master plan to right-size the district, and it may involve closing schools.
The district still has a ways to go in the process, as its Board of Directors will vote to approve a master plan proposal in December. The plan sets the vision and priorities for the district over the next 10 to 20 years, though nothing in the plan is certain.
The district says it must balance its budget with its needs and capacity. District leader say they've been thorough and intentional with the planning. But months away from the board’s vote, parents and staff alike have raised several concerns about potential closures.
Dr. Austin Burt, a Walcott business owner, said he’d like the district to address its excess capacity internally before making any decisions on a proposal.
“Because all they're doing now is closing buildings and cutting costs,” he said. “We want to be part of the solution, not part of a continued loss for the district.”
Proposed plans include tentatively closing/idling Buchanan, Washington, Jackson, Jefferson and Hayes or Monroe elementary schools and would convert Walcott K-8 into a junior high school. In one option, Williams and Smart junior highs are idled, but would relocate into the repurposed Jackson and Jefferson sites.
-- Olivia Allen St. Mary's schools facing maintenance delays-- Southern Maryland News Maryland: September 14, 2022 [ abstract]
“It’s bad.”
With those words, St. Mary’s public schools’ Director of Maintenance Steve Whidden told the school board about the lack of parts for various school maintenance projects.
The delays in completing such projects have gone from an average of 66 days to 98 days since 2020, he said. Ten years ago, it was 29 days.
In addition, a lack in finding available contractors has also impacted the school system.
“We’re having a hard time getting contractors to respond except for a couple local ones,” he said.
Whidden added that he’s had to pull staff from other assignments to “babysit” projects, such as heating and air conditioning repairs, until all of the necessary parts come in.
“I’ve never had this much problem finding someone who was qualified and would accept what we were offering,” he said.
Board member Jim Davis asked Whidden if he had thought about using students from the school system’s Dr. James A. Forrest Career and Technology Center.
“We’ve been talking about that,” Whidden said, noting students could possibly be used as part-time hourly employees in an internship.
The board voted 5-0 to approve Whidden’s proposed 2022 comprehensive maintenance plan.
Kim Howe, director of capital planning, presented the five-year capital improvement plan, which the board approved 4-0 after Vice Chair Cathy Allen had to leave.
Howe noted that the school system has a 51.25% Facility Condition Index compared to the state average of 47%. This means St. Mary’s public schools have more need in regard to facilities than the statewide average, she said.
“It’s a very heavy lift locally to get these jobs done,” Superintendent Scott Smith said.
-- Caleb M. Soptelean Summer is the time for school construction projects to get underway-- Alaska's News Source Alaska: August 09, 2022 [ abstract] ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - There are a lot of things that need to get done leading up to kids going back to school, but what a lot of people may not realize is on the last day of school in the spring, kids head out and maintenance workers go in.
“It gets fast — right now is the time we’re really pushing the pedal to the metal to get these projects done,” said Calvin Mundt, project manager for Capital planning and Construction for the Anchorage School District.
Mundt’s team has been working on a retubing project where two of the school’s four boilers are getting an upgrade. Mundt said it’s part of a larger project that started three summers ago when the last small chunk of funding from a 2017 bond allowed them to retube the boilers — a cost of $60,000 each — instead of having to replace them outright.
“If we were to replace each of those boilers, we would do so with a modern high-efficiency boiler — that would involve engineering and replacing all of the controls also, that’s about a million dollars a copy,” said the district’s acting Chief Operating Officer Rob Holland.
-- Ariane Aramburo and Mike Nederbrock A Tale of Two Schools: A Failing Boston School Building and the Impact on Two Communities-- nbcboston.com Massachusetts: August 02, 2022 [ abstract] A TALE OF TWO SCHOOLS
You might call it the tale of two schools. Because under one roof-- and a leaky one at that-- the Jackson Mann School was permanently shut down on June 27—its students and staff dispersed, its supplies transported across the city. But, there is another school in the same failing building. The Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing will remain in the same structure for at least another year.
The Jackson Mann Horace Mann complex has the highest buildings needs score in the entire school system. That’s BPS-speak for the building in the worst shape that impacts the most students. Eventually, the building will be torn down. The plan is to build a new one at that location. But the Horace Mann school population is filled with students who are some of the most vulnerable, who require the most services. They need a very specialized learning environment. And the Boston Public Schools has nowhere else to put these learners until a swing space is retrofitted - hopefully in fall 2023.
The decision to keep the building open for one school while closing it for the other has left people confused and outraged.
“Good planning, of which we’ve not had a lot in the Boston schools for a while, should have been able to figure out an alternative," Larry DiCara, a former Boston city councilor and author of a memoir on busing and the Boston Public Schools said.
Meanwhile, it is the families who pay the price.
-- Mimi Wishner Segel and Shira Stoll NSBA interview with the Executive Director of the National Council on School Facilities-- NSBA.org National: August 01, 2022 [ abstract] Mike Pickens joined the National Council on School Facilities (NCSF) as executive director in 2021 after nearly 20 years at the West Virginia Department of Education, leading in facilities and transportation. NCSF is a nonprofit organization that represents state public school facilities officials, advocating for public school buildings that are physically sound, sustainable, and conducive to learning. The organization encourages federal investments and assistance to build state capacity and support high-need districts, a mission directly related to improving education, health, and the school environment, Pickens said. He spoke to ASBJ intern Bella Czajkowski about failing building systems and related issues, and how the council strives to foster healthy learning environments.
(This interview was edited for length and clarity. A video of the interview follows below.)
In addition to funding, what are some other facilities challenges across the country?
The age and neglect of major building systems are taking a toll. In 2020, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that 41 percent of districts required HVAC systems upgrades or replacements in at least half of their schools. Twenty to 35 percent of all school districts had serious deficiencies in at least half of their roofing, lighting, or safety and security systems. COVID-19 has recently elevated the condition of public-school facilities into the national consciousness. School buildings with poor ventilation and air quality present special risks in the face of a highly contagious airborne virus. Poor indoor air quality has been a barrier to restoring full confidence in returning to in-person schooling. Strategic facilities planning and management could reduce the annual need for capital investment. But this progress against our growing deficit will not happen without systemic policy changes.
-- Staff Writer Inflation causing Kentucky school construction costs to rise-- The Center Square Kentucky: July 21, 2022 [ abstract]
(The Center Square) – The current period of inflation, with rates that have not been seen for more than 40 years, is not just impacting the price of gas, food or other staples.
According to a Kentucky Department of Education official, a dozen or perhaps more public school district construction projects statewide are also bearing the brunt of the sudden rise in costs.
Chay Ritter, the director of the KDE’s Division of District Support, told the Capital planning Advisory Board on Wednesday in Frankfort that construction costs for new school projects have almost doubled from their initial estimates. In some cases, that’s happened in less than a year.
For example, he said Christian County Schools estimated the cost to consolidate its two high schools would be $107 million last November. It rose by $10 million in February and $30 million in May.
Last week, the Kentucky New Era reported two bids for the new school to replace both Christian County and Hopkinsville high schools were $203.4 million and $198.9 million.
-- Steve Bittenbender Crestview awarded state funding for new school building-- Morning Journal Ohio: July 08, 2022 [ abstract] The Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC) Thursday announced the approval of $55,643,416 for the district’s projected pre-K through 12 building. The total cost of the project is estimated at $63.23 million, with a local share of $7,587,738.
The project had been in the planning phases prior to COVID-19. At that point, the state put the funding for such projects on hold.
Crestview voters passed the 2.84 mill levy for the new construction in May of 2019, which was to cover $5.2 million of the $43 million project. The Ohio Schools Facility Construction Commission was to cover 88 percent of the project.
As the pandemic began, Crestview continued to work with architects from Holabird and Root and BSHM to design the project. A new waterline to the school was built and now brings the school water from New Waterford.
-- KEVIN HOWELL Seven School Districts Receive More Than $700,000 in Stimulate Energy Efficiency Grants-- Maryland Association of Counties Maryland: July 07, 2022 [ abstract] The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) granted awards to seven Maryland public school districts through its Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) Decarbonizing Public Schools program, totaling more than $700,000.
The grants will help finance projects “reducing greenhouse gas emissions and overall lifecycle costs while planning the development of high-performance schools.” Two categories of projects were awarded: energy data management and net zero energy school planning.
-- Brianna January More than a Band-Aid needed for Cd'A schools-- cdapress.com Idaho: June 19, 2022 [ abstract] Safety and security updates and a host of repairs are desperately needed across the Coeur d'Alene School District.
The district has more than $25 million in deferred maintenance — projects and repairs that have been needed for some time.
The average age of Coeur d'Alene public school facilities is 30 years, which means students are surrounded by buildings and equipment as old as, or even older, than their parents.
That age is showing, and it's only going to get worse. If nothing is done, that $25 million in facilities work needed now will increase to $68 million by 2027.
"It just snowballs and keeps getting bigger and bigger every year," said Coeur d'Alene Superintendent Shon Hocker. "We have to get a handle on this deferred maintenance, or it's going to become a bigger issue."
Earlier this month, the district's long-range planning committee presented to the Coeur d'Alene school board a recommendation for a school plant facilities reserve fund levy to help resolve the maintenance concerns. The levy would fund deferred maintenance projects for up to 10 years. The long-range planning committee deems deferred maintenance to be one of the district's highest priorities.
A school plant facilities reserve fund levy is a property tax measure decided by a school district's registered voters.
-- DEVIN WEEKS Jeffco school district planning multiple elementary school closures-- Chalkbeat Colorado Colorado: June 14, 2022 [ abstract] The Jeffco school district is preparing to make recommendations this fall to close multiple elementary schools, kicking off its long-term plan to downsize its number of schools.
Jeffco district leaders say 49, or 58% of district elementary schools, currently have fewer than 250 students, and/or use less than 60% building capacity. Six elementary schools, in six different areas of the district, have fewer than 200 students, and also utilize less than 60% of their building’s capacity.
“While we have a large issue in this district, there are a few schools that are really facing dire situations with how small they are going into next school year and we must confront those,” said Lisa Relou, Jeffco’s chief of strategy and communications, who is overseeing the plan’s creation.
-- Yesenia Robles For New York Schools, Going Green Just Got a Little Easier-- JDSupra New York: June 07, 2022 [ abstract] In September of 2021, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the allocation of $59 million to fund the Clean Green Schools Initiative. The program aims to advance clean energy efficiency solutions and clean energy to improve indoor air quality and reduce carbon emissions for schools designated as “high-need” by the New York State Education Department or schools located in disadvantaged communities.
The initiative, to be administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), offers a unique opportunity for designated underserved schools to improve their energy systems. In doing so, eligible schools will receive technical, financial, and human resource support to evaluate, plan for, and implement energy efficient solutions. In the long run, this will improve school environments and save money.
Program Breakdown:
The program is structured in two tracks – Track I for planning, Track II for installation.
The planning track provides funding for the evaluation, planning, and facilitation of energy reduction projects, clean energy projects, and indoor air quality projects. Schools may use Track I funding for professional services such as energy studies, on-site energy managers, and fiscal advisors. The services must be aimed at helping schools evaluate, plan and facilitate comprehensive energy reduction, decarbonization, environmental sustainability, and indoor air quality projects. Track I funding may also be used towards planning a project associated with Track II. Participation in Track I is not a requirement for eligibility for Track II.
-- Harris Beach PLLC Design for Sharks’ new school nearly done; new bill could help fund construction-- Post Guam Guam: June 05, 2022 [ abstract]
The design for the new Simon Sanchez High School is 90% complete and a bill introduced Tuesday could help close the gap in funding needed to see the project to fruition.
Simon Sanchez High School students have been waiting nearly 10 years for the new facility, the planning and construction of which has been hit by multiple delays including procurement battles, the COVID-19 pandemic, and environmental issues. As time lapsed, the cost of construction has increased, which means the $65 million Guam Department of Education has committed for the new high school campus now falls short.
GDOE estimated the cost for the new Simon Sanchez High School would be about $138 million.
“Right now, we are in design stage. While we are working on estimates, the final decision on what will be constructed depends on how much money is available,” said Superintendent Jon Fernandez.
The design was supposed to have reached the 90% target on May 26, but Fernandez has said it was a moving target.
The unforeseen discovery of endangered snails on almost 2 acres of the property forced Taniguchi Ruth Makio Architects to make modifications to the design in order to work around the snails' habitat. The modification resulted in the loss of 16 classrooms.
“We have scaled down but not for cost issues alone. We cut back the number of classrooms to more closely align with projected amount of students at SSHS. Luckily, this reduction helped us resolve the impact of the snails by allowing us to shift the school to avoid the area,” Fernandez said.
-- Jolene Toves IPS Partners with Indiana Firm to Plan Largest K-12 Solar Project Ever in Indiana-- myips.org Indiana: May 26, 2022 [ abstract] Already a national leader in energy conservation, Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) is moving forward with planning for a solar energy project that would significantly reduce costs, cut carbon emissions and boost sustainability efforts in the state’s largest city.
The IPS Board of School Commissioners approved an agreement with Carmel-based Sun FundED to develop, finance and operate solar energy systems for the district under the firm’s “Solar-as-a-Service” program. The project would reduce energy costs by an estimated $45 million over the next 30 years.
“Research has consistently shown that solar projects can reduce air pollution and CO2 emissions, and significantly reduce energy costs,” said Dr. Aleesia Johnson, IPS superintendent. “Under this new partnership, IPS will install solar panels at multiple schools and locations across the district, enabling our schools to utilize clean energy while at the same time reducing the district’s carbon footprint.”
If approved and installed as planned, the project would represent the largest solar energy project by an educational institution in Indiana history. The project proposes both roof and land based solar installations at 20 schools, and also includes the ability for the district to adopt renewable energy and sustainability programs for the classroom through SAMI, a digital platform intended to help students understand the financial and technical aspects of solar energy.
Project locations, size and system output will be finalized through the development phase of the project.
-- Staff Writer In the San Joaquin Valley, rapidly growing school districts endure overcrowding-- EdSource California: May 17, 2022 [ abstract]
When it was time to put down roots and buy a home for their family, Bay Area residents Mandeep Kaur and Jimmy Singh decided it was time to leave their cramped apartment in Fremont and purchase a home in the San Joaquin Valley.
They landed in Patterson, a small but rapidly growing town of 24,000 off the Interstate 5 freeway. The development they moved into in February is so new that not all the homes on their street have been finished.
Their new home, which, with two stories and a backyard, has plenty of room for their 6-year-old and baby. They like Patterson’s small-town feel.
“There are better schools,” Singh said. “It’s a nice community, not as hectic.”
Patterson is 75 miles from Oakland, which puts it at the outer rim of Bay Area bedroom communities. Singh is freed from the daily commute as the owner of a trucking business who works from home — an increasing trend among recent transplants.
For decades, the San Joaquin Valley has been a destination for young families seeking affordable housing. Enrollment in the San Joaquin Valley grew 24.5% before the pandemic, and it dipped only 1.1% since 2019.
“We’re very lucky,” said George Bradley, director of research and planning at the Kern High School District. “The alternative is that you’re shrinking.”
The big questions about enrollment in the San Joaquin Valley have been about where new schools will be built, how they will be funded and what to do with the surge of students on campus in the meantime.
-- EMMA GALLEGOS Philly brings process to fix aging schools to the public. Is it enough?-- Chalkbeat Philadelphia Pennsylvania: May 17, 2022 [ abstract] As the Philadelphia district aims to tell the public how it is managing its aging infrastructure, parents and community leaders remain concerned about possible school closures, lack of enrollment data, and transparency when it comes to school building maintenance and safety.
The district is in the middle of public engagement about its long-term plan to improve school facilities. During this round of talks, which will take place over Zoom, the district’s facilities planning team is providing an overview of the process, including project goals and data collected from the district. These sessions began May 10 and are open to the public. Additional sessions are scheduled for May 18, 19, 24, and 25. To participate, residents can register online.
In addition, as part of that plan, all district school buildings will be evaluated over the next 12 months, with the goal of creating recommendations for each building.
To identify problems with school buildings and identify recommendations to address them, the district also launched a $1.3 million Facilities planning Process last month. School officials unveiled a website with an interactive map that the community could use to access information about each school building’s condition, as well as facility assessments conducted by third-party industry professionals.
-- Johann Calhoun California set to launch hundreds of community schools with $635 million in grants-- EdSource California: May 12, 2022 [ abstract] Next week, California will jumpstart a seven-year initiative to convert potentially thousands of schools into full-service, parent-focused community schools.
Approved a year ago by the Legislature, the $3 billion California Community Schools Partnership Program will be the nation’s most ambitious effort to create schools serving multiple health and learning needs of children. Community schools have come to be known as schools with “wraparound services.” The underlying assumption is that a holistic approach to education, particularly in low-income areas with unmet basic needs, creates the best conditions for children to thrive emotionally and academically. Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing to increase the community schools program by $1.5 billion – 50% – in his revised 2022-23 state budget, which he released on May 13.
At its meeting next Wednesday, the State Board of Education is expected to approve $635 million in planning and implementation grants for 265 school districts, county offices of education and charter schools.
On the recommendation of the California Department of Education, 192 districts, county offices of education and charter schools will receive $200,000 two-year planning grants in the first round.
The other 73 districts, with at least some existing community schools, will receive implementation grants covering 444 schools; each school will receive over five years between $712,500 for schools with fewer than 150 students to $2.375 million for schools with more than 2,000 students. Schools serving at least 80% low-income children will receive priority funding.
-- JOHN FENSTERWALD McClymonds High School community has high hopes for campus overhaul-- The Oaklandside California: May 09, 2022 [ abstract] McClymonds High School will soon be getting a makeover. The West Oakland school, which has occupied the same campus since 1938, is set to receive $65 million over the next three years—part of a $735 million bond approved by Oakland voters in 2020 to modernize and upgrade Oakland Unified school sites. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2024, but community members, school and district officials, and architects must first agree on a vision for the campus revamp.
All those involved agree that the renovation of McClymonds’ campus, located on Myrtle and 26th streets, is long overdue. In addition to needed technology and seismic upgrades, there are environmental and safety concerns to address, including elevated lead levels in the plumbing infrastructure and carcinogens in the groundwater. School and community leaders are hopeful that a modernized campus will also attract more students to McClymonds, where enrollment in recent years has plummeted.
While optimism about the project is high, there are concerns: Some community members worry the funds won’t be enough to realize all of the desired improvements, and that a renovated campus could catch the eye of charter schools looking to expand or relocate. And the level of community engagement in the planning process thus far hasn’t been what many had hoped.
“This is not going to be an easy process,” said VanCedric Williams, the school board director for District 3 where McClymonds is located. “We’re all in agreement that McClymonds deserves some new energy and some new designs. We’re going to continue to push through this conversation.”
-- Ashley McBride State Provides Grant for School Project Addressing Crumbling Foundation Concern-- CT NBC Connecticut: May 07, 2022 [ abstract] The state legislature passed a measure that'll provide additional funding for the Windermere Building Project, aimed at addressing crumbling foundation concerns.
The measure lawmakers passed pertains to the school construction portion of the budget implementation bill.
Ellington Public Schools said the new measure increases the reimbursement rate from 55.4% to 70%. This will provide the school district with just over $9 million additional dollars than expected.
This higher reimbursement rate is expected to save Ellington taxpayers money.
"As Board Chair and former Windermere parent, I am thrilled with the progress we have made on this project in shaping it for the community. We appreciate the leadership of Mr. Greenleaf, who has a unique and extensive skill set in school construction projects, and many others who have worked to proactively address our facilities and we appreciate the State’s recognition of this ongoing concern,” said Board of Education Chair Jennifer Dzen.
The school district said the bill will make the project eligible for state funding. They're planning to submit an application to the Office of School Construction Grants and Review for consideration.
The project also gets to move forward six months earlier than previously anticipated because of this new measure.
-- Staff Writer Philadelphia school district unveils website to track yearlong review of its aging infrastructure-- Philly Voice Pennsylvania: May 03, 2022 [ abstract] As the School District of Philadelphia determines the best use for each of its aging buildings, officials have unveiled a new website that will detail the state of each facility. The yearlong review process will allow district officials to make recommendations on how to improve the buildings' conditions and make them safer for students.
Each of the more than 200 buildings operated by the district will be scored on four key factors: facility condition, suitability for providing education, the weighted combined score of the first two factors and the utilization of each building. The recommendations will be presented to the Board of Education next spring.
The launch of the website follows years of concern over the crumbling conditions of some school buildings. In the fall of 2019, the district began its Comprehensive School planning Review, which worked with a small subset of schools to determine the condition and best use of each school building.
That work, like much of the work the district has done to remediate asbestos and lead in its school buildings, was paused due to COVID-19. Now, after more than two years, officials have decided to expand that building review to include every school in the district.
The district will utilize $325 million in federal stimulus funds over the next four years to pay for improvements to facilities. The funding is a portion of more than $1 billion in American Rescue Plan funding the district is eligible to receive. It must be spent by September 2024.
-- Maggie Mancini New Boston city budget includes $788 million for school capital projects over five years " but will it be enough?-- The Boston Globe Massachusetts: April 25, 2022 [ abstract]
Tucked into a $3.6 billion capital plan released by Mayor Michelle Wu this month is a proposal to get the ball rolling on a half-dozen school construction projects across the city, including new elementary schools in Dorchester and Roxbury.
Details are scant, but — if approved — the plan would launch studies on the six projects and could pave the way for a building boom for a school district that has seen few upgrades to its aging facilities in recent years.
The studies, which would cost about $150,000 to $175,000 each, would develop building plans and consider locations, mostly for elementary schools. Some line items include no information beyond the neighborhood and grade levels. More details on the school facilities plan will emerge in the course of the budget process, according to a city spokesperson.
“Every student in Boston deserves to learn in a space that is safe, healthy, energy-efficient, and inspiring,” the spokesperson said in an e-mail. “Mayor Wu has made it a top priority to invest in our school facilities, and we will have more details to share about the Mayor’s vision for district-wide facilities planning in the coming weeks.”
In total, the plan features $788 million in school spending, including funds from the Massachusetts School Building Authority. It would put the district on pace to hit the $1 billion over 10 years target envisioned in its BuildBPS planning process. It also represents a $47 million increase over district capital spending in the prior five-year plan.
-- Christopher Huffaker DeKalb County superintendent asks for ‘grace’ on school repairs plan-- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Georgia: April 22, 2022 [ abstract]
DeKalb County Superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris is asking for “a little grace” as her administration tries to figure out the ramifications of a surprising decision by the school board about districtwide building repairs.
At a meeting this week, the board voted 5-2 in the final hour to put critical maintenance needs across the district first rather than major projects at a shorter list of schools. That was a blow to supporters hoping for modernization of Druid Hills High School, estimated to cost up to $60 million.
“We’re in a process of digesting what was presented and doing an analysis of how that fits into what we were planning to do anyway,” Watson-Harris said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Before Monday’s vote, she had urged the board to give staff time to vet the proposal. The school district has previously been accused of misusing taxpayer dollars and not keeping promises made to the community, she said.
But five members of the board decided not to heed the caution of Watson-Harris, who assumed her post nearly two years ago — the district’s sixth superintendent in almost a decade.
“We have to unpack what’s already been done, what we had already planned to do, what are the priority items that can be easily completed, our capital projects and the new priorities,” she told the AJC on Wednesday.
-- Cassidy Alexander In an effort to make schools greener, the White House is offering billions of dollars-- NPR National: April 22, 2022 [ abstract]
"In most school districts, the second-largest yearly expense after salaries is the energy bill."
That's a quote from Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking earlier this month at an elementary school in Washington, D.C.
She was announcing a new, multibillion-dollar federal push to renovate public schools in ways that are healthier both for children and the planet – and often, that save money too.
The funds are spread across several different agencies and programs. The White House released a toolkit with details:
Heating and cooling upgrades: studies show that schools are on deck to spend $9.7 billion of American Rescue Plan funds to upgrade heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems – something that became top of mind to curb the spread of COVID-19. More efficient HVAC systems could lower energy costs and emissions.
Cleaner transportation: a $5 billion rebate program from the Environmental Protection Agency that replaces old, mostly diesel-fueled buses. Half the money is specifically for electric buses.
Carbon-free commuting: some of the $90 billion in the Department of Transportation's highway safety funds can be used to help with route planning so more students can walk or bike to school.
Lower power costs, more light: a $500 million Department of Energy grant program, paid for by the infrastructure law, can be used for things like LED lights, better insulation, and solar panels.
-- Anya Kamenetz School District of La Crosse considers consolidating schools as part of long-range facility planning-- WEAU Wisconsin: April 20, 2022 [ abstract] LA CROSSE, Wis. (WEAU) - The School District of La Crosse is holding a pair of public community listening sessions to discuss long-term facility planning for the district.
The upcoming sessions will highlight the District’s declining student population, aging facilities and work done on budgeting and operations to manage persistent shortfalls in funding.
According to the District’s information page for facility planning, annual enrollment in the school district has declined by over 1,400 students in the past 20 years. The District cited lower birth rates over the past 30 years as a cause of the decline, and noted that each student brings in about $11,300 in revenue. In addition, La Crosse administrators expect the enrollment to continue to decline for at least the next five to 10 years. The most recent publicly-available open enrollment figures also show the school district losing more students to transfers than it is bringing in since 2018-19, with 2019-2020 seeing a net loss of 34 students to open enrollment transfer.
Aging facilities are also a concern of the School District of La Crosse, according to the District’s facility planning page. Some of the 15 buildings in operation are over 80 years old, with millions of dollars each year budgeted for maintenance and updates to keep the schools in compliance with federal and state standards. The District also said that La Crosse is the smallest school district in Wisconsin with two high schools, and that districts of its size typically have 10 or 11 buildings, not 15. The average age of the buildings used by the school district is 60 years.
-- Jimmie Kaska With the next K-8 school off the table, St. Johns County schools move forward with rezoning-- The St. Augustine Record Florida: April 13, 2022 [ abstract]
St. Johns County School administrators have taken zoning for the district's next K-8 school off the table.
The reason: Bids for the construction of "School NN" came in higher than the school board was comfortable with. The board voted to reject all three bids at this time, which means the school will most likely not open as slated in 2023-24 in the Shearwater development off County Road 210.
Nicole Cubbedge, the district's director for government and planning relations, said the district was already well ahead of its usual schedule in creating an attendance zone for the new school.
"Since now it may be a 2024 opening, it's too far out to realistically consider (enrollment) numbers," Cubbedge said.
The news was met with mixed feelings by parents of the Rivertown community who spoke out at Tuesday's workshop and school board meeting against several rezoning options that eventually will be affected by the opening of "School NN."
"It does make it so much harder; there's so much up in the air now," said Rivertown parent Stacy Dellone who has two students currently attending Freedom Crossing Academy.
-- Colleen Michele Jones Charles public schools to see increase in construction funds-- Southern Maryland News Maryland: March 30, 2022 [ abstract]
Charles County public school system is in line to see an increase in the state share in costs for future school construction.
During Monday’s board of education work session, Michael Heim, assistant superintendent of supporting services, and Steve Andritz, director of planning and construction, briefed board members on funding for school construction.
The county is projected to see $22.89 million in funding from the state’s Capital Improvement Program for fiscal 2023.
A grant will provides funding for new school construction and renovation as well as major maintenance programs for existing facilities.
Costs of new school construction and certain renovation or addition projects are split between the state and local governments based on county wealth, but as Heim explained, those funds only cover actual building and improvements
“That [state funding] does not include buying land, design cost or any of the technology, fixtures, etc.,” he said.
Charles County also saw a rise in its state share, which is based on county wealth, from 61% to 65%.
A new grant allowing the Maryland Stadium Authority to issue bonds for school construction projects is also set to provide more money for constructing educational facilities in the state.
The Built to Learn Act, which passed the Maryland General Assembly in 2020, came online with the passage of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future last year.
The law allows the stadium authority to issue revenue bonds to fund new construction projects which would be managed by the authority.
Charles County is expected to receive about $25.35 million in assisting three school addition/renovation projects.
-- Darryl Kinsey Jr. St. Johns County Planning to Build 19 New Schools in the Next Two Decades is a Great Move for Beacon Lake Families-- The Free Press Florida: March 28, 2022 [ abstract]
St. Johns County recently announced its plans to build 19 new elementary, middle, and high schools and expand two other schools over the next two decades. In just the next five years, the county will build at least four new schools.
This was approved by a unanimous vote of the St. Johns County School Board.
This announcement is a positive move for both the school district and Beacon Lake families. Many families choose the single-family homes and townhomes at Beacon Lake because of the amenities and convenient location, which includes access to St. Johns County’s top-rated public schools.
Beacon Lake residents can look forward to a new high school opening right across the street– Beachside High School. The high school is set to open for the 2022-2023 school year. It has five buildings: Administration/Media Center, Auditorium, Gymnasium, Cafeteria, and a Classroom building. Classrooms will exist in all buildings except the Cafeteria. For a virtual tour, please visit https://www.stjohns.k12.fl.us/newschools/.
A couple of the district’s current schools will be expanded to increase student capacity, and new schools will help to accommodate new families moving to the area.
-- Staff Writer Philadelphia restarts a comprehensive study of its facility needs-- Chalkbeat Philadelphia Pennsylvania: March 22, 2022 [ abstract] The Philadelphia school district is restarting a Facilities planning Process that will determine its future building needs — including if schools should close or new ones will be built — and funnel repair and modernization funds to where they are needed most. This new initiative replaces the Comprehensive School planning Review that began in 2019 but was halted in March 2020 because of the pandemic.
Philadelphia’s school buildings have an average age of 70 years and a few date back to the 19th century. For the past several years, the district’s buildings have been plagued with health hazards including loose asbestos and lead in the drinking water. Since 2019, several schools have closed temporarily and students have been relocated due to emergency repair work. Also in 2019, a veteran teacher was diagnosed with mesothelioma, an asbestos-related disease. At the beginning of this school year, teachers protested and refused to enter the Masterman building due to concerns that it wasn’t safe.
In a letter sent to parents and posted on the district website, Superintendent William Hite said the district must “thoughtfully and proactively plan not only for new school learning environments but for what must be done with our existing school buildings so students have access to educational spaces that spark creativity, support academic programs, and meet their 21st-century learning needs.”
The district will look at its building inventory, projected population patterns, and grade-by-grade enrollment estimates so it can “prioritize investments,” Hite’s letter said.
-- Dale Mezzacappa Ige appoints Farias as executive director of School Facilities Authority-- Hawaii Tribune Herald Hawaii: March 11, 2022 [ abstract] Gov. David Ige has appointed Chad Keone Farias to serve as executive director of the School Facilities Authority, which is charged with the development, planning and construction of public school capital improvement projects.
Farias, currently the Ka‘u-Keaau-Pahoa complex area superintendent, joined the Authority last year. He has worked for the state Department of Education since 1993 as a teacher, counselor, vice principal, principal, and superintendent.
The Hawaii Island-born Farias earned his bachelor’s degree in history and education from Loyola Marymount University, and a master’s degree in education administration from the University of Hawaii.
“As a proud Hawaii public school graduate, I’m excited to guide the School Facilities Authority in creating the facilities our students deserve,” Farias said. “This kuleana is great and I look forward to the opportunity to improve education access for all of Hawaii.”
Farias’ appointment is subject to Senate confirmation. If confirmed, he would serve a six-year term.
-- Staff Writer Guam - $250M cost to fix, modernize public schools-- The Guam Daily Post Guam: March 09, 2022 [ abstract] If the public school system were to now fix all the maintenance problems that had been delayed over years because the government didn’t have enough money to fix them before, it would cost about $107.2 million, according to reports presented to Guam Education Board members on Tuesday.
And, if the government were to go one step further and improve and modernize all schools, updating them to 21st century learning environments, it would cost $142.5 million.
That's nearly $250 million, which is roughly one year's budget for the Guam Department of Education.
The massive cost figures were disclosed during a sneak peak of the Master Facilities Plan provided to education officials during the GEB’s Safe and Healthy Schools Committee work session on Tuesday. The presentation was provided by contractor HHF Planners, a Honolulu-based planning firm that operates throughout the Pacific Rim.
-- Jolene Toves State Launches Pilot Initiative to Increase Net Zero Energy Capacity in Schools-- Maryland Association of Counties Maryland: March 07, 2022 [ abstract] The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) announced the launch of the Decarbonizing Public Schools Pilot Program to expand the capacity of local education agencies (LEA) for managing energy data, reducing operating costs, and for inserting energy performance criteria into capital improvement planning.
The Decarbonizing Public Schools Pilot Program was developed by MEA and the Interagency Commission on School Construction (IAC) to “foster LEAs’ long-term capacities for energy management and net zero energy (NZE) school design and construction, where the total amount of energy used is equal to or less than the amount of renewable energy created.”
Notably, the program provides $2 million in state funding from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund to help local school systems develop and expand their capacity to address ongoing energy challenges and opportunities for controlling costs through data management, as well as adopting cost-effective net zero energy design considerations for public school portfolio planning.
“MEA has been helping make Net Zero Energy schools a reality, having recently supported three projects, including the Holabird and Graceland Park/O’Donnell Heights schools in Baltimore City and Wilde Lake Middle School in Howard County,” said Dr. Mary Beth Tung, Director of MEA. “Early lessons from these projects indicate lifecycle operating costs can be greatly reduced when sound energy management and design principles are incorporated early in project identification and design.”
A total of $2,000,000 is anticipated to be available for distribution to grant participants between AOI.1 and AOI.2. The amount awarded may vary depending on the quantity and quality of applications received.
-- Brianna January JCPS expects to spend $114M for 3 new schools in $1.1B facilities proposal-- WDRB.com Kentucky: February 23, 2022 [ abstract]
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Jefferson County Public Schools expects to spend $114.2 million building new schools for Grace James Academy of Excellence, W.E.B. DuBois Academy and a 1,000-student middle school in west Louisville.
The three new schools were part of the district’s proposed $1.1 billion facilities plan scheduled for a public hearing 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at C.B. Young Jr. Service Center on Crittenden Drive.
Only JCPS employees attended Wednesday's hearing to receive public comments on the district's proposed facilities plan.
The new schools are among numerous projects slated to be scheduled for future construction within the 2022-23 biennium, though that is not guaranteed. The Jefferson County Board of Education approved the draft facilities plan during a Feb. 1 meeting.
JCPS Chief Operations Officer Chris Perkins said the "blueprint" gives a four-year look at its most pressing construction needs.
"It is a planning tool actually, and so the intent of it really is to identify facility needs holistically across the district to help us prioritize our planning," Perkins said after the brief hearing. "... These are our top priorities to make sure that we have not just adequate facilities but state-of-the-art, 21st century learning facilities for these schools, too."
-- Kevin Wheatley After more than 50 years, East Ascension High School's main building will be replaced-- The Advocate Louisiana: February 20, 2022 [ abstract]
The campus of East Ascension High School has seen big changes in recent years, but the most dramatic one will happen this summer when the half-century-old main school building is torn down to make way for a new one.
The two-story building, in the heart of Gonzales on East Worthey Road, opened in 1966. It has an outdated heating and air conditioning system running throughout the building that called for new construction from the ground up, said Jeff Parent, the school district's supervisor of planning and construction.
The two-pipe system now in place uses the same piping for both hot water heating and chilled water cooling — and switching from one to the other is a slow process, Parent said.
"Today is a nice, mild day, but we needed heat in the early morning," he said on a recent day at the school. "By 10 a.m., we needed air-conditioning, and that turnover can take two to four hours."
"Over the years, we've done a lot of things to reduce the time as much as we can," Parent said. The new construction will bring a four-pipe system that uses separate lines for hot and chilled water.
East Ascension High's future new main building, with administrative offices and classrooms, is a $27 million project, funded by a 2020 bond election.
-- Ellyn Couvillion Senator Kearney Pushes for More Funding for Schools, Looks to Revive PlanCon Building Program-- PA Senate Democrats Pennsylvania: February 07, 2022 [ abstract] HARRISBURG − February 7, 2022 – Senator Tim Kearney (D – Delaware/Chester), a member of the Senate Education Committee and newly-appointed Vice Chair of Appropriations, recently announced plans to restart the planning and Construction Workbook Program, —A.K.A. PlanCon— the state’s program for funding public school building construction and renovation, by finally appropriating funding to allow the Department of Education to accept new applications from school districts.
“After nearly 10 years without any state funding for our public school buildings, it is time for the legislature to do its job and address the Commonwealth’s school facilities crisis,” said Kearney. “Suburban, rural, and urban districts are all suffering from different challenges of aging infrastructure, from overcrowded classrooms to holes in the roofs, from broken heated systems to exposed and crumbling asbestos, every school district has unattended facilities issues while they work to address the other crises imposed on our education system.”
PlanCon allows school districts to apply for partial reimbursement for planning and construction costs approved by the PA Department of Education. Recently, the General Assembly passed Act 70 of 2019 to greatly simplify the application process and to create the Maintenance Program to cover critical system repairs and maintenance to existing school facilities, formerly ineligible costs. However, the legislature has not funded PlanCon since 2016 and placed a moratorium on new applications.
-- Staff Writer Taxpayers weigh in on levy for Seattle school building improvements-- KOMO News Washington: February 07, 2022 [ abstract] SEATTLE — Seattle voters will decide Tuesday whether they want to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for upgrades to buildings and technology at schools.
Seattle Public Schools said the Prop 2 school district levy on the special election ballot would cover about $144 million of the district's top priority building repair projects, a fraction of the approximately $750 million needed to cover every building in SPS that needs work.
“It's really about reducing the distractions for students and staff,” said Brian Vance, West Seattle High School Principal.
A list of projects Seattle Public Schools provided to KOMO shows $12 million worth of building repair work needed at West Seattle High School, including fixes to the aging windows and doors.
“Single pane and wind blowing through them and those types of things," Vance said. "Be able to have better climate control in our school."
SPS Director of Capital Projects and planning Richard Best said Seattle’s 105 schools are assessed every six years.
In addition to the building work, a big chunk of the $783 million levy would go toward technology. But some taxpayers have a big problem with the price tag.
-- Jackie Kent APS Holds First Facilities Master Plan Meeting-- The Atlantic Voice Georgia: February 04, 2022 [ abstract] Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic Atlanta Public Schools (APS) has lost about 2,000 students, according to data presented to the community during the Facilities Master Plan meeting.
The district began the process of creating the district’s 18-month Facilities Master Plan with a community meeting on January 25. The plan is made to act as a guide for the district to follow when making decisions about APS owned buildings and sites.
The district works with multiple government and private organizations to put the plan together. During the meeting representatives from the Sizemore group presented the data that the district will be using to put together the final Facilities Master Plan.
The majority of the losses are occurring at the elementary school level while high schools and charter schools have seen growth in the last two years.
Projected kindergarten enrollment numbers play a significant role in the district’s longer term planning. In order to get accurate predictions the district’s consultants look at national and local birth rates and trends to look five years ahead.
While the birth rate has been steadily declining, the large drop in enrollment the district experienced last year is not expected to be a long term trend.
When it comes to capacity and enrollment numbers the district also has to consider the steady growth of charter schools is expected to plateau.
In the coming years the majority of growth is expected to come from new housing developments, the majority of growth will be in the Midtown cluster and some in the Jackson cluster.
-- Madeline Thigpen Ed Dept asked to extend deadline for school upgrades under relief funding-- K-12 Drive National: February 03, 2022 [ abstract]
Two of the three school buildings in Evergreen School District #50 in Kalispell, Montana, have aging air systems that provide poor ventilation and lack air conditioning. The district is setting aside about 75% of its Emergency and Secondary School Emergency Relief III funds for HVAC replacements later this year.
But even after a year of planning and designing for the upgrades and more than two years to go until the Sept. 30, 2024, ESSER deadline for obligating those funds, the timeline is making Superintendent Laurie Barron nervous.
In the best-case scenario, the project, which went out to bid this week, would finish before the start of next school year, with construction occurring over the summer to be less disruptive to student learning.
In the worst-case scenario, the district could fail to receive any acceptable bids, equipment could face shipping delays, and the project experiences a shortage of construction employees. The district would have to return any money not spent by the deadline.
"The money that has been put into schools to support us has been nothing short of what feels miraculous, right?," said Barron, whose 700-student, K-8 district sits about 40 minutes from Glacier National Park. "But with all the stipulations on it, there's that stress and anxiety of will we be able to expend it in the most appropriate and effective ways to benefit staff and students. And so, that's my concern."
-- Kara Arundel Columbus City Schools: Board hears calls for new buildings, return of police officers-- The Columbus Dispatch Ohio: February 02, 2022 [ abstract]
Columbus City Schools could potentially build 19 new schools by 2042.
The district’s Facilities Master planning Committee recommends that the district build six new high schools, six new middle schools and seven elementary schools, Jim Negron, chair of the Facilities Master Plan Committee, said during Tuesday’s Columbus City Schools Board of Education Meeting.
Each new high school would have over 1,200 students, each new middle school would have over 800 students and each new elementary school would have over 600 students, according to a presentation during the board meeting.
The location and size of these potential schools were not discussed and no board action was taken. Instead, the Facilities Master Plan Committee presented its recommendations to the board after conducting a six-step master plan from March 2021 to January.
“This has been an extensive process,” said Dennis Paben, a senior architect with Legat Architects.
The committee also determined that the district has too many schools for the current student population. Schools that would potentially close or be consolidated were also not discussed at Tuesday’s board meeting.
-- Megan Henry Education advocates push for new way to fund school construction costs-- Idaho 6 News Idaho: January 26, 2022 [ abstract]
BOISE, Idaho — Some education leaders and lobbyists are advocating for a new way to fund school construction costs.
It's an issue that's been a conversation topic among education leaders and lawmakers since the '90s. Through this funding method, a fee would be collected from new development and given to public school districts to fund new school buildings.
Education advocates say this would mean growth pays for growth.
Population Growth Impacts Public School Enrollment
Before the pandemic slowed in-person enrollment at many public schools, the West Ada School District was adding an average of 655 students per year.
fund school construction costs
Idaho State Capitol
By: Anna AzallionPosted at 1:59 PM, Jan 26, 2022 and last updated 8:06 AM, Jan 31, 2022
BOISE, Idaho — Some education leaders and lobbyists are advocating for a new way to fund school construction costs.
It's an issue that's been a conversation topic among education leaders and lawmakers since the '90s. Through this funding method, a fee would be collected from new development and given to public school districts to fund new school buildings.
Education advocates say this would mean growth pays for growth.
Population Growth Impacts Public School Enrollment
Before the pandemic slowed in-person enrollment at many public schools, the West Ada School District was adding an average of 655 students per year.
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“We’re growing in Star, we’re growing in south Meridian and we have some spots in Eagle that are definitely growing,” said Marci Horner, the planning and development administrator for the West Ada School District.
This growth impacts every area of life, including public school enrollment.
-- Anna Azallion How local planning committees impact school construction projects-- The Daily Independent Kentucky: January 22, 2022 [ abstract] A school’s local planning committee (LPC) is responsible for the development of a school system’s district facilities plan (DFP). A committee is created every four years to do so in accordance to Kentucky Revised Statues.
The LPC isn’t discussed much until it is asked to consider something like a significant building or renovation project within a school. Two local planning committees have been brought in beyond the regular assessment and approval of the DFP. Ashland Independent gathered it’s LPC to discuss a new technical center, which was approved by both the LPC and the local board of education.
Carter County is in the process of discussing renovations and grant money dedicated to East Carter High School along with renovation needs at the district technical center or a new single campus high school that would consolidate both high schools and provide access to a new technical center all on the same property.
The LPC is one of three primary boards or committees that have a say in the process of capital construction. The local planning committee, the local board of education and the Kentucky Department of Education all have a role in the process.
“(The LPC) are charged with reviewing the properties, the facilities of the district, their condition, whether or not they are satisfying the needs of the students in the community,” said Ashland Director of Student Achievement Richard Oppenheimer.
Oppenheimer explained the committee considers if builds have enough space, too much space and the cost of operating those buildings. The LPC also considers the district’s financial status and enrollment trends and “long range forecasts for population changes,” he said.
Oppenheimer said information is gathered from architects, financial advisors and more to determine building goals and feasibility in the district.
-- Emily Porter A Philly Council member wants the city to follow NYC’s model for fixing crumbling schools-- WHYY Pennsylvania: January 19, 2022 [ abstract]
Fixing Philadelphia’s crumbling — and dangerous — public school buildings has been a big item on City Council’s collective to-do list for years. But without a clear source of funding and a system for tackling the $5 billion problem, plans have languished.
That could change if Councilmember Maria Quiñones-Sánchez gets her way with a piece of legislation she plans to introduce legislation on Thursday, the first day the council returns to session from their winter break. The bill would create a working group to investigate the possibility of a new school board building authority modeled after organizations created in New York City and other U.S. cities with underfunded school systems.
Quiñones-Sánchez said the authority would work to figure out the district’s building challenges in both the long and short term while giving the incoming superintendent the ability to “focus on education and academics for the district.”
The new authority would help school officials “get the millions we have budgeted for the school district on the ground and work done,” Quiñones-Sánchez said.
At this point, the district has more than five dozen of its schools under construction and billions of dollars of work in the planning phases as officials focus on remediating lead, asbestos, and other hazards that have long persisted within public school buildings.
-- Tom MacDonald Rising costs jeopardize Perry Local grand plans for new schools-- The Independent Ohio: December 18, 2021 [ abstract] PERRY TWP. – Perry Local officials have tough decisions to make as they move forward with plans to construct four new elementary buildings, a new middle school and renovate the high school.
Since the district began planning for the $163.5 million project, the pandemic has caused construction costs to skyrocket.
District leaders are left wondering how they are going to fully fund it with an insufficient budget, Superintendent Scott Beatty told the Board of Education and members of the district Building Advisory Committee.
The cost of steel has jumped 111% and material costs have gone up more than 27% between August 2020 and August 2021, according to the Associated General Contractors of America. It also can take 18 months to get new school furniture, Beatty added.
"It's nobody's fault," Beatty said. "But it's important for you and the community to see what we are up against."
-- Amy L. Knapp Atlanta Public Schools restarts work on facilities master plan-- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Georgia: December 03, 2021 [ abstract] Atlanta Public Schools is resuming work on its facilities master plan, a document that will guide building decisions over the next decade.
APS halted work on the plan a year ago, citing a need to better understand how the COVID-19 pandemic would impact enrollment forecasts.
Now the district is relaunching the planning effort with a virtual meeting at 6 p.m. Dec. 13. The session will include information about current and projected enrollment data and what those numbers mean for the district’s future building needs.
-- Vanessa McCray New Hoboken High School Building Will Cost $241M-- Patch New Jersey: November 22, 2021 [ abstract]
HOBOKEN, NJ — A proposed new Hoboken High School building that was announced by the Board of Education a week ago Monday will cost as much as $241 million to build, NJ.com said in a story Monday.
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As first reported in Patch last week, the school board expects to bring their plans for the proposed school before the Hoboken planning Board next month. The funding may come up for a public referendum on Jan. 25.
NJ.com reported Monday that the school will be built at 1000 Jefferson St., the site of the current athletic field used by Hoboken High School. A new athletic field will be constructed on top of that new building. The new building will also contain a rooftop athletic field, an ice rink, and the long-promised city pool.
The current Hoboken High School building on Clinton Street would become the city's new middle school, NJ.com said. And the existing middle school, now held in a 110-year-old former high school in the center of town, would be turned into an elementary school. Read more about the plans in NJ.com here.
-- Caren Lissner GDOE mulls new middle school; $140M for capital improvement-- The Guam Daily Post Guam: October 31, 2021 [ abstract] The Guam Department of Education has set aside $140 million in federal funds to tackle major capital improvement projects - and part of the discussion on how that money will be spent now involves a new middle school.
GDOE has a long list of necessary capital improvement projects under the master facilities plan. According to GDOE officials, there is over $100 million in deferred maintenance at public schools identified by the Army Corps of Engineers.
For months, GDOE has discussed how to prioritize the spending of American Rescue Plan funds - and while well-known issues such as inoperable bathrooms and aging canopies are on that list, there are bigger items which are in active discussion, like the need for a new middle school in central Guam.
“We are incorporating that issue into our master facilities planning process. Earlier today and yesterday, our planners under contract with the Army Corps of Engineers conducted meetings with our northern mayors as well as our central mayors to talk about some of the issues associated with the middle schools - the need for a new middle school in the central area and looking at the impact a new middle school would have on the surrounding areas up north, down south and in the central areas,” said GDOE Superintendent Jon Fernandez.
-- Jolene Toves Repair costs rise as school facilities deteriorate-- Homer News Alaska: October 21, 2021 [ abstract] The amount of money needed to pay for maintenance projects in the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is more than three times what it cost to run the district last school year. Excluding the amount of money the district spent on salaries and benefits for staff, it was about 12 times more. The cost of inaction is not insignificant.
A multimillion dollar problem
About $420 million worth of maintenance is needed at Kenai Peninsula Borough School District buildings, but Director of planning and Operations Kevin Lyon will settle for focusing people’s attention on the roughly $166 million worth of “critical” needs.
To put that in perspective, the school district’s entire operating budget for fiscal year 2022 was about $134 million, more than $100 million of which went to paying teacher salaries and benefits.
-- Ashlyn O'Hara Governor Murphy Announces Commitment to Universal Pre-K for New Jersey-- Governor Phil Murphy Office New Jersey: September 16, 2021 [ abstract] PALISADES PARK – Building on his commitment to expand early childhood education in New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy today announced that the state will commit to providing universal pre-K to all families across the state over the next several years. Today's round of funding establishes or expands high-quality pre-K programs in 19 additional school districts across the state. The Department of Education will develop a Strategic Plan that will sets a roadmap for further pre-K expansion throughout the state.
“Investing in early childhood education lays the foundation for a bright future for our early learners,” said Governor Murphy. “Our Administration is committed to ensuring that every New Jersey child receives a high-quality education starting with pre-K. While we still have a long way to go to achieve pre-K for all, today’s expansion further demonstrates our commitment to reaching as many students as possible.”
The Governor’s Universal Pre-K Strategic Plan, led by the Department of Education, will focus on the following:
Prioritizing districts and setting a timeline for expansion;
Ensuring students have appropriate facilities and quality programming;
Involving childcare providers and Head Start in planning to avoid displacing existing high-quality early learning centers;
Optimizing funding streams, including federal funds from the federal Build Back Better Plan; and
Utilizing best practices from other states that offer expanded/universal pre-k programs.
In addition to vision for pre-K statewide, Governor Murphy announced 19 school districts have been awarded $17 million in pre-K expansion funding for the 2021-2022 school year. This latest round of funding was announced during a visit today to the Dr. Charles Smith Early Childhood Center in Palisades Park, which received $823,860 in state funding.
-- Staff Writer Construction on New School to Continue Despite Maryland Residents' Opposition-- NBCWashinton.com Maryland: August 18, 2021 [ abstract]
Construction will continue on a new school in Fort Washington, Maryland, despite neighbors’ protests over flood concerns.
Protesters lined Swan Creek Road at the beginning of the month, successfully halting tree clearing for the planned school — a 234,000-square-foot kindergarten through eighth grade school on wetland. The residents said they're in favor of the new school but not the location.
In a meeting this week with Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks residents were told construction will continue.
“We had real high hopes that the meeting would go well but we are very disappointed,” resident Hazel Robinson said.
“[Alsobrooks] said firmly that she does not intend to change the site, although she’ll make every attempt to try to address our concerns,” resident Carter Ferrington said.
Some neighborhoods in the area flood after a hard rain.
“We've seen at least 2 1/2 feet of water in our street, and it has created an absolute river that runs 180 degrees around our house,” resident Zeneta Walthour said.
Some residents worry their stormwater management will get worse when the forest is gone.
“The truth is we’ve long standing flood issues that have not been addressed in that area, and people want that addressed before any trees are taken down,” Prince George’s County Council member Monique Anderson Walker said.
The current elementary school, Potomac Landing, has 10 acres connected to 14 acres of Maryland Park and planning land. School officials deemed the site insufficient for the new school and are clearing an adjacent 24 acres of wetland instead.
“I don't know if there's anything that can be said to really make people happy on this,” resident Abigael Pari Crowe said.
-- Tracee Wilkins Amid Historic Federal Windfall, School Leaders Find that Soaring Inflation is Curbing Their Ability to Purchase, Hire an-- The74million.org National: July 28, 2021 [ abstract] With 28 years in school nutrition behind her, 12 as director of food services in Plymouth-Canton Community School, near Detroit, Kristen Hennessey has meal planning down to a science. She can usually look at a menu, estimate the cost and count on having all the ingredients and supplies ready for preparation.
But now, with chicken and beef prices up, a worldwide shortage of packaging materials and a dearth of long-haul truckers, she’s not as sure what she’ll be serving the district’s 18,000 students this fall. And she won’t be surprised if distributors start adding transportation surcharges “to stop the bleeding on their end” — something she hasn’t seen since the Great Recession.
“It’s a domino effect,” she said. “We’re at the point now where we don’t even know what’s going to come in the back door.”
Food services are just one aspect of school operations affected by inflation, which is experiencing a 13-year high. Wages are climbing because districts can’t find enough employees to drive buses or provide students additional academic support. Price hikes on materials are causing some districts to hit pause on construction projects and districts are paying higher wages for teachers to help students catch up.
At a time when the American Rescue Plan is flooding school districts with more federal money than they’ve ever had, educators are slowly awakening to the reality that those funds might not go as far as expected and that inflation may have a lasting impact on their regular budgets as well .
“School districts are like little cities. You’ve got food service. You’ve got transportation. You’ve got maintenance. Inflation across the sectors will impact all those areas,” said Charles Carpenter, chief financial officer for the Denver Public Schools.
-- Linda Jacobson Amid Historic Federal Windfall, School Leaders Find that Soaring Inflation is Curbing Their Ability to Purchase, Hire an-- The74 Million National: July 28, 2021 [ abstract] With 28 years in school nutrition behind her, 12 as director of food services in Plymouth-Canton Community School, near Detroit, Kristen Hennessey has meal planning down to a science. She can usually look at a menu, estimate the cost and count on having all the ingredients and supplies ready for preparation.
But now, with chicken and beef prices up, a worldwide shortage of packaging materials and a dearth of long-haul truckers, she’s not as sure what she’ll be serving the district’s 18,000 students this fall. And she won’t be surprised if distributors start adding transportation surcharges “to stop the bleeding on their end” — something she hasn’t seen since the Great Recession.
“It’s a domino effect,” she said. “We’re at the point now where we don’t even know what’s going to come in the back door.”
Food services are just one aspect of school operations affected by inflation, which is experiencing a 13-year high. Wages are climbing because districts can’t find enough employees to drive buses or provide students additional academic support. Price hikes on materials are causing some districts to hit pause on construction projects and districts are paying higher wages for teachers to help students catch up.
At a time when the American Rescue Plan is flooding school districts with more federal money than they’ve ever had, educators are slowly awakening to the reality that those funds might not go as far as expected and that inflation may have a lasting impact on their regular budgets as well .
“School districts are like little cities. You’ve got food service. You’ve got transportation. You’ve got maintenance. Inflation across the sectors will impact all those areas,” said Charles Carpenter, chief financial officer for the Denver Public Schools.
The economic indicators are clear. This summer, the Consumer Price Index — which measures changes in what people typically pay for goods and services — saw its largest one-month and 12-month increases since 2008, according to the government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
-- Linda Jacobson CPS defends keeping Aramark to clean schools despite history of problems-- Chicago Sun Times Illinois: July 28, 2021 [ abstract] Chicago Public Schools officials defended their recommendation on Wednesday to keep Aramark’s custodial services, acknowledging the cleaning company’s history of problems with filthy schools but giving assurances that new ways of tracking cleaning complaints in-house will yield better results than in the past.
As children prepare to return to class amid a surge of the coronavirus’ Delta variant, top facilities officer Clarence Carson promised the Board of Education at its meeting Wednesday that safeguards he’s put into place will hold the cleaning giant more accountable than it was in the past.
“There have been a lot of challenges throughout that tenure, one way or another,” said Carson.
“I do understand all the concerns that are there from prior services, but I know that we have improved those services over the last several years and plan on continuing to improve those moving forward.”
Carson was on the CPS team which a year ago had promised to dump Aramark and SodexoMAGIC as facilities managers.
But late last week the Sun-Times reported that the district was planning to award a new contract to Aramark. School board members Wednesday voted unanimously 7-0 to authorize a $369 million deal that leaves the Philadelphia-based Aramark in charge of cleaning 600-plus school buildings for the next three years, starting Oct. 1 under a new facilities management system that brings all maintenance, cleaning and complaint management, plus tracking, back under CPS control. CPS has already paid the company more than $500 million since 2014 when it privatized the management of cleaning and other building facility services.
-- Nader Issa and Lauren FitzPatrick Lynchburg City Schools moves forward with $400K facilities study, expects preliminary results by fall-- The News & Advance Virginia: July 21, 2021 [ abstract] In an effort to better understand the current and future needs of its school buildings, Lynchburg City Schools is moving forward with a $400,000 facilities study.
At its Tuesday night work session, the Lynchburg City School Board unanimously voted to award the contract for the study to Dominion Seven Architects, a Lynchburg-based architectural and planning firm.
Lynchburg City Schools Superintendent Crystal Edwards said the results of the study will be used to inform the division’s future capital improvement projects, as well as attendance zones and placement of future schools.
Steve Gatzke, senior director of finance and operations for the school division, said city and school leaders began discussions about a facilities study last fall and were interested in three main areas of study: a facility condition assessment to review the physical condition of the division’s buildings, a demographics study to analyze the division’s attendance zones and enrollment, and a future of education plan that would predict what education in the city might look like in 20 years and how the division would get there.
Funding for the study will come from the division’s capital improvement plan that was developed by school and city leaders in the fall: $200,000 was budgeted as a line item in the five-year plan, and the remaining $200,000 will be borrowed from the more than $1 million contingency fund in the CIP and replaced by savings from several ongoing smaller projects, Gatzke said. The city owns the division’s buildings, he said, and funds Lynchburg City Schools’ annual capital improvement plan.
-- Jamey Cross Our public school infrastructure is set up to continue to fail | Opinion-- The Philadelphia Inquirer Pennsylvania: July 16, 2021 [ abstract] From the condo building collapse in Surfside, Fla., to the melting streetcar cables in Portland, Ore., to the collapse of the Texas power grid, the catastrophic state of America’s infrastructure has never been more apparent. These tragedies make national headlines, but we don’t need to look that far to find these dangers. Philadelphia is confronting its own catastrophic infrastructure crisis: public school buildings.
This crisis has dire consequences: a maintenance worker’s death from a faulty boiler explosion; a student’s lead poisoning; a career educator’s forced retirement because of her mesothelioma diagnosis after working in schools with exposed asbestos. Philadelphia’s schools are toxic and getting worse without proper maintenance and investment during the pandemic.
The School District of Philadelphia’s (SDP) past approach to infrastructure mismanagement means that its response does not match the severity of its chronic facilities’ issues. State funding cuts eliminated construction reimbursements, and Pennsylvania is one of few states that lacks guidance for educational facilities. District layoffs of maintenance and custodial staff have severed critical connections bridging systemic facilities condition data to the lived experiences of those working and learning in that facility. The district maintains a stubborn resistance to engage the full range of stakeholders into planning and decision-making processes, creating costly outcomes like the Benjamin Franklin/Science Leadership Academy shutdown. These costs are borne by those inside and outside the facility, suggesting that we need a broader coalition of stakeholders involved, with governance, funding, and accountability beyond city and district leadership.
-- Opinion - Akira Drake Rodriguez and Ariel H. Bierb BCPS, Baltimore County release updated recommendations for long-term school construction-- NottinghamMD.com Maryland: July 14, 2021 [ abstract] TOWSON, MD—Baltimore County Public Schools and Baltimore County Government on Wednesday released updated recommendations for the County’s Multi-Year Improvement Plan for All Schools (MYIPAS), developed by CannonDesign, a nationally recognized architecture and planning company.
Under the recommendations, every school in Baltimore County would receive equitable capital improvements within 15 years and could be completed without any additional revenue increases.
“I am proud of the way that our communities, families, and staff have come together to plan for every school to have a modern and equitable learning environment as called for in The Compass, our strategic plan,” said BCPS Superintendent Dr. Darryl L. Williams. “The thoughtful MYIPAS process has ensured that our way forward is guided by multiple stakeholder perspectives as well as independent, objective advice.”
“Every child and every educator deserves a modern, safe, and supportive learning environment. These recommendations from CannonDesign provide a comprehensive, equitable, and fully funded roadmap to accomplish just that,” said Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski. “These data-driven recommendations will help guide our work with the Board of Education, BCPS, and our communities to ensure high quality schools in every ZIP code and to fulfill our County’s obligations to the Blueprint for Maryland’s future.”
In total, the recommendations call for $2.5 billion in school construction, including all remaining Schools for our Future projects. The CannonDesign proposal also outlines strategies to bring school capacity down to 100 percent through additions and redistricting – eliminating the need for makeshift spaces or trailers.
-- Chris Montcalmo Milton school board votes to move ahead with district-wide facilities master plan-- Milton Independent Vermont: July 13, 2021 [ abstract]
MILTON — Anticipating town growth, the Milton Town School District board is moving ahead with the creation of a master plan for the district’s three buildings.
At its July 8 meeting, the board unanimously approved a prolonged, three-part assessment by TruexCullins, a firm specializing in educational space planning.
The firm will not only create a facilities master plan that proposes solutions to the elementary, middle and high school’s current functional issues, but anticipates possible increases in enrollment.
Though MTSD has seen a dip in enrollment of about 10% over the last decade, enrollment could rebound post-pandemic, according to TruexCullins.
“I think Milton is going to take off soon,” MTSD Facilities Director Bruce Cheeseman said during a June 24 meeting. “I really do believe it.”
The master plan creation costs $122,000. The funds will come from the district’s capital reserve.
“Although it’s a hefty price tag, I think it’s money well-spent, because it’s going to tell us what we have to do to get us to where we want to go,” Cheeseman said during the same meeting.
The current elementary/middle school building on Herrick Avenue was built in various stages between 1957-79. The building’s most recent renovation was in 1996 when the two-story middle school addition was built.
The complex is approximately 160,000 square feet. 741 students currently attend the elementary school, while 336 attend the middle school.
“The elementary school is pretty full,” Lynne Manley, director of curriculum, instruction and information technology said. “So what is the plan if another say, 400 students come into the district on the younger end, not the high school side?”
The elementary and middle schools share a library, which has been a long-time concern of the administration and the school board. Both see this as a high priority on the list of needed renovations.
Across the street, on Rebecca Lander Drive, Milton High School is 120,000 square feet and enrolls 491 students. It was built in 1969. Its only recent renovation was the addition of a wood-chip heating plant in the 1990s, which is now too expensive to use.
“The cafeteria, too, has looked the same for the last 35 years,” Chair Rick Dooley said. “No one is building a cafeteria that looks like that anymore.”
-- Bridget Higdon Hillsborough to take a close look at school boundaries-- Tampa Bay Times Florida: July 12, 2021 [ abstract] Hillsborough County public school officials are in the early stages of what could be a massive overhaul of school boundaries.
District staff will recommend that the School Board seek the help of a consultant at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The team will look at campuses such as Shields and Coleman middle schools, which are near or above capacity, along with Monroe and Madison middle schools, which have seats to spare.
A board workshop is planned on July 27. On Tuesday, board members will receive the second of two short reports outlining the steps ahead.
“What’s going to be so important is the community outreach piece,” said Amber Dickerson, general manager of the district’s growth management and planning office.
Some in the community reacted harshly when, in February, superintendent Addison Davis discussed the need to close or consolidate some of the dozens of under-enrolled Hillsborough schools to save money. At the time, he said he would have a preliminary plan for the board to review in March or April.
-- Marlene Sokol Public Schools Capital Outlay Council awards southeast New Mexico schools-- Carlsbad Current Argud New Mexico: July 10, 2021 [ abstract] The Public School Facilities Authority released the Public School Capital Outlay Council's annual report for 2020, revealing awards and plans for future expansion of southeast New Mexico's public schools.
The Public School Capital Outlay Council (PSCOC) offers funding to school districts planning construction or renovation of school buildings by matching the estimated cost of a project. Standards-based awards are for larger projects like new school campuses or major renovations, and systems-based awards fun smaller projects like roof and parking lot repairs.
The organization gave over $113 million in standards-based awards and $12 million in systems-based awards last year. Awards funded a new building for Chaparral Middle School in Alamogordo, which currently sits on unstable land and is prone to sinking. The new school with be capable of accommodating 658 students and is estimated to be completed in 2024.
-- Claudia L. Silva Referendum “Likely Less Than $20 Million,” As Schools Prepare to Replace Leaky Roofs-- Town Topics New Jersey: July 07, 2021 [ abstract] The Princeton Public Schools (PPS) Board of Education (BOE) is committed to planning ahead, working towards a July 29 deadline to submit an application to the state to place a major maintenance bond referendum on the ballot in January 2022, so that work to replace leaking roofs at several schools can start by the summer of 2022.
The BOE is considering a cost figure “likely less than $20 million,” but further discussion must take place in the coming weeks to determine the work to be done, when it must be done, and the estimated cost. The BOE anticipates that with debt from prior referendums maturing on February 1, 2022 and 2023, all the work can be done without increasing debt service from current levels.
“Princeton Public Schools will use the next three weeks to evaluate the scope of a potential maintenance referendum,” the district noted in a July 6 statement. “It is anticipated that on July 27 the Board of Education will authorize a submission to the New Jersey Department of Education by Spiezle, the district’s architect, detailing preliminary eligible costs.”
A number of the roofs in question are approaching 26 years old, already beyond warranty, and several other leaky roofs are about 17 years old with warranties soon to expire. Other urgent maintenance projects include repairing facades at some schools, repairing siding and gutters, and replacing “end-of-life” building systems.
“This work is completely necessary,” said Business Administrator Matt Bouldin at the June 29 Board meeting, noting many problems with leaky classrooms during the past school year. “Last fall, trying to get our kids back into the schools — it was not a pretty sight. And roof leaks deteriorate the structure.”
-- Donald Gilpin Group works to save park from becoming school as DCPS hopes to alleviate overcrowding-- WJLA.com District of Columbia: June 26, 2021 [ abstract]
WASHINGTON (7News) — The Friends of Hardy, a community group in the District’s Ward 3, have created a petition to prevent a new school from being built at Hardy Park.
The recommendation comes from a community work group to address overcrowding at schools within the Wilson High School feeder pattern.
While the school system says the workgroup contained a number of community stakeholders, the Friends of Hardy members, say they were largely left out.
“Put an elementary school in our neighborhood, but put it in a reasonable spot,” said Tom Wolfe with Friends of Hardy.
The current recommendations include adding two schools to the area.
One of those is proposed for Hardy Park and would include elementary-aged school kids.
The other is proposed for the former school building belonging to Georgetown Day School, which is just a few blocks away, and would be for middle schoolers or high schoolers.
A final decision has not been made.
Neighbors say both schools would increase traffic in an already congested area.
They also say the school at Hardy Park would interrupt its green space and would be a waste of money since the rec center is already undergoing a multi-million dollar renovation.
“The planning here has just gone off the rails,” said Wolfe. “We need a responsible adult somewhere down at city hall to come in and take a look at other options.”
The proposal for Friends of Hardy would be to leave Hardy Park alone and turn the already existing Georgetown Day School into an elementary school.
“You could slap a coat of paint on, and it would become the local elementary school. We think that ‘s a far better idea and would save the district plenty of money,” said Wolfe.
-- Staff Writer Growing schools see building boom-- bddailynews.com Kentucky: June 25, 2021 [ abstract] School facilities took center stage this week as the Warren County and Bowling Green school boards held meetings to review their construction and renovation priorities.
On Wednesday, the Bowling Green Independent School District Board of Education reviewed design drawings for phase four renovations at Bowling Green High School.
Ultimately, the board approved the designs and authorized the school district to spend up to $22,434,420 on the project.
Superintendent Gary Fields said the revised $22.4 million project cost estimate includes a cost increase of 15% to 20% over the previous cost estimate, a change he blamed on an increased demand by school districts across the state for construction-related services.
That said, the district isn’t actually planning to start bidding the renovations until later this year.
“As of June 2021, we’re seeing some significant jumps in cost,” Fields said. “The good news is, we’re six months away from going out to bid.”
-- Aaron Mudd Seattle Public Schools: Construction Starts This Summer-- Patch.com Washington: June 19, 2021 [ abstract] 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.
-- Staff Writer Fulton, Atlanta school districts eye sales tax renewal to pay for projects-- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Georgia: June 10, 2021 [ abstract] 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.
-- Vasnessa McCray OCSD studying schools; repairs needed, enrollment declining-- The Times and Democrat South Carolina: June 06, 2021 [ abstract] 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.
-- Gene Zaleski AIA Names 2021 Education Facility Design Award Winners-- Architect Magazine National: May 25, 2021 [ abstract] Today, The American Institute of Architects Committee on Architecture for Education revealed the winners of its 2021 Education Facility Design Award, naming 11 exemplary "state-of-the-art designs of schools and learning centers." This year, five projects of "superior quality" received an award of merit, while six projects received an award of excellence, which recognizes designs that meet "a host of criteria, including enhancing learning in classrooms; balancing function with aesthetics; establishing a connection with the environment; being respectful of the surrounding community; demonstrating high-level planning in the design process; and integrating sustainability in a holistic fashion," according to an AIA press release.
-- MADELEINE D'ANGELO Facing Hurricane and Wildfire Seasons, FEMA Is Already Worn Out-- New York Times National: May 20, 2021 [ abstract]
WASHINGTON — Workers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency have been scouting shelters for the migrant children surging across the Southern border. They’ve been running coronavirus vaccination sites in Colorado, Massachusetts and Washington. And they are still managing the recovery from a string of record disasters starting with Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
On the cusp of what experts say will be an unusually destructive season of hurricanes and wildfires, just 3,800 of the agency’s 13,700 emergency workers are available right now to respond to a new disaster. That’s 29 percent fewer than were ready to deploy at the start of last year’s hurricane period, which began, as it does every year, on June 1.
FEMA has seldom been in greater demand — becoming a kind of 911 hotline for some of President Biden’s most pressing policy challenges. And the men and women who have become the nation’s first responders are tired.
Deanne Criswell, President Biden’s pick to run the agency, identified employee burnout as a major issue during her first all-hands FEMA meeting, according to Steve Reaves, president of the union local that represents employees.
“FEMA is like the car engine that’s been redlining since 2017 when Harvey hit,” said Brock Long, who ran the agency under former President Donald J. Trump and is now executive chairman of Hagerty Consulting. “It is taking a toll.”
For some categories of workers, the shortage is severe. Among the agency’s senior leadership staff, those qualified to coordinate missions in the field, just three out of 53 are currently available to deploy, the data show. Other specialized types of personnel, including operations and planning staff, have less than 15 percent of their workers available.
“As we prepare for hurricane and wildfire seasons, or whatever nature brings us, I am committed that FEMA employees will have the tools needed to continue our support of ongoing missions while ensuring that our deployed work force has time to rest and train to be ready for what comes next,” Ms. Criswell said in a statement.
-- Christopher Flavelle and Zolan Kanno-Youngs Carthage district to open 3 school storm shelters to public-- The Joplin Globe Missouri: May 18, 2021 [ abstract] CARTHAGE, Mo. — Carthage and area residents will soon have more options to seek shelter in case of a tornado.
Carthage School District Superintendent Mark Baker announced this week at a Board of Education meeting a plan to open three school storm shelters to the public in the event of tornado warnings.
Baker said the school storm shelters at Pleasant Valley Elementary School and the Carthage Intermediate Center will be opened to the public as soon as three people for each shelter can be found and trained to open and manage them in case of storm warnings.
Baker said he didn’t know exactly when these shelters would start to be open.
“As soon as we can find people willing to be in charge and train them, we’ll start,” Baker said. “Obviously it will take a little bit of time for people to get comfortable with the action. It’s not just standing at the door and letting people in. You have to learn the requirements.”
In the next few months, the shelter at Columbian Elementary School will be added to that list, but Baker said he still has some planning to do before opening that school shelter to the public.
The opening of the three schools — in addition to the shelter at Carthage Junior High, which was funded in part by the Federal Emergency Management Agency specifically to act as a public shelter — means the district will offer storm shelters to the public in four locations around town.
-- John Hacker Boston to close Jackson Mann K-8 School in Allston-- Boston Globe Massachusetts: May 06, 2021 [ abstract] Boston school officials are planning to close the Jackson Mann K-8 School in Allston as they push forward with a school construction program and facing a dramatic decline in enrollment.
Officials notified staff and families about closing the school at the end of the next school year during a meeting on Wednesday, ending nearly two years of consternation over the school’s future. School officials had initially planned to replace the Jackson Mann’s deteriorating building on Armington Street and had been seeking an alternative location for the school during construction.
But with student enrollment dropping across the city, some families were skeptical that Jackson Mann would remain open and transferred their children to other schools, causing enrollment to drop from 610 in fall 2018 to 429 last fall
-- James Vaznis South Kingstown voters reject school facilities bond proposal-- The Independent Rhode Island: May 06, 2021 [ abstract] SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — Voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected South Kingstown’s request for up to $85 million in bonds for a sweeping school facilities improvement program.
The unofficial results posted Tuesday night on the town’s website showed 5,244 votes against the plan, 1,967 in favor of it.
The vote marked the conclusion of months of planning and public outreach efforts by supporters of the project to move the high school from Columbia Street to the Curtis Corner Middle School building and to renovate and expand it.
Middle schoolers at Curtis Corner would have moved to Broad Rock Middle School, and each of the town’s elementary schools would have undergone smaller-scale improvements.
“Tonight was a tough loss and there are so many emotions,” School Committee Chairperson Emily Cummiskey said. “I am so sad for what could have been for the students of South Kingstown.”
The town has a Stage II necessity of construction application currently before the state Department of Education’s School Building Authority for the project. The town submitted it in mid-February.
Stage II approval would make the town eligible for up to 50% reimbursement from the state for construction costs. That would have included a 35% base reimbursement and potentially another 15% for “bonus” incentives, leaving the town responsible for about $42.5 million over 20 years.
The project was set to move forward only if voters approved the bond referendum and state authorities approved the application for reimbursement.
By rejecting the bond, any requests for state reimbursement would have to begin again at Stage I. The School Building Committee would have to repeat the process of reviewing the school buildings and the required work. The projects could be included in the Capital Improvement Program each year, but they would not be addressed in a timely manner, according to school officials.
-- Ryan Blessing Covid Exposes School Ills, Fueling Ambitious Biden Spending Push-- Bloomberg Government National: May 04, 2021 [ abstract]
The coronavirus pandemic has put a spotlight on persistent health threats to schoolchildren and teachers posed by crumbling U.S. campuses with leaking pipes or mold-prone ventilation.
Now, as more schools reopen for in-person teaching, the Biden administration is using that focus to seek billions of dollars in spending to repair and maintain K-12 schools—an area outside the traditional scope of federal infrastructure or education aid.
“It’s a battleground topic,” said David Sturtz, a partner at school planning firm Cooperative Strategies. “The vaccine can get you back in school but not provide long-term peace of mind. The real need out there dwarfs what we’re allocating.”
With Covid-19 vaccines in hand and policymakers negotiating over spending numbers, champions of safer school buildings are looking to the White House’s $2.25 trillion infrastructure proposal as their best chance to address longtime needs.
Since the pandemic hit over a year ago, K-12 schools have received roughly $280 billion in emergency federal aid, most for immediate needs like personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies, and technology for remote instruction.
But fixing infrastructure like air filtration or water systems can be much more costly, and the scope of needed repairs is vast.
Roughly 36,000 K-12 campuses need to update or replace ventilation or heating systems, according to a Government Accountability Office report released last year. Of the school districts GAO surveyed, 41% needed such repairs in at least half of their schools.If left unaddressed, those outdated systems can lead to mold and worse indoor air quality.
-- Andrew Kreighbaum Relocations At Prince George’s County Schools Enflame Long-Standing Racial Inequities-- WAMU Maryland: April 30, 2021 [ abstract] Some Prince George’s County School students are being relocated for the next three years as reconstruction on four schools begins, causing some parents to question long-standing equity issues and challenging the school system to find new ways to address the issues.
Four middle schools: Drew-Freeman, Hyattsville, Kenmoor, and Walker Mill are all under reconstruction after a billion-dollar maintenance and new school construction backlog. These schools have been plagued with overcrowding, mold, and cracks in the foundations for decades.
“For whatever reason in this school system and in this county have not built schools as fast as we probably should have or could have,” Mark Fossett, an associate superintendent for county schools, told parents at a town hall last month.
The issue of outdated crumbling school infrastructure is now being swapped for a bigger one: how to equitably relocate students into swing space, or extra temporary classroom space, especially coming off of a year of COVID and remote learning where many students — especially Brown and Black students — fell behind academically?
Parents say the school system is playing a big game of chess with little pre-planning and pitting school communities against each other.
For instance, Hyattsville Middle School parents were told earlier this year their children would be moving to the Robert Goddard Montessori School because that could accommodate their 900 students. To make that work, Robert Goddard’s 490 students would move to an old school building in Bowie (about 7 miles away) where renovations would be made to accommodate them.
-- Dominique Maria Bonessi Fire chief believes proposed law change could impact safety at Alabama schools-- CBS42 Alabama: April 12, 2021 [ abstract] 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.
-- Michael Clark School district construction and renovation projects estimated to top $140 million-- ParkRecord.com Utah: April 03, 2021 [ abstract] The Park City Board of Education continues to zero in on a timeline and dollar amount for its master planning projects, including grade realignments and expansions at all of its schools.
At a work session Wednesday morning, the board was given an estimate of nearly $150 million to complete the work, including nearly $25 million for green enhancements.
The detailed analysis was provided by Salt Lake City-based architecture and design firm MHTN Architects. Dave Hart, of MOCA, which was contracted by the board to provide guidance for the projects, presented the information to the board.
At a previous meeting, the board asked Hart to bring a detailed cost analysis for the expansion projects at Park City High School and Ecker Hill Middle School, as well as cost estimates for the planned additions at Parley’s Park, Jeremy Ranch, McPolin and Trailside elementary schools. The board also named carbon neutrality and green construction as one of its priorities — with the district’s intention to align with Park City’s 2030 carbon-neutral goal — and asked Hart to include that in the cost analysis.
The board previously heard cost estimates for the PCHS and Ecker Hill construction and renovation projects. This past week Hart provided new estimates for those as well as the projects at the elementary school sites intended to enhance wraparound services like preschool and community learning programs.
-- Jeff Dempsey Sandwich Selectmen Host Heated Debate About School Boilers-- The Sandwhich Enterprise Massachusetts: March 26, 2021 [ abstract] After a lengthy and sometimes contentious discussion, members of four town and school boards decided not to decide about replacing outdated boilers in two Sandwich schools.
More specifically, the board of selectmen—which hosted the combined meeting of the school, finance, and capital improvement planning committees Thursday, March 25—deferred a decision about how to replace the 30-plus-year old boilers.
“My personal feeling is that we’re in no position to move this decision tonight,” said Selectman David J. Sampson, summing up the feelings of the selectmen and members of the finance committee.
Michael J. Miller, chairman of the selectmen agreed.
“We just don’t have enough information to defend this to the taxpayers” at the May Town Meeting, he said.
The selectmen deferred a decision—and possible presentation to taxpayers—until the fall.
What that means, however, is that the town could lose an offer from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), a state organization that helps municipalities with funding and oversight of large school building projects.
-- TAO WOOLFE After pause, St. Paul board approves five-year school construction plan on 5-1 vote-- Twin Cities Pioneer Press Minnesota: March 23, 2021 [ abstract]
The St. Paul school board on Tuesday approved a five-year construction plan that features two big school renovations and scores of smaller projects throughout the city.
“SPPS Builds” is the new brand name for a major building initiative started by Superintendent Valeria Silva, who in 2016 increased yearly construction spending to $112 million from around $30 million.
After early cost estimates proved wildly inaccurate, Superintendent Joe Gothard halted construction planning in 2019 and ordered an external review that produced 52 recommendations for changing their processes.
John Brodrick, the only current board member who was in office in 2016, cast the lone vote against the new plan on Tuesday.
He said he’s read hundreds of pages from the facilities department and kept finding the same kind of language that “confounded and frustrated” him in the early years of the construction spree. He noted that many of the review team’s recommendations remain “in progress” or “under consideration.”
“I have not been convinced that the plan presented tonight will be a significant improvement over the plan that went awry,” Brodrick said.
-- JOSH VERGES Funding approved for Jasper FEMA safe room-- Newton County Times Arkansas: March 22, 2021 [ abstract] The Jasper School District has been notified by the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management that the school district's application for federal funds to construct a community safe room on the Jasper campus has been approved. Dr. Candra Brasel, school district superintendent, informed the board of the approval Monday night, March 15, at its regular monthly meeting.
Notification was received via a letter dated March 9. The Hazard Mitigation staff at FEMA Region 6 completed the review of the school district's grant application and funding was obligated on March 2. The grant awards the school district $981,618.20 or 75% of the project cost. That would leave the district's non-federal share at $327,206.07. The project was estimated to cost $1,308,824.27, but actual cost estimates have not been secured through formal architect planning and the bidding process.
The school district applied for funding based on the need of a safe room for 624 people at the Jasper K-12 campus. This reinforced structure would be available as a safe gathering place for students and staff in case of a tornado or other emergency during the school day, but would also be available to the community during after school hours.
-- JEFF DEZORT Interagency Commission on School Construction Adds State Funding Recommendation for Hammond High School, Fully Funds Hig-- Scott E's Blog Maryland: February 22, 2021 [ abstract] Today Howard County Executive Calvin Ball announced that the Interagency Commission on School Construction (IAC) increased its state funding recommendation for Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) priority construction projects by nearly $8 million dollars, bringing the total state funding recommendation to $28.6 million out of a requested $40.3 million.
“Ensuring the completion of these three critical school construction projects is a top priority of my administration,” said Howard County Executive Calvin Ball. “While I am encouraged that the IAC increased its recommendation of State support for our school construction efforts, fully funding the requests for High School #13 and Talbott Springs, there is work left to do to secure the remaining state requested funding for the Hammond High School project.”
The adjusted IAC recommendation elevated the Hammond High School Renovation and Addition project from a B local planning status and a C funding status, both to A statuses, adding $5.37 million of prior year appropriations for recommended state funding out of a requested $14 million to the project after recommending no state funding to support the project in December. Additionally, the IAC state funding recommendation for the Talbott Springs Elementary School Replacement project increased by $2.6 million through prior year appropriations, fully funding the $8.2 million in requested state funding. The $15 million state funding request for High School #13 was recommended by IAC to be fully funded in December. Final approvals on funding levels for projects in the FY2022 capital budget will be made by IAC in May.
-- Staff Writer Will Georgetown Get a Public High School?-- George Towner District of Columbia: February 22, 2021 [ abstract] Might Hardy Middle School at 1819 35th St. NW become a public high school? That was a proposal put forth on Feb. 11 at the first Foxhall and MacArthur School planning Community Working Group Meeting.
Ward 2 is the only ward in the District without a comprehensive public high school, a fact that has long been a “to be discussed sometime in the future” topic of various parent and neighborhood organizations and DC Public Schools. But as of last week, ideas have been spreading more widely — perhaps a sign that the pandemic is almost over. It is also becoming clear that the burgeoning population at Hyde-Addison, Georgetown’s public elementary school, will in a few years inevitably spill into the middle school and high school system.
“Under the working group scenario last week, Hardy would move to an about-to-be purchased property at MacArthur & Q (formerly the Georgetown Day School lower campus),” Kishan Putta, the Georgetown/Burleith advisory neighborhood commission’s schools liaison, wrote to The Georgetowner on Feb. 19. “I don’t yet have any details about what proposals are being discussed for the potential high school that would theoretically open at the current Hardy site, but I heard there were questions about playing field space. I also don’t know about the possible timeline, but am told it would likely take a few years.”
-- PEGGY SANDS Columbus City Schools to spend $800,000 on new school facilities plan-- The Columbus Dispatch Ohio: February 19, 2021 [ abstract]
The Columbus Board of Education has taken the first step to relaunch a defunct school-rebuilding program it started nearly 20 years ago.
Board members voted 7-0 Tuesday to approve a nearly $800,000 contract between Columbus City Schools and Legat Architects for "educational planning and master facility planning services."
The district selected the firm, which is based in Chicago and has offices in Downtown Columbus, from among eight applicants. There was no discussion of the matter at the board meeting. The Dispatch has requested a copy of the contract.
The facility planning process is expected to last more than a year, through July 2022. planning for a bond issue to fund any proposed construction would follow, Columbus City Schools spokeswoman Jacqueline Bryant said in an email to The Dispatch.
"Before we seek the public's financial support, it is important that we engage our community to determine how to best meet the needs of our current and future students, as well as the greater community," Bryant said.
It's not clear when a levy request might occur. Historically, the district has had success asking voters to support tax levies and bond issues during presidential election years. The district contemplated going on the November 2020 ballot but those plans never panned out, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
-- Alissa Widman Neese Jefferson Co. BOE approves CEFP including construction of new elementary schools-- The Journal West Virginia: February 14, 2021 [ abstract]
CHARLES TOWN -- The Jefferson County Board of Education unanimously approved the Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan for the next 10 years at a special meeting Thursday night.
The plan still has to move through approval by the West Virginia Department of Education, West Virginia State Board of Education and the School Building Authority but is one step further to coming to fruition.
The local board's approval came after months of input from numerous stakeholders. Eight committees were established in the spring of 2019 to facilitate input on the plan, committees including Safety and Security; Long Range planning; Facilities and Infrastructure; Athletics; Fine and Related Arts; Business and Community Partnerships; Instruction and Technology; and Social, Emotional and Behavioral Health.
There were anywhere from five to 20 people on each committee with more than 80 individuals participating, including JCS directors, staff, faculty, parents and community and business leaders. Four public forums were also held in order to gain public input, hosted at each of the middle schools in the district.
There are a number of 2020 bond call projects that fall under the CEFP, ranging from county wide to school specific.
-- Jessica Wilt Schools’ building projects unabated-- Arkansas Democrat Gazette Arkansas: February 13, 2021 [ abstract]
LITTLE ROCK — The school construction that marked the first 20 years of the 21st century in Central Arkansas is continuing into a third decade, with three charter school projects in different stages of planning and construction.
Academics Plus Charter Schools Inc., one of the state’s oldest charter systems, broke ground in late 2019 on what will be the $32 million Maumelle Charter High School at 9701 White Oak Crossing.
Friendship Aspire Academy in Little Rock that has been operating since March 2019 in the extensively renovated Garland School at 3615 W. 25th St., in south-central Little Rock, is building an eight-classroom annex on the property to accommodate its expanding grades — while simultaneously looking at a southwest Little Rock site for a middle school to open in about 2023.
And the Jacksonville/North Pulaski district’s replacement middle school and adjoining elementary school — on the site of the old high school — are up and out of the ground with the middle school on target to open to students in August.
The construction updates from the systems were provided at a time of the year when registrations and applications are being solicited from families for enrollment in the coming, 2020-21 school year.
The new Maumelle Charter High is being built on previously undeveloped land, and that resulted in a construction delay, Rob McGill, chief executive for Academics Plus Charter Schools, said in an interview.
“We started construction in November and we’re scheduled to begin classes in August of 2022,” he said.
That’s a year later than originally planned because of the time it took to certify that the 32-acre building site did not qualify for environmental protection.
-- Cynthia Howell City Sued for Letting Charter School Dodge Environmental Rules-- Capital & Main California: February 04, 2021 [ abstract] Residents of the tiny city of Cudahy, California, located in the industrial southeast of Los Angeles County, are suing to prevent a large charter school from being built on what they claim is toxic land without a proper environmental review. At issue are a state law allowing different building standards for different types of schools, and a planning code, obscure to most local residents, that allows a charter school company to build a new school without thoroughly cleaning up the site’s alleged toxins.
Using a process that allows the company to skirt state environmental rules, KIPP SoCal Public Schools plans to build a new elementary school on land that its own reports show contains toxic substances including lead and arsenic. The company can do that because the regulations for building or renovating charter and private schools are less restrictive than for state-funded district schools, and because Cudahy has, according to critics and plaintiffs in a lawsuit, used the wrong planning code to approve the project.
-- Larry Buhl Coons, colleagues seek $130B funding boost for local school infrastructure-- Dover Post Delaware: February 01, 2021 [ abstract]
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, joined Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, and 24 of their colleagues in introducing the Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools Act last week.
With school districts facing increased costs, aging school infrastructure and an urgent need to alleviate crowded classrooms and ensure adequate fresh air ventilation to help reduce COVID-19 transmission, the bill would invest $130 billion in modernizing classrooms across the country and would help schools upgrade their physical and digital infrastructure.
“As we continue to grapple with the COVID-19 crisis, it is critical that we invest in the safe and sustainable reopening of our schools,” said Coons. “This bill prioritizes the needs of our students and educators, the safety of our school buildings, and jobs in communities throughout Delaware and the country — creating opportunity while helping our schools overcome the challenges of the pandemic.”
Crumbling, outdated school infrastructure makes it tougher for students, teachers and staff to safely return to school for in-person instruction. Comprehensive school modernization planning is a critical component of helping post-pandemic K-12 schools become stronger and more sustainable than before the COVID-19 crisis.
The Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools Act will provide $100 billion in formula funds to states for local competitive grants for school repair, renovation and construction. States will focus assistance on communities with the greatest financial need, encourage green construction practices and expand access to high-speed broadband to ensure that all students have access to digital learning.
-- Staff Writer Brown seeks $130 billion funding boost for schools-- Sidney Daily News National: January 29, 2021 [ abstract] WASHINGTON, D.C. – With local school districts facing increased costs, aging school infrastructure, and an urgent need for schools and classrooms to alleviate crowded classrooms and ensure adequate fresh air ventilation to help reduce COVID-19 transmission, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, D-OH, joined Sen. Jack Reed, D-RI, and Senate Democrats in introducing the Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools Act. The bill would invest $130 billion in modernizing classrooms across the country and would help schools upgrade their physical and digital infrastructure. This Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools Act builds off of Sens. Brown and Reed’s Rebuilding America’s Schools Act of 2019 and the School Building Improvement Act of 2017.
Crumbling, outdated school infrastructure makes it tougher for students, teachers, and staff to safely return to school for in-person instruction. Comprehensive school modernization planning is a critical component of helping post-pandemic K-12 public schools become stronger and more sustainable than before the COVID-19 crisis. A June 2020 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that over half (54 percent) of school districts nationwide need to update or replace multiple systems in their schools, such as heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC), or plumbing.
“Ohio students deserve to go to school in a safe environment that helps them learn and grow,” said Brown. “For years, state and federal governments haven’t provided the necessary investment in our school districts that are now put under further financial strain by the current pandemic. We must invest in our public schools and help them meet the needs of the whole child and the communities they serve.”
U.S. Representative Bobby Scott, D-VA, the Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor Committee, introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives.
-- MELANIE SPEICHER St. Paul Public Schools to curb construction spending this year-- Pioneer Press Minnesota: January 25, 2021 [ abstract]
Despite halting planning on new capital projects, St. Paul Public Schools plans to borrow $67 million this year to pay for ongoing construction at several schools.
The school board already has signed off on $15 million in bonds covered by the annual property tax levy. In the coming months, they’ll be asked to consider an additional $52 million for several projects.
That’s actually far less debt than the district has been taking on of late.
Under plans initiated by former superintendent Valeria Silva, the school district since 2016 has been spending $112 million a year on building maintenance and capital projects, up from around $30 million before then. The idea was to improve the look and function of the district’s aging schools, not necessarily to increase capacity.
But those projects have cost far more than anticipated.
Following a Pioneer Press report detailing how much the estimates have grown, Superintendent Joe Gothard in 2019 put a stop to pre-design work on any new projects, further delaying improvements that already had been pushed back because of a lack of funds.
However, several projects, including renovations at American Indian Magnet and Frost Lake, were approved last year because preparations already were well underway when other planning was stopped. The $67 million in borrowing this year will help pay for work at those schools as well as projects near completion, such as renovations at Humboldt and Como Park high schools.
Gothard’s administration was expected to release a new five-year construction plan last spring but postponed it because of the coronavirus pandemic. That plan finally is set to go before the school board in February, with a vote expected in March.
School district spokesman Kevin Burns did not say Monday whether the district intends to go back to borrowing $112 million in future years.
-- JOSH VERGES Schools planning capital improvements, more with new COVID-19 relief funds-- The Daily Times Tennessee: January 22, 2021 [ abstract] With more money and fewer restrictions on the second round of federal COVID-19 relief funding, all three local school districts are planning to spend at least some on capital improvements.
The coronavirus relief act signed into law Dec. 27, 2020, includes $54.3 billion for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, referred to as ESSER II.
School directors are awaiting details but have previewed their plans based on the information they have received so far.
Blount County Schools Director Rob Britt expects to present a plan for the district’s $7.5 million to the school board at its February meeting.
BCS plans to focus the funding on three areas: learning loss, health and safety, and facilities for deferred maintenance, Britt emailed The Daily Times this week.
-- Amy Beth Miller Granville Schools Superintendent: River Road-scale plan would require new middle school-- Newark Advocate Ohio: January 12, 2021 [ abstract]
Granville’s four existing school buildings have very little room left to accommodate a significant influx of new students.
Such a sudden growth in enrollment would also trigger need of a new middle school.
See also: Proposed River Road housing development would add 322 Newark homes in Granville schools
Our view: Granville schools and Newark should find mutually beneficial housing plan
On Jan. 11, Granville Schools Superintendent Jeff Brown discussed building capacity with school board members.
The discussion was triggered by recent reports of a potential housing development pitched to Newark elected officials.
“Many of the community members are aware that there was a proposal for a development that was submitted to Newark City Council and Newark City planning Commission on River Road,” Brown told school board members during the year’s first board of education meeting.
Brown’s aim at the meeting, he said, was to give “the facts” related to any “large scale development on Granville Schools,” from the standpoint of both fiscal, and facilities impacts.
Granville Elementary, Brown said, has the capacity of holding 715 students. Brown said, enrollment sees 684 students “attending that building right now.”
Granville Intermediate can hold 600 students; current enrollment there totals 591 students.
-- Craig McDonald Baltimore County school board seeks money to replace Towson, Dulaney high schools after removal from proposed capital pl-- The Baltimore Sun Maryland: January 06, 2021 [ abstract]
Members of the Baltimore County Board of Education railed against a proposed capital plan during a Tuesday night meeting, decrying school officials’ removal of projects to replace the aging and increasingly overcrowded Dulaney and Towson high schools.
But in a 7-2 split, with two abstaining, the board voted to add the two replacement projects back to the funding request.
Replacing Dulaney and Towson have been in the school system’s construction plan for years, but some board members said that re-adding them to the fiscal 2022 funding request could knock other schools in need down the list.
The proposed capital budget presented Tuesday evening included a request for almost $63 million to build a replacement Lansdowne High; planning money for an addition to Dundalk High that would add up to 650 seats for additional students; and roof replacements at Randallstown and Parkville high schools.
-- TAYLOR DEVILLE Atlanta school system delays work on long-term building plan-- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Georgia: January 05, 2021 [ abstract]
Atlanta Public Schools will delay the completion of a facilities master plan because of uncertainty brought on by the pandemic.
The planning effort, along with an accompanying demographic study, is important because it will guide the district’s building and property needs for the next 10 years. The document will serve as a key decision-making tool as officials determine which schools could be expanded, closed or merged based on factors such as enrollment forecasts.
Work to update the plan began in June 2019, when the district signed a $900,000 contract with the Atlanta-based firm Sizemore Group to develop it.
Under the original time frame, APS expected to be wrapping up work on the document.
Instead, officials recently announced they will press pause for a year to 18 months, citing concerns about how the coronavirus pandemic could impact enrollment projections.
“We need better data, and COVID has kind of changed the landscape on a lot of things,” said board Chairman Jason Esteves.
Accurately predicting enrollment trends is a critical component of the planning work. Officials rely on population forecasts and anticipated housing growth to predict which schools may add or lose students.
But the pandemic has cast uncertainty over those projections. Larry Hoskins, chief operating officer for APS, told board members last month that he’s “extremely concerned” about whether population forecasts made before the pandemic will change.
“We are now kind of wondering if, in fact, the region will experience the same growth projected prior to COVID, post-COVID,” he said.
-- Vanessa McCray Dickson Schools building plan: New school, Creek Wood middle, COVID effect discussed-- Tennessean Tennessee: December 17, 2020 [ abstract] A previously proposed new elementary school building as well as a recap of last year’s much-debated Creek Wood middle school were recently discussed by the Dickson County School Board.
The school district’s facilities plan was the focus of the board’s Dec. 1 planning session. But the effect of COVID-19 -- and increased reliance on virtual learning -- was also part of the discussion. Some board members said COVID’s effect on education needed closer scrutiny when talking about construction of new buildings.
Board member Steve Haley said the next 18 months would “make such a difference” on how he feels about the school district’s planning.
“I think what we have become guilty of as a board is adding but not replacing some aged items,” said Haley, explaining how current school facilities could be remodeled.
-- Chris Gadd WV School Building Authority giving Hampshire County $24M to consolidate elementary schools-- Charleston Gazette-Mail West Virginia: December 14, 2020 [ abstract] Hampshire County will close five elementary schools and build three new schools for those students, now that the state School Building Authority has pledged to chip in.
The Authority’s board voted Monday to provide the Hampshire school system $24 million over the next three years. That, combined with roughly $18.8 million the district is planning to borrow through selling bonds, is planned to fund the work.
Authority Executive Director David Roach said his agency’s usual December disbursement of tens of millions of dollars in school construction and renovation money is being postponed until April. He said that’s because the pandemic slowed counties’ development of their required new long-term school facilities plans.
But Hampshire successfully urged the agency to go ahead and promise to approve its funding request. Earlier this year, Hampshire voters approved raising their property taxes to pay down the debt for the new schools, and the district argued a delay to April would interfere with moving forward.
Roach said he expects the Authority to still have $51.4 million to distribute to other counties in April.
-- Ryan Quinn 10 new schools, additions and more: Williamson County School approves 2020-26 5-year plan-- Community Impact Newspaper Tennessee: November 17, 2020 [ abstract] As the county continues to grow in population, Williamson County Schools is planning for how it will expand capacity over the next several years.
During the WCS Board of Education meeting Nov. 16, the board unanimously approved a five-year plan for funding requests through 2026. The 2020-26 plan includes $429.35 million in future funding requests for projects that will be completed from fall 2021 to fall 2027.
“Every year, we present to the county commission our five-year projection of what we believe we need to do to address growth. It includes new building construction, building expansions, buses, maintenance—those big-cost items—as we grow,” WCS Superintendent Jason Golden said.
The bulk of the plan include $305 million in funding for new schools to add capacity for additional students throughout the district. Future projects include six new elementary schools, three middle schools and a new high school, according to the project plan. Additions and renovation for existing schools are also included in the plan and are expected to cost roughly $78 million.
Projects to be funded this school year include additions to Summit and Ravenwood high schools, which will add 22 classrooms and an expansion of the cafeteria at each school. Those projects are slated to be complete in fall 2022.
-- Wendy Sturges Public gets to weigh in on new 10-year county school facilities plan-- Times West Virginian West Virginia: November 08, 2020 [ abstract] FAIRMONT — If the Marion County Board of Education were to implement a wish-list for all projects and improvements related to public school buildings during the next decade, the total cost would be more than $246 million.
That’s how much money it would take to upgrade or improve various Marion County school facilities to bring them up to optimal condition for student and faculty comfort and safety. The details of the wish-list are outlined in the school board’s 2020-2030 Comprehensive Educational Facilities planning report, which goes up for public review this week.
The document’s findings will be discussed at public hearings across the county this week. The public can give input about the plan Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. at North Marion High, Nov. 10 at 6 p.m. at Fairmont Senior High, Nov. 12 at 6 p.m. at East Fairmont High, which will be followed by a special session of the BOE.
-- Scott Gillespie Fairfax County schools moving forward with plan to get more kids back in classrooms-- WTOP Virginia: October 19, 2020 [ abstract]
Fairfax County, Virginia, is moving forward with a plan to get more kids back in classrooms.
At a virtual Return to School Town Hall Meeting Monday, the details of plans to keep kids safe and phase them back into the classroom were revealed.
Plans will be following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended five mitigation strategies: consistent and correct use of face masks for students, staff and visitors; cleaning and disinfecting on a regular basis, as well as protocols for if there is a positive COVID-19 case; contact tracing with the local health department; social distancing to the extent possible in classrooms, transportation and as students transition through the buildings; and hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette.
But what if a child refuses to wear a mask?
“Our regulation has provisions that would allow for students who have medical conditions that would prevent them from wearing [a] face covering. That would require a written statement from your physician that would be presented to the school,” said Lea Skurpski, director of operations and strategic planning for the county’s schools.
And in cases where students would not wear their face coverings or have behavioral reasons that they need to work through, teachers are going to be working on implementing strategies to improve a student’s ability and feasibility to wearing a face covering, Skurpski added.
-- Michelle Murillo This Tulare school district is spending $400K to reduce indoor transmission of COVID-19-- Visalia Times Delta California: October 16, 2020 [ abstract]
COVID-19 can linger in the air for up to three hours.
Those infected with the disease transmit particles to those nearby, according to Harvard Medical School.
Tulare City School District leaders wanted to avoid the risk of the virus infecting its more than 10,000 students within its 15 schools. That’s why the district’s school board approved more than $400,000 to install a patented technology designed to reduce the air transmission of COVID-19.
TCSD joined other districts and educational institutions across the country that are either in the planning stages or have already installed similar types of technology due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic and how it will affect those working indoors.
The technology, called needlepoint bipolar ionization, will be installed by Fresno-based New England Sheet Metal & Mechanical Co., which was awarded the contract after a bidding process.
The district hopes to complete the project by mid-December, according to David Lawrence, the district’s administrator for maintenance and operations.
“The good thing about it is (the technology is) not a one-time thing,” Lawrence said. “This is not only a COVID-19 product. This is an air product in general for a cleaner environment.”
“We are trying to make the environment as safe as possible to move forward,” he added.
-- Kristan Obeng Denver reconsiders reopening middle, high schools amid increased COVID-19 cases-- The Denver Post Colorado: October 12, 2020 [ abstract] Denver Public Schools is reconsidering opening its secondary institutions for in-person learning following an upward trend in the number of COVID-19 cases that city officials warn could force Denver into another shutdown.
Superintendent Susana Cordova said Monday that she and other administrators are “taking a closer look” at reopening middle and high schools based on advice from health experts, who caution older students may be more susceptible to the virus. DPS is still planning to host elementary school students for full-time, in-person learning, she said.
“The overriding priority will continue to be the health and safety of the entire DPS community,” Cordova said. “At the same time, we want to make sure we’re doing our part to support driving down the COVID numbers in the city.”
Cordova will be meeting with health experts as well as the Board of Education on Monday to discuss the issue. Families should know more details about any revisions for middle and high schoolers within 24 to 48 hours, she said.
-- TINEY RICCIARDI Commissioners Approve State Capital Improvements Program for St. Mary’s County Public Schools-- The Southern Maryland Chronicle Maryland: September 23, 2020 [ abstract] LEONARDTOWN, MD – The Commissioners of St. Mary’s County voted unanimously to authorize Commissioner President Randy Guy to sign a letter of support for an increase of $8,167,000 to the St. Mary’s County Public Schools (SMCPS) FY2022 – FY2027 State Capital Improvement Program during their regular meeting Tuesday. Sept. 22. This funding is for the improve school buildings and to conduct scheduled maintenance.
The request covers several projects through 2027, including the limited renovation of Mechanicsville Elementary School, an HVAC systemic renovation at Town Creek Elementary School, the modernization of Lettie Marshall Dent Elementary School, a partial roof replacement at Great Mills High School, an HVAC systemic renovation at Piney Point Elementary School, a roof and HVAC systemic renovation at Green Holly Elementary School, and an HVAC systemic renovation at Chopticon High School.
The life cycle replacement of building components is tracked through the SMCPS Comprehensive Maintenance Plan for Educational Facilities. It involves close coordination between the Department of Capital planning and the Department of Maintenance. These capital needs are outlined each year in the Educational Facilities Master Plan. As facility conditions change, projects and time frames are adjusted accordingly.
-- St. Mary's County Public Information Office School Air Filters To Be Upgraded Across New Mexico-- Los Alamos Daily Post New Mexico: September 12, 2020 [ abstract] SANTA FE — Many school buildings across New Mexico will get upgraded air filters in the coming weeks to ensure that students return to in-person learning in the safest possible environment, the Public Education Department announced Friday.
The Public Education Department is working with the Public School Facilities Authority and school leaders across the state to determine what air filters are currently in use in school buildings and how effective they are at removing tiny particles like viruses from the air.
Additionally, they will identify the highest-quality air filters compatible with each existing heating and cooling system. Taken together with mask wearing, social distancing, frequent handwashing, and other enhanced safety measures, upgrading filtration systems is yet another commitment the state is making to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
Ventilation system upgrades and improvements will increase the delivery of clean air and dilute potential contaminants within each classroom and school facility.
Elementary schools that brought students back this week have been asked to assess their current filters and upgrade them where possible by the end of next week.
Schools and districts planning to open later will have to procure and install recommended filters before beginning classes in the hybrid model, which includes days of both remote and in-class learning each week. The PED will contact those district and charter school leaders next week to launch that process and provide guidance on optimizing filtration systems.
To further augment air flow, occupied New Mexico schools are required to take measures outlined by the national Centers for Disease Control for this purpose, including opening windows, running central air fans constantly, deploying portable fans, especially for windowless rooms, and opening dampers.
-- Carol Clark No ventilation, poor air quality pushed many districts to go remote-- NJTV News New Jersey: September 11, 2020 [ abstract] Many public school buildings in New Jersey are close to a hundred years old with antiquated, or no, ventilation systems. Willingboro is one of the the nearly 250 districts that have opted for all-remote learning
“Some of our current challenges are as follows: Number one, inadequate HV systems to properly ventilate rooms. This can serve as a major issue in regards to the high temperatures during the month of September. Many of our schools have only partial air conditioning, making the early months of the school year an additional challenge,” said Willingboro Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Neely Hackett.
Allen Barkkume’s environment council has been evaluating school ventilation systems around the state.
“Your average school building that you’re going to walk into today is not a commercial facility where you go to do your grocery shopping, or retail shopping, or even a lot of the office spaces that folks are used to going into every day. And even if you want to, it’s really difficult and expensive to retrofit these buildings with the controls needed,” he said.
Barkkume discovered guidance for clean air even from the CDC has fallen short.
“From the beginning and up until today, the CDC does not recognize full aerosol transmission of the virus and this trickles down to the state level and it informs the requirements the Department of Education places on school districts and it changes the way they do their planning,” he said.
-- Joanna Gagis Reading, writing, and air flow: Minnesota districts remake schools for COVID-19 safety-- StarTribune Minnesota: August 29, 2020 [ abstract] Minnesota teachers will report to school this week to attend training sessions, finalize lesson plans and complete another assignment: testing out school buildings that have been retrofitted and reimagined to operate in a pandemic.
In many schools, old drinking fountains and sinks have been swapped out for “touchless” fixtures. Signs pasted to the floor indicate where students should stand while they wait in line to visit the restroom or the main office. Hallways are divided so foot traffic runs in a single direction and classrooms are sparsely furnished, with desks spaced 6 feet apart. In some cases, large rooms like libraries and cafeterias have been transformed into classroom space.
Concerns about COVID-19 spreading through poorly ventilated buildings have prompted some school districts to install new air filters or haul portable air purifiers into classrooms. Carlton Schools Superintendent John Engstrom said he’s awaiting delivery of about 40 air purifiers for his district south of Duluth. Especially for schools with older buildings and limited resources, figuring out how to keep the virus at bay is a major logistical challenge.
“It weighs on you heavily because all the things we would normally be doing in the summer, in terms of back-to-school planning, typical instructional and professional development, it’s not happening,” Engstrom said. “It’s all about how can we physically manage the space.”
-- Erin Golden Connecticut’s first ‘net-zero’ schools, tapping solar and geothermal energy, to be built in Manchester and Mansfield-- Hartford Courant Connecticut: August 25, 2020 [ abstract]
MANCHESTER — A Hartford-based architectural firm is designing two Connecticut elementary schools as “net-zero” buildings, which generate as much energy as they use.
TSKP Studio is touting the projects as the first such schools in the state, “establishing a new standard for sustainable design in our communities.”
The renovation and addition project at Buckley Elementary School in Manchester and construction of a new Mansfield Elementary School are both to begin next year.
Both projects will use roof-mounted solar panels and geothermal wells. Plans also focus on reducing energy demand through lighting, window placement and strategic IT design, the architects said in a news release Tuesday.
“This validates what we’ve been doing all along if you look at our portfolio of work: incorporating daylight, planning efficient spaces and simplifying forms,” TSKP partner Ryszard Szczypek said.
With built-in tools for monitoring energy generation and consumption in real time, the buildings also will be educational resources, the architects said, providing students and teachers with dashboards to gauge energy performance.
“Connecting the school community to the environmental mission of their learning space will provide a rich opportunity for an ongoing dialog about sustainability,” the release said.
-- JESSE LEAVENWORTH Before reopening, schools are scrambling to fix their air-handling systems-- VTDigger Vermont: August 24, 2020 [ abstract] About 600 students in Windham County will start the year remotely because local school officials decided the district’s air quality systems needed work before students come back into classrooms amid the pandemic.
But many more students across Vermont could be in a similar situation. Schools around the state are worried about whether obsolete air-handling systems could spread the coronavirus, and are planning urgent projects.
In the months before Covid-19 arrived in Vermont, districts had been tackling issues resulting from deferred maintenance in aging schools. Multimillion-dollar modernization projects were being planned, and lawmakers were ready to put over $1 million into a statewide analysis of building needs.
Then the pandemic made HVAC systems a top priority, and earlier this year legislators set up a $6.5 million grant program to help schools repair and upgrade their heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems to meet Covid-19 health guidelines.
About 300 schools are interested in applying for the $6.5 million, said Jody Lesko, the director of programs and implementation. That’s about three-fourths of all schools in Vermont.
The project prices run the gamut, depending on the severity of the problem and the size of the school. But Eveline Habermann Killian of the Burlington engineering firm Cx Associates, which is working with about 20 schools, said she’s frequently seeing costs ranging from $40,000 to $60,000 per school.
At $40,000 per project, 300 schools would need $12 million.
“It’s probably more than the Legislature had hoped for,” she said. “But nobody really knew until we started going into the buildings.”
It’s unclear if air quality concerns tied to the coronavirus could actually shutter more schools. But ventilation and air filtration have emerged as a top concern in the puzzle over reopening, and hundreds of schools are scrambling to get work done before Vermont students return on Sept. 8.
-- Lola Duffort COVID-19 precautions require significant changes to area schools for reopening-- U.S. Army DoDEA: August 21, 2020 [ abstract] WIESBADEN, Germany - As Department of Defense Education Activity schools return to in-person instruction at U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden, area administrators and staff are faced with new logistics challenges that account for physical distancing, face coverings and Center for Disease Control guidelines for cleanliness.
With almost 90% of Wiesbaden area school-aged students returning to in-person instruction, each DODEA school is evaluating class size, teaching and support staff, classroom sizes and a host of other details associated with educating more than 1,400 students across grades K to 12.
“It’s been a whole new ballgame for us,” said Angela Hadley, principal of Aukamm Elementary. “We’re still talking about curriculum and learning environment.” COVID-19 has added a new level of preparation. “It’s extra measures for safety and security while still focusing on quality in learning,” Hadley added.
Dr. Tonya Laliberte, principal of Hainerberg Elementary, said, “Teachers have been here all summer measuring classrooms and planning space.”
Dr. Heather Ramaglia, principal of Wiesbaden High School, said she’s been in constant communication with her staff as her administration problem solves the logistics of the upcoming year. “Thirty one staff members voluntarily showed up to address these questions,” she said of their summer meeting. “They want to get ahead of it.”
-- Lisa Bishop U.S. Educators Report That School Bathrooms, Cafeterias, and Buses Require the Most Cleaning and Disinfection-- businesswire National: August 19, 2020 [ abstract] PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As hundreds of thousands of U.S. schools prepare for in-person learning, it is no surprise that cleanliness and disinfection are top-of-mind, according to a recent survey conducted by OpenWorks.
The survey, which polled more than 200 U.S. educators across the country, revealed that 92% plan to increase the frequency of their cleaning and disinfecting efforts, and more than half of them will increase these efforts to multiple times a day. Those polled believe that the school areas most prone to germs include: bathrooms (89%), cafeterias (81%), buses (77%), locker rooms (71%), computer labs (70%), regular classrooms (67%), gyms (66%), and playgrounds (66%). The surfaces they believe are the most prone to germs include: door handles (90%), drinking fountains/water station areas (81%), desks (80%), railings (76%), computers (75%), gym equipment and classroom supplies (67%), light switches (66%) and playground equipment (54%).
The increased focus on cleaning and disinfecting is for good reason. “As a result of COVID-19, cleaning and disinfecting is essential in helping to protect the safety and welfare of teachers, students, parents, families, and the community at large,” said Eric Roudi, President and CEO of OpenWorks. “Schools are moving from basic, manual cleaning procedures, like vacuuming and wiping down surfaces, into specialized, more advanced cleaning protocols that include disinfecting. It is a trend we don’t see waning any time soon.”
Roudi said that OpenWorks has experienced a sharp increase in demand for its advanced cleaning and disinfecting measures since the outbreak of COVID-19. To help prevent the spread of viruses and infections, the company’s nationwide network follows CDC guidelines on processes, equipment, and products. Its elite service providers use EPA-approved disinfectants and are individually certified by the Global Biorisk Advisory Council.
Additional findings from the recent OpenWorks survey of educators also revealed that:
79% plan to follow social distancing measures, yet only 59% plan to reduce the number of students in the classroom.
74% are ensuring all educators and staff wear masks, and 64% are ensuring all students wear masks.
58% of educators are ensuring their school buses are cleaned and disinfected.
45% are hiring additional maintenance/janitorial staff or increasing their hours to clean/disinfect more frequently.
39% are planning to have their indoor air systems (heating, ventilation, and cooling) inspected or upgraded prior to their schools reopening to students.
38% are hiring additional outside cleaning/disinfection crews to clean/disinfect more frequently.
-- Angela Menninger NYC promises a nurse in every school building amid reopening fears-- Politico New York: August 13, 2020 [ abstract]
Mayor Bill de Blasio said every city school building will have a nurse when schools reopen, as he pushed back against calls from unions to delay the start of the school year.
The lack of nurses in some schools has been one of the worries highlighted by principals, teachers and parents leery about plans to open schools during the coronavirus pandemic.
“There were schools that didn’t have nurses historically, and we needed it for this situation,” de Blasio told reporters Thursday. “They’ve got a whole month to get it in place. They’ll get it done.”
Hundreds of new nurses are expected to be hired by Health and Hospitals, the city’s public hospital system. They will be brought on a contract basis and the hospital system will foot the bill, officials said.
The nurses will serve full time and stay on the job at least until the end of the coming school year.
The city is planning to reopen its schools on Sept. 10 as long as coronavirus infection rates remain low, with students in school a few days a week and at home on other days.
But the mayor has faced increasing pressure from unions resisting his reopening plans.
-- ERIN DURKIN and MADINA TOURÉ Schools stockpile supplies to prepare for upcoming school year-- WTVY.com Alabama: August 06, 2020 [ abstract]
BESSEMER, Ala. (WBRC) - Are schools fully stocked with cleaning and disinfecting products for the upcoming school year?
The superintendent of Bessemer City Schools said they are ready, and while the district plans to start school remotely, school leaders are planning ahead for when students, teachers and staff make a traditional return.
Kleenex, hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, soap. You can typically find those items on your child’s classroom supply list. But with many stores out of stock, finding some of those items is tough.
“We’re putting in place a system where all of our schools are provided the proper PPE from us, and in areas or avenues where parents would like to donate it, they’re still welcome to donate it,” said Bessemer City Schools Superintendent, Dr. Autumm Jeter.
You’ll have better luck finding hand sanitizer at your local grocery store, but Clorox recently announce its disinfecting wipes won’t be fully stocked until next year.
That’s why the Bessemer City School District is getting creative.
“We’re going to recommend to our teachers internally, just do simple measures of basic wipes that you can pour alcohol in and because that’s all a wipe is it’s got that alcohol that kills the germs. So, things of that nature,” Dr. Jeter said.
-- Chasity Maxie Majority of schools on military bases plan to open with in person-classes-- KTEN10 National: August 02, 2020 [ abstract] The majority of Defense Department schools that educate the children of the US military are moving ahead with plans to return with in-class instruction later this month amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. More than 110 intend to return children to the classroom but 43 on bases where the highest level of restrictions have been imposed due to the outbreak plan to start the new school year teaching virtually.
"We believe it's important to make sure that the kids are being educated. And so we're taking those steps to make the schools open and make it safe," chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters Thursday.
"We have always believed that instruction in the classroom is the optimal learning environment for most of our military-connected students," the Department of Defense Education Activity director Tom Brady wrote in a statement earlier this month.
"Restoring teaching and learning to the familiar environments of our classrooms, provides students with stability and continuity," he added.
The issue of getting children back to school safely has become politically controversial with the Trump administration pushing for in person re-openings even as the virus surges continues to surge across the US with the number of cases now at more than 4.5 million and the death toll at over 153,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Of the 15 biggest school districts in the country, only one is offering schools the option of in-person instruction, 10 of them have opted to begin the school year with online learning only and three are planning a hybrid approach.
There are 159 Defense Department schools located on US military installations around the world, including on bases that are situated in areas that have seen major spikes of coronavirus cases, including Florida, Texas and Georgia.
-- Ryan Browne Returning to school: NYC to improve air circulation in classrooms-- siLive.com New York: July 29, 2020 [ abstract] STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- In an effort to make classrooms safer against the coronavirus (COVID-19), New York City public schools and Catholic elementary schools in the Archdiocese of New York will make enhancements to its school buildings to improve air circulation for students and staff upon their return in September.
The city Department of Education (DOE) is planning to make improvements to its HVAC systems to improve air circulation, as well as replace regular air filters with higher efficiency filters. Additionally, air conditioning units will be identified and repaired, and other physical adjustments will be made to buildings in order to increase airflow.
-- Annalise Knudson Area school officials planning reopening scenarios -- The Piscataquis Observer Maine: July 28, 2020 [ abstract] With the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) scheduled to release its first round of color designations pertaining to the individual levels of risk for the state’s school districts on Friday, July 31, officials with the region’s education units have been busy making plans for how students return to classes in the fall.
In a July 22 letter posted on the district website RSU 68 Superintendent Stacy Shorey wrote that she wanted to reach out with some additional information, “We were told last week that each school district will receive a color designation of red, yellow or green based on a few pieces of data which includes the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in your county. We will receive that designation on July 31 by the (MDOE) and then every two weeks the designation will be updated. We will not be making any decisions about what our programming will look like in the fall until we have that color designation.”
-- Stuart Hedstrom Ten things parents could and should do to help schools safely reopen-- Washington Post National: July 22, 2020 [ abstract] There are a mountain of stories every day about what schools and districts have to do to reopen schools in a manner deemed safe for the 2020-21 year.
Schools and districts are, for example, spending enormous amounts of money to buy masks to give students and teachers, thermometers to take temperatures of kids before they walk onto a bus or into a classroom, and other protective equipment.
Much of what is being done seems to assume these things will not be done at home — and that is the subject of this piece. Written by Mary Filardo, an education advocate and expert on schools facilities, it recommends 10 things parents can be ready and able to do to support the safe reopening of their children’s schools.
Filardo is a leading national authority on school facility planning, management and public private development. She has written extensively on public school facility issues and developed software to support long-range facilities master planning.
Filardo founded and serves as executive director of the 21st Century School Fund, which provides the District of Columbia and other urban communities with leadership, innovative financing solutions, research, and public policy analysis of school facility issues. She also founded the Building Educational Success Together collaborative, a learning community of urban education reform organizations dedicated to building the public will and capacity to improve urban school facilities so they support high-quality education and community health.
-- Valerie Strauss ‘My Colleagues Are Terrified’: Colorado Teachers Say Reopening School Needs More Safety And Transparency-- CPR News Colorado: July 21, 2020 [ abstract] Colorado gave schools guidelines for reopening this week, but the state’s largest teacher's union said Tuesday there shouldn't be any in-person learning and schools should operate remotely unless demands about safety and teacher input are met. They sent a petition, signed by 13,000 school staff, to state education and health officials, school principals, school board members and local health department officials.
The Colorado Education Association, which has 39,000 members, are asking that educators play a central role in any decisions on school reopening and want teachers to vote on any plan to return to school. They want safety protections and protocols for staff and students spelled out, as well as transparency on the planning and health data used to drive decisions. And they want school districts to make sure all students have access to learning, after inequities were exacerbated this spring when thousands of students could not get connected to teachers because they didn’t have devices or lacked internet access.
“Unless those expectations can be met, we should not move to in-person learning,” said Amie Baca-Oehlert, a high school counselor and president of the Colorado Education Association.
State officials say they agree with the spirit of the four expectations for employee engagement, safety protections, transparency and equity.
-- Jenny Brundin DC Mayor Prioritizes “Disadvantaged” Bidders to Redevelop Elementary Schools-- Commercial Observer District of Columbia: July 20, 2020 [ abstract] Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, along with the Office of the Deputy Mayor for planning and Economic Development, released a new Request for Proposals strategy concerning the site of two former elementary school buildings at 33-45 P Street NW in Truxton Circle.
The strategy is designed to improve the equity of the companies that benefit from D.C.’s development deals and for the first time, included “equity inclusion prioritization” language for the redevelopment of a city-owned property.
“We are committed to making our city’s prosperity more inclusive, but that won’t happen by chance—it will happen because as a government and as individuals, we are intentional about how we invest and who we make opportunities available to,” Bowser said in prepared remarks. “By ensuring that the growth of our city is driven by and more representative of those who make up our city, we can both expand opportunity and advance D.C. values.”
-- KEITH LORIA New York State Education Department releases guidelines to reopen schools-- WBNG12 New York: July 13, 2020 [ abstract] he New York State Education Department presented its reopening guidance to the New York State Board of Regents Monday. In advance of the meeting, NYSED released a copy of its presentation.
The presentation is designed to help school districts to reopen for the fall semester, whether that means in-person, remote, or hybrid instruction.
The guidelines were designed to outline the school year by working with each community, providing assistance to local school districts because no "one size fits all".
Below is an outline of the presentation:
HEALTH AND SAFETY
Schools must perform health checks of students and staff, and educate staff to recognize symptoms of COVID-19
Schools must design plans to enhance and maximize social distancing
Schools must isolate people with symptoms of COVID-19 until they can be sent home
Schools must inform people how to properly wash their hands
School staff and students are required to wear face coverings
Schools to clean and disinfect per CDC recommendations
NUTRITION
School food service directors to be included in the planning process
All students, whether attending classes in-person or remotely, must have access to daily school meals
Update procedures to address health and safety guidelines
Ensure Child Nutrition Program requirements are met
Must communicate with families
-- Staff Writer Social distancing on a school bus? Industry leaders in Minnesota explore options for a safe return-- MnnPost Minnesota: July 06, 2020 [ abstract] These past few weeks, school leaders have been busy planning for three possible scenarios for the start of the upcoming school year: a return to school buildings, a return to distance learning, or some hybrid of the two formats.
The state Department of Education has promised to narrow it down to one course of action. But that announcement won’t come until the last week of July, by which point state officials hope to have a clearer sense of how the COVID-19 pandemic may play out this fall.
For now, the department has issued planning guidance for every segment of the school day, including how bus rides to and from school should look different.
Additions like plastic partitions, as seen now at some grocery stores, or any other physical alteration to the vehicles are unlikely, say those who oversee school bus fleets. But they are busy exploring options for lowering bus occupancy — so student passengers can socially distance on their way to and from school — enhancing sterilization practices, and shoring up teams of drivers, which have been in short supply for years.
If in-person learning for all students resumes this fall, the state Department of Education asks schools to look at adding routes or reducing bus capacity to keep riders farther apart. Maintaining the recommended 6 feet of social distancing may not be feasible, the guidance notes, but things like seating families together and loading the bus from back to front are still advised.
-- Erin Hinrichs Small California school districts face overwhelming challenges to reopen schools-- EdSource California: July 02, 2020 [ abstract] California’s smallest school districts face big hurdles in planning for next school year. Some small districts don’t have enough computers or reliable internet service in their communities to provide distance learning to all their students and many don’t have enough money to reopen campuses without difficulty, according to a survey of 185 superintendents.
The Small School Districts’ Association surveyed superintendents of school districts with fewer than 2,500 students to learn how successful they were at implementing distance learning after schools closed in March because of the coronavirus pandemic. They also wanted to determine the problems each would have in reopening schools.
Of the 185 superintendents who responded to the survey, 59% said budget constraints would make it difficult to implement the reopening plan they think would be best for their district; 14% said it would be impossible.
About 40% of the 546 districts in the association are located in rural areas of the state, said Tim Taylor, executive director of the association.
Like most California school districts, Sebastopol Union Elementary School District in Sonoma County is planning a hybrid, or blended, model of instruction, which has students in classrooms a few days a week and working from home the rest of the week, when school reopens Aug. 13. Parents who don’t want their children to return to campus can sign them up for independent study through an online provider, usually a charter school.
The school district is expected to get $84,000 from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES Act, to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. But that won’t even be enough to add a teacher to help with distance learning or decrease class sizes for social distancing, said Superintendent Linda Irving.
Already the district, which has two schools serving 450 students in transitional kindergarten through eighth grade, has spent $2,000 on thermometers, $5,000 on handwashing stations and another $5,000 for backpack spray cleaners for custodians. The district will have to hire a second full-time custodian, so that there is one at each school site to keep up with needed cleaning during the pandemic, Irving said.
-- DIANA LAMBERT CT moves forward on school reopening as virus surge prompts other states to step back-- The CT Mirror Connecticut: June 30, 2020 [ abstract] While some states are reassessing plans to allow even limited in-person learning for elementary and secondary school students, Gov. Ned Lamont is moving forward with a recommendation that Connecticut schools return to their classrooms five days a week this fall.
School districts in other parts of the nation had been planning a mix of classroom and virtual learning for the 2020-2021 school year. But with coronavirus infections rising in other parts of the country, governors — even those in red states that had ambitious reopening plans — are reconsidering. Texas delayed releasing its final school recommendations as cases exploded in the state and South Carolina, another state where cases are rising, says it will be “difficult” to have face-to-face classes in the fall.
“If this continues across the country, kids are going to be home for a long time, “New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
Connecticut has one of the lowest infection and hospitalization rates in the nation and its back-to-school plan is contingent on those rates staying low. While calling for “regional consistency” in school district plans, the guidance released by the Connecticut Department of Education on Monday also says districts should have contingency plans for “blended” learning — a mix of in-school and online classes — and all-remote learning.
“My number one principle metric was the public health lens, just like we said about reopening our businesses nothing makes any sense unless people feel like they’re safe, and they are safe,” Lamont said last week as he announced the school reopening plan. “And that was priority number one, two, and three as we give you confidence that we can reopen the school safely, provided COVID behaves.”
-- ANA RADELAT Governor approves school board plan for reopening Utah public schools this fall-- Deseret News Utah: June 29, 2020 [ abstract] SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah governor has given his seal of approval to the Utah State Board of Education’s requirements and recommendations for K-12 schools to reopen this fall — a document that addresses a host of issues ranging from social distancing to cafeteria practices.
All public schools are required to create and share their plan on their respective websites by Aug. 1 so families have time to plan for the coming school year.
“We appreciate the thought, care and work that went into these requirements and recommendations,” Gov. Gary Herbert said in a Monday news release. “We appreciate that so many health care professionals, teachers, administrators, parents, classified workers and others devoted their energies into creating these guidelines to help keep our children and our school employees safe and healthy this coming academic year.”
The State School Board’s plan, titled planning Requirements and Recommendations for K-12 School Reopening, defines a compilation of recommendations and requirements that schools will need to incorporate into their respective reopening plans in order to safely resume in-person learning this coming fall.
The plan addresses a host of considerations related to reopening schools such as social distancing, wearing of masks, riding school buses, cafeteria practices, hygiene practices, contact tracing and large-group gatherings.
-- Sahalie Donaldson Des Moines Public Schools on fall return: 'We intend to require face masks'-- We are Iowa Iowa: June 26, 2020 [ abstract]
DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa's largest school district is planning to require face masks for its students and staff in the fall.
The Iowa Department of Education's latest guidance, however, did not make such coverings mandatory for schools to return.
"We intend to require face masks of our students and staff to return to school," Des Moines Public Schools Director of Communications Phil Roeder said. "It's one of the proven things that help prevent the spread of coronavirus. In our case, we have 40,000 people that go in and out of our buildings—between students and staff and volunteers—on any given school day."
School districts across the state have until July 1 to submit their Return to Learn plans.
Roeder said the move is a "small step" to help out the community's overall health, and that the district is equipped to help those who may not have a mask.
"We serve a very large, diverse district with people at all income levels," Roeder said. "And so if this is a challenge for students, we're going to help meet that challenge for them."
DMPS is also taking inventory of current supplies.
The Iowa Department of Education issued the following statement Friday:
-- Simon Daniels Educating Through a Pandemic-- The 74 National: June 23, 2020 [ abstract] As education officials and policymakers nationwide look ahead to the upcoming 2020-21 school year, the only thing certain is the uncertainty of how to get students back to school safely and what measures school districts can take — now and in the future — to meet the varying needs of a student body that has been deeply affected and uprooted by the classroom closures caused by the pandemic.
In an in-depth opinion piece for The Hechinger Report, authors Alison Overseth and Jen Siaca Curry look to the example being set in the nation’s largest school district in New York City and how the city’s youth services providers are working to prepare for the long road that lies ahead.
While the New York City Department of Education’s next move may be unknown, youth services organizations are not waiting for clarity as they work to realign approaches and structures to provide support and development opportunities for students. The authors outline five key ways youth services organizations can do this, including increasing social-emotional learning to meet the emotional needs of students, helping students “recover from learning loss” by better understanding the role of assessments in measuring student progress, training staff to deliver virtual programs and online activities, planning ahead to meet a variety of potential schedules, and considering your staffing needs and competencies — as well as how those might have changed given the need for an enhanced virtual presence.
-- ERIKA ROSS Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction releases guidelines for reopening schools in the fall-- WTMJ-tv Wisconsin: June 22, 2020 [ abstract]
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has released its guidelines for reopening schools this fall.
The DPI published Education Forward, an 83-page document that details plans for a safe return to school.
The DPI said it expects schools to reopen in the fall, but expect it to look very different amid the pandemic.
Several scheduling scenarios were presented in the DPI's plan, including variations of four-day weeks, two-day rotations and continued virtual learning for secondary students.
Below are scheduling scenarios released by DPI:
Four-day week:
Each student level (elementary, middle, and high school) reports to school, outdoor learning spaces, or community-based organizations four full days a week.
Schools are closed on the fifth day to allow for deep-cleaning.
Students are provided with virtual learning materials—digital, analog, or a combination of the two formats—to support learning on those days when they do not report to school for in-person learning.
All English learners, special education, gifted and talented, and resource teachers work with small groups of students to reduce the student-teacher ratios to 10/1 or fewer in each learning environment.
Learning in outdoor spaces or partnerships with community-based organizations may be needed to keep student-teacher ratios to 10/1 or fewer.
One day per week is used for teacher planning and professional learning. On this day, students do not report to school but virtual learning continues.
-- Staff Writer Raimondo, Infante-Green discuss guidelines for reopening schools next year-- WPRI Rhode Island: June 20, 2020 [ abstract] PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — While school’s out for the summer in many communities, students, parents and teachers are starting to enjoy the break from class. However, they’re also constantly wondering what will happen next year.
One thing for sure though is each school district has to come up with three separate plans for how school will operate, and be funded, by July 17.
“The goal is schools reopening in person. Nearly every school. Every kid. In person. August 31st,” said Rhode Island Education Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green.
With safety as the priority, Governor Raimondo and Infante-Green admit they’re not quite sure what the next school year will look like.
“We need to have plans for whatever it looks like so that’s why we’re going to have these three plans in motion, so no matter what comes our way, we’re able to be prepared,” said Infante-Green.
The state released new, concrete guidance on how districts can open, so superintendents can start planning what works best for their specific district.
“Not every community has been equally affected by this terrible virus. Exeter looks different than Central Falls,” Raimondo said.
A model of the ideal situation for elementary and middle school students would be keeping them in the same groups of 30 or fewer people all the time.
-- Kait Walsh Kennewick School District reopen school survey results see face masks as concern-- KNDO23 Washington: June 18, 2020 [ abstract] KENNEWICK, WA- The Kennewick School District sent out surveys to families in early June for reopening plans. The results show that over 6,000 families responded and had some concerns about face coverings.
The KSD Superintendent sent the letter as follows in response to results:
Dear Kennewick Families,
As the 2019-20 school year comes to a close today, we want to again thank you for your support and partnership in providing continuous distance learning for students and provide you with an update on our reopening planning for fall 2020.
On June 11, we shared the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction’s “Reopening Washington Schools 2020 District planning Guide.” Our goal is to develop a fall reopening plan for students to return to face-to-face instruction. We have been and will continue to work throughout the next several weeks to address all aspects of the reopening plan. Committees of administrators and staff are convening to assess needs and develop plans that address health and safety, teaching and learning, social-emotional learning, and facilities aspects of our reopening plan. We will be continuing to periodically update families and seek your input on our reopening plans throughout the summer.
Based on the results of the recent initial family survey we conducted, we feel it is important to highlight two of the specific mandates from the Washington State Department of Health (DOH), which districts and schools are required to follow as a condition of their reopening plan.
-- Staff Writer Washington school districts’ response to COVID-19 guided by health officials-- The Puyallup Post Washington: June 17, 2020 [ abstract] The Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OPSI), released guidance for Washington school districts which aims to provide expectations and viable school models for the return to K-12 education this fall.
A few of the key guiding principles released by OPSI on May 15 detail keeping students at the center of attention to build relationships and help them feel safe, along with designing new learning systems for equity and access regarding learning content.
“There will not be a one-size-fits-all model for school in Washington state next year,” wrote Education Sector Liaison, Benjamin King of the COVID-19 Response
Joint Information Center. “In partnership with their community, local school districts will choose and adapt a school model and guidance that works best for their school community, and how severe the COVID-19 outbreak is in their area.”
Managing and monitoring student learning and using strategies to provide feedback or assess student learning are also taken into account when developing the key guidance elements of the new school year. The safety and reassurance of student value is a top priority for schools within Washington districts during the ongoing pandemic, according to OPSI.
Another priority is to make instructional adjustments and guide instruction based on effectiveness. The last principle relates to adhering to family engagement and the necessity of communication between educators and student learners.
An overview of state and district planning mentioned some of the recommendations for potential models and provided examples for considerations within schools and the public health issue, according to OPSI. Some of these concerns include how schools will effectively conduct health screenings and grading system accommodations for students and staff, along with how staff should recognize the unique circumstances families might face.
Additionally, a workgroup was formed in May 2020 consisting of more than 100 education officials, educators, parents, students, community members and organizations. The information from this group is expected to be released by OPSI on June 12, detailing what those models for safely reopening might look like for districts.
-- Elissa Blankenship One-Way Hallways, See-Through Partitions, Handwashing Stations & Lunch in Class " Architects’ Models for Socially Distan-- The 74 Million National: June 14, 2020 [ abstract] The uncertainty surrounding what in-building learning may look like come the new school year is posing daunting challenges across the United States. And while we can largely rule out cafeteria salad bars and tightly packed events — at least for now — question marks about how to do school in a socially distanced age has led architects to help districts plan for a variety of scenarios.
No matter what a school chooses, whether it’s planning for social distancing, changing food deliveries, shifting the way students move — or don’t move — through buildings or even adding physical barriers, short-term fixes may not accommodate long-term goals.
“My one fear is, as we start space planning for school districts, we don’t revert back to kids in rows,” says architect Jim French, DLR Group senior principal and the firm’s global K-12 education studio leader. “That is one way of a teaching modality that works, but isn’t what schools should be. We have worked really hard with educators to get kids out of rows and do more collaborative and hands-on learning.”
But in the near term, social distancing will make group and hands-on work tricky. So architects are being asked to model a variety of distanced scenarios, concepts that can shift and mold with the needs of individual schools.
“The idea of returning to school could be very challenging and maybe even traumatic,” says CannonDesign education-focused architect Stuart Brodsky. “Coming up with ways to be received back under one roof has a lot of complexity and community-, family- and student-related things that need to be considered.”
For example, many schools are discussing hybrid schedules, which would bring groups of students into the building on an alternating basis, with the other students learning from home. Brodsky’s firm is developing tools to study that capacity to help schools understand how to fit students in their buildings. There wouldn’t be a single solution, as some schools may choose to provide six feet of distance between students while others may want to accommodate additional personal space. Either way, a typical classroom that used to have 25 to 30 students won’t be able to fit more than half that number.
-- TIM NEWCOMB Five takeaways from state's back-to-school guidance-- Kitsap Sun Washington: June 12, 2020 [ abstract] The likely scenarios for a return to school this fall, even as the world awaits a coronavirus vaccine, became more clear Thursday, as state schools Superintendent Chris Reykdal issued guidelines for districts to follow.
State officials are calling for face-to-face instruction in districts across Washington state.
"To be very clear, it is my expectation that schools will open this fall for in-person instruction," Reykdal said in the document "Reopening Washington Schools 2020: District planning Guide."
But it won't exactly be back-to-school as we know it, Reykdal said. A safe return to school rests on the three pillars of COVID-19 prevention promoted by health officials: wash hands, wear a mask and practice social distancing.
So how will that work exactly?
Districts are asked to plan for in-person instruction for all students as a Plan A. Inadequate facilities, individual needs of students and families, and the possibility of a spike in COVID-19 cases, mean districts should have a back-up plan that could involve phased re-entry, split or rotating schedules, or some form of distance learning.
-- Chris Henry San Antonio schools planning for fall social distancing " and there’s a lot of math-- San Antonio Express-News Texas: June 12, 2020 [ abstract] When the Centers for Disease Control last month updated its guidelines for reopening schools, parents and educators registered an array of doubts and objections on social media.
Keeping masks on children and making them stay six feet apart all day seemed impossible, eliminating lunch in the cafeteria and recess on playgrounds seemed unenjoyable, and supplying classrooms with enough materials to keep them from being passed around and shared invited more personal expenses from teachers’ pockets.
Spacing desks in classrooms that have long been tight on space seemed unfeasible — and seating kids in every other row on buses, uncontrollable.
The recommendations aren’t mandates and Northside Independent School District Superintendent Brian Woods agrees that many of them are unrealistic. Balancing that with concerns about a second wave of coronavirus cases, the largest school district in Bexar County is preparing to reopen schools this fall for more than 105,000 students without knowing how many will show up and how many will continue the option of remote learning from home.
-- Krista Torralva ASD gets an early jump on projects funded by school bonds-- 11KTVA Alaska: June 11, 2020 [ abstract] The Anchorage School District maintains the largest public footprint in the state of Alaska.
"Currently, we have 22 projects — $57 million dollars worth of construction going on right now," Senior Director of Capital planning and Construction at ASD Thomas Fenoseff said.
The school district budgets nearly $21 million annually for building and preventative maintenance. However, may of ASD's buildings were built in the 1960s and 1970s and additional funds are needed. That is where voter-approved school bonds come in.
Calvin Mundt is one of 11 project managers at the school district. He is currently overseeing work on the roof at West High School. An ASD document from May 26 says the construction cost for the roof replacement is approximately $5.8 million.
Mundt says the roof project took a year of design, with construction starting last summer on the auditorium stage area.
"The reason it is getting replaced was because the old roof was at the end of its useful life, which is anywhere from 20 to 30 years," Mundt said. "Then you need to replace."
-- Scott Gross County announces guidelines for reopening schools-- The Healdsburg Tribune California: June 11, 2020 [ abstract]
Sonoma County Superintendent Steve Herrington announced the county’s guidelines for reopening schools Thursday afternoon, June 11. The announcement came on the heels of the state releasing its own set of education guidelines on June 9.
While Herrington briefly discussed county guidelines for reopening schools, the full guide created by the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE) will be released on Friday, June 12. The roadmap for reopening was developed by a school and health planning committee, which was made up of various superintendents — Twin Hills School District’s Barbara Bickford, Petaluma City Schools’ Gary Callahan, Cloverdale Unified School District’s Jeremy Decker, Santa Rosa City Schools’ Diann Kitamura, Guerneville School District’s Dana Pederson, Herrington, Sonoma County Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase and county counsel Adam Radtke.
The committee met numerous times over the past few months to discuss a plan for reopening, and it consulted with the county’s other school district superintendents.
According to Herrington, the document is designed specifically to help districts reopen once the county enters stage three of its reopening and, like the information released by the state, is a guide rather than a mandate.
While SCOE provides oversight and guidance to local districts, each of the county’s 40 school districts are autonomous when it comes to how they decide to tackle the county and state criteria — for example, someone with kids in both the Gravenstein Union School District and kids in the West Sonoma County High School District may have to follow two different reopening plans. Herrington said that since districts are creating their own individualized plans, some may decide to err on the side of caution while others may not to. Regardless, districts are limited in how much they can reopen, based on what reopening phase the county is in.
Herrington emphasized that while other counties in California may be further into the state’s phase progressions for reopening, based on epidemiology and statistics, Sonoma County is in phase two. Partial reopening of schools is allowed in stage three and full-time reopening of schools is allowed in phase four.
-- Zoe Strickland Florida governor unveils plan to reopen schools-- WESH2 Florida: June 11, 2020 [ abstract] BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. —
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday unveiled a plan that says the state expects K-12 schools to reopen in the fall at "full capacity.”
Florida Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran says it is the state’s intention to bring teachers and students physically back to schools in the fall. He stopped short of officially announcing that schools will be fully open, but said that is what the state is planning for.
“We want schools fully open in the fall” Corcoran said during a news conference on Thursday.
DeSantis said plans about exactly how to reopen schools will ultimately be made on the local level.
The governor said opening schools is critical to the success of Florida’s economy, and the plan states “Florida can only hit its economic stride if schools are open.”
The Florida Department of Education released the full plan on its website. You can read it here.
-- Staff Writer The Socially Distanced School Day-- Education Week National: June 10, 2020 [ abstract] Classrooms. Hallways. Buses. Schedules. Extracurriculars. Every facet of the school day will have to be fundamentally altered when students eventually return to school.
To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, school leaders must ensure social distancing—limiting group sizes, keeping students six feet apart, restricting non-essential visitors, and closing communal spaces. Those measures run counter to how schools usually operate, with teachers and students working together in close quarters, children socializing throughout the day, and the buildings serving as a community gathering space.
Anyone who’s been to a school knows it will be difficult, if not impossible, to guarantee “absolute compliance with any social distancing measure,” said Mario Ramirez, the managing director of Opportunity Labs who was the acting director for pandemic and emerging threats in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the Ebola epidemic.
The goal, he said, is to “drive as much of the risk down as you can.”
To help district and school leaders navigate decisions and planning, Education Week spoke to numerous experts, from public health officials to superintendents, about ways that schools can adjust their operations to allow for a safe return to in-person schooling as the pandemic continues.
In the first installment on how to go back to school, we take a detailed look at social distancing and safety protocols, the starting place for every decision that school leaders must make. We outline recommendations, present different strategies, and weigh some pros and cons.
There are no easy solutions. Many of the recommended changes will come with new, sometimes hefty, costs.
-- Madeline Will Danny De Gracia: Let’s Use The COVID-19 Crisis To Improve Hawaii’s Schools-- Honolulu Civil Beat Hawaii: June 08, 2020 [ abstract]
The Hawaii Department of Education, in planning to reopen schools, should leverage COVID-19 preparations as a means to improve public campuses and present students with cleaner, healthier, even newer facilities to study in.
Last week, Superintendent Christina Kishimoto published a letter to parents which specifically addressed the matter of “children physically returning to campuses” and spoke of how department staff were “relying on the expertise of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state’s Department of Health to inform our policies and procedures.”
Those changes are already beginning to emerge.
A guidance statement recently issued by the HIDOE for reopening schools includes recommendations that cover everything from the expected physical distancing and face coverings to additional mentions of increasing ventilation by opening windows, deterring infection by stocking restrooms, and even grouping students with the same staff.
While it is clear that these announcements are meant to instill a sense of public confidence that Hawaii is safely transitioning to a “new normal” we ought to go the extra mile for students and renovate schools to make them feel like they are coming back to a better school than the one they left behind prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Just like many state office buildings, our public schools are extremely old and many of them offer appearances that look extremely run down.
-- Commentary - Danny de Gracia More than half of America’s public schools need major repairs: U.S. report-- The Washington Post National: June 04, 2020 [ abstract]
More than half of the United States’ public schools need to update or replace multiple systems or features in more than half their buildings, and failure to address them could pose health and safety problems for everyone inside, according to a government report released Thursday.
What’s more, many district don’t even know exactly what they need: The report says that 65 percent of districts had conducted a facilities condition assessment of their schools at least once in the past decade, and 35 percent didn’t know if one had been done. Only 15 states reported requiring school districts to conduct facilities assessments.
The report comes in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic, during which most schools were closed this spring to stem the spread of the disease. Districts across the country are devising plans to reopen schools, with new protective measures including social distancing and requiring the wearing of masks.
But even before the pandemic, districts struggled to maintain their school buildings, with some of them having to close because of heating or other issues, and others allowing school operations to continue even under unhealthy conditions. (See pictures below.)
The report — released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), its first study of school infrastructure since 1996 — said that heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems were the ones most in need of repair. Four in 10 districts are estimated to need to update or replace these systems in at least half of their school buildings, affecting 36,000 school buildings nationwide.
That raises issues for schools planning to reopen buildings this fall during the covid-19 crisis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says in its guidelines for reopening schools that ventilation systems should work properly.
Officials in several school districts visited by GAO investigators reported schools have been closed because of facilities problems, and the potential for mold and air quality issues could cause health problems.
“In the last year, several school districts across the country have temporarily closed schools due to hazardous conditions of the school buildings that can pose health and safety risks to students, teachers, and staff,” the report said. “For example, water damage caused by a leaking roof or [HVAC] system can lead to problems with indoor air quality and exposure to substances such as mold or asbestos.”
It said in one Michigan district, officials said about 60 percent of their schools do not have air conditioning.
“In 2019, some temporarily adjusted schedules due to extreme heat,” the report said.
-- Valerie Strauss School District moving forward with reopening plans for fall-- South Philly Review Pennsylvania: June 04, 2020 [ abstract] The Philadelphia School District is making preparations to resume classes in the fall.
The district still isn’t sure if that will mean live instruction in school classrooms, but officials are working on several scenarios to make sure the 2020-21 school year begins as efficiently as possible.
“This is something we’ve been thinking about and planning for,” Philadelphia Schools District Superintendent William Hite said on Thursday. “School will resume in the fall and we know that it will resume in the fall, however we do not know in what form that will take.”
As the district anticipates a virtual graduation for the Class of 2020 on Tuesday, officials started looking ahead to the fall in hopes of returning to classrooms. The state recently eased restrictions on reopening schools as colleges and universities are expected to reopen classes tomorrow. Schools located in counties that have entered either yellow or green phases of the state’s reopening plan are permitted to resume classes on July 1.
Philadelphia is still in the red phase but expects to emerge to yellow soon, giving local schools the opportunity to plan to open doors.
-- Mark Zimmaro To Reopen Our Schools Safely, Pennsylvania Needs Congress' Help | (Opinion)-- Patch - Pennsylvania Pennsylvania: June 04, 2020 [ abstract]
In the months since COVID-19 closed our schools, educators, parents, and students did a tremendous job transitioning from classrooms to kitchens and living rooms across Pennsylvania. Teachers continued teaching, and students continued learning — at a distance.
This is far from the perfect way to educate our students. It's not easy to teach in this environment, and the challenges so many parents have had juggling work, home, and kids during this crisis were truly without precedent.
We need to get our kids back in school. Educators and administrators are already planning for what that will look like. We still have a lot of work to do, but one thing is clear: Our schools will need federal help to reopen safely.
That is why the Pennsylvania State Education Association is joining educators, parents, and community leaders to urge Congress to invest $175 billion in our nation's schools, colleges, and universities. This investment will provide Pennsylvania with enough funding to close the revenue shortfalls K-12 schools and higher education are facing and reopen safely.
-- Rich Askey Statewide reopening unlikely for Oregon schools-- Argus Observer Oregon: June 03, 2020 [ abstract] SALEM — While summer vacation just started for students in Oregon, there is now a view of the beginning of the 2020-21 school year this fall, as Oregon Deputy Superintendent Colt Gill showed legislators a preliminary view of a plan for reopening during a Tuesday meeting.
Gill said the Oregon Department of Education is planning on releasing its guidance for the fall sometime next week and will continue updating that guidance every two weeks through the summer. Schools throughout Oregon have been closed since mid-March due to the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. Distance learning became the method of education for all schools starting in mid-April.
In the plan for reopening schools, ODE is allowing schools to take local circumstances into consideration when planning. Previously, many Malheur County educators thought they would be able to reopen in the same manner that the counties are reopening (in a multi-phase plan mapped out by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown). But it was discovering later in the spring that schools are not a part of the phased plan for reopening, leaving many Malheur County educators worried that reopening schools would be a decision made statewide (just as the school closures were in mid-March).
If the preliminary guidance issued Tuesday is an indicator of what’s to come in next week’s guidance, then eastern Oregon educators seem to have gotten their message across. On May 27, Oregon Senator Lynn Findley, R-Vale, and Representative Mark Owens, R-Crane, sent a letter to Brown, with letters from almost every school district in eastern Oregon also attached, demanding that schools from the eastern side of the state be given a bigger voice when it comes to reopening the schools.
-- Nik Streng What will the fall look like for Vermont’s K-12 schools?-- VT Digger Vermont: June 01, 2020 [ abstract] With Vermont seeing one of the country’s slowest rates of growth for coronavirus infections, K-12 officials have said they intend to have students back in classrooms come fall. But schools will look starkly different, they warn. And all plans are subject to change.
“The best thing about it is the whole nation’s in this together, so we’re figuring it out,” said Jeanne Collins, president of the Vermont Superintendents Association. “But the worst thing about it is there really aren’t any models.”
Administrators say they’re exploring a roster of options that fall into one of three categories: remote learning, in-person instruction, or some hybrid model, which could see students in school on alternating days or younger children at school while older students remain at home, for example.
In consultation with the teachers union, the organizations representing principals and superintendents, and the Department of Health, the Agency of Education has started crafting guidance for reopening.
Dan French, Vermont’s secretary of education, believes that planning for any of the three models under consideration – virtual, in-person, or some hybrid version – isn’t even the trickiest part. It’s assuming that schools will likely have to do all of the above.
Districts will need to plan on moving back-and-forth between remote and in-person instruction as infection rates wax and wane, he said. Officials may hope to start the school year with children back in classrooms, but rolling closures at some or all schools are likely.
“The idea that we are possibly – no doubt, probably – going to be shifting between and among the dispositions and how we do that is I think going to be our greatest challenge,” he said.
There is tremendous pressure to reopen schools, particularly as people return to work. But education and health officials also worry about the effects of long-term school closures on children, particularly where the most vulnerable students are concerned.
-- Lola Duffort Plan to reopen San Mateo County schools detailed-- The Daily Journal California: May 28, 2020 [ abstract]
Masked students and teachers, reconfigured classroom arrangements, a continued reliance on remote learning and suspended school gatherings — all part of the plan to reopen campuses this fall, the county’s top education official said Wednesday.
County Superintendent Nancy Magee said officials are putting the finishing touches on a comprehensive framework designed to help local districts start classes again in the safest fashion possible.
The guidelines for K-12 schools, expected to be published next week, are established around four pillars — health and hygiene protocol, face coverings requirements, physical distancing standards and gathering restrictions, said Magee.
For her part, Magee said educators and health officials are working hard to come up with a thoughtful set of strategies and measures while acknowledging amendments will be needed when unanticipated issues are encountered.
“planning is a challenge. I believe we will get there. I don’t believe it will be an easy road,” she said. “I think we will have a two steps forward, one step backward scenario.”
Face coverings
Magee said students and staff will be expected to always wear face coverings while on campus, especially in common areas shared by large groups, as officials are focused on slowing the spread of COVID-19.
Once in the classroom, she suggested there could be some latitude among smaller student groups. And exceptions will be made for those with sensory complications or other issues which make wearing masks or face coverings challenging.
-- Austin Walsh Greenville County Schools discuss possible options for social distancing in the fall-- FOX Carolina South Carolina: May 26, 2020 [ abstract] Grenville, SC (FOX Carolina) - In a workshop Tuesday night, the Greenville County School Board discussed options for attendance plans to allow students to practice social distancing when they return to school.
A spokesperson for the Greenville County School district said the workshop briefed the board on flexible scheduling options that will be discussed with principals and teachers to get feedback on if they are possible.
The district released a chart called the "Wishbone Flex Option Attendance Plan for Social Distancing" which has 6 options for e-learning and in person instruction.
The district said they could move between the plans based on the status of coronavirus and for plans 1, 2 or 4, students could select 100% in-person or eLearning.
The district stressed these plans are all in the discussion phase right now and nothing has been decided yet:
Plan 0
No in-person instruction. All students continue eLearning.
Plan 1
Students are divided into groups. Blue group attends Mondays. Red group attends Tuesdays. Green group attends Wednesdays. Purple group attends Thursdays. Fridays would be planning days for teachers.
Plan 2
Blue and red groups would attend Mondays. Green and Purple groups would attend Tuesdays. Blue and Red groups would attend Wednesdays. Green and Purple groups would attend Thursdays.
Plan 4
All groups would attend school Monday through Thursday. No in-person classes on Friday and students would have 2 hours of eLearning a week.
Plan 5a
All groups would attend school Monday through Friday. No eLearning. These are normal operations for the district.
Plan 5b
-- Amanda Shaw Most California school districts plan to open in the fall. Here’s how it would work-- Los Angeles Times California: May 20, 2020 [ abstract]
Most public school districts in California are planning to reopen campuses on their regular start dates in late August and September — but the new normal amid the coronavirus outbreak will likely include masks, daily school sanitation and smaller class sizes to maintain six feet of distance, state Supt. of Instruction Tony Thurmond said Wednesday.
Also, some school districts will likely offer a combination of in-person and distance learning, something parents have asked for, Thurmond said.
But the new safety accommodations will require more funding, Thurmond said during a news conference Wednesday, almost a week after the governor’s May budget revise slashed about $19 billion from schools over the next two years.
“We believe that our school districts cannot reopen safely if they have to implement these kinds of cuts,” Thurmond said, echoing the governor’s plea for additional federal aid for schools. “We need to maintain all that we have in our educational sector, and we’re going to need to be able to do more.”
California schools have been closed since mid-March due to the coronavirus crisis, disrupting the education of 6.1 million students. Educators have scrambled to provide distance learning for students and have attempted to provide computers and internet access to an estimated 1 in 5 students without digital access. However student needs have not been met evenly, especially in small and rural districts and those serving students from low income families.
Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom said schools could physically open as early as July.
Thurmond said the state was not mandating when schools would open and that the state Education Department was working with public health officials, school leaders and workplace safety experts to compile guidelines for how to do so safely.
-- SONALI KOHLI With Schools Closed, Their Gardens Take on a New Role-- Civil Eats National: May 20, 2020 [ abstract] When the schools closed in Cedarville, Arkansas in March, Tara McDaniel (pictured above) was told it would only be for two weeks. So this service member with FoodCorps—an Americorps grantee that works with schools in resource-limited areas—set to work planting crops her students could come back to.
It’s clear now that schools around the country will be closed until at least next fall, but McDaniel hasn’t stopped gardening. “I want people passing by on their daily walks to see that [the garden] is still growing and that our community still grows and continues,” she says.
The closures came at a rough time for school gardens—which had either just planted their spring crops or were planning to plant them. Though anything related to food production is generally considered “essential” and allowed to operate during the COVID-19 outbreak, the decision to keep a school garden open depends on the school and staff running the program.
“As soon I heard schools were closing, I emailed the principals of every school we work with and said, ‘We want to keep gardening’,” says Michelle Welton, executive director of Grow Portland. The organization works with 13 low-income schools in Oregon, and its staff is still maintaining the gardens in 10 of those schools.
-- TOVE DANOVICH Bettendorf School Board puts safety first in planning long-range capital projects-- Quad-City Times Iowa: May 18, 2020 [ abstract] Safety comes first in long-term, capital-project plans for Bettendorf Schools.
Interim Bettendorf Schools Superintendent Jim Spelhaug reviewed criteria for previously discussed capital projects -- part of a continuing five-year plan -- Monday at a regular Bettendorf School Board meeting.
“At a minimum, facilities will be safe, warm and dry,” he said.
The most basic requirement is safety. The top requirement, once all others have been met, is enhancements.
Priorities are:
1. Safety, which includes projects such as secure entrances at buildings.
2. Elimination of barriers to student achievement, that is, educational spaces to address programming deficiencies caused by a lack of infrastructure
3. Equity, including projects such as ensuring all students have comparable gymnasiums, learning spaces and furniture.
4. Efficiency, including measures to save on recurring expenditures, such as LED lighrtng and improved HVAC systems.5. Enhancements, which add to current educational programs or provide enrollment benefits, such as a Future Ready Learning Center at the high school and improvements for other academic facilities and student spaces.
-- Linda Cook Paul Feely's City Hall: As school winds down, what might next year look like?-- New Hampshire Union Leader New Hampshire: May 16, 2020 [ abstract] STUDENTS AND TEACHERS in masks. Dedicated hand-washing stations. Smaller classes. In-person learning at schools on alternate days.
It’s way too soon to predict what the 2020-21 school year might look like in Manchester and elsewhere — or if any of the above precautions will be needed — but officials already are planning for next fall.
School could look very different come September, Superintendent John Goldhardt says.
“We don’t know what the future holds, but if you look historically at the 1918 pandemic, you saw those waves come and go,” Goldhardt told school board members last week. “From what I’m reading in the statistical reports, there’s a possibility of another fall wave again. We are preparing for the possibility of what will happen in the future.”
When students are able to safely return to city schools, some “big issues” will have to be addressed, Goldhardt said. Schools in Manchester and across the state have been teaching students remotely since mid-March, after Gov. Chris Sununu ordered all schools closed in response to COVID-19.
“While some of our students have been just fine, others may need some makeup and support to bring them back to where they need to be,” Goldhardt said. “The term I like to use is we need to meet them where they are academically. Keep in mind that transition back to school will be a big event for these students, and it can be a bit traumatic for some of them.”
-- Paul Feely More than $300 million repairs needed for PUSD schools-- The Glendale Star Arizona: May 13, 2020 [ abstract] An estimated $301 million in repairs and improvements is needed over the next 15 years for schools in the Peoria Unified School District, the district’s governing board was told May 1 during a budget study session.
Among the suggestions were site improvements, architectural improvements and flooring.
David Sandoval, PUSD’s governing board president, said there could be new needs developing, too, because of the pandemic.
“COVID-19 is going to expose some opportunities in how we potentially reinvent education,” Sandoval said.
Michelle Myers, PUSD’s chief financial officer, presented an overview of the most recently published facilities assessment and utilization study by ADM Group and Think Smart planning. The purpose of the assessment was to develop a facilities master plan to identify the needs and costs of schools around the district, she said.
According to Myers, the suggested repairs and improvements were prioritized based on safety, code compliance and the educational needs of the campus.
“I don’t want to put money into a bottomless hole, not that it doesn’t add value but because we’re going to move forward in a different direction,” board member Monica Ceja Martinez said.
Martinez agreed there is a need for critical repairs but added there is also a need for growth in the northern area of the district. She said it is important for the board to consider other visions for their district’s schools as well.
-- Jacqueline Robledo NH leaders work on what ‘back to school’ will look like in fall-- Seacoastonline.com New Hampshire: May 13, 2020 [ abstract] The education of students across New Hampshire will certainly change when schools reopen buildings to students, officials are hoping, for the start of the 2020-21 academic year.
State Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut announced Monday the formation of the School Transition Reopening and Redesign Task Force, which will provide recommendations on bringing students safely back into school buildings this fall.
“We’re planning for any eventuality, but we certainly hope students will be back,” said Edelbut, who has served as commissioner for the past three years. “These are the kinds of things the state task force will be working on in terms of identifying if we come back, when we come back, what it will look like if we have full access to the building, what it will look like if we have limited access to the building, and what it will be like if we have periods of remote instruction that has to continue into the fall in certain parts of the state.”
The Department of Education stated remote instruction, now in its ninth week dating back to the week of March 16, has shown strengths and weaknesses.
Edelblut said it is “quite possible” students who have been thriving in a remote setting rather than a traditional classroom could continue to work remotely when schools reopen.
-- Jay Pinsonnault School districts plan for students to return to classrooms in August-- KMOV4 Missouri: May 12, 2020 [ abstract]
ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) -- School districts across the St Louis region are busy making plans for how to safely return students to classrooms in school building when the 2020/2021 school year begins in late August. But they're finding a monumental amount of safety considerations.
"I think it's fair to say that this is probably the hardest thing we've ever had to do in education. The planning for all the different contingencies is is mind boggling," said Robin Wallin.
Wallin is the director of health services in the Parkway School District. Wallin is a registered nurse who spent a year at the Centers for Disease Control as a fellow.
Wallin said the district is developing three plans for a return to classrooms in the fall, each with a different level of safety restrictions.
"So we're looking at each, all three of those scenarios, and trying to plan out exactly what school will look like. Given that those particular public health situations," said Wallin.
Webster Groves superintendent John Simpson told News 4 that educators want to bring students back into the classroom because teachers are much more effective when the instruction is in person.
He said among the many issues to consider are: whether the school year could start with remote learning and transition into the classroom at some point later. He said some of the practical considerations are, whether to remove all drinking fountains and how to take the temperature of 1,400 high schoolers at the start of each school day.
Darren Kieschnick is a parent and former teacher who's concerned about the daunting task facing educators.
"I'm worried about teachers and administration's going to deal with all this stuff," said Kieschnick.
-- Russell Kinsaul Brighton School Facilities Advisory Committee continues long-range facility planning process-- West of the I Wisconsin: May 10, 2020 [ abstract] Here is an update from Brighton School about the ongoing long-range facility planning process:
The District hosted the second Facilities Advisory Committee (FAC) meeting on May 6, 2020 to continue discussions surrounding long-range facility planning. The FAC meeting was made available virtually to allow for social distancing. After a review of the District’s current and forecasted financial strength by Melissa Grohs, the District’s construction and architectural consultants presented a final report on the current condition of the District’s school building and long-range maintenance needs. The report categorized needs by urgency, ranging from “immediate need” to “10+ years.” The 12-member FAC has been working with CG Schmidt Construction and FGM Architects since January to
develop the facility report, with the mission of maximizing the District’s investment into the 1962 school building and ensuring that it continues to be a safe space that provides its students with access to a modern, quality education.
In addition to identifying specific maintenance, safety, and repair needs at the school, the report also identified potential curriculum and educational adequacy needs, specifically calling for a dedicated
STEM space; separate art, music, and band classroom; and physical enhancements. These needs were identified with one-on-one meetings with teachers and staff and prioritized at the first FAC meeting
through a 1-2-4-All Facilitation Exercise. During a review of the State Education Budget and the District’s finances, the District administration noted that these investments would potentially be partially
supported through state grant programs subsidizing rural and STEM education.
-- Darren Hillock Campuses may lack students, but some Napa school workers remain on the job-- Napa Valley Register California: May 10, 2020 [ abstract] With 32 campuses, the Napa Valley Unified School District has hundreds of acres of land and property to manage and maintain.
And even though school sites are temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the grass still needs to be cut.
That’s where operations workers from the NVUSD come in. While Napa teachers and students are sequestered at home doing distance learning, these staffers have remained on the job, mowing, sanitizing, cleaning and otherwise maintaining Napa’s school campuses.
“The operations services team are our unsung heroes,” said Michael Pearson, executive director of school planning and construction, maintenance and operations at NVUSD.
Most of those workers can’t do their jobs remotely, he noted. “They have to report to work to ensure that the facilities and our equipment continue to operate properly.”
It’s no change from any other emergency, such as a flood, earthquake or wildfires, said Pearson.
“They have been there willing to do whatever is necessary.”
Pearson said he couldn’t give exact numbers, but he oversees more than 200 employees in departments including maintenance, grounds, operations, custodians, food service and transportation.
To comply with the public health order for social distancing, “we are staggering employee shifts, thus limiting the number of employees performing work at a site. All employees are assigned a shift unless they are sick, have an underlying health condition with a note from a physician and/or over the age of 65. We are also ensuring services are able to be performed within the required six feet of other people and/or safely with protective gear,” he said.
Some may question why the district doesn’t simply just let the grass grow.
“If we don’t mow the grass, it will get too long and turn to weeds,” and then it becomes a fire hazard, Pearson said. “That’s no good.”
-- Jennifer Huffman Education commissioner weighs in on Nebraska schools potentially opening this fall-- Omaha World-Herald Nebraska: May 07, 2020 [ abstract]
Some Nebraska schools closed by the pandemic should be able to open in the fall on their scheduled calendar start dates, Education Commissioner Matt Blomstedt said Thursday.
Speaking at a press conference with Gov. Pete Ricketts, Blomstedt said opening dates would depend on local health conditions.
“I do think that there will be areas of the state that will be able to keep pretty much their regular calendar intact, and I think that’s what folks are interested in,” he said. “But we are also asking schools to be very thoughtful about digital and remote learning as we continue down that path.”
He said schools can use summer to help figure out the best practices and policies that would work in the fall, including how to use technology to address learning gaps and continue learning in a disruption.
To assist districts in planning and preparing for a restart, he said, the Nebraska Department of Education has created a website, launchne.com.
-- Joe Dejka Schools may be closed, but large construction projects still on schedule-- Salem Reporter Oregon: May 07, 2020 [ abstract]
Major construction projects have recently started at three Salem-Keizer schools, and crews are on track to finish expansions at four others this summer.
Though nearly every other piece of schooling has been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, the $620 million Salem-Keizer renovation and expansion package approved by voters in the spring of 2018 is on schedule, district chief operations officer Mike Wolfe said this week.
At McNary and North Salem high schools, renovations have been underway since last spring.
Crews planned a construction schedule around doing interior renovations, like seismic retrofitting, when students were out of school.
Because of the pandemic, schools have been closed to students and staff since March 13, which in some cases has made construction access easier, Wolfe said.
A few extra months with no students on campus may help them complete projects more quickly, but Wolfe said the district is still planning for an on-schedule completion in August and doesn’t want to “over-promise and under-deliver.”
“Having a little extra time to deal with them is just added insurance,” he said.
Expansions of Waldo and Judson middle schools, which will add classrooms to relieve overcrowding and new cafeteria space, are also scheduled for completion in August.
-- Rachel Alexander Unlikely schools will open as scheduled in the fall, says superintendent-- Forest Park Review Illinois: May 07, 2020 [ abstract] The 2020/2021 school year at District 91 will most likely begin with remote instruction rather than in-person classes, according to a May 7 memo from Superintendent Lou Cavallo in which he discussed Governor J.B. Pritzker's Restore Illinois, the five-phased plan to re-open the state.
"The District 91 Board of Education has not yet adopted an official calendar for the 2021 school year. Our initial plan to begin school on August 24 is on hold until we know more about when we will be able to open. It is likely that it will be past that date," said Cavallo.
In his memo, Cavallo referenced what needed to happen in Illinois before schools would be allowed to open once more based on Restore Illinois.
Restore Illinois is, according to the official document, "guided by health metrics and with distinct business, education, and recreation activities characterizing each phase. This is an initial framework that will likely be updated as research and science develop and as the potential for treatments or vaccines is realized."
In his memo, Cavallo acknowledged the likelihood of students losing academic ground. He said the district is "planning for every contingency" since "school will certainly look different than it did before the pandemic."
-- Maria Maxham School construction, repairs to continue in Napa during shutdown-- Napa Valley Register California: May 05, 2020 [ abstract] Campuses have remained empty for a month and a half due to the coronavirus pandemic, but Napa school district leaders are allowing planning, site work and construction to continue to prepare for the return of students to their classrooms.
A host of projects ranging from finishing new campuses to resurfacing athletic fields and installing kitchens will go on, after the Napa Valley Unified School District declared 17 such projects “essential public works” exempt from the shutdowns ordered by California and Napa County to limit the spread of COVID-19.
The projects cleared to continue include work at recently opened or rebuilt campuses including the Snow and Willow elementary schools, as well as planning for Napa Junction Elementary’s relocation to Eucalyptus Drive in American Canyon and a multipurpose building to add capacity at American Canyon Middle School. Also remaining on track is the replacement of synthetic turf at school-owned sporting venues, including at Napa’s Memorial Stadium and the district’s three high schools.
The declaration, which NVUSD’s board approved at its virtual meeting April 23, also declares essential a plan to add fencing to the McPherson, Shearer and Donaldson Way grade schools to give them a single entry point as a safety feature. It also calls for the continuation of various upgrades to campus technology, kitchens and other facilities.
-- Howard Yune Canada - Are BC Schools Clean Enough to Reopen?-- The Tyee National: May 01, 2020 [ abstract]
Students shouldn’t be counting on any return to “school as we know it” before September, Premier John Horgan said Wednesday.
And while parents struggling to balance work, childcare and home schooling may be disappointed, for many teachers the news comes as a relief.
Many fear an early return to classes would raise serious health and safety issues.
“On the scale of one to 10 of teachers’ anxiety, it’s at 100,” said Surrey high school teacher Lizanne Foster, who posted her own concerns about B.C. school cleanliness during the pandemic on Twitter.
“And they’re coming onto Facebook groups and feeding each other’s fears. You’ll have 10 absolute freakout posts, and then one person will say ‘You know, they’re going to make health and safety the most important thing, they are not going to send us into places that are not healthy and safe.’ And then we get another 10 freakouts.”
Teachers also fear the burnout some are already experiencing after revamping the entire system to deliver learning remotely — while ensuring their own families are cared for — would be worsened by a return to in-class instruction before the end of June.
It’s a concern BC Teachers’ Federation president Teri Mooring understands.
“Taking more than 600,000 students in B.C. to remote learning has been quite a feat,” she said.
But teachers and students will not be thrown back into the classroom without ample notice and planning, she said.
“It certainly won’t be everyone back on a particular day, just like nothing ever happened. There’s going to be some kind of phased approach taken, because we’re going to have to reduce the overall density in schools.”
Horgan, echoing comments by Education Minister Rob Fleming earlier this week, also said any return would involve “a gradual increase in the number of students.”
Fleming said planning for a possible return to classrooms is focused on “health and safety protocols, both for staff and students.”
-- Katie Hyslop Pa. schools expected to reopen in fall, officials say-- YorkDispatch Pennsylvania: May 01, 2020 [ abstract] As of Friday, the Pennsylvania Department of Education was still planning to see schools reopen in the fall.
While decisions on reopening will depend on the health and safety of students, "at this time, there are no plans to keep schools closed in the 2020/21 school year," said department spokesman Eric Levis in a statement Friday.
The statement follows comments by Education Secretary Pedro Rivera to ABC 27 News on Wednesday which offered a more cautious assessment about whether schools throughout Pennsylvania would reopen for the fall term.
“We’re going to track the data and we’re going to hope for the best, but unless we can really work towards solving this pandemic and lessening the number of cases, there’s a chance that students may not return to school,” Rivera told the TV news station.
-- Lindsay C VanAsdalan Masks, staggered schedules, social distancing: When Pa. students return to school, things will look different-- The Philadelphia Inquirer Pennsylvania: April 28, 2020 [ abstract]
Whenever the coronavirus permits Pennsylvania students to return to class, whether it’s September or otherwise, things will look different, Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera said Tuesday.
“We’re planning for the best, but we’re preparing for the worst,” he said.
That could mean masks, smaller class sizes, rethinking school transportation, new ways of delivering children breakfast and lunch, reduced crowds at sporting and arts events, and other things students, teachers, and parents have not seen in the past.
“We’re looking at a hybrid staggered model that addresses not only the academic needs of students but also their health needs as well, and I would encourage parents to think the same way,” Rivera said in a call with reporters.
“When we return back to school, it will not look like the schools we participated in just over a month ago,” the education secretary said.
Rivera spoke to reporters shortly after President Donald Trump suggested states consider reopening schools, but Gov. Tom Wolf has already ordered all Pennsylvania schools closed through the end of the academic year.
Summer school could also be affected by the pandemic, Rivera said. Under Wolf’s plan for reopening the commonwealth, schools will only be permitted to hold in-person classes when an area is considered in the green zone, with the least amount of restrictions.
While there is a chance that summer learning programs may be able to happen in person, Rivera said, it’s also possible that “students would not be able to congregate and teachers would not be able to show up to school” and other arrangements would have to be made.
-- Kristen A. Graham School Renovation: Proposed bond taxes will be delayed-- The Chronicle Oregon: April 28, 2020 [ abstract] The St. Helens School District Board of Directors has announced that if Measure 5-282 passes during the May 19 election, they have instructed the District to delay the sale of bonds until 2022.
The delay would not impact the proposed construction schedule to the high school, according to a release from the St. Helens School District.
The following is the release from the District.
Bond Package Developed, Referred to Voters
In 2015 when the St. Helens School District held listening sessions throughout the community about the direction they wanted their school district to lead, they were told, among other things, that the Middle School and High School needed to be updated to modern health, safety and education standards.
“Over the past five years, the St. Helens School District has been planning and working with our community to upgrade these facilities,” Board Chair Bill Amos said. “We have built a new middle school and a new options high school building both of which were built under budget."
For the past year and a half, the District has worked with the community to develop a High School improvement plan that would address health, safety, building systems and education programs at the facility. In February, the board of directors referred the proposed bond to voters for the May 2020 ballot.
-- Staff Writer Under pressure to reopen this fall, school leaders plan unprecedented changes-- The Washington Post via The Telegraph National: April 27, 2020 [ abstract] From the White House podium to harried homes, pressure is building to reopen the nation's schools. But the next iteration of American education will look far different from the classrooms that students and teachers abruptly departed last month.
Many overwhelmed school systems remain focused on running remote education that was set up on the fly. Others, though, are deep into planning for what they see coming: an in-between scenario in which schools are open but children are spread out in places where they are normally packed together.
The new landscape could include one-way hallways, kids and teachers in masks, and lunch inside classrooms instead of cafeterias. Buses may run half empty, and students may have their temperatures read before entering the building. And in districts all over the country, officials are considering bringing half the students to school on certain days, with the rest learning from home. Then they would swap.
-- Laura Meckler, Valerie Strauss and Moriah Balingit Capital Region districts start planning for return to school-- Daily Gazette New York: April 24, 2020 [ abstract] CAPITAL REGION -- Students spaced out on school buses and in class. Teachers, staff and students wearing face masks. Daily disinfectant protocols. Staggered schedules. Group work from afar. Fifth-graders learning the end of fourth-grade lessons.
Whether students return to school next month, the month after or not until the fall, educators across the region are starting to untangle the knotty challenge of reopening school buildings. Schools are closed until at least May 18, the earliest possible return date under Gov. Andrew Cuomo's latest executive order, but many educators think a return that soon is unlikely. And it remains wholly unclear what a return will look like for students and teachers.
But district leaders have no choice but to plan for returning next month – and also not returning next month. They also have to plan for returning later this school year – and also not returning at all this school year.
There are few specific guidelines at the state or federal level outlining what will be expected of schools once students are allowed to return to class, but officials are planning for a myriad of possible rules around social distancing, providing students and staff protective equipment and regularly cleaning buildings. That's just the logistics. Educators also have prepare for assessing where student learning stands after the extended closures and prepare for months – likely years – of students struggling with the social and emotional consequences of the pandemic.
“I think every scenario is a scenario we are considering and attempting to plan for,” said Aaron Bochniak, acting superintendent of schools in Schenectady. “We need to create those plans and right now it means lots of plans.”
In Schenectady, school district officials are starting to game out the many things that need to be in place before schools can reopen, while following the daily changes in the state's pandemic response, establish work groups to address different aspects of a potential return.
-- Zachary Matson American schools may look radically different as they reopen-- KOMO News National: April 15, 2020 [ abstract]
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — School administrators across America are trying to re-imagine classrooms — and the prospect of reopening schools — in the era of social distancing.
Will there be staggered start times? Will students be asked to wear face coverings? Will class sizes be cut in half? What about school assemblies and sports and school buses and lunchtime?
With the majority of schools nationwide shut down, educators are scrambling to plan for the future after a chaotic few weeks that, for many districts, included closing all schools, deciding whether to waive assessment tests and whether and how to do distance learning. Next comes the important question of when schools can safely re-open.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom laid out a few possible scenarios this week for reopening the state’s public schools to 6 million students, saying the timeline was still unclear but when students do eventually return things will look radically different.
The biggest challenge for schools is how to continue physical distancing among children and adults to ensure that “kids aren’t going to school, getting infected and then infecting grandma and grandpa,” Newsom said.
That could mean requiring schools to stagger schedules, with some students arriving in the morning and the rest in the afternoon. Officials will be rethinking gym class, recess, school assemblies and all scenarios where students gather in large groups, he said. State officials, educators and unions will discuss those ideas and other possibilities for safe schooling in the coming weeks and months.
Robert Hull, president and chief executive of the National Association of State Boards of Education, said administrators across the country are asking not how, but if, schools will reopen in the fall, and planning for any number of scenarios.
-- JOCELYN GECKER and CAROLYN THOMPSON Easthampton mayor orders halt to public construction projects-- Daily Hampshire Gazette Massachusetts: April 03, 2020 [ abstract]
EASTHAMPTON — In a rapid reversal, Mayor Nicole LaChapelle issued an executive order Friday to shut down all construction projects in the city that receive public funds, to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
“I need to look in the mirror and say ‘I did my best to keep people safe,’” LaChapelle said. “To not do this I feel flies in the face of that.”
Prior to the order, the city was planning to proceed with three major construction projects: a new, $104 million K-8 school, road work on Ferry Street, and realigning the intersection of Lyman Street and Route 10.
“These three projects are really important for the city,” City Planner Jeffrey Bagg said, speaking before the order was issued.
Construction of the school, on the grounds of White Brook Middle School, has remained on schedule, even as the region has been gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic.
City officials, including the mayor, had said up until Friday that the stages of construction that the projects were in allowed for proper social distancing.
The order will go into place on April 8, and continue until May 4. Exceptions to the order include mandated building or utility work and work necessary to render occupied residential buildings fully habitable.
Construction projects that are not public are also encouraged, but not required, to follow the order.
-- BERA DUNAU School board hears building, coronavirus plans-- The Globe Minnesota: March 18, 2020 [ abstract] WORTHINGTON — The bulk of the District 518 Board of Education meeting Tuesday night was an architect's report on the planning of the intermediate school.
Although plans are not yet finalized, the design team is considering a number of factors that will help the school building be as useful and durable as possible.
The approximately 120,000-square-foot school was approved by voters in the November school referendum. It is slated to include grades 3-5 over two floors.
Also Tuesday, Superintendent John Landgaard provided an update on the district's response to the COVID-19 outbreak. By order of Gov. TIm Walz, all schools statewide are closed until March 27, during which time staff will create a plan for distance learning.
Landgaard said schools are also responsible for providing lunches during this time, and District 518 will use the same method it does over the summer. Several dropoff points around Worthington have been identified, and vans will bring food for collection by anyone age 18 or younger. Each package will contain a lunch and the next morning's breakfast.
-- Leah Ward COVID-19, Cleaning and Schools-- Spaces4Learning National: March 17, 2020 [ abstract] School and campus administrators throughout North America are very concerned about coronavirus and its impact on their facilities, students, teachers and staff. And there is good reason. As of March 14, 2020, here some stats we should be aware of:
The total number of cases worldwide is approaching 125,000. In the United States, by comparison, the number is about 4,000 but growing fast.
Death rates in China, where the outbreak began, have declined; that’s the good news. However, they are going up in most other areas of the world.
Younger people tend to have very mild symptoms, and the fatality rate of people under 29 is 0.09 percent. Again, good news. However, fatality rates jump to more than 3 percent for people over the age of 60.
The number of schools closed or planning to close due to the virus has surpassed 3.5 million.
Complicating matters, the U.S. is behind the curve as far as testing. As of March 11, 2020, there have been only 23 tests per million people in this country, which has a population of 329 million. Compare that with South Korea, with a population of 51 million. In South Korea, there have been 3,692 tests per million people.
Testing is essential. If someone has tested positive, that person must be quarantined. That way, they do not spread the virus to others.
-- Robert Kravitz State Education Department and State Department of Health issue updated guidance to schools regarding novel Coronavirus-- Binghamton New York: March 10, 2020 [ abstract] From the State Education Department and State Department of Health:
The New York State Education Department and the State Department of Health today issued updated guidance to school and community health officials regarding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), which includes the requirement for schools to close for 24 hours if a student or staff member attended school prior to being confirmed as a positive COVID-19 patient.
The guidance provides an update on measures needed to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak as well as recommended non-pharmaceutical interventions and community containment measures that may be useful to reduce disease transmission in schools including a checklist for schools to assist in planning. NYSED also provided updated guidance to colleges and universities in New York state. All resources for schools related to COVID-19 can be found NYSED’s dedicated website.
“As we continue to see an increase in the number of novel coronavirus cases, we must ensure that schools have the information and resources to respond appropriately working in coordination with the state and local health departments,” said Board of Regents Chancellor Betty A. Rosa. “The Board of Regents and the Department will continue to work with our partners at the state, local and federal level to keep our school leaders informed as this situation continues to evolve so that they can best protect the children of New York State.”
“In close consultation with our partners at the New York State Department of Health, we developed this updated guidance for schools across the state to help us ensure the health and safety of students during this emerging health concern,” said State Education Department Interim Commissioner Shannon Tahoe. “The measures outlined in the guidance reflect best practices for reducing exposure and transmission of infectious diseases in community settings, such as schools. We will remain in close contact with the Health Department and will update and disseminate additional guidance as necessary.”
-- Staff Writer South Burlington residents voted overwhelmingly against new school construction: What's next?-- Burlington Free Press Vermont: March 04, 2020 [ abstract] South Burlington residents overwhelmingly showed they are not willing to foot the $209 million bill for new school construction. They gave the boot to both the bond and a school budget increase with their unforeseen high number of votes at Town Meeting Day on Tuesday, March 3.
SoBu voters: School construction isn't worth the high property tax increase
The bond to finance a new high school, middle school and athletics complex was voted down with a resounding 6,514 to 1,712 vote. Opponents to the bond launched an information campaign in the months leading up to the vote, complete with yard signs, telling SoBu residents to "Vote No." One of the group's major issues was the difference in price between the construction costs, which was listed on the ballot, versus the full price to taxpayers including financing, which would have been $345 million.
The South Burlington School Board spent years coming up with the plan, as well as money for a project-specific website and an informational campaign of its own, including advertising. Now the Board will have to regroup and possibly decide whether to revive one of the renovation scenarios formerly dropped in favor of new construction.
"We believe that the years of planning and research that went into this are not wasted, are a solid base for the next stage of work." Bridget Burkhardt, South Burlington School Board member said they need community feedback in order to move forward. "We're hoping that we can maintain that level of engagement and that the community be involved in helping us develop a proposal that it can support."
-- April Barton Hawaii school building agency could be exempted from laws-- Hawaii News Now Hawaii: March 03, 2020 [ abstract] HONOLULU (AP) — A proposal to create a new Hawaii state agency to build and renovate public schools is moving forward despite concerns the agency would be exempt from many legal safeguards.
The School Facilities Agency would be responsible for development, planning and construction of capital improvement projects at public schools, taking over that work from the Department of Education, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Monday.
The agency would be exempt from all county ordinances — except building codes — and from state laws focusing on historic preservation, environmental protection, budgeting, and civil service.
The facilities agency would also be exempt from parts of the procurement code and the Sunshine Law, which governs how state and county board conduct official business.
The agency would be allowed to make and execute contracts, acquire or condemn property, construct or reconstruct any project, hold title, sell, lease, and dispose of any project. It could also issue its own bond financing and enter into public-private partnerships.
The governor would appoint the agency’s executive director and five members of an advisory School Facilities Board, which would also include the schools superintendent and a Board of Education representative.
Proponents see the agency as a way to expedite building modern schools and redeveloping old properties without bureaucratic delay.
-- Staff Writer Owner of the Year 2020: NYC School Construction Authority-- ENRNewYork New York: February 06, 2020 [ abstract] ENR New York is pleased to announce the Owner of the Year for 2020: the New York City School Construction Authority.
According to Dodge Analytics, the SCA started 396 new projects in 2019, such as a $78M new school on Staten Island. All of the authority's 3,144 projects listed in Dodge's database are valued at almost $14.8 billion total.
Led by Lorraine Grillo — who hadn't yet been named president and CEO of the organization when it won ENR New York's 2009 Owner of the Year honor — the SCA broke ground on several new school projects in 2019, including the brand-new East New York Family Academy; an annex for the Benjamin N. Cardozo High School in Bayside; and the $68 million IS 419 in Flushing.
In September, 18 school sites opened, starting with the new, $62 million PS 398 in Queens, which serves prekindergarten through fifth grade students with 476 new seats.
Another notable school that opened in 2019 is PS 46X in the Bronx. The DeMatteis Organization, one of the project team members, earlier told ENR that the project comprised construction of a new five-story, 77,000-sq-ft building and renovation for an existing 81,700-sq-ft adjacent building. Joining them involved careful planning of structural tie-in work between both.
-- Eydie Cubarrubia School building goal coming into focus-- Mount Desert Islander Maine: February 06, 2020 [ abstract]
BAR HARBOR — “There’s no easy answer” to the question of when, and how extensively, Bar Harbor should renovate or replace its aging elementary and middle school facility, the school’s principal said Monday.
It’s a difficult question for two reasons. One is the sticker shock: The town will need to spend between $13 million and $46 million in the next few years on the buildings, depending on how extensive the renovation is.
The other is the looming question of school consolidation. Mount Desert Island towns will have a straw poll question on the warrant for Town Meetings this spring whether they support continued planning efforts for a combined, district-wide middle school.
If voters agree to the significant tax increases associated with a bond issue for the Bar Harbor school building project, they may be less willing to fund construction of a combined middle school building a few years later.
A School Improvement Committee which has been working with architect Carla Haskell to review options for the Conners Emerson School buildings presented its work to the school board Monday afternoon.
“We’re picking a direction here,” committee member Brian Booher told the school board. “It isn’t a signed, sealed, delivered plan.”
-- Liz Graves District developing plans to repair facilities-- Blue Mountain Eagle Oregon: January 28, 2020 [ abstract] Grant School District is developing a long-range plan to address millions of dollars of needed repairs.
On Jan. 22, the the district received an estimate for the cost of major repairs at Humbolt Elementary, Grant Union Junior-Senior High School, Seneca Elementary and the District Office: $21.2 million for repairs, while the price to build three new schools and a district office would be $71.4 million.
According to Richard Higgins, an education architect with BLRB Architects, a firm certified by the Oregon Department of Education to conduct the district’s long-range assessment, the cost to repair Humbolt Elementary would be $5.4 million compared to a replacement cost of $20.7 million.
Seneca’s repairs would cost about $840,000 or about $4.3 million replace. Grant Union High School’s repairs would cost approximately $14.1 million, and the cost to build a new school would be roughly $45.3 million.
Higgins based his findings on a facility assessment conducted on the four buildings through a $20,000 long-range planning grant. ODE awarded the district the grant last year to assess the physical condition and determine the level of deficiencies and provide an estimate for repair or replacement costs of the district’s schools and administrative office. The study found several critical problems that need to be addressed, Higgins said.
-- Steven Mitchell How Philly teachers want the school district to fix the asbestos problem-- BillyPenn Pennsylvania: January 23, 2020 [ abstract] The union repping Philly teachers has specific suggestions for how to remedy the rampant toxicity in the city’s public schools.
In a 45-page lawsuit filed Monday in the Court of Common Pleas, the union alleges that the School District of Philadelphia and Superintendent William Hite have repeatedly mishandled problems with asbestos, lead and mold inside school buildings.
The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers’ formal complaint comes after a slew of exposed asbestos discoveries led to the closing of six facilities since the beginning of this school year.
It’s not the only entity to go to court over the issue. The district is also being sued by the family of a student who ingested lead paint chips fallen from the ceiling of his classroom. A former teacher diagnosed with mesothelioma said in November she’s planning to sue as well.
In the union’s case, members are not looking for a financial payout. Instead, they want to help build new systems to detect and deal with asbestos and other toxins, so instances like this don’t happen again.
How might that work? Here are eight things the PFT’s lawsuit demands from the school district.
-- Michaela Winberg Discussion continues on facilities plan for Shenandoah schools-- The Northern Virginia Daily Virginia: January 22, 2020 [ abstract]
WOODSTOCK - The Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors and the Shenandoah County Board of Education held a joint meeting Tuesday night to continue the ongoing discussion of the school division's long-term facilities plan.
A long-term facilities master plan final report was authored by Dejong - Richter, an educational planning firm, in June 2016. The report has been discussed since then but no action has been taken.
“We have been crowded in our elementary schools for some time. That is not changing,” said Shenandoah County Public Schools Superintendent Mark Johnston.
To address the immediate needs of elementary school overcrowding, the division in 2018 shifted Ashby Lee Elementary School’s fifth-grade class to North Fork Middle School, and North Fork’s eighth-grade class was moved Stonewall Jackson High School in Quicksburg.
Shenandoah County Supervisor Bradley Pollack questioned the need for new schools.
He pointed out that there has been a decrease in student enrollment over the past 10 years, according to data from the Virginia Department of Education. He said over the last 10 years the student population has dropped from 6,326 to 6,002, or 5.4%.
-- Melissa Topey School tech advocates to mayor: Follow through on fixing technology in DC Public Schools-- The DC Line District of Columbia: January 21, 2020 [ abstract] For the past year, a citywide coalition organized by Digital Equity in DC Education has continued to push city leaders to address the inadequate, unreliable technology in DC schools. While the city has started to address the technology challenges in schools highlighted in the coalition’s letter from last year, more planning and investment is needed to ensure a functional, modern school system that prepares our children for the jobs of the future, rather than hindering them.
This problem is fundamentally an issue of fairness. Unless DC Public Schools (DCPS) develops and funds a comprehensive technology plan that will provide equitable access to technology in all of its schools, we will fail to close the digital divide. In particular, students without access to computers at home (predominantly children of color living in communities with high concentrations of poverty) need every possible chance to acquire computer skills at school. Access to technology at home and in school has become a key factor in the opportunity gap.
Last week, 18 organizations representing a diverse coalition of parents, teachers and education advocates sent a version of the letter below urging Mayor Muriel Bowser to follow through on her commitment to provide equitable technology access and a 21st-century education for all students.
-- Opinion As half-cent tax funds critical school projects, St. Johns County School District leaders look ahead to renewing it-- The st. Augustine Record Florida: January 15, 2020 [ abstract] It’s been four years since St. Johns County taxpayers voted in favor of a half-cent sales tax, and school leaders agree it’s paying off.
In fact, it’s bringing in more revenue than they anticipated. The plan was to raise around $150 million over 10 years to fund capital projects, including new schools.
“We’re going to raise a lot more money than that, that’s the good news,” said Jack Hardman, chairman for the Half-cent Sales Tax Citizen Advisory Committee. “The bad news is, schools cost a lot more than we thought they would and growth has passed some of our expectations.”
For the 2019-2020 fiscal year, the tax is expected to bring in nearly $22 million, much more than the projected $13 million per year.
But as the population explodes even faster than expected, the district is already looking ahead to when the sales tax expires on Dec. 31, 2025.
“Residential growth, if all stays the same, will far outrun the term of the sales tax,” Superintendent Tim Forson said. “So that discussion... needs to occur about planning for the next step.”
Palm Valley Academy — which opened in 2018 and was funded in part by sales tax — is already seeing alarming growth. Enrollment grew by 26% in one year alone, causing the district to move forward with building an additional K-8 academy sooner than anticipated.
K-8 “MM” will be located in the southern part of Nocatee off of Pine Island Road. The project is expected to cost more than $49 million, and the half-cent tax will cover $13 million of that in 2020. The district is hoping it will be ready for the 2021-2022 school year.
-- Christen Kelley Dept. of Education to Continue Facilities Master Planning Sessions to Guide New Schools Construction-- The Virgin Islands Consortium U.S. Virgin Islands: January 15, 2020 [ abstract] The New Schools Construction Advisory Board, comprised of Virgin Islands Department of Education professionals and other V.I. residents, will continue work on a Facilities Master Plan for a period of six months beginning January 15 at Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School that will guide the construction of new public schools expected to be built in the territory over the next 5-10 years. A similar meeting will take place January 21 on St. Croix, D.O.E. has announced.
The federally mandated Facilities Master Plan will establish the use of building standards and scope of work for all Department of Education facilities that will be constructed. planning sessions are expected to continue through June, with periodic community workshops as milestones are reached.
D.O.E. said the planning sessions follow a series of public meetings the Board held last October to update residents on the work it had been doing since January 2019 and to gain the community’s input on the building of schools—an opportunity made available through funding from Congress following the 2017 storms.
-- Staff Writer Austin ISD Facilities Master Plan update focuses on portable reduction, changes to facilities-- Community Impact Newspaper Texas: January 14, 2020 [ abstract] Austin ISD trustees will vote to approve an update to the facilities master plan, or FMP, at the Jan. 27 meeting. The plan details options AISD could look at to modernize and better use schools as well as facilities and offerings for athletics, fine arts, and career and technical education across the district.
Portable reduction plan
During a presentation at a board workshop Jan. 13, AISD Director of planning Melissa Laursen said the FMP includes a portable classroom reduction plan
The plan aims to minimize the district’s dependence on portables as a long-term overenrollment solutions. She said portables should be a “last resort” and a “short-term solution” in the future.
As of October, the district has 622 portable classrooms. According to Laursen, the newest portable in the district was purchased in 1997, and with a lifespan of about 20 years, all are beyond their expected usage. As of 2016, the district has not rated any of its portables as in “good” or “excellent” condition.
By the 2022 school year, the FMP’s goal would reduce the number of portables in the district by 25%, and remove all portables considered “failing,” Laursen said. Of that 25%, about 100 would be reduced through 18 campus modernization projects approved in the district’s 2017 bond. The remainder would include removing portables that are considered “failing,” have been vacated or are no longer needed for enrollment relief, she said.
-- Nicholas Cicale Senate bills to improve Virginia school facilities, teacher planning time head to finance committee-- The Roanoke Times Virginia: January 09, 2020 [ abstract]
RICHMOND — A Senate committee signed off Thursday on efforts to improve school facilities across the state and give teachers more planning time.
The Senate Education and Health Committee, the first Senate panel to meet during the 2020 General Assembly session, approved the bills by two Republican senators, sending them to the newly-named Finance and Appropriations Committee.
Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, has brought back his legislation that seeks to improve school infrastructure after leading a special committee on the issue in 2018.
One bill, Senate Bill 4, would create a special fund — formally called the Public School Assistance Fund and Program — to give grants to school districts to repair or replace school roofs.
“It was not a situation that was regional, it was statewide,” Stanley said. “We found this to be pervasive in almost every school.”
The bill was unanimously approved by the 15-member committee and referred to the chamber’s money committee. So was Senate Bill 5, which would require the Virginia Board of Education to create minimum standards for public school buildings.
If approved, the bill would require school boards to evaluate each building annually and submit a plan to comply with the standards.
-- Justin Mattingly Williamson County Schools plans new boundaries, relief for overcapacity schools in 2020-- Community Impact Newspaper Tennessee: December 24, 2019 [ abstract]
In order to address the county’s growing student population, Williamson County Schools is planning to open a new elementary school in January and a new middle school in August.
To accommodate the addition of new schools, the Williamson County School Board approved a rezoning plan Nov. 18 to take effect in August, which includes moving students from schools that have reached or exceeded their capacity and changing the district’s feeder patterns.
“We want to see what we can do in the context of putting our students first and serving them and still being able to serve them in a way that we can confidently do given the volume of students we have in each location,” WCS Superintendent Jason Golden said.
Addressing capacity
The new zoning plan includes changes to elementary and middle school zones that will balance out the overcrowding occurring at Spring Station Middle School and Thompson’s Station and Trinity elementary schools.
“This is largely to create a new zone for our middle school that is being built on Henpeck Lane but also to give relief to Spring Station Middle School with some impacts on elementary schools as well,” Golden said.
According to WCS, Spring Station Middle School is already at 106% of its stated building capacity, while Heritage and Thompson’s Station middle schools are at 86% and 80%, respectively.
The opening of the new Central East Middle School, which is slated for August 2020, will move 239 students from Heritage Middle School and 185 students from Thompson’s Station Middle School, while Spring Station Middle School will send 172 students to Heritage and 58 to Thompson’s Station.
-- Wendy Sturges Costs rise another 33 percent for next year’s St. Paul school construction projects-- Twin Cities Pioneer Press Minnesota: December 10, 2019 [ abstract]
Cost estimates have jumped another 33 percent since last fall for the next batch of St. Paul Public Schools construction projects, the school board learned Tuesday.
The school district in spring hired a consulting firm to dig into badly flawed facilities planning following a Pioneer Press report. The newspaper found cost estimates for 18 key projects had ballooned to $471 million from $292 million between 2016 and 2018.
Responding to recommendations from an external review team in October, the district has been putting new processes in place for tracking costs while updating estimates for projects already underway.
Five large and several smaller projects set to break ground next year were expected to cost $111 million as of October 2018.
The new cumulative price tag: $147 million.
Officials said they’re now building sizable contingencies into their estimates after being overly optimistic in previous years.
“My hope is that tonight is the high-water mark,” Facilities Director Tom Parent said.
A key recommendation from the review team was more frequent and detailed communication with the school board. In the last three years, Parent largely has had the freedom to revise the scope and timelines of major construction projects without board oversight.
Going forward, Parent will check in with the board at five points during the life of each project, including a final accounting of actual spending compared with budgets.
-- JOSH VERGES More of the Story: Harrah elementary and middle school plans move forward after more than 30 years-- Yakima Herald Washington: December 10, 2019 [ abstract] Mt. Adams School District is in the design stage of a new elementary and middle school that is expected to be ready for full use in fall of 2021.
In September, the purchase of 70 acres of farmland on the east side of Harrah from Inaba Produce Farms was finalized, said Superintendent Curt Guaglianone.
Guaglianone said the district was now in the “serious design stage,” and then the plan was to go to bid with contractors in February. He did not yet know how many construction firms were planning to bid. He said they hoped to break ground soon after, and expected to have the buildings ready for use in the 2021-22 school year.
The new building will replace an elementary school that’s more than 80 years old and place grades K-8 in one building with various wings in an effort to minimize student transitions and prepare them for high school, Guaglianone said.
-- Janelle Retka Arlington parents fear overcrowding plan that would swap students between schools-- WJLA7 Virginia: December 05, 2019 [ abstract] ARLINGTON, Va. (WJLA) — Arlington parents are worried about plans that could swap students between up to five elementary schools to deal with overcrowding.
Key Immersion, Arlington Traditional, Campbell Expeditionary Learning, Carlin Springs, and McKinley could all be affected.
School leaders project the cost of moving a program such as Key Immersion to Arlington Traditional would be between $51,000 and $59,000 for moving expenses and around $1 million to refresh the building.
Here is a link with details of the two proposals: https://www.apsva.us/engage/planning-for-2020-elementary-school-boundary-process/
Jen Myers’ sons go to Mckinley Elementary and she wants to keep it that way.
“I don’t want to move my kids from one overcrowded school to another overcrowded school,” she said. She's concerned about the cost of the move and about the fear it would increase segregation.
“These are really tough conversations and we want to make sure that if they are looking at school moves that this is the most fiscally responsible way to balance enrollment.”
Myers and other parents who are part of the “Save McKinley” campaign are concerned the school district is rushing into the plan.
“I live right [across from McKinley] and my kids would get no preference to go to this beautiful school—one of the top performing schools in Virginia,” said Laura Jackson. “The whole entire neighborhood and network of families were involved in building this and designing it and then to not let us continue go to school here is so frustrating.”
-- Tim Barber More students means more schools being built-- Cape-Coral Daily Breeze Florida: November 26, 2019 [ abstract] With the continued growth with the Lee County School District, a capital plan is under way to accommodate the additional students.
"We have a capital plan that plans for the expansion of our school capacity in locations we are needed," Facility planning and Development Executive Director Kathie Ebaugh said. "We just broke ground in the East Zone for a brand new high school, and we will be breaking ground in the East Zone for a middle school in the spring."
Long Range Planner Dominic Gemelli said the new high school will accommodate about 2,000 students and the middle school 1,200 students.
"You will slowly be able to start leveling out the utilization of these schools. It will take time to migrate to the new schools," he said, adding it will bring down the number of students at the higher enrolled schools, eliminating the use of portables.
In addition, the school district is in the design phase for an elementary and middle school to open in the South Zone in August 2023. The five-year plan also includes another elementary school in the East Zone.
The school district is currently using portables, or relocatables to accommodate the student population. Ebaugh said they have to use these classrooms, which can be moved from campus to campus, to address the growth needs on a specific campus, before a new campus can be built.
-- MEGHAN BRADBURY FEMA OKs $52M to rebuild Herbert Hoover High; more money could be on the way-- Charleston Gazette-Mail West Virginia: November 22, 2019 [ abstract] The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved spending roughly $52 million to rebuild Kanawha County’s Herbert Hoover High School, whose students have been in trailer classrooms for more than two years.
FEMA employees told the state’s representatives in Congress and the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management on Friday about the grant.
Chuck Smith, the Kanawha school system’s facilities planning executive director, said bids have already been requested from companies to do site preparation, like removing trees and moving dirt, at the new location. The new school will sit off of Frame Road, between the Elkview exit of Interstate 79 and U.S. 119.
In September, Kanawha schools Superintendent Ron Duerring said he hoped construction would begin in November or December. Smith said the site preparation bids are due Dec. 4, but he doesn’t expect the work to begin until early January.
The FEMA funding represents three-quarters of the estimated $70 million total cost of construction. If that funding level holds, the state will have to provide the remaining $18 million.
-- Ryan Quinn Upset with El Rancho High rebuild, raucous chanting interrupts school board meeting-- Whittier Daily News California: November 13, 2019 [ abstract] El Rancho Unified school board President Jose Lara called for a recess during a recent school board meeting after an already-rambunctious audience burst into chants, calling for the recall and resignation of the board majority.
Moments earlier, those board members — Gabriel Orosco and Leanne Ibarra, led by Lara — voted 3-2 to put Orosco and Ibarra on a steering committee meant to guide the second planning and construction phase of the El Rancho High School rebuild.
The first phase, which was not without its share of controversy, is largely focused on rebuilding the stadium. The bonds used to bankroll this project have prompted scrutiny from the state, which is currently investigating the district for possible mismanagement of taxpayer funds.
The second phase will oversee the construction a new aquatics building and the modernization of the gym and science buildings.
-- BRADLEY BERMONT WV's governor considers $100M cuts. But school systems and colleges say they need more money to fix buildings.-- Charleston Gazette-Mail West Virginia: November 09, 2019 [ abstract] Gov. Jim Justice’s administration has asked state agencies to prepare for a possible $100 million mid-fiscal-year budget cut and get ready for budget cuts for next fiscal year.
Meanwhile, West Virginia public colleges need more money to repair and maintain buildings and grounds, the state’s higher education oversight agencies say.
And the state School Building Authority, which helps fund prekindergarten-12th-grade school construction and repair, is saying new schools are increasingly expensive.
Brian Abraham, Justice’s general counsel and chairman of the SBA board, stressed the mid-fiscal-year cut isn’t guaranteed to happen.
“Those scenarios are still being played out, so all there is now is planning — and prudent planning,” Abraham said. “You don’t just go on gleefully unaware and run into a brick wall.”
State revenue has come in $33 million lower than expected a third of the way into this fiscal year, which began July 1.
Fossil fuel severance tax revenue is continuing to fall after Justice and the state Legislature agreed to cut severance taxes, and as the coal industry declines and temporary revenue-boosting natural gas pipeline projects are completed.
Education, particularly higher education, has been targeted in past budget cuts.
-- Ryan Quinn White Bear Lake voters approve state's largest successful school bond measure-- Star Tribune Minnesota: November 06, 2019 [ abstract] Voters in the White Bear Lake school district Tuesday approved a $326 million bond to fund construction projects across the district — the largest successful school bond referendum in Minnesota history.
The district expects enrollment to surge by about 2,000 students over the next decade, and school leaders are planning renovations and upgrades in every school building.
The bond also will fund the construction of a new elementary school in Hugo and allow the district to combine its split-campus high school into a single, expanded facility.
White Bear Lake was one of more than 30 school districts that asked voters to approve bond issues and take on debt for major construction projects, while more than 40 districts sought voter approval to renew or increase their local operating levies.
In another closely watched race, Worthington, Minn., voters approved three measures that will fund the construction of a new intermediate school and an addition to the high school, addressing longstanding problems with overcrowding in the southwest Minnesota district’s buildings.
Approved were bonds totaling nearly $34 million for the construction of the intermediate school and a separate plan that would allow the district to refinance $14 million to fund an addition to the high school.
The vote was the latest in a long series of school funding elections for the community, which has become larger and more racially diverse in recent decades because of population growth from immigrant groups — including a large number of unaccompanied minors from other countries.
Since 2013, Worthington voters rejected five proposed bond issues. The most recent referendum was in February, when a bond issue failed by 17 votes.
-- Erin Golden DC Prep Wants to Build a Charter School in Southeast. But the Neighborhood Says No.-- Washington City Paper District of Columbia: October 31, 2019 [ abstract] DC Prep CEO Laura Maestas and her colleagues had a lot of explaining to do. More than a dozen Ward 8 residents showed up to the DC Public Charter School Board’s Monday meeting irate. They carried signs that read “#NoDCPreponFrankford!”
DC Prep is trying to open a middle school for 4th to 8th graders in Ward 8, likely at 1619 Frankford St. SE, and has enraged nearby residents in the process. The conflict pitted educators against homeowners, charter school heads against its board, and Ward 8 residents against Ward 8 residents. It’s the latest example of how the District’s lack of comprehensive planning for where to build new schools can create disarray.
“As a neighbor living 25 feet away from this proposed building, there was zero outreach from this school,” Stephanie Bell told the PCSB. “The only reason that I know about it is because surveyors trespassed on my property while doing a survey for DC Prep.”
“The behavior we see today from DC Prep indicates to me that this relationship is beyond repair and they will never be a partner to this neighborhood,” said another Ward 8 resident who lives near the proposed site, Sarah Woodruff.
Maestas and her colleagues admitted to not engaging with the community. DC Prep found the Frankford Street location, an old church, in mid-July and reached out to the seller shortly thereafter to place a deposit. DC Prep founder and board member Emily Lawson said they were quick to put in an offer before speaking with nearby residents because there were potentially multiple buyers interested in the property.
“Unfortunately, we did not have the chance to be the first people there to say, ‘Here is what we’re thinking about, here is what we are doing,’ because we had just started to think about it,” said Lawson.
-- AMANDA MICHELLE GOMEZ PfISD eyes busy winter of new school construction, facility renovations-- Community Impact Newspaper Texas: October 17, 2019 [ abstract] Construction on the first two school projects in Pflugerville ISD’s 2018 bond package now has a defined date.
According to a presentation shown to the PfISD Board of Trustees on Oct. 17, district officials have planned a construction start date of Dec. 2 for the joint elementary school and middle school campus. The combined campus site is located near the corner of Pleasanton Parkway and Weiss Lane in eastern Pflugerville.
David Vesling, executive director of Facilities & Support Services for PfISD, presented the district’s estimated bid schedule for the new school construction projects to trustees. According to that timeline, bid proposals from firms are set to be due on Oct. 29. The winning bid will be approved by the Board of Trustees on Nov. 21, just under two weeks before construction on the district’s 22nd elementary school and seventh middle school is slated to begin.
Those projects are budgeted for $40 million and $61.1 million, respectively, funded by the district’s 2018 bond funds. Two architecture firms were hired by the school district to oversee design and planning for the separate school buildings.
“This is fairly complex because there are two projects going on at one site,” Vesling said.
Both schools are expected to be move-in ready by July 2021, according to the district’s project timelines.
Shortly after construction begins on the combined campus project, PfISD will begin work renovating the district’s historic Rock Gym, located at 700 W. Pecan St., Pflugerville.
Renovations on the building, which received a historical marker from the Texas Historical Commission in 2012, are designed to improve acoustics.
However, Vesling’s presentation stated the renovation project will be expanded to renovate the Rock Gym’s main entrance and add window shading and removable floor covering. Those renovation items will be presented to the PfISD Board of Trustees for approval at a future meeting.
Board President Vernagene Mott directed district staff to survey what neighboring districts are charging to rent similar facility spaces so PfISD can mold its own fees at a market-rate.
-- Iain Oldman Vineyard residents upset after Alpine School District runs short on school construction funding-- Fox13 Utah: October 07, 2019 [ abstract] VINEYARD, Utah — Alpine School District may not be able to not keep promises made to taxpayers during the 2016 bond election.
It comes after $387 million in property taxes were allocated to build or renovate a dozen schools.
Emily Bean settled in Vineyard with her husband and three kids under three last year.
“We were sure this was going to be an elementary school soon. With our planning, we thought we should be golden. It will be built by the time our kids are ready to go to kindergarten,” Bean said.
The elementary school site near Bean’s home was said to be one reason why the district needed $387 million. Three years later, the bond is an estimated **$58 million short.
“It’s crazy. It’s pretty ridiculous they ran out of money,” said Kim MacMurdo, mother in Vineyard.
District spokeswoman Kimberly Bird admits the district may not build the Vineyard school or another proposed in Eagle Mountain next year. Two other communities face elementary overcrowding in Saratoga Springs and Lehi.
“We recognize that Vineyard is a high-growth area. We recognize that they, too, are bursting at the seams and we need to do something about them and about their particular school situation. I believe it will happen. It’s a matter of priority and when,” Bird said.
FOX13 dug into expense reports and learned the district was over budget in every construction phase: $10.4 million in phase 1, $35.4 million in phase 2 and $34.7 million in phase three.
-- HAILEY HIGGINS SCA chief on overcrowding: We're doing the best we can-- The Riverdale Press New York: October 06, 2019 [ abstract] They’ve heard what he had to say, and they’re already at work making schools better.
The city’s School Construction Authority was the target of a new study commissioned by Bronx borough president Ruben Diaz Jr., which outlined 10 specific steps he believes will correct overcrowding at more than 650 city schools.
The problem, according to the construction authority? Diaz never came to them for input, and authority chief Lorraine Grillo has some serious issues with what the borough president concluded.
Of the more than 1,750 schools in the city, more than 38 percent of them are over capacity, according to Diaz. That’s because, more often than not, elementary and middle schools are zoned to include too many students — which the school must accommodate — leaving a rather big crowd for students to stand out in.
Diaz offered 10 recommendations including leasing more classroom space and using better models to predict future student populations at schools.
Yet, the authority already is working on those suggestions — even before they were made, according to an agency spokesman. The city has more than 200 “transportable units” — temporary trailers serving as classrooms — with plans to remove 35 percent of them. The agency always looks ahead five years, and maintains leases for more than 300 locations for classroom space.
“We do demographic studies every year,” Grillo said. “Projections are based on birthrates. We get information from city planning on rezoning. Other elements combined to put into our projections, which go out five years and 10 years.”
Yet those projections were a sticking point for not only Diaz, but also for P.S. 7 Milton Fein School principal Miosotis Ramos. Diaz called the authority’s current process for projecting the number of seats schools would need in the future as “antiquated,” and often incorrect, partially because communication between the construction authority and other city agencies involved in neighborhood development is poor.
“We have a system here that’s been in existence since the SCA took over the capital planning process,” Grillo said. “We have a system in place, we work with the DEP, department of buildings, housing. We have a very good relationship with everybody.”
Still, though, Ramos believes inaccurate projections can affect funding the school receives, even if the difference in the number of students seems small.
-- KIRSTYN BRENDLEN Busy roads, nearby train tracks cited as reasons for denying plan for OPS school in Bellevue-- Omaha World-Herald Nebraska: October 03, 2019 [ abstract] Safety concerns about the proposed location of a new OPS elementary school have prompted the Bellevue planning Commission to balk at approving the project.
Last week, Omaha Public Schools officials appeared before the Bellevue commission for a third time in an attempt to persuade members to recommend approval of the school, planned for a spot near Fort Crook and Childs Roads.
planning Commission members said it would be dangerous for students to cross nearby train tracks and Fort Crook Road, which has six driving lanes and turn lanes at its intersection with Childs Road.
-- Emily Nitcher Cabell County Schools collecting public input for next decade's facilities plan-- The Herald Dispatch West Virginia: September 27, 2019 [ abstract] HUNTINGTON — With input from the public and its own educators, Cabell County Schools took its first, albeit small, step to planning for what the schools of 2030 will look like with its Educational Futures Conference on Thursday night in Huntington.
The conference of around 200 parents, teachers, administrators and students was organized to gather public opinion on what direction the district should take in classroom instruction and facilities planning over the next decade and beyond. Those wants will be considered as the district plans its Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan (CEFP) for 2020-30.
The CEFP is a nonbinding assessment of all the facilities in the district’s possession and is meant to serve as a road map for district officials in terms of managing its buildings. The plan is updated every 10 years and was last set in 2010.
“This conference is really to begin taking a philosophical look at how education should be delivered over the next 20 to 30 years, and what are the requirements of our facilities in order to meet those structural demands,” said Ryan Saxe, Cabell County superintendent of schools.
While those plans do include the future of physical school facilities, as the name implies, the CEFP discussion equally includes outlooks on how education will be delivered over the next few decades.
-- BISHOP NASH Facilities task force begins assessing schools-- houmatoday.com Louisiana: September 26, 2019 [ abstract] Terrebonne Parish School District’s new task force has begun assessing buildings and discussing needs as the group works toward developing a facilities master plan.
The Long-Term Building/Facility Strategic Task Force began meeting earlier this month and held its second meeting on Wednesday.
In its first couple weeks, the task force visited its first three school buildings: Gibson Elementary School, Bayou Black Elementary School and the currently vacant Greenwood School.
In her first meeting as the group’s moderator on Wednesday, Laynie Barrilleaux, a strategic planning consultant, walked the group through selecting key areas for the members to consider as they continue to visit the district’s facilities.
In the past, Barrilleaux served as the vice president for academic affairs at Nicholls State University and as a professor in management.
She said once the task force finishes assessing the school buildings, members will move on to phase two of deciding what projects to embark on within the facilities and to include in the plan.
“It’s nothing we can do overnight. It takes 50 years sometimes to get things done, but you’ve got to start somewhere and that’s what this is,” said Barrilleaux.
Using what they noticed at their first three schools, the task force proposed several categories for a rubric that they will take notes on during future visits.
Here are some of the factors they’ve planned to assess so far: ownership of the land and building, distance from the school district office, grade levels, flooding potential, age of air conditioning and plumbing, opportunity for expansion or renovation, school capacity, level of technology and electrical support, accessibility, security, potential for consolidation, playgrounds, kitchens, bathrooms, bus drop-off and parking.
-- Halle Parker Trump administration emergency response guide calls for proactive hazard prep-- Education Drive National: September 26, 2019 [ abstract] Dive Brief:
A new emergency planning guide jointly released by the U.S. Departments of Education, Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services — all of which were involved in the Federal Commission on School Safety — aims to help school districts create customized emergency response plans to "prevent, mitigate against, respond to, and recover from emergency situations," Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin K. McAleenan said in a press release.
Titled "The Role of Districts in Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans," the planning guide instructs districts to coordinate with schools and community partners to make emergency operations plans (EOPs) and to lay out planning parameters for each school in the district, noting that it is districts’ responsibility to support school officials in the planning process.
The guide instructs districts to make sure the plans include all types of hazards, from natural disasters to gun violence, and includes a checklist of actionable items that include developing a fact sheet on possible threats as well as training staff on the emergency plan.
-- Shawna De La Rosa Audit: Poor Oversight Of State Law Lost DOE Millions-- Honolulu Civil Beat Hawaii: September 25, 2019 [ abstract] The Hawaii Department of Education’s “laissez-faire approach” to implementing a state law meant to offset the cost of building new schools in growing neighborhoods has lost the DOE an estimated $11 million in potential revenue, according to a state audit report released Tuesday.
The DOE’s administration of the 12-year-old “school impact fee” law, has been beset by poor oversight, a “lack of well-defined policies and procedures,” an inconsistent calculation of fees that at times were “based on questionable assumptions” and inexplicable delays, according to the report.
“It is difficult to pinpoint whether these problems are the result of a lack of resources, lack of planning, or inherent flaws in the law that need to be identified and addressed. Most likely, it is a combination of these,” the 64-page report concludes.
The school impact fee law, passed by the Legislature in 2007, allows the DOE to collect fees from builders of new residential projects in designated districts to fund the construction of additional school facilities to accommodate population growth.
The school impact fee audit, which took place from February 2019 to June 2019, is the first performance analysis of a DOE program by the state auditor since its 2012 report on the DOE’s school bus transportation program.
-- Suevon Lee Emergency preparation: Are schools prepared for the unthinkable?-- Study International News National: September 24, 2019 [ abstract] Natural disasters, disease outbreaks and violence on school campuses can and do happen at any given time. But are schools equipped to deal with such situations with an emergency preparedness plan in place?
Last year, Reuters reported that many public schools in the US are not equipped for disasters. Quoting a study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), they found that less than two thirds of school districts have plans in place to handle an influenza pandemic or another type of infectious disease outbreak.
Weighing in, Dr. Laura Faherty, a researcher at the RAND Corporation in Boston and a pediatrics professor at Boston University School of Medicine who wasn’t involved in the study, told Reuters: “The response to an acute emergency that happens on a single day is very different from the ongoing response to an infectious disease like influenza that may affect a school district over many weeks to months.”
CDC researchers also found that when compared with larger districts, smaller and mostly rural districts were also less likely to fund emergency preparedness training for school faculty and staff or students’ families.
The authors noted that limitations of the study included that they relied on school district officials to accurately report on their emergency preparedness policies and practices, while it also didn’t examine whether schools complied with any required disaster planning efforts.
Dr. David Schonfeld, Director of the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement and professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, opined that schools may simply state that “students will be provided counseling by school mental health staff” but are not, in fact, prepared to meet that need.
“It is therefore quite noteworthy that more than one out of five school districts don’t even reach this bar,” he told Reuters.
-- Staff Writer District report finds campuses need almost $700 million in upgrades-- Los Angeles Times California: September 20, 2019 [ abstract] Glendale Unified schools need nearly $700 million worth of repairs, upgrades and improvements, according to a report issued last week by district staff.
The school board held a special meeting to discuss the remaining balance of Measure S, which was approved by voters in 2011 and generated in total $270 million in general obligation bonds for facility improvements.
“This is a preliminary look at our school needs, so we are really looking at it from … a helicopter view or bird’s-eye view,” said Hagop Kassabian, the district’s director of planning and development.
While Glendale Unified still has about $44 million left in unallocated Measure S dollars and is projecting $26 million in future funding from sources such as developer fees and state monies, talk of a possible new bond measure and parcel tax arose.
“Looking at these numbers, it seems like we need a $1-billion bond or something to make this happen,” board vice president Armina Gharpetian said.
“We have a lot of needs and wants and must-haves, but we need to narrow it down to whatever is left now,” she added.
Kassabian presented a report that includes a price tag of roughly $683 million in upgrades for all 32 of the district’s campuses.
-- ANDREW J. CAMPA 3 ways schools can prepare for natural disasters-- Education Drive National: September 19, 2019 [ abstract] From Hurricane Dorian on the East Coast to tornados in the Midwest to wildfires and earthquakes in California, the threat of a natural disaster is always present in some parts of the country. And with winter just around the corner, preparing for inclement weather is as much a part of managing a school as planning instruction.
Here are some tips experts recommend to prepare for weather-related issues and how to mitigate their impact on students, teachers and staff.
1. Review and plan ahead
Schools should have emergency operations plans with assessment teams routinely conducting safety audits, singling out high-priority hazards based on weather. Plans should include mitigation, prevention, preparedness and response.
Having plans that outlines actions to be taken in the event of a natural disaster and conducting regular drills based on possible hazards allows districts to have a fall-back plan. This sample plan provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency gives schools a place to start.
An information dissemination system — or the way in which news of disaster and preparation is spread throughout the district — should be Included in plan, administrators say.
“Preparation is in the communication,” said Dave Wick, principal of Columbia Falls Junior High School in Montana.
-- Naaz Modan Massachusetts Welcomes Innovative New High School-- School Construction News Massachusetts: September 12, 2019 [ abstract] BILLERICA, Mass.—The new Billerica Memorial High School is now open, a sign of the town’s reaffirmed commitment to educating its students in an innovative, healthy and flexible environment. The project is the result of a partnership between the Massachusetts School Building Authority, the town of Billerica, design firm Perkins and Will, construction manager Shawmut Design and Construction, and project manager Leftfield.
“As a community, this is a space that we all should be proud of,” says Billerica Schools Superintendent, Timothy Piwowar. “We’ve equipped our students with a facility that will allow them to best prepare for their future, helping Billerica to become a top-tier destination for education in the Merrimack Valley.”
“The new Billerica Memorial High School will stand as an extraordinary vessel of learning for many future generations,” says Billerica Town Manager John Curran. “Anyone who walks through this building will know that the people and the educators in this town place a high value on a first-rate education for their children.”
The design of the new school supports Billerica’s diverse and forward-looking educational program through a flexible planning and design approach. Highly specialized areas—like the auditorium and STEAM spaces—are complemented by agile classrooms and informal learning areas that can be easily modified to meet different user needs.
“We wanted to equip Billerica’s students, teachers, and administrators with a space that will support evolving educational models well into the future,” says Brooke Trivas, principal at Perkins and Will. “Flexible classrooms and interdisciplinary spaces allow students to develop skills like communication and collaboration, while providing teachers and administrators the freedom to grow and expand their teaching styles.”
-- Staff Writer Riverhead school facilities need $100 million expansion and upgrade, officials say-- Riverhead Local New York: September 11, 2019 [ abstract] Riverhead school facilities need a $100 million expansion and upgrade to keep pace with population growth in the district, according a capital facilities proposal presented by school officials at the board of education meeting last night.
The district unveiled a $99.9 million construction bond proposal to expand and improve the district’s current assets. Officials said they have backed away from the idea of purchasing and renovating the former Bishop McGann-Mercy High School campus, largely because that would come with a price tag of $125.6 million.
“There were multiple factors that played into our decision, but in the end, it really came down to the [additional] $25 million more to go to the public,” school board president Greg Meyer said in an interview.
The proposal, presented last night at an unusually well-attended school board meeting in the high school cafeteria, is the result of several studies and projections — including a Western Suffolk BOCES long-range planning study— that examined current and projected increased student enrollment, particularly at the secondary level, and its impacts on the district’s space requirements.
-- Maria Piedrabuena Potential partial redistricting, budget unknowns discussed in meeting of Carroll school board, commissioners-- Carroll County Times Maryland: September 09, 2019 [ abstract] School facilities and future budget unknowns stemming from anticipated legislation and predicted economic recession were discussed at the joint meeting of the Board of County Commissioners and Board of Education on Thursday.
One school in the southeast area of the county, predicted to cross 120% capacity in the next few years, is leading officials to consider redistricting in that area.
Commissioner Ed Rothstein, R-District 5, asked for more information from the school system about Freedom Elementary School being over capacity. He said he became aware of the issue after discussion about a proposed residential development in Eldersburg called Mineral Hill.
The project was discussed at a Carroll County planning and Zoning Commission public hearing Aug. 20, which can be viewed on video through the county’s online meeting portal. The proposed development ran into roadblocks because of a county policy called the Concurrency Management and Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance. It states that, “Any subdivision located in a school attendance boundary that is determined to be inadequate will be placed in a development queue.” The proposed development would have been served by Freedom Elementary.
-- CATALINA RIGHTER SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION AMONG MILITARY PROJECTS CUT TO PAY FOR BORDER WALL-- WCBI DoDEA: September 04, 2019 [ abstract] Washington — To build parts of President Trump’s long-promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, the administration is planning on diverting billions of dollars in military funds originally allocated to build, maintain and renovate shooting ranges, roads, missile launch pads, hangars and even schools for children at military bases and facilities in the U.S. and abroad.
After authorizing the transfer of $3.6 billion in military construction funds to erect approximately 175 miles of border barriers, the Pentagon on Wednesday revealed more information about the projects that will be affected by the move. The planned multi-billion-dollar transfer — which has been strongly denounced by Democrats — is expected to defund more than 120 construction projects that the military was hoping to conduct over the next years.
Funds for the construction of schools at military bases and facilities will be transferred to finance the construction of border barriers, including a $62,634,000 grant for a middle school at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and a $56,048,000 grant for an elementary school for children of U.S. troops stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany.
-- CBS News School enrollment numbers play part in facilities plans-- News-Press Now Missouri: September 03, 2019 [ abstract] Almost 150 fewer students are attending schools in the St. Joseph School District than last year, something the Long-Range planning Committee took into account when discussing facility options on Tuesday night.
According to numbers compiled within the first seven days of school, 10,768 students are enrolled in 23 schools across the district, compared to 10,914 last school year. According to Superintendent Doug Van Zyl, demographic studies have showed a decreased birth rate as well as people moving from the area, which could contribute to the decrease.
“Our demographic study that was done as part of the facilities master plan did show a continued downward trend in loss of students,” Van Zyl said. “That’s something that can change as well; something can happen in the community that allows for some growth and development and make more students and families move into our community.”
-- Jessika Eidson Critics challenge independence of experts reviewing St. Paul school construction woes-- Twin Cities Pioneer Press Minnesota: August 26, 2019 [ abstract] Superintendent Joe Gothard is shrugging off criticism over the membership of an external review team digging into overspending on St. Paul Public Schools facilities.
The Pioneer Press reported in May that expected costs for 18 building renovations had grown by $179 million in just two years and that district officials failed to line up appropriate funding.
In response, Gothard put project planning on hold and called for a group of experts to review what went wrong and recommend changes in facilities management. Their report is due in October.
Critics charge, however, that the cohort has too many ties to the district and is not sufficiently diverse to produce a fair assessment of the district’s failings.
City councilmember Jane Prince last week encouraged Gothard to add women and people of color to the all-male, all-white team of experts.
“My experience is that a diverse and representative committee with deep experience can help to build taxpayer confidence in the process you are now undertaking,” she wrote.
-- JOSH VERGES Pasadena Unified eyes possible school closures again-- Pasadena Star-News California: August 24, 2019 [ abstract] As schools open this year, Pasadena Unified officials are once again considering closing more schools.
District staff and members of the Master planning and Boundaries Subcommittee are currently mulling over recommendations they’ll present to the full school board in a public meeting on Thursday, Sept. 19, according Interim Superintendent David Verdugo. If approved, closures would start with the 2020-21 school year.
Teachers and parents alike thought their schools had avoided getting the axe this time last year, when the district closed Cleveland Elementary but spared four others: Wilson Middle, Blair High, Jefferson Elementary and Franklin Elementary schools.
But one school closure wasn’t enough to rescue the district from declining enrollment and increased costs.
“Our schools face an ongoing challenge,” officials said in a statement released on Wednesday. Pointing to lower birth rates and rising housing costs, the district says enrollment is down across Pasadena Unified. That affects the amount of funds received from state and federal governments.
“With 27 campuses for 16,000 students, our resources are spread thin,” the statement said. The average school in Pasadena has 630 students per campus while neighboring districts average 900 to 1,000.
The district is looking at closing an undetermined number of schools so it can “deepen student access to excellent programs at every site,” according to the statement.
-- BRADLEY BERMONT Queen Anne Elementary gets first major update in nearly a century-- Queen Anne & Magnolia News Washington: August 24, 2019 [ abstract] Queen Anne Elementary will open its doors this fall in an almost unrecognizable learning environment for its students.
After spending last year on the John Marshall campus as during construction, students will arrive on the improved Queen Anne Elementary campus, 411 Boston St., and find some significant changes to the facility’s brick building.
The project was finished by its Aug. 25 deadline and met its $13.2 million budget. The overall project included 20,000 new square feet and 6,000 square feet of renovations.
“Queen Anne Elementary now has eight additional classrooms, full-size gym, expanded cafeteria, new school office, larger playground and one of the first dedicated elementary visual arts/makerspace in Washington state,” writes QAE principal Janine Roy in an email to Queen Anne News.
The addition is the first new construction on the campus since the 1922 masonry building was constructed; a structure that was supposed to complement the original 1904 school building.
Vincent Gonzales, Seattle Public Schools capital planning project manager, said the initial levy described the project as a gymnasium addition. He said that since they were cleared to add a gym, they also decided to get the addition of the classrooms and other spaces approved for the project.
He said the gym addition will be the greatest boon for the students.
“They didn’t have a gym, so they were using the former covered play area…” Gonzales said. “Just for elementary school in general, kids really need a gym. It’s kind of hard to believe that this many years went by and they didn’t really have anything…. I think that when the kids come through that door and they see the gym, especially the ones that were here before… I think they are going to be blown away.”
-- Daniel Warn Clarksburg Eyeing Master Plan to Prioritize Projects-- iBerkshires Massachusetts: August 19, 2019 [ abstract]
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Town officials are looking to pursue a master plan to help prioritize capital improvements and the town's vision.
The Select Board has been considering long-range planning for some time — particularly since the failure of the school project vote in 2017. The issue was raised two weeks ago at a School Committee meeting during discussions about the repairs being attempted at the school.
"I bring this up because we had some conversations last week as to the future of Clarksburg and where we want to see it," said Select Board Chairman Ronald Boucher on Thursday. "And in my time, here, probably in [board member Jeffrey Levanos'] time, I don't think there's ever been any kind of a plan put forth or talk of a plan put forth for five years out or 10 years out,
"I think it's important because as as we see in small towns, boards change, board members change, but we need to have a vision where this town needs to be it that's inclusive — the town, school, everything."
Jennifer Macksey, the new business director for the Northern Berkshire School Union, broached the idea of a master plan at the School Committee meeting held on Aug. 8 and offered her assistance, Boucher said.
"They made a motion to move forward to looking looking into an RFP, pushed through with Jen's assistance, to look at putting a master plan together," he said, adding that the committee had asked him to bring the idea to the board for discussion. "I think it's important that we have something in place."
Macksey has some experience in both municipal and education planning as treasurer and director of finance/procurement officer for the city of North Adams and as vice president of administration and finance at the former Southern Vermont College. She had offered her expertise in developing the request for proposals.
Town meeting recently approved a $1 million debt exclusion to address significant issues in the town and school's infrastructure. The money will be split between both entities. While officials have a good idea where some of this money will go, it was pointed out that there are more projects ahead and a plan to prioritize those needs would provide a roadmap for future boards.
School officials also said they did not have the expertise to determine next steps beyond the obvious needs in heating, accessibility and security. Superintendent of School John Franzoni said the planning had been part of ad hoc renovation committee's conversation.
-- Tammy Daniels Owasso set to open doors for new school with storm safety shelter-- ABC 8 Tulsa Oklahoma: August 15, 2019 [ abstract] It may look like just a gym, but it's really the safest place from severe weather at Morrow Elementary.
“It's a tornado shelter. So that is where we would go if there were a weather emergency. We're excited that we have a storm shelter at Morrow,” said principal Tiffani Cooper.
This safe shelter is the second completed one for the Owasso school district and can withstand a direct hit from an EF-5 tornado.
“Having a safe shelter allows us to put all the children of the school and all of the staff of the school in one place. That's regulated and designed with the sole purpose of protecting children,” superintendent Amy Fichtner said.
Many schools have been pushing for these shelters after the 2013 Moore tornado ripped through Plaza Towers Elementary School, killing several children.
Owasso had its own close call just two years ago when a funnel started to form over the city.
Fichtner said her district is adding shelters at other schools, too, bringing the total to four by 2020.
She said building Morrow Elementary from scratch gave them the perfect opportunity to add the shelter to save time and money.
“Ideally, if money were no obstacle at all, we would have done everything at the same time, but the reality is, embedding it with other construction was wise planning,” Fichtner said.
-- Gustavo Olguin County schools’ CIP projects at $181M. How many pertain to equity?-- Charlottesville Tomorrow Virginia: August 13, 2019 [ abstract] Within the next three years, Albemarle County Public Schools aims to conduct a middle school facility planning study as well as consider adding one additional elevator to its two-story buildings as part of the division’s $181 million capital improvement plan projects.
The middle school facility planning study and elevator projects will cost about $500,000 and $4.2 million, respectively, according to the division’s records.
Rosalyn Schmitt, the school system’s chief operating officer, said the county’s middle schools haven’t been part of previous capital funding because they had enough capacity. But that’s shifting.
Schmitt said Jouett and Henley middle schools are “having looming” capacity issues, and “they will be overcrowded.” Henley houses nearly 900 pupils, compared with Walton Middle School, which has 350. Having a crowded school has an impact on offerings, she said.
“There’s parity,” she said, adding that there needs to be a conversation on middle schools to make sure the division has equitable opportunities for students.
The study could begin in fall 2020. Funding for the study is being requested for fiscal year 2021. A consultant will be hired to conduct the study, which could take nearly a year, with the hopes of getting stakeholders and community engagement.
“We anticipate the study will come up with recommendations, and the schools will consider those recommendations,” Schmitt said. “It may be projects. It may be grade level configuration.”
-- BILLY JEAN LOUIS Crowd cheers opening of Utica's new Waltham School building-- The Times Illinois: August 07, 2019 [ abstract] A new era in education began Wednesday in Utica with the official opening of the recently completed Waltham Elementary School building on Route 178.
"Today marks an important day in the history of Waltham School," said Jim McCabe, Waltham School Board president, to a cheering crowd of teachers, staff, students and citizens. "Today, we bring together what was — at one time — 16 individual one-room school houses to one (new) home."
McCabe said the new building is the result of 10 years of planning, working and dreaming.
"Today, we open the door to a 21st Century learning environment that will allow all of us to educate the students in our community to achieve the greatest goals," he said.
Waltham Elementary School Superintendent Kristi Eager was moved to tears as she recognized the many people involved with the school's construction.
"Housing all our children in one school facility has been a long time in the making, and I am so proud of all the efforts from those who have supported our school district along this journey," she said.
Eager had particular praise for the school's staff and teachers.
"You are the best," she said, pointing to a group of teachers. "I can't wait to see the education you will provide our students in this new learning environment. We have always done amazing things in the education field and now we have a facility that will enhance it."
-- Steve Stout Is your school district prepared for a natural disaster?-- Education Drive National: August 01, 2019 [ abstract] Some Denver-area school districts are struggling to obtain the appropriate property insurance coverage since a major hailstorm hit suburbs west of the Colorado city in 2017, causing $12 million in damage to Jeffco Public Schools alone, Chalkbeat reports.
Jeffco now has 14 insurance policies, but the district only was able to get $150 million in limits as compared with $200 million for previous property coverage.
Jeffco and other area districts are looking at other insurance options, including self-insurance, boosting reserves and spending more on mitigation efforts such as stronger and better-maintained roofs and providing roofs over school bus parking lots.
Dive Insight:
While school safety planning is often focused on preparing for active shooter scenarios, natural disasters occur more frequently and can have a devastating impact on a district’s ability to meet students' educational needs. Recent natural disasters have had a major financial impact on state budgets and insurance costs have skyrocketed in response to disasters, so district leaders need to take a hard look at how weather-related issues could affect their schools.
-- AMELIA HARPER County Officials Activiate D-Y High School Shelter Following Tornado-- CapeCod.com Massachusetts: July 23, 2019 [ abstract] SOUTH YARMOUTH – The Barnstable County Regional Emergency planning Committee is activating the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School Emergency Shelter.
The shelter at the school at 210 Station Avenue in South Yarmouth will open at 7 p.m.
Kevin Morley, the committee’s public information officer says the school will be the place to go for anyone who needs shelter.
“There will be cots available. There will be food available, and there will be a pet shelter component so people can bring their pets,” Morley said. “The Red Cross will be there and EMTs will be on hand.”
Morley says the shelter will remain open as long as it is needed.
The BCREPC decided to activate the shelter after receiving requests from the towns hit the hardest during the storm, which included a confirmed tornado in South Yarmouth by the National Weather Service.
“The people who have their feet on the street who see what is going on first hand in the town’s affected requested that shelter provisions be put in place,” Morley said.
Morley said the impassable roads and damage to homes and other lodging facilities were major reasons for the shelter opening.
“We feel it’s better to have people who are particularly guests, visitors and tourists [with shelter] who are kind of out on their own right now,” he said.
There are currently no plans to provide transportation for individuals seeking shelter.
-- Brian Merchant Are there alternatives to closing schools? Chicago parents consider options-- Chalkbeat Illinois: July 16, 2019 [ abstract] In a district with more than 200 under-enrolled schools, what options do parents and community leaders have besides school closings?
Charging that there is a lack of clear policy direction from City Hall and Chicago Public Schools on the topic, a pair of parent advocacy groups set up a two-day workshop on the West Side to help educate community members on their options — from sharing vacant space with other schools or community groups to lobbying the district for different attendance boundaries or coming up with plans to boost enrollment.
Related: Lessons from a Chicago school merger: Race, resilience, and an end-of-the-year resignation
The information was welcome to community organizer Chanita Jones-Howard, a teacher at South Shore International College Preparatory High School who furiously scribbled notes during presentations and brainstormed solutions with other attendees in small group discussions.
She said she feared future school closings could target shrinking neighborhood high schools in the Great Stony Island area, which includes predominantly black communities, such as South Shore, Greater Grand Crossing, Auburn Gresham, and dwindling high schools such as Emil G. Hirsch Metropolitan High School and Harlan Community Academy High School. She wondered whether the school district or city has a long-term vision for neighborhood schools wrestling with shrinking enrollment and disrepair.
“Is there a plan for us specifically? No,” said Chanita Jones-Howard. “Not one that they have shared with us.”
The education advocacy groups, Blocks Together and Raise Your Hand, hosted the event at Beidler Elementary School on the West Side Friday and Saturday, with a focus on mobilizing grassroots efforts on the topic of school facilities planning.
-- Adeshina Emmanuel San Diego district bond update: $2 billion spent, $6.4 billion to go-- American School & University California: July 12, 2019 [ abstract] The San Diego Unified School District says it has spent about $2.2 billion of the $8.4 billion that voters have approved for bond projects since 2008.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the district's goal for its bond program is to improve the poor overall condition of its education facilities.
Related: San Diego school board puts $3.5 billion bond request on ballot
San Diego Unified's current facilities condition index is considered “poor” by industry standards. District officials hope to reach a “fair” condition, or 10 percent, by 2024.
Improving the facilities condition index number is difficult because buildings deteriorate every year, says Andy Berg, member of the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, which monitors the district’s bond programs.
San Diego voters have approved three large bond requests in the last decade—a $2.1 billion bond program in 2008, a $2.8 billion program in 2012, and a $3.5 billion in 2018..”
To date, the district has spent $53 million from its bond programs on school security renovations, which include adding perimeter fences, isolating school access to a single entry point and installing emergency communication devices such as intercoms and mobile notification systems.
The district plans to spend another $250 million on school security over the next five years, says Lee Dulgeroff, chief facilities planning and construction officer.
Bond money has also been earmarked for lowering lead levels in drinking water.
-- Mike Kennedy Norfolk students filmed a report about their crumbling school. Administrators ordered it deleted.-- The Virginian-Pilot Virginia: July 03, 2019 [ abstract] The state of Maury High School, built in 1910, isn’t really a secret.
District officials took state legislators on a tour of the building last fall and begged for more funding, showing where parts of the auditorium ceiling collapsed and where a classroom floor caved in like a sinkhole. They showed peeling paint and pointed out extreme temperature swings from room to room.
The issues may be well-known, but they still persist.
“I think (students) deserve having a better building than what they currently have,” said Douglas Deutsch, a recent graduate of the school.
That’s why Deutsch and a friend in his broadcast news class decided to highlight the school’s conditions. For the last Commodore News broadcast of the school year, Deutsch and Jalen Rogers filmed areas of the school in disrepair, giving outsiders an inside look at the conditions.
“We figured it was kind of like pointing out the obvious,” Deutsch said. “We didn’t know it was going to cause controversy.”
The report was posted in late May. Within days, administrators ordered the removal of the video from Commodore News’ YouTube channel. Their segment on the facility and the entire broadcast, which featured other news stories, was deleted; a broken URL is all that remains.
The deletion surprised Deutsch, who said he and Rogers put a lot of effort into the video and tried to “keep it as objective as possible.” Deutsch said he doesn’t know what administrators found problematic with the video, which featured an interview with a teacher who attended the school as a student and who talked about the history of the building. Maury is the third-oldest continuously operating school in Virginia and the oldest high school.
A district spokeswoman said “the students did nothing wrong.” The school’s principal and the district’s executive director of secondary schools reviewed the video after it was posted and “collaboratively made the decision” to take it down, said Khalilah LeGrand.
“This incident involves a personnel matter, and the school division is unable to comment further,” LeGrand said in a statement. “As the division is currently engaged in the educational planning process, which includes evaluation of facilities, we continue to evaluate how to equitably address the issues of many of our aging school buildings.”
-- Sara Gregory Duval School Board approves master facilities plan-- jacksonville.com Florida: July 02, 2019 [ abstract] Following a months-long process including 14 workshop meetings, more than 20 community gatherings and multiple plan revisions, the Duval County School Board voted to approve its master facilities plan Tuesday night.
Superintendent Diana Greene’s 23 pages of recommendations — which she titled “A Bold Plan” — consists of $1.9 billion in school enhancements ranging from safety and security to addressing a lengthy maintenance backlog.
Following a half-hour discussion, the plan was approved 5-1, with board member Charlotte Joyce voting no. Board member Ashley Smith Juarez did not attend the meeting or vote, but has expressed strong support for the plan in the past.
MAP | School-by-school look at Duval Schools’ master facility plan
The master plan was originally drafted in March by a facilities planning consultant. After multiple meetings with members of the community, Greene’s version came out. Significant changes included preserving historic schools, deciding against consolidating popular campuses and removing portable classrooms within the district.
“We have gone through at least 20 different iterations trying to find the plan that was the most effective,” Greene said.
The master facilities plan would be funded in part through a half-cent sales tax increase in Duval County, increasing the rate from 7 cents to 7.5 cents for 15 years. The school district says that would raise about $80 million each year. Greene also said she would request a $500 million bond so work could start right away on high priority projects.
Currently, Duval schools have garnered $243 million in deferred maintenance costs. Repairs in schools within the district are costing $500,000 per month.
-- Emily Bloch Report: County school enrollment expected to rise by 4,250 in decade-- The Frederick News-Post Maryland: June 14, 2019 [ abstract] Enrollment at Frederick County Public Schools is projected to increase by 4,250 students by 2028, with the largest increases expected to come in the elementary and high school levels, according to an analysis of the school system’s facilities.
The projected growth between 2018 and 2028 is relatively in line with most other recent decades, with the exception of much higher growth in the 1990s, county planning Director Jim Gugel told the Frederick County planning Commission this week.
The commission voted 6-1 to find that the FCPS superintendent’s proposed Educational Facility Master Plan was consistent with the county’s master plan, with Commissioner Joel Rensberger opposed.
The county’s enrollment increased by 3,417 students in the 1980s, by 10,086 students in the 1990s and 3,275 students in the 2000s, according to a county staff report on the plan.
The latest projections include about 1,600 new students at the elementary level, 600 at the middle school level and about 1,900 at the high school level.
The report’s recommended capacity and modernization projects include the new Urbana Elementary School expected to open in August 2020; the newly named Blue Heron Elementary School in the Lake Linganore area expected to open in August 2021; and a new Brunswick area elementary school projected to open in 2023.
-- Ryan Marshall Parents fuming after their kindergartners are booted from South Philly elementary to make room for kids from wealthier s-- The Philadelphia Inquirer Pennsylvania: June 13, 2019 [ abstract] Some South Philadelphia schools are bursting at the seams, increasingly filled with middle-class families choosing to stay in Philadelphia and invest in its public school system.
But a Philadelphia School District move to give away kindergarten seats at George W. Nebinger School, a diverse and largely low-income elementary school, to overflow children from its neighboring William M. Meredith School, a whiter and wealthier elementary school, has sparked controversy since the affected families received notice this week.
“That the district is making Meredith’s more affluent and privileged families entitled to seats that should belong to Nebinger’s students is a disgrace to the system and harmful to the character of our community,” the Nebinger PTA wrote in an open letter to the school community.
Just 25 percent of Meredith students live in poverty; 65 percent are white. Nebinger looks more like the district as a whole: 98 percent of students live in poverty, and most are children of color. Only 23 percent are white.
The situation, which could be repeated in schools across the city, speaks to the immediate need for a citywide school facilities planning process, which has never been completed. The School District recently announced one that will start in the fall, but both Meredith and Nebinger families say that any solutions it proposes will come too late.
-- Kristen A. Graham Baldwin planning commissions scrutinize development impact " except on schools-- FOX10 Alabama: June 07, 2019 [ abstract] DAPHNE, Ala. (WALA) – When planning commissions receive proposals for new housing developments, they scrutinize such details as the length-to-width ratio of the buildings, setback distances and the capacity of utilities like water and sewerage.
One thing they don’t consider? Whether the schools can handle the influx from new families.
State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Daphne) aimed to fix that during this year’s legislative session with a bill that would have given school systems in Baldwin County a formal voice in the planning process. Developers proposing subdivisions in Baldwin of 100 or more lots or apartment buildings of 100 or more units would have been required to notify the local superintendent, who then would have had 30 days to comment about the impact on schools.
planning boards also would have been given the ability to consider that impact when reviewing development proposals – something they cannot do now.
The bill passed the Senate, but the state House of Representatives killed it after the county’s mayors objected. Elliott expressed exasperation.
-- Brendan Kirby 10-year school facilities planning underway in Harrison County, WV-- The Exponent Telegram West Virginia: June 02, 2019 [ abstract] CLARKSBURG — Work is now underway on a Harrison County Schools facilities plan that will guide the county school system for the next 10 years.
The Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan, or CEFP, provides an overview of every school building within a district, along with information on community demographics, enrollment, curriculum and instructional goals, and the personnel and technology needs for that facility.
The CEFP outlines and prioritizes needs at educational facilities throughout the county.
Schools districts in the state are required by law to have an approved 10-year CEFP plan, and to revisit the plan and formulate a new one every 10 years.
“It’s a very important process,” said Harrison County Schools Assistant Superintendent Jimmy Lopez. “Anytime the board is discussing a facility, or with a facility, additions to a facility, we reference the CEFP quite often.”
-- JoAnn Snoderly Does Philly need more schools? Should some close or expand? The district is about to find out.-- The Inquirer Pennsylvania: May 28, 2019 [ abstract] The Philadelphia School District is launching a four-year examination of its current school programs and buildings, looking at demographic trends and planning for the future of the system.
It’s the first such process the district has undertaken and could result in vast changes — new schools, replacement buildings, and boundary and grade configuration changes — that could begin for nearly two dozen schools in the fall. It’s also the first step in what could eventually lead to more school closings.
In some areas, including parts of Center City, South Philadelphia, and Northeast Philadelphia, schools are bursting at the seams as more families choose a public educationfor their children. In other places, birthrates are holding fairly steady, but fewer families are choosing traditional public schools, and enrollment is just a fraction of school capacity. There are also wide inconsistencies in academic programs and grade configurations.
While the district has made slow but steady progress under Superintendent William R. Hite Jr., “there is much more work to deliver on our vision for all children to have access to a great school close to where they live,” he said.
-- Kristen A. Graham Longterm Washington County Public Schools plan could close, consolidate 6 schools-- Herald-Mail Media Maryland: May 23, 2019 [ abstract] A facilities master plan under review by the Washington County Board of Education recommends replacing or modernizing one school every two years starting in 2024.
That’s one of the proposals in the 2019 Educational Facilities Master Plan that board members reviewed this week.
School officials say that unless construction plans begin in the next few years, many of its 47 school buildings will fall increasingly behind in repair and replacement.
The plan also recommends closing or consolidating school populations to reduce both construction and operating costs — saving $3 million or more in annual operating expenses once the initial plan is approved, according to Robert Rollins, director of facilities maintenance and operations.
The master plan is updated and submitted yearly to the Maryland Department of planning and the Maryland State Department of Education’s Public School Construction Program.
The focus of WCPS’ 10-year plan includes some of the 24 out of 47 school buildings either constructed or last modernized in the 1970s or earlier, he said.
The 2018 facilities master plan brought up the proposal for three “prototype” elementary schools that would close six aging schools and build three new facilities in two-year intervals, each combining two of the older schools.
The prototype design, replicated for each new school, would help lower overall design costs and allow flexibility with future enrollment changes, officials said.
-- Alexis Fitzpatrick Oregon Voters Approve Taxes To Help Local Schools-- OPB Oregon: May 22, 2019 [ abstract] With turnout dipping below 15% in some parts of the state, school administrators can be grateful that the Oregonians who did cast ballots were largely supporters of public education.
School bonds and levies were passing across Oregon in the May election Wednesday morning.
Election Funds School Construction In Rural Districts
Seven out of eight bonds for school construction were passing Wednesday, many by large majorities. Oregon’s larger districts, like Portland, Beaverton and Salem-Keizer have passed bonds in recent years and are already carrying out significant construction efforts to replace or update their aging buildings.
The construction bonds passing in May 2019 are mostly in small rural school districts. The small Umatilla County district of Stanfield won the approval of a $14 million bond, after three years of planning. It’ll total $18 million of construction money, thanks to a $4 million match from the state. Stanfield’s construction plans focus on replacing modular buildings, improving safety with secure vestibules at building entrances, and removing asbestos and lead pipes, according to the district.
-- Rob Manning and Elizabeth Miller St. Paul schools construction costs skyrocket. What’s the impact and what are the causes?-- Twin Cities Pioneer Press Minnesota: May 18, 2019 [ abstract] An ambitious and costly effort to rehabilitate aging buildings throughout the St. Paul school district has been plagued by staggeringly inaccurate cost estimates, employee turnover and a lack of oversight.
Eighteen high-priority projects alone will cost around $471 million, according to recent estimates — $179 million more than expected two years earlier.
“Every contractor wants to come work for St. Paul Public Schools because it’s frickin’ open checkbook,” said Nan Martin, a former administrative services manager within the facilities department handling the projects.
A Pioneer Press review of planning documents and financial records and interviews with two dozen people connected to the facilities department has found:
The man charged with executing the plan disregarded criticism and staff recommendations, and minimized the projects’ rising costs.
Faulty planning and overspending in facilities have gone largely unchecked as the administrators he reported to have come and gone.
Oversight from elected leaders has been lacking, too, as school board members have rarely challenged the growing costs.
The most striking project so far has been Humboldt High, which is expected to be completed next year.
An early design plan for the addition and renovation estimated total costs at $14.4 million. That number jumped to $26.8 million by spring 2016 and $48 million by fall 2018.
-- JOSH VERGES Austin ISD releases map as starting point on closure and consolidation decisions-- FOX7 Texas: May 17, 2019 [ abstract] AUSTIN, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) - The City of Austin is ever-changing, and Austin ISD feels it's time for them to do the same. “This is the creative space, we are reinventing what is happening in our system,” said Amber Elenz, district 5 trustee.
The district recently released a planning map, a starting point for making decisions on any changes to schools or district lines. “We want to be more open in what the answers might be,” said Elenz.
It connects some neighborhoods east to west, something trustees believe shows their intentions for making equitable decisions for the eastside community and the westside.
“We are all parents, we understand what this means to our students, our parents and to us. We're going to be very respectful of that,” said Dr. Paul Cruz, superintendent.
Some possible scenarios from this that could take effect in a couple years are consolidations, boundary changes, closures and repurposing...but this early, nothing is set in stone. “If we were to put down closures, consolidations and boundaries, that would limit the way the administration might think of this opportunity,” said Elenz.
“Part of that facilities master plan and the bond was three new schools. So with those three new schools, we will have to have a boundary change. One school is in Southwest Austin, one school is in Southeast Austin, and there is a northeast middle school,” said Cruz.
-- Bridget Spencer New Data Outlines Condition of School Buildings-- Bethesda Magazine Maryland: May 03, 2019 [ abstract] A first-of-its-kind look at the physical conditions in Montgomery County’s 206 public schools was published online this week.
The new data was released after the school system hired a consultant to analyze the schools, looking at more than two dozen components ranging from roofing and plumbing to fire protection and wall and floor finishes.
Along with infrastructure components, data collected examined the quality of aesthetics such as classroom shapes, temperature control and natural light.
Most schools were given color-coded ratings that indicated little to moderate work is needed in the near future, but a handful were in a category indicating the school is near the end of its anticipated life span and may soon need major repair, rehabilitation or replacement, according to school staff.
“This is an important tool, but it is just one tool in our capital planning,” said Essie McGuire, executive director of the office of the chief operating officer. “There’s nothing to draw automatic conclusions from in this data. The answer to the ‘what’s next’ question is still combination of factors.”
-- CAITLYNN PEETZ Bar Harbor’s K-8 school renovation could cost up to $32 million-- BDN Hancock Maine: May 02, 2019 [ abstract] It’s early in the planning process, but at this point, Bar Harbor residents can expect that any renovation or replacement of the town’s K-8 school will cost somewhere between $10 million and $32 million.
Bar Harbor has spent $2.7 million over the past 20 years on fixes and improvements at Conners Emerson School, which consists of two, unconnected school buildings on an 11-acre site on the edge of the town’s downtown village. Rather than just continuing to spend more money on maintaining the aging buildings, local school officials said Tuesday that they’ve decided to take a serious look at whether the town should significantly renovate or replace them.
Barbara Neilly, principal of the school, said that local officials would like to improve the energy efficiency of the buildings, which have outdated boilers, poor insulation and have had their windows replaced — sometimes more than once.
In February, a leak in a sprinkler system flooded the Emerson building, she said, and the roofs of both buildings need frequent attention.
“We’re always doing roof repairs, and it’s pricey,” Neilly told a group of roughly 50 parents, staffers and town officials who gathered Tuesday night at the school.
-- Bill Trotter OUR VIEW: Schools need storm shelters-- McAlester News-Capital Oklahoma: May 02, 2019 [ abstract] State lawmakers and local school district officials must find a way to ensure schools throughout Oklahoma are prepared for violent weather.
A quality education will remain job one for school district officials and state legislators. Safety is a close second.
Storm shelters save lives. But there are not enough of them throughout Pittsburg County.
Nine school districts in Pittsburg County have storm shelters, safe rooms or cellars — Canadian, Crowder, Haileyville, Hartshorne, Indianola, Kiowa, Krebs, Pittsburg and Quinton.
There are districts — including McAlester and Tannehill — with storm shelters or safe rooms under construction or in the planning stages.
Parents must feel confident that if violent weather strikes that their children are in a safe place. In some cases, a storm shelter at school would be safer than being at home.
-- Editorial Assessment finds school facilities poor-- The Dalles Chronicle Oregon: April 26, 2019 [ abstract] A detailed assessment of 15 buildings in School District 21 found many are in poor shape and warrant replacement, and most of the rest will move into that category in a few years.
The high school had the worst ratings, with all three buildings on campus rated too poor to warrant repair. The original building at Colonel Wright Elementary also rated poor.
The building assessment was presented April 16 at the first meeting of North Wasco County School District 21’s long range facilities master planning process. The meetings are open to anyone.
Over winter break, a team of engineers and architects did a visual inspection of every aspect of the buildings, from the foundations to the roof and everything in between, categorizing what they found as needing either minor, moderate or major repairs, or replacement.
They also did some work in February, and found most kids at Chenowith, for example, were still wearing their coats in the classroom, despite space heaters, because of the poor heating system there, said Dakotah Schattler, an architect with BLRB Architects, which did the assessment.
Dry Hollow had buckets throughout the building to catch leaks.
Wahtonka School had water leaks in its fluorescent lights. “That’s so dangerous. It’s such a fire hazard, it can go so wrong, so quickly,” said Richard Higgins, principal architect with BLRB Architects.
Based on what they found, it would cost, in today’s dollars, $54.3 million to make needed repairs to the buildings, and $202.9 million to replace them. The cost estimates are based on actual recent bids for each type of work, Higgins said.
-- Neita Cecil County BOEs set to begin new 10-year school facilities planning period-- Metro News West Virginia: April 21, 2019 [ abstract] CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Something that hasn’t happened in 10 years gets started Monday with the latest technology.
State law requires all 55 West Virginia county school districts to formulate a Comprehensive Education Facilities Plan (CEFP) every 10 years. The 18-month lead-in to the December 2020 deadline begins this week.
“They basically decide how they intend to use their facilities in the next 10 years,” state School Building Authority Director of Architectural Services Ben Ashley told MetroNews. “This is big picture planning. We’re asking for them to dream big and to think of big ideas for the delivering of education.”
The counties will hire architects and facilities planners to do an inventory of all of their existing buildings. The individual school boards will then take that information and marry it to the county’s education needs. It’s anticipated there will be public meetings as part of the process.
The SBA doesn’t want the counties to hold back, according to Ashley.
“The theme has been dream big. We’ve asked them to use the ideas from the educational forums, use input from all the different levels of communication and folks that they interact with in their districts. We want to take those ideas and translate those into facility needs and then create great well-rounded projects from that.”
The SBA is not going to end up with 55 three-ring binders full of CEFPs, instead, the SBA has teamed with the state Department of Education to hire contractors to create a statewide digital CEFP planning efforts. Ashley said all counties will be using data bases and resources on a cloud-based scenario. The site goes live Monday.
-- Jeff Jenkins Montgomery County may ban new homes to try to address lack of school capacity-- Greater Greater Washington Maryland: April 19, 2019 [ abstract] Montgomery County will place four school clusters under a one-year housing moratorium beginning July 1. So, homes in the process of being permitted or built won't be. This isn't likely to help school crowding, though it is likely to make it more expensive to live in Montgomery County.
WAMU’s story about the moratorium gives a great deal of credence and validity to a worried parent, who claims that “her children have reported seeing dozens of kids file off school buses into new apartment buildings in the Bethesda area.” WAMU did not confirm whether or not “dozens of kids” are indeed filing off school buses and, if so, whether they are entering new apartment buildings in Bethesda. That's unfortunate, because this anecdote is strongly counteracted by the Montgomery County planning Department's analysis:
Anderson has repeatedly argued that freezing new housing growth isn’t the right solution to the public schools’ overcrowding problem. Analyzing data from MCPS, his office has concluded that most new students aren’t coming from new housing — they live in existing homes. Of the roughly 4,000 new students attending schools targeted for moratoria, Anderson says, only about 200 of them — or 5 percent — occupy new developments.
Also unfortunate is County Executive Marc Elrich's skepticism of his own planning department. Elrich says things that sound pretty good when you read them. That development needs to be reasonable, and rationed, so as to not outpace what existing resources can offer, is a sentiment that most people find agreeable, and worth supporting:
“I’m not in favor of trading off long-standing residents to accommodate simply new development,” Elrich said. “We need a way to make sure that if development is going to go forward in a place that’s overcrowded, that they provide enough money to solve the problem.”
But adding things you can tax (like homes and people) to a municipality is how we pay for public services (like schools) in the US. If people who already live in Montgomery County—not the people who are moving there—are the reason why lots of kids are going to Montgomery County schools, saying “no new homes” for a year is poor public management that responds to an imaginary assumption based on a false narrative, not the reality of what’s actually happening.
-- Alex Baca Construction costs soar for Manatee schools-- Herald-Tribune Florida: March 17, 2019 [ abstract] BRADENTON — Construction costs in the Manatee County School District have clocked in at 84 percent over budget over the last three years.
The original approved budget for 20 major construction projects completed in the district from 2015 to 2018 was roughly $27 million. The final price tag for those projects came in at more than $49.9 million, according to project summary sheets obtained via a public records request.
“I think we’ve got to go about our process of identifying the cost differently,” Superintendent Cynthia Saunders said after she was shown the numbers for the three-year period.
The anticipated cost of three schools currently under construction has already gone up by a total of $18 million — a 12 percent increase over the original budget of $145 million.
The reasons for going over budget are many, according to current and former operational staff.
Sandra Ford, the district’s chief of operations, said the cost overruns are largely due to the district’s inability to forecast costs beyond the five-year capital plan. She said many planning staff positions have gone unfilled since being eliminated in the aftermath of the district’s fiscal meltdown in 2013, when the district discovered an $11 million deficit.
“There is not currently a long-range plan,” she said.
Deputy Superintendent Doug Wagner said that when the board approves a project, members are relying on old numbers. The initial budget is based on estimates that may be years old and have not been updated to reflect current circumstances.
And former deputy superintendent for operations Ron Ciranna said an array of factors led to the increases, including the increasing cost of labor and materials following two major hurricanes, the School Board adding onto projects after initially approving them and the decrease in planning positions within the district.
Jon Mast, CEO of the Manatee-Sarasota Building Industry Association, said that, whatever the reason, the district’s inability to accurately pinpoint a project’s cost was troubling.
“For government to continue to outspend their budgeted items to me is malfeasance. Period,” Mast said.
-- Ryan McKinnon Milford district seeking feedback on long-range planning for school facilities-- Wicked Local Milford Massachusetts: March 11, 2019 [ abstract] MILFORD – School leaders are seeking community feedback to help craft a long-range plan for the future of the district’s school buildings.
The district administration team a few months ago created a Long Range Education Facilities Plan Committee tasked with developing recommendations for future building, renovation and major capital projects at Milford’s schools. The committee is expected to finalize the plan by June.
The schools will launch an online survey the week of March 25 to get input from residents on future district needs. The survey will be available on the district website.
“Hopefully we’ll get some good information from that,” said Superintendent Kevin McIntyre.
The district held the first of three community forums Monday morning at the senior center, however, a Daily News reporter was the only one in attendance. McIntyre said the meeting was scheduled in the morning to try to capture a different audience.
McIntyre hopes turnout will be better at two other upcoming forums later this month. The next session will be held March 19 at the Way Church and include a presentation in Spanish at 6:30 p.m. and another in Portuguese at 7:30 p.m. The final forum will be held March 25 at 7 p.m. at Milford High School.
-- Jeff Malachowski Tolland to replace crumbling foundation of Birch Grove Primary School-- Hartford Courant Connecticut: March 11, 2019 [ abstract] Engineers have determined that a Tolland school’s crumbling foundation is deteriorating faster than anticipated and needs to be replaced immediately.
In a letter sent to the community last week, Town Manager Steve Werbner and Superintendent Walter Willett said the town has been visually monitoring the condition of Birch Grove Primary School’s foundation for well over a year, but a report from an engineering firm shows substantial damage.
The town is planning to replace the building by 2020. It is expected to cost $46 million.
“The concern over time is that the condition will worsen especially in the continued presence of moisture at ground level, which could impact the structural integrity of the building,” the pair wrote.
Birch Grove, a 90,000-square-foot school for pre-kindergarten through second-grade students, was built in 1999, with a second phase of construction in 2003. Willett said the district knew that Birch Grove Primary School’s foundation was poured by the J.J. Mottes Co., a now-defunct Stafford Springs business that has been linked to the faulty concrete aggregate causing foundation failure. When school officials noticed the telltale spider cracking on the foundation’s walls, they took a core sample and found that the foundation contained pyrrhotite, the mineral that causes foundations to crumble.
-- KATHLEEN MCWILLIAMS Report calls for new Northwest schools to address overcrowding as council faces issue over old Hardy site-- The DC Line District of Columbia: March 06, 2019 [ abstract] In a new report Northwest parents are calling for the creation of at least four new public schools to address severe overcrowding at Woodrow Wilson High School and many of its feeder schools.
After spending two years studying solutions for Wilson and its 14 feeder schools, a working group of parents said the city needs to begin long-term plans for at least two new elementary schools, a new middle school and a new high school in Northwest DC.
“Given the long lags in planning and construction for new schools, it is imperative that the city begins the planning for these new schools now,” Brian Doyle and Melody Molinoff, co-chairs of the Ward 3-Wilson Feeder Education Network, wrote in a Feb. 8 letter to city leaders on behalf of the parent and community members of the working group.
The group released its report at the same time, sharing results of a four-month 2017 community survey and offering long-term planning suggestions. DC Public Schools convened the working group in May 2017, with participation from school leaders as well as parents and other community members.
-- Cuneyt Dil Could “build higher” untangle a thorny Shaw school controversy?-- Greater Greater Washington District of Columbia: March 05, 2019 [ abstract] Two groups of DC school parents are at loggerheads. In the heart of Shaw is a large, vacant building that once housed a junior high school. One group wants the school rebuilt and reopened as a neighborhood middle school, while others want to move Benjamin Banneker High School to the area. Residents don't want to lose adjacent park spaces. Can all of them get what they want?
Between the Shaw site and Seaton Elementary across the road, there seems to be enough space. But maximizing its use would require planning and a commitment to build higher.
Along Rhode Island Avenue NW between 9th and 10th and two blocks from the Shaw Metro station is the shuttered former Shaw Junior High School. Last October, Mayor Bowser announced a plan to move Benjamin Banneker High School, a city wide selective school, to the Shaw site. Neighborhood activists are opposing the move, demanding that the city build a new Shaw Middle School instead.
Officials at DC Public Schools (DCPS) and the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME) office say they haven't ruled out the possibility that the site could house both Banneker and a new middle school, though that's not currently their plan.
After learning a lot about this issue, it seems DC should explore this option before it's too late. A middle school for these neighborhoods would be valuable, and its Metro-adjacent location would well serve both neighbors and potential students from other parts of DC. In an urban neighborhood, we can build schools taller and make maximum use of our land; it's worth taking a serious look at how to do that.
-- David Alpert Process underway for new Monroe County school-- Bluefield Daily Telegraph West Virginia: March 03, 2019 [ abstract] LINDSIDE — After two failed bond referendums, Monroe County was approved in December for $21 million from the state School Building Authority (SBA) to construct a badly needed new school.
The process is now under way by educators, parents, students and community members to plan and finally provide a new, modern facility for grades K-8 in the Peterstown area. Both Peterstown Elementary and Peterstown Middle will close and students will move to the new school.
“We received the School Building Authority contract and our board approved that contract on February 19, 2019,” said Joetta Basile, Monroe County Schools Superintendent. “The contract outlined the SBA funds awarded for 2019 and 2020 as $11 million in FY (fiscal year) 2019 and $10.1 million in FY 2020. We are in the design planning phase now, working closely with the architects and School Building Authority.”
Basile said a planning committee was organized and comprised of students, employees, parents and community members, “who are providing input and guidance into the design of the building.”
“The schematic design is scheduled to be complete by the end of May,” she said.
Basile and board of education Chair Keith Wickline presented their case to the SBA in October 2018.
-- Charles Boothe Mayor Spano plans to 'plow through,' build new schools as Yonkers waits for more money-- Lohud.com New York: March 01, 2019 [ abstract] YONKERS - Sitting around, waiting for money from Albany to rain down on this city, is not how the mayor plans to build four new schools.
"Let's operate as if we have the money. Let's just plow through," Mayor Mike Spano said during a recent interview at City Hall. "Because if we sit here, and every day we have this discussion, and the discussion is, 'Well, that's a nice plan, mayor, we don't have the money to do it' — then we're not going to get anything done."
That said, dollars from Albany will soon be needed. The city is planning a $523 million construction phase, including the building of four schools, as part of its $2 billion "Rebuild Yonkers Schools" vision, originally proposed in February 2016. And they've already begun acquiring the needed property for three new schools.
Spano thinks he'll have more leverage to convince the state Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to increase state aid for the project if plans for the first new school, a pre-K to 8 school near Ravine Avenue, are complete and shovels are ready to break ground.
This could happen before the end of this year.
The state government bureaucracy "sometimes does not move unless they see crisis," Spano said. "And I'm not trying to create a crisis, but I'm trying to highlight a crisis, and the only way I can highlight is to move forward."
-- Colleen Wilson, Rockland/Westchester Journal News Dothan City Commissioners address school facilities, school plans during strategic meetings-- Dothan Eagle Alabama: February 22, 2019 [ abstract] On the heels of seismic changes in the Dothan City Schools system, city commissioners discussed creating a strategic plan for school aid and school facilities Friday.
In November, the Dothan City Board of Education voted to realign schools in the system, which will cause four to close in May. Three of the schools – elementary schools Grandview, Montana Magnet and Cloverdale – will become the city’s property after the schools shutter, and the city will also inherit a portion of the former Young Junior High School building after the central office formally moves to Honeysuckle Middle School.
Commissioners cited the need to develop a plan on how to use those buildings moving forward during Friday’s strategic planning meeting. Mayor Mark Saliba and District 1 Commissioner Kevin Dorsey also expressed the need to create a strategic plan in place detailing how the city will aid DCS moving forward.
Dorsey emphasized the need to include Dothan City Schools officials in the strategic plan, but Saliba first wanted the commission to determine some of its desires before formally meeting with school officials.
“We need to agree on one common plan. It doesn’t have to be in concrete,” he said. “I would love to have a starting point on what we want before meeting with them.”
-- Jeremy Wise North Branford schools chief says high school upgrade overdue-- New Haven Register Connecticut: February 10, 2019 [ abstract] NORTH BRANFORD — On a recent morning, North Branford Superintendent of Schools Scott Schoonmaker stepped in front of a high school Spanish class. “Raise your hands if you think we need a new or renovated high school,” he said.
Without hesitation, each student shot a hand into the air and the group began chattering excitedly.
Though the project is in its early phases, the North Branford Board of Education is considering options to either renovate or rebuild the town’s high school, which was constructed in the 1960s and serves around 600 students.
“If you look at the high school and the condition that it’s in, we’re at that critical point where we need to do something,” Schoonmaker said.
About whether legislative bills calling for development of plans for school regionalization for small districts are impacting the project, Shawna Papa-Holzer, chairwoman of the Board of Education, wrote in an email that the town and board are keeping an eye on the legislation but “the plan to pursue the project continues.”
Schoonmaker said project planning takes a long time, and construction is unlikely to begin for at least two years. Though he is also monitoring the regionalization bills, he said, he does not think student relocation would make sense for the district and doubts that any schools in the area would be able to accommodate North Branford High School’s population.
Schoonmaker has served as the superintendent for 10 years and he said since he started, the need for an upgrade has been a topic of discussion. As the high school struggles with poor heating, undersized rooms, building traits unconducive to high security standards and a problematic elevator, that upgrade is overdue, Schoonmaker said.
A visitor walking into a section of the school called “the diamond,” which is hit hard by the building’s heating problem, felt the temperature drop. A student wearing a thick winter coat walked by.
-- Meghan Friedmann Newport faces major funding challenge for new high school-- NewportRI.com Rhode Island: February 08, 2019 [ abstract] NEWPORT — The city and its School Department are planning for the construction of a new high school, establishing a preschool and kindergarten center, and moving the city utilities building and public works garage off Halsey Street.
The funding for those projects will be a major challenge for the city, so Finance Director Laura Sitrin outlined for City Council members Thursday night the impact of bonding for $100 million, $120 million, or $150 million.
A $120 million bond received the most discussion, maybe because it is in the middle. Estimated costs of a new high school and new public works center are costly.
Natick, Massachusetts, built a new high school for $78.5 million in 2012, but costs have gone up since then. Natick has a population above 32,000, while Newport’s population is above 24,000.
East Providence unveiled in 2018 a proposal to build a $190 million high school, but the city has a population of 47,000. If Newport could build a high school for half that cost, perhaps unlikely, it would still be $95 million.
The Halsey street utilities and public works facilities must be moved to make way for a redesign of the Pell Bridge ramps, which is expected to free up land for economic development.
A recent estimate for the city indicated it would cost $28.4 million to move the public works facilities to another location and $11.3 million to move the utilities building, which could be paid for from water and water pollution funding paid by ratepayers.
Sitrin calculated municipal government would bond $25 million of that total cost.
If the city borrowed $120 million in a 30-year bond, that would require an annual debt service payment of $9.92 million to cover all principal and interest costs, Sitrin said.
-- Sean Flynn Committee to evaluate future plan for school facilities-- The Pioneer News Kentucky: February 06, 2019 [ abstract] With school district construction needs stretching in the millions of dollars, members of the local planning committee have a daunting task.
Recommendations made by this committee could shape the Bullitt County Public School District for many years to come.
But, at the end of the day, facilitator Don Martin said the most important task of the assembled group will be to eliminate any physical barriers which disrupt the learning opportunities for the 13,000 students in Bullitt County.
The committee, using information from various sources, will devise a recommended list of construction projects which will be sent to the local school board and then to the state Department of Education for final approval.
Martin, a facilitator from the Kentucky School Board Association, said that the hope is to finish the plan by mid-April. There is state funding for the unmet needs of a district and Martin said a goal is for Bullitt County to get its fair share.
In comparison to other districts, Martin told the 20 committee members that Bullitt County is in good shape.
It is a growing community and the school district continues to grow at a steady pace. Other areas in the state are not as lucky, said Martin.
Superintendent Jesse Bacon said it is an exciting time. In addition to the facilities plan, the district is working on its strategic plan.
The vision is for students to achieve at a high level, which is more than simply test scores. Bacon said Bullitt County wants to be a system where teachers want to stay and where the business community will have students who graduate with the skills needed to fill the work force.
-- Thomas Barr Audit: State Education Department lags in school building reviews-- timesunion New York: February 04, 2019 [ abstract] ALBANY — The State Education Department has a perpetual backlog of school building project reviews, with nearly half taking six months or longer before they are approved.
Of the hundreds of projects submitted for approval by SED, many typically languish for months, adding inflationary costs and impacting the way districts plan for things such as building renovations, new construction or modernizing structures for 21st century technology.
The SED unit that reviews building projects, the Facilities planning Bureau, also uses 30-year-old technology and, at the time of the audit, had almost half of key reviewer jobs unfilled. The result is that school districts must wait for extended periods before they get state approval to start new construction projects.
-- Rick Karlin CCS: $322 million needed in next 5 years, overall 10-year capital plan calls for $471 million-- Independent Tribune North Carolina: February 04, 2019 [ abstract]
Cabarrus County Schools’ 10-year capital projects plan could cost the county $471 million, with $332 million of those needs in the next five years.
During the Cabarrus County Board of Education’s annual planning session at the end of January Tim Lowder, the district’s executive director of operations, gave a presentation on the plan and the estimated funds needed to cover all of the projects.
As always, Lowder began the presentation by reminding the board that the 10-year planning document is a snapshot of options that are open to the district for the discussion at this time. Future decisions and situational outcomes may change, influence or redirect the plans that are presented.
Within the next 12 months…
In order to operate efficiently, Lowder first outlined the projects he says the district must tackle within the next year. Those projects include purchasing land for a new middle school to feed into Jay M. Robinson, purchasing land for a new high school in the Northwest Cabarrus area and begin the process of replacing R. Brown McAllister Elementary School by selecting an architect and engineer.
The new feeder middle school is scheduled to open in 2022, so Lowder said it would be beneficial to purchase land and begin architect and construction team selection this summer; as long as the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners agrees to fund the project.
-- Erin Kidd KISD updates status of current construction projects-- Killeen Daily Herald Texas: February 02, 2019 [ abstract]
Voters in May approved two school construction bonds for a total of $426 million to build and renovate schools in KISD. Voter approval came after Superintendent John Craft and staff went on a monthslong mission saying the district population increases warranted new schools.
For the 2019-2020 school year, the district projects enrollment to be 45,583, up from about 45,091 for the 2018-2019 school year.
Millions in taxpayer dollars will serve to accommodate those thousands of students, the district says.
Proposition A of the bond, for $235 million, will pay for construction of a new high school and elementary school and renovations to existing schools for ADA compliance and security upgrades.
Proposition B, for $191 million, will pay for consolidation of some schools, and renovation of Killeen High School and other schools.
The real work of turning the bond into bricks has begun. In addition to bond projects, other construction projects are planned/underway from other funding sources.
High School No. 6
A new high school with a capacity for up to 2,500 students will be built on district-owned property on Chaparral Road. Out of the $235 million total of Proposition A, the new high school will take $171 million of bond funds.
Several preparatory steps are being taken before physical construction begins later this year. On-site testing of land was conducted during December, according to KISD.
“Throughout the design process, the design team and staff closely analyzed vehicular and pedestrian flow around the property, as well as the placement of athletic fields, concessions buildings and marching band practice areas to ensure that we have maximized efficiencies on the site,” said Adam Rich, construction and facilities planning program manager.
-- Matt Payne Funding options, equity at issue in Duval County school facilities planning-- Florida Times-Union Florida: February 01, 2019 [ abstract] For the 2017-18 school year, Orange County Public Schools received about $308 million from impact fee and sales tax revenues to use for new schools and maintenance costs.
Duval County Public Schools, which has an estimated $1.08 billion worth of repair and replacement needs, received no money from those sources. For facilities, Duval only has property tax revenues and an annually decreasing amount of state maintenance money to work with.
“We are one of only two districts that don’t collect anything other than [property tax] millage,” said Don Nelson, Duval’s assistant superintendent for operations.
Limited funding options were among the talking points at Loretto Elementary School in Mandarin on Thursday at the first of seven community meetings about the condition of Duval’s 157 public schools. Duval has the oldest facilities in Florida, with about 65 percent at least 50 years old. All of them are safe, functional and equipped with the necessary technology, district officials said, but 111 are in below average, poor or very poor condition or need replacement.
The $1.08 billion estimate to repair or replace aging buildings came from a Jacobs Engineering Group study commissioned by the board. The buildings’ conditions affect the learning environment for students and teachers and impact neighboring property values and business development, district officials said.
New schools are like new houses, Superintendent Diana Greene said.
“You have a better feeling when you’re in a brand-new house. Sunshine every day. It does something for your attitude,” she said.
The district paid Jacobs $1.2 million to develop a long-term facilities plan, which potentially could include recommendations to close and consolidate some schools while repairing or replacing others. In addition to age, building condition and the repair/replacement cost, the district will consider school grades, enrollment projections, available land for more buildings and the impact on programs, transportation costs and the neighborhood. Once Jacobs completes the facilities plan, it will hold community meetings, likely in the spring. The board is expected to make its decisions in late spring or early summer.
-- Beth Reese Cravey OCPS pushes for portables at 2-year-old Windermere High-- OrangeObserver.com Florida: January 30, 2019 [ abstract] Tensions ran high as dozens of Windermere High parents and students listened to county leaders during a community meeting on two separate issues related to their school.
Staff from Orange County government and Orange County Public Schools spoke at Windermere High Wednesday, Jan. 23, to address two items — a special-exception request to allow for more portable classrooms on Windermere High’s campus and the design of the new relief high school to be built in Horizon West’s Village F.
THE PORTABLE PROBLEM
The majority of the meeting was earmarked for discussion of OCPS’ special-exception request to allow for more space to put additional portable classrooms on campus to accommodate student growth.
When Windermere High was built, the property and related agreements for its use as a school included certain restrictions and conditions of approval. According to the Condition of Approval No. 22, “the location of temporary and portable classroom facilities shall be restricted to the courtyard area between the three permanent three-story classroom buildings and the 20-foot-wide emergency-access road.”
This condition requires that “any proposed future expansion of the area for temporary and portable classroom facilities shall require an application to amend this special-exception approval.” The problem is that Windermere High needs more than the approved 12 portables — and a space to put them.
OCPS has submitted an application to amend the condition of agreement to temporarily expand the area for the portables until the relief school opens in 2022.
“Right now, this school has a permanent capacity of 2,776,” said Julie Salvo, a senior administrator in OCPS’ Facilities planning Department. “Our enrollment is 3,360, so we are over capacity. The principal has managed to fit all the students in the brick-and-mortar building without portables, so he’s creatively using the space available, but we will need portables for next year, because we are experiencing quite a bit of growth.”
-- Danielle Hendrix Providence plans to borrow $30M for school, building repairs-- WPRI.com Rhode Island: January 30, 2019 [ abstract] PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Providence officials are planning to borrow $30 million later this year to pay for infrastructure projects in schools and other buildings across the city using a little-known agency that doesn’t need voter approval to take on debt.
The City Council Finance Committee gave its blessing Wednesday to allow the Providence Public Building Authority (PPBA) to borrow $20 million for various school repairs and another $10 million for improvements to City Hall and most of the city’s recreation centers. The state will reimburse the city for the vast majority of school-related projects.
The proposal must be approved by the full council, but it is unlikely to face opposition.
“When the administration put forth a proposal to take out a $20 million bond for school infrastructure, I requested an immediate analysis of the cost of borrowing an additional $10 million in an attractive rate environment to support other much-needed upgrades to city-owned properties,” Finance Committee Chairman John Igliozzi said in a statement. “Working together with the mayor and his finance team we found that the additional funds were a reasonable investment and that the rates today are better than they were when we first began this discussion.”
-- Dan McGowan Stamford Capital Budget: $25M for the city, $25M to rid it of mold-- Stamford Advocate Connecticut: January 30, 2019 [ abstract] STAMFORD — The coming planning_board_budget_book_draft.pdf" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(119, 119, 119); display: inline; text-decoration-line: none; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">fiscal year’s Capital Budget proposal had its first moment in the spotlight this week with a public comment period before the planning Board Tuesday.
But like most everything else in the city this year, mold — which has infested everything from city schools to City Hall — stole the show. planning Board Chairwoman Theresa Dell said the 2019-20 budget includes a previously planned $25 million for city projects, and another $25 million for mold alone.
The move to a $50 million total came after the Board of Finance doubled the city’s safe-debt limit so important capital projects and mold remediation could both happen, said Dell.As the budget now stands, city departments and non-governmental agencies had requested $77.8 million for projects and the planning Board has already cut that down to $50.4 million — mold included.
Within the original $25 million, several inventive projects hide such as free downtown Wi-Fi, and money to help plan for a driverless-car route.
But before talk of interesting capital projects, one must pay for the mold.
Mold money
Nearly all comment Tuesday was on mold and coming from parents of students at Newfield Elementary School who bemoaned the desperate shape of the school’s many moldy “modular” classrooms.
All three women who spoke lobbied for real construction instead of more of the trailer-resembling modular additions.
“We’re not trying to get more modulars,” said one Newfield mother.
“Our school has outlived its shelf life,” said another.
The parents were there to press for the $2.97 million the Board of Education has requested for the district-wide construction. The capital budget also calls for $650,000 for modular construction.
-- Barry Lytton School board gets update on $163 million worth of construction-- Independent Tribune North Carolina: January 29, 2019 [ abstract]
Cabarrus County Schools currently has four ongoing projects totaling $163 million.
Tim Lowder, the district’s executive director of operations, gave the Cabarrus County Education an update on these current projects during its annual planning session on Saturday, Jan. 26.
The board holds this session each year to get updates on projects, review academic progress, discuss its 10-year plan and make tweaks to its strategic plan.
The district’s ongoing projects include three new schools and purchasing land for a new middle school.
Performance Learning Center
Earlier this month, the district opened its new Performance Learning Center at 4521 Weddington Road just behind Harold E. Winkler Middle School. A dedication for the school was held on Thursday, Jan. 17.
The Performance Learning Center is a small, non-traditional high school geared toward students who are not succeeding in a traditional classroom. The cost of this project was $4 million because it is built to hold about 150 students.
Cabarrus County Schools entered into contract on August 7, 2017 with Liles Construction Company, Inc. and Morris Berg Architects for the design-build delivery of this 13,496 square foot school.
The new school offers a creative and unique learning environment that caters to a very specific group of the high school population. There are a total of nine classrooms that make up the learning space in the programming. Six of these classrooms provide an open concept learning space that share a small collaborative break out area for small group study.
These six rooms have a full glass overhead door that can be opened onto the large 2,400 square foot multipurpose area. The open concept design of these classrooms is industrial with no ceilings and exposed structure painted.
-- Jacqueline E. Kidd State approves plans for consolidated middle school in Groton-- The Day Connecticut: January 23, 2019 [ abstract] Groton — The state has approved the final plans for the new consolidated middle school, allowing the town to go out to bid for the project.
Superintendent Michael Graner said his reaction to the approval was "unbridled joy."
"We have been working towards this for five years now," he said. "It started with the idea we wanted to try to develop a middle school that would meet the needs of children on both sides of town and that ultimately gave rise to the vision of Groton 2020 to build a consolidated middle school."
The town now has permission to bid out the estimated $86.09 million middle school project, which will receive 47.5 percent reimbursement from the state, Graner said.
In 2016, residents had approved at referendum $184.5 million for the Groton 2020 plan for the consolidated middle school and two elementary schools.
Graner said the town cleared a long series of obstacles over the course of planning for the Groton 2020 plan, and he's delighted so many people supported the projects.
During the planning process, officials petitioned the state for one of the construction projects — the elementary school at the Carl C. Cutler Middle School site — to be designated as a diversity school to address racial imbalance. That project is slated to get 80 percent reimbursement from the state, he said.
-- Kimberly Drelich Fairview eyes school tax increase beyond state maximum-- GoErie.com Pennsylvania: January 22, 2019 [ abstract] The preliminary budget proposes raising taxes above district’s 2.8-percent inflation index, but the school board may pare that.
Fairview School District’s preliminary 2019-20 budget would raise property taxes beyond the district’s state-prescribed inflation index.
The $27.4 million preliminary budget proposes increasing taxes by 0.1053 mill above the 2.8-percent inflation index.
But that doesn’t mean that the district will do that, schools Superintendent Erik Kincade said.
“We do that every year with the preliminary budget as a safeguard, and every year have come in below the index,” Kincade said. “And I doubt that we will exceed it this year. But what could give it a little traction is that we are planning a major high school renovation in 2021 and are socking funds away in a committed fund balance account to help pay for that.”
The school district has not finalized construction plans. Options include renovating the existing high school and building a three-story extension to provide additional classroom space on the school’s north side, Kincade said. Construction costs so far are estimated at $40 million.
The district also is looking at expanding Fairview Elementary School to accommodate growing enrollment. District enrollment has grown by about 200 students, to about 1,800, in the past three or four years, Kincade said, with most of that growth at Fairview Elementary.
-- Valerie Myers Brockton eyes state funding for North Middle School, Huntington projects-- The Enterprise Massachusetts: January 21, 2019 [ abstract] BROCKTON — The School Committee is hoping for a big financial boost from the state to help pay for a complete renovation of North Middle School (a potential $10 million project) and repairs to the long-troublesome roof of the Huntington Alternative School.
The committee voted unanimously last Tuesday to submit statements of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for both projects, which now await the blessing of the City Council.
Should the state accept the projects, it would cover 80 percent of the funding. That would be a welcome savings to the city for the North Middle School project, which Deputy Superintendent Mike Thomas estimated at $8 milion to $12 million.
“It depends on how much you want to do,” Thomas said. “How much you want to put into the outside of the school, the playground area, the fields — so it could be anywhere from $8 million to $12 million.”
The school district has prepared for the potential closure of North Middle School, on Oak Street, by diverting this year’s incoming 6th-grade class to other middle schools. It will remain open next year, with the potential to close for repairs the following year.
The planning process for the North Middle School renovation with MSBA support could take two years, Thomas said.
-- Joe Pelletier Teacher Sickout Looming in Oakland as Anger Boils Over-- KQED California: January 17, 2019 [ abstract] After more than a year and a half without a contract, Oakland teachers are preparing to vote on a strike. But teachers frustrated with how slowly the formal bargaining process works say they want to show the district they're willing to strike. So for planning-non-union-sanctioned-work-stoppage" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 174, 255); text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">the second time in two months some teachers plan to call in sick en masse Friday in what they’re calling a "sickout."
"Oakland teachers are sick," said Life Academy of Health and Bioscienceteacher Matt Hayes, “sick of being underappreciated, sick of the low pay. We’re walking out tomorrow because we want to show the district we want a fair contract and we want it now.”
Hayes listed grievances that ranged from the proliferation of charter schools in Oakland to the state of school facilities. He has helped organize the action and says he's heard from teachers at 10 schools who plan to take part, plus students and parents.
-- Vanessa Rancaño North-side schools face millions in updates-- Ottumwa Courier Iowa: January 16, 2019 [ abstract] OTTUMWA — The Ottumwa School District faces millions of dollars in improvements to its north-side buildings, according to a recent facility assessment. Just how much the district will need to spend is yet to be seen.
The district contracted with Estes Construction to conduct a comprehensive facility condition report with total recommendations ranging from $35.9 million to $42 million. The report will be used by the facility committee to create a District Facility Master Plan.
“We want to be proactive thinkers when it comes to our facility planning instead of being reactive,” said Superintendent Nicole Kooiker. “We also want to be able to get community feedback and support for whatever decisions we make in the future. We want a long-term plan that will be beneficial for our students and families for many years to come.”
The report was broken up into the categories of health and life safety, building improvements and site improvements. Each recommendation was given a grade of urgent, required, recommended or suggested.
“We wanted to get a comprehensive review of the ongoing facility needs at some of our older buildings and use that to prioritize the long-term maintenance and capital improvement plans in each of those facilities,” said John Berg, the district’s Chief Financial Officer, who also sits on the facility committee.
-- Tracy Goldizen Fort Bend ISD board reviews boundary planning recommendations-- Community Impact Newspaper Texas: January 15, 2019 [ abstract] It was standing room only at the Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees meeting Jan. 14 as the board discussed proposed boundary change recommendations affecting the Elementary 51 area and high schools in the southeast portion of the county.
Among the crowd were parents and residents who wore colorful shirts in support for certain areas affected by proposed boundary changes.
To make way for the new Malala Yousafzai Elementary School being built in the Aliana community, school district officials recommended a two-phased plan: In the first phase taking place in the fall of 2019, Madden Elementary students living west of Westmoor Drive and south of West Airport Boulevard would move to the new school. In addition, an undeveloped area in the Neill Elementary boundary south of Texas Department of Criminal Justice property will be rezoned to Brazos Bend Elementary.
In the second phase to happen in the fall of 2020, the Chelsea Harbor and Stratford Park Estates neighborhoods, along with land in Cullinan Park and Sugar Land Municipal Airport, will be rezoned to Oyster Creek Elementary, according to the recommendation.
“This proposal will provide minimal impact on communities rezoned already when Madden opened,” said Scott Leopold, partner at Cooperative Strategies, who is working with the district on enrollment data related to the boundary planning. “It also lays the groundwork for future schools in the area, including Elementary School 56.”
-- Christine Hall District 205 OKs $40M in bonds for building work-- The Register-Mail Illinois: January 14, 2019 [ abstract] GALESBURG — In the first school board meeting of the year, the District 205 Board of Education approved two bond issues, outlined plans for facilities committees, and made an agreement with Russell Construction as preparation escalates for the district’s ongoing Building Replacement Program.
The district is planning to use approximately $40 million in Health/Life Safety bonds, alongside an additional $12 million or so, to fund sweeping changes to its schools that will leave some buildings updated, others closed, and the district’s grade structure significantly overhauled.
Grades K-4 will be attending neighborhood schools, grades 5-6 will be in Lombard Middle School, and 7-12 will attend a larger campus at Galesburg High School. Nielsen, Gale and Churchill are all set to be closed under this plan by the 2020-2021 school year. Construction is set to begin by this summer.
The district’s bonds are being levied in two separate chunks, one at $22,635,000 and the other totaling at $17,040,000. While the first set of bonds was approved Monday morning at the state level, the second is still being worked through the Illinois State Board of Education’s approval process. Interest rates for the first set of bonds sat at 4.34 percent with the average coupon at 5.285 percent. Both bonds were approved by the board.
A Letter of Intent was approved from Russell Construction. Russell has worked with the district for past renovations on Lombard and Steele, a relationship Assistant Superintendent of Finance Jennifer Hamm considered worth continuing.
-- Matt Koester Stockton Unified closer to building elementary school in Quail Lakes neighborhood-- Recordnet.com California: January 14, 2019 [ abstract] STOCKTON — The Stockton Unified School District is moving closer to breaking ground on a new elementary school to be located in the Quail Lakes neighborhood.
The current proposal would demolish structures on 2111 Quail Lakes Drive that were occupied by the Lakeview Assembly Church, on 6 acres of land owned by SUSD.
In its place would become the district’s 55th school that could accommodate 558 students from kindergarten to eighth grade.
The new school would consist of two classroom buildings with a total of 21 classrooms, a multipurpose building and combined library/administration building, district officials said. Outdoor play areas would be placed in the southern portion of the site.
The project site is in a predominately residential area of Quail Lakes with multi-family development located in the north and east with single-family residential development in the south and west. Warren Atherton Park is across the street from the proposed site.
Steve Breakfield, director of facilities and planning at SUSD, said demolition of the existing facilities is scheduled to begin sometime between March and May of this year and break ground in the early summer. The goal, he said, is to have the school ready to occupy in August 2020.
“So far, things are falling into place very well for us right now,” Breakfield said. “Fingers crossed — and with weather permitting — we’re still tentatively on schedule to meet those goals.”
-- Nicholas Filipas Hamilton appointed to WV School Building Authority-- The Journal West Virginia: January 07, 2019 [ abstract] Sandra (Sandy) Hamilton was appointed to the School Building Authority (SBA) of West Virginia by Gov. Jim Justice on Nov. 1, 2018, to an unexpired term ending July 31, 2019.†Hamilton is the executive director of the Berkeley County Development Authority.†A lifelong resident of Berkeley County, she graduated from Musselman High School and Shepherd University. She is a member of multiple boards and organizations, including the Martinsburg Rotary Club, Berkeley County Schools Business Education Partnership, James Rumsey Technical Center’s Local School Improvement Council, Blue Ridge Community and Technical College’s Advisory Boards, Region 9, Farmland Protection Board, and the Martinsburg Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce.
The School Building Authority was created by the West Virginia State Legislature in 1989 to address the educational planning and school construction needs of the state in an efficient and economical manner. The Legislature also created a state funding mechanism that would assist local boards of education in the construction and renovation of new and existing facilities. Since itsí inception, the SBA has partnered with counties to provide over $3,200,000,000 in funding for construction projects across all 55 counties in West Virginia.
-- Staff Writer More schools on the horizon for LCPS-- Loudoun Times-Mirror Virginia: January 04, 2019 [ abstract] As 2018 came to a close, Loudoun County Public Schools celebrated the opening of three new schools over the past year. Although the county's growth is beginning to slow down, new schools are still needed in much of the county.
In addition to expecting two new schools to open in 2019, Loudoun will see the opening of four more schools in the next five years.
Independence High School, at 23115 Learning Circle in Ashburn, is set to open this fall and is co-located with Brambleton Middle School in the Dulles North planning District. The project is expected to cost about $118 million.
The estimated 282,064-square-foot building will be home to the Tigers, and John Gabriel has been named principal.
Waxpool Elementary School is also set to open this fall in Ashburn. The $39.8 million project will serve students in the Dulles North planning District. The Loudoun County School Board set the attendance zone boundary for Waxpool Elementary last month.
The estimated 102,852-square-foot building will serve students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Michael Pellegrino will serve as Waxpool’s first principal.
Lightridge High School is expected to open the fall of 2020 at 41025 Collaboration Drive in Aldie. The $125.5 million project will serve students in the Dulles South planning District.
-- Veronike Collazo BOE holds first talk on buildings plan-- The Herald Dispatch West Virginia: January 03, 2019 [ abstract]
HUNTINGTON - The Cabell County Board of Education discussed the first steps to updating its Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan during its regular meeting Wednesday in Huntington.
The CEFP is a nonbinding assessment of all the facilities in the district's possession and is meant to serve as a road map for district officials in terms of managing its buildings. The plan is updated every 10 years - last set in 2010 - meaning the current board will take up the matter through 2019.
No matter pertaining to the plan was up for a vote Wednesday as it remains in the early discussion phase. The updated CEFP through 2030 must be submitted to the West Virginia Department of Education by March 2020.
At the meeting, Superintendent of Schools Ryan Saxe pitched the option of hiring outside consulting services for the planning process, which he said could explore multiple planning options for the county in the years to come.
Saxe added that the 2020-30 plan will likely have a different focus than its predecessor, written in 2010.
At that time, Cabell County Schools owned 28 schools and was exploring plans to downsize to 22 schools by selling properties that are vacant as well as closing some older schools and consolidating them into new facilities or existing schools.
-- BISHOP NASH Construction expected to start in 2019 in Bethlehem Central School District-- News 10 New York: January 02, 2019 [ abstract] BETHLEHEM, N.Y. (NEWS10) - Construction is expected to begin this year on the $32.2 million Bethlehem Central School District capital project approved by voters in 2016.
Superintendent Jody Monroe said the referendum will support building and site renovations, security upgrades, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing work throughout the district. Approximately 53 percent of the project work will take place at the high school.
Two of the most anticipated projects, renovations of the Library Media Center and the auditorium at the high school, will begin in 2019.
"The new year is shaping up to be an exciting one here in Bethlehem," said Superintendent Jody Monroe. "We recently received final approval from the State Education Department to move forward with our capital construction. We have been anxious to get started and are pleased to announce that work on our cornerstone projects at the high school will begin in early 2019."
Monroe said the district's facilities and operations staff have been working for more than three years on planning and design, in collaboration with architects, faculty and staff and community groups. They have established a tentative timeline for construction, and are currently working on preliminary plans to streamline any relocation and rescheduling that will be necessary during construction.
-- Staff Writer Hearings start on high school construction plans-- The Sun Chronicle Massachusetts: January 01, 2019 [ abstract] ATTLEBORO -- It’s a new year and the city's embarking on q new project, the biggest and most expensive project in its history -- a $260 million high school.
Public hearings before the conservation commission, planning board and zoning board are scheduled for Wednesday, Monday and next Thursday respectively as part of the permitting process with road and utility construction slated to begin in April.
As can be imagined, planning for the four-story, 476,425 square foot building to be situated on a 45-acre parcel off Rathbun Willard drive just to the west of the current school, takes a lot of planning and a lot of approvals.
According to an architect from Kaestle Boos Associates, designers from an array of firms have put in 100,000 hours already, and there are many more to come.
But now some of those plans will be put to the test before city boards from which permits are needed.
Each board has oversight on a particular aspect of the project, which is expected to be completed in November of 2023.
The school is expected to be open for students in September of 2022.
The conservation commission regulates construction near wetlands and there are seven “bordering vegetative wetland systems” that have been delineated and one possible "vernal pool."
-- George W. Rhodes Residents give input on Master Plan-- Fowler Tribune Colorado: January 01, 2019 [ abstract] Fowler School District held its second open house regarding its Facilities Master Plan on Dec. 20. The event was held at Fowler Middle/High School’s gymnasium and featured mock-ups for each of the three proposed facility master plan scenarios.
Each scenario offered varying degrees of renovations, remodeling and other improvements that would benefit the school district in accessibility, safety, and education accommodation.
The school district utilized a planning Assistance Team, comprised of parents, teachers and members of the Fowler community, to construct each scenario. Superintendent Alfie Lotrich and School Board Treasurer Mike Thomas were part of the team, although they mostly served as observers and left the majority of the decision making to the team members.
The planning Assistance Team consulted with RTA Architects, which researched the facilities master plan options, coordinated planning Assistance Team meetings, and organized the community open houses. Doug Abernathy of RTA Architects attended the Open House on Thursday to take questions about the facility master plan.
Each master plan scenario, tiered by cost and the extent of work required, recommended specific updates or changes to both Fowler Elementary and the Fowler Middle/High School.
Scenario C included the most significant facility changes. If Fowler School District adopted Scenario C, the middle/high school would be moved south of Highway 167, where the elementary school is already located. A new middle/high school would be built directly south of the standing elementary school building. The area north of Highway 167 would become an athletic complex with a larger baseball field to accompany the current track and football field.
“In this option, the committee actually said, ‘Hey, let’s move everything to the south side of the road. Let’s move the entire school to the south side of the road,’” said Abernathy. “Basically everybody ends up on one campus.”
-- Christian Burney Lower Merion School District to condemn two properties in Villanova-- Philadelphia Business Journal Pennsylvania: December 21, 2018 [ abstract] Lower Merion School District has voted to condemn two properties in Villanova – a 10.4-acre parcel at 1835 County Line Road and three acres at 1800 W. Montgomery Ave. – and spend a total of $12.92 million on acquiring them.
The school district said it was exercising its right of eminent domain to acquire the two properties for the construction of future athletic fields and in a move to thwart Villanova University from buying them. The owners of the two properties had been in negotiations with and executed agreements of sale with the university, prompting the school district to move to control them.
“These combined sites are the best available choice for fields for the 21st-century middle school that the district is planning for 1860 Montgomery Ave.,” the school district said in a statement.
A spokesman for Villanova had no immediate comment.
The school district said it will pay the owner of 1835 County Line $9.95 million and the owner of 1800 W. Montgomery Ave. $2.96 million. Separately, the school district is building a new middle school at 1860 Montgomery and that is scheduled to open in 2022.
The school district said when it began negotiations last summer to acquire 1835 County Line and 1800 W. Montgomery, it learned the owners of the properties were also negotiating with Villanova University.
“Earlier this fall, although the sellers had indicated the district offers were basically acceptable with minor revisions, the agreements of sale were never returned to the district,” the district said in a statement. “The district later learned the sellers had executed agreements of sale with Villanova University.”
-- Natalie Kostelni North Olmsted City Schools surveying community regarding future of aging elementary schools-- Cleveland.com Ohio: December 17, 2018 [ abstract] NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio -- Months after the North Olmsted City School District opened its $90 million facilities project -- a new grade 6 through 12 educational, performing arts center and athletic complex -- at the Butternut Ridge Road campus, the district now is turning its attention to the aging elementary school facilities.
"We're in the process of conducting a community survey to gather input from our stakeholders," Superintendent Michael E. Zalar said. "The district has experienced a great deal of change in the last couple of years.
"The addition of our new grades 6 through 12 campus has taken care of the facilities needs for two-thirds of the district. However, we still have six other schools with facilities issues," he said.
"This survey will help us discern what our residents are thinking and provide important information for future planning."
The district is paying roughly $5,000 to Fallon Research and Communication to conduct a phone survey this month, with the results due back in early January.
The survey pertains to the future of Birch Elementary (built in 1967), Forest Elementary (built in 1971), Spruce Elementary (built in 1967), Chestnut Elementary (built in 1956), Maple Elementary (built in 1956) and Pine Elementary (built in 1965).
-- John Benson Unprecedented rises in school construction force change in Kelso bond plan-- TDN.com Washington: December 17, 2018 [ abstract]
Kelso School officials are strongly recommending that the district eliminate one elementary school from its bond plan and build a bigger, three-story school in Lexington, despite community worries that 950 students is too many for one building.
The $98.6 million bond voters approved in February was earmarked to build new elementary schools at the district’s Wallace, Beacon Hill and Lexington sites. However, due to more than $20 million in anticipated cost overages, the district is considering building only two new schools and eliminating the Beacon Hill project.
“Market conditions and escalation are causing school districts to reconsider how they move forward with their bond projects,” Phil Iverson, regional project manager for the Constructional Services Group, said at a school board work session Monday night. (Iverson is helping guide the district through the bond project.)
The most recent cost analysis for Wallace and Lexington came in about $14.4 million over budget. The majority of the overage — about $8.2 million — comes from unanticipated increases for labor and material costs.
Cost overruns for the Beacon Hill project were projected at $6 million.
“I think when we received that estimate, we were all surprised, to say the least,” Iverson said. “Pre-bond planning couldn’t predict the market. ... It’s just unprecedented, and there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight.”
Poor soil conditions at both sites will require deeper foundations, accounting for about $5 million in overruns, Iverson said. About $1.2 million in overruns for Wallace come from unanticipated street improvements required by the city, said Scott Westlund, finance director.
-- Mallory Gruben Perrysburg schools facing $38 million in renovations-- Sentinel-Tribune Ohio: December 07, 2018 [ abstract] PERRYSBURG — The possibility of renovations — as well as building new schools — is being discussed by the board of education.
The district is considering rapid growth in enrollment and limited capacity, organizers said during Wednesday’s planning session “Master planning: Charting the Future of Perrysburg Schools.”
The board, along with representatives of the Collaborative Inc., Toledo, openly discussed capacity and quality of educational facilities.
Principal of the Collaborative Inc., Dave Sera, said that the company has spent nine months assessing the district’s educational facilities, with the exception of Hull Prairie Intermediate which recently opened last year.
Sera said that the building analysis shows that district would be looking at spending $51 million to bring its facilities up to the standards of the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission.
-- Bri'on Whiteside $12M needed to repair Amherst’s elementary schools-- Daily Hampshire Gazette Massachusetts: December 06, 2018 [ abstract] AMHERST — More than $12 million in maintenance and repairs are needed at Amherst’s three elementary school buildings over the next five years, according to a report school officials will submit for the town’s capital planning process.
At a recent Amherst School Committee meeting, Sean Mangano, finance director for the schools, presented a list of $12.38 million in costs over the next five years related to keeping Fort River, Wildwood and Crocker Farm elementary schools in good repair, with nearly half of these expenses for new roofs at the aging Fort River and Wildwood buildings.
The current plan calls for a $3 million roof at Fort River in fiscal 2022, and a $3 million roof at Wildwood in fiscal 2023.
With Town Council replacing Town Meeting as Amherst’s legislature, it will be up to these elected officials to determine what spending is approved in the capital plan for fiscal 2020, which begins July 1.
School Committee Chairwoman Anastasia Ordonez said committee members will need to have a frank discussion with both the new Town Council and Town Manager Paul Bockelman about these maintenance costs, which are in line with an analysis the facilities department released in March.
-- SCOTT MERZBACH Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson asks for ARB to re-vote on school building demolition-- Pensacola News Journal Florida: December 05, 2018 [ abstract] The Pensacola Architectural Review Board voted 6-1 to approve the demolition of the old Escambia County School District administration building in downtown Pensacola to make way for a new $50 million apartment development, but Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson is asking the board to re-hold the vote after the board failed to take public input before voting.
Robinson told the News Journal he was asking the board to hold another special meeting and take public comment before voting.
The ARB held a special meeting Wednesday to reconsider a request for demolition.
Developers planning to buy the property from the school district and build apartments and retail space at the site requested approval to demolish the former school district headquarters. The ARB previously deadlocked on the issue in a 3-3 vote in a November meeting.
At Wednesday's meeting, ARB member Eric Mead, the same member who made the motion to deny the demolition request in November, made a motion to approve the request, saying the developers had now provided enough evidence to justify the building's demolition.
-- Jim Little School bond projects approved for San Diego public schools-- KUSI News California: December 05, 2018 [ abstract] SAN DIEGO (KUSI)- The San Diego Unified School District is forging ahead with plans to update and modernize its schools. On Tuesday, the SDUSD school board formally approved project plans for Measure YY which was passed by voters last month.
To show reporters how the bond money will be spent, we were invited to tour a middle school in Clairemont. Innovations Middle School lives up to its name, in reflecting the latest innovations in school design. The school district’s top priority is to renovate and sometimes replace older school buildings that have exceeded their useful life.
On our tour, Lee Dulgeroff, the head of the district’s facilities, planning and construction department shows us a typical classroom which has the digital capabilities to support a student population
that does most of its learning through computers and other electronic devices.
“We have a fiber optic backbone that runs at 10 gigabits per second and a really robust wireless network. It’s costly to provide the backbone but we believe it’s an investment well made because it’s so integral to learning today,” Dulgeroff said.
On another part of the campus, we visit a technical education classroom, where students get hands-on experience with computer coding and making objects by using laser cutters and 3-D printers. A dirt lot outside the building is a work in progress.
-- Sasha Foo Planning Board threatens to hold up Westport Middle School project over drainage plan-- The Herald News Massachusetts: December 02, 2018 [ abstract] WESTPORT — The planning Board is taking issue with the drainage plan and the expensive relocation of tennis courts as a result of the proposed 5 through 12 school building project.
One member of the board said he would not approve the site plan for the project unless the School Building Committee remedies the elementary school’s drainage issues. That school is on adjacent grounds to the prospective 174,000 square foot Old County Road building. The planning Board continued the site plan review to December 11.
SBC officials vowed to address the drainage issue and work with the planning Board on a solution that appeases board members. SBC Chairwoman Dianne Baron, when reached, questioned if a site plan rejection could stymie the project and said that is a question for legal counsel. She indicated that the SBC does not want to take a divisive approach and wants to work with the planning Board.
“There may be some loopholes with their authority where public schools are concerned, but that is a matter for town counsel and I am not interested in going down that road,” Baron wrote in an email. “I am sure we will be able to reach consensus with them once all of the facts are understood.”
For more than four decades, the elementary school’s storm water drainage issues have encroached adjacent grounds, namely the Gifford Road area.
Town Planner James Hartnett has explained in a meeting last summer that the drainage plans were divided so half the water flows east and the other half flows to the west. He has explained that this strange geometry was permissible during its time period and is considered grandfathered.
Gifford Road resident Cynthia Anderson has asked the SBC, the School Committee or town officials to fund a repair.
Hartnett said Anderson has been in his office once a week for the last six months.
Town and school officials said the $97.5 million school project is under a tight timeline and a tight budget.
-- Jeffrey D. Wagner Stillwater school board votes to expand Brookview Elementary School-- South Washington County Bulletin Minnesota: November 30, 2018 [ abstract]
With a 4-3 vote, the Stillwater school board has decided to expand Brookview Elementary School in Woodbury.
After opening in 2017, the school is nearing its 450-student capacity as hundreds of single-family homes are likely to be built nearby within the next decade, according to Woodbury planning officials. The expansion will consist of adding eight classrooms, with an estimated cost of up to $5.5 million. The project will be funded through the district's lease levy.
The estimated tax impact for property owners ranges from $4.60 to $12.80, according to a report by district administrators presented to the school board Nov. 8.
The cost could be offset by the sale of district properties, including the Washington School and the pending sale of the Marine Elementary School, according to the report.
In a presentation to the board, Woodbury housing and economic development coordinator Karl Batalden explained that once city leaders implement their new comprehensive land-use plan, development of up to 185-324 homes east and northeast of the school could begin as early as 2019. Completion of the neighborhoods could take about three to five years, he said.
"The development community wants badly to be developing near Brookview," Batalden said.
-- Jackie Renzetti Burlington County school districts plan for new security measures-- Burlington County Times New Jersey: November 26, 2018 [ abstract] MOUNT HOLLY — New security vestibules. Updated exterior lights. Additional security cameras. Enhanced door locks.
These are just a few of the new security measures Burlington County high schools are planning to put in place after receiving funding for the projects through the county’s $20 million grant program.
“It was perfect for us because we were already in the works (to improve security) but one of the items that the grant really helps with is the safety and security vestibule,” Rancocas Valley Regional High School Superintendent Christopher Heilig said. “During the school day, all of the traffic is funneled through that main entrance.”
Rancocas Valley is one of nine high schools that have been officially awarded a grant through the county’s new school security initiative.
The county has created a $20 million pool of funding available for improvements at all 21 public high schools in the county. The grants are being awarded on a rolling, first-come, first-serve basis in order to fund improvements as quickly as possible.
Pemberton Township High School was the first to receive its award of $1.2 million in early October. The other eight approvals include:
- Burlington Township — $768,000
- Cinnaminson — $380,000
- Delran — $902,000
- Florence Township — $707,000
- Maple Shade — $1,272,000
- Rancocas Valley Regional — $1,001,000
- Riverside — $977,000
- Willingboro — $1,450,000
-- Kelly Kultys Runoff from Camden school construction site results in state environmental orders-- Penobscot Bay Pilot Maine: November 26, 2018 [ abstract] CAMDEN — Sediment runoff into the Megunticook River from the construction site of the new middle school on Knowlton Street in Camden has resulted in a list of directives from the Maine Department Environmental Protection issued Nov. 20 to its project contact, including the contractor and architect.
The DEP ordered them to immediately stabilize the construction site, submit photos of that work by Nov. 21, and submit an action plan to the DEP.
The issue came to the DEP’s attention after the town consulted with the state’s environmental agency earlier in November. Camden planning and Development Director Jeremy Martin said Nov. 20 that earthworks at the construction site had resulted in clay soil to migrate down the banks into the river.
On Tuesday, Nov. 27, Martin, along contractors and the DEP, will meet at the site to assess and work toward a resolution.
Martin said the disruption of the soil at the site where construction of the 84,000-square-foot new school has partially begun, and where demolition of the old school continues, has resulted in discharge into the river. Heavy rainstorms did not help, and efforts to clean the berms around the site has been underway, but not to the necessary extent.
-- Lynda Clancy City School Board moves to acquire prelim master plan funds-- The Athens News Ohio: November 25, 2018 [ abstract]
Athens City School District administrators are taking the first steps in the planning process for the facilities master plan approved by the School Board last March. On Nov. 15, the board had first reading of a resolution that, if approved, will give the district treasurer and superintendent permission to issue a portion of the $60.5 million worth of bonds the district aims to use in advance for the master plan.
This money is intended to fund planning costs and potentially save money in the long run, a school official said.
“The resolution... was to give us the option of issuing up to $10 million of the bonds before the end of December,” ACSD Treasurer Matt Bunting said in an email early last week. “We would do that if there is enough margin on the bond interest rates that makes sense and to give us money to begin the design planning and some other costs.”
Voters in the Athens City School District on Nov. 6 approved a capital-improvements property tax levy to fund the district’s master plan for new and renovated school facilities. The 5.88-mill levy over the next 30 years is expected to generate enough funds to repay $60.5 million in bonds, which the district plans to sell in order to complete the plan, along with a substantial contribution from the state of Ohio (an expected $27.5 million).
-- Kayla Beard Albia school improvements come with a hefty price tag-- Albia Newspaper Iowa: November 21, 2018 [ abstract] Estes Construction ICAT (Iowa Construction Advocate Team) was hired by the Albia Community School Board to study facility improvement needs at the high school and junior high, Lincoln Center, Mick Technology Building and the Monroe County Sports Complex.
Their job was to identify short and longer term needs and provide information to the board to help produce a District Facility Master Plan. The assessment made of the buildings was a visual, non-destructive inspection, identifying existing conditions and providing an estimate of probable costs to perform the necessary maintenance, repairs or renovations required to bring the current conditions into compliance with building codes, quality, comfort, improved learning environment, aesthetics and accessibility requirements for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The report is intended to be used as a planning tool for the school district to use in short and long-term facility goals.
At first glance of the report, the costs are eye-popping, particularly in terms of the work already done in the district using mostly S.I.L.O. (School Infrastructure Local Opetion) penny sales tax. Those major projects included the remodeling and addition to Grant School, remodeling of Kendall School, construction of the new track and soccer field, building the MAC wrestling facility, air conditioning at Lincoln Center, addition of the new high school cafeteria and improvements done to the football field.
-- Staff Author Lot rezoning at Stilson paves way for school-- Jackson Hole Daily Wyoming: November 15, 2018 [ abstract] planning commissioners approved two rezones this week to make way for a land transfer that could land a secondary school on the Stilson lot at the intersection of Highways 22 and 390.
Teton County School District No. 1 recently received 3 acres of dirt at Teton Village, a required exaction from the development of Shooting Star that’s slated for a new school. But county commissioners and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort have expressed concerns that a school at the end of the dead-end Village road could amplify the valley’s traffic problems.
Instead, the 8.5 acres of county-owned land at Stilson have been floated as an alternative school site. The idea is the county would trade the Stilson parcel for the Village parcel, allowing the district to build a school at Stilson.
The district is currently undergoing a “Most Cost Effective Remedy” study to determine the best path for coping with overcrowding in its middle and high schools, whether that be additions to existing schools, a new facility or some other alternative.
The school board expects to be presented with options and community input in March.
-- Allie Gross Marshfield schools look to complete technology upgrades-- Wicked Local Marshfield Massachusetts: November 15, 2018 [ abstract] Marshfield Public Schools is committed to the successful integration of technology in its classrooms and is preparing to ask the town for over half a million dollars to complete a two-year plan to update and stay current.
The school committee performed a first read at the FY20-FY24 capital budget plan Tuesday, which outlines nearly $14.5 million in capital needs over the next five years, most of which stem from the town’s own assessment.
“We’re approaching this a little bit differently than in previous years,” said Assistant Superintendent of Business and Finance Thomas Miller. “We’ve had the capital assessment done for the Town of Marshfield, and we have pretty much kept all those same items intact from last year, so the budget as presented is very similar to last year’s capital plan that the committee approved.”
School officials are planning to ask for $660,325 for the upcoming fiscal year: $560,325 for 21st century technology and $100,000 to complete floor replacement at South River School.
The largest line item of the $560,325 is replacement of computers at teacher workstations in grades K through 8, most of which are between 6 and 8 years old. The purchase of 250 computers will cost the district $175,000.
The remaining money would be spent on interactive projectors at Furnace Brook Middle School and grades K through 3, more Chromebooks and iPads through the elementary and middle school levels and school intercom systems at South River School and Furnace Brook Middle School.
“That is our priority number one,” Miller said of the technology plan.
-- James Kukstis State Senator Fuller Clark joins fight to save St. Patrick School building-- Edge Radio Maine: November 12, 2018 [ abstract] PORTSMOUTH -- State Sen. Martha Fuller Clark is joining a group of locals calling for the preservation of the former St. Patrick School, which is planned for demolition to create parking for the affiliated Immaculate Conception church.
“I think there ought to be another way to solve the parking problem for the church and at the same time, not have an iconic 20th century building torn down, which I think can be rehabilitated,” said Fuller Clark, D-Portsmouth. “I look at what Chinberg did at the Frank Jones buildings and it makes me think it can be converted to living units, which is much needed in the downtown.”
Chinberg Properties restored two 1800s buildings in the city’s West End that once housed the Frank Jones ale-production business, then stood vacant and became home to pigeons and a target for people spray-painting after dark. Four months before anyone could move into the restored buildings, 60 percent of the apartments were reserved.
Austin Street resident Stephen Erickson said last week he had collected 50 signatures on a petition to try and save the now-vacant St. Pat’s school on his street. He said he was planning to meet with church officials Tuesday toward that goal and will petition the city for a meeting of the Demolition Review Committee. Fuller Clark said Monday she will also attend Tuesday’s meeting with church officials and hopes, “we can get the church to reconsider.”
She said the closed school could provide income for the church through rents, or an outright sale.
-- Elizabeth Dinan Arkansas safety panel drafts plans to prevent, respond to school-related violence-- Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Arkansas: November 10, 2018 [ abstract] The Arkansas School Safety Commission on Friday completed the drafting of recommendations for a final report to the governor on ways to prevent school-related violence, as well as defend against it and recover from it if it happens.
"This is going to be a report that's going to have a big impact," commission Chairman Cheryl May, director of the University of Arkansas' Criminal Justice Institute, said of the document that is due to Gov. Asa Hutchinson by Nov. 30. "This is something that can really, really help make a difference.'
The final report, which builds on a preliminary report sent to Hutchinson in July, will include provisions and supporting information on mental health programs, employment of law enforcement and security officers, emergency planning, communication systems and school building security.
The commission's recommendations are the result of numerous presentations from experts and others interested in school safety, a survey of district superintendents and visits to a dozen schools in all parts of the state.
Hutchinson established the 18-member commission of educators, law enforcement agents and mental-health professionals in March to make recommendations on improving school security. He did that in the aftermath of the Feb. 14 shooting deaths of 17 students and employees by an intruder at a Parkland, Fla., high school.
School building and and school bus security measures -- and potential revenue sources for them -- were a focus at Friday's daylong commission meeting.
-- Cynthia Howell Bonsall High School plans in limbo with bond failure-- The San Diego Union-Tribune California: November 10, 2018 [ abstract] The defeat of Bonsall Unified School District’s $38 million school bond initiative dealt a crippling blow to plans for a new high school in the rural, North County community.
Measure EE, which would have funded construction of a campus for Bonsall High School, failed by nearly 18 percentage points, with just 41.02 percent of voters in favor, compared to 58.98 percent opposed.
This is the second go-around for that proposal; a similar, $58 million measure on the 2016 ballot was defeated by a much narrower margin of 49.37 percent to 50.63 percent. Earlier efforts to build a school at the site also fell short.
The losing bond bid leaves the district scrambling for alternatives to construct a campus that would serve future high school students as the community grows. Given the two-time defeat, the district will have to evaluate its options, with the help of outside experts and incoming school board members, said Superintendent David Jones.
“The wisest thing for me to do is to bring in facilities experts and financial experts from the county, from our own staff, from the board of trustees,” Jones said. “To open up our minds and ask ourselves what is a good option for our high schools students. It’s going to take a team effort and a group of people to begin planning.”
Opposition to the bond centered on the proposed school site, at Gird Road, off State Route 76. Residents of that neighborhood have fought the project, saying it would worsen traffic and pose safety and environmental problems.
-- Deborah Sullivan Brennan Local school plans to add modular classroom building-- Appeal-Democrat California: November 05, 2018 [ abstract]
A school in Marysville Joint Unified School District now has classes at capacity.
So, Edgewater Elementary School is planning to install a modular classroom building in March or April of 2019. The classroom space would be specifically for kindergarten classes, said Michael Hodson, assistant superintendent of business services at MJUSD.
Hodson said the district is facing some challenges with facilities, including space issues. He said that is a challenge in every district and they look at enrollment trends and try to look ahead and keep up with the need for space.
“Edgewater was one where we were flat out full,” Hodson said.
Lori Guy, principal at Edgewater Elementary, said they are at capacity for certain grade levels – fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade. They have an average of 33 students allowed in those classes.
Within the last few years, Guy said changes in their attendance boundaries have helped avoid a huge waiting list.
There are some residents who live across the street from the school, but, because they’re not within the boundary, those children may not be able to attend Edgewater.
“Those are the ones that we want to try to get into our school,” Guy said. But their first goal is to make sure they have room for the students in their boundary.
-- Ruby Larson New Schools $17 Billion Capital Plan Aims To Increase School Accessibility, Reduce Overcrowding-- WNYC New York: November 01, 2018 [ abstract] The $17 billion capital plan for New York City public schools that officials say is "the largest ever" would significantly increase accessibility in a system where many students with physical disabilities are barred entry.
The funds for the years 2020-2024 would be used to reduce overcrowding and end the use of trailers for classroom instruction, issues that have long been concerns raised by families and staff alike. But the most significant aspect would be the $750 million set aside to make one-third of schools accessible by the end of fiscal 2024. Currently, only 20 percent are accessible according to a report from Advocates for Children, and only $178 million was allocated for accessibility in the current capital plan.
One school district, District 16, which spans Bed-Stuy in central Brooklyn, has no accessible schools.
Karin Goldmark, the school system’s Deputy Chancellor of School planning and Development, says that construction work would make schools accessible to students with mobility, vision and hearing impairments.
Increased funding for accessibility is a step toward affording students with physical disabilities the same opportunities as their able-bodied peers, advocates say.
-- Beenish Ahmed School’s Tax-Neutral Capital-Projects Plan on Schedule-- Mahjopac News New York: October 26, 2018 [ abstract] MAHOPAC, N.Y. - The school district is on course with plans to undertake several tax-neutral capital-improvement projects next year; however, the scope and cost of those projects is still undetermined, according to school officials who addressed the matter at the Oct. 18 Board of Education meeting.
The district is looking to undertake some capital projects due to a quirk in a state formula that could impact the district’s tax rate if it doesn’t maintain its debt service.
The district will see $2.8 million in debt come off the books in 2018 and more in the next few years, so school officials are looking for projects to replace that debt.
Harvey Sotland, the district’s assistant superintendent for business affairs, said that a complex formula used by the state’s Department of Education makes that possible.
“We identify what we can levy onto the local taxpayer, which is based on a formula from the state Department of Education. In that formula, there is a variable that speaks toward debt service. It impacts how much the tax levy (the total amount the district collects in taxes) can be,” he told Mahopac News back in August. “The tax cap is not a true 2 percent cap; it’s based on this formula. One of those variables [in the formula] is the debt service. If you have a huge drop-off in debt service, like we are having next year, it’s going to materially impact your tax cap where you could actually have a situation where you don’t have the ability to increase the tax levy over the previous year. That’s not a good thing.”
Sotland said it’s important to maintain an even debt service each year with no ups or downs.
The district had a building-conditions study done in 2015 and it will use that as a planning tool as it picks the projects it will undertake.
-- BOB DUMAS Park City School District focuses on educational vision for new master plan-- ParkRecord.com Utah: October 24, 2018 [ abstract] Schools in the Park City School District could look very different in a few years. Or, they might remain the same. It all depends on what the community decides.
The district recently laid out a nine-month timeline and goals for planning-process-with-focus-on-communication/" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(10, 94, 172); text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">a fresh master planning process, which include seeking recommendations from the Park City community to determine the direction of the district. By the end of spring, the district intends to have a master plan in place.
The master planning process is kicking off with an open house on Monday. Park City residents will have the opportunity to voice their opinions at the event, which is scheduled to take place during two sessions, at 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at the Sheldon Richins Building auditorium.
Melinda Colton, spokesperson for the district, said officials plan to first ask how the community envisions the future of the district, then work backward to achieve that goal.
"What is the future of learning going to look like, not just tomorrow, but 10 years down the road?" Colton said. "We are taking a step back to really make sure that education is driving our facilities, and not the other way around."
-- Carolyn Webber Alder School construction delayed in Ohio district after artifacts are unearthed-- American School & University Ohio: October 22, 2018 [ abstract] Construction on a new school campus in theSouthwest Licking (Ohio) district is on holdafter arrowheads and other artifacts were unearthed on the site.
WSYX-TV reports that although design plans for Watkins Memorial High and Elementary Schools in Pataskala are moving forward, site work on the project has been postponed until at least spring.
Crews recently uncovered artifacts that were from 50 years up to 12,000 years old according to archeologist Andy Sewell with Lawhon Associates, an environmental engineering company.
Superintendent Robert Jennell says the district wants “to respect and preserve the history.” But it’s unclear what else might be uncovered in a second phase of the search.
Any items found that are more than 50 years old need to be recorded in a report to the National Register of Historic Places.
The planned site for the new campus is adjacent to the existing high school and middle school.
-- Mike Kennedy Trustees seem receptive to facilities plan-- Midland Reporter Telegram Texas: October 15, 2018 [ abstract] While hearing a committee’s plan to address more than $910 million in Midland ISD facilities needs, some members of the district’s board of trustees seemed to be receptive of work that went into the report.
The board during its meeting Monday heard a presentation about the Facility Master planning Committee’s report and had the opportunity to ask questions of James Riggen, chief operations officer. Some questions focused on future capacity and enrollment, which is expected to grow by 2.5 percent based on current grade projections.
“This is something that the community has talked about,” he said. “There’s work to be done…. But that’s a vision that we have — that there be a choice for students in the future.”
Overall, the committee’s plan calls for a $545.8 million bond in May and lists a project total of more than $910.3 million over the next decade, according to previous Reporter-Telegram stories. Trustee Bryan Murry said the committee examined data to come up with an option to serve capacity needs and to save money.
“As a taxpayer myself, I want to do what’s best for our district for this capacity,” said Murry, who sat on the committee. “But I also want to make sure that we do it financially (responsibly).”
Highlights of the plan for the May bond include a new high school, a replacement for Midland High School, a new middle school, a partner public school and a young women’s academy, according to the previous stories.
-- Simone Jasper A/C problems worsen in PBC schools after district delays millions in fixes-- Palm Beach Post Florida: October 11, 2018 [ abstract] Nearly two years after voters raised taxes to pay for better school facilities, air conditioners are breaking down more often in Palm Beach County’s public schools, forcing more students to study in overheated classrooms.
In the first five weeks of classes, the school district logged 2,172 reports of malfunctioning air conditioners on its campuses and facilities, a 6 percent increase from the same period a year ago, a Palm Beach Post analysis of school maintenance records shows.
The growing problems come after district administrators delayed $20 million of AC repairs and replacements scheduled for the last school year.
Flush with money from an increase in the county's sales tax, the district planning/wp-content/uploads/sites/72/2017/09/FY-2018-2027-Capital-Plan-2017-09-06.pdf" style="color: rgb(170, 120, 124); text-decoration-line: none;" target="_self">had planned $27 million in fixes last year.
But three-quarters of the work was postponed, district officials said, as a result of new priorities and a slow-moving competitive-bidding process to select firms to do the work.
With most planned fixes left undone, AC malfunctions increased this year in many of the district's 165 traditional schools and other facilities, The Post found.
The growing problems have wreaked havoc on campuses across the county. AC breakdowns have made learning more difficult for thousands of students, forced some classes outdoors and in some cases even required students to seek medical treatment.
-- Andrew Marra D.C.s Master Facilities Plan Will Shape the Citys Balance Between Neighborhood Schools and Charters-- Washington City Paper District of Columbia: October 10, 2018 [ abstract] This week D.C. will hold its third and final round of public meetings for a little-known planning process that could reshape the city’s balance between neighborhood schools and charters.
For the past 16 months, Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office has been developing a blueprint for the future of the city’s schools, known as a “Master Facilities Plan.” By law, this comprehensive report will provide city leaders with an overview of the state of school buildings across the District. The goal is to analyze population projections and school building data so that policymakers can plan for the next decade of D.C. public education. How should resources be directed? What schools need to be built? Where?
The stakes are high. Though D.C. has one of the largest charter school sectors in the country—educating nearly half of all city students—most families assume they could still send their child to their local neighborhood school, a District of Columbia Public School, if they wanted. A 2014 advisory committee on student assignment led by the deputy mayor for education found strong public support for maintaining schools that students living within a certain distance are entitled to attend.
But since 2008, the number of charters in the city has increased from 93 to 120, while the number of neighborhood schools has declined from 134 to 114. Only four new DCPS schools have opened in the city during this period, compared with 27 charters. Many advocates say there needs to be more coordination between the two school sectors if D.C. wants to ensure that all families have access to a neighborhood public school in the future.
Expected demographic shifts add another layer of complexity. The D.C. Auditor projectsschool enrollment to grow by 12,000 to 17,000 students in the next 10 years, with the bulk of that growth occurring in the middle and upper grades. A separate analysis produced by the D.C. Policy Center puts those estimates even higher, predicting just over 21,000 new students by 2026.
-- RACHEL M. COHEN Auditor questioned if impact fees were misspent in more than Lee County school district-- Florida: October 09, 2018 [ abstract] When the Lake County school district received the results of an audit in April, the report questioned whether the district misspent $10.3 million in impact fees in fiscal year 2016-17.
Lake County, north and west of Orlando, is one of three school districts whose impact fee use has been questioned by the Florida Auditor General in the past year. The first was Miami-Dade in 2017. The latest was Lee County.
School impact fees are levied on new construction and can be used to pay the cost of building schools needed due to the growth.
The audit challenged whether the Lake County school district's use of the $10.3 million to pay on debt incurred prior to fiscal 2016-17 was appropriate. It also questioned whether the district's records showed how using the fees to pay for debt incurred during previous fiscal years addressed "the educational capital needs of future residents."
"We believe a person who is paying the impact fee today is still receiving a benefit because we built the schools in the past planning for their arrival," said Scott Ward, the Lake County school district's chief financial officer.
"As the person that’s paying that impact fee today, they have an immediate seat in a school versus having to wait until we have enough impact fees to build the next school."
-- Thyrie Bland County Executive's adequate public facilities council modeled after Harford County-- The Frederick News-Post Maryland: October 05, 2018 [ abstract]
County Executive Jan Gardner introduced the concept of a new Adequate Public Facility Ordinance (APFO) advisory council last week, to help with the issues of school construction and overdevelopment in Frederick County.
The idea, she said, was inspired by an Adequate Public Facilities (APF) advisory board already established in Harford County. That council was created in 2003 to address the same school construction issues, according to Cindy Mumby, Harford County’s director of government affairs.
“I would say that topic dominates the discussion,” Mumby said about how the board focuses on school crowding, overdevelopment and similar issues.
Harford County’s board consists of a representative from the county’s schools superintendent’s office, the planning and zoning commission, PTA, the county council, county executive and board of education.
Gardner told The Frederick News-Post this week her APFO advisory council would look a lot like Harford County’s, but declined to say who would be appointed. It would meet twice a year and submit an annual report to the county executive with findings about where school crowding is occurring, and what could be done to alleviate the issue.
“Counties share a lot of these same circumstances,” Gardner said about adopting Harford County’s model. “I read that Harford County had actually closed some areas to development, based on a recommendation from this committee.”
-- Steve Bohnel CU collaborates on FEMA natural disaster emergency preparedness guide for K-12 schools-- Times-Call Colorado: October 05, 2018 [ abstract] Local schools had their preparedness for natural disasters tested with the 2013 floods and can offer lessons in responding, especially during the recovery phase.
In a collaboration with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, CU's Natural Hazards Center is highlighting the risks posed to K-12 schools by a variety of potential disasters — and Lyons schools' flood response was highlighted as an example of best practice.
University of Colorado Boulder sociology professor Lori Peek was one of the authors of the free FEMA guide "Safer, Stronger, Smarter: A Guide to Improving School Natural Hazard Safety."
While much attention has been paid to violence-prevention, Peek said, parents and policymakers often overlook the growing threat of natural hazards.
"We are experiencing more frequent and more intense climate-related disaster events, including severe storms and floods," she said. "Yet many of our schools were built before modern codes existed or are in places where codes and land use planning standards are not rigorous."
Locally, flooding, wildfires, snowstorms and high winds are the main threats.
"Natural disasters by their nature are unpredictable," said Rob Price, Boulder Valley's assistant superintendent of operational services. "We want to make sure staff is ready to respond to an emergency and is prepared as possible."
He added that the district follows the guidelines suggested by FEMA.
"A lot of what I read in the FEMA report is what we're doing," Price said.
Hard to plan for a catastrophe
Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley have the advantage of being among the better funded school districts in the state thanks to local voters' willingness to approve property tax increases.
-- Amy Bounds Framingham School Committee Approves $4.6 Million Capital Infrastructure Plan; Including $1.1 Million For Air Conditioni-- Framingham Source Massachusetts: October 03, 2018 [ abstract] FRAMINGHAM – Tonight, October 3, the City of Framingham’s School Committee voted to approve the school district’s annual request of priority capital projects.
These projects and the district’s capital planning process save money in the long-term by prioritizing preventative maintenance and health safety projects, utilizing existing infrastructure, and fully using warranties and cost effective contract vehicles in partnership with municipal departments.
“The School Committee’s request seeks to fund what is sorely needed so students, staff, and our community can benefit,” said Adam Freudberg, Chair of the Framingham School Committee and District 4 Member. “Security improvements, environmentally friendly upgrades, ADA compliance, exterior upgrades, and fixing a major health safety and educational delivery gap at Framingham High School by adding air conditioning were prioritized by the committee. With this plan, we have teamed up with the Superintendent and Buildings and Grounds to create an opportunity to make limited strategic investments to support our current students and educators, as well as the generations to come.”
-- Susan Petroni Ashland schools plan for more construction after record kindergarten enrollment-- Columbia Daily Tribune Missouri: October 02, 2018 [ abstract] Record kindergarten enrollment in the Southern Boone School District in Ashland will force a conversation with the school board about planning for an early childhood center, Superintendent Chris Felmlee said Monday.
The official tally of 162 kindergartners, 25 more than last year, is a continuation of a trend the district has seen for several years, Felmlee said. An eight-classroom addition to the Southern Boone Primary School opened in August 2017 to serve students in kindergarten through second grade.
“We’re all full,” Felmlee said Monday of the building. He said there are eight kindergarten classes now, but a ninth will be needed next year. Felmlee said there has been a record kindergarten enrollment for each of the past several years.
Overall enrollment in the school district is up 4 percent, 1,666 in the official September 2017 count to 1,738 in this year’s tally, made on Sept. 26.
“Our next bond issue, we’re looking at an early childhood center, with preschool, kindergarten and Parents as Teachers,” Felmlee said.
Five of the seven school districts in Boone County saw enrollments increase this fall, with the fastest growth rate, 5 percent, in the Harrisburg School District in the northwest. There are 24,611 students enrolled in the seven districts, up from 23,963 in fall 2017.
-- Roger McKinney Iowa State Dept. of Education holds workshop for schools to develop emergency plans-- kwqc.com Iowa: September 27, 2018 [ abstract] Iowa State Department of Education held a workshop yesterday to help schools develop high quality plans that cover active shooter and natural disaster events. A state law passed in April now requires all k-12 schools in Iowa write plans that help prepare for these events.
The workshop was led by Jane Collacecchi, a contractor for the Iowa Department of education.
"We want to hope that the state continues to push resources in this direction because this planning effort takes more than a year, it's an ongoing effort," says Collacecchi. "We always say emergency plans are never done, they're an ongoing living documents.. and every time we exercise them and every time we have a disaster we learn, and we improve our plans each and every time."
The most recent event happened in Eldridge, when police say a 12-year-old North Scott Junior High student brought a gun to school and pointed it at a teacher.
North Scott administrators were present at the safety plan workshop. Superintendent, Joe Stutting says the plans the district already has in place are good, and would meet state requirements. A safety committee for the district meets once a month to review the plans for schools.
-- Judith Palma UL committee begins work toward school improvements-- The Times Leader Ohio: September 26, 2018 [ abstract] BELMONT — The Union Local Comprehensive Educational Facilities planning Committee met for the first time Monday as the school district looks to begin planning a decade’s worth of curricular and facility improvements.
Superintendent Ben Porter said the process of assessing the facilities in the district began in January, focusing on what was needed to get the buildings “up to code” and better suited to deliver a more modern education. Porter told attendees that would mean moving away from classrooms where a teacher dictates lessons to students and toward a more collaborative experience in which “21st century skills” can be developed.
Porter said “rigorous academic content” would remain the foundation, but that there will be new emphasis on developing the communication, social and problem-solving skills required for “deep learning.”
Educational planner and consultant David Sneed opened with some sobering statistics outlining the rapidly changing global economy and the importance of preparing students to live and compete in that world.
-- LENNY WITTENBROOK ACS approves its capital project plan-- Alabaster Reporter Alabama: September 24, 2018 [ abstract] The Alabaster City School System will turn its attention to renovating and upgrading its existing facilities over the next couple of years, as the system’s largest construction project to date wraps up.
The city’s Board of Education approved the school system’s updated five-year capital plan during a Sept. 10 meeting.
Each year, school systems throughout the state are required to submit their five-year capital plans with the State Department of Education outlining funding amounts, funding years and years of expected completion for their capital projects.
Over the past few years, the capital plan’s largest project was the construction of the new Thompson High School, which opened to students last spring. With the new THS and all of its extracurricular facilities now nearly completed, the capital plan is now focusing on renovations to existing schools in the city.
Alabaster School Superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers said the five-year capital plan is the school system planning for its future needs, and funding amounts for the projects included in the plan are not set in stone.
-- Neal Wagner School Board approves capital plan-- Suffolk News-Herald Virginia: September 24, 2018 [ abstract] Suffolk’s School Board voted 6-1 to approve the Capital Improvements Plan presented by school division staff at its Thursday evening meeting.
The Capital Improvements Plan that was presented by Director of planning and Facilities Terry Napier was almost identical to the one presented last year, but a few project timelines have been adjusted due to new priorities.
Northern Shores Elementary School would receive 12 additional classrooms to replace its mobile units under the plan.
City Council originally approved the plan in 2017 to begin its design phase during the 2018-2019 fiscal year, but the project was delayed due to new priorities, according to the school division’s Executive Director of Finance Wendy Forsman.
The school division is now pushing for the project to begin the design process during the 2019-2020 fiscal year, because the need for more space is crucial.
“Northern Shores is severely overcrowded. Now it is our feeling that we can’t wait any longer,” Napier said.
-- Kellie Adamson BCSD growth prompts need for new facilities in coming years-- The Gazette South Carolina: September 21, 2018 [ abstract] With the continued regional growth that is projected for the coming years, Berkeley County School District will have to consider erecting a new middle school, two new elementary schools, and in the next decade or so, also a new high school.
However, a number of questions about how to properly plan for growth remain unanswered - one vital question being how the district will cover the related costs.
“That’s going to be a tough one,” said Tony Parker, the district's former superintendent.
Parker is also with consulting firm Harding Parker & Associates, LLC, which signed a contract with the district in July, though at the time there was controversy about whether the firm was even needed. At their Sept. 18 board meeting, board members reviewed the facilities master plan the firm compiled.
Parker said there have been conversations about a one-cent sales tax to help fund building new schools and renovating old ones, and there is also the idea of a bond referendum. Parker also brought up an impact fee on new construction.
“All of these are issues that are going to have to be considered by this board of education to come to a consensus on how do you address the growth that is going to be coming into Berkeley County in the future,” he said.
Mike Miller, founder of Numerix, LLC in Charleston, reviewed the area's growth forecast data. Miller said the forecast models are built from historic trends and future development potentials and are intended for medium to long-range planning – or three to 10 years.
Miller said the forecast predicted an average annual growth of 759 students in the district over the next decade, which equates to a growth rate of about 2.1 percent annually.
-- Monica Kreber Henrico officials planning to build two new high schools to replace J.R. Tucker and Highland Springs-- Richmond Times-Dispatch Virginia: September 20, 2018 [ abstract]
J.R. Tucker High School on North Parham Road in western Henrico County was built in 1962.
County Manager John Vithoulkas spoke while Superintendent Amy Cashwell (right) looked on at Highland Springs High. Each of the new high schools is expected to cost about $80 million, much of which is already earmarked.
Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas spoke at Highland Springs High on Thursday to announce plans for new Highland Springs and J.R. Tucker high schools, on opposite sides of the county. Higher-than-expected meals tax collections will help pay for the schools.
Henrico County officials are counting on higher-than-expected meals tax collections and bonds to build two new high schools on opposite ends of the county by 2021.
At a news conference Thursday, Henrico officials announced plans to spend an additional $60 million to replace J.R. Tucker and Highland Springs high schools.
The surprise announcement denotes a change in the county’s capital improvement plan and a policy favoring renovation over replacement for aging schools.
At the news conference at Highland Springs, County Manager John Vithoulkas noted that the clock on the school football field’s scoreboard was set to “20:21” — the year the project should be finished.
-- Chris Suarez Washington County BOE to request $21 million for projects-- Herald-Mail Media Maryland: September 19, 2018 [ abstract] Washington County Public Schools will ask for nearly $21 million from state and local governments to fund four projects in the upcoming fiscal year.
The board of education on Tuesday unanimously passed a motion approving its capital-improvement program, or CIP, for fiscal year 2020. The request will now be sent to the state for approval.
The CIP outlines specific planning and funding requests for construction, renovations, additions and systematic projects — like HVAC or roof replacements — that qualify for state funding.
Chief Operating Officer Jeff Proulx said the CIP was a companion document to the Educational Facilities Master Plan, which was approved in June and shared with the county commissioners at a recent joint meeting.
The request includes $12.53 million for the new Sharpsburg Elementary School, broken down into $6.511 million from the state and $6.019 million from the local government. This is the second CIP request for the school, which will open in August 2020.
Also requested is the third CIP installment for the BOE share of the downtown urban-improvement project for $4.707 million. The project is expected to be completed in May 2020.
-- Alexis Fitzpatrick New School Building Options Presented - Brevard NC-- The Transylvania Times North Carolina: September 13, 2018 [ abstract] On Monday evening, Chad Roberson of the architectural firm Clark Nexsen provided the Transylvania County Board of Education with preliminary schematic options for RosmanHigh/Middle School and Brevard High School.
Roberson said the options are not final plans, but are working documents broad in nature that would be revised based on constant feedback from the school board, administrators, teachers and the community. Revised versions of the options should be presented at another board meeting on Sept. 24. The school system's current goal is for the changes to occur after passage of a $68 million bond referendum in November. Roberson said Rosman High/Middle School is a "much more challenging" site than Brevard High due to the topography.
"The Rosman campus is much more limited," he said. "It is very steep at Rosman."
Portions of the campus cannot be built upon because the slope of the land is greater than 30 degrees.
The other challenge is that much of the property used for athletics is close to or in the floodplain. Due to underground springs and rain flowing down from the slopes, storm water removal is a key consideration when it comes to planning new construction. Roberson said the school has limited parking and students often are dropped off on the street in front of the school. In addition, parts of the school, such as the athletic fields, field house and farm, are separated from the main campus by a few roads.
Roberson said the firm had completed one option for Rosman High/Middle School, but it is investigating another option.
-- John Lanier Philip R. Smith community makes school transition seamless-- Journal Inquirer Connecticut: September 13, 2018 [ abstract]
SOUTH WINDSOR — Philip R. Smith Elementary School Principal Michelle Dixon has smoothly transferred her community of 400 students and 55 staff to a temporary new home, the old Orchard Hill Elementary School building, where they will stay for two school years.
The move is a part of the town’s Ten-Year Elementary Facilities Master Plan, which began with constructing a new Orchard Hill school and leaving the old one as a transition space for students.
With the plan now in its second phase, the original Philip R. Smith building will be demolished to make way for a new school in the same location at 949 Avery St.
The 400 students, in kindergarten through fifth grade, had their first day of school at the Orchard Hill swing space, at 350 Foster St., on Aug. 29.
Although the first school day ended early as temperatures soared into the 90s, Dixon considers the start of the school year a well-orchestrated success.
“I don’t think this transition could have gone any smoother,” she said. “Right off the bat, students felt at home.”
Dixon, who is in her seventh year as principal, has been preparing for almost a year to make the old Orchard Hill building feel like a home for the Philip R. Smith community.
The first steps began in October and November, when she and staff members mapped out the building.
Classroom teachers, 19 in total, visited the space in April and then began packing up furniture and items after the last day of school in June. Within two weeks everything was delivered to teachers’ classrooms, Dixon said.
“All the planning we did brought us closer together,” she said.
-- Katherine Eastman Future of new West Ada high school hangs in the balance-- 7KTVB Idaho: September 12, 2018 [ abstract] ADA COUNTY — Growth is the theme of the Treasure Valley; our housing and construction markets are booming, industry and jobs are growing, and we continue to top lists for best places to live in America.
But all that growth is leading to overcrowding in our schools, particularly in the West Ada School District. To alleviate that, the district is hoping to build a new high school by 2020. But Meridian planning and Zoning recommended denial of their plan last week, likely delaying that timeline.
The new school is going to be called Owyhee High School, and it would help alleviate overcrowding at area high schools. West Ada says Eagle High School is almost 300 kids over capacity, Rocky Mountain is about 640 students over, Mountain View High School is about 440 students over capacity, and with nearly 9,000 approved new home sites in Meridian High School's current attendance zone, that school will be bursting at the seams, too.
West Ada School District Chief Communications Officer Eric Exline says those approved home sites alone will bring 2,000 high school kids to that area alone over the next several years - which is roughly the population of a whole high school.
The future site of Owhyee High School is off Ustick Road just west of McDermott Road in unincorporated Ada County. Right now there's not much except a dairy farm, a couple houses, and corn fields surrounding the land.
"We never got any indication that we had a problem," Exline told KTVB. "Never really thought we were going to be turned down on a school proposal. This is the first time I've ever experienced that."
But that's the reality the West Ada School District is facing.
-- Morgan Boydston Where will the next St. Johns County high school be built? This school board member has a good idea.-- The St. Augustine Record Florida: September 08, 2018 [ abstract] St. Johns County School Board member Beverly Slough hears the question at least once a month.
“When are we going to get a new high school?”
Slough, who represents District 1 schools in the northwest part of the county, said this week the school board and the St. Johns County School District not only has pretty good idea when the next high school will be built, but it also has a likely location picked out.
The most probable site, according to Slough, is a 43-acre plot of land owned by the St. Johns County School Board located just off County Road 210 between the Sandy Creek and Twin Creeks housing developments. planning for the school’s construction could start as early as 2020, Slough said. If built, the high school would be the fourth high school to pop up along the CR 210 artery and would be located just a few miles from Nease High School.
“Now it’s just about having money for construction,” Slough said.
The borrowing capacity needed for the construction of a new high school is expected to be available in 2021 after the district pays off a $150 million loan that it took in 2005 to build five new schools, according to Nicole Cubbedge, Director for Facilities planning and Growth Management for SJCSD.
“It’s like when you pay off a car and now you have revenue to put towards a new car,” Cubbedge said.
School board members Patrick Canan and Kelly Barrera agree constructing a new high school in the northern part of the county is a priority in large part due to the current student populations of Nease and Bartram Trail High Schools. If the new school were to be built between the two schools on CR 210, it could solve some of the current overcrowding issues.
-- Travis Gibson Re-use of Westport high school building complicated by state involvement-- The Herald News Massachusetts: August 26, 2018 [ abstract] WESTPORT — The Main Road police station is on its way toward becoming completely dormant and the high school building will share the same status in a few years.
In response, selectmen on Monday revisited the Long-term Building Committee and will ask the body to begin brainstorming options for these buildings.
So far, the new police station on Hixbridge Road is open and is now the headquarters of the Police Department. The high school building is expected to be vacated around 2021, and both buildings have no front-runner plans for use.
The Longterm planning Committee has three members, including School Building Committee representative Bill Gifford.
Selectmen on Monday charged Town Administrator Timothy King with reaching out to the committee and encouraging them to begin brainstorming.
Selectmen Vice Chairman Steven Ouellette said more people should be added to the committee, especially people with educational ties.
Gifford has made it clear that he believes the high school should be reused for education. In a recent interview with The Herald News, Gifford referenced a green roof project from earlier this decade that replaced the school’s roof.
The state School Building Authority has reimbursed close to half the costs, so if the high school does not maintain an educational status, the state will recover those funds.
-- Jeffrey D. Wagner Spring ISD to begin maintenance projects at four campuses-- Houston Chronicle Texas: August 21, 2018 [ abstract] Spring ISD will begin work soon to beautify and maintain mechanical systems at four campuses at Link Elementary and Wells, Dueitt and Twin Creeks middle schools.
Earlier this month, Spring ISD trustees approved a $6.39 million package for maintenance projects at Link Elementary School and Wells Middle School.
A second package of $10.5 million will go to maintaining Dueitt Middle School and Twin Creeks Middle School.
Both packages are part of the $330 million bond passed in 2016 that pledged $40 million toward maintaining campuses.
“These are some of the older campuses we have and it’s just age. This is the maintenance just like you would do on a car to keep it running in top condition,” said Gary Hutton, executive director of planning and construction.
Originally opened in 1982, Link Elementary School will have new flooring and new paint job as well as beautification on the exterior of the building that will cost about $2.6 million.
-- Mayra Cruz Temporary classrooms needed on Ozark elementary school campus-- CCHeadliner.com Missouri: August 17, 2018 [ abstract] Students at an Ozark elementary school will take classes in a mobile building, but school officials stress it’s a temporary move to accommodate a rapid growth in enrollment.
The Ozark Board of Aldermen approved a conditional use permit on Aug. 6, allowing the Ozark School District to place a temporary modular building on the East Elementary School campus. The 30-by-60-foot structure will house classrooms.
Assistant Superintendent Curtis Chesick appeared before the Ozark Board of Aldermen to explain why the school district needs more classrooms at East Elementary.
“Ozark continues to be a very attractive place for people to move to, so we have increased our enrollment and we are trying to find a place to put all of our fifth grade students,” Chesick said.
Chesick said the school district is starting some long range planning to discuss what can be done on Ozark’s campuses to accommodate more students.
-- Rance Burger Federal Way school district moves forward on construction project-- Federal Way Mirror Washington: August 16, 2018 [ abstract] The Federal Way school district is moving forward with construction projects this summer to expand and renovate six aging schools.
Approved by voters in Nov. 2017, a school construction bond of $450 million was allocated to Federal Way Public Schools to improve eight total schools, including Thomas Jefferson High School, Totem and Illahee middle schools, and Olympic View, Lake Grove, Mirror Lake, Star Lake and Wildwood elementary schools, as well as improvements for Memorial Stadium.
All of the schools, except for Illahee Middle School and Olympic View Elementary School, are now in phase two of construction, which is the design and planning process.
Two construction groups have been selected by FWPS for these projects. FORMA Construction will take on Mirror Lake, Lake Grove and Wildwood elementary schools. Cornerstone General Contractors Inc. has been selected for Thomas Jefferson High School.
The four remaining school projects will follow the same process in selecting contractors, said school district spokesperson Whitney Chiang.
The community can expect to see construction groundbreaking in spring 2019 for the elementary and middle schools, followed by shovels in the dirt for Thomas Jefferson High School in spring 2020.
-- Olivia Sullivan York City mayor plans to use neighborhood schools for community programs-- York Dispatch Pennsylvania: August 10, 2018 [ abstract] York City Mayor Michael Helfrich has a vision to bring community resources right to the people — in their own neighborhoods.
At a school board planning meeting Monday, Aug. 6, Helfrich presented his plans to utilize school gyms, and a few classrooms, for children's activities and job and life skills training for parents or guardians.
Discussion with the district's administration started in April, he said, and he was scheduled to take a tour of school buildings on Friday, Aug. 10.
If all goes as planned, the programs should start as soon as Helfrich finds coordinators to oversee them.
The plan did not require a board vote because it falls under a "permit 3," said Superintendent Eric Holmes, which means school buildings are approved for community use as long as the district does not pay any money.
The York City School District will not pay a dime, the mayor assured the board, and the city will also be responsible for running its programs — offered free to residents.
-- Lindsay C. VanAsdalan Save Our Schools not done fighting: Winona group asks court, city to help preserve shuttered schools-- Winona Daily News Minnesota: August 08, 2018 [ abstract]
The Save Our Schools Committee of Winona is doubling down in its effort to reopen Madison, Central and Rollingstone elementary schools, despite a local developer’s plans to convert two of the buildings into apartments and condominiums.
In a letter penned on the group’s behalf, Emilio DeGrazia called for the Minnesota Court of Appeals to reverse the school board’s March 29 vote to shutter and ultimately sell Madison and Rollingstone.
He asked that the Winona City planning Commission refuse to rezone the Madison and Central properties, both eyed by a developer for housing.
And he said a final decision on school consolidation should wait until the outcome of this fall’s school board races — an election that could tip the balance of power on the board.
“We persist because we believe that two main interests are threatened by this policy: The educational opportunities of students and teachers, and the economic and social future of Winona communities,” DeGrazia, a former English professor at Winona State University, said in the letter.
-- Kyle Farris District 112 to consider selling surplus school properties-- Chicago Tribune Illinois: August 07, 2018 [ abstract] North Shore School District 112’s property on Green Bay Road could fetch more than $5 million if sold for redevelopment as multi-family housing, according to one estimate.
That may partly explain why school officials are eager to decide this fall on new locations for the district’s early childhood programs and administrative offices. The school board committed to closing Green Bay School in 2019 at the time it voted to close Lincoln Elementary School and Elm Place Middle School this year.
Superintendent Michael Lubelfeld has said that selling off one or more unused school properties will be part of his proposed strategy for financing school improvements without a referendum.
“If we were to sell the (Green Bay Road) property on the open market, it can yield a very different price than some of our other assets,” Lubelfeld remarked during a July 28 kickoff meeting of the Long Range planning Committee. “If we dissolved this asset, working with the city, then it goes back on the tax rolls and we have a different revenue stream.”
-- Karen Berkowitz Gwinnett BOE calls referendum on bonds for new high school, other capital projects-- Gwinnett Daily Post Georgia: August 04, 2018 [ abstract]
Gwinnett County Public Schools is planning to build a new high school in the Mill Creek area and install artificial turf on athletic fields among other projects slated to be paid off with bonds that residents will vote on this fall.
The county’s school board unanimously called for a referendum on whether the district should issue General Obligations Bonds worth as much as $350 million to pay for the projects during a special called meeting Friday afternoon. The vote will go on the November general election ballot
That spot on the ballot had previously been expected to go to a referendum on Gwinnett joining MARTA, but county commissioners decided this week to hold that vote in March instead.
“The timing is very beneficial,” Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks said about the bond being on the November ballot. “It allows us to begin things six months earlier and have some things done before the next school year (2019-20).”
District spokeswoman Sloan Roach said the school system is planning to use the debt service millage rate to pay off the debt incurred by the bonds.
“The debt service rate was decreased by .10 to 1.95 mills this year,” Roach said. “Funding from that will still be sufficient to pay for the General Obligation Bonds.”
-- Trevor McNaboe Summertime is construction time in schools-- New York: August 04, 2018 [ abstract] Galway seniors celebrated graduation at the high school auditorium on Saturday, June 23. That Monday construction crews came in and started to rip up carpet, floors and seats.
“The auditorium is gutted,” said Brita Donovan, superintendent of Galway Central School District. “We will have new seating, new lighting, new sound. We are very excited about that work.”
As soon as students leave schools across the region, sometimes in the weeks leading up to the final school days, districts turn many school sites into construction zones. planning to minimize disruptions to students, district officials look to squeeze as much construction work into the fleeting summer months.
In Galway, a $26.7 million project approved by voters in 2016 is well underway.
Donovan, who started as superintendent last month after serving as the district’s head of curriculum and instruction, said she joked with someone who asked how the new job was going that she had already broken the school.
But aspects of building sites get broken down to be rebuilt. Galway is repaving it parking lot, improving outside lighting, reconfiguring the car drop-off loop for elementary students, repairing the roof, replacing interior floors and renovating classrooms with new cabinetry and ceilings across the school.
-- Zachary Matson 3 data-driven tips for successful bonds and levies-- eSchool News National: August 01, 2018 [ abstract] At some point during the year, many school districts will fall into one of these three areas:
- Thinking about planning a bond or levy measure
- Attempting to pass a bond or levy
- Trying make the most of the bond or levy they just passed
No matter which category your district finds itself in, the end goals are the same: alleviate overcrowded classrooms, get facilities sited in the best possible location, and—if existing facilities are being expanded or new facilities are being built—make sure attendance area boundaries are redrawn to accommodate community values while balancing school capacities.
Easier said than done.
School district planning involves a lot of decisions and a lot of data, regardless of size or number of students. Reaching that end goal will never be simple, but you can make your bond or levy campaign run smoothly by taking the time to update your long-term facilities plan, determine your school siting criteria, and start thinking about whether you’ll need to update attendance area boundaries.
Tip 1: Update your long-term facilities plan
-- TYLER VICK Winchester schools need capital improvements. What will get funded first?-- Wicked Local Winchester Massachusetts: August 01, 2018 [ abstract] Several Winchester schools are in desperate need of repair. The members of the School Committee toured the school facilities to identify what projects are most urgent. The result was a list of 10 capital projects for Fiscal Year 2020, ranked by priority. All 10 projects amount to a little over $2 million, nearly the same amount that is expected to be available for all town-wide projects for fiscal 2020. After reviewing all the town projects, the Capital planning Committee will recommend what gets funded.
The schools’ request is among $20 million in projects coming before the Capital planning Committee for fiscal 2020, explained School Committee member Brian Vernaglia.
On the list are an engineering study of electrical service for the Parkhurst building, where the schools central offices are located; repairs of the stairs and walkway at Lincoln Elementary; and replacing sinks and cabinets at Muraco Elementary, among other priorities. But Lynch Elementary projects predominate on the list and have the highest cost estimates, according to the priority ranking list presented at the recent School Committee meeting.
The highest priority for the schools is the cafeteria at Lynch Elementary, where the floor and ceiling need to be taken down and replaced, said Brian Vernaglia, one of the committee members who toured the schools with Pete Lawson, Department of Public Works facilities manager.
-- Mariya Manzhos Hundreds tour new East Noble Middle School building-- The News Sun Indiana: July 31, 2018 [ abstract] KENDALLVILLE — The new East Noble Middle School got a huge hello from the community Sunday.
Hundreds of people went to the new building at 415 Drake Road to get their first glimpse inside the new school. The parking lot was overloaded close to a half-hour before doors opened at 3 p.m. The dedication ceremony in the new gym was standing-room-only as attendees filled up the bleachers. And hallways were clogged with traffic jams as people wandered around checking out everything the new school had to offer.
Sunday’s open house was the culmination of about five years of planning and work to create a new space for East Noble’s sixth- through eighth-graders to learn.
“This day, seeing everybody walk in and smiles on their faces and looking around and ‘Oh man, it looks great in here,’ it makes it all worth it,” East Noble Middle School Principal Andy Deming said.
East Noble went through two public referendums in order to get the building. The first was narrowly defeated in fall 2014, but East Noble came back the next year with a plan to build on Drake Road and won the public’s approval for the $38 million project.
-- Steve Garbacz JCPS 'might have to explore' more money for new schools-- WDRB.com Kentucky: July 25, 2018 [ abstract]
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Ground could be broken for a new Jefferson County Public Schools middle school by the spring of 2020, the first of four new schools district officials hope to build by the fall of 2024.
A plan approved by the district’s Local planning Committee on Monday and sent to the Kentucky Department of Education for review calls for a new middle school and three modern elementary schools in Jefferson County.
JCPS officials say they hope the new schools alleviate overcrowding in east Jefferson County middle schools like Carrithers, Crosby and Ramsey, which are at more than 110 percent capacity, and consolidate the district’s elementary schools. A number of elementary schools are at less than 75 percent capacity and have aging buildings that don’t make financial sense to renovate, JCPS Chief Operations Officer Mike Raisor told the Jefferson County Board of Education during a work session Tuesday.
Raisor said his office would bring recommendations to consolidate two elementary schools that are under-enrolled and in close proximity to each other. He said there are four such schools that meet those criteria and another 10 that are close, but he did not name them.
The district’s elementary students can fit comfortably in 77 schools, 14 fewer than the 91 JCPS elementary schools currently open, he said.
-- Kevin Wheatley West Springfield considering 4 options ranging from $52M to $71M for Coburn School-- MASS Live Massachusetts: July 25, 2018 [ abstract] WEST SPRINGFIELD - Options for new construction and renovation designs for Phillip G. Coburn Elementary School were presented to the public Tuesday night.
The town is collaborating with the Massachusetts School Building Authority on a feasibility study for possible construction of a new Coburn School at 115 Southworth St. The School Building Authority is a quasi-independent government authority that funds construction and renovation projects for public schools across the commonwealth.
West Springfield Building & Other Facilities planning & Construction Committee Chairman David J. Partridge; William Cunniff, project director for NV5, the owner's project manager for the Coburn project; and Ryszard Szczypek, of TSKP Studio architects, outlined eight options, which were narrowed to three by the building committee.
The three options, described as Alternative A, E and F, all meet the educational requirement of serving 705 students.
But the School Building Authority directed the group to include a fourth option, Alternative D, which serves 515 students. That option would not include preschool or alternative program students who now attend the Cowing School. Options A, E and F do include those students.
Both the A and F options cost $71.4 million, Alternative E costs $71 million and Alternative D would cost $52.2 million. However, Szczypek said Alternative D would mean Cowing School would also need renovations at an estimated cost of $17.6 million.
Once a preferred option is selected, it will be sent to the School Building Authority for approval and consideration of including the preschool costs in the scope of work. Typically, the state funds projects for kindergarten and up.
-- Hope Tremblay
South Kingstown talks school facility improvements-- The Narragansett Times Rhode Island: July 22, 2018 [ abstract] SOUTH KINGSTOWN — As the school committee moves closer to submitting to the Rhode Island Department of Education its applications for its planned school construction, a series of full-day workshops earlier this week invited students, parents, teachers and school administrators to share more of their thoughts on the future of the town’s school facilities.
Robert Hendriks, managing principal of Educational Legacy planning Group, explained Wednesday the goal of the workshops was to gather insight for the development of a set of ed spec (education specification) documents for the high school, middle school and elementary schools.
“When this document is created, it will become kind of like the bible for the design,” said Hendriks, who will continue to work with the school district until the school committee adopts its stage two application to RIDE. “It’ll become the touchstone for the whole plan.”
The purpose, he continued, was to identify ideas for designing the schools in ways that will both meet student needs and which will “be sustainable for decades to come.”
The workshops were held Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Hendriks estimated between 25 and 40 community members of all ages came out each day to lend their ideas.
-- KENDRA GRAVELLE Seaside school seeks to use new garden as teaching opportunity-- Monterey Herald California: July 16, 2018 [ abstract] Seaside >> The Martin Luther King, Jr., School of the Arts just became the “greenest” school site in Monterey County now that its latest project is up and flowing.
David Chandler, coordinator of renewable energy and conservation at Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, unveiled a brand new student garden at the school. But, this is no ordinary garden.
Chandler teamed up with DROPS Grant, the Drought Response Outreach Program for Schools, to help build a project designed to increase student awareness of environmental benefits and water resource sustainability.
planning on the garden began in 2014 and construction was finished in June. So far, MLK has reduced water use by 53 percent and the school has saved a little more than $40,000. Chandler said MPUSD’s water budget would’ve been about $1.4 million instead of $800,000 without the new water conservation program.
“This isn’t just a baby step, it’s a giant step,” Chandler said.
-- Juan Reyes New snags in planning for a new, or remodeled, Columbia elementary school-- Baltimore Sun Maryland: July 13, 2018 [ abstract] State school planners are asking fresh questions about Howard County’s proposal for a 620-seat Talbott Springs Elementary School, a move that could delay construction of a new school or renovation of the existing building by at least a year.
The state has said it won’t earmark funds for a new school, forcing the county to consider remodeling the Columbia building or paying all of the costs for a new one.
At a meeting this week with the Howard County Council, Renee Kamen, the county school system’s manager of school planning, said “the state couldn’t wrap their heads around a 620 capacity school.”
The school system wants the school to have space for 620 students from kindergarten to fifth-grade, according to Kamen.
The school system’s plans have been challenged by the Interagency Commission on School Construction, a group that allocates school construction dollars.
The commission, formerly known as the Interagency Committee on School Construction, has said it favors a plan to remodel the 45-year-old building rather than construct a new $42 million school.
In May, the commission rejected the school system’s appeal for a share of state funds to build a new school after it earlier determined a renovation was the “most cost-effective solution.”
The school’s capacity is 377 students. However, that does not include 10 portable classrooms, which brought the student population of pre-kindergarten to fifth grade to 491 students for the 2017-2018 school year, according to the school’s profile. The first two portable classrooms were placed on the site in 2004, according to school spokesman Brian Bassett.
-- Jess Nocera School Facilities: What Do They Really Cost?-- School Planning & Management National: July 01, 2018 [ abstract] Because tight budgets are a fact of life for facility managers, low-priced systems and products may appear extremely attractive. However, those systems and products might have excessive lifetime operational costs, or they might have short usable lives, causing them to be replaced long before necessary. Enter Brett A. Mitchell, EdD. (ABD), director of Facilities Construction and Modernization at San Juan Unified School District (SJUSD), California, and a member of Design Build Institute of America. He manages a $2.4-billion capital improvement effort with current bond authorization of $1.2 billion in this district of 88 school sites spread across nearly 80 square miles serving nearly 50,000 K-12 students. SPM recently spoke with him about lifecycle costs and how to get the most bang for your facilities buck.
SPM: Why must lifecycle costs be taken into account on a school construction or retrofit project?
Mitchell: As facility managers, we have a fiduciary responsibility to our districts, with the resources we’ve been given, and it’s incumbent upon us to make sure we’re modernizing and/or building schools in the most efficient manner possible. That doesn’t mean building cheap schools. It means building as inexpensively as possible while considering the ongoing expense of what you’re building. For example, I can purchase inexpensive carpeting and save money on the initial installation, but it’ll end up being replaced soon—too soon. Paint is another example. I can use inexpensive paint, but I’ll have to repaint every year. We have to consider not only the material cost, but also the labor cost. In these examples, I’m not being fiscally prudent or responsible to the community that has entrusted me to spend its investment wisely.
-- Ellen Kollie Work underway in Warwick to clean out closed schools-- WPRI.com Rhode Island: June 23, 2018 [ abstract] WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) -- With summer vacation finally here, work is underway in Warwick to get the district ready for some big changes this upcoming school year.
As part of the city's consolidation plan, some elementary schools are closing and another is being re-purposed.
It's the end of an era for John Wickes and Randall Holden Elementary Schools.
"We've been planning for this for a while," Lynn Dambruch, Director of Elementary Education in Warwick, said. "It is emotional, it's bittersweet. These schools have been in existence for a long time and they're second homes to families and teachers and students, but it was a responsible thing to do to close schools with declining enrollment from 19,000 students down to 9,000 students."
In a few short months, teachers will be settling into their new classrooms. This weekend was spent preparing for the big move.
"It's been a lot of work for everybody," added Steven Gothberg, Director of Buildings and Grounds. "Behind the scenes we've asked the teachers and staff to pack up all the things that need to be moved."
-- Julianne Lima Park district, school district look at unique agreement-- The Bulletin Oregon: June 19, 2018 [ abstract] The Bend Park & Recreation District and Bend-La Pine Schools are looking at a unique approach to developing sports fields near a west-side middle school.
On Tuesday, the park district’s board approved an agreement with the school district, allowing the park district to develop and maintain athletic fields on a 4.5-acre parcel owned by Bend-La Pine Schools near Pacific Crest Middle School, off of NW Skyliners Road.
The partnership gives the district a chance to develop fields for soccer and lacrosse practices in a quadrant of town where developable space is at a premium while giving the school district the flexibility to use the fields if it needs them in the future, according to Michelle Healy, planning and park services director for the park district.
“They had a resource, we had a need, and I think it’s going to be a real benefit for everyone,” Healy said.
-- Stephen Hamway Mount Greylock Regional School thinking inside the box - for pending move-- The Berkshire Eagle Massachusetts: June 16, 2018 [ abstract] WILLIAMSTOWN — After years of debate, public ballots, planning, design and construction, the school community will begin moving into the new Mount Greylock Regional School on Friday.
According to Principal Mary MacDonald, teachers and staff have sorted through their files and equipment, packing only that which will be needed.
By noon Friday, all packing has to be complete and ready to move into the new space.
"We have to be all out by July 1 so abatement can begin," MacDonald said. "So we'll have about a week."
The structure doesn't officially open until late August, when the teachers will be able to go in and set up their classrooms for the start of school a few weeks later.
Tours for the public will come in late September or October.
After everything has been moved out of the old space, abatement will begin, followed in a few weeks by demolition of the unneeded spaces.
In preparation for construction, the first stage of abatement and demolition started in July 2016. Construction of the classroom wing began in February 2017. A complete renovation of the gymnasium and locker rooms began in April 2017.
The Massachusetts School Building Authority is contributing $33.2 million in state money toward the cost of the $64.8 million building project. The local share of the cost is $31.5 million to $35.3 million.
-- Scott Stafford Massive school redistricting process underway for CCS-- Independent Tribune North Carolina: June 15, 2018 [ abstract]
CONCORD— Most people know that Cabarrus County Schools will undergo a massive redistricting impacting thousands of students in anticipation of the opening of West Cabarrus High School in 2019. However, the redistricting committee and Cropper GIS Consulting are still in the beginning stages of determining where those attendance boundaries will be drawn.
Cropper GIS Consulting is the firm that was hired by the district, to the tune of $150,000, to facilitate and manage the redistricting project. The consulting firm has recently worked with Union County Schools, Baltimore County Public Schools, Albany Public Schools, Andover Public Schools, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and other for planning projects.
Cropper GIS works with school districts to:
- Develop redistricting plans
- Develop demographic studies
- Facilitate community engagement
- Prepare long-range facility master plans
- Author site feasibility studies
- Conduct and publish housing impact and yield factor studies
- Provide GIS implementation and training
The firm was hired by the district to develop population forecasts by school attendance area by grade for the next 10 years; develop enrollment forecasts for 2017-18 to 2027-28 by grade level for each elementary, middle school and high school attendance area; analyze current future demographic dynamics of the district and attendance areas and develop a written report that summarizes demographic study findings.
-- Erin Kidd Guilford commissioners turn to bond money to help with school security issues-- News & Record June 14, 2018 [ abstract]
GREENSBORO — In a surprise action Thursday, Guilford County commissioners voted to approve up to $10 million for school security for Guilford County Schools.
The money would come from a round of bonds, which don’t need voter OK, the county has been planning to issue in the winter or spring.
It doesn’t mean the commissioners will have to give the money, but it sets them up to do it if they want and signals their interest. Selling bonds essentially allows the county to spend money on a project upfront but pay for it over 20 years or so. This would be for “bricks and mortar” types of security needs — maybe something like better doors or security cameras — not new staff.
Commissioner Justin Conrad’s idea won unanimous support.
At Conrad’s recommendation, commissioners hinged their eventual spending decisions on the results of a wider joint study of all of the school system’s buildings and boundaries due out in September. So unless that timeline changes, it would not go toward any projects over the summer. Basically, it’s up to $10 million to pay for security needs identified in the study.
-- Jessie Pounds Creative approaches suggested for school facilities challenges-- East Oregonian Oregon: May 18, 2018 [ abstract] Though they haven’t made any decisions yet, the Hermiston School District has heard from community members: To pass a new bond, they’re going to have to think differently.
About 20 people gathered Thursday night at the first public meeting held by the facility planning committee, a group of community members, school board members and district administrators. In January, the group began studying building issues facing the district, such as enrollment and capacity, school safety, and the condition of facilities.
-- Jayati Ramakrishnan Mankato School District has more funds for building maintenance-- The Free Press Minnesota: May 07, 2018 [ abstract] Mankato Public School District leaders are planning extra school building improvement projects thanks to an increase in local and state funding.
The School Board has approved three sizable building and parking lot summer maintenance projects in recent weeks and is making plans for years to come.
A new funding formula for districts to update and maintain buildings, improve accessibility and continue required health and safety programs is in the second of a three-year phase in.
-- Kristine Goodrich New Hobart elementary school site plan approved-- Chicago Tribune Illinois: May 05, 2018 [ abstract]
The School City of Hobart received approvals Thursday for several zoning and planning requests in conjunction with the construction of a new elementary school at the Mundell Field site, putting it on course to break ground in August.
The still unnamed 70,000-square-foot, one-story school building will be built at 52 N. Wisconsin St., on 12.7 acres between Home and Cleveland avenues.
-- Karen Caffarini Red Oak explores sale of middle school building-- KMA Land Iowa: April 24, 2018 [ abstract] As the planning process continues for a large construction project in the Red Oak School District, officials are weighing their options on a building that will be vacated after this school year.
The building project -- which was made possible by a $19.9 million bond issue approved by voters last summer -- is slated to reduce the number of campuses in the district from four to two. One of the buildings slated for closure with the project is the venerable middle school building, which was built in 1916. Plans originally called for the building to be demolished at a cost of $1 million, but Superintendent Tom Messinger tells KMA News the Red Oak School Board is opening up the possibility of selling the structure instead.
-- Ryan Matheny Progressive Voice: How Arlington Should Build New Schools-- ARL Now Virginia: April 19, 2018 [ abstract] Our school system has added more than 8,000 students since 2007. Over the next decade, APS is planning to add at least two elementary schools, a middle school and 1,300 high school seats as 5,500 more students arrive.
At the same time both the School Board and the County Board are struggling with decisions to close budget deficits and keep bond and capital improvement requests reasonable. So finding money and land for building new schools is challenging.
-- Progressive Voice School project consumes bulk of Norwalk’s $83.8M capital budget-- The Hour Connecticut: April 13, 2018 [ abstract] The Common Council has approved a nearly $83.8 million capital budget to repave roads, fix city parks and further major school reconstruction during the fiscal year beginning July 1.
“I want to thank the mayor, the council and the planning Committee for all their hard work,” Council President John Kydes, a District C Democrat who chairs the committee, said before passage of the budget at City Hall on Tuesday evening. “I really think we have a solid capital budget.”
-- Robert Koch Atlanta is renovating school that Martin Luther King attended-- American School & University Georgia: April 09, 2018 [ abstract] The Atlanta school district is planning to renovate the school building where Martin Luther King Jr. attended grade school.
-- Mike Kennedy School board focusing on capacity issues, solutions in special workshop-- Pleasanton Weekly California: April 09, 2018 [ abstract] The Pleasanton school board is set to collectively discuss facilities planning, enrollment and new K-8 program options during a workshop Tuesday evening.
The trio of topics have each been talked over in recent months, but as all three are interrelated and key to addressing capacity issues in northern Pleasanton, district staff and the board have decided to discuss them all together in conjunction with one another in the same meeting.
-- Erika Alvero $14 million Gilbert bond referendum set for Tuesday-- Ames Tribune Iowa: March 30, 2018 [ abstract] On Tuesday, members of the Gilbert Community School District will have a chance to decide if moving forward with a $14 million long-range facilities plan to renovate its schools is the best fit for the district’s future.
After 2 1/2 years of planning, a bond referendum will ask Gilbert community members if the school district should issue $14 million in general obligation bonds to renovate all four district schools and multiple athletic and fine art facilities.
Any eligible voter who lives within the boundaries of the Gilbert Community School District is able to participate in the special election, to be held from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. at Gilbert Lutheran Church, located at 135 School St. And unlike other types of votes, 60 percent voter approval is required to pass a bond issue, not just a simple majority.
-- Caitlin Ware Plan outlines $5 million in sports upgrades for Longview schools-- TDN.com Washington: March 26, 2018 [ abstract] A new report proposes about $5 million in improvements to the Longview School District’s “deteriorating” athletic facilities, including the long-sought installation of artificial turf at Longview Memorial Stadium.
The Athletic Facilities Task Force will present its report to the school board Monday evening, and the board is scheduled to ask Superintendent Dan Zorn to start planning to finance the projects.
-- Jaime Archer Johnson, Treyger Release School Overcrowding Report-- Kings County Politics New York: March 21, 2018 [ abstract] New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson alongside City Council member Mark Treyger (D-Coney Island, Bensonhurst, Gravesend), Education Committee Chair, this week released the Council’s 2018 report, planning to Learn: The School Building Challenge.
The report is a detailed analysis of the space challenges faced by New York City’s public school system and a comprehensive set of recommendations to address the ongoing and severe overcrowding that exists in New York City’s public schools.
-- Kelly Mena Whitehall school’s infrastructure ‘aging’ engineers say-- Manchester Newspapers Vermont: March 21, 2018 [ abstract] Some of the Whitehall Central School buildings dates to its original construction 50 years ago.
That concern among others was the focus of a presentation delivered by Tetra Tech, an engineering and architectural firm planning Whitehall’s prospective infrastructure upgrade project, at a Board of Education meeting on Monday.
“[The high school] was built in ’63, the elementary school was built in ’68, there have been a series of some additions over the years but predominately it is aging infrastructure,” said Garrett Hamlin, principal architect with Tetra Tech.
-- Matthew Saari CITY COUNCIL REVEALS PLAN TO BUILD SCHOOLS MORE QUICKLY AND EASILY-- NY1 New York: March 20, 2018 [ abstract] The city council unveiled its recommendations to address overcrowding in schools Tuesday.
Councilmembers released a new report called "planning to Learn: The School Building Challenge."
The report recommends making it easier and faster to build new schools, especially when the resources to do so are already in place.
Berea Planning Commission approves site plan for new high school-- Cleveland.com Ohio: March 19, 2018 [ abstract] After numerous revisions and months of public input, the Berea-Midpark High School site plan has been approved.
Berea planning Commission met March 15, listened at length to audience members' concerns once more, then voted to allow school district officials to proceed with the plan.
The commission also voted to allow future demolition of the existing building and approved variances for building height, number of access driveways, additional landscaping shrubbery and parking spaces.
-- Beth Mlady Gering officials break ground on renovation, construction project-- Scottsbluff Star Herald Nebraska: March 19, 2018 [ abstract] Gering High School officials broke ground on the long planned renovation and construction project on Monday, March 19.
A $24 million bond issue passed in March 2017 followed by 12 months of design planning with RB+B Architects of Fort Collins, Colorado.
Students from Lincoln Elementary attended the groundbreaking ceremony as well as school board members and community members
-- Charissa Bryce Letter: Board failed in its planning process-- Grand Forks Herald North Dakota: March 17, 2018 [ abstract] One of the guiding principles of the Grand Forks Public Schools facilities master plan has been identified as providing students with school environments that support "21st century learning." At this point, the board and district have not adequately defined what "21st century learning" means in relation to facilities planning and have now advanced plans to convene a task force to address the topic. In its 2008 position statement, "Educating Students in a Changing World," the Association of Supervision, Curriculum and Development identifies six key 21st century competencies.
-- Whitney Berry Total facelift of Kenowa Hills school facilities moves to next phase
-- Michigan Live Michigan: March 09, 2018 [ abstract] With work already completed at Alpine Elementary School last summer and remodeling recently started at the district's middle school and Central Elementary School, the Kenowa Hills district is now ready to begin the next series of remodeling projects.
When completed, the projects will mean the district will have updated every elementary classroom building in the district.
Superintendent Gerald Hopkins recently outlined for the Walker planning Commission the next two major projects the district is starting immediately.
-- Jeffrey Cunningham High and middle school construction project on track for 2019-2020 school year opening-- Kitsap Daily News Washington: March 05, 2018 [ abstract] In February 2016, a construction bond measure was passed by Central Kitsap School District voters to officially move forward plans to rebuild Central Kitsap High School and Middle School.
The two share a campus; the high school was originally built in 1942 and the middle school was added in 1959. In the 2019-2020 school year, students of both are expected to attend class in new school buildings.
After months of designing and planning, the construction officially started Sept. 8, 2017. Since then, work has started, primarily on the building foundations and masonry for the gym. So far, the project seems on track for the middle school to open spring 2019. The high school is scheduled to open in the fall of 2019, in time for the 2019-2020 school year.
-- Michelle Beahm What’s next: Following the Spokane-area school bonds victories-- Spokane Journal Washington: March 01, 2018 [ abstract] Following the Feb. 13 voter approval of separate construction bond measures totaling nearly $245 million, the Central Valley School District and the Mead School district are planning collectively to build four new schools, expand one school, and update a number of other schools.
Mead’s construction plans also include a new football stadium and transportation and maintenance facilities.
-- Samantha Peone Svigals + Partners’ KidsBuild! Program Brings Students into the Building Process-- School Construction News Connecticut: February 26, 2018 [ abstract] When does a verb phrase become a proper noun? When you’re branding a community outreach process that educates school children about the design, construction and maintenance of their own school buildings. Welcome to KidsBuild! (exclamation mark included!), the brainchild of Svigals + Partners, a full-service architecture, art and planning firm based in New Haven.
Launched in 1995 to support the rebuilding and expansion of the Edgewood Magnet School in the New Haven Public Schools district, KidsBuild! proved an immediate success. “The Edgewood School project experience created a process template that shaped a nearly $2 billion school construction program, and we saw an opportunity in this to expand the involvement of the students themselves,” said Julia McFadden, AIA, an architect and associate principal with Svigals + Partners, in a statement.
-- Daedalus Howell School administrators in Barbour County amend facilities plan for renovations-- Wboy West Virginia: February 22, 2018 [ abstract] Barbour County School administrators worked to amend the Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan in order to submit a proposal to the School Building Authority.
In March, the county board of education is planning to submit a proposal to receive Major Improvement Project funding for renovations to Philippi Elementary School. The renovations would add a kindergarten classroom as well as bathrooms onto each of the pre-k and kindergarten classrooms.
-- Leah Knicely Planning board approves middle school site plan-- Village Soup Maine: February 20, 2018 [ abstract] planning Board members approved the new Camden-Rockport Middle School site plan Feb. 15, signaling progress towards the planned construction of the new school.
The new 83,400-square-foot school building is slated to open in 2020, to students in grades 5 through 8. When it opens, it will complete a 20-year period of school construction in the SAD 28 school district. In 2000, the newly constructed Camden Hills Regional High School opened its doors to students. In 2009, the new Camden-Rockport Elementary School opened its doors to grades K-4, following construction that more than doubled the size of a building formerly owned by the Montessori School. The middle school is the only one of the three located in downtown Camden, with the elementary and high school located on Route 90 in Rockport.
-- Susan Mustapich Reedley Middle College High School building new facility to benefit dual education students-- Abc30 California: February 15, 2018 [ abstract] After six years of planning, students at Reedley Middle College High School finally have a place they can call home.
"We are just excited, the kids are excited, they are going to continue to flourish," said Program Admin for Kings County School District Alejandro Juarez.
The empty field at Reedley College will soon be a state of the art facility able to house almost two times the amount of students.
-- Gilbert Magallon Want more information about Twin Falls’ school levy? A community meeting is March 1-- Magic Valley.com Idaho: February 10, 2018 [ abstract] The Twin Falls School District is planning a community meeting about its 10-year plant facilities levy for school maintenance and renovation projects.
The meeting is 7 p.m. March 1 at the Vera C. O’Leary Middle School auditorium, 2350 Elizabeth Blvd.
During the March 13 election, the school district is seeking a 10-year, $4.75 million annual plant facilities levy. It requires 60 percent voter approval to pass.
Central Arkansas district's school plan a 16-year endeavor, consultant testifies-- Arkansas Online Arkansas: February 08, 2018 [ abstract] The Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District needs 16 more years to fulfill its plan for replacing virtually all of its schools, Charles Stein, a planning consultant to the new district, acknowledged Wednesday in federal court.
Stein, a civil engineer and retired director of the state's Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation, told U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. that to finance bond debt, the new district has to pace the construction of new schools to the receipt of state building aid and to voter-approved tax-levy extensions.
-- Cynthia Howell Walla Walla school bond " truth in advertising-- Union-Bulletin Washington: February 06, 2018 [ abstract] First, I would like to commend team who have been planning for needed updates to school infrastructure. As we all know, items like roofs and boilers need periodic replacement. These are big ticket items that require capital funding and the associated support for that funding from the community. No argument there.
-- John DeLong http://bit.ly/2E4fW0W-- Red Wing Republican Eagle Minnesota: February 03, 2018 [ abstract] The Goodhue School Facility planning Committee will share plans for a possible construction project at the final of three public meetings 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7, in the school media center.
A resolution for the project will go before the School Board at its Feb. 21 meeting. If approved, a bond levy vote will be held May 8. More presentations will be held Feb. 21-May 8 to discuss the project, the district says.
District plans move into century-old school building-- AZ Family Arizona: February 02, 2018 [ abstract] PRESCOTT, AZ (AP) -
Renovations are nearing completion to convert a century-old school building in central Arizona into a school district's headquarters.
The Daily Courier reports the Prescott Unified School District is planning to relocate administrative employees into the Washington School in March following the nearly $400,000 in renovations to the downtown Prescott building.
-- Associated Press LongTerm Facilities Maintenance-- Aitkin Age Minnesota: February 02, 2018 [ abstract] Aitkin Schools and the Board of Education are working on a 20 plus year facility plan for the district. It is important that the community is informed and has input on what the facilities will look like in 2041.
A road map or strategic plan will help to guide decisions in the future. It can be hard to look that far ahead or to imagine life in 2041, but for our kids we must do it. It is that important. The process of planning has begun and Aitkin Schools will continue to inform the community of its plans as things progress. For now our overarching goals for facility improvement are: increase student achievement by providing our students with a 21st century learning environment; provide Pre-K12 students with a safe and secure learning environment; collaborate with the community on a resource that they can connect with and make use of.
-- Brad Kelvington Central School on schedule-- Tracy Press California: February 01, 2018 [ abstract] As the new Central School campus takes shape, school administrators are planning to present residents with an opportunity for a memento of the 80-year-old landmark.
A limited number of bricks from the original campus will be available free to the general public after the old building is demolished next year " but it will be first come, first served, according to Principal Nancy Link. She said interest in acquiring a brick began when a couple of the original classrooms had to be taken down to make room for the new campus site.
-- Denise Ellen Rizzo Alexandria School Board Approves $474.7 Million FY2019-2028 CIP Budget-- Alexandria News.org Virginia: January 26, 2018 [ abstract] The Alexandria City School Board last night approved a $474.7 million FY2019-2028 Capital Improvement Program budget for the Alexandria City Public Schools. This is $15.7 million more than ACPS Interim Superintendent Lois Berlin proposed in December, 2017 and $36 million more than the City’s Ad Hoc Joint City-Schools Facilities Investment Task Force recommended in November.
After the vote, the School Board released thw following statement: “We view it as imperative to work with City Council to expedite the development of a joint facilities master plan that outlines preferred sequencing of projects to address the enrollment gap, while identifying and aligning resources. The School Board understands that a significant amount of joint planning conducted in FY2019, including land acquisition, grade level configuration, community input and site sustainability, will result in adjustments to the CIP timelines and funding.”
Beatrice School District Will Tap Public Input, to Address Facility Needs-- Kwbe.com Nebraska: January 26, 2018 [ abstract] BEATRICE " Following defeat of a couple of bond issues for a new elementary school building, Beatrice school officials will be leaning on public input to help determine building priorities over the next several years.
The District 15 School Board Thursday night heard a presentation from an architecture and planning consultant on data gathered about district needs, aimed at determining priorities.
-- Doug Kennedy County school district begins process to build two new facilities-- The News-Enterprise Kentucky: January 19, 2018 [ abstract] The Hardin County Schools Board of Education approved two documents to begin the planning process for two new schools.
The district is planning to build schools to replace Lincoln Trail Elementary and East Hardin Middle.
Originally, the district had planned to build a combined preschool-through-eighth-grade facility to replace both schools. However, that plan changed because the district couldn’t find a suitable location.
-- Katherine Knott Here’s the latest on Moore Elementary School renovation progress in Cy-Fair ISD-- Community Impact Newspaper Texas: January 19, 2018 [ abstract] After Hurricane Harvey devastated the Moore Elementary School campus at 13734 Lakewood Forest Drive, Houston, Cy-Fair ISD officials were forced to close the campus for renovations during the 2017-18 academic year.
The full renovation project is estimated to cost $12-$14 million, and the facility is expected to open in time for the fall 2018 semester.
Dan Grosz, director of design and facilities planning, provided an update on the project’s progress at a Jan. 18 board of trustees work session.
-- Danica Smithwick Four options presented on South Kingstown school facilities-- The Independent Rhode Island: January 18, 2018 [ abstract] SOUTH KINGSTOWN " Four options regarding the future of the South Kingstown School Department’s facilities were presented to the School Committee Tuesday.
Robert Hendriks, managing principal of Educational Legacy planning, the consulting firm hired to conduct the study, said all the options presented are long-term projects that would take five to six years to implement fully. The options are the result of research conducted by the consultant since the summer, and more than 1,900 local residents have been involved in the process.
-- Colin Howarth With a price cap proposed, North Stonington school building project on track to break ground in February-- The Day Connecticut: January 14, 2018 [ abstract] North Stonington — Over a year and a half after the town approved a $38.5 million project to renovate the town's schools, the project is nearing the end of its planning stage and town officials expect to break ground next month.
On Tuesday the Board of Selectmen will vote on a proposed guaranteed maximum price — or GMP — for the project provided by the School Modernization Building Committee. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. at the Wheeler High School media center. The proposed GMP of $33,875,455 is lower than the maximum approved in the resolution the town passed back in May 2016.
-- Charles Clark Worries swirl over future San Antonio school site-- Mountain View Voice California: January 11, 2018 [ abstract] The Los Altos School District is planning to move forward on a complicated plan to buy land next to the San Antonio Shopping Center, adding a school campus to a fast-growing neighborhood that is hard-pressed for park space.
But amid the long struggle to acquire land at a reasonable cost in a red-hot real estate market, the district's board of trustees has yet to make a firm commitment on whether the site would be home to a neighborhood school, or the long-awaited permanent campus for Bullis Charter School. And left with a vacuum, rumors are spreading that it's going to be the latter.
-- Kevin Forestieri Camden Planning Board to consider new middle school plans, Fox Hill amendment-- Penobscot Bay Pilot Maine: January 08, 2018 [ abstract] CAMDEN " The Camden planning Board will consider a zoning amendment to accommodate increasing the number of beds at the Fox Hill rehabilitation facility on Bay View Street from eight to 12, and will begin its site plan review of the new Camden-Rockport Middle School when it meets Jan. 11 for a regularly scheduled meeting. (Previously, the meeting had been scheduled for Jan. 11 but was postponed due to a blizzard.)
Fox Hill Real Estate has submitted the request to increase patient capacity on behalf of McLean Hospital at the Bay View street facility. The planning Board and Town Attorney Bill Kelly have been discussing the proposed amendment language with Fox Hill’s attorney, Paul Gibbons.
$140 million of school construction projects: Looking ahead to 2018 and beyond-- Times News.net Tennessee: December 31, 2017 [ abstract] KINGSPORT " Thanks to a December 2016 vote by the Sullivan County Commission, the culmination of more than two years of facilities studies, planning, community input and debate, several capital projects among four local school systems are or soon will be underway.
-- Rick Wagner Camden looks ahead to new high school-- Daily Advance North Carolina: December 31, 2017 [ abstract] CAMDEN " planning for the construction of a long-awaited new high school will top the agenda for the Camden County Schools in 2018.
Camden Board of Education Chairman Christian Overton said Friday that the school board should get a report from the architect, HBA Architecture and Interior Design Inc. of Virginia Beach, Va., early in the new year.
Once the board has the initial information from the architect, school officials plan to establish a committee of school staff and community members to begin working with the architect on the design for the new school, Overton said.
-- Reggie Ponder School district to dig into strategic planning in 2018-- Waunakee Tribune West Virginia: December 28, 2017 [ abstract] A heavy amount of planning is on the docket in 2018 for officials of the Waunakee School District.
There are many different areas to focus on, according to District Administrator Randy Guttenberg.
“We also have to see how they interact and how we allocate our resources,” said Guttenberg.
The district has a strategic planning chart that addresses such areas as teaching and learning, student services, human resources, budget and finance, facilities and district growth and community engagement.
One of the major factors taken into consideration in all of this is the growth of the community.
-- Peter Lindblad MLSB HALTS CONSTRUCTION SPENDING-- Columbia Basin Herald Washington: December 26, 2017 [ abstract] MOSES LAKE " The Moses Lake School Board on Thursday voted unanimously to suspend all spending on any construction-related projects until the lawsuit over last February’s school bond is settled.
The board is also going to look into alternatives to the construction of a second high school for Moses Lake " something state law allows " should the $135.4 million bond measure survive the court challenge.
“We’re out of money,” said Board President Eric Stones during a packed meeting of the Moses Lake School Board. “We can’t move forward with planning on an elementary school and a second high school.”
-- Charles H. Featherstone HMS School Board To Close One Building-- KIWA Radio Iowa: December 22, 2017 [ abstract] Hartley, Iowa " A northwest Iowa school district will be closing one of its three school buildings starting in the fall of 2019.
The Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn Community Schools currently have three buildings that house the District’s students, but are planning to close the District’s oldest building.
School communities to have more say in new facility designs-- Austin Monitor Texas: December 19, 2017 [ abstract] Following an intensive community engagement process in the drafting of the 2017 bond package, Austin Independent School District staff informed the board of trustees at its Dec. 11 work session that the designs of the new facilities will continue in that spirit by prioritizing the inclusion of school communities in the implementation of the Facility Master Plan Update.
The $1.1 billion bond package was approved by voters on Nov. 7, providing the necessary funds for the district to build new facilities and modernize existing ones. Up-to-date technology and infrastructure will not be the only way these schools will be renovated. The design of classrooms and buildings themselves, Director of planning Services Beth Wilson said at the meeting, will better reflect 21st-century learning principles, health and safety, and sustainability.
-- Joseph Catherine New York City Will Close or Merge 14 Schools From Renewal Program-- New York Times New York: December 18, 2017 [ abstract] With $582 million committed, New York City’s Education Department on Monday gave its first indication that it is planning to wind down its Renewal program for low-performing schools, an expensive initiative that has struggled to show results.
The department said it intends to close or merge 14 schools in the program, while moving 21 other schools, which have shown progress, out of the program. Coming after smaller rounds of closings and mergers, the changes will leave 46 schools in the program, less than half the number at its inception three years ago.
-- Elizabet A. Harris New school at Seattle Center? District, city planning for growth and a new Memorial Stadium, too-- The Seattle Times Washington: November 24, 2017 [ abstract] Seattle Public Schools and the city of Seattle plan to work together to build a new Memorial Stadium at Seattle Center, consider locating a school at or near there, too, and look into possible sites for other new schools throughout the city.
In an agreement announced Monday, city and school-district officials said they want to collaborate in ways that will help them accommodate a growing district and growing city.
-- Paige Cornwell John Bapst plans $6.5 million renovation, expansion-- Bangor Daily News Maine: November 16, 2017 [ abstract] For the first time in its nearly 100-year history, John Bapst High School in Bangor is planning to expand.
The plans include razing the former Jewish Community Center next to the school on Somerset Street and replacing it with a two-story, 15,000 square-foot gymnasium and fitness center that will cost $3.5 million. The school has owned the building since the 1990s and uses it primarily for storage.
-- Alex Acquisto Jones County gets $15 million for school construction-- Kinston.com North Carolina: November 13, 2017 [ abstract] After a year and a half of fundraising and planning, Jones County Schools is almost ready to break ground on a new K " 12 school facility.
Earlier this month the district was one of four school districts named as the recipient of grants from the Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund.
The fund, which creates a $100 million pool of lottery money over the next two years, is comprised of lottery money and is meant to provide counties with the money they need to pay for school construction projects.
The fund was created by Sen. Harry Brown, who is from Jones County, to help get projects like the new school get off the ground. For this year and next, the funds will only be available to Tier 1 counties, which are among the poorest in the state.
-- Dustin George Cedar Rapids Community School District's plan to close schools, raze others and build goes to board next-- The Gazette Iowa: November 11, 2017 [ abstract] CEDAR RAPIDS " Big changes to the Cedar Rapids Community School District’s facilities are necessary if the system wants to remain viable, people involved with the development of a master facilities plan told the public in meetings last week.
“The reality is, and nobody wants to hear this, but … you cannot afford to continue to operate 21 elementary buildings,” said Dave Wilkerson of the district’s consultant group, RSP Associates. “There’s a day of reckoning coming, folks.”
A proposal to raze 10 and close eight of the district’s elementary schools " and build new, larger schools at many of the sites " is scheduled to be presented to the school board Dec. 11, after more than a year of facilities planning committee meetings.
-- Molly Duffy Construction begins on long-awaited Limoneira project in Santa Paula-- VC Star California: November 08, 2017 [ abstract] Public officials, business people and Limoneira executives celebrated the groundbreaking of the Harvest at Limoneira development during a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Santa Paula on Wednesday morning.
The Harvest at Limoneira project in Santa Paula will include the construction of 1,500 housing units, several educational facilities that will include a K-5 elementary school, parks and retail and commercial spaces. Wednesday’s celebration was the culmination of approximately 14 years of planning and a $60 million investment by the Limoneira Co. The event was held on Hallock Drive where Harvest at Limoneira will be constructed.
-- Tyler Hersko Hillsboro voters approve $400 million school construction bond-- The Oregonian Oregon: November 07, 2017 [ abstract] Voters in the Hillsboro school district approved a $408 million bond Tuesday to upgrade and expand existing schools and add two elementaries.
It was the first construction bond put before voters in 11 years and was more than three years in the planning.
In partial returns Tuesday, voters in the low-turnout election favored it by 65 percent to 35 percent.
Tax rates won't change. Instead, the new cost of $2.24 per $1,000 of assessed value will replace the same-size tax that expires this year.
-- Betsy Hammond Input sessions offer last chance to weigh in on future of Cedar Rapids school facilities-- The Gazette Iowa: November 04, 2017 [ abstract] CEDAR RAPIDS " As the Cedar Rapids Community School District nears the end of a yearlong planning process that could drastically shrink its number of schools, the district is hosting its last scheduled public input sessions on the plan.
As it stands, the plan would shutter eight of Cedar Rapids’ 21 elementary schools. Many of the remaining schools would be torn down and rebuilt on the same sites, Superintendent Brad Buck said.
-- Molly Duffy Charlottesville School Board discusses elementary school modernization plans-- The Daily Progress Virginia: November 02, 2017 [ abstract] The Charlottesville School Board on Thursday discussed a five-year, $5 million plan to modernize classroom and commons spaces in the division’s elementary schools.
Kim Powell, assistant superintendent for finance and operations, presented the information to the board showing the process to date for the Facilities Improvement and planning Committee’s work.
-- Michael Bragg Houston Schools Face Huge Cleanup as Some Aim to Open Soon-- The Wall Street Journal Texas: September 04, 2017 [ abstract] HOUSTON"Neatly printed fliers welcoming each student back to the start of school sat on worktables in a classroom at A.G. Hilliard Elementary School in northeast Houston, but the students won’t be there anytime soon.
The campus took on 4 feet of water in some areas and desks now sit in puddles alongside sodden books and materials.
The past week has been a time of harsh reckoning and frantic planning for school officials across southeast Texas, as administrators assess the toll Hurricane Harvey has taken on school buildings and the storm’s impact on at least one million schoolchildren.
-- Tawnell D. Hobbs and Melissa Korn School board to add member, discuss facilities report-- Corvallis Gazette-Times Oregon: July 07, 2017 [ abstract] The Corvallis School Board will hold a special meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at the district’s administrative offices, 1555 SW 35th St.
Board members are scheduled to elect an interim board member and discuss long-range facilities planning.
Richard Arnold, Terese Jones, Gerry Kosanovic, Jim McCullough and Peter Sabee-Paulson have applied to replace Alexis McQuillan, whose resignation becomes official Monday. The new board member also will be sworn in and will serve a term that expires June 30, 2019.
-- James Day New feasibility study recommends redistricting 16 percent of Howard County students-- The Baltimore Sun Maryland: July 03, 2017 [ abstract] More than 8,700 students, or 16 percent of students in the Howard County Public School System, could attend different schools in the 2018-2019 school year according to redistricting recommendations released in the school planning office's 2017 feasibility study.
The bulk of students affected by redistricting comes from the elementary school level, at 4,016 students; followed by 3,691 students from high schools and 1,076 students from middle schools.
The feasibility study was unveiled at a June Board of Education meeting and provides a comprehensive analysis of current and projected student populations at the elementary, middle and high school levels. The study allows school planners to make early recommendations to address over- and under-capacity schools, such as building new schools, expanding current schools or redistricting students.
The process continues with input from the Board of Education, the attendance area committee, the schools superintendent and community members before coming back to board members, who will make a final decision this November.
-- Andrew Michaels Consultants release preliminary cost estimates to replace or renovate aging high school, transportation building-- The Herald Times Colorado: June 23, 2017 [ abstract] MEEKER | Denver-based planning consultants Anne Weber and Linda Wagner of Bennett Wagner Grody Architects (BWGA) led the discussion at both the Meeker School District’s facilities master planning advisory group and public meetings last Thursday at the high school. The public meeting began with a tour of the bus garage, typically referred to as the “bus barn,” and the shop, art and vocational class area of the school.
BWGA presented lists of the worst identified deficiencies of both the high school and the bus barn. Their lists included photographs along with most of the identified issues. The district’s transportation director, Roy Wedding, who has been with the district 28 years, hosted the bus barn visit.
-- Redd Kelley More school construction funds sought in Baltimore County-- WBALTV.com Maryland: May 25, 2017 [ abstract] Baltimore County parents converged on the school board Wednesday demanding more money for school construction.
The county has drastically increased school construction funding the last few years, but many at the school board meeting said it is not enough, because of previous neglect.
Among those upset are parents of students at Towson High School, who showed photos of mold and standing water inside the school.
Parents came to the school board asking for money to start planning for a new building or massive renovation by the year 2022.
â€"We've got to make an investment and we have to do it now,†Towson high parent Gretchen Maneval said.
But Towson High is not part of the county's 10-year $1.3 billion Schools for the Future plan, which is currently funding construction of 16 new schools, 12 additions and seven major renovations.
â€"It doesn't make sense,†Maneval said. â€"When you look at the county's own assessment, Towson has the third worst building condition of all 23 high schools, and there's not even planning dollars allocated to it.â€
School board members are considering requesting changes to Schools for the Future in the 2019 budget.
â€"I think we need to revise the plan,†school board member Julie Henn said.†I think serious needs have been overlooked for a long time, both with facilities maintenance and overcrowding.â€
The plan does call for renovations at Dulaney High School, but parents said it is not enough and they want a new building, instead.
â€"The school is approaching 60 years,†Dulaney High parent Jennifer Tarr said. â€"It has not been updated. You cannot fix something that has not been touched for many, many years. It's wasted money. (It's) a patch.â€
The proposed county budget for next year spends 60 percent on education. A vote on that budget is set for Thursday.
-- Adam May New Dore Elementary School Building Approved By City Panel-- DNAinfo (Ill.) Illinois: March 16, 2017 [ abstract]
A proposed rendering of the new Dore Elementary School.
A proposed rendering of the new Dore Elementary School.
Chicago planning Department
CLEARING " Plans to build a new three-story Dore Elementary School in Clearing Thursday won the endorsement of the Chicago Plan Commission.
At Dore, 715 students study in a building meant for 420 students, giving it an utilization rate of 170 percent. The school also has an eight-classroom modular building, giving the school an adjusted utilization rate of 98 percent and a rating of efficient, according to data provided by CPS.
-- Heather Cherone Construction nears for School 16 update-- Rochester City News New York: March 15, 2017 [ abstract] School 16 will transform from a small, wood-frame building to one of the most impressive in the Rochester City School District if all goes according to plans. The architectural planning phase for the school's remodel is mostly complete, says district Chief of Operations Michael Schmidt.
Parents, teachers, and neighbors can now better imagine what the school will look like when the work is finished sometime in 2018. The plans can be viewed on the SW Common Council's website: http://bit.ly/2lxXU9z.
School 16, which is in the southwest quadrant of the city at 321 Post Avenue, is part of the second phase of the $1.2 billion Rochester schools modernization program. Plans for the three-story building show a major addition that will house a new gymnasium and performance stage.
The school's old gymnasium will become a library and the old library space will be converted to classroom space. The building's second floor and balcony area will be redesigned to house additional classroom space.
-- Tim Louis Macaluso Hinsdale Central School planning $6.8 million capital project-- Olean Times Herald New York: March 14, 2017 [ abstract] HINSDALE " The Hinsdale Central School District is aiming to be a premier rural school district by 2020 and is asking the community to build that reality with a $6.8 million capital project.
The pre-K through 12th grade school of about 450 students is planning a host of renovations and improvements to the existing school building and bus garage, but its most prominent and expensive plan is purchasing nearly 14 acres of land adjacent to the school for the construction of an athletic complex and nature pavilion. Voters will get the final say April 4 during the district’s capital project vote.
District officials, who’ve been hosting public hearings on the project, say it will not only improve programming aligned with its strategic plan, but could stabilize, if not improve, Hinsdale Central School’s shrinking enrollment.
-- TOM DINKI Residents, officials weigh in on Greenville school bond proposal-- The Daily News Michigan: March 11, 2017 [ abstract] GREENVILLE " Six years have passed since Greenville Public Schools last asked voters to pass a bond for district improvements.
School officials have spent the last several months in the planning stages of another bond proposal, which is set for a May 2 vote. They’ve worked collaboratively with Holland-based GMB Architecture + Engineering and others to craft a plan for districtwide improvements focusing on three components: Safety and security, educational technology and enhancing programming and learning environments.
If passed, the general obligation bond would bring $52,315,000 over the next 30 years. A general obligation bond is backed by the full faith, credit and taxing power of the issuing body and is considered public debt. In this case, the lending body would be organizations willing to invest.
According to Greenville Public Schools Director of Finance John Gilchrist, the bond will likely to be purchased by institutional investors “like insurance companies and other firms that are looking to hold fixed income debt.”
-- Emilee Nielsen CPS could end school year on June 1 if state money doesn’t come-- Chicago Sun Times Illinois: February 27, 2017 [ abstract] District officials are asking Judge Franklin Valderrama to issue a ruling before the end of April.
“There’s no question that ending school early is our worst-case scenario,” Claypool told reporters at CPS headquarters on Monday afternoon. “I want to be crystal clear: We believe it is possible to avoid ending the school year early, but only if Springfield acts or Judge Valderrama enjoins the state from distributing funding in a racially discriminatory manner.”
He wouldn’t say when officials will announce their decision.
But shortening the school year on top of four previously imposed furlough days may not even fully close the budget gap. In court documents, CPS estimated saving $91 million, and an additional $5 million from canceling summer school for elementary and middle-school general education students. Claypool called those estimates “conservative.”
Chopping off 13 days will push CPS’ school year below the state’s legal threshold, meaning that some state aid will be jeopardized, too. ISBE requires 180 class days for full funding and counts CPS as having four more days than required.
Claypool said CPS attorneys believe they have even more wiggle room.
The district still has to find or cut $129 million, the bulk of a $215 million gap left in December after Rauner vetoed a bill containing that money for teacher pensions. Rauner said the conditions to enact statewide pension reform that legislators had agreed to hadn’t been met.
In a prepared statement, Rauner’s education secretary, Beth Purvis, said, “As children statewide continue to be impacted by the state’s broken school funding formula, now is the time for CEO Claypool to engage in a constructive process to pass a balanced budget with changes that would help schools across the state, including those in Chicago.”
She was referring to ongoing state budget negotiations in the Legislature that may include the $215 million for CPS pensions.
Since the veto, school officials have scrambled to cut spending and have cut about $88 million so far in centrally provided training and school-based “freezes” CPS opted for instead of layoffs. So far they have not generated any new revenue.
They “froze” $46 million by taking half of what schools had left in discretionary spending accounts for recess monitors and after-school programs and classroom supplies, but were pressured into giving $15 million back to low-income schools after the Chicago Sun-Times revealed that they lost twice as much money as wealthier schools.
The furloughs that officials have already imposed coincide with staff training or planning days so children wouldn’t lose any school days. That measure, aimed at saving $35 million, provoked the Chicago Teachers Union, which accused CPS of targeting its mostly female membership with a pay cut.
CTU vice president Jesse Sharkey called the potential loss of three weeks of school “pretty devastating” for students and for his members who now face a 9 to 10 percent pay cut.
Sharkey renewed calls for the city to go after more revenue from a commuter tax or a tax on Chicago’s wealthiest citizens.
“We have the combination of a governor who doesn’t care about public education, and local leadership who have been unwilling to really fight for the kids on solutions that would tax the people who could afford it,” he said.
Emanuel had fought tooth and nail to extend the school year in 2012 from 170 days to 180. The extra time was a key reason teachers then walked out on strike.
Ald. Howard Brookins (21st), chairman of the City Council’s Education Committee, said closing CPS on June 1 would be untenable " and not simply because it would make a mockery of Emanuel’s vaunted longer school year.
“I would hate that it would come to this. Not that my kids won’t be jumping for joy that school is ending earlier. But parents won’t have been able to plan for this at the beginning of the school year, and it would be so disruptive for learning,” Brookins said.
“I admit that the last day or two of school are probably throwaway days for learning. They don’t do much instruction and the kids are not really focused. But to cut out nearly 20 days of school is untenable,” he said. “There’s got to be a way around it. I don’t believe the mayor will go along with it. If you were doing this on a straight business decision, it may make logical sense. But it doesn’t make good political sense. And it’s not in best interest of the children of Chicago.”
Chicago homeowners have already been hit with $837 million in property tax increases for police, fire and teacher pensions and school construction.
Brookins said he does not believe the City Council would be willing to go beyond that to stave off a shorter school year.
“I don’t know that the money would come fast enough,” even if there was the political will among aldermen to do more to help CPS, he said.
More information about CPS’s legal case can be found at http://cps.edu/pages/equality.aspx
-- Lauren FitzPatrick and Fran Spielman A new survey finds education construction activity going strong this year-- Building Design & Construction National: February 26, 2017 [ abstract] More than half of the school districts and colleges responding to a recent survey expect to initiate construction projects in 2017, the majority of which will be major renovations or modernizations.
College planning & Management, which conducted the survey for its annual “2017 Facilities and Construction Brief,” also found that few school districts or institutions are banking on more funds being made available for future construction projects.
The magazine bases its mostly optimistic projections partly on demographic data that project enrollment of 18 to 24 year olds by degree-granting postsecondary institutions to increase by 13% between 2013 and 2024. Enrollment of 25 to 34 year olds during that period is expected to grow by 17%, and by 10% for enrollees 35 or older.
-- John Caulfield Building Boom: Towns, school districts spending millions on new or improved facilities-- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pennsylvania: January 13, 2017 [ abstract] Around the suburbs, numerous municipalities and school districts are planning, building or have recently completed large-scale construction and renovation projects, issuing bonds or tapping reserve funds to address pressing needs.
In general, the activity is being driven largely by aging infrastructure, not growth, said Orlie Prince, vice president and senior credit officer at Moody’s Investors Service. Its credit rating agency rates the financial condition of a number of municipalities and school districts throughout Allegheny County.
Over the past couple of years, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has reported on a flurry of capital projects big and small that have been completed or are underway, being planned or under consideration.
Some municipalities and school districts are paying for the projects out of their own pockets, tapping cash reserves.
Others are borrowing money amid lower interest rates, which have proved “favorable” for issuing bonds or refinancing debt, said Charlie Goodwin, managing director and head of public finance for the Bank of New York Mellon. The global corporation serves as the county’s financial adviser.
In Brentwood, officials are considering replacing the nearly century-old borough building with a two-story structure that would contain about 14,000 square feet. It would cost about $5 million, which would come from a general obligation bond, borough manager George Zboyovsky said.
While the existing borough building is much larger, containing more than 35,000 square feet, it once housed a library as well as a number of other services but now is home only to the police department and the borough’s emergency medical services and administrative offices.
More pressing, however, is the condition of the building.
-- Jake Flannick New year brings increased school building construction-- The Courier-Herald Washington: December 21, 2016 [ abstract] With roughly $314 million guaranteed by property owners, local school districts are planning for enhanced facilities at all grade levels " or, in the case of Enumclaw, watching a new building take shape.
It was Feb. 9 of this year when the Sumner, White River and Carbonado districts celebrated passage of bond measures. That was 10 months after bond boosters in Enumclaw had their measure approved. In each case, the district requests received at least 60 percent support.
As the first to take action, Enumclaw School District patrons are the first to begin paying for new facilities. The district’s property owners approved a request of about $68 million and began paying, in the form of property taxes, at the beginning of this year. Combined with an $18 million state grant, all the work is expected to cost about $86 million.
Property owners in the other three districts will begin paying in a few weeks, with the beginning of 2017. In Sumner, voters authorized a request for $145.6 million; in White River, the total was nearly $99 million; and in the small Carbonado district gave their blessing to a $1.75 million request.
-- KEVIN HANSON Community weighs in on Cedar Rapids school district's facilities plan-- The Gazette Iowa: December 16, 2016 [ abstract] CEDAR RAPIDS " Questions " about the feasibility of a school bond measure, the role of technology in the classroom and ideal enrollment levels " were posed this week to the Cedar Rapids school district’s Facilities planning committee.
The committee has been working about two months on a new facilities master plan for the district. Part of the process has included meetings at the district’s three comprehensive high schools to gather public input, with about 200 people showing up.
Superintendent Brad Buck said the “Re-imagine, Re-envision, and Reinvest” plan is in its early stages, with a goal of being finalized in October.
“The board is not coming into this, I just want to confirm, with any preconceived notions,” school board President John Laverty said at the Kennedy High session on Tuesday.
Robert Schwarz, CEO of the educational planning firm RSP and Associates, which is helping with the plan, reiterated that point.
“This was the plan that Dr. Buck gave me,” Schwarz said at Kennedy, holding up a sheet of paper. “It’s a blank piece of paper, for those of you in the back.”
Discussions at the public meetings have been divided into five subcommittees: finances; teaching and learning; grade configuration and boundary criteria; new schools and renovations; and closing and repurposing schools.
Just about every group has explored ideas on how to better prepare district students academically.
Even in the finance subcommittee, member Maureen Oviatt said people shifted from “talking about bricks and mortar” to talking about instruction.
-- Molly Duffy Historic School Redevelopment Deal Along U Street Corridor Falls Through-- Washington City Paper District of Columbia: December 05, 2016 [ abstract] The District and two D.C.-based developers have failed to reach an agreement on a long-delayed project that would have transformed the historic Grimke School site at 1923 Vermont Ave. NW into a cultural center, offices, townhouses, and mixed-use apartment buildings. Within hours of the deal collapsing, officials say they intend to choose an alternative development proposal for the site by March, through an accelerated selection process. District lawmakers approved the project last February and residents have since been calling for swift action.
Stakeholders in the busted deal—Roadside Development, the office of the Deputy Mayor for planning and Economic Development, anticipated nonprofit tenants, and local neighborhood commissioners—each say they're "disappointed." As of November, Roadside, partner-developer Sorg Architects, and DMPED were negotiating a final agreement that was to govern the project's financing, timeline, and scope. They had set a Dec. 1 deadline for sealing a needed land-disposition agreement, which lapsed late last week. Officials in the administration say the gap between council approval of the project and the hoped-for execution of the agreement was atypical of D.C. development deals.
-- ANDREW GIAMBRONE How do we secure resources to meet school infrastructure needs?-- The Gazette Iowa: December 04, 2016 [ abstract] The Cedar Rapids Community School District has undertaken an ambitious effort to thoughtfully and thoroughly plan for the future infrastructure needs of the district. Upon gathering 100 volunteers from varied backgrounds and experiences, those volunteers were split into several committees to provide input and analysis as to the overarching priorities that should be considered as part of the facilities planning. I have the pleasure of being one of 12 community members serving on the finance subcommittee.
The finance subcommittee has spent several hours thus far getting educated in overall school finances, including sources of operational funding, sources of facilities funding, the current tax levy rates of the Cedar Rapids district and surrounding districts, and various guidelines and limitations that apply to bonding capacity and utilization. We then narrowed our focus to the specific financing issues in which the Cedar Rapids Community School District is operating in. After that review and discussion, we came to consensus on the following overview:
-- Gary Becker District Faces 'Hard Decisions' As It Plans for Future School Construction and Closures-- kuow.org Texas: December 01, 2016 [ abstract] The Austin Independent School District is starting to think about what its schools will look like, and where they'll be located, two decades from now. On Wednesday, it released a set of possible options for its 120 campuses this week, including when and where to potentially renovate schools, build new ones and close others.
What the district released Wednesday isn't set in stone.
Each plan needs to go through a long process that involves community input and approval from the Facilities and Bond planning Advisory Committee (FABPAC), which recommends a Facility Master Plan to the Austin School Board. Then, the board needs to approve it and the plan's sent to voters to approve bonds to pay for school construction. Students who are in kindergarten today will have graduated from high school before some of these plans are scheduled to occur.
â€"We need to consider these options as a first step," said Leticia Caballero, co-chair of FABPAC, speaking to the committee last night – the first chance members got to discuss the district's recommendations. "It's an open process. I believe everybody on FABPAC understands the district is confronting some hard decisions. We've recently seen the T.A. Brown situation and what happens when a school district foregoes making difficult decisions in modernizing facilities on a regular basis.â€
-- KATE MCGEE Problems with Pa. financing of school projects addressed-- Pennsylvania: December 01, 2016 [ abstract] Legislators, local school district business managers and members of planning and construction commissions gathered at Coebourn Elementary School recently to discuss the antiquated ways the state reimburses school districts for building costs.
Unanimously, they agreed something must change.
State Reps. Leanne Krueger-Braneky, D-161 of Swarthmore, and Bill Adolph, R-165 of Springfield, sit on the PlanCon Advisory Commission, tasked with bringing the antiqued system of subsidizing the costs of new school construction as well as renovation on existing structures.
PlanCon, short for the planning and Construction Workbook, is an 11-step procedure in which schools apply to the state to offset the costs of construction. However, the commonwealth has fallen behind on payments to many of the 500-plus projects in the state " an annual $300 million payment. The fiscal year budget for 2016-17 hinged on borrowing $5.4 billion to pay off the remained of the debt owed.
-- Rick Kauffman District has $447.7 million in unfunded construction needs-- The Ledger Florida: November 19, 2016 [ abstract] BARTOW — The Polk County School Board members had some concerns when they got a look at the district's 2016-2021 capital work plan.
District officials identified $447.7 million in unfunded new construction needed to support the projected student enrollment over the next 10 years.
In addition, there are $74 million in unfunded major renovation and repair projects.
"What happens if the (half-cent) sales tax (for capital projects) is not renewed?" School Board member Lynn Wilson asked during last week's work session. "Do we have a plan?"
"We're praying," said Rob Davis, interim associate superintendent of operations.
More than $420 million generated by the sales tax since 2004 has paid for the construction of schools, extra classrooms and parking lots, among other needs. If the tax, which expires in January 2019, is not renewed in the 2018 general election, the School District will miss out on about $40 million a year.
The district plans to spend more than $23 million in sales tax money on maintenance projects and more than $22 million in sales tax money on new construction in the five-year plan. The new construction is planned for Bartow High School, which is in the early stages of master planning.
"Bartow has been very patient as it has watched the rest of the county get master plans," School Board member Hazel Sellers said in an October work session. "I'm hopeful about the sales tax renewing ... and thankful we will have a plan going once we get that money."
-- Madison Fantozzi PSD exaggerated deferred maintenance needs-- Coloradoan Colorado: November 05, 2016 [ abstract] Poudre School District officials exaggerated the district's deferred maintenance needs by more than $415 million during efforts to pitch voters a $375 million bond issue to build new schools in Tuesday's election.
District officials, namely Executive Director of Operations Pete Hall, have claimed $500 million in deferred maintenance throughout the election, but a Colorado Open Records Act request by the Coloradoan revealed the district's deferred maintenance tallies just shy of $85 million. Deferred maintenance represents building upkeep that the district has delayed due to funding restrictions.
The district did not publicly disclose the misrepresentation until prompted by the Coloradoan's records request for deferred maintenance line items and costs. Spokeswoman Danielle Clark said an "overbroad categorization" of maintenance needs had occurred throughout the past 18 months during the district's long-range planning process.
Bill Werst, president of the anti-bond organization Citizens for Sustainable School Funding, said the misrepresentation is proof of the need for more transparency from the district. Werst has advocated for PSD to make available detailed plans and cost estimates for new schools included in the bond and to reduce proposed construction costs to either reduce the maximum bond amount or tackle more of the district's deferred maintenance.
-- Sarah Jane Kyle Fairfax County Says Yes to High-Rise Schools-- Reston Now Virginia: November 03, 2016 [ abstract] Fairfax County could start seeing more high-rise schools in the school district in the near future thanks to a vote by local officials this week.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a comprehensive plan amendment that will allow the planning Commission’s Schools Committee, the School Board and the school district to work together and consider more creative options for designing schools in busy “activity centers.”
The county identifies activity centers as high-commercial, high-development areas such as Reston, Herndon, Bailey’s Crossroads, Tysons Corner, Seven Corners and Richmond Highway.
Those areas generally do not have locations suitable to accommodate schools large enough to keep up with their rate of growth, according to a county report. And even if they do, the areas are often too costly for construction, officials said in the report.
With traffic congestion often high in such areas, locating schools in high-rise buildings closer to public transit could also help solve many headaches, officials said.
“Future schools and education facilities in activity centers will need to be compatible with the higher densities, mix of uses, and pedestrian and transit accessibility found in such areas,” the report says.
-- Jennifer van der Kleut Park-starved residents locked out of school playgrounds-- San Diego Reader California: November 03, 2016 [ abstract] At least three of San Diego's joint-use playground parks have limited or eliminated public access to playgrounds in North Park, Normal Heights, and Kensington, and no one knows who is responsible.
After three days of inquiries, the city Parks and Recreation Department and the San Diego Unified School District found answers — though contradictory. Each initially said the other is responsible for unlocking gates at the end of the school day and locking them in the morning to provide secure campuses.
Calls to the city parks department resulted in a referral to the city's communications department, which did not respond for a day, then said that opening the pseudo-parks is the school district's responsibility.
Calls to the mayor's office resulted in referrals to the communications department.
When informed of the contradictory answers, they stopped responding and began collaborating — the media folks, that is. Whether or not Parks & Rec is working with the school district with renewed interest is unknown.
Normal Heights Community planning Group members say problems with public access to the park have plagued the neighborhood for years. planning group members, including chairman Jim Baross, embraced the idea for the school, built in 2006. They soon found the park promise didn't come true.
-- Marty Graham Major fixes needed for high school buildings-- Mountain View Voice California: October 12, 2016 [ abstract] Mountain View and Los Altos high schools may look radically different in the coming years as the Mountain View-Los Altos High School District prepares for an onslaught of 500 additional students at campuses already packed to the brim. But adding new classrooms is really just one piece of the puzzle: A new report shows some of the school buildings are decades past their prime, crumbling and badly in need of replacement.
The 200-page facilities report from the firm Quattrocchi Kwok Architects revealed that although the district has done a good job maintaining school buildings dating back to the 1950s and 1970s, time has taken its toll. The small gym at Los Altos High School, for example, is plagued with problems -- the walls are cracked, stained and water-damaged, the roof is falling apart, and there are signs that the structure has dry rot. In a roundabout way, the report suggests that district officials might need to tear down the gym.
"Future master planning should evaluate the useful life and functional appropriateness of the small gym," according to the report. "Considering adjacent portable classrooms, demolition in this area may allow for future growth and facilities."
-- Kevin Forestieri Yonkers school reconstruction bill gets Cuomo's OK-- Lohud.com New York: September 30, 2016 [ abstract] ALBANY - Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation Friday that allows Yonkers to create a new authority to oversee its $2 billion reconstruction of the city schools.
The state Legislature approved the bill in the waning days of the legislative session in June after months of wrangling over how to address the district's crumbling infrastructure.
Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano lobbied the state Legislature -- and hired three lobbying firms -- to pass a bill that would increase the city's reimbursement rate for school construction projects, as well as provide more state aid.
But those measures weren't included in the final bill.
Assemblywoman Shelley Mayer, D-Yonkers, said it was important for the bill to be signed into law.
"It's great news," she said Friday.
"It's extremely important that we be able to move ahead and create the mechanism to begin the process of planning for the construction of the new schools and the repairs of the existing schools."
The bill signed by Cuomo creates the Yonkers Joint Schools Construction Board, which can bond for the cost of construction.
Spano, a former assemblyman, said he expects the city to return to the Capitol next year to fight for a higher reimbursement rate and state aid.
He praised Cuomo's signature on the bill, saying it can move the project forward.
-- Joseph Spector Johnson City BOE protests county’s school plans-- Herald & Tribune Tennessee: September 21, 2016 [ abstract] Washington County Mayor Dan Eldridge made a rare appearance in front of the Johnson City Board of Education on Monday, September 5 to address what he thought was going to be a series of updates on the capital projects that the county school system is planning.
Instead, it turned into" at times " a heated discussion between some school board members and the Washington County mayor about the $0.40 cent property tax increase recently imposed by the county, $0.32 of which will be placed in a capital funds project for county use.
Johnson City Superintendent Dr. Richard Bales summoned Eldridge, along with Washington County Finance Director Mitch Meredith, Johnson City Mayor Clayton Stout and Johnson City City Manager Pete Peterson to discuss the tax increase with the school board, however it was Eldridge that bore the brunt of the questioning during the almost one hour exchange.
“There is a concern about the implications of the approach that the county is planning to take with that $0.32 cents from the recent tax increase that they are going to be putting into their capital projects account,” explained Johnson City Board of Education Chairman Dr. Tim Belisle to the Herald and Tribune a couple of weeks after the exchange.
-- COLLIN BROOKS Carson City school board approves $24.5M in building projects-- Nevada Appeal Nevada: September 14, 2016 [ abstract] The Carson City School District Board of Trustees approved $24.5 million in capital improvements Tuesday night.
That approval came a short time after the trustees approved $7 million in energy conservation projects for district school facilities.
The board authorized a $7 million purchase agreement with a term of 20 years to finance the cost of acquiring, constructing, improving and equipping energy projects in the district.
The school district will repay $517,600 a year after approving an installment purchase agreement that will be paid out of the district’s general fund through 2037.
The board was told by JNA Consulting Group, LLC the installment purchase agreement made the most sense compared to bonding.
No public comment was received and the board approved the motion unanimously.
The board also voted on its proposed capital projects for 2017-2020. The board took the recommendations of the Facilities Master planning Committee, which was facilitated by Superintendent Richard Stokes, Operation Services Director Mark Korinek and Andrew Feuling, director of fiscal services. The board voted to sell the 2017A School Bond to raise $15 million of the $24.5 million needed for the proposed projects. Other funding sources will be $7 million from the installment purchase agreement, $1 million from the PAYGO funding and $1.5 million from the capital projects fund from the Government Services Tax.
-- Staff Writer UPDATED: Public concerns mount over contaminated school site-- The Morgan Hill Times California: September 12, 2016 [ abstract] One parent’s concern over the development of a new elementary school site on former agricultural land was made clear Sept. 6 when the mother of two addressed the school board and district leadership on the matter.
Now, school officials, who are working with environmental experts as well as the State Department of Toxic Substances Control, are planning to “off-haul” 38,000 tons of dirt from the property to alleviate the contamination problem. The cost of the work is estimated at less than $2 million, according to district staff.
Local resident Melissa Hartley, who lives in the Terra Mia neighborhood right next door to the 10-acre field on Peet Road, told the board that she would never feel entirely comfortable sending her children to the proposed school due to the presence of harmful pesticides in the soil.
“I am concerned, gravely concerned that we’re putting our most vulnerable in a plot of land that we don’t know if we’re going to be able to clean it all up; if it’s going to be safe with these long-term studies of how it’s going to affect them,” said Hartley, one of only two speakers at the Sept. 6 public hearing.
Bioremediation was used to cleanse the soil more than a decade ago"a procedure that warranted a safe declaration for residential use from the State Department of Toxic Substances Control. However, the district’s environmental consultant detected the same dangerous toxins (dieldren and toxaphene) in the soil during a 2014 site assessment. DTSC standards are more stringent for school use than for residential.
The school board has not yet heard the final Remedial Action Workplan, which must be approved by state officials who act as the oversight agency for the project, according to district staff.
-- Scott Forstner Montgomery County planning school renovations or rebuilds-- WDBJ7 Virginia: August 16, 2016 [ abstract] Montgomery County is considering rebuilding and renovating several schools, but wants public input on what should be done.
There were three projects to consider at a School Board meeting Thursday night, but they could affect as many as ten schools!
They stem from a recent feasibility report that says some of these schools won't be able to continue bringing in students in their current states.
In fact one of them, the district said, needs to be renovated immediately.
Looking at the front of Falling Branch Elementary School, it looks like a great building. But walk around back and you'll see nine mobile unit classrooms, one of them condemned, that students have to learn in.
The first project the Superintendent has suggested is renovating and making the school larger so it can house the current 500 students and more in the future.
MCPS Public Information Officer Brenda Drake explained, "Adding the additional structure will make a safer environment at the school, which is something we're always evaluating, but it also helps those kids feel more a part of the building and they're still a part of that cohesive, one-building unit."
-- Eamon OMeara Measure H school projects starting this fall in Napa-- Napa Valley Register California: July 30, 2016 [ abstract] Fresh off the passage of Measure H, the Napa Valley Unified School District is embarking on a multi-year to-do list of infrastructure changes covering seismic upgrades, new school construction, campus safety measures and more.
District officials briefed the school board Thursday night on the first phase of its facilities master plan that will implement $187 million worth of work between now and 2020.
The funding will come from $269 million in school bonds authorized by Measure H that voters approved in June.
Work will begin as soon as this fall on several fronts, according to Don Evans, the district’s head of school construction.
Evans told trustees that his office is now searching for architects and consultants “to get rolling” on various projects.
Although much of the early work will be planning in nature, Evan said voters can expect to see concrete results from approving Measure H within the next 12 months.
For instance, the district has promised to improve campus security at many schools by installing perimeter fences. Some of these new barriers will be up before the end of this year, Evans said.
-- NOEL BRINKERHOFF Byram resident appeals New Lebanon School project, wants smaller school-- Greenwich Time Connecticut: July 26, 2016 [ abstract] GREENWICH " A critic of plans to replace the New Lebanon School with another on the site of the current building has taken the first step to get the the project scuttled.
Town resident Matthew Popp has appealed the planning and Zoning Commission’s unanimous June 7 approval of municipal improvement status for the construction of a new school scheduled to begin in June 2017.
Under town charter, any person owning property within Greenwich has the right to appeal a MI decision and send it to the Representative Town Meeting for a vote.
The appeal will be on the agenda for the RTM’s Sept. 19 meeting.
In his appeal, Popp, who works as a landscape architect and is a former member of the town’s Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency, claims the proposed 61,230 square foot school building and expanded parking lot would have a negative impact on the environment and quality of life in Byram.
He calls the plan inconsistent with the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development.
“The project is much larger than needed to serve the current or future needs of the Byram neighborhood,” Popp wrote in his appeal. “In addition to the larger building, the project includes a large parking lot, an oversized bus loop, wider driveways and larger drainage systems. The project will compromise Byram’s natural landscape by clearing Byram’s last remaining sizable mature woodlands.”
Taking away part of the tree buffer between the school and neighborhood from nearby Interstate 95 would damage the wildlife habitat and reduce land adjacent to the William Street ball field, he said.
Popp is calling for a smaller building.
-- Ken Borsuk Gwinnett County Schools completes $342M of construction in four years-- Gwinnett Daily Post Georgia: July 26, 2016 [ abstract] Aiming to keep pace with the swelling enrollment across the county, construction projects in Gwinnett County Public Schools are moving at a fast-paced clip.
Chief Operations Officer Danny Jardine last week told the Gwinnett County Board of Education that he was very happy to report that by the start of the upcoming school year, the district will have completed 163 projects in four years that represent $342 million of construction work that fell below the $380 million budget.
“We’re finishing basically within a year early and within budget. There’s a lot of school districts that can’t say this,” Jardine said. “Again, we’re very fortunate to have a team that understands the process, and how to plan and how to manage that plan.”
In his annual oversight report, Jardine reviewed the 2012 building program, and previewed the 2017 version that is funded from Special purpose local option sales tax proceeds.
“In a nutshell, we feel like we’ve had another great year because we have an incredible team that supports the school district,” said Jardine, who was named to this role about three and a half years ago.
The school district has already spent nearly $84 million in planning, design and construction since Gwinnett voters approved SPLOST V in November.
-- Keith Farner St. Landry school official says elementary schools may have to close or consolidate over money crunch-- The Acadiana Advocate Louisiana: July 26, 2016 [ abstract] OPELOUSAS " A St. Landry Parish school district official told members of the School Board that they will need to consolidate or close some Opelousas elementary schools because of an anticipated shortfall of up to $3.2 million during the 2016-17 school year.
Finance director Tressa Miller told the six board members on the Finance Committee at a Monday meeting to begin planning for the closures or consolidations in order for the school district to save money.
Miller was critical of the board’s spending practices. She told the committee that the district cannot afford to continue dipping into reserve funds in order to forestall general fund deficits as it did in the 2015-16 fiscal year and as it will likely need to do for the 2016-17 year.
Miller provided the committee with a list of expected shortfalls in revenue and increased expenses she said the district will incur during 2016-17.
-- BOBBY ARDOIN Arlington: Parents Decry Speed of Site Decision-- The Connection Virginia: July 20, 2016 [ abstract] Just two weeks after Arlington County announced that it was planning on placing a temporary fire station on the future Wilson School site, the County Board unanimously voted to move forward with an agreement that would allow the fire station to occupy nearly half of the field space at the Wilson site until at least 2020.
#According to the staff report, a two-phase construction of Rosslyn properties would add costs that make the project financially untenable. Given that the construction would demolish the existing Fire Station 10 at 1559 Wilson Boulevard before the new station would be built at the adjacent County-owned property, the county would need to construct a temporary fire station in the area. Of the nine sites considered, only the Wilson School site, the Rhodeside Green Park and the Holiday Inn site were publicly owned, within the appropriate General Land Use Plan designation, and within adequate response times to the call coverage area. The Holiday Inn site was deemed inadequately sized with problematic topography, leaving just the Wilson School site and Rhodeside Green Park.
#The designation of the Wilson School site as the location for the temporary fire station hasn’t been firmly established. The County Board’s vote allows the Wilson School site to be selected only if no alternative location is found within 60 days. The board directed County Manager Mark Schwartz to begin a two-month study to review Wilson School site’s feasibility as a fire station in comparison to Rhodeside Green Park and the Holiday Inn site. The final decision on the fire station location will be made at the County Board’s September meeting.
-- Vernon Miles Balancing the size of Watertown schools-- Wicked Local Watertown Massachusetts: July 20, 2016 [ abstract] With overcrowded classrooms, old infrastructure and a blossoming student population, Watertown officials are looking to revamp, renovate or replace most of the buildings in use in the Watertown Public Schools system to better serve the community.
According to school committee estimates, each year, the town spends $500,000 to $600,000 in maintenance, repairs, and capital materials (like school furniture) on the school buildings.
Steering Committee of Master planning Design Process talks continued this week at the WPS Phillips Building with expansion and space management issues taking center stage.
On Tuesday, July 19, Committee members reviewed preliminary designs of Watertown school buildings that were provided by representatives of the Symmes Maini & McKee Associates (SMMA) architecture firm. Discussions at the meeting about the possible changes made to the school buildings were based upon many factors such as increasing enrollment and space utilization, which led the steering committee to look into balancing the sizes of class sizes through redistricting.
Prior to the meeting, committee members took a tour of the Watertown school buildings to familiarize themselves with the schools' facilities and assess its efficiency. At the meeting, committee members shared their feedback.
Committee member and Watertown Director of Community Development & planning Steven Magoon said the elementary schools needs gym-rooms and cafeteria expansions, the Middle School could use some building expansions, and the High School has underutilized spaces.
-- Vekonda Luangaphy New Fayette BOE members talk capital planning, facilities-- The Register-Herald West Virginia: July 18, 2016 [ abstract] Seated less than a month on the Fayette County Board of Education, Darrin McGuffin and Steve Slockett have come aboard in the midst of a facility crises and a countywide review of the district's comprehensive educational facilities plan.
In December 2015, the 11-member voting board that allocates funds toward school construction in the state ordered School Building Authority staff members to lead the review.
"There are some grumblings in the community that don't think the School Building Authority will support the plan and give us funding this December, but people need to have confidence in the process right now. The process is a productive one. People need to give it a chance," said McGuffin. "People are concerned because we have gone through this process in the past and nothing changed, but the SBA staff is coming into this with open minds, as is the planning committee."
David Sneed, SBA executive director, and Scott Raines, Director of School planning and Construction, have just wrapped up community input meetings in each of the county's high school attendance areas.
Slockett said the SBA has worked tirelessly to present comprehensive date to the community and a 54-member capital planning committee will now be tasked with developing facility recommendations at a July 19 meeting.
Last year the SBA's voting board expressed concern that the Fayette Board of Education was not on the same page. Despite all members voting to send a letter of support for the previous plan, some members sent their own letters retracting their support.
-- Sarah Plummer Chicago school construction furthers race, class segregation-- Herald & Review Illinois: July 17, 2016 [ abstract] Under Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Chicago Public Schools has spent millions on new schools and pricey additions while putting little effort into creating more racially and socioeconomically diverse schools.
Documents obtained by WBEZ-FM (http://bit.ly/29TS8OU ) show that Emanuel plans to continue this pattern, using revenue from a record property tax hike passed last year.
Over the past six years, the school district has spent $320 million on new school construction. It's planning to spend another $330 million.
Emanuel justifies this spending because the schools are short on space and overflowing with students. But there's been little attempt to try to get white, middle- and upper-middle class students at these schools to instead attend one of the more than 300 Chicago schools that are deemed underused, even when those schools are close in proximity. Most of the underused schools serve poor, black and Latino students.
One such example is Manierre Elementary. Emanuel and school district officials have made a series of decisions that have essentially guaranteed that the school in a historic district on the city's North Side wouldn't be integrated with children beyond those in nearby subsidized housing.
Richard Kahlenberg, an expert on economic integration who works for the bipartisan think tank The Century Foundation, said that the result is that the underused schools are kept economically and racially isolated, which is not only expensive, but bad for children.
"We know that in trying to raise academic achievement, providing an economically integrated environment for students is far more powerful than spending extra resources in high poverty schools," he adds.
-- Associated Press Board debates: Build one or two elementary schools?-- The Star Wisconsin: July 15, 2016 [ abstract] The Sun Prairie School Board is determining whether to move forward with one or two elementary schools on a November referendum.
At a building referendum work study on July 11, board members weighed the pros and cons of elementary plans.
On June 27, representatives of the community School Space planning Committee presented their recommendation to put a $40.3 million elementary school on the November referendum. The representatives acknowledged, however, that the committee had been mixed about whether to include one or two elementary schools.
If the district built one, it would be larger than every other elementary in the district and would hold five sections of each grade level instead of four " more than 100 more students. If enrollment continued to grow as projected, the committee representatives recommended another elementary referendum in 2021.
If SPASD built two elementary schools at the same time, both would hold four sections of each grade, akin to the other district elementary schools. According to estimates from the construction and architecture firms, this would cost $64.6-71.4 million.
-- Tamar Myers Empty hallways, higher costs force Indianapolis Public Schools to consider closing high schools-- Chalkbeat Indiana: July 14, 2016 [ abstract] Whenever Cassandra Money walked out of chemistry class at John Marshall Community High School last year, she noticed something unusual about the hallway: There was just a handful of teens loitering and chatting, with none of the commotion of a typical high school.
It was great for reaching her next class quickly.
“In an empty hallway you can get to your class on time,” said Money, a rising junior at Marshall.
But the quiet corridors are not great for her school.
They’re a small sign of a problem plaguing Indianapolis Public Schools. Numbers obtained by Chalkbeat reveal that the district has more than twice as many seats in secondary schools as it has students to fill them. Those extra seats come at a price, because schools that are just a quarter full still bear high costs for services like heating, security and maintenance throughout the building.
With the district in the process of planning a massive school reconfiguration designed to remove middle schoolers from high schools, the board must decide whether to close some of the underused buildings to save costs.
At least one board member believes that now is the time for the district to begin closing high schools.
-- Dylan Peer McCoy Campus Development Plans Slow to Materialize After Decoupling Decision-- Falls-Church News-Press Virginia: July 13, 2016 [ abstract] It’s been a month since the decision was made to decouple the school and economic development components of the 36-acre West End Campus Redevelopment Project. But with the clock ticking for needed action on a new or renovated high school and the necessity of a public referendum to OK it, there has been no substantial action taken by either the F.C. City Council or School Board, and these two main players cannot yet figure out how to meet together until well into next month.
At its meeting this Monday night, the Council and City Manager Wyatt Shields agreed that the first step of the new decoupled process will need to be a joint meeting of the Council and School Board, but in now the dog days of summer, available dates are slim. Shields announced that the School Board will not be available for a meeting between July 23 and August 7, and with its important meeting with the Fairfax planning Commission on the fate of the Mt. Daniel School renovation coming on July 21, it was, he said, unlikely they could meet until after August 7.
The School Board had nothing new to suggest at its meeting Tuesday, and the date of a joint meeting still has yet to be set.
But as Council member David Snyder pointed out Monday, “until there can be some serious economic development rain-making that we’ve not been able to get so far, we’re not going to have an idea of what we can get out of the property to offset the cost of a new or renovated school.”
He added that serious efforts to get the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and the Northern Virginia Graduate Center into the conversation are also key to that. WMATA owns 36 acres that butts up against the City-owned land that it has considered developing, and the Grad Center is also contiguous and could play a critical role in the timing of the high school construction or renovation if its classrooms could be brought into play.
-- Nicholas F. Benton Pasco school district's capital planning filled with good news and bad-- Tampa Bay Times Florida: July 06, 2016 [ abstract] Pasco County School Board members got some positive news about their construction and maintenance plans for the coming school year.
- The local tax roll is projected to increase 7.02 percent to $25.2 billion, a bigger jump than expected in a June estimate. The capital millage rate looks to generate $36.3 million.
- Impact fee revenue are on track to rise by $9.2 million.
- Collections from the local Penny for Pasco sales tax remain at their highest level, with projections of $26.7 million for the new fiscal year.
The problem is, even the improved income isn't enough, district officials said.
Over 10 years, they explained, the district expects only about half of the revenue needed to cover $1.04 billion in anticipated costs. And that figure doesn't include the construction of new schools that are likely to be needed in the booming Trinity-Odessa area, planning director Chris Williams said.
-- Jeffrey S. Solochek City schools building plan causes upset in Northwest Baltimore-- The Baltimore Sun Maryland: July 05, 2016 [ abstract] With classes now over, Baltimore's $1 billion plan to renovate and rebuild schools is entering its most active phase yet.
More than 3,400 students will be affected as 14 schools either close, move or merge in ways that will change classrooms and neighborhoods throughout the city.
But as officials look forward to a summer of consolidating programs, double-checking bus routes and moving furniture, communities are protesting — particularly in Northwest Baltimore, where Forest Park and Northwestern high schools are being merged.
Parents and others say the move is taking place with little notice, poor planning and minimal community input. They say they have been given little information about how the school system plans to merge educational programs, other than that the schools will be separated by a wall.
School officials have promised to hold community-building activities between students from the two schools this summer in an effort to reduce tension, and to continue meeting with neighbors. Residents of Fallstaff, where Northwestern is located, in particular have expressed concern about Forest Park students coming to the neighborhood. The two schools, both predominantly African-American, have a strong sports rivalry.
-- Erica L. Green Council declines to waive school building fees-- The Joplin Globe Missouri: July 05, 2016 [ abstract] A request by the Joplin School District for the city of Joplin to stop charging the district building permit fees was denied Tuesday by the City Council.
On June 22, the district requested that the city waive usual building permit fees for the construction of the Early Childhood Center and any future school building projects.
City Manager Sam Anselm suggested that the city put a policy in place on whether it could waive such fees and, if so, for what types of projects. Those fees go to pay for the cost of city services, such as building inspectors and planning staff who review building plans for compliance with building and safety codes, and inspections of construction.
Councilman Gary Shaw supported the city manager's suggestion.
Councilman Phil Stinnett asked if the city has ever waived building permit fees for city projects or any types of commercial projects.
Anselm said fees for city projects are not waived but that some home repair and rebuilding projects after the Joplin tornado were waived for organizations that used volunteer labor. Those were Rebuild Joplin, Habitat for Humanity and the Economic Security Corp., he said.
planning and development director Troy Bolander said he does not believe the city has ever waived a permit fee for a commercial project but that the city's practice has been inconsistent with school buildings. He said there were times years ago that the city did not charge the school district a fee.
-- DEBBY WOODIN School Board surveys residents on two lower-priced facilities options-- The Chippewa Herald Wisconsin: July 01, 2016 [ abstract] The Chippewa Falls School Board agreed Thursday night to survey district residents on two facilities plans, one calling for a new elementary school and the other for a new high school.
The estimated cost for both plans will be comparable and come in at around $115 million.
That is over $50 million less than the $167 million proposal a Facilities planning Committee arrived at in December. It is also substantially less than three plans the board looked at in its previous meeting, that ranged from $145-$173 million.
However, both plans also come with a second phase 10 or more years down the road that would address what the first phase lacks. So the plan calling for a new elementary school would include a new high school in phase 2, while building a new high school initially would include a phase 2 plan for a new elementary school.
The latest proposals are an attempt to address the district’s current and future building needs that solve the overcrowding that exists at several schools, and are part of a months-long effort to arrive at a solution that is supported by the public.
-- ROSS EVAVOLD D.C. Schools Seek Input on Building Redesigns-- AFRO District of Columbia: June 29, 2016 [ abstract] A group of elected leaders and community activists received a briefing on the District’s school modernization process. The Ward 8 Education Council, an organization of ward residents and leaders led by Iris Jacobs, held a meeting on June 27 at the Anacostia Library to listen to how District school officials plan to construct and renovate schools in the near future.
The renovations are being done as part of a school modernization project that will come out of the general funds, supplied by tax dollars, for DCPS. Josh Tuch, who works in facilities planning and design for the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), told the audience of 20 people that, unlike the past, the school system wants to get community input into how schools should be designed.
“We have gone to several wards so far to get feedback to see what District residents want their schools to look like,” Tuch said. “We have a process in place where we visit each ward to solicit input on a draft document that will be worked on this summer. In the fall, we will come back to the community to get more input on the draft document and after that, we will work on the final draft that will be presented to the chancellor, the D.C. State Board of Education, the mayor, and the D.C. Council as well as to the general public later this year or early next year.”
-- James Wright Sunset Park Wants More Input on Where the City Builds Schools-- Sunset Park Patch New York: June 23, 2016 [ abstract] Sunset Park community members want a greater say in how the city decides where to build new schools.
Last week, Community Board 7 passed a resolution calling for the creation of a new task force that would "improve the efficiency of school siting and planning."
The body's membership should include "parents, advocates and planning experts appointed by the NYC Council and the Mayor," the resolution stated, including individuals "from the neighborhood in which a proposed school is being considered."
The mayor's office and the Department of Education did not immediately return requests for comment Thursday on the proposal.
-- John V. Santore Slowed growth delays school construction projects-- The Bay Net Maryland: June 22, 2016 [ abstract] Leonardtown, MD -- Slower than anticipated growth in St. Mary’s County has caused the school board to delay plans for construction of a new elementary school and possibly a new facility that would start as a middle school and transition to a high school.
The revisions are included in the 2016 Educational Facilities Master Plan presented recently to the St., Mary’s County Board of Education and which will be presented to the planning commission in August and forwarded to the county commissioners and the state.
In order to get state monies for school construction, “The state requires 50 percent of the capacity to be in place at the time of planning approval and the remainder when occupancy occurs,” according to Director of Capital planning and Green Schools Kimberly Howe. That is what happened with the new Captain Walter Francis Duke Elementary School in Leonardtown.
Howe, in her report to the school board, said capacity needs are determined by the birth rate, housing market, jobs, migration, income and household size. State projections for anticipated growth in the county are historically higher than the local projections.
-- Staff Writer Colorado districts look to spend millions upgrading classroom locks-- American School and University Colorado: June 20, 2016 [ abstract] Colorado school districts looking to bolster security are planning to spend millions of dollars upgrading locks on classroom doors.
The Denver Post says the districts need the equipment retrofits to comply with an updated Colorado Division of Fire and Prevention Control code requirement that that calls for public, charter and junior colleges to have locks in designated classrooms that can be locked from the inside.
According to the revised regulation, non-compliant locks must be removed by Jan. 1, 2018.
The Denver district has scheduled a $572 million bond election for November and has earmarked $4 million for classroom door locks that enable students and teachers to secure a room without having to go into the corridor. District officials say the planned upgrades are less about the fire code requirement and more of a proactive desire to enhance the safety of students and staff.
-- Mike Kennedy Assembly passes schools modernization aid bill-- Democrat & Chronicle New York: June 16, 2016 [ abstract] After a delay forced by a stubborn Assemblyman David Gantt, the state Assembly approved a bill Thursday considered crucial to Rochester's schools modernization program.
The delay has already forced postponement of some work in the next phase of the modernization program, and could cause larger problems if the measure is not signed into law relatively soon by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. As of Monday, the Cuomo administration had not yet indicated that the governor would sign the bill.
The bill was approved on the legislative session's final day. Two years ago, another Rochester school modernization bill went down to the wire until it was approved on the 2014 session's final day.
Gantt, D-Rochester, had said he opposed this bill because he wasn't consulted when it was drafted and because he has unanswered questions about the minority-business component of the modernization program's first phase. He expanded his arguments Thursday to say he had other questions about Phase I work.
But his colleagues weren't persuaded. After a relatively tame 22-minute debate between Gantt and Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle, D-Irondequoit, members voted 103 to 7 in favor of the measure. It passed the state Senate June 6.
Rochester's school modernization program, for which planning began a decade ago, would spend up to $1.3 billion to bring several dozen aging city school buildings into the 21st century. Much of the cost would be covered by state education aid.
-- Steve Orr Apex, Wake school system at odds over traffic fixes for new school-- The News&Observer North Carolina: June 10, 2016 [ abstract] APEX
Apex Friendship Middle School could be in jeopardy if Apex and Wake County Public Schools can’t resolve a dispute over two right-turn lanes.
The school system is objecting to the town’s requirement that it pay an additional $125,000 to construct turn lanes in order to get site-plan approval for the school. Board members and school facilities staff warned at a June 7 work session that the school’s opening might be delayed unless the conditions are dropped soon.
“Resolution needs to happen behind the scenes before July,” board member Bill Fletcher said at the work session. “And I understand there have been a lot of discussions, yet this persists. That’s concerning.”
Mayor Lance Olive announced Friday he had scheduled a special meeting June 28 so the Town Council could revisit the site plan that was approved at a March 15 quasi-judicial hearing. Earlier in the week, he disagreed with the implication from school staff and school board members that the council was unwilling to take action to resolve the disagreement.
“Whatever thoughts or concerns they have that we’re planning to slow-track this to our benefit, that’s not founded,” he said. “We’re very happy to move this forward quickly.”
He said he and town staff have been in frequent talks with school officials in recent weeks and were waiting for them to re-submit their plan for approval. Olive also wrote a blog post following the meeting to explain the town’s position.
-- HENRY GARGAN City schools form committee to develop capital projects-- Charlottesville Tomorrow Virginia: June 09, 2016 [ abstract] The Charlottesville school division is forming a committee to begin reviewing possible capital improvement projects earlier in the budget process.
The Facilities Improvement planning Committee will be tasked with developing and prioritizing a list of CIP projects for the division, according to School Board documents.
The committee would be asked to focus on projects designed to improve or modernize learning spaces or school buildings, rather than maintenance items, said Ed Gillaspie, assistant superintendent of administrative services.
The division currently gets about $1.3 million annually for its CIP, which is supposed to cover maintenance and improvements.
“Part of the issue that goes on there is that the $1.3 million for all of our facilities takes care of roofs and paint. Every once in a while we get to do a true improvement item, but it is rare,” Gillaspie said.
The new committee will be asked to look at how to spend any end-of-year budget fund balance, Gillaspie said. Even if the division spends 99 percent of its annual budget, the leftover funds could be impactful.
“One percent of our budget is $700,000. That is a good chunk of money that could be used for CIP,” he said. “It is those kinds of dollars that can be available for projects, because projects are perfect uses for one-time dollars.”
-- Aaron Richardson Conroe ISD officials prepared for rising school construction costs-- Community Impact Newspaper Texas: June 08, 2016 [ abstract] Even with five new schools on the horizon, district officials said Conroe ISD is ready for rising construction costs associated with projects from last November’s $487 million bond referendum.
Easy Foster, CISD director of planning and construction, said the district expected to see a 1 percent monthly increase in construction costs following approval of the bond.
“The good news is we planned our bond with an escalation factor each year,” Foster said. “We tried to anticipate what the rise [would] be. So far, our budgets have fallen within our contingency amounts.”
Due to proactive planning, Foster said no projects in CISD would need to be moved up or put off as a direct result of increased construction costs.
-- Beth Marshall School building sell-off?-- The Bay State Banner Massachusetts: June 07, 2016 [ abstract] City officials, Boston Public School students and parents gathered at the Bruce Bolling Municipal Building in Dudley Square Saturday to weigh in on Build BPS, a facilities master planning process to outline the school department’s building needs over the next ten years.
School Superintendent Tommy Chang told the group that Build BPS would help the department plan for the school system’s future. He and other city officials presented the meeting as an opportunity for parents and students to air their views on the priorities for BPS facilities.
“We want to use Build BPS to imagine the buildings we need for 21st century education,” he said.
But throughout the last year inside City Hall and the Bolling Building, Chang and city officials have been engaged in a different conversation revolving around how to sell the public on a plan to close 30-50 school buildings. That discussion happened behind closed doors, without public deliberation.
Through a Freedom of Information Act request, the parent group Quality Education for Every Student obtained a series of emails on school closures sent by BPS staff, officials in the administration of Mayor Martin Walsh and several outside consultants.
-- Yawu Miller School officials see more favorable conditions for facilities improvements-- Bluff Country Newspaper Group Minnesota: June 07, 2016 [ abstract] Positive feedback on a survey to district residents along with changes made by the Legislature for school maintenance funds as well as taxes on agricultural land gave Chatfield school officials optimism as discussion unfolded during a facility improvement work session Thursday, May 26.
Preston Euerle of architectural firm R.A. Morton and Greg Crowe of Ehlers, Inc., a financial planning firm, were present at the session held by the Chatfield School Board.
Chatfield Superintendent Ed Harris introduced the board and welcomed a few members of the public in attendance, then opened the session by sharing an executive summary of results from a community survey the district conducted in late February and March. The survey was an effort to determine why the November 2015 high school facility improvement referendum failed and what the residents of the Chatfield school district most desire for the students who attend the schools " whether they want the administration and board to focus on academics or to make improvements on athletic facilities.
The summary’s overview related that there were 650 responses, or 35 percent of the patrons of the district sent their surveys back, and the survey was considered valid with 400 or more responses. It pointed out that the representation of the district’s patrons was wide " ranging from young families to seniors and people who live outside the city " and that the 35 percent response rate was considered “exceptional.”
-- Gretchen Mensink Lovejoy Wake County school board approves $1.98 billion building program-- The News&Observer North Carolina: May 31, 2016 [ abstract] The Wake County school board approved a $1.98 billion school construction program on Tuesday that would cover most of the district’s needs to 2023.
The new long-range building program includes 14 new schools, 11 major school renovations and a variety of items, such as buying more new technology and sites for future schools. It’s a rolling seven-year plan, which means school and county staff will review it annually to include new projects.
“This is a long-term plan that will continually be updated,” said school board member Jim Martin. “This is the kind of wise planning that we need going forward.”
The school board approved a resolution Tuesday asking the Wake County Board of Commissioners to provide the $1.98 billion.
The projects would be funded over multiple years so the public wouldn’t be asked to approve a nearly $2 billion bond referendum in one vote. But commissioners, who met with the school board as the program was being developed, haven’t yet decided on when to put the first bond referendum on the ballot.
Commissioners are considering whether to wait until 2018 to put a school construction bond referendum on the ballot instead of November 2016. If commissioners wait, the county would issue a small amount of bonds to cover school construction needs for the next few years.
-- T. KEUNG HUI Storm punched fist-sized holes in roof of new middle school-- Lincoln Journal Star Nebraska: May 20, 2016 [ abstract] Hail punched fist-sized holes in about 80,000 square feet of new roofing on the still-under-construction Moore Middle School, the hardest-hit of Lincoln Public Schools' 70-some buildings in last week's storm.
The hail punched through the roofing and insulation and the rain followed it. Rain also poured through the yet-to-be installed windows, damaging drywall inside the school being built near 84th Street and Yankee Hill Road.
The 80,000 square feet of roofing represents about a third of the total roof space, and it will need to be replaced, LPS Facilities and Maintenance Director Scott Wieskamp told Lincoln Board of Education members at a planning committee meeting Tuesday.
Construction workers temporarily patched the holes with tar to prevent further leaking, he said.
Moore -- in the direct path of the worst of the storm -- appears to be the hardest-hit of the LPS buildings, although insurance adjusters will be in town next week and will tour all LPS buildings to assess damage.
-- MARGARET REIST School facilities master plan draws criticism from planning commission-- Carroll County Times Maryland: May 18, 2016 [ abstract] Members of the county's planning and Zoning Commission voiced concerns over the school system's Educational Facilities Master Plan on Tuesday, scolding school officials for insisting enrollment numbers will climb in future years.
In the proposed Carroll County Public Schools master plan for facilities, school enrollment is predicted to drop steadily for the next five years before turning around in year six at the elementary school level and climbing from there.
planning commission member Alec Yeo noted that predictions that look farther than five years out are not based on solid numbers, since those children could not have been born yet. He asked William Caine, CCPS facilities planner, to designate in the master plan that reports that make predictions farther than five years out are more or less speculation and should be viewed differently than predictions for nearer years.
In the proposed Educational Facilities Master Plan, no indicator delineates the years in which the projection is based on current population numbers and where it switches to staff-drawn predictions.
"Your guess has consistently been that it will go up from there," Yeo said of enrollment projections. Those projections, he said have been repeatedly proven wrong with the passing of each year.
-- Heather Norris School district wants public's ideas for improving facilities-- Plumas Cuonty News California: May 16, 2016 [ abstract] It costs $100 million to build a new high school in California.
The state is currently not funding either new construction or modernization of existing facilities.
Those were among the startling revelations during a facilities planning workshop for the Plumas Unified School District governing board late last month.
"When you look at our buildings, how could they not qualify for modernization funds?" asked board member Bret Cook. "But they don't."
The workshop was part of a broader effort to develop a facilities master plan to address the district's backlog of maintenance needs.
The planning effort moves into each Plumas community with a public forum in the coming two weeks, starting May 18 in Chester.
"The community meetings are key," said board member Dwight Pierson. "We have to present compelling evidence that we need significant improvements to our facilities."
The forums will cover what a master plan is, how schools are funded, what it takes to build schools and what the planning process includes. Participants will also review possible site projects and prioritize them.
-- Delaine Fragnoli Ascension Parish plans for new schools and renovations-- KSLA12 Louisiana: May 05, 2016 [ abstract] New schools and major upgrades are coming to Ascension Parish.
The school system has announced a construction plan to ease overcrowding and enhance students' academic experience on several campuses. It is all being funded by a $120 million bond which voters renewed this year.
The foundation is set and the two-by-fours are starting to shape what will become the Freshman Academy at East Ascension High School. Even more evidence of progress in the Ascension Parish School System can be found at St. Amant High School where Director of planning and Construction, Chad Lynch, said a similar facility is ahead of schedule.
â€"It means we can fix a lot of the stresses that are there in our school system,†Lynch said.
Those freshman academies, plus one at Dutchtown High School, are just part of the solution to ease growing pains in Ascension Parish. They will include digital libraries and new cafeterias with additional food options and serving lines. Lynch said the concept is already a huge hit on campus.
â€"You don't hear about it every day but if you bring them over and show it to them they get very excited,†Lynch said.
-- Cheryl Mercedes D.C. offers small historic school, huge parking lot for lease and redevelopment-- Washington Business Journal District of Columbia: April 27, 2016 [ abstract] The District has a school it would like to lease you. And a much larger parking lot.
The Office of the Deputy Mayor for planning and Economic Development has released a solicitation for the long-term lease and redevelopment of the historic Alexander Crummell School site in Ivy City, a 108,000-square-foot parcel bounded by Okie, Kendall and Gallaudet streets NE.
The site, 1900 Gallaudet St. NE, is one block west of Douglas Development’s Hecht Warehouse District, a block south of New York Avenue NE, and just northeast of the D.C. Department of Public Works campus on West Virginia Avenue " a site slated for redevelopment as the DPW headquarters, plus retail and commercial space for the private sector.
The school building was designated a D.C. landmark and listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. While it requires exterior restoration, it should be retained. The parking lot, however, accounts for the vast majority of the site. It is currently leased to the Union Station Redevelopment Corp. for bus parking, but the USRC has never used it for that purpose (litigation put an end to that), and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is now negotiating to end the lease.
-- Michael Neibauer Medford School Board discusses increase in state funding for deferred maintenance -- Owatonna.com Minnesota: April 25, 2016 [ abstract]
MEDFORD " Thanks to the approval of the Long Term Facilities Maintenance law last year, Medford School district is receiving an increase in funding for priority facilities projects, effective for fiscal year 2017.
At the school board meeting on April 18, Medford School District Superintendent Rich Dahman called the increase in funding from the Long Term Facilities Maintenance Revenue a “pretty good chuck of money” compared to what they have received in the past.
In the past, Medford received funding for health and safety projects and deferred maintenance projects. The new legislation combined the two funds and allocated more funding for the creation of the Long Term Facilities Maintenance Revenue.
The Minnesota Legislature established the Long Term Facilities Maintenance Revenue program to give school districts access to alternative facilities funding in hopes that school buildings and grounds can be responsibly maintained.
“I think it is a good idea. It allows us to be more forward thinking in our planning,” reported Dahman to the school board members.
-- ANNA SEGNER In Juneau, battle brews over construction funding for village school-- KTUU Alaska: April 06, 2016 [ abstract] JUNEAU -- An amended version of the state construction budget, expected to be released by the Senate Finance Committee by end of the week, will not include $7 million that supporters say is needed to complete construction of a new Kivalina school.
The funding is also considered necessary by many to mark the absolute end of a hotly contested court battle, Kasayulie v. State, which lasted 14 years and ended in 2011 when a consent decree and settlement agreement reached by the many parties involved prompted systematic changes to how school construction projects are funded. Previously, urban projects were favored by policymakers. The state agreed to pay tens of millions of dollars to improve neglected schools in five rural communities, including Kivalina, which is the last to be directly impacted by the case.
Last year, the Legislature approved $43.2 million to go toward the costs of a new school serving the Northwest island community, which faces an uncertain future that includes potential relocation because of coastal erosion; in 2015, the Legislature rejected the governor's proposal for an additional $7.2 million for school design and planning for an access road that will be needed because the selected site for the new school is on higher ground.
Gov. Bill Walker included the $7.2 million in his proposed capital budget again for fiscal year 2017, when he released his recommendations in December.
-- Austin Baird Mukilteo (Wash.) district plans a kindergarten-only building-- American School and University Washington: March 14, 2016 [ abstract] The Mukilteo (Wash.) district is planning to build a 600-student campus to house only kindergartners.
The district says the kindergarten center will be built on the campus of an elementary school in Everett and is scheduled to open in 2017.
The facility will be designed to ease the stress of students having their first schooling experience. Their movement within the school will be minimized, and the facility will be broken down into clusters of that it feels smaller.
The 24 classrooms contained within the school will be clustered into four, six-classroom pods that will be situated in two separate wings of the building.
-- Mike Kennedy Addressing NYC's School Overcrowding Crisis-- Gotham Gazette New York: March 08, 2016 [ abstract] All parents in New York City deserve the peace of mind that their children will be able to attend a school where they can thrive and grow. Unfortunately, following years of neglect from the Bloomberg administration, our city's school system is plagued by school overcrowding and excessive class sizes, where hundreds of thousands of our children simply don't have adequate space to learn.
With education a top priority for the city, it's critical that our leaders take strong action to address the chronic underfunding of our city's school infrastructure. Key to addressing this issue is investing sufficient capital resources in the city budget, as well as improving the current school planning process, which is broken.
Recently, we've had some good news. When the city Department of Education (DOE) released its school capital plan, it included a commitment from Mayor de Blasio to invest nearly $900 million in additional resources to build more school seats. In the same plan, the DOE raised its needs assessment to 83,000 additional seats, given enrollment projections and existing overcrowding. This is closer to the 100,000-seat figure that Class Size Matters estimated in its recent report, "Space Crunch." Together, these two adjustments are a welcome acknowledgement of the crisis in school overcrowding, and we applaud them.
But more should be done. The number of new seats in the capital plan is 49,000—only about 59 percent of the DOE's own admitted need—and New York City's population is growing faster than any other large city in the nation. The mayor is now urging the City Council to adopt rezoning plans to accelerate the construction of thousands of new affordable and market-rate housing units, which will increase pressure on our school system. At this critical moment, the city has a real opportunity to address housing and education together.
-- Leonie Haimson and Javier Valdés Groton will ask the state for $141 million for new school construction-- theday.com Connecticut: March 03, 2016 [ abstract] Groton — The town group in charge of planning the future of Groton's schools agreed Thursday to ask the state for $141 million to build one new middle school and two new elementary schools.
If the state agrees, the construction projects would cost Groton taxpayers $55 million, with the state picking up about 72 percent of the total cost of $195.6 million, based on construction estimates updated this week for the School Facilities Initiative Task Force.
Task force member Craig Koehler said there's no need to complicate it for taxpayers. "This is about as good a deal as we're going to get," he said.
State Rep. John Scott said he met last week with state Department of Administrative Services Commissioner Melody A. Currey, Groton Superintendent Michael Graner, town Manager Mark Oefinger and members of the school design committee to discuss the project.
The commissioner and state staff understood Groton's situation, including its longstanding struggle to maintain racial balance and repeated redistricting of students, Graner said.
Despite the high amount requested and the state's budget crisis, Scott said administrative services were sympathetic of the town.
"We do have a really unique story to tell. We have been chronically in trouble with the state with the racial balancing for many years," Scott said.
"The town needs to spend $55 million just to put Band-Aids on the existing buildings, and that won't solve any of our problems with the racial imbalance or consolidation or the consolidation of staffing in the two middle schools," he said.
-- Deborah Straszheim Newark board OKs plan to sell off 12 former school buildings-- NJ.com New Jersey: February 24, 2016 [ abstract] The city's school district is planning to jettison 12 properties as part of its latest strategy to fix its ailing budget.
At a School Advisory Board meeting Tuesday night, Superintendent of Schools Chris Cerf said the buildings, including 10 schools, a former day care and an office facility, will be conveyed to the Newark Housing Authority. The NHA will then assess whether they can be re-purposed into housing or sold off to developers for other purposes.
The move should help free up $2 million to $4 million in annual insurance and maintenance costs, according to Cerf, putting a dent in an estimated budget deficit that, despite an increase of $27.5 million in state funding, stands at about $50 million for the 2016-17 school year.
"That's approximately 20 to 40 teachers, for example," he said. "As we solve our budget challenges we would rather get that money into the hands of schools."
-- Dan Ivers Huge North Shore school referendum got legislative help, splits community-- Chicago Tribune Illinois: February 22, 2016 [ abstract] In the waning days of the state's legislative session last spring, an innocuous bill about kids' teeth was headed toward a vote.
But things changed quickly. The wording about school-related dental exams was wiped out. Added in was a little-noticed bonanza for Highland Park-based North Shore School District 112, which was planning a school construction project that had already become contentious.
In an unusual but not unprecedented move, lawmakers allowed the district to amass more debt, sort of like raising the limit on a credit card. It's significant because the district could borrow more for the project, issuing bonds that taxpayers would have to approve and pay back.
The new borrowing leeway helped pave the way for a $198 million bond referendum in District 112 — the largest bond issue for school construction in a decade in Illinois, state elections records show.
If voters approve, the 12-school district would renovate six schools, close others and build a middle school for 1,800 students that would become the third-largest middle school in Illinois, based on current enrollment data. All the district's fifth-graders would attend, in addition to the usual sixth- through 8th-grade middle schoolers.
The referendum has divided the community, sparking passionate support by proponents but distrust among critics about everything from the legislative maneuvering, the so-called "big-box" middle school and the state of the district's finances.
State records show the district for years was building up millions in surpluses, sitting on taxpayer money while holding off on some school renovations and maintenance projects. Now voters would be asked to approve a $198 million bond issue for construction and repairs, some of which could have been done earlier.
-- Diane Rado Montgomery Co. schools face challenging demographic shift-- WTOP Maryland: February 22, 2016 [ abstract] “You walk into any classroom throughout Montgomery County Public Schools and that classroom has changed.”
That was the message sent by County Councilman Craig Rice, a black man who grew up going to school in Silver Spring.
Demographics have changed the county, and it looks much different than it did when he attended Montgomery Blair High School.
On Monday, during a briefing before the council’s Education Committee, the school system’s long-range planning director Bruce Crispell broke down the numbers: Of the 156,000 students in county schools, 30 percent are white and 29 percent are Hispanic.
Twenty-one percent are black, 14 percent are Asian and nearly 5 percent are bi- or multi-racial. There are 158 countries and 127 languages within the student population right now. The differences affect teacher training and instruction, Rice said.
Thirty-five percent of students qualify for free and reduced-priced meals; of those, a whopping 83 percent of students qualify for completely free meals.
The briefing also focused on the economic squeeze the school system faces when it comes to paying for school construction. With thousands of new students entering the school system each year, the issue of balancing the budget and building or renovating new schools becomes more challenging.
After the briefing, school board president Michael Durso, a veteran educator with years as a principal under his belt, was asked about the board’s selection of a new superintendent.
-- Kate Ryan Porter Ranch leak is over, but when will schools move back?-- LA School Report California: February 18, 2016 [ abstract] LA Unified Superintendent Michelle King issued a statement commending Thursday’s announcement that the Porter Ranch well that has been leaking methane gas since October has been sealed, but there was no clear indication of when the two relocated schools and their 1,850 students would return home.
Two schools were moved to temporary locations over the winter break out of an abundance of caution and are sharing spaces at other schools miles away from the leak in the Southern California Gas storage facility in Aliso Canyon.
Now that the leak is stopped, parents want to get back to normal as quickly as possible and have the campuses move back.
King’s statement says, “We are pleased that Southern California Gas has successfully sealed the leak. This will allow us to start planning for the return of students and staff to their home campuses at Porter Ranch Community School and Castlebay Lane Charter. Our students continue to attend classes in their satellite campuses, where we have created a positive environment to support the teaching and learning experience. The safety and well-being of our students remains our top priority.”
-- Mike Szymanski Helena school board meets Tuesday; trustees to focus on educational vision before facilities-- Independent Record Montana: February 07, 2016 [ abstract] At Tuesday night’s Helena School Board meeting, the trustees plan to share insights they gained at their recent board retreat with facilitator Virginia Tribe exploring board governance.
The board meets at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9, at Ray Bjork Learning Center, 1600 8th St.
What they learned in the retreat is causing them to take a step back from facilities planning to first focus on the district’s educational vision, said board chair Aidan Myhre. “We need more clarity.”
The board intends to use two upcoming board retreats in March and April to outline the educational pieces in more detail before it takes the next steps in school facilities planning. School facilities should match the district’s educational vision, said Myhre. For instance, the district can’t promote more rigorous science standards if it doesn’t have science labs or classroom sinks needed for the classes.
“I think people want a stronger science program,” she said. “What do we need to make that happen?” She also noted that art and music programming have facility needs, as well.
-- MARGA LINCOLN $575 million bond and levy approved in Albuquerque district-- American School & University New Mexico: February 03, 2016 [ abstract] Voters in the Albuquerque (N.M.) school district have approved bond and levy proposals that will provide $575 million to upgrade aging facilities.
Two ballot questions"a $375 million levy and a $200 million bond"received the support of more than 65 percent of those voting. The money will enable the 90,000-student system to build new schools, renovate or expand numerous campuses, carry out planning for more renovations and upgrade technology.
-- Mike Kennedy Beachwood City Council considering a reduction in building permit fees for city's schools-- Cleveland.com Ohio: February 02, 2016 [ abstract] BEACHWOOD, Ohio -- With Beachwood Schools planning to undertake large-scale construction projects in the next couple of years, City Council and the administration are taking a look at its financial relationship with its schools.
City Council met with Mayor Merle Gorden Monday in a Committee-of-the Whole meeting to discuss a request from Beachwood Schools Superintendent Robert Hardis that the city reduce or eliminate its permit fees pertaining to future construction work.
Beachwood Schools are moving forward with a plan to consolidate Hilltop and Bryden elementary schools by holding classes at an expanded Fairmount Early Childhood Center campus. The campus would be the subject of a $35.7-million addition that would make it home to classes for all elementary school children.
The Hilltop School building, except for its gymnasium, would be demolished, and its land used for future sports fields.
To make these plans happen, the schools will go to voters to try and get passed a bond issue and property tax increase in 2017 or 2018.
The schools also plan to build, for next season, a new football stadium at a cost of $4.8 million. The money for the football stadium would be borrowed through a separate funding mechanism called certificates of participation.
Before any possible action on their part is taken, council members agreed Monday that they want to further examine its relationship with the schools to determine how to proceed.
-- Jeff Piorkowski Jackson schools map out millions in capital needs-- Smoky Mountain News North Carolina: January 27, 2016 [ abstract] Jackson County Public Schools wants more than $12 million for improvements to its facilities through 2020, but despite the big number, the requests are pretty basic, Superintendent Mike Murray told commissioners last week.
“There’s some point where you say it’s just not right to have kids sitting with buckets in classrooms,” Murray said.
Roofs, heating and athletics
A significant chunk of the $12.6 million ask " a number which is not final and includes projects funded through the budget approved in July " would go to replace failing roofs at five schools in the district, a $2.8 million undertaking. Most of the roofs are 20 or more years old, so given that the standard life of a roof is around 25 years, it’s time to start planning for replacements before failures happen.
In some cases, it’s been too late. Commissioners had to appropriate $190,000 in emergency funds this year when part of the roof at Fairview Elementary School unexpectedly failed. The same thing happened at Cullowhee Valley Elementary School in 2013. In that case, Murray said, it appears something was up with the design " the roof should have lasted longer.
“We should have got another 10 years out of that roof,” Murray said. “There’s no reason in the world that it failed when it did.”
Another big piece of the requested funding is for heating, ventilation and air conditioning renovation, accounting for $2.9 million of the five-year estimate. Looking further ahead, the school system knows it will need to renovate the system at Fairview in year six. There’s no estimate for that project yet, but it will likely come in over a million dollars. The HVAC plan is another one of those expensive but necessary improvements, Murray said " not glamorous, but vital to the function of the schools.
“We put away the wish list and looked at things to keep the roof over our heads,” he told commissioners.
-- Holly Kays Think spring! Plan now for a school garden project-- Michigan State University Extension National: January 27, 2016 [ abstract] Now that we finally have snow on the ground, it is time to think spring and school gardens! Start by forming a team, gathering input, and developing a plan that works for how you intend to use your garden. There are many grants available to help start school garden projects but your garden plan should include strategies on how to maintain and fund the project beyond the start-up phase as this is where many projects struggle. This article includes some items for consideration as you plan your project.
Start by forming a garden team to help with the planning process. Your team should include teachers and staff interested in using the garden or expected to help with maintenance. This would include school administration, teachers, food service staff and maintenance staff. You should also consider including parents and community volunteers that would have gardening experience or have an interest in supporting the project in other ways. Depending on the grade levels that will be involved this is also a great opportunity to engage youth in the planning process.
Determine how you plan to use your garden. Is it intended to be an exploration activity for young kids, connected to science lessons where experiments might be included, or do you plan on using a majority of what is grown for taste testing or cafeteria use. This is important as it may affect the layout of your garden, the supplies you need and training for items such as food safety. School gardens can easily serve multiple grades and multiple uses if proper planning occurs in the design stage.
Determine when you plan to use your garden. Will it be only during the school year? Do you have a summer program that could also utilize the garden? Is there a community group that could utilize the garden during the summer or volunteers (including Master Gardeners) that would help maintain it? There are ways to put a garden to bed properly during times it won’t be used (winter or summer) to minimize weed build up and make it easier to get the garden back into production when you are ready to use it.
-- Michelle Walk East Helena Schools consider building additions, grade shifts to deal with influx of students-- Independent Record Montana: January 25, 2016 [ abstract] A sudden growth spurt in East Helena has East Helena Public Schools scrambling for solutions -- where to put an additional 100 K-8 students expected to arrive in the next three years.
That will take them from their fall 2015 enrollment of 1,205 students to the district’s maximum capacity of 1,300.
About 50 people came together at East Valley Middle School Monday night to brainstorm fresh ideas and review some proposed options on how the district can handle the growth.
A follow-up meeting is set for Monday, Feb. 22, to narrow down the ideas to three to four to propose to the school board.
This would be followed by a one-day planning charrette with Slate Architecture of Helena to further refine the ideas.
Ideally, a proposal could go to voters as early as this year or early next year, said superintendent Ron Whitmoyer, following the meeting.
The district’s current enrollment includes 279 pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first grade students at Eastgate Elementary School, 547 second through fifth graders at Radley School and 387 sixth through eighth graders at East Valley Middle School.
“Anything we do should be visionary for the next 20 years,” said Whitmoyer, adding that this is the typical life of East Helena’s school bonds.
-- MARGA LINCOLN Four Portland schools in dire need of repairs, parents say-- Portland Press Herald Oregon: January 25, 2016 [ abstract] A $29.7 million bond to replace the Fred P. Hall Elementary School hasn’t even received a public hearing yet and already there is a movement afoot in Portland to build support for another borrowing package to begin upgrading four other elementary schools.
The City Council will hold a public hearing Feb. 17 on the Hall School replacement plan. If approved by the council and by city voters, the 440-student Hall School would be replaced with a new school for 558 students.
The project has been deemed enough of a priority that it qualified for state funding to cover nearly all of the cost. However, the city would have to cover $1.4 million of the price because of additional features approved by a special committee and the School Board.
The idea of asking Portland taxpayers to kick in extra money for a bigger cafeteria, bigger gymnasium, additional play structures and outdoor learning spaces, and certifying it as a “green” building, is prompting a broader discussion about other elementary schools that haven’t been upgraded since they were built 40 to 60 years ago.
“planning for Hall School really puts this back into the spotlight,” said District 4 City Councilor Justin Costa, a former School Board member and school finance chairman. “It’s certainly hard for us to treat one school in isolation.”
Parents throughout the city, including those at Hall School, are organizing an effort to persuade the council to address the remaining elementary schools this year.
-- RANDY BILLINGS School board to spend nearly half million dollars on coal ash solution-- Star News Online North Carolina: January 24, 2016 [ abstract] The Brunswick County school board has approved allocating $475,000 to resolve the coal ash problems at South Brunswick Middle School.
Craig Eckert, the school system’s director of capital projects and planning, told the board at its Tuesday Operations Committee Meeting that he expects the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to approve the remediation plan the school system submitted in December.
He said work on the field could begin as early as Jan. 24.
The school district will place 7 inches of soil over the field, which then will be topped with Bermuda sod. The remediation plan also calls for an irrigation system. These measures will protect any students playing on the field as well as the field itself, Eckert said.
Eckert also recommended taking the stockpiled mixture of soil and coal ash (left over from the ball field’s renovation in 2014) to a landfill, as that will transfer any liability associated with it to the landfill.
-- Lynda Van Kuren Quileute Tribal School competing for federal funds to move school to higher ground-- Peninsula Daily News Bureau of Indian Education: January 22, 2016 [ abstract] LA PUSH — The Quileute Tribal School is preparing to compete with nine other tribal schools for millions of dollars in funding to move students permanently to higher ground, away from ocean storms and tsunamis. The small kindergarten-through-12th-grade school with an enrollment of 70 to 80 students is one of 10 tribal schools selected nationwide to compete for a complete replacement. The existing school site is adjacent to First Beach in La Push and, like much of the community, including the Quileute Tribal Center, the Quileute Senior Center and many homes, is directly in the path of possible tsunamis or flooding from the Quillayute River. Of the 78 schools that were eligible for the replacement due to age and condition, 53 submitted an application for replacement in 2015, according to the Office of Indian Affairs. On Jan. 13, the Quileute Tribal Council was notified that the school is one of the top 10 applicants for five school replacements budgeted by Congress. 7 Navajo schools Seven of the 10 finalists are Navajo schools, including one in the southwest, one in the west and the Quileute Tribal School, according to the Office of Indian Affairs. The school and tribe were invited to a three-day public meeting, Feb. 2-4, at the National Indian Program Training Center in Albuquerque, N.M. Schools selected from the 10 finalists for the construction priority list will split $8 million in funding for planning and design. The final selected schools will have building replacements funded in order of which is most “shovel-ready” beginning in 2017 until all priority schools are replaced, according to an Indian Affairs fact sheet. “Shovel-ready” means planning is complete, permits are secured and construction work can begin as soon as funding is in place.
-- Arwyn Rice McHenry County schools: Illinois budget uncertainty makes capital projects planning difficult-- Northwest Herald Illinois: January 16, 2016 [ abstract] The floor tiles at Dundee Highlands Elementary School look like a poorly designed patchwork quilt.
The bathrooms need to be updated, and the roof needs to be repaired.
Algonquin-based Community Unit School District 300 had planned to complete these projects about a decade ago when it applied for, and was picked to receive, a $35 million state grant that never came.
Some of the work has been completed as needed over the years, but the district still has a lengthy list of projects, many that date back to 2004, but some that are new, estimated to cost a total of $31 million, said Susan Harkin, the district’s chief operating officer.
The list also includes additions to four of its buildings, 10 classrooms at Carpentersville Middle School, four at the deLacey Family Center in Carpentersville, and eight classes each at Gilberts Elementary School and Hampshire’s Wright Elementary School, according to district documents.
The District 300 school board signed off earlier this week on an application for Qualified School Construction Bonds, a state-managed program that uses federal funds to finance low-interest loans to help school districts pay for capital improvements.
The Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47 board gave approval earlier in the month to also apply for the bonds, although neither district knows yet if they’ll be selected to participate.
School districts that can take advantage of the bonds " ones that have shovel-ready projects and don’t need to go out to referendum " are jumping at the funding mechanism.
-- EMILY K. COLEMAN Facilities study suggests Norwalk schools need over $77 million in renovations-- The Hour Connecticut: January 13, 2016 [ abstract] NORWALK " West Rocks Middle School, Marvin Elementary School and Jefferson Science Magnet School are the top city schools in need of building renovations, according to a school facilities feasibility study released Wednesday.
The study, conducted by Hamden-based architecture firm, Silver Petrucelli and Associates, took an in-depth look at the physical conditions of Norwalk’s 12 elementary schools and four middle schools.
Officials discussed recommended building and site renovations for each school along with associated costs.
A team of mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, plumbing engineers and architects assessed each school building. Additionally, landscape architects and civil engineers from Cheshire-based firm Milone and MacBroom surveyed school grounds.
The recommendations of the study are outlined in full detail in a 350-page report on file with the city. The Norwalk Board of Education Facilities/planning Committee held the first of three meetings Wednesday afternoon to share the findings of the study.
West Rocks Middle School topped the list of city schools in need of capital improvements. The study estimates West Rocks is in need of nearly $9 million in upgrades.
Built in 1955, officials say West Rocks has its original windows.
-- KOREY WILSON Marie Reed Building and Site Modernization Designs and Plans Continue to be Refined-- TheInTowner District of Columbia: January 09, 2016 [ abstract] Progress in the detailed planning and preparation of specifications for the modernization and adaptive re-use of the Marie H. Reed Learning Center and its multi-acre Adams Morgan site by the District’s Department of General Services (DGS) and the architectural firm of Quinn Evans continues into the new year on the basis of a planning document issued by the architects on October 22, 2015.
That document reflected Quinn Evans’ understanding of what the District could afford to spend in the re-making of Marie Reed to meet modern requirements as stipulated by the District’s school system (DCPS) and the parks and recreation department (DPR) together with those specified by the District’s Department of Health (DOH) backed by funds identified by the DC Council in support of modernization of the health facilities presently housed in the Marie Reed building.
The Quinn Evans foundational document for this effort, titled “Schematic Design Progress for the Marie H. Reed Learning Center, Presented to the Community,” was made available solely on-line; no printed copies were provided to the community. The actual presentation by the architects occurred at a relatively short, community-wide forum in held the Marie Reed elementary school gathering space.
-- Anthony L. Harvey Montgomery County, School System Officials Examine Putting Schools in Vacant Office Buildings-- Bethesda Magazine Maryland: January 08, 2016 [ abstract] It would cost between $59 million and $65 million to buy a local vacant office building and repurpose it as a new school, according to a multi-agency work group set up by Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS).
The group included officials from MCPS, the county government and planning Department, plus PTA representatives and architects from Samaha, the Virginia-based firm the school system has used for many school construction projects, including an addition at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda.
The group, which according to its final report was spurred to action by public concerns about the school system’s rapidly growing student population, met six times last year.
Interim Superintendent Larry Bowers is expected to present the group’s report to the Board of Education at 11:10 a.m. Tuesday for a discussion.
Among the findings in the report is the cost estimate of putting a school in a five-story, approximately 150,000-square-foot vacant office building in the Walter Johnson cluster.
The report said it didn’t identify the building “due to concerns that any estimate of costs could affect the valuation of the property,” though in an appendix to the report, the vacant Capital Gateway Rock Spring Park building at 6700 Rockledge Drive was the only one of nine vacant office buildings listed that fit the description.
-- AARON KRAUT D.C. Could Get This Wild, Twisty, Innovative School-- The Atlantic CityLab Virginia: January 06, 2016 [ abstract] Two notable architecture firms are coming together to create a new school in Rosslyn, Virginia, just outside the District of Columbia. Leo A Daly and Bjarke Ingels Group are designing a new Wilson School building"one that could be an architecturally significant project for the region.
The new building will replace the old Wilson School, a century-old building that Arlington County decided to demolish last year, much to the dismay of some residents. Officials argued that historic features that made the building distinctive had all been removed in the 1960s, including its portico, columns, and cupola.
If the new Wilson School building is completed as planned, Rosslyn will be getting an architectural gem worthy of what came before it. planning documents from Arlington Public Schools reveal a distinctive torquing design. The building appears to spread out from a central pivot, like a hand fan. If the building is completed to spec, the Wilson School may be the most architecturally distinct public school in the country.
-- KRISTON CAPPS Manatee commission to consider reinstating school impact fees-- Bradenton Herald Florida: December 31, 2015 [ abstract] MANATEE -- Manatee County School District could get another revenue source to fund the construction of new schools and other capital improvements on Thursday.
School impact fees, which were suspended in 2009, may be reinstated by the Manatee County Commission during Thursday's Land Use meeting. The commission will consider the item at 9:15 a.m. in the first floor commission chambers in the Manatee County Administration Building, 1112 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton.
At a Dec. 10 meeting, the planning commission found the Educational Facilities Impact Fee Update Ordinance consistent with the county's comprehensive plan. The school board approved a resolution in November asking the county to implement school impact fees over a three-year period, asking for a 50 percent collection rate the first year, rising to 75 percent the second year and going to 100 percent the third year. If voters approve a sales tax extension for the school district, then impact fee rates would drop back to 50 percent. If approved Thursday, the school impact fees will begin April 18 along with an increase in county impact fees.
School impact fees are collected on new residential development for the construction of new schools and related facilities.
TischlerBise of Bethesda, Md., which did an impact fee study for the county and school district, recommended the following school impact fees for new homes, which are included in Thursday's agenda materials as:
$6,848 for a duplex or townhouse.
$6,475 for a single family home.
$3,525 for a multifamily or other style home.
$1,478 for a mobile home.
-- CLAIRE ARONSON City, school district find early obstacle in confluence-area land swap-- Post Independent Colorado: December 27, 2015 [ abstract] A wrinkle needs to be ironed out before a land swap between the school district and the city that’s needed for the new Glenwood Springs Elementary School construction and confluence-area redevelopment can proceed.
Vogelaar Park, which is owned by the Roaring Fork School District but operated by Glenwood Springs Parks, is encumbered with a special recreation designation dating back to some grant-funded ballfield improvements that were made in the 1980s. The park is now used as a youth baseball facility.
According to city and school district officials, the designation surfaced recently in planning for the Eighth Street connection.
In addition to a permanent city street connection that’s part of the larger effort to redevelop the Roaring Fork and Colorado river confluence area, the new route is to be used for the Colorado Department of Transportation’s Highway 82 detour during the Grand Avenue Bridge construction in 2017.
Playground space that will be part of the new GSES campus remodel can be transferred to make up for some of the park designation, said Shannon Pelland, chief financial officer for the school district.
But to do anything different with the rest of the Vogelaar parcel as part of the eventual confluence development will require an equal amount of land elsewhere to be designated for public parks purposes, she said.
“It does look like we could transfer the property to the city intact, and they would have to go through the same process we’re looking at to designate another property (for parks and recreation use),” Pelland said.
-- John Stroud Rochester approves school buildings capital reserve fund-- fosters.com New Hampshire: December 16, 2015 [ abstract] ROCHESTER — The City Council voted to establish a capital reserve fund for school buildings, during a special City Council meeting held Tuesday night, Dec. 15.
The fund will be used for any construction projects related to new school facilities or the improvement of existing facilities, according to city documents. Mayor T.J. Jean said he was in support of the fund, and felt it would provide a good planning option for the school budget and force dialogue between the School Board and the City Council. He said the fund would help the School District address its building and space needs.
Those who commented on the issue during public comment Tuesday seemed to be against the fund.
Gregg DeNobile, a Rochester resident, said he felt it would contribute to overtaxing Rochester residents, and said the schools' budget has risen by 16 percent since 2010.
"I know that doesn't seem like much to some of you, but you need to work within our needs," he said.
City Councilor-Elect Ray Barnett said he felt officials should look at each building project as it comes and only spend money on necessary projects. He said the city had missed a chance to consolidate resources by not enlarging the new East Rochester School by adding four more classrooms. He said the addition would have allowed the district to close Nancy Loud School and cut costs.
-- Caitlin Andrews Zoning board approves variance for solar panels to power middle school-- ShoreNewsToday New Jersey: December 15, 2015 [ abstract] PETERSBURG " A proposed solar panel power facility to produce electricity for the Upper Township Middle School received a use variance last week from the Upper Township Zoning Board of Adjustment.
The zoning board voted 5-0 at its Dec. 10 meeting to approve the use variance for the 435 megawatt system, which should provide enough power for the entire school. It will be located south of Tuckahoe Road in Petersburg, with a line running underneath Perry Road connecting it to the middle school, according to attorney Andrew Catanese, who represented Cambria Solar Construction, LLC in the hearing.
The Upper Township planning Board is set to hear a site plan waiver request for the project at a meeting this Thursday (see related story).
Mike Adkins, a construction manager for Cambria, said the company will build the solar panels for Marina Energy, which will own the system and sell electricity to the Upper Township School District at a discounted price for 15 years. Under a power purchase agreement between the district and Marina Energy, the year-one energy price will be 4.25 cents per kilowatt hour.
The district hopes to save around $4 million in electric costs over the 15-year agreement. Along with the middle school facility, solar panels will also be installed behind the Upper Township Elementary School to power schools there.
“It’s really a great deal for the school district,” Adkins said. “They should save around $180,000 to $190,000 a year on electricity costs.”
Zoning board solicitor Dean Marcolongo said that the positive requirements for approval of the use variance were already met because schools are considered inherently beneficial uses in and of themselves. Solar panels are also considered inherently beneficial uses, he said.
-- Columb Higgins Mt. Kisco Architects Work to Make Schools Safer-- Chappaqua-Mount Kisco Patch New York: December 14, 2015 [ abstract] Since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School three years ago today, there have been 142 incidences of gun related violence at school facilities -- including 45 school shootings in 2015.
While safety and security have always been an important part of school planning and design, the recent increase in these tragedies have renewed the sense of urgency and put safety at the forefront of conversations about school buildings. KG&D Architects, PC has worked with many educational facilities throughout the Lower Hudson Valley to address this critical issue and fortify schools without turning them into fortresses.
“Security in schools often comes down to finding the right balance between visibility and the ability to isolate a portion of the population,” said Russell Davidson, one of the firm’s principal architects. “Completely open plans with lots of glass are and completely closed buildings with no visual connections can be equally inappropriate. The ability to see what is going on and to be seen, behind a secure enclosure, by law enforcement can often lead to a safer environment.
“Of course this needs to be combined with the ability to find a safe refuge where you cannot be seen when there is an active threat. These are the reasons why security planning is an architectural design challenge often completed in active collaboration with building administrators and security specialists. Each solution is a unique approach that is tailored to the population and the specific building configuration.”
-- LANNING TALIAFERRO Rocky Hill To Add Portable Elementary Classrooms As Student Population On The Rise-- Hartford Courant Connecticut: December 01, 2015 [ abstract] ROCKY HILL — planning has begun for more temporary classrooms at West Hill School, as education officials look for short- and long-term ways to accommodate burgeoning growth in elementary enrollment.
The board of education is planning to add four portables next summer, which would increase the total in use at West Hill to seven. Estimates are it will cost $400,000 to install the classrooms, and three potential locations will be studied, district architect Michael A. Sorano of Friar Associates Inc. told members of the board of education facilities committee Monday evening.
The district's other elementary school, Stevens Elementary, already has seven portable classrooms in use.
Sorano briefly outlined various long-term options, including constructing a permanent wing on West Hill, reconfiguring grades at the existing schools, and constructing a new school at the former Moser School site.
Board member Jennifer Allison, a West Hill parent, calculated that constructing a permanent wing of 18 classrooms would be required to replace the current and projected number of district portables and recover lost instructional space for art and music. "If we add that on to West Hill that's a huge elementary school," she said.
-- DAVID DRURY St. Paul schools take up long-term maintenance, capital plan-- TwinCities.com Minnesota: December 01, 2015 [ abstract] One of the first major tasks before the new St. Paul school board next year will be approving a maintenance and capital plan for the next five years after decades of underinvestment.
St. Paul Public Schools will spend about $700 million on all funds this school year. Of that, about $30 million will go to school district buildings.
Facilities director Tom Parent thinks the district should be spending roughly $50 million more each year just to maintain facilities they have.
Parent admits that's unrealistic, but he said the recently completed 18-month facilities master planning process "reaffirmed that there is a growing gap in where we need to be and where we are."
Board member John Brodrick said he has questions about the district's ability to pay for the identified needs, but he wants St. Paul to try to keep up with the private, charter and suburban public school districts. In previous meetings, he has called special attention to the poor condition of St. Paul's athletic facilities.
"We need to have facilities for our kids that are comparable to the kind of facilities they see when they go other places," he said Tuesday as the board met to discuss facilities needs.
-- Josh Verges Faribault School Board discusses Strategic Facilities Plan-- Faribault Daily News Minnesota: November 30, 2015 [ abstract] Each year, the Faribault School District releases a new Strategic Facilities Plan, but with the upcoming addition of the new Long Term Facility Maintenance funding, the plan will look a little different from years prior.
Director of Buildings and Grounds Kevin Hildebrandt, Director of Finance and Operations Colleen Mertesdorf and Superintendent Todd Sesker have complied information about the district for the fiscal year 2015-16 Strategic Facilities Plan which was presented to the school board at a work session meeting on Monday.
The purpose of the Strategic Facilities Plan is to gather information about the district and its building and land in one document as well as to list budget information, building layouts and maps.
On Monday night, Hildebrandt presented the plan to the board, walking the board members through it and the data listed within.
The plan itself includes information on the mission and vision of the district and a facilities overview. The plan also includes information about plans for making the buildings more sustainable, identifying each building’s handicap accessibility and Capital planning and budget.
While presenting to the board, Hildebrandt spoke about areas that could be improved for accessibility for the handicapped, current sustainability options and deferred maintenance on the buildings.
-- BRITTNEY NESET Harford officials begin to discuss the unthinkable -- school closings-- Baltimore Sun Maryland: November 24, 2015 [ abstract] As public school enrollment slips, and the local economy continues to sputter, Harford County government and school officials are beginning to discuss the unthinkable: closing underutilized school buildings.
One of the wealthiest counties in the state and the nation, Harford has the financial wherewithal to maintain its existing slate of 54 schools, despite the declining enrollment in recent years.
If the housing market continues to lag, or the economy takes another dive, however, key local decision-makers could be forced to consider closing some schools and merging student populations, according to members of the county's Adequate Public Facilities Advisory Board.
"We can manage some of the financial obligations responsible for keeping a school [open], because of the social, politically correct considerations that we need to think about," the board's chairman, County Council President Richard Slutzky, said during the board's semi-annual meeting in Bel Air Thursday evening.
The APF advisory board, composed of representatives of the Harford County Council, the school system and the school board, plus the county planning and treasury departments, meets twice a year to review school capacity figures, enrollment projections and the rate of home building.
-- David Anderson Pasco parents express worry over school boundary changes-- The Tampa Tribune Florida: November 22, 2015 [ abstract] WESLEY CHAPEL " A half-hour into a meeting to discuss proposed school boundary changes, Pasco County school officials began fielding pointed questions and critical comments from parents.
Many of the parents were worried about traffic, overcrowding and the possibility of their children getting moved to a school with a less impressive reputation.
The boundary changes were proposed as Elementary School “W,” meant to reduce overcrowding at Seven Oaks Elementary and Double Branch Elementary schools, and to accommodate growth along the State Road 56 corridor, is under construction near John Long Middle School. The new school is scheduled to open next year.
Denham Oaks Elementary and Sand Pine Elementary also will be affected by new boundaries.
The proposed boundaries were established by a committee made up of district personnel and at least one parent from each affected school. School district planning director Chris Williams led the meeting, held Thursday evening in the cafeteria at Denham Oaks Elementary School.
“We live in Wesley Chapel. We worship and shop here, take kids to functions here,” said Vince Iglio, who lives in the Arbor Woods community off State Road 56. “We come off the highway to pick up children at 5 o’clock, not the time you sent a car around to look at traffic. Why can’t we go down the road to Sand Pine? Why put us through all that traffic?”
Iglio also referred to the proposed boundaries as arbitrary, a comment met by a round of applause. Students in Arbor Woods now attend Seven Oaks.
Decisions on changed boundaries are based on a number of factors, including school capacities, projected growth patterns, socioeconomic considerations, transportation and school feeder patterns, among other things, Williams said.
More than a dozen Northwood subdivision residents stood in solidarity. Rather than moving affected students from Seven Oaks Elementary to Denham Oaks, which is rated lower and serves more free-and-reduced lunches than Seven Oaks, they urged officials instead to move them to Sand Pine.
-- GEOFF FOX School board approves $478 million master plan-- Napa Valley Register California: November 20, 2015 [ abstract] The Napa Valley Unified School District School Board late Thursday evening approved an ambitious plan for addressing the district’s long list of school construction and infrastructure needs, some of which became “critical” priorities after the 2014 earthquake.
But board members and district staff still face the challenge of figuring out how to pay for everything, included in the new Facilities Master Plan that costs $478 million.
“Our need exceeds our pocketbook,” Director of School planning and Construction Don Evans admitted to the board. “This is a bigger challenge than we’ve ever had before” with infrastructure needs.
Evans and other district officials spent months composing a list of important projects that make up the master plan, and still more months after that trying to whittle it"and its cost"down.
But the total wound up increasing from the $447 million estimate that was presented to the board in August.
Confronted with an abundance of construction necessities from the earthquake’s impact, student demographic changes and other key factors, there wasn’t a lot that could be cut out of the blueprint, officials say.
-- NOEL BRINKERHOFF D.C. Public Schools to take bigger role in modernization projects-- Education Watchdog District of Columbia: November 03, 2015 [ abstract] WASHINGTON, D.C. " The D.C. Public Schools district is taking on a bigger part of the planning process for school modernizations after D.C. City council members criticized the district for poor fiscal management.
Public school officials outlined a plan for improving accountability at a council hearing Monday, including defined roles and better communication with the community.
“The updates provided today show that we are moving in the right direction with necessary reforms that will better manage expectations, budgets, and accountability,” said D.C. Councilmember David Grosso (I-At large).
The Department of General Services, which is in charge of school modernization efforts, came under scrutiny this summer when a report from D.C. Auditor Kathy Patterson found it lacked transparency and oversight, and mismanaged taxpayer money.
-- Moriah Costa Push is on at OPS for more
long-term planning on maintenance, construction-- omaha.com Nebraska: October 04, 2015 [ abstract] How much life is left in that boiler? What will it cost to replace worn and frayed carpeting in 20 elementary schools?
The answers to these types of questions could help Omaha Public Schools put together more proactive plans for future maintenance and school construction.
Fresh off the passage of a $421 million bond measure to repair and rebuild some of the district’s middle-aged schools, OPS wants to move toward putting together a long-term capital plan that will catalog, schedule and budget future repairs and maintenance.
The district recently issued two requests for proposal, soliciting companies to evaluate and conduct in-person inspections of school roofs and all OPS schools and buildings. The findings will help OPS prioritize its building needs and decide which work must be done now and what can be put off for a few years, buildings and grounds director Mark Warneke said at a board meeting on Sept. 21.
-- Erin Duffy Charles County Public School System Highlights Facility Plans & Renovations-- Southern Maryland News Net Maryland: September 14, 2015 [ abstract] Board of Education, county and community officials recently reviewed capital improvement projects during a bus tour highlighting repair work at county schools.
Superintendent Kimberly Hill hosted the morning tour on Aug. 20 to provide information about Charles County Public Schools’ (CCPS) Capital Improvements Program (CIP) and to share how projects are funded through multiple sources.
First stop was at T.C. Martin Elementary School, a 570-student school that opened in 1967 and expanded in 2009 to include four new full-day kindergarten classrooms. Parking lot renovations completed this summer streamlined student and bus drop-off areas and provided bus and permanent parking spots. CCPS also completed installation of new playground equipment this month.
Tour guide and CCPS Supervisor of planning and Construction David Clements talked about the student population growth and special program needs. He said CCPS has the third fastest growing special education population in the state, creating a need for more specialized classrooms to accommodate programs.
Clements highlighted two large projects in the predesign stage " the renovation and expansion of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd Elementary School in Waldorf and the planned construction of Elementary School 22 off of Billingsley Road. Construction of the new school, Clements said, will relieve overcrowding of nearby elementary schools on the west side of U.S. 301 and the renovation of Dr. Mudd will update the school, which opened in 1967, while adding capacity to help relieve overcrowding in some Waldorf schools east of U.S. 301.
-- Staff Reporter Equity, parity at heart of Albemarle schools’ CIP-- Charlottesville Tomorrow Virginia: September 12, 2015 [ abstract] The Albemarle County School Board has unanimously endorsed a facilities budget that, if fully funded, could see as much as $124.9 million in building improvements over the next five years.
The spending plan " which represents the division’s projected infrastructure needs " now will be considered against local government needs to form the Capital Improvement Plan for the next budget cycle.
Revised each year, the CIP is shared jointly between the school division and county government, and serves as a planning document. It estimates costs in one-year increments over a decade. The capital budget for just the 2016-17 school year totals about $19.2 million.
Following seven yearly, continuous projects such as building maintenance, school bus replacements and security improvements, the School Board’s top-ranked construction project is about $5 million in upgrades at Red Hill Elementary School, which, division spokesman Phil Giaramita said at a School Board meeting Thursday, is in need of addressing infrastructure and curricular shortcomings.
“There really are concerns about the equity issue that the students at Red Hill don’t have the same learning opportunities as kids in the other schools,” Giaramita said.
School Board member Steve Koleszar agreed.
“The equity and parity issue at Red Hill, I’m not willing to see that pushed down [the list],” Koleszar said.
-- Tim Shea School boundary lines could change in city-- The Baltimore Sun Maryland: July 27, 2015 [ abstract] ltimore school officials will review boundary lines of elementary schools for the first time in more than a decade as part of a broader plan to close or renovate dilapidated buildings and reduce class sizes.
The prospect of redrawing school zones has raised concerns among real estate agents, parents and political leaders who say changes could complicate efforts to attract and keep residents.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and several organizations have launched campaigns to retain families, as recent surveys have shown that many people leave Baltimore when their children reach school.
Decisions about redistricting would be at least two years out, school officials said, and could look different than the traditional neighborhood school zones that are based on population and proximity.
Lynette Washington, director of facility planning for the district, said that the last time the district did any significant rezoning was in 2004, when "spot zoning" took place to adjust for a high number of school closures. Washington said the next review would be "comprehensive."
"We're looking at it not just from a demographic standpoint," she said. "If you only look at certain areas, it's like a Band-Aid. It won't address issues in a comprehensive way."
It will be a hot button issue for highly sought-after schools like Roland Park Elementary/Middle, where class sizes have swelled to more than 30. The most recent state data show the average elementary school class size in Maryland is 21.
-- Erica L. Green and Natalie Sherman School, state officials push to keep Havre de Grace High project at front of funding pipeline-- The Baltimore Sun Maryland: July 22, 2015 [ abstract] Some top state officials are working to keep the proposal to replace Havre de Grace High School and Havre de Grace Middle School alive, despite an initial withdrawal of local funding for construction.
David Craig, a Havre de Grace native who became Maryland's secretary of planning after his term as Harford County executive ended last December, is among those state leaders. Craig recently presented his successor, County Executive Barry Glassman, with a proposal to increase the state's contribution and ease the burden on the local government.
"We feel very confident that the governor is going to maintain structural funding for [capital] projects," Craig said Wednesday.
The state granted local planning approval and committed funding for construction in 2014. Glassman announced earlier this year that he was canceling Harford's commitment for construction funding for the Havre de Grace project, as well as a number of other capital projects countywide, to reduce the amount of county debt and to push more funding toward county employees.
The projected cost for building a combined middle and high school with a capacity of at least 1,300 students was $86.8 million as of late 2014.
-- David Anderson - The Aegis Manhattan Beach school board approves long-range plan for its facilities-- Daily Breeze California: July 16, 2015 [ abstract] A long-range master plan calling for $319 million in immediate and long-term improvements at Manhattan Beach school campuses was approved this week by the school board, but district officials reminded parents that for now the document is only a blueprint.
Manhattan Beach Unified is far from breaking ground on many of the large-scale projects detailed in the master plan, and more community meetings are planned to gather comments from the public.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s just the beginning,” said board member Ellen Rosenberg. “This is something that will be happening over many, many years.”
The 430-page document calls for the removal of all portable classroom buildings, the reconfiguration of several school sites, and tackling of immediate deferred maintenance needs, with the most significant upgrades at Manhattan Beach Middle School.
Improvements at each of the eight school sites range from water, sewer and power projects to new roofs and ceiling tiles, rearranging buildings and overall modernization. Additions to the middle school include a third soccer field, a 28,000-square-foot multipurpose facility and a larger pool " possibly Olympic-size " to replace Begg Pool.
As part of the master planning process, consultants from EMG and DLR Group were asked to assess the current conditions of the schools, determine the cost of improvements, assess the functionality of each site, identify priority projects and develop a final plan that can be easily updated and revised.
“This document combines a needs assessment with the development of a vision for what we want our facilities to look like,” Assistant Superintendent Dawnalyn Murakawa-Leopard said. “We now have a good understanding of the current condition of our facilities, what we can expect in terms of maintenance needs and the remaining life spans of existing buildings.”
-- Carley Dryden Argall: Pennsylvania budget stalemate delays school building projects reimbursement-- WFMZ-TV Pennsylvania: July 07, 2015 [ abstract] The start of a new fiscal year without a state budget is impacting school districts in Berks and Schuylkill counties, according to a Pennsylvania lawmaker. The state's reimbursement for school construction projects is on hold as a result of the budget stalemate, according to Pa. Sen. David Argall, who represents both counties. "The reimbursements are dedicated to new school construction or improvements of existing facilities," Argall said.
Under the state's planning and construction workbook, otherwise known as PlanCon, school districts receive a portion of funding for new construction from the state, Argall said. A $30.2 billion budget package passed by both the Republican-controlled Senate and the House of Representatives last week included $5.3 billion worth of reimbursements for 547 school construction projects in Pennsylvania.
-- Staff Writer Dozens of schools under renovation over summer-- WBALTV 11 Maryland: July 07, 2015 [ abstract] Anne Arundel County is proceeding with dozens of school renovation projects that will leave some of the buildings all but new.
While students are on summer vacation, crews are working on schools like Walter S. Mills-Parole Elementary School.
"It looks like a new school. If you were to leave Annapolis and come back, you wouldn't recognize the school at all," parent Crystal Downs said.
The district is spending $23 million just on construction at Mills-Parole.
"We have full range of the building. We can do roof projects, boiler projects, major renovation projects and not have to worry about kids being around and safety," said Larry Alberts, the district's supervisor of planning, design and construction.
The school is bigger and brighter, and, at times, even the principal has trouble finding her way around the expanded campus.
-- Tim Tooten Schools adding building security as part of summer maintenance-- TheTimesHerald Michigan: July 03, 2015 [ abstract] Schools are beefing up building security and updating lock-down procedures while students are away for the summer.
Local districts are making the changes as part of routine and ongoing summer maintenance projects.
The security measures are not in response to any specific event. They stem from parents, local law enforcement and school officials all identifying student safety as the No. 1 priority, school officials said.
Added security measures at Port Huron schools involve changes to building entryways so that all visitors will be rerouted through the main offices, said Kate Peternel, the district’s executive director of business services.
Other changes at local districts such as Brown City are the addition of surveillance cameras in school buildings and parking lots.
At the county level, a safety planning committee representing area schools is in the evaluation stages of a unified plan that includes stress debriefing training and mass casualty exercises, said Jeff Friedland, director of St. Clair County Homeland Security Emergency Management.
-- Syeda Ferguson NVUSD Receives Nearly $1 Million for Seismic Upgrades-- Napa Valley Patch California: July 02, 2015 [ abstract] Following a hearing June 30 at the State Allocation Board in Sacramento, Napa Valley Unified School District will receive $951,423 to reimburse the district for seismic upgrade work completed at Bel Aire Park Elementary School and Vintage High School in August 2013.
The State Board had authorized the funds in August 2014, four days before the South Napa Earthquake, but because the State Department of Industrial Relations did not receive some required paperwork in a timely manner, the district was in danger of losing the grant money due to non-compliance with requirements regarding paying prevailing wages on construction projects. NVUSD appealed the question at Tuesday’s hearing and the appeal was granted.
It is expected that NVUSD will receive the funds in July.
“These funds go a long way in helping us to be proactive in our safety upgrades for our students and staff at our schools,” said NVUSD Superintendent Patrick Sweeney. “Once we have this reimbursement in hand, we can look to moving forward with more of the 15 projects on our seismic upgrade projects list.”
Don Evans, head of school planning and construction at NVUSD, said, “We have always required that prevailing wages and benefits be paid on our projects. The issue was one of timely paperwork to prove our compliance.”
-- SUSAN C. SCHENA Great Falls schools changing with the times-- Great Falls Tribune Montana: May 26, 2015 [ abstract] Great Falls High School was crammed in 1965, and students endured double shifts.
"I'll never forget running to catch my bus at 5:30 in the morning and watching the sun come up in Mr. Hanson's Russian history class," recalled Candy Wagner of Great Falls. "The dark before dawn made Ivan seem all that more terrible, and the golden glow of sunrise smiled on Catherine's (the Great) enlightened despotism."
The student body was split in two — the first shift began at 6:30 a.m., and the second around lunchtime — so school administrators planning graduation for nearly 800 seniors that year decided graduation would be split, too.
But this was the '60s, after all, and students protested.
"Several of us went to bat against the administration, and pleaded our case so strongly that we won the concession to have a united graduation in the (Memorial) stadium, with one caveat: 'You'd better pray for good weather,' " Wagner reported. "June 1, 1965, was one of the most beautiful summer evenings I've ever known. We sat under a cloudless sky, only a gentle breeze blowing, and didn't mind the length of time it took to get everyone from Aafedt to Zuleger across the stage."
-- Richard Ecke West Fargo school building committee tackles enrollment explosion-- Inforum North Dakota: May 20, 2015 [ abstract] WEST FARGO – A 40-person community task force has five meetings to come up with a plan for facilities that can accommodate the West Fargo School District's expected 60 percent growth during the next 10 years.
The Long Range Facility planning Committee, which is made up of teachers, principals, parents and community members chosen by Superintendent David Flowers, met for the first time Wednesday night.
The committee will explore ways the district can keep up with student enrollment that is projected to grow by 500 to 600 students each year. The group is charged with presenting a plan to the School Board by Aug. 10.
The district faces overcrowding at the elementary level as early as the 2017-18 school year. To have another elementary school open by 2017, the board needs to open bids in 2016 and have a referendum passed as early as this November.
"[The timeline] is a goal, it's an estimate to manage the work we have to get done," Flowers said. "This kind of process does take time. The paradox is that we don't have a lot of time."
-- Wendy Reuer School system hopes careful planning will help overcome decades of facility needs neglect-- Salisburypost.com North Carolina: May 18, 2015 [ abstract] Over the past two decades, the Rowan-Salisbury School System’s capital needs have quietly multiplied as they’ve been put on the back burner year after year.
But with a new administration in place and a new board of county commissioners, these needs have been brought into the spotlight once again.
The district’s capital needs grow every day, as HVAC systems get older, new cracks form in parking lots, roofs begin to leak in different places and the buildings undergo normal wear and tear.
The cost of these needs is a “moving target,” said Assistant Superintendent of Operations Anthony Vann.
As of May 8, the cost to remedy all those needs stood at more than $118 million. Each time something deteriorates, breaks or stops working, that figure increases.
-- Jeanie Groh Albemarle Schools to Present Redistricting Proposals-- NBC29.com Virginia: May 14, 2015 [ abstract] The redistricting committee for Albemarle County schools has prepared some scenarios for parents and students to consider.
The Albemarle County School Board created the committee in early April to address overcrowding issues at Albemarle High School and Greer Elementary. Next Monday, the committee will present six scenarios, three for Greer Elementary, and three for Albemarle High School.
Overcrowding at both schools has teachers working in closets, without desks, planning spaces, or classrooms of their own. For some, that means loading their class materials onto a cart they push from room to room throughout the day.
The county believes redistricting is the answer, as all school spaces have already been utilized.
"Solving this problem is not going to be easy, there's going to be a lot of concern by community members, and so we've tried to put together three different scenarios for each school that have very different solution packages," said Albemarle County Schools Chief Operating Officer Dean Tistad.
The committee will propose ways to move students from Albemarle High School to Monticello High School. Greer Elementary students could be sent to Agnor-Hurt, Murray, and Broadus Wood elementary schools.
The school division predicts that the schools will continue to grow. Greer Elementary could be 11 percent over capacity in 2019.
-- Staff Writer School Facilities Awards over $61 Million in Construction Contracts-- Wyoming School Facilities Department Wyoming: May 08, 2015 [ abstract] CHEYENNE, Wyo. " The state’s School Facilities Department (SFD) has awarded $61,390,945
in contracts since March 1, 2015, setting the stage for a robust construction season in school
districts all across Wyoming.
Contracts were awarded for a range of services including architectural design, planning studies,
capital construction, demolition, remodel and renovation, as well as land purchases.
SFD Director Bill Panos said the next several months would be “a very exciting time” as the
industry enters its peak building season and projects move closer to completion.
“Securing professional services is, of course, essential to getting projects completed,” Panos
explained. “Working with our district stakeholders, SFD awarded over $36 million in contracts
in April. That’s a record. And we’re poised to set another record in May.”
-- Anthony Hughes Irvine council won't investigate soil contamination at future school site-- The Orange County Register California: April 29, 2015 [ abstract] IRVINE " Contaminated soil discovered in November at the future Portola High School site has fanned the fears of some residents who believe the location is unfit for a school, but experts said tests of the stained earth revealed it to be non-hazardous.
Irvine Unified School District Superintendent Terry Walker said in a letter to the Irvine City Council this week that the dirt on the former El Toro Marine base was excavated only out of “an abundance of caution.”
Although Irvine officials do not have jurisdiction over the site, Councilwoman Beth Krom on Tuesday asked her colleagues to investigate the issue based on the concerns of a former planning commissioner, but found no support.
Harvey Liss, an engineer who was appointed to the planning Commission by former Councilman Larry Agran, recently published his worries in the political monthly Irvine Community News & Views. Agran also opposes building the school there.
The contamination should have been publicly disclosed, Liss said, and its presence " not predicted in the assessment of the site prior to construction " should halt work and prompt additional testing.
He and other speakers urged the council to reconsider supporting the school site.
The district’s fifth comprehensive high school, under construction at the northeast border of the Great Park, is slated to open to an inaugural freshman class in August of 2016.
-- Sarah de Crescenzo School Facilities Department Wins National Award for Innovation-- Wyoming School Facilities Department Wyoming: April 24, 2015 [ abstract] CHEYENNE, Wyo. " The state’s School Facilities Department (SFD) has won the prestigious
AssetWorld Achievement Award for innovative use of facilities management technologies.
Bestowed by AssetWorks, developer of the SFD’s AiM Facilities Management Software, the
award recognizes “the highest degree of efficiency, productivity and service delivery” in
utilizing the AiM system. Those responsible for overseeing AiM at SFD include planning
administrator Stan Hobbs, AiM administrator Jerimi Revell and AiM assistant John Meena.
Agency Director, Bill Panos, praised the trio for its hard work and continued commitment to
service excellence. “The State of Wyoming and the SFD are fortunate to have talented and
committed people like you,” he said. “Thank you for all your hard work to make our department
the best it can be.”
-- Anthony Hughes Historic Tacoma school renovation eyed as chance to open a library on the Hilltop-- The News Tribune Washington: April 07, 2015 [ abstract] McCarver Elementary School has been a neighborhood landmark and a symbol for educational experimentation on Tacoma’s Hilltop since the school opened in 1925.
And with the historic brown brick school set for a $39 million renovation beginning this summer, the Tacoma School District hopes McCarver will continue as a beacon of innovation well into the future.
So do the Hilltop and school communities, which are focusing attention on the new school library planned as part of the renovation.
A citizen group called the Hilltop Library planning Committee has asked both the school district and Tacoma Public Library about keeping McCarver’s new library open for public use several days a week, after school lets out.
Nobody has said “No” to the idea yet, but neither has anyone said a definite “Yes,” according to committee members. School district and library officials say they’re actively exploring the options.
-- DEBBIE CAFAZZO Mayor’s capital plan delays some school projects-- Washington Post District of Columbia: April 02, 2015 [ abstract] Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) on Thursday announced a $1.3 billion, six-year capital budget that pushes back more than a dozen proposed school renovations and adds $30 million to the budget for the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, making it the most expensive high school project to date.
The price tag for the city’s selective arts magnet school rose from $139 million a year ago to $178 million. Government officials attributed the extra cost to the challenges of building a world-class performing arts space while respecting the historic character of the 19th-century Georgetown school building.
But many have questioned the added costs and amenities for one school when many buildings still need refurbished bathrooms. Mary Filardo, executive director of the 21st Century Schools Fund, called the cost “outrageous” and a reflection of “astoundingly poor planning.”
The city has made enormous investments in upgrading school facilities after decades of deferred maintenance. More than $4 billion has been spent on upgrades since 2000, according to a tally by the 21st Century Schools Fund, which monitors construction spending.
-- Michael Alison Chandler PSD plan: Build three new schools by 2020-- Coloradoan Colorado: March 26, 2015 [ abstract] Construction of two new high schools — one boasting an athletics complex — plus a new elementary school, is included in a long-range planning proposal introduced late Tuesday by Poudre School District Superintendent Sandra Smyser.
The plan presented Tuesday to PSD's Board of Education will be updated over time and won't be voted upon until March, 2016. It is designed to help the district relieve school-capacity pressure and anticipate future growth, particularly in the district's southeast and northeast sections.
As Larimer County's population expands, PSD expects enrollment to grow to more than 30,000 within the next two years. Enrollment in 2015 came in at 29,053, about 500 students more than projected.
One new high school and athletics complex is slated for the district's 100-acre site on Prospect Road east of Interstate 25. The new elementary school would also be located east of I-25. A second high school is planned for the Wellington area.
Each would open by 2020, with the high schools opening as combined middle schools and high schools.
Bond funding, which would be voted upon in fall 2016, would likely be required to fund the new schools, said PSD spokeswoman Danielle Clark. The district's existing voter-approved funding supports previously identified facilities improvement work in the district through 2020, Clark said.
-- Rob White Construction projects could avert development halt in four school clusters-- Gazette.net Maryland: March 25, 2015 [ abstract] The Montgomery County Council’s Education Committee has recommended approving four construction projects that would add classrooms where overcrowded schools could affect residential development.
Two projects would add capacity at Albert Einstein High School in Kensington and Northwood High School in Silver Spring. Another project would add classrooms at either Loiederman Middle School or Parkland Middle School in the Wheaton cluster.
A fourth project would add space to address elementary school enrollment in the Gaithersburg cluster.
If approved, the projects would act as placeholders, said James Song, the director of the school system’s Department of Facilities Management. The school district has not yet determined what the projects will be and how much they will cost.
The Montgomery County planning Board can’t approve new housing developments in school clusters projected to reach a certain level of capacity, if there are no plans or funding to add classrooms to those areas within five years.
To potentially trigger a housing moratorium, a cluster’s enrollment must be projected to exceed 120 percent of its capacity at the high, middle or elementary school level in the next five years.
The cities of Rockville and Gaithersburg have their own ordinances governing school overcrowding and moratoriums.
-- Lindsay A. Powers Using everything we’ve got’: Aging, crowded buildings, lack of gym space led to bond referendum-- West Central Tribune Minnesota: March 22, 2015 [ abstract] WILLMAR " Willmar Superintendent Jerry Kjergaard ticked off the reasons Willmar Public Schools wants to undertake a building program " crowded buildings, aging buildings, lack of gym space.
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Kjergaard spoke with the Willmar Lakes Rotary on Thursday about the school district’s May 19 bond referendum.
Kjergaard is scheduled to make a number of other presentations in the next two months to explain what the School Board feels is needed to develop long-term solutions to the district’s challenges.
Eighteen months of planning went into developing the proposal, Kjergaard said. The groundwork included a citizens’ task force that met for several months and a random sample survey of district residents.
Enrollment in lower grades has been rising, and the district’s two elementary schools have become crowded and over capacity, he said.
Kennedy Elementary and Roosevelt Elementary are “using everything we’ve got … hallways, corners, every nook and cranny” as instructional space, he said. Each school has more than 900 students.
More space is needed for instruction, and a new school would allow the district to reduce overall enrollment to about 600 students in each building, he said. Kjergaard said he believes the new school would be somewhere on the east side of Willmar, though no location or design has been chosen yet. The school’s other elementary schools are in central and southwestern parts of town.
-- Linda Vanderwerf Franchot tours Howard High, touts school maintenance efforts-- Baltimore Sun Maryland: March 19, 2015 [ abstract] Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot visited Howard High School Thursday, touring the results of the school's renovation projects and touting the importance of maintaining aging school facilities.
"This whole concept of school maintenance is going to get a brand new life on the Board of Public Works because Governor Hogan, to his credit, has been incredibly supportive from the first moment of the first Board of Public Works meeting," Franchot said. "It's critical to the state that as we build new schools, we commit to do a better job."
Howard High School, opened is 1952, is the county's oldest school building and has undergone 11 renovation projects over the years.
"Anything we would do as a homeowner, we do for our schools," said Bruce Gist, executive director of facilities, planning, and management, regarding the school system's philosophy on preventive maintenance projects.
During his tour, Franchot commended Howard officials for their track record of maintaining school facilities.
He also noted an expected reintroduction of the statewide school maintenance study, last done in 2009 by an interagency school construction committee. The committee grades school facilities on whether these buildings are adequate for the educational programs offered.
The study is expected to be reintroduced this year.
-- Blair Ames Alexandria City School Board Starts Planning for School Redistricting-- Old Town Alexandria Patch Virginia: March 13, 2015 [ abstract] The Alexandria City School Board announced on Thursday that it was starting the work of redistricting elementary schools across the city. The School Board says it aims to reduce overcrowding and strengthen the sense of neighborhood schools.
In shifting the boundary zones for schools for the start of the 2016-2017 school year, the School Board says it intends to balance enrollment needs across the entire division and create suitable learning environments in each school. Crowded conditions are proven to have a direct impact on the delivery of instruction and the use of core spaces, like cafeterias and libraries, according to the School Board.
“Redistricting doesn’t add more space to solve our city-wide capacity issue, but it will balance zones to match our growth. Most importantly, it will benefit the hundreds of families who are currently displaced from attending their neighborhood schools,” said School Board vice-chair Chris Lewis.
The last time Alexandria City Public Schools changed school boundaries was in 1999. Since then, ACPS enrollment has grown by more than 3,200 students. Student enrollment is projected to rise by four percent every year for the next five years.
-- Sharon Reed Portable classrooms on way out in Orange-- Orlando Sentinel Florida: March 13, 2015 [ abstract] For almost three decades, the students at Ventura Elementary have attended nearly all of their classes in wood-paneled trailers that were intended as a short-term solution to booming growth.
Their days of donning jackets or raincoats to go to the cafeteria will finally be coming to an end. The Orange County School Board this week approved a plan to replace Ventura and three other "modular" elementaries like it within three years.
"These kids deserve better than that," said Faz Ali, senior director of planning and design for Orange schools.
The trailers not only look dated, they develop leaks and require frequent repairs for problems such as failed air-conditioning units, curled carpets and flooding around the doors, facilities officials said.
Despite voters twice approving a half-penny sales tax to pay for school construction, the district has had so many needs that schools such as Ventura have waited for years. Problems in the construction department during the late 2000s also slowed work.
Even so, two high schools and eight middle schools that underwent incomplete renovations will have to keep waiting, at least for now.
-- Lauren Roth Deputy Mayor Niles Releases 2014 Master Facilities Plan Annual Supplement-- DC.gov District of Columbia: March 04, 2015 [ abstract] WASHINGTON, D.C.) " The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME) partnered with Department of General Services (DGS), DC Public School (DCPS), and the DC Public Charter School Board (PCSB) to release the 2014 Master Facilities Plan (MFP) Annual Supplement. An annual supplement to the MFP is required pursuant the “Comprehensive planning and Utilization of School Facilities Act of 2014.”
The 2014 MFP Annual Supplement was publicly released March 4th, 2015 and includes the following facility data from DCPS and some from public charter schools:
• Facility utilization,
• Facility conditions,
• Facility needs,
• Public school enrollments and enrollment projections ,
• DCPS facility designation, and
• DCPS education plans for buildings categorized as under-utilized or over-utilized
“The release of the Master Facilities Plan (MFP) Annual Supplement is a critical step as we increase transparency of our public facility landscape,” said Deputy Mayor Niles. “Moving forward, this data will be a valuable resource for our school planning efforts.”
The 2014 MFP Annual Supplement establishes a process and timeline for collecting all public facility data. The report also serves as a data resource for the development of the Capital Improvement Plan for DCPS and provides insight into the potential use and availability of vacant DCPS buildings.
-- Shayne Wells Methacton residents oppose school closing-- Montgomery Media Pennsylvania: March 02, 2015 [ abstract] LOWER PROVIDENCE >> Public comment on the potential closing of one or both of two Methacton School District elementary schools continued Feb. 25 with many community members speaking out against possible consolidation efforts by the school board and administration.
Following Superintendent David Zerbe’s Feb. 23 recommendation that the school board consider an option to close Audubon Elementary and leave open Arrowhead Elementary, various stakeholders continued to criticize potential closures as the hearing continued.
Charles Watters, of Pennsylvania Economy League, the company that conducted the enrollment and capacity study that recommends closure to deal with excess capacity, responded to accusations from Feb. 23 that the study was flawed. He went over the methodology used and defended the idea that birth rates were still going to decline and could accurately predict the next several years, and that new housing will not turn around the declining enrollment.
Watters said PEL’s studies have consistently “maintained an accuracy rate higher than industry standards.”
“PEL continues to remain confident” in the figures presented in the study, he said. “They should serve the district well in their long-term planning.”
The school board approved the hearing to consider possible closings on Feb. 3 and concluded that the enrollment decline was concentrated in the elementary schools, of which Audubon and Arrowhead will require approximately $24 million in renovations in the next decade.
-- Brendan Wills West Contra Costa schools: Putting the brakes on future spending-- Contra Costa Times California: March 02, 2015 [ abstract] RICHMOND -- A new era of fiscal responsibility and transparency appears to be dawning in the West Contra Costa school district, as recently hired bond program staff members are putting the brakes on spending what's left of $1.6 billion in construction funds approved by voters.
A sobering report delivered to two district committees by Lisa LeBlanc, associate superintendent for facilities and the bond program, revealed that more than half of the approximately $591 million in bond funds remaining through 2021 is committed to projects underway. That leaves about $244 million, not nearly enough for a dozen others estimated to cost significantly more than that.
"We currently have approximately 14 major construction projects," LeBlanc told the district's bond oversight committee and facilities subcommittee last week. "So, we really need to do planning and sequencing of the remaining projects that we do not have under construction."
-- Theresa Harrington Horry County schools plow ahead with building plans-- SCNOW.com South Carolina: February 28, 2015 [ abstract] After two years of planning and a handful of delays, Horry County Schools is making movement toward building five new schools.
The district released the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) a second time Thursday after tossing out original conceptual design plans in November. Horry County Board of Education cited a need to request and review energy-positive designs for new schools, but kept its earlier plans for remodels and additions to two other schools.
Unlike last year’s request, the current RFQ was written by district staff and board members in conjunction with Childs and Halligan, a Columbia law firm that has partnered with the district before for other legal reasons. Bick Halligan, with the firm, said it isn’t uncommon for school districts to seek the help of lawyers while writing large-scale contracts.
“The [RFQ] is establishing a large contractual relationship over a period of time, and that’s the sort of thing lawyers are involved in,” Halligan said.
The firm charges about $200 per hour for the services, Halligan said. The total amount the district spent on legal costs was not available Friday night.
The district has budgeted $161.7 million to build five new schools, said John Gardner, chief financial officer. The total cost of the project is $451.6 million.
-- Claire Byun D.C. schools chancellor recommends overhaul of capital planning process-- Washington Post District of Columbia: February 25, 2015 [ abstract] D.C. Schools chancellor Kaya Henderson is calling for an overhaul of the process for mapping out school modernizations in the coming years, saying that the renovations have become overly political and prohibitively expensive.
“My very honest assessment is that the whole CIP process is jacked up,” she said, referring to the Capital Improvement Plan, a six-year capital budget and construction plan that outlines the timing for school modernizations.
The queue for renovations is included in the mayor’s budget and submitted to the D.C. Council each spring. It gets rearranged annually, with some projects moving up or back or growing in scale and price tag. It also typically gets adjusted again halfway through the year.
The city has invested more than $1 billion in school renovations in recent years, turning old buildings marked by decades of neglect into state-of-the-art facilities. But many communities are frustrated about schools that have had partial renovations or none at all.
Henderson said she "can’t bear” to go through another spring" fielding reactions to changes in the timeline for construction.
She proposed developing a task force within the next year that would come up with a way to develop the capital plan according to some “very transparent” and “logical” criteria rather than “how loudly your community screams.”
-- Michael Alison Chandler Schools across county need HVAC fixes-- The Montgomery Herald West Virginia: February 25, 2015 [ abstract] The general indoor air quality review of all Fayette County schools by the state Office of School Facilities outlines the district’s desperate need for funds to upgrade HVAC systems in nearly all schools.
Michael Pickens, executive director of the West Virginia Department of Education Office of School Facilities, wrote, “It will take a substantial capital investment to bring all of the mechanical systems up to current standards and improve indoor environmental conditions. In addition to the IAQ (indoor air quality) concerns, due to the age and exceeding life cycle of the equipment, some of the mechanical systems have the potential to experience a failure that would result in the building being without heating and cooling.”
Gatewood Elementary and Ansted Middle schools have already experienced boiler issues and are being heated with temporary electric units in each classroom.
Pickens said space heaters “are less than desirable and require the county to expend funds that only provide a temporary fix. Those funds would be better utilized toward permanent solutions,” and planning these upgrades should be a priority for Fayette.
Ansted has received funding for a replacement boiler from the School Building Authority, and the installation is expected to go out for bid soon, said David Keffer, director of operations.
planning a countywide HVAC upgrade would be cost-prohibitive as the district only has an annual facility repair and upgrade budget of $1.2 million. As an example of cost, the Ansted boiler replacement is expected to cost more than $700,000. In December the School Building Authority allocated $630,000 toward the project.
School system Treasurer Paula Fridley explained the district has an overall maintenance budget of $7.2 million, but that includes all operational funds like custodial salaries ($2.2 million), utilities ($1.8 million), energy management loan payments ($800,000), and cleaning supplies ($400,000).
-- Sarah Plummer Georgetown ISD approves new boundaries and school name-- Community Impact Newspaper Texas: February 18, 2015 [ abstract] At its regularly scheduled Feb. 17 meeting, the Georgetown ISD board of trustees approved new attendance zone boundaries and a name for Elementary School No. 11.
After considering input from the community and discussion,board members approved the proposed boundary changes.
“I fall into just about all of these question marks for the boundaries,” board member Melanie Dunham said. “My kids are the ones who are being split from their friends. What I can tell you as a parent and a school board member is that the things that we’re doing here are good for future growth, and good for all of our students. None of it was taken lightly.”
Boundary zones for Carver, Pickett, Mitchell and Cooper elementary schools were altered. In addition to accommodating for growth, the new zones will help shift from the split campus model at Carver and Pickett elementary schools, which had pre-K through second grade at one campus and third through fifth grade students at the other.
Superintendent Fred Brent said that this shift was a priority in planning for the new school.
-- Kate Morris Schools' capital funding crisis only getting worse-- Reno Gazette-Journal Nevada: February 18, 2015 [ abstract] I know we have heard this before, in fact this call for help for more capital funding for our schools began over 10 years ago. Now we have 10 years of failed proposals and 5 years of unprecedented growth ahead of us. Our current situation in Washoe County is far worse than most people realize and with no real plan to address this crisis we are watching a train wreck that is happening in slow motion.
So where do we stand right now? Here are some numbers: We have 93 schools, many over 50 years old, which require about $25 million a year just to keep them maintained and safe for our children. In the next two years, only if the legislature approves the governor's proposal for bond rollover authority, we will have just $10 million of bonding authority or $40 million less than the required $50 million to just maintain what we have! That does not even take into account the fact that we added over 500 new (additional) students last year and the regional planning numbers project 61,000 new, additional residents in the next 10 years.
Then we have the portables! I bet if we asked you how many portable classrooms we currently have in Washoe County you would say 20, or even 50 like I did. I doubt you would say 228, which is the real number. That number will grow at a cost of $150,000 per portable classroom, as our schools are at or over capacity, and in many of our elementary schools our classroom size already exceeds the student cap in state law.
-- Mike Kazmierski Aging Martha’s Vineyard elementary school faces renovation challenges-- Vineyard Gazette Massachusetts: February 16, 2015 [ abstract] As part of an effort to address a deteriorating school building and a growing student population, the Tisbury school committee will apply again for state funding to renovate the Tisbury school. The school applied last year to receive funding from the Massachusetts State Building Association, but learned in December that it had not made the list to receive money from the organization. School committee chair Colleen McAndrews said during a meeting last week that the support of the town would be crucial in order for a school project of any sort to move forward. Wednesday’s meeting brought together members of the town financial advisory committee, planning board, and board of selectmen, as well as school superintendent James H. Weiss and assistant superintendent Matthew D’Andrea. “Obviously, budgets are tough and we have to be financially sensitive,” Mrs. McAndrews said.
The Tisbury School building was constructed in 1929 and is the oldest elementary school building on the Island. Enrollment as of last October was 324 students in grades kindergarten through eight. Discussions about how best to address the need to upgrade the facility have been ongoing since 2011. A feasibility study produced in 2012 provided a number of options, which included relocating the school, renovating the current building, and expanding the current building. At the time, cost estimates were about $40 million.
-- Ivy Ashe Albany backlog delays 5 local school construction projects-- recordonline.com New York: January 30, 2015 [ abstract] WALLKILL - About 800 school construction projects - including five in the mid-Hudson - are piled up in the state Education Department awaiting review, delaying work for months and months and costing taxpayers millions of dollars.
The Education Department's Office of Facilities planning has lost almost half of its staff of architects and engineers in recent months. The retirements and departures have left just three architects and three engineers to handle the workload, according to observers familiar with the office.
The backlog means it can take about six months before SED staff even begin their review of a particular project.
The delays have snared recently approved projects in Middletown, Highland, Valley Central, Kingston and Ellenville.
The New Paltz school board has picked March 24 for another try at winning approval of a $53 million bond issue. Voters in the Liberty School District rejected a $13.6 million proposal in December, and the board has yet to chart a response.
The Wallkill School District has scheduled a vote on a $8.2 million proposal Tuesday.
When Wallkill designed its proposed plan to upgrade security, athletic facilities, auditoriums and add emergency generators to all school buildings, district officials factored in significant delays at the state level.
"Through my experience, you always have to wait because of the shortages (at Facilities planning)," said Wallkill Superintendent Kevin Castle. "It's something that we shouldn't have to be accustomed to, but it's been the norm for the last few years."
-- Pauline Liu Schools to Expand by $856 Million-- The Connection Virginia: January 27, 2015 [ abstract] Five more school buildings and renovations for several existing ones may be approved by 2020.
#The Fairfax County School Board approved the $856 million Capital Improvement Program (CIP) at the Jan. 22 meeting to set priority on the projects the school system wants done in the next five years.
#“We’re developing a long view, because we have significant capital concerns,” said Superintendent Karen Garza.
#During the meeting, she and several board members said the projects will have to have separate public hearings and votes. The CIP was approved unanimously.
#THE PLAN calls for the addition of five elementary schools and one high school. Both South Lakes High School and Westbriar Elementary School will have additions with construction expected in 2021. Additionally, capacity enhancements at Langley, West Springfield, Herndon and Oakton high schools are proposed.
#“Construction funds for renovations at nine elementary schools and one middle school, a renovation at one high school, and planning funds for renovations at eight elementary, one middle, and two high schools are also included and were part of the 2013 bond referendum,” according to a press release.
#The majority of the projects in the plan are expected to be completed between 2016 and 2020. The only renovation planned in the CIP that will begin after are at North West County Elementary, Fairfax-Oakton area elementary, Silverbrook Elementary, Hughes Middle, Cooper Middle, Frost Middle, Oakton High School and Falls Church High School. Light renovations at 10 unidentified elementary schools will also begin construction after 2021.
#The plan, which is reviewed annually, is preparing the school system for nearly 198,000 enrolled students projected in the next five years.
-- Reena Singh Baltimore begins architecture reviews for $1B school construction program-- Baltimore Business Journal Maryland: January 22, 2015 [ abstract] City architecture review panel members were very clear on Thursday about what they want to see in the schools being rebuilt as part of a $1 billion state program: no more fortresses.
Using words such as "prison-like," "penitentiary" and "introverted" to describe the architecture featured on most of the city's public schools, Urban Design and Architecture Review Panel members railed against the former approaches to school construction and vowed not to repeat them. Their comments came as the city began reviewing the first two sets of plans the Maryland Stadium Authority is submitting for planning Department approval.
The school designs under the microscope on Thursday were Fort Worthington Elementary and Middle School near Broadway East and Frederick Elementary School on the west side. The Stadium Authority is managing the construction plans in a partnership with the city school system.
Fort Worthington is a complete demolition and rebuild being led by Baltimore-based Grimm + Parker Architects; Frederick Elementary is a renovation and addition being led by USA Architects of Somerville, N.J.
-- Kevin Litten Tucson offers help filling closed schools-- Arizona Daily Star Arizona: January 18, 2015 [ abstract] After hearing Gov. Doug Ducey’s call to fill all those empty schools and classrooms rampant in neighborhoods throughout the state, Tucson wants to do its part to help TUSD do exactly that.
Seizing the initiative, the city is considering offering a fast-track route through the city’s bureaucracy to anyone who wants to develop a former school site.
“It’s important to the city for those to be put back to use,” said Mayor Jonathan Rothschild. “If you’re looking at these properties, the city will help you expedite getting the properties developed.”
The city is especially interested in projects that include affordable homes that mesh with a neighborhood’s existing character.
“If we can get people to build single-family homes that are compatible with the neighborhood, that will help us get young families back into the city and make for a stronger city,” Rothschild said.
The city was actually a step ahead of the governor in trying to respond to the shrinking demand for classrooms, said planning and Development Services Director Ernie Duarte.
Roughly six months ago, city officials set out to determine how they could assist in jump-starting those vacant-school projects, Duarte said.
“The idea is to get through the process with as few speed humps as possible,” Duarte said.
So what are some of the incentives the city will consider offering?
Three-day plan reviews. The current standard is up to 20 days for a review.
Defer building permit and impact fees until the final inspection of a project.
Assign a project manager to oversee that the process is running smoothly.
-- Darren DaRonco, Alexis Huicochea School systems weigh options for sharing facilities in Sullivan County-- WCYB Tennessee: January 13, 2015 [ abstract] Two school systems in our area could see big changes over the next few years. Sullivan County and Kingsport City Schools have enrollment and space problems, on either end of the spectrum.
Kingsport faces overcrowding while Sullivan County has 700,000 square feet of unused facilities.
â€"Come to the realization, wow we have this much extra space, the cost of that extra space to the tax payers, it really becomes really clear to us at that point we need to do something,†said Dr. Jubal Yennie, the director of schools for the county.
The Sullivan County Schools and Kingsport City Schools Steering Committees met on Monday night to come up with a solution for both school systems' problems.
Both groups spent months prior to the meetings developing five year plans.
â€"While we have our own constituencies, we're really looking at and planning for that global picture,†said Andy True with Kingsport City Schools.
There are about a dozen options on the table that address the enrollment and space problems.
-- Callan Gray Wyoming School Facilities launches E-newsletter-- Wyoming School Facilities Department Wyoming: January 06, 2015 [ abstract] CHEYENNE, Wyo. " The Wyoming School Facilities Department (SFD) has launched a new
digital newsletter as part of its outreach efforts to school district, legislative, community and
construction industry stakeholders.
The newsletter, Facilitating the Future, will be a quarterly publication highlighting project
milestones, such as school openings and groundbreakings, Commission and department news, as
well as general information on school construction.
SFD Director, Bill Panos, said the newsletter is one of several initiatives the agency will launch this year to
improve its communication and better inform stakeholders. “We also hope to develop a series of educational
videos on the department’s history and procedures directly affecting school districts, like facility planning,
funding and project management.”
-- Anthony Hughes D.C. neighbors oppose preschool playground-- Washington Post District of Columbia: January 03, 2015 [ abstract] A preschool playground has become the subject of a heated dispute among neighbors in a condominium development in the District.
Some residents that share a building with AppleTree Early Learning Public Charter School in Columbia Heights want to dismantle the school’s playground, which they say is located in common space, and replace it with something quieter and more appealing to the adults that live there.
AppleTree officials are fighting to keep it. They say their school is an anchor of the mixed-use, mixed income development that the city approved in the gentrifying neighborhood about a decade ago, and that the playground is an integral part of the school that was included in planning documents.
“The problem is that there are a few residents who don’t like the noise of children playing on the playground,” said Jack McCarthy the president and chief executive of AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation.
“It’s one of these issues where you just say, ‘Hey, can we be reasonable?’”
-- Michael Alison Chandler Lincoln supporter says numbers show St. Charles school should stay open-- Daily Herald Illinois: January 03, 2015 [ abstract] Denton Morris believes if St. Charles school board members close Lincoln and Wasco elementary schools, they will be making a mistake costly to every district taxpayer.
But it may take a decade to know if he's right.
Morris is an engineering physicist at Fermilab and one of the most vocal members of a passionate group of Lincoln Elementary School supporters. During the past few months, Lincoln fans have spent hours making a case to keep the district's oldest and smallest school open. Closing Lincoln, as well as Wasco Elementary, is one of four options being considered to save costs in the face of potential state budget cuts, a pending property tax freeze and ongoing debate over pension reform -- any of which could make a multimillion dollar impact on District 303's budget.
Lincoln proponents have given hours of testimony at school board meetings since the building went on the chopping block. They've built floats expressing their love for Lincoln in the city's holiday parade. They're planning a human circle of support around Lincoln the day before the next school board meeting.
For his part, Morris has crunched the numbers. His computer is awash in census data, housing sales trends, unemployment numbers, birthrates, stock market performance, and wage and income growth forecasts. He's used it all to create what he believes is an accurate predictor of the district's population trend for the next decade.
"Right now our enrollment is low, and it's understandable why it's low with the recession and housing bubble," Morris said. "That's a straw man argument."
-- James Fuller Calvert County finds northern school populations inadequate-- Southern Maryland Newspapers Online Maryland: January 01, 2015 [ abstract] Adequate public facilities (APF) regulations are a growth management tool that restricts development in areas where facilities are inadequate. According to a document prepared by the Calvert County Department of Community planning and Building earlier this year, the county adopted APF regulations for schools and roads in 1988. The Calvert County Zoning Ordinance states, “schools are adequate when all public elementary and secondary schools which will serve the proposed residential subdivision or residential development will accommodate the pupil yield from that residential subdivision or residential development without exceeding 100 percent of the rated capacity of any of those schools.”
The Zoning Ordinance limits the delay of final approval of a residential subdivision or residential development due solely to the lack of adequate school capacity to seven years from the date of preliminary approval.
Three of Calvert County’s public schools, all in the northern end of the county, are deemed to have inadequate capacity since enrollments exceed 100 percent of the County’s Adequate Public Facilities (APF) rated capacities. Beach Elementary, in Chesapeake Beach, is at 104.7 percent capacity; Windy Hill Elementary, in Owings, is at 100.4 percent capacity; and Northern High School, in Owings, is at 120.5 percent capacity.
Kim Roof, director of student services, said while attendance fluctuates often, the amount is not enough to change overall capacity percentages monthly.
-- Sara Newman Bethesda Development Plan for Westbard Spurs Worries About School Crowding-- Bethesda Magazine Maryland: December 30, 2014 [ abstract] Bethesda resident Patricia O’Neill, president of the Montgomery County Board of Education, has shopped at the Westbard center off River Road for years. She knows it is far from perfect, a little down at the heels, and maybe ready for a makeover.
But that makeover, which is likely to come in the form of clustered housing, new retail, and a more walkable community, is also likely to come at a cost: the community probably will need a new elementary school for the children who are expected to move into the new housing. The preliminary outlines of the Westbard sector redevelopment plan, which would allow denser zoning, calls for adding up to nearly 2,000 more housing units"tripling the 1,100 units already there.
“We will need a new elementary school,” O’Neill predicted.
Without changes to the current zoning, the county could only permit about an additional 1,000 housing units in the area, which is bounded by River Road, Little Falls Parkway and Massachusetts Avenue. But a revised sector plan, unveiled as a staff draft in November, could increase the density by allowing more units, and buildings taller than the current limit of about 40 feet in most areas. Some of the new buildings could be as tall as 80 feet, preliminary plans suggest. The proposed revisions are subject to change, and any changes to current zoning must be approved by the planning Board and the County Council, which are expected to review them in 2015.
-- MIRANDA S. SPIVACK Olympia Regional Learning Academy could be most energy efficient school in state’s history-- The Olympian Washington: December 29, 2014 [ abstract] Olympia School District’s newest school, the Olympia Regional Learning Academy on Boulevard Road, may be the most energy efficient school ever built in Washington, according to contractor Drew Phillips.
Designed as a “net-zero” building, the 66,000-square-foot structure will draw less energy from the grid than it produces on site when all of its eco-friendly bells-and-whistles are in place.
The school district’s project manager Kurt Cross and Phillips, principal with Forma Construction, have been keeping tabs on the building’s rating using the Washington Sustainable Schools Protocol, which is a planning tool related to site, water, materials, energy and other areas.
In order to meet the state’s standard, a building must achieve 45 of 119 points.
So far, ORLA has achieved 72 points, Cross said.
-- LISA PEMBERTON Botetourt school board wants a role in planning the county's vision-- Roanoke Times Virginia: December 18, 2014 [ abstract] FINCASTLE " Botetourt County School Board members want to meet with the county supervisors so they can share with them the tale of two budgets.
One story is the austere rerun playing ever since the Great Recession, in which employees are frozen on the pay scale, the odometers click to 300,000 miles on the school buses and leaky roofs top the buildings.
The other story will show what the school board thinks should be.
“It’s up to us to show them what it costs to have a modern system,” said board member John Alderson.
The board and administrators have been concerned for some time that teachers hired within the past six years are stuck on the first rung of the salary scale. They are also concerned about the condition of school property as capital funds were cut from the budget two years ago.
County supervisors agreed earlier this year to pay for an efficiency study of school facilities that they hope will guide the school board in finding savings that could be applied elsewhere. Results of the audit are not expected until sometime in January. From that, the school board may be tasked with consolidating schools.
Facility capacity, mostly in the northern part of the county, is not aligned with where Botetourt has grown and where the supervisors seek to encourage more growth.
On Thursday, the school board held its first work session since the supervisors developed their vision. Superintendent Tony Brads was invited to one session to brief the supervisors on enrollment and state funding, but school board members said they had expected to be part of that process.
Basically, the supervisors want the northern part of the county to remain mostly forests and farms while spurring new homes, stores and industry in the southern end of the county.
-- Luanne Rife Caddo proposes building three, closing six schools-- The Shreveporttimes.com Louisiana: December 18, 2014 [ abstract] Caddo schools officials are planning to close six schools to build three new ones, buy new buses and upgrade facilities throughout the district.
But first the district will need approval from the Caddo Parish School Board to ask voters to approve a bond proposition to reallocate an existing tax.
If voters approve, the proposal would permit the district to issue up to $108 million in bonds and reallocate one-mil of a six-mil tax currently used to pay off previous bond issues. The bonds would be issued in series and each issue would have a life of 20 years. Jim Lee, the school district's chief financial officer, said the bonds would be issued in increments.
The proposal, district officials say, allows the school district to operate more efficiently, create better educational opportunities for students, eliminate unnecessary facilities not needed to house the district's students, prepare for population shifts, upgrade technology to focus on STEM instruction and career education and rid the district of temporary buildings.
-- Alexandria Burris Vista Unified changing boundaries for elementary schools-- UT San Diego California: December 15, 2014 [ abstract] An influx of hundreds of students from new housing developments in Vista and eastern Oceanside is expected to change elementary school boundaries in the Vista Unified School District " a boom not seen in decades, according to school officials.
“This is a new challenge for us. There has never before been this kind of development going on in this community, at least since the ’90s,” said Donna Caperton, the Vista school district’s assistant superintendent of business services.
The residential projects " in various stages of planning and construction " include about 2,200 housing units that would bring an estimated 1,551 new students to district schools, she said.
One of the largest construction projects is south of state Route 78, where two district schools " Lake and Breeze Hill " are already at more than 90 percent capacity. Another is in northeast Vista near Foothill Oak Elementary, which is at 96.3 percent capacity " the most crowded elementary school in the district.
-- Pat Maio Schools facing space shortage; may seek more town funds-- StratfordStar.com Connecticut: December 11, 2014 [ abstract] Both the school board’s plant/planning committee and financial review committee are recommending that the full Board of Education ask the Town Council to amend the current year’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for the schools in order to acquire more portable classrooms.
Stratford schools’ chief operating officer, Clarence Zachery, referred to his job of placing incoming students as a “shell game” as the district faces capacity classrooms, increasing special education numbers and complex monitoring of racial balancing percentages.
At both committee meetings on Dec. 8, members reviewed plans for possible acquisition of three portable classrooms from the Trumbull school district, as well a recommendation to purchase two new, custom portables for Stratford High School’s Culinary Pathway Program. (See related story this page.) The purchase of new portables, at least, is expected to require amendment to this year’s CIP.
In discussions, it became clear that three intertwined issues are impacting the district at this time: severely limited classroom space, nonstop enrollment changes and the shifting demographics of the town’s students.
Robin Marino, director of pupil personnel services, presented to the committees a “cost avoidance” analysis at the request of the board.
-- Elizabeth G. Howard Oregon school district utilizing approved bond money-- American School & University Oregon: December 09, 2014 [ abstract] The Springfield School District in Oregon is planning how to spend the $71.5 million bond measure that voters approved last month to make upgrades and improvements to its schools.
As part of improvements, the district has ordered 850 new classroom door locks to be installed at every school except for two elementary schools that already have the specialized locks, spokeswoman Devon Ashbridge told the Register Guard.
The new locks will allow teachers to lock classroom doors from the inside during an emergency, rather than having to go outside of their classrooms to do so.
-- Kimberlee Payton-Jones Seattle School District seeks playground space for more portables-- King 5 News Washington: December 08, 2014 [ abstract] SEATTLE -- Making more space to learn could mean less space to play. That's the dilemma facing at least one Seattle elementary school that could end up losing part of its playground for up to four more portables.
Parents for Playgrounds and Proper planning is trying to stop it. They say they're concerned about the district's effort to change the zoning so it can legally add more portables at Laurehurst Elementary. The school is currently zoned for 35 percent building lot coverage. The district wants to increase that to 45 percent.
"Play takes space," said parent Jill Geary. "And if you start filling up that space with portables where are the kids going to play?"
In a written statement, the District admits adding portables reduces available play space for students. "However, it is a necessary step to have more instructional space when we don't have the current fiscal capacity to physically expand all of our buildings through a renovation process."
Parents say Laurehurst already has the smallest lot size of all eleven northeast elementary schools and the highest building-to-lot ratio.
"It doesn't make sense to put more kids on our playground and yet take away the space that they need to play and be healthy," said Geary.
Geary also cites studies that suggest recess is critical to a student's overall success. And taking away play space sets a dangerous precedent.
"Children need to be able to play. And they need to be outside. We're hearing more and more from every level that play is important to kids, important for their health and conquering the obesity problem," said Geary.
-- Meg Coyle Wyoming Spends Over $85 Million on New Schools-- Wyoming School Facilities Department Wyoming: December 04, 2014 [ abstract] CHEYENNE, Wyo. " Five new schools have opened across the state since the start of the
2014 " 2015 school year, according to Bill Panos, Director of the Wyoming School Facilities Department (SFD). Combined, the schools have received over $85 million in construction funding from the state, plus additional money for planning and design.
“It’s very exciting to see these projects come to fruition,” Panos said. “We are fortunate to live in a state where both the governor and Legislature are committed to providing children with high quality educational facilities.”
-- Anthony Hughes Why Doesn’t Arlington Ask Developers for School Funding?-- ARL Now Virginia: December 03, 2014 [ abstract] In Arlington, when a developer wants to redevelop a property to replace it with a bigger, taller building, the county often receives funding for affordable housing, transportation, streetscape improvements and public art. These “community benefits” from the developer are usually worth millions of dollars.
None of it goes directly to Arlington’s public schools, facing a capacity crisis with no end in sight.
The reason, according to officials, is Arlington’s development approval process, which was codified more than 50 years ago. Builders apply for site plans, and, by state law, community benefits from site plans can only legally be used “to mitigate immediate impacts,” according to County Attorney Stephen MacIsaac.
While a public art contribution is considered an immediate impact for a large apartment complex, for instance, a contribution to schools is not.
What the county is allowed to negotiate are “amenities that are contained within the project, like streetscape improvements, public art, the appearance of the building in general,” MacIsaac told ARLnow.com. “That system does not allow for charges for schools or public safety or running the libraries.”
In neighboring, suburban jurisdictions, developers negotiate benefits like these through the proffer system. In Loudoun County, which has opened 12 new schools in the last five years, the government pegs school costs as high as $37,791 per single family unit, and $11,294 per multifamily unit. Through proffer negotiations, Loudoun asks developers to pay for 100 percent of the estimated capital intensity factors, which includes roads and public safety, according to Loudoun Assistant Director of planning and Zoning John Merrithew.
-- Ethan Rothstein Ledyard emphasizes state aid for school renovations-- The Day Connecticut: December 02, 2014 [ abstract] Ledyard - As the town approaches a Jan. 20 referendum on the $64.3 million school building project, Superintendent Cathy Patterson reminded residents at Monday's night's last presentation on the project that the work will actually cost the town $24 million because of state reimbursement.
The project, which calls for the demolition of Ledyard Center School and extensive renovation of Gallup Hill School and Ledyard Middle School, would qualify the school district for a 62.5 percent reimbursement.
The project, which is slated to begin in the spring of 2016 and last until the summer 2019, would address maintenance issues in the aging school buildings. The newly-renovated Gallup Hill School, which would take on extra students, could be renamed.
Patterson has been referring to the school as "Consolidated East Elementary School."
"I'll leave that up to someone else," said the superintendent, who anticipates strong feelings about a name change.
The construction project would also move the sixth grade into Ledyard Middle School, which would keep Ledyard in line with state curriculum that considers sixth grade "middle school." It would also give students in that grade access to more electives, career planning guidance and the middle school engineering curriculum the district plans to introduce next school year.
-- Kelly Catalfamo Winter doesn't slow school construction-- Wyoming Tribune Eagle Wyoming: December 02, 2014 [ abstract] CHEYENNE - Building work in Laramie County School District 1 doesn't stop with the snow.
The district currently has several building projects in progress. Some, like the new Prairie Wind Elementary building, are in the construction stage. Others, like the proposed Meadowlark Elementary, are still in design stages, according to district information.
"It's good to see that one being built," planning and construction administrator Dennis Auker said of the work on Prairie Wind at Yellowstone and Iron Mountain roads north of the city. "It's been a long time in the design process. It's good to see it coming up above ground."
The school is expected to open in August and is on schedule, he said. The building is about 45 percent complete.
"We've got a lot of it enclosed so they can do a lot of work inside," Auker said. "They have all the stuff inside, the walls have to be put up, the sheetrock, lighting and all the finishes - it's pretty much just a shell right now."
Staffing for the new building is likely to start with hiring a principal early next year, he added.
But Prairie Wind isn't the only construction project the district has.
The rebuild of Cheyenne's Davis Elementary on Yellowstone Road within the city limits also is in progress, Auker said. Like Prairie Wind, the new school is scheduled to open in time for the start of the 2015-16 school year.
"They're approximately 10 percent (complete)," he said of that project.
Work is currently being done with concrete and the steel structure, he said.
-- Aerin Curtis Why do so many schools have flat roofs?-- The Buffalo News New York: December 01, 2014 [ abstract] Digging out area schools buried under 5 to 7 feet of snow was no small feat during last month’s storm. But it was the school roofs that caused the most angst.
Workers shoveled snow " or used snowblowers " to redistribute drifts on top of buildings. And school districts brought in professional architects and engineers to help assess the roofs after the state Education Department cautioned school officials to carefully check conditions before allowing students to return.
But all of the work and precautions raise a basic question: Why do so many schools have flat roofs in the first place, especially in a snow-prone area like Buffalo?
The answer is a mix of practicality and cost. Modern schools tend to be flat-roof buildings to allow for sprawling hallways full of classrooms.
“Flat roofs are basically the least expensive because you’re spanning a long way,” said Paul McDonnell, a licensed architect and director of facilities planning, design and construction for the Buffalo Public Schools. “If you were to put a sloped roof in, think about how big the slope would have to be.”
Building codes also require roofs to handle most extreme weather events for a given region. A building in Western New York, for example, must be designed to withstand more pressure from snow than a building on Long Island.
-- Denise Jewell Gee Ed Board wants more progress toward ES projects-- Santa Monica Daily Press California: November 26, 2014 [ abstract] SMMUSD HDQRTRS " As school district money from one bond measure wanes and another waxes, Ed Board members discussed how best to get some envisioned projects rolling.
Measure ES, passed by voters in the 2012 election, permitted the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District to issue $385 million in bonds. Two years later, some members of the Board of Education want to move faster toward completion of the bond’s goals.
Much of the money is expected to go to safety upgrades and renovation of the century-old Santa Monica High School campus. Money would be set aside for Malibu schools. Some of the money would go toward district-wide technology upgrades, which the board has discussed in recent months.
District consultants recommended a planning process, with the most important piece being the hiring of a bond director, whose primary job would be the oversight of the bond money. The hiring process, they said, could take six months.
“The problem is, sixth months, we lose the rest of the school year, again,” said outgoing Board of Education member Ralph Mechur. “People want to get started talking about the project.”
Some board members expressed a desire to expedite the hiring process, if possible, and begin preliminary work on planning for the bond projects without the director.
-- David Mark Simpson DC's Hyde-Addison school Gym Designs Made Public-- Georgetown Metropolitan District of Columbia: November 20, 2014 [ abstract] Last night at St. John’s, representatives of the DC Department of General Services presented more detailed plans for the most recent version for the planned expansion of Hyde-Addison School. The city has been planning the expansion for years, and these plans appear to be the closest to the final ones that the neighborhood has seen yet.
The primary reason the expansion is that the school completely lacks a gym. It has no space large enough to contain the entire school population in one room. It has a cafeteria and library, but both are insufficient. Finally, it doesn’t have enough classroom space to accommodate the growth the school is anticipating.
The plan has evolved dramatically. Back in June, the idea was that to preserve the outdoor space, the entire building would have to be built underground. While this was an intriguing design, ultimately the Old Georgetown Board rejected it.
Since then the OGB has approved the modified massing of the project (i.e. the general size and shape). It will be an above-ground building located between the Hyde and Addison buildings. The gym, though, would be buried mostly under the playground. You can see the footprint of the project above, showing the gym.
-- Staff Writer Community brainstorms new uses for vacant schools-- TheNotebook Pennsylvania: November 19, 2014 [ abstract] The challenge, posed to community members at a charette last week, was to devise, design, and present new uses for two shuttered school buildings within 24 hours.
The Community Design Collaborative, a nonprofit that provides free design services; the Deputy Mayor's Office; and the American Institute of Architects hosted the charette, a term used in design circles to describe a collaborative planning session involving representatives from different disciplines.
â€"It was a long process, finding the sites, finding the community partners, and folks willing to think of it as an option,†said Design Collaborative director Beth Miller of the event, which was held at the Center for Architecture, 1218 Arch St. â€"I think it's a long road, but I think there were some great ideas shared and some really great conversations.â€
The four design teams, each with more than a dozen participants, crafted proposals reimagining uses for two closed School District buildings: the old Frances Willard School in Kensington and M.H. Stanton School in North Philadelphia. The schools were selected for this event because they had not attracted buyers after they closed, said Danielle Floyd, the District's deputy for strategic initiatives.
Each design team included architects, private and nonprofit developers, and community members. M.H Stanton and Willard had two design teams each, responsible for creating a temporary and permanent plan for reuse. Although ideas for both schools tended to overlap (outdoor space for food trucks, urban gardens and gatherings, affordable housing for intergenerational families, and indoor event space for sports and adult education), the Willard designs catered to that community's specific need for youth programming after the school replaced the neighborhood's recreation center.
-- Payne Schroeder Cuyahoga County school enrollment drops 12,000; schools close-- Cleveland.com Ohio: November 19, 2014 [ abstract] SOLON, Ohio – Solon schools wants to close an elementary school. Strongsville is looking to close two. Parma closed four schools. All because the number of students attending Cuyahoga County public schools is shrinking.
"The public school system has been losing students statewide," said Tracy Healy, the head of FutureThink, which helps schools with district planning. "Cuyahoga County has been hit the hardest."
In the last decade, Cuyahoga County has lost 12,000 students. Only 11 counties in Ohio gained students, most of them surrounding burgeoning Columbus, said Healy.
The drop is owed in part to declining fertility rates -- Ohio's birthrate has dropped ever since 2003, from 14 births per 1,000 women 2003 to 12.6 births in 2012, state records show.
"Our culture has changed," Healy said. "Fewer children are more of a norm."
The drop in school-age kids is also due to Cuyahoga County's lack of undeveloped land. Because cities are nearly built out, new houses aren't constructed.
And these days, older residents without school-age children remain in their homes longer. The housing market is no longer hot. Retirees aren't selling up and out. School districts can't grow.
-- DiAngelea Millar, Northeast Ohio Media Group Chesterfield's Planning Commission urges school system to include entire community-- Richmond Times-Dispatch Virginia: November 18, 2014 [ abstract] Chesterfield County is looking to use $304 million in voter-approved school renovations as a springboard for spurring the revitalization of communities across the county, and planning commissioners Tuesday urged the school system to make the process as inclusive as possible.
The county school system is renovating 10 schools and building a new one thanks to a voter-approved bond referendum last year.
As those projects begin, several county departments will focus on areas within a roughly 1-mile radius of the school in an effort to boost the areas.
Within that radius, the county will publicize its tax grants for home improvements, apply for federal block grants and send code inspectors to comb neighborhoods for common violations.
The idea is that county investment, such as new sidewalks or street lights, along with the nicer schools would encourage homeowners to improve their property and could attract business investment to the community.
-- LOUIS LLOVIO Q&A: David Sneed, executive director, School Building Authority of WV-- The State Journal West Virginia: November 15, 2014 [ abstract] Since stepping into the shoes left by former School Building Authority of West Virginia Executive Director Mark Manchin on July 1, David Sneed has taken action on some ideas of his own to ensure success.
During a conversation with The State Journal, Sneed shared his specific goals and overall vision for the organization going forward along with how his prior 22 years at the School Building Authority gave him an already-familiar edge to his new position.
The State Journal: What were your expectations coming into the job and how did your expectations match or not match up?
David Sneed: Having worked at the School Building Authority for 22 years prior to returning in July, I understand the mission of the authority and the daily operations. This was a tremendous help upon my return. From that perspective, I felt comfortable from day one and my desire is now to try to improve upon the services already in place and to assist the county boards of education in the planning, development and construction of school improvements around our state.
TSJ: What was one of the first things you did as executive director?
Sneed: Given the limited amount of state funding available for counties and their construction projects, I felt it was incumbent upon the agency to look for opportunities to increase the amount of funding we could make available to counties. However, the first action we took was to determine if there were opportunities to save money within the planning, design and construction phases of the projects. We are actively working toward this goal, and if we are able to save project funding we will simply fund more projects. County boards of education have identified over $3 billion in school capital improvement needs and this cost continues to grow annually.
TSJ: What new programs/goals would you like to see and are working toward implementing?
Sneed: I was fortunate upon my arrival that the authority had requested a work session with staff to discuss the future direction the agency would like to go moving forward. The work session allowed me to listen to the authority's goals, while at the same time to present my own. Some areas of emphasis are refocusing on projects that help counties improve their efficiencies, policies regarding emergency grant allocations, supplemental funding for projects experiencing deficits, growth county design criteria, cooperation with other state agencies and revising the funding cycle schedule to improve planning and bidding schedules for projects awarded in the future.
-- Erin Timony Crumbling schools brings more construction-- cincinnati.com Ohio: November 12, 2014 [ abstract] From Lebanon to Newport, thousands of students are walking around construction sites on their way to schools being remade for the future.
About a decade ago, schools in our region spent more than $1.5 billion in new school construction to handle booming, mostly suburban enrollments.
But now another wave of school construction is sweeping across Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. This time, old schools are being plowed under or renovated not only for more class space but, for the first time, to add modern technology, security and other systems lacking in outdated buildings.
Built in the last half of the 20th century, many older schools are still structurally sound but their insides aren’t. Inadequate electrical capacity and Internet wiring severely limit student learning via instructional technology. And entrances and ground-level windows are potentially dangerous security vulnerabilities.
This week, Lebanon Schools in Warren County started construction to expand and renovate buildings. Butler County’s Fairfield and Middletown schools began planning the replacement of aging, crumbling school buildings.
-- Michael D. Clark School CIP Reflects A Slowdown In Growth -- LeesburgToday Virginia: November 12, 2014 [ abstract]
Reacting to an anticipation of a slowdown in Loudoun County’s population growth, the school superintendent’s Capital Improvement Program calls for fewer new schools over the next several years and a smaller overall price tag.
Superintendent Eric Williams presented his proposed CIP that will serve as a priority list of the school system’s building needs for fiscal years 2016-2020 to the School Board Tuesday.
It plans for three elementary schools, one middle school and two high schools, among other projects, and requests a total of $481,970,000, down more than $165 million over last year’s adopted CIP.
“Our rates of increases are slowing down,” Sam Adamo, executive director of planning, told School Board members. “Our enrollment increases will start to taper.”
After years of growth in Ashburn, now the Dulles area in the south end of the county is experiencing a swell of families moving in, and the funding requests follow that trend.
-- Danielle Nadler State legislation would require security features in school design-- The Vindicator Ohio: November 08, 2014 [ abstract] Districts planning new school buildings would have to include security measures in the designs, under legislation being considered in the Ohio House.Rep. John Rogers, D-Mentor-On-The-Lake, said HB 446 would be another measure to help protect students, teachers and staff.“Requiring the incorporation of safety features during the initial building design would make these enhancements much more affordable, as opposed to expensive remodeling or retrofitting,” Rogers told the House’s Education Committee, where the bill recently had its first hearing.The legislation outlines a variety of security features, including surveillance video, entryway metal detectors, panic buttons and direct entrances and exits accessible only from inside classrooms.New school buildings would have to have at least two such security features under HB 446, Rogers said.
-- Marc Kovac Voters greenlight $780 million for pre-K construction, trailer removal-- Chalkbeat New York New York: November 05, 2014 [ abstract] The mayor’s path for pushing through legislative priorities in Albany was made tougher by Republicans’ seizure of a majority of seats in the state Senate. But with the passage of Proposition 3, dubbed the Smart Schools Bond Act, New York City stands to receive $783 million " some of which will help de Blasio reach his goal of bringing pre-kindergarten to 70,000 four-year-olds by next September.
The bond act gives the state permission to raise $2 billion to be split up among the state’s 700 school districts. Cuomo billed it as a way to jolt schools into the 21st century by allowing them to increase wireless bandwidth and pay for technology upgrades, and a Cuomo-convened commission recently recommended that districts spend the money on technology, such as tablets and interactive whiteboards, to improve online learning in schools.
But de Blasio is planning to use 40 percent of the money to support his most important initiative: pre-K expansion. The city’s capital plan, released last February, set aside $310 million for building renovations for pre-K programs that was contingent on the bond act. The rest of the money generated by the bond will be redirected toward creating 4,900 new classroom seats over the next five years to help reduce class sizes, according to the February plan.
-- Geoff Decker Dollars for schools -- Rawlins Daily Times Wyoming: October 27, 2014 [ abstract] SARATOGA " In many states, governors and legislators struggle to fund school construction projects. Often, large portions of these projects are paid for through property taxes or local improvement bonds.
Wyoming takes a different approach.
The Cowboy State is the only state that pays 100 percent of school construction and major maintenance projects. The state has the ability to provide funding through a number of sources including the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund.
The Wyoming School Facilities Department (SFD) is the agency responsible for getting the dollars to where they are needed.
The SFD and its commission provide non-matching grants to local school districts for approved capital projects. Project funding is determined by combining scores from a facility condition assessment, educational functionality and capacity of student enrollment to create a prioritized needs index list.
Anthony Hughes, SFD spokesperson, said the list is broken up into two primary categories " capacity and condition.
Capacity issues most often address meeting the state mandate of a 16-to-1 teacher to student ratio, while condition prioritizes facilities based on more than 50 separate factors such as heating and cooling, electrical issues and the structural and educational condition of classrooms.
“Once the buildings are scored they are ranked by need,” Hughes said. “Condition is condition. Typically there is not a great deal of fluctuation once the schools " whether they have condition or capacity issues " are put into the (SFD) department’s budget. When this happens we start the planning process to determine what is the most cost effective way to fix the issues.”
Since 2002, when the state formed the SFD, Wyoming has invested more than $3 billion in school facility construction and maintenance.
During the 2014 legislative session, nearly $231 million was appropriated for the biennium budget of new and previously funded school capital construction projects. Other funds were also appropriated to SFD for component projects, major maintenance and unanticipated expenses.
The SFD will submit a supplemental budget request of slightly more than $21 million at the legislature’s upcoming general session in January.
Both Carbon County School District 1 and 2 have several projects on the condition list. Both districts have recently benefited from SFD funding.
The highest item on the list for CCSD1 is the Bairoil School at 31, but that school no longer functions. “We were leasing it until the end of June, so that’s why it’s still on the list,” CCSD1 Business Office Manager Dave Horner explained.
The next is Little Snake River Valley School at 71. Horner said CCSD1 doesn’t have any high-priority facilities because SFD had recently remedied Rawlins High School, Middle School and Sinclair Elementary School.
“Those projects would have been on the top,” Horner said, “But now we’ve dropped to the bottom and we’re working back up again.”
Horner added that every time the district makes improvements to a facility, it might drop down the list further.
-- David Louis & Han Cheung State will fund Moyer Elementary renovation-- Cincinnati.com Ohio: October 26, 2014 [ abstract] FORT THOMAS – Whether Moyer Elementary School will be renovated or replaced remains an open question, but the city's school district has been given assurances the state will pay the bulk of the estimated $20 million or more cost.
Fort Thomas Independent Schools will be required to use its entire bonding capacity, expected to be about $1 million, next year to help fund work at Moyer scheduled to start summer or fall of 2015, said Superintendent Gene Kirchner.
The Kentucky School Facilities Construction Commission (SFCC) has now promised to pay the difference of the estimated $20 million cost of work at Moyer, Kirchner said.
SFCC officials toured Moyer and met with Fort Thomas officials Oct. 15. In September the SFCC pledged to provide an undetermined amount of funding for Moyer.
"The clarity that we did receive was that it will be fully funded," Kirchner said.
The cost for renovation or replacement is likely going to be similar, he said.
The district's Local planning Committee is now being asked to go back and review the existing plans to include consideration of replacing the school, Kirchner said.
"The current plan calls for it to be renovated," he said.
-- Chris Mayhew Competitive construction market hits growing school districts-- Chron Texas: October 23, 2014 [ abstract] Texas has been posting strong jobs numbers for awhile, from oil and gas to medical industries. The state’s so-called “miracle” has paralleled a more modest national recovery in which demand for new construction has finally picked up. But a resurgent construction industry means steeper costs and more competitive labor markets.
For school districts like Katy, Fort Bend and Lamar, all of which have bond issues on the ballot this November, or Klein and Conroe, both planning for bonds in the near future, this means that the new schools meant to address swelling enrollment will come with a higher price tag than they might have even just a year ago.
“Texas has been at the top of the standings in terms of numbers of workers added in the last few years,” said Ken Simonson, chief economist with the Associated General Contractors of America. “It’s an extremely hot market. It’s coming not just from paces out west but right in Houston you have all these oil and supply companies building new headquarters and activity around the port.”
A new AGC of America survey of some 1,000 construction firms concludes that not only is the industry finally showing some growth but that it’s also struggling to keep up with demand and find workers. The upturn, said Simonson, comes after a five-year decline, during which the industry had the deepest drop-off in employment compared to other sectors. Some 2.3 million workers lost their jobs from 2006 to 2011, said Simonson. Many of those workers moved on to other industries and construction has been one of the slowest sectors to recover, said Simonson.
In Texas, many workers laid off from construction jobs during the recession found work instead in oil and gas. And that’s something that’s fundamentally reshaped the post-recession market, according to Simonson, who said the construction industry is still short-staffed. One Houston builder even put guards on its job sites to keep other companies from poaching workers.
Though school construction was down overall across the country, districts in Texas, particularly suburban districts have been overwhelmed with demand.
Nationally, school construction costs, which include higher education facilities as well, rose 3.5 percent in the past year, versus the consumer price index, which measures inflation generally, which rose only 1.7 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
-- Leah Binkovitz Starr proposes changes to school facility planning guidelines-- Maryland Community News Online Maryland: October 22, 2014 [ abstract] The Montgomery County school system’s guidelines for planning future school construction projects may undergo several changes, including ones that would affect preferred enrollment and school site sizes.
Superintendent Joshua P. Starr released Oct. 15 his proposed changes to a regulation concerning long-range facilities planning, which was last updated in 2008.
One series of changes would shift the enrollment ranges the school system prefers for schools at the elementary, middle and high school levels. The current elementary school enrollment range stands at 300 to 750 students, and would change to 450 to 750 students. The middle school range " now 600 to 1,200 students " would become 750 to 1,200 students.
If changed, high school enrollment would increase to a range of 1,600 to 2,400 students. The range is currently 1,200 to 2,000 students in the regulation.
Exceptions would be possible both below and above the ranges, said Bruce Crispell, director of the school system’s Division of Long-range planning. The school system’s average enrollments are 565 students at elementary schools, 874 at middle schools and 1,816 at high schools.
At all three levels, Crispell said, schools with larger enrollments are able to offer more classes and programs and operations are more cost effective.
The county’s high schools need to be built to address increasing enrollment, he said.
-- Lindsay A. Powers Pasadena Unified School Board will vote on school boundary changes; will not include school closures-- Pasadena Star-News California: October 21, 2014 [ abstract] PASADENA >> After months of discussion about possible school closures and consolidations, the Pasadena Unified school board will not consider closing any district school Thursday night when it votes on new school attendance boundaries.
“We’re not discussing any school closures for 15/16 (school year),” said PUSD spokesman Adam Wolfson.
A steady enrollment decline since 2000 has caused many district schools to be below its recommended enrollment size. The school board tasked the Master planning and Boundaries Committee with analyzing enrollment and other data to make recommendations about school boundary changes. School boundaries have not been adjusted in more than 10 years.
The proposed changes affects attendance boundaries for all but two of the district’s schools.
Wolfson said the proposed boundary changes will only affect incoming kindergarten students, not students already enrolled at a school.
“No child will move schools,” he said.
Potential school closures are not off the table.
The committee will also recommend that the board direct interim Superintendent Brian McDonald to recommend any school closures or consolidations. He must make recommendations to the committee by January.
-- Sarah Favot Towns forced to consider renovation or demolition of old, outdated schools-- New Britain Herald Connecticut: October 18, 2014 [ abstract] With its consideration of what to do with the former Linden Street School, Plainville officials are tackling a thorny problem that many communities face or have faced: What to do with large, outdated school buildings that were expensive to build, are expensive to get rid of and are costlier still to renovate.
For the past year, local leaders have mulled various options for the former elementary school that was built in 1928. Many want it demolished, while some have suggested that it be renovated for new uses. Both recommendations will go to voters in a referendum next month.
Other communities are dealing with similar issues.
In Bristol, the sprawling former Memorial Boulevard School, built in 1921, has been vacant since 2010. A year ago, a majority of council members agreed to sell it to a Rhode Island developer. However, the planning Commission opposed the move and the council lacked a super majority needed to go ahead with the move. Since then, the community has debated using the school for housing or cultural events.
Also vacant in Bristol are the Bingham and O’Connell schools, which were built in 1916 and 1914 respectively. Bingham has been empty since 2011, O’Connell hasn’t been used since 2012 and city planners are still reviewing options.
One of the major problems with reusing such old schools, officials say, is their outdated energy and mechanical systems, which are expensive to use or update. They may also be filled with hazardous materials, such as asbestos. Most also were built before handicap accessibilities laws were enacted.
Jeffrey Beckham, an official with the state’s Department of Administrative Services, said older buildings are only exempt from meeting those standards if the buildings are being used as they were originally built. Once renovated, they have to be made accessible to those with handicaps, which can also be expensive. “Generally speaking, an older building is a lot further out of code than a newer one, so there is a lot more work to be done,” Beckham said.
-- BRIAN M. JOHNSON Madison School District seeks input on facilities-- Wisconsin State Journal Wisconsin: October 02, 2014 [ abstract] The Madison School District is seeking input from parents and students about the condition of school facilities to help inform a long-range plan to improve the district's schools.
The survey, found here, is part of what the district is calling phase one of the plan – a $26.9 million proposed plan that would improve accessibility and relieve crowded schools with extra space.
The proposal, which includes $25.9 million in project costs and a $1 million "planning allowance," is scaled back from an original $39.5 million proposal made earlier this year. Three million would come from the district's operating budget over two years, and the rest would be part of a referendum question, according to the current proposal.
Parents also received the survey via email this week. Next week, the district plans a â€"random selection†of community members to participate in focus groups. And an input session is scheduled for 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 15 at the Goodman Community Center.
District spokeswoman Rachel Strauch-Nelson said the "goal for the focus groups is to get a representative sample of our school community and the larger community to gather input."
-- Molly Beck $21 million unfrozen for Pennsylvania school construction-- TribLIVE Pennsylvania: September 27, 2014 [ abstract] State officials approved $21.6 million in long-delayed school construction money Friday, two years after the government froze the payment process for 360 projects statewide.
The money, a small fraction of what the state owes, will fund buildings and renovations for 41 schools in 27 districts, including five in Western Pennsylvania.
Acting Secretary of Education Carolyn Dumaresq said she is â€"hopeful that as we progress through the current fiscal year, the department will be able to approve additional projects as more funding becomes available.â€
Among the projects approved were Bethel Park High School, Chartiers-Houston High School, Montour High School and its district administration office, Penn Hills High School and Pittsburgh Public Schools' University Preparatory School, Science and Technology Academy at Frick and Concord Elementary School.
Legislators let a two-year moratorium blocking state funding for new school construction projects expire in June, expanding a financing process that at the time was overcommitted by $1.7 billion statewide.
PlanCon, the Education Department's acronym for planning and Construction Workbook, stopped taking applications when legislators halted the process in October 2012. Applications submitted before that progressed slowly but stalled at the step before payments were approved.
-- Megan Harris Despite building review, schools plan costly renovation studies-- Southern Maryland Newspapers Online Maryland: September 12, 2014 [ abstract] Despite the fact that Charles County Public Schools recently received the results of a pricey and comprehensive study of all its facilities, school officials said they plan to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for examinations of several individual school sites.
The county commissioners ponied up $250,000 for contractor GWWO Inc./Architects to conduct a review of every school building in the system, identify areas where the buildings need repair, provide recommendations for fixing or razing some of the more aged schools and decide in what order to carry out the projects.
At the school board’s regular monthly meeting Tuesday, representatives from the school system’s Department of planning and Construction requested that board members approve “renovation feasibility studies” for La Plata High School, Dr. Gustavus Brown Elementary School, Eva Turner Elementary School and Dr. Samuel A. Mudd Elementary School. The estimated cost for all the studies totals $850,000.
Officials maintain that the studies are a necessary evil to secure money from the state, which would require a much more in-depth analysis than the GWWO report provided before loosening the state purse strings for future renovations.
The studies would explore the challenges the school system would face in either refurbishing or tearing down a building, said David Clements, supervisor of planning and construction.
The school system will request funding from the county for the La Plata High study and combined Brown-Turner study, which have been pegged at $400,000 and $250,000, respectively. Officials submit funding requests as a piece of the Capital Improvement Program for fiscal 2016, one to the local government and one to the state.
-- Jeremy Bauer-Wolf Legislator pushes to revise state's PlanCon program for school construction-- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pennsylvania: September 11, 2014 [ abstract] HARRISBURG " Schools in Pittsburgh and Bethel Park will be among several to receive long-sought funding for capital projects, a Central Pennsylvania state representative said Wednesday while joining with education officials to push legislation that would remake the reimbursement program for school construction.
School officials have complained about the planning and Construction Workbook, known as PlanCon, the process by which districts receive state money for building. Legislation in the state budget package in July ended an October 2012 moratorium on districts applying for reimbursement, but hundreds of projects remain in the funding queue.
At a Capitol news conference Wednesday, state Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, said the existing program is burdensome for school districts, requiring state approval at 11 stages and the submission of plans on microfilm.
“Getting the backlog of PlanCon projects was a first great step, but we also need to reform the entire program to bring it into the 21st century,” Mr. Grove said.
-- Karen Langley Seminole lags Orange in school building repairs -- Orlando Sentinel Florida: September 05, 2014 [ abstract] Most times when an assembly or performance is held in the Lake Howell High School auditorium, at least one seat collapses. And when it rains at Lake Brantley High, the water runs ankle deep through the partially covered walkway of a classroom building.
Seminole County voters in May approved a 10-year, quarter-penny sales tax for school construction. But school officials say the additional money isn't nearly enough to tackle the district's estimated $750 million in needs.
In Orange County, schools are being repaired and replaced at a rapid clip. After more than a decade of a half-penny sales tax going toward schools, Orange's schools are now newer, on average, than those in Seminole. And Orange voters in August extended that tax for another 10 years.
The problem lies in the vast difference in resources. Over the life of the new sales taxes, Seminole expects to bring in about $159 million for school construction, less than a tenth of the $2 billion the Orange tax is expected to raise. The Seminole district is about a third the size of Orange, which has 184 schools.
"We'll do what we can with what we can get," said Scott Stegall, a member of the Seminole school district's facilities planning staff.
-- Lauren Roth, Orlando Sentinel Their View | Reforming our antiquated school construction law: PlanCon and House Bill 2124-- Centrer Daily Times Pennsylvania: September 03, 2014 [ abstract] Now under Senate consideration, House Bill 2124 would greatly streamline the arduous 11-step planning and Construction Workbook process by which the commonwealth reimburses local school districts for a portion of approved school construction costs.
PlanCon has been part of the school code and state regulation for decades. The process is lengthy and requires the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s approval at multiple steps as a district proceeds with a project.
The proposed legislation would reduce the process to five steps and would even allow for electronic submission of paperwork, eliminating the current requirement to submit documents via a combination of printed forms and microfilm. A modernization of this process is clearly overdue.
Just recently lifted, a moratorium on PlanCon funding had been in place for several years. Before the moratorium, many school districts undertook significant construction or renovation projects for which debt has been issued, contracts have been entered into, and construction has begun " in some cases, even completed " all with department approval and under the reasonable expectation that districts would receive state reimbursement.
With the lack of funding for projects in the PlanCon pipeline, and districts waiting multiple years after project completion with no reimbursement in sight, a debt is owed to the local school district taxpayers who are currently footing the bill.
HB 2124 would also allow school districts that began construction projects during the moratorium to remain eligible for state reimbursement.
Since the percentage of reimbursement that a district receives is a function of district “wealth,” the failure of the commonwealth to fulfill its obligation has had the greatest impact on our neediest districts, which often lack the means of raising the money necessary to undertake needed construction projects without state dollars.
-- DAVID HUTCHINSON - Opinion Montgomery, state officials optimistic on 2015 school construction bill-- Maryland Community News Online Maryland: August 25, 2014 [ abstract] Some Montgomery County and state officials are hopeful the General Assembly will pass a bill in 2015 that would direct more school construction money to the county after efforts in the last legislative session to secure such funding fell through.
After a Monday event at Wilson Wims Elementary School " built to relieve overcrowding in the Clarksburg area " Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett said he feels “very confident” state lawmakers can “make some progress” in the upcoming session toward a funding method that would help the county accommodate its growing student body.
As students returned to class on Monday, the county school system faced its largest enrollment increase from one school year to the next since 2000.
Montgomery schools will have 154,153 students this year " 2,864 more than last year, according to Bruce Crispell, director of the school system’s Division of Long-range planning.
Leggett and other officials said they think a successful November election for Democratic candidate Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown might provide a boost to school construction legislation in the 2015 session.
Brown already has been part of an administration that has provided “record” investments in the county’s education system, Leggett said.
“I’m confident given at least the expression of the candidates running for governor, especially Mr. Brown, that we have an excellent opportunity of putting together a package collaborating with the local communities to in fact at least move forward and getting us the resolution that we want,” Leggett said.
-- Lindsay A. Powers Odyssey Elementary will be the most 'green' Utah school-- ksl.com Utah: August 24, 2014 [ abstract] WOODS CROSS — In planning the new Odyssey Elementary School, school district officials looked to nature.
Awed parents and excited children flooded the colorful, open-concept elementary for a back-to-school night, taking in the building's unique layout. Classrooms are distributed between four wings, called "habitats," that branch off the building's central area and are named to inspire students to swim, run, jump and fly.
Full of natural light thanks to banks of big windows, Odyssey will be powered by the sun thanks to more than 1,200 solar panels and will use less energy than any other school in Utah, making it the "greenest" school in the state, according to the Davis School District.
"I like the doors," said 8-year-old Kera Keeler, investigating a large, roll-up door that connects her new classroom in the "fly" habitat to a communal center.
Bryan and Eva Keeler, Kera's parents, said they believe the new school will jumpstart the year for Kera and her 7-year-old sister, Leslie.
"I think it's a school for the times. It's something that wouldn't have have existed back when I was a kid," Bryan Keeler said. "I think for kids these days, it's probably just the ticket. It's technologically advanced and just kind of cool."
Tucker Farris, who starts fourth grade in the "swim" habitat Monday, is especially excited about the open and active feel of his new school.
"It's different than other schools," Tucker said. "I like unusual things."
Tucker's mom, April Farris, said she likes the new technology available at the school and the way her son's classroom (complete with rolling desks and chairs, fun shaped stools and countless customizable white board surfaces) fits with his active personality.
"Kids like to move and so, in some ways, I think it could help them focus if they have some leeway," Farris said. "He'll either thrive or get distracted."
-- McKenzie Romero New law to alleviate school overcrowding in NYC-- Brooklyn Daily Eagle New York: August 14, 2014 [ abstract] With a third of city elementary schools significantly overcrowded, Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday signed a bill into law that will eventually help alleviate packed classrooms.
The legislation, sponsored by state Senator Daniel Squadron and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, is expected to add more seats in neighborhoods experiencing population booms, like Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Sunset Park, Bay Ridge and Williamsburg, along with crowded areas in Queens and lower Manhattan.
The law requires the School Construction Authority (SCA) to collect population data from several city sources and use this information in connection with the five-year educational facilities capital plan.
P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights, for example, has been forced to eliminate space dedicated to preschool kids because it doesn’t have enough room for them anymore -- and thousands of additional residential units are planned nearby.
According to SCA, in October 2013 P.S. 8 had a capacity for 524 students at its Hicks Street location in Brooklyn Heights, but 742 children were enrolled there, for a 142 percent utilization rate.
While the law goes into effect immediately, a new five year capital facilities plan won’t come out until 2019.
Testifying before the state Senate, Squadron said in June that SCA did not previously factor in forward-looking data from City planning, the Department of Buildings or the Department of Health " like births and building permits. Over the last several years, “The SCA seemed shocked at the explosion of school-age population” in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, Squadron said.
The bill also requires that the data is distributed not just for school districts, “which are pretty wacky, crossing district lines and neighborhoods,” but on the Community Board level. “The Community Boards and the community will know what the projected school-age population is for their neighborhoods for the first time,” Squadron said.
-- Mary Frost Impending school construction project funds in Pennsylvania pipeline-- TribLIVE Pennsylvania: July 31, 2014 [ abstract] Legislators let a two-year moratorium blocking state funding for new school construction projects expire last month, expanding a financing process that is overcommitted by $1.7 billion statewide.
The state's 11-step approval pipeline contains 340 building projects, of which about 200 remain bottlenecked at the last step before the state pays school districts, said Tim Eller, spokesman for the Department of Education. Even as the process was opened to new applications, Eller said the budget for payouts increased to $306 million, a bump of about $10 million in the fiscal year.
Given the extensive backlog and a modest increase in the state budget, districts locked in are not optimistic that they'll see cash soon.
â€"We're not holding our breath waiting,†said Brett Lago, business manager at Penn-Trafford School District. â€"It's so backlogged, we're not going to count on receiving any money.â€
Ryan Manzer, business manager for Freeport Area School District, said his district is on the hook for a $35 million middle school. Two other projects bank on PlanCon reimbursement, having entered the process long ago, he said.
â€"We planned to not receive that reimbursement in next year's budget,†Manzer said. â€"Until we get notification that money's available, we're not going to count it.â€
PlanCon, the Education Department's acronym for planning and Construction Workbook, stopped taking applications when legislators stalled them in October 2012. Applications submitted before that date progressed slowly but hit a logjam because requests for money outstripped available funding.
-- Megan Harris and Matthew Santoni Many Pennsylvania school districts wait for millions in state reimbursements-- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pennsylvania: July 24, 2014 [ abstract] It appears the 200 school districts across the state, including 13 from Allegheny County, that are awaiting millions of dollars in state reimbursements for construction projects will continue to wait.
The reason: Legislators included only a modest increase to the reimbursement fund of the PlanCon program that since 1973 has provided partial reimbursements to districts for new construction or renovation of buildings.
The $10 million increase to the $296 million annual PlanCon fund for distribution is not expected to have much effect on the backlog of payments that has existed for several years, given that Allegheny County districts alone are owed more than $18 million.
Along with providing the increase, the new state budget signed by the governor on July 10 ends the October 2012 moratorium on districts‘ ability to apply for PlanCon reimbursements, a moratorium set in place because of the backlog of payments. But the ending of the moratorium largely means that more districts can get in line for reimbursement that may be years away.
An alphabet soup
PlanCon is an acronym for the planning and Construction Workbook of the state education department. The state has provided reimbursement for school construction since the 1950s, but the process as it is known today has been in effect since 1973. The passage of Act 34 at that time created a complicated 11-step process with parts A through K required for partial reimbursement for school construction and renovation costs. The process is voluntary but mandatory for districts that want state reimbursement.
A project is eligible for reimbursement upon its approval of part G but does not get funded until approval of a PlanCon Part H application.
The clog in the pipeline exists after approval of part G. Of the 338 projects currently in the PlanCon pipeline, 200 have been approved through Part G.
“Everybody who is waiting is waiting for approval of H and [the state Education Department doesn’t] want to approve it, because if they approve it then they have to pay,” said Richard Liberto, business manager of the Penn Hills School District, which is owed $4 million in reimbursement on its $64 million high school project. The district is also currently finishing a new $40 million elementary school project that is also in the pipeline for reimbursement.
-- Mary Niederberger School construction work added 95,000 jobs, report says-- Boston Globe Massachusetts: July 24, 2014 [ abstract] In the 10 years since the Massachusetts School Building Authority was created, the agency has distributed $10.5 billion to help build and renovate hundreds of schools to improve the quality of education around the state, but the funding also has played a significant role in creating jobs and generating tax revenue, a new report shows.
The economic impact was particularly meaningful during the recent downturn, which hit the construction industry hard, according to the report, written by Alan Clayton-Matthews and Barry Bluestone of the Northeastern University Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional planning. The building authority commissioned the report to find out what kind of impact its investments have had on the state’s economy.
“Taxpayers have a right, when they spend money, particularly $10.5 billion, to say how are you doing, what happened, what are your results,’’ said state Treasurer Steve Grossman, who serves as the chairman of the authority’s board of directors. “People need to be reassured that we are on the right track for how we are doing the taxpayers’ business. We have schools, roofs, and boilers, but in addition, it’s about jobs, taxes, revenues, and economic impact.’’
The report, released last month, suggests that between fiscal year 2005 and the year that ended June 30, the spending by the authority led to the creation of nearly 95,000 jobs and generated $4.5 billion in total employment earnings. The boost to the economy also led to approximately $411.9 million in additional state revenues " $296.3 million in personal income taxes, $67.1 million in sales taxes, and $48.5 million in business taxes " the report says.
The report also states that the estimates pertain only to the state funds allocated to cities and towns for their school construction projects, and do not include the local funding contributed by each community for the construction, renovation, and repair work.
“That much of this investment occurred while the economy was suffering the effects of the Great Recession suggests that MSBA activity played a significant role in boosting what otherwise would have been even more dire economic straits, putting unemployed workers to work, increasing consumer spending power, and augmenting the state treasury,’’ the report states.
-- Jennifer Fenn Lefferts As Capitol Riverfront grows, DC plans elementary school reopening-- Elevation DC District of Columbia: July 14, 2014 [ abstract] Plans are underway to renovate the currently-closed Van Ness Elementary School, at 1150 5th Street SE, in time for the 2015-2016 academic year.
The renovation of the school is being spurred by the increasing number of families that have moved into the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood, according to Melissa Salmanowitz of DCPS.
planning and the public input process began this spring. Construction will begin later this year or early next.
The District's Capital Improvement Plan allocated a budget of $15 million for the renovation of the 49,000-square-foot building. â€"We will modernize the classrooms and update the building to current educational standards,†says Salmanowitz. The exterior of the 1950s-era building, however, may not change (no decision has yet been made).
Van Ness was closed as a public school in 2007. Since then, it has been used as a workspace for public school employees.
-- BARBARA PASH School construction tops $90M in first half of 2014-- Casper Journal Wyoming: July 03, 2014 [ abstract] The Equality State spent $91,587,886 on K-12 school construction during the first six months of 2014, according to Bill Panos, Director of the Wyoming School Facilities Department.
The total includes money for planning, design, construction, land and various professional services, such as engineers, architects and contractors.
“The construction season is very busy throughout the state” Panos said. “SFD is working closely with school districts to ensure our school construction projects maximize value to communities across Wyoming.”
Wyoming is home to 48 school districts. Since 2002, the state has appropriated over $2.7 billion for school construction and maintains over 21 million square feet of educational facilities.
-- Staff Writer WV New executive director named for School Building Authority-- Charleston Daily Mail West Virginia: June 30, 2014 [ abstract] CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- David Sneed, an educational planner for Project and Construction Services Inc., will replace Mark Manchin Tuesday as the West Virginia School Building Authority’s next executive director.Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin announced the appointment Monday, saying he is confident Sneed’s experience will help him serve in his new role.Sneed, who has more than 35 years of experience in the public and private sector in West Virginia, served as the authority’s chief of architectural services from 1990 until 2012, as well as Kanawha County’s director of school planning.Sneed, a graduate of West Virginia State University and the recipient of the Council of Educational Facility Planner’s award for outstanding education planning, was integral in creating guidelines and procedures that are still used by the authority and architectures across West Virginia.Sneed said he is excited to return to the authority and work with the governor and Legislature, though he most looks forward to developing new projects with the state’s 55 superintendents.The School Building Authority works with county boards of education and superintendents to facilitate and provide state funds for school construction and maintenance. At its last quarterly meeting in April, the authority awarded more than $43 million for renovations, additions and new construction in Brooke, Doddridge, Gilmer, Mingo, Monongalia, Ohio and Wayne counties.
-- Samuel Speciale Bill would require NYC to factor in population growth in planning school facilities-- Brooklyn Daily Eagle New York: June 20, 2014 [ abstract] The state Assembly and Senate have passed legislation to alleviate severe overcrowding in many New York City schools by requiring the School Construction Authority (SCA) to collect population data from city agencies in advance when planning where to build schools or enlarge facilities.
The bill, sponsored by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senator Daniel Squadron, is expected to help alleviate overcrowding in Brooklyn neighborhoods experiencing enormous population booms -- like Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Sunset Park and Williamsburg " and in Manhattan and Queens by requiring the SCA to factor in how future population growth might affect overcrowded schools.
Schools like P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights have already been forced to eliminate space dedicated to preschool because they don’t have enough room to house all of their incoming students, and thousands of additional residential units are planned for the Heights and surrounding neighborhoods.
The legislation needs to be signed by the governor to become law.
Schools in Bay Ridge and Borough Park are also packed. The Community Education Council of School District 20 passed a resolution last year calling on elected officials to put pressure on the state’s Department of Education to force the New York City DOE to reduce class sizes. “Class sizes up to 32 in elementary and middle schools and up to 34 in high schools, such large classes, do not provide the individual attention that either general education or special education students need and deserve,” the resolution reads.
Testifying before the state Senate, Senator Squadron said that SCA has never factored in data from City planning, the Department of Buildings or the Department of Health when forming their five-year educational facilities capital plan. Over the last several years, “The SCA seemed shocked at the explosion of school-age population” in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, Squadron said.
The bill also requires that the data is distributed not just for school districts, “which are pretty wacky, crossing district lines and neighborhoods,” but on the Community Board level. “The Community Boards and the community will know what the projected school-age population is for their neighborhoods for the first time,” Squadron said.
-- Mary Frost Maximize the impact of school construction funding with effective master planning-- North Bay Business Journal California: June 09, 2014 [ abstract] Throughout California, school districts face a significant need to upgrade and renovate their facilities. Many schools were built in the post-war boom and are nearing their 60th birthdays. At the same time, significant changes in education are occurring as schools adapt to provide learning experiences that prepare students for success in college and careers in the 21st Century global economy.
Many of these changes require additional technology, new types of learning spaces and other upgrades. Compounding these issues are the recent cuts in school facilities funding and operating budgets that leave schools with limited options for funding these critical upgrades. To counter this, school districts, including 27 in the North Bay alone since 2010, and their communities are coming together to raise funds to upgrade their schools through local general obligation bond measures. Successful bond measures provide significant funding to upgrade school facilities and create a healthy, safe and inspirational learning environment for students and teachers.
When a community places its trust and tax dollars in a district’s hands, it is important for the district to have a clear plan to maximize that funding. The most effective way to go about this is to create a Facilities Master Plan. The goal of a Facilities Master Plan is to identify and prioritize facilities improvements to ensure the available funding is used to best address the needs of student learning. There are many ways to develop such a plan and the process should be tailored to meet the needs of each unique community, as well as the anticipated funding and time available. Nearly all school districts face more facilities improvements than they can currently afford and a Facilities Master Plan should include a process to prioritize the needed improvements.
-- Aaron Jobson New school construction costs could rise with newly mandated storm shelters-- QuincyJournal.com Illinois: June 08, 2014 [ abstract] A bill passed the Illinois Senate that will require all new school buildings built in Illinois to include storm shelters that can withstand a force four tornado.
The bill, HB 2513, passed the Illinois Senate 43 to 13. It now waits for the Governor’s signature to become law. Illinois State Rep. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) and State Sen. John Sullivan (D-Rushville) both voted for the legislation.
This law comes just as the Quincy School District is in the process of planning on how to proceed with new construction for its schools. A select committee is meeting privately and Quincy architectural firms are being paid around $250,000 to be part of the committee and come up with a master plan. The Quincy School Board also must decide when to ask voters for a referendum to fund the multi-million dollar project.
Some Republicans explained that they were not against schools having adequate shelter in schools, but they were against unfunded mandates.
State Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, said his opposition was out of principle.
“We have debated in different committees and on the Senate floor for years on the issue of unfunded mandates,” he said. “I’ll bet there is not a single member of this chamber, Republican or Democrat, upstate or downstate who hasn’t been back home and said, ‘I’m opposed to unfunded mandates. I’m opposed to Springfield telling you what to do and then not sending any money in order to do it’… this is an unfunded mandate.”
Other opponents to the legislation highlighted that the mandate did in fact come with hefty additional costs.
“The costs don’t sound big when you say 20 or 30 cents per foot, but the reality is these requirements could end up costing up to a million dollars,” said state Sen. Kyle McCarter, R-Lebanon. “If a school is in an area of high risk, they are welcome to do this at any time.”
Quincy School District Business Manager Joel Murphy said the committee has been made aware of the new law and its potential impact.
Proponents of the bill said it was only common sense and a desire to protect children that motivated them.
-- Jackson Adams, Illinois News Network Gov. Abercrombie Releases $87M for School Facilities-- Honolulu Civil Beat Hawaii: June 05, 2014 [ abstract] Gov. Neil Abercrombie has approved capital improvement projects at public schools totaling $87.1 million.
The money is going toward a variety of projects that were identified by state lawmakers. More than $36 million of the funding will be used to repair and upgrade facilities at schools across the state.
Here’s a breakdown of where the money is going, according to a press release:
$36,461,000 " Condition, Various Schools, statewide " Design and construction funds to improve and maintain facilities and infrastructure. DOE’s estimated backlog for repair and maintenance is now down to $265 million. These projects include general school building improvements, electrical upgrades, playground equipment repair and maintenance, and other school repairs and renovations.
$15,070,000 " Program Support, Various Schools, statewide " planning, design, construction and equipment funds for program support, including new/temporary facilities, improvements to existing facilities, ground and site improvements, equipment and appurtenances to schools, and for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and gender equity.
$14,900,000 " Equity, Various Schools, statewide " Design, construction and equipment funds to improve instructional spaces such as science labs, special education classroom renovations and classrooms on a statewide basis for classroom/learning environment parity. Equity projects also include energy improvements relating to heat abatement in classrooms.
$10,950,000 " Capacity, Various Schools, statewide " Construction and equipment funds for projects at schools nearing their enrollment capacity or are short of classroom space. These funds will provide general classroom portables at four schools, as well as a classroom building for Nahienaena Elementary School on Maui.
-- ALIA WONG Budget plan leaves no money for school construction-- TribLive Pennsylvania: May 27, 2014 [ abstract] Cash-strapped schools desperate to replace leaky roofs and crumbling infrastructure likely will go without state construction money for a third year, school business officials say, since Gov. Tom Corbett's budget proposal continues a moratorium on funding new projects.
In 2012, Corbett cut funding to new applications, stalling 354 projects in varying stages of construction or capital planning. At least 200 since have been financed — some even finished — with the expectation of state money that didn't come.
The state Department of Education has estimated it would need at least $1.6 billion to reimburse them all.
â€"School districts do not enter into construction projects lightly,†said Hannah Barrick, advocacy director for Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials. â€"They do so with careful planning, and only once they're sure of what they can expect from the state. So to go through that long process and find out the money you planned for is indefinitely unavailable puts everyone in a pretty huge pinch.â€
When the Corbett administration took office in 2011, funding for the school construction reimbursement system, known as PlanCon, was overcommitted by $30 million, state spokesman Tim Eller said in an email.
â€"More projects had been approved for reimbursement than the line item could pay,†Eller said. â€"Over the last three years, the Corbett administration has worked to bring in line those projects that receive reimbursement with what is available in the line item.â€
-- Megan Harris Cardozo High School Receives Historic Preservation Award of Excellence-- Department of General Services, DC District of Columbia: May 22, 2014 [ abstract] The District of Columbia Historic Preservation Office/Office of planning presented the Historic Preservation Review Board Chair’s Award to Francis L. Cardozo High School at the Annual Awards for Excellence in Historic Preservation Thursday, May 15th at DAR Constitution Hall. In total, 11 awards were presented to individuals, businesses and local organizations for exemplary work and commitment to historic preservation, archaeology, education and lifetime achievement.
The Historic Preservation Review Board Chair’s Award was selected by the Chair, Gretchen Pfaehler, AIA. Ms. Pfaehler selected Cardozo out of 20+ other projects, bestowing this honor on the school for the significant investment it represents from the District government. The project was recognized for its exceptional design work in restoration, rehabilitation and new construction affecting a historic District property.
The award was presented to the District of Columbia Department of General Services, Hartman-Cox Architects, Grim + Parker Architects and GSC-Sigal, LLC, who were responsible for the design and construction of the $130 million modernization. “We are truly honored to have the opportunity to complete projects such as Cardozo High School which represents the best in bringing modern design and construction to the District’s most historic and vital assets,” said Brian J. Hanlon, Director of the Department of General Services.
Francis L. Cardozo High School is an individually landmarked Elizabethan/renaissance public high school that was erected in 1914-16. The 300,000 sq. ft. building was originally designed to accommodate 2,500 students and played a significant role in the development of education in the United States.
-- Kenneth Diggs Group recommends $158M in expansion, renovation projects at Missoula schools-- Missoulian Montana: May 20, 2014 [ abstract] Rebuilding Franklin Elementary, relocating Cold Springs Elementary to the west in a new building, and expanding and renovating Lowell Elementary are some of the top facility needs identified by Missoula County Public Schools.
Ultimately, the goal is to create safe, 21st century schools capable of housing an anticipated additional 892 students in the district by 2024.
At a meeting Monday night, MCPS long-range facilities planning steering committee members fleshed out priorities to present to trustees in June.
After months of discussions as a group and at Missoula schools, priorities were ranked high, medium and low. High priorities are slated for completion by 2019, medium priorities by 2023 and low priorities by 2026.
Improvements to several elementary schools, as well as the district’s middle and high schools, ranked medium in priority, while Lowell, Franklin, Russell, Cold Springs and Rattlesnake elementary schools were identified as high priorities.
Rebuilding or expanding Willard Alternative High School was ranked as a low priority initially, but was moved to a medium priority on Monday night.
The total estimated cost for the high and medium priority projects, which includes the cost to replace roofs, boilers and heat distribution systems where needed, is estimated at $103 million for K-8 buildings.
-- Alice Miller Judge orders school construction halted and requires full environmental impact report for ES-- The Daily Journal Pennsylvania: May 09, 2014 [ abstract] Construction must be halted on Hoover Elementary School in Burlingame, according to a judge’s final ruling issued Thursday.
San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Marie Weiner ruled in favor of the Alliance for Responsible Neighborhood planning that sued the Burlingame Elementary School District, stating it needs to prepare a full environmental impact report on traffic impacts on the entire property, which means all construction must be stopped until this is done. Originally, the judge had just asked to stop construction on the dropoff zone, but the ruling stated the entire site needed to be analyzed before there could be any further construction, installation, development or permits issued.
“The failure to adequately address traffic and parking environmental impacts permeates more that the mere operation of a school or how a student dropoff area is configured,” Weiner wrote. “Indeed, the demolition of the annex and the building of a new and much larger school building " which is a key component of the project " is designed to take away the vast majority of the existing parking lot on the property, and thus resulting in a parking shortage and traffic problems.”
The district was very disappointed with the ruling since the school is for the benefit of the larger community, said Superintendent Maggie MacIsaac.
“We have to decide what we need to do " the board needs to decide,” she said. “The one thing is we really need to open the school. It’s important to our community and to alleviate the overcrowding. ... It’s a loss for both (Hillsborough and Burlingame) of our communities, schools.”
Christine Fitzgerald, one of the petitioners in the case and member of the alliance, said it’s a great victory for the neighbors who live near the school and felt the plan should be postponed to allow for more discussion and possible changes to the traffic plan.
“We’re really happy,” she said. “It’s huge. Just looking at it, you can see both buildings take up the majority of the property. It just boggles the mind to think where they’re going to put all these cars. The judge is right in her decision.”
-- Angela Swartz Experts weigh in on cost of school construction-- independenttribune.com North Carolina: May 05, 2014 [ abstract] CONCORD, N.C. -- The cost of school construction has been a hot topic in Cabarrus County lately, especially during discussions of a bond referendum in November. As local leaders have compared various schools to each other, there have been questions about why one costs more than another and why certain features were incorporated into new schools.
So why do schools cost as much as they do, and why would one cost much more than another? Experts from North Carolina and Virginia recently weighed in on this issue.
“There’s any number of reasons why costs can vary,” said Steve Taynton, section chief of school planning for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI).
Building one school may include purchasing land, whereas another may not; one may have inflationary costs or include having to widen a road, he said. The cheapest school might be on a flat site and not include development costs, Taynton said.
“One site is usually not the same as another site,” said John Missell, chief operating officer at Spectrum Design, an architecture and engineering firm based in Roanoke, Va. that has worked on educational facilities in Virginia and North Carolina.
For example, Missell said that the soil’s bearing capacity is a huge cost driver, as well as the size of the building and how many stories it might have. The length of utilities to the building can add tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, Missell said. Technology has also affected costs in recent years, he added.
Over the last eight years, general construction has made up about 68.75 percent to 75.81 percent of the average costs to build schools in North Carolina, according to DPI. Plumbing accounts for about 3.45 percent to 5.75 percent, and heating and air conditioning have made up about 10.16 percent to 14.22 percent. Electrical costs have made up about 8.96 percent to 11.53 percent of the average school costs.
-- Jessica Groover Pacek Fairfax County schools seek to restore boundary balance-- FairfaxTimes.com Virginia: April 24, 2014 [ abstract] The number of trailers in use at Fairfax County schools - more than 900 across the county - belies the fact that the school district does have more seats available than students.
In Fairfax County, 40 schools are at least 5 percent over capacity while other schools have classroom space to spare. More than 60 schools are at least 10 percent underenrolled.
School facilities staff provided suggested boundary adjustments to the School Board Wednesday in an effort to address the discrepancy in enrollments. The recommendations are preliminary, and represent the school system’s effort to get ahead of the notoriously thorny issue of boundary changes between schools, Kevin Sneed, the school system’s director of design and construction services, told the School Board.
“For us to just throw boundary suggestions out there is difficult, but we also know there are schools where we have problems,” Sneed said. “We need to acknowledge that so we can start planning for it.”
Enrollment projections in the school system’s Capital Improvement Program, the construction and renovation plan for the next five years, showed that the current capacity problems at schools across the county will continue to worsen in coming years, as the student population continues to climb.
The School Board plans to continue to work with school staff to find solutions, whether those come in the form of new school buildings or school boundary changes to provide relief to overcrowded schools.
School Board member Kathy Smith (Sully) noted that boundary changes do not necessarily need to shift neighborhoods from one school to another, but could also focus on targeting specific schools to house programs such as advanced academic centers. Several such programmatic alterations are included in the recommendations made by the facilities staff.
“I believe we have a responsibility to use as many seats as we have,” Smith said.
-- Kate Yanchulis D.C. parents raise questions about funds for at-risk students, school renovations-- Washington Post District of Columbia: April 17, 2014 [ abstract] Also a subject of much discussion Thursday was Gray’s proposal to spend $400 million for school renovation projects next year. Many parents complained that Gray’s plan delays renovations that had previously been planned for next year.
“Our school has so many issues that need to be addressed,” said Bernetta Reese, a parent at Watkins Elementary on Capitol Hill. The school’s fire alarm system is not up to code and there is no sprinkler system, Reese said, while its faulty heating system leaves students shivering in winter coats on cold days.
Catania signaled that he will seek to fund promised renovations at Watkins and other schools by shifting money away from a proposed renovation of the old Spingarn High.
Gray is seeking to spend $62 million during the next two years to reopen Spingarn as a vocational education center with a special focus on training for transportation-related careers.
Catania said it makes no sense to spend those capital dollars on Spingarn because another career-oriented school " Phelps ACE High " is next door and underenrolled.
Ann McLeod, a parent leader at Garrison Elementary in Logan Circle, said that modernization decisions seem to be random and politically motivated and that the constant shifting of renovation schedules " and testifying before the council -- takes parents’ time and energy away from volunteering in schools.
Garrison’s renovation funds have been yanked and restored several times in recent years, and the school is now scheduled to be fully modernized by fiscal 2016, a victory that McLeod compared to surviving a plane crash in which others are not as lucky.
“We don’t understand what happened or why, and why we are the ones who survived and others did not,” McLeod said, adding that decisions should be driven by hard data and transparent analysis. “There is currently no strategy whatsoever in the whole modernization planning.”
-- Emma Brown School districts owed millions from state-- thetimes-tribune.com Pennsylvania: April 13, 2014 [ abstract] Delinquent state reimbursements may force school districts to hit taxpayers with increases, cut staff and programs or deplete meager reserves to make up the shortfall.
The state owes Carbondale Area, Mid Valley and Western Wayne school districts more than $2.6 million in reimbursements for projects completed as many as three years ago. The districts budgeted debt service payments based on what was expected from the state. State officials claim there is not enough state revenue to make the promised payments.
"We did all the financial planning that was necessary to build this building," said Western Wayne Superintendent Clay LaCoe, Ed.D. "We followed the rules by the state. They're not following through on their obligation."
Reimbursements
When districts start a building project, they can apply for reimbursement from the state through a process called PlanCon, an acronym for planning and Construction Workbook. After being approved for PlanCon A through PlanCon H steps, gradual reimbursement begins. The percent districts receive varies based on each project. A moratorium on new PlanCon projects that started in 2012 still exists, and districts starting new projects are not guaranteed reimbursement.
The 2013-14 budget includes $296.2 million for reimbursements. As of last month, about half of the appropriation had been distributed. Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed 2014-15 budget also calls for an appropriation of $296.2 million.
As of now, the state estimates that to pay for the 347 projects in Part A through Part G of PlanCon, $1.7 billion is needed. The estimate does not include any project that has received Part H approval and is starting to receive reimbursement.
The state has not told area districts when they can expect payment.
The $296.2 million is in addition to nearly $10 billion in state funding that is provided to schools through other line items in the state budget, Department of Education spokesman Tim Eller said.
"Perhaps, if pension reform is achieved, additional dollars could be redirected to construction reimbursements," he said in an email.
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association has called for a more sustainable process for construction reimbursements and supports a bill in the House that would simplify PlanCon.
Area legislators said addressing the backlog for reimbursements must be a priority.
-- SARAH HOFIUS HALL Catania Bill to Improve DCPS and Charter Facility Planning and Use Gets Final Approval by Council-- CouncilMemberCatania.com District of Columbia: April 08, 2014 [ abstract] Washington, D.C. " Today, the Council of the District of Columbia gave final approval to Bill 20-313, the “Comprehensive planning and Utilization of School Facilities Amendment Act of 2013”. The Act will ensure that that every public school student has a quality learning environment; provide for stronger coordination in facility planning between both DCPS and public charter schools; improve the District’s ineffective school disposition process; and facilitate better use of vacant and underutilized school space.
“Today’s bill will improve our facility planning process across sectors, increase accountability throughout the disposition process, and ensure that every student has a quality, safe learning environment,” said Councilmember Catania. “Our facility planning and use policies must keep pace with the changing nature of the District’s education landscape and be responsive to the needs of the children who attend our public schools and those children who will attend them 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 years from now.”
The Act requires the Deputy Mayor for Education to produce an annual supplement to the Master Facilities Plan. Current law requires merely a facility capacity review and does not provide an update on necessary planning data such as enrollment projections or how an LEA plans to address overcrowding.
-- Brendan Williams-Kief Department of Education budgets $50M to deal with complaints over state of public school bathrooms-- silive.com New York: April 01, 2014 [ abstract] STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Hold everything.
The city's Department of Education is planning to spend $50 million to deal with persistent complaints regarding the poor state of public school bathrooms.
A total of 14 Staten Island schools are in line to receive bathroom renovations under a pilot program announced by the DOE.
Deputy Schools Chancellor Kathleen Grimm told City Council members at recent council finance committee hearing on the budget that DOE will fund a pilot program to find the most cost-effective way to fix dilapidated bathrooms, where students, staff and administrators have long complained of creaky plumbing, broken stall doors and locks, leaky sink faucets and toilets that don't flush.
"Part of the pilot project for us is to get a better sense of how we can do this most economically, without doing a major renovation, but making a much nicer-looking bathroom for our students," the deputy chancellor said. She said that not all of the bathrooms will get attention right away.
Funding to repair the bathrooms would come out of the DOE's capital budget, not from classroom money. Capital money must be spent on long-term repairs or improvements to school facilities, and by law can not be spent for instruction.
-- Diane C. Lore/Staten Island Advance School dollars delayed by state-- The Tribune-Democrat Pennsylvania: March 31, 2014 [ abstract] HARRISBURG " More than 200 school building projects are awaiting money from the state, in some cases months or years after they cleared all other hurdles of the state’s approval process.
The state lists 347 projects worth more than $1.7 billion somewhere in the planning stages. In 204 cases, local officials have cleared each step of the process except for the final one in which the Department of Education calculates exactly how much it will spend.
In many of those cases, construction on the schools is already complete.
The Central Cambria School District " which took out a $7.4 million bond in 2010 to build a middle school annex, expecting help from the state " is among those waiting for money.
“We’d never have done it if we thought the state wasn’t going to pay,” said business manager Mary Ann Kaschalk.
The backlog began when schools across the commonwealth scrambled to begin projects while rates were low and contractors eager for work were submitting favorable bids. Then, in 2012, the Department of Education said it couldn’t keep pace with its share of spending and would not reimburse new projects until the process was reformed.
Two years later, the Legislature has yet to come up with a solution, and schools are still waiting to get paid.
State Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, last week introduced a bill to streamline the planning process, create a database of school construction statewide and add $100 million to the budget to help cover the state’s share of school construction.
-- JOHN FINNERTY Clark County seeking state approval for plan to consolidate seven elementary schools into four-- Kentucky.com Kentucky: March 28, 2014 [ abstract] After seven years, three school superintendents, and some false starts, the Clark County Public Schools finally might be about to implement a complex, sometimes controversial, new school facilities plan.
It first must be approved by the Kentucky Board of Education.
But Clark School Superintendent Paul Christy says he's already planning for implementation which, among other things, would require seven county elementary school principals to apply for new posts next year. Some teachers also would have to change schools under the plan; new site-based councils would have to be formed at some schools; and the county school system as a whole would have to be redistricted.
That's because the plan would dramatically alter the Clark district: consolidating seven elementary schools into four; closing some elementaries outright and reconverting another into a pre-school center; reconfiguring a middle school as a new elementary; and making various other changes.
"It affects every building in our district, except our high school, which we just moved last year," Christy said. "We're having to start all over is about what it amounts to.
"No one is being asked to resign. As required by law, we're providing people with continued employment in the system. Most of the principals are tenured, so they'll have jobs. They also can apply for principal positions in our new schools, and I think most of them will do that."
Nothing can happen, however, until the state school board votes on the Clark plan. That's scheduled at the board's April 9 meeting, and Christy said he thinks the plan will pass.
"We've met all the state board's concerns and we've had a lot of support from them," he said. "I don't think there will be a problem with it being passed."
The facilities plan has traveled a rocky road since it was first proposed seven years ago. Its main goal was to phase out several Clark County schools that the state had listed as "Category 5," that is buildings that were old and in bad condition.
-- JIM WARREN Backlog of PlanCon reimbursements to school districts has grown to $1.2 billion-- TribLIVE Pennsylvania: March 26, 2014 [ abstract] As Pittsburgh-area school districts plan their budgets for the next school year, any that have built or renovated schools in the past few years will have a big question mark: Will this be the year the state resumes reimbursing them for construction projects?
Since 2012, there has been a moratorium on applications for the state's planning and Construction Workbook, or PlanCon, process. More than 350 school districts that applied before then await compensation for projects under construction or completed.
â€"Our application that triggers payment is sitting on an administrator's desk somewhere,†said Jan Klein, finance director for the Mt. Lebanon School District, which is awaiting $1.8 million in state reimbursement and will be owed $643,000 more next year.
A report the state compiled in May put the estimated backlog of payments at $1.2 billion for 354 projects statewide, said Timothy Eller, spokesman for the Department of Education.
The moratorium began in October 2012 and was slated to expire this summer, but the same report recommends extending the moratorium until the system can be reformed.
Hannah Barrick, director of advocacy for the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials, said the backlog built up, in part, because the state's budget for reimbursing districts remained level at about $296 million a year the past four years — down from $330 million in the 2009-10 budget. In addition to many districts applying for a share of the money for construction projects, reimbursements for charter school leases were being drawn from the same fund, Barrick said.
-- Matthew Santoni Lucia Mar works on plan for improvements at aging schools-- The Tribune California: March 21, 2014 [ abstract] As students played handball and raced across the playground at Fairgrove Elementary School on Friday afternoon, Principal Lara Storm paused to point out the blacktop’s smooth surface.
In her 10 years as a teacher and principal at the Grover Beach school, Storm only recalls a few major maintenance projects, the largest being an upgrade of a set of student bathrooms several years back.
Last year, the playground was repaved.
But Fairgrove Elementary, like many of the Lucia Mar Unified School District’s schools, is more than 50 years old and showing its age.
A walk around campus reveals peeling paint, rough asphalt, numerous portable classrooms, not enough parking and only one set of staff restrooms.
“Many of our schools were built in the late 1950s and early 1960s and are in desperate need of repair and improvements to support the education required in the 21st century,” said Jeff Dixon, executive director of the district’s facilities planning, maintenance and operations.
Students should be able to access Wi-Fi, for example. They should have different types of learning spaces, such as media labs, science labs, or space for “project-based learning,” where they can easily collaborate in groups.
-- CYNTHIA LAMBERT Group fights to save old school-- St Petersburg Tribune Florida: March 16, 2014 [ abstract] ST. PETERSBURG " It’s been about 50 years, but Snell Isle resident Becky Wilson remembers the smell of freshly polished wood that greeted her each morning she arrived at North Ward School, the school she attended in 1955, her mother attended in 1925 and her daughter attended in 1985.
But Wilson’s picture of what North Ward School once was is a far cry from what it has become. Vacant since 2008, marked by graffiti and in disrepair, it sits behind a chain-link fence at the corner of 11th Avenue North and Fourth Street in a row of restored houses and historic commercial buildings in Old Northeast, most of which were built at the turn of the 20th century.
After months of debate, residents in the Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood Association and St. Petersburg Preservation Inc. persuaded the Community Preservation and planning Commission on Tuesday to recommend that the school be given landmark status. All other county schools built before it were demolished.
“The inside is just beautiful, high ceilings and real tall windows we would open up because back in the day we didn’t have air conditioning,” Wilson said. “That’s where many of us learned to duck and cover under our desks or walk safely back home. The world changed, but North Ward didn’t.”
But not all in the community share Wilson’s view of what the school, which closed in 1990 because of its age, represents.
Although many support saving the building, others have emailed city officials with concerns, and the Pinellas County School Board, the building’s owner, has not “indicated their support for or opposition to” the landmark application, according to the city application.
The school district put the building up for sale last year at $2.5 million and has since reduced the price to $1.75 million.
Declaring a building a landmark creates an extra layer of protection against demolition and encourages owners to repurpose it instead, said Peter Belmont, vice president of the St. Petersburg Preservation Society.
-- Anastasia Dawson Learning safely: Departing school building authority chief Mark Manchin says he's pleased with recent gains in safety-- The State Journal West Virginia: March 15, 2014 [ abstract] When the lazy summer months come to a close, out come the large, yellow vehicles that are responsible for transporting numerous children into the waiting hands of teachers for several hours per day.
The sight of what most refer to as school buses signifies the end of summer and the beginning of yet another school year. It's a repetitive cycle, with the beginning of one event indicating the end of the other and vice versa.
During the eight years Mark Manchin has spent as executive director of the West Virginia School Building Authority, he said much has been done to improve the safety of the schools the big, yellow school buses are transporting the children to and from.
Laying the groundwork
In 2007, the Legislature passed the School Access Safety Act, aiming to enhance school safety and entries and other access points as well as the overarching security of schools statewide.
Counties seeking funds for school access safety projects during the fiscal year were required to create and submit school access safety plans or annual plan updates that addressed the school access safety needs of each school facility in that county.
During the assessments of the safety plans, several things were examined, Manchin said.
"(The assessments) addressed planning, detriments … and communication issues," he said.
The funds for the counties were then spent in accordance with each county's plan.
In 2008, Manchin said about $32 million was allocated for School Access Safety funds.
Now, there are very few schools that don't have school access safety plans, Manchin said.
-- Staff Writer Long-promised community school comes to fruition-- The Baltimore Sun Maryland: March 09, 2014 [ abstract] More than a decade before thousands rallied outside the State House in Annapolis for adequate school facilities for the city's children, several dozen residents met in a school lunchroom in Northeast Baltimore to lay the groundwork for building just one new school in their community.
The campaign for a new building in Waverly began in 2003 when the school board decided to expand the elementary school to serve middle school students as well. Eventually, city officials promised, those students would move into a new building to rival the high-performing Roland Park Middle, which they would have attended.
But a school system fiscal crisis, turnover of city school board members, and the passage of time worked against the new building.
Now Waverly Elementary/Middle stands as one of the first new schools to open in the city in recent decades — and the last until 2017, when dozens of new school buildings will be rebuilt and repaired under a $1 billion, 10-year facilities plan.
"It's really the miracle on 34th Street, because it's that important to this community," said Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, who joined the Waverly fight on behalf of her district and as chair of the council's education committee.
She also called the school, which has opened and is planning a formal ceremony to celebrate, "the premiere act of the $1.1 billion plan."
In 2005, Clarke went to the district's headquarters to remind officials of the promise they'd made to the neighborhood, armed with a VCR tape of the school board meeting where they made it. Two years later, Clarke would welcome new schools CEO Andrés Alonso with a charge to make Waverly a priority, and he renewed the vow to the community.
Bob Heck, who has served on the school board since Alonso arrived in 2007, first became involved in the Waverly project as president of the PTA of Roland Park Elementary/Middle. He said the Waverly building represents more than a new facility.
"It represents a fulfillment of a promise for a brighter future for their children, and I'm glad the feet were held to the fire," Heck said. "With bureaucracy, things take time. But in this particular case, we righted a wrong."
-- Erica L. Green Planning Board passes schools capital budget with caveat-- The Baltimore Sun Maryland: March 07, 2014 [ abstract] The Baltimore County planning Board on Thursday gave its stamp of approval to the school board's $56.2 million capital budget request for fiscal year 2015, though it attached a caveat to a controversial school construction plan approved in the budget.
In a memo to Baltimore County's Director of Budget and Finance Keith Dorsey, the planning Board urged further discussions with stakeholders about the three-part central area elementary school overcrowding relief plan that, includes the closure of Halstead Academy in Hillendale.
The plan calls for Halstead's student population to be moved to a new school at the site of Loch Raven Elementary School, which has been closed for over three decades. The school plan also calls for the creation of a neighborhood boundary and a 189-seat addition for Cromwell Valley Magnet Elementary in Towson, as well as the renovation of Halstead for a future undetermined magnet use.
Several affected communities, including Loch Raven Village and Hillendale, have protested the plan saying they have not had ample opportunity to provide input. Since the plan first emerged, Baltimore County Public Schools has altered it slightly to accommodate community concerns — but area leaders say those alterations are not enough.
In the budget memo, the board expressed its concern about the school plan.
"Therefore, the planning Board encourages the County Executive, Baltimore County Public Schools and the affected citizens [to] continue to meet and discuss the various proposals with the goal of reaching an agreement on a solution to resolve the overcrowding in the central corridor," the memo read.
-- Jon Meoli Norfolk should close three schools, report says-- Virginia: March 06, 2014 [ abstract] A consultant has recommended closing three schools and using the existing Lake Taylor High building as a career and technical school as the division grapples with declining enrollment.
But the School Board took no formal action on the final report Wednesday after a monthslong demographics study conducted by DeJong-Richter, an educational facilities planning firm, to improve building usage.
Norfolk Public Schools paid the company $190,000 to provide suggestions on how to decentralize impoverished schools as well as attract and retain more students.
The report recommended closing Lafayette-Winona Middle and another to-be-determined middle school along with Willoughby Elementary, whose students would feed into a new Ocean View Elementary. The division also should change grade levels at several elementary and middle schools and redraw attendance boundaries to mirror housing and population trends, the report said. Several schools would incorporate magnet-style specialty programs to promote school choice and increase socioeconomic diversity at impoverished schools. Lake Taylor had been slated for demolition, but the report recommends using the building for a career and technical school.
-- Cherise M. Newsome S.C. schools may benefit from new idea to fund construction-- SavannahNow.com South Carolina: March 03, 2014 [ abstract] COLUMBIA " Beaufort and Jasper county school districts could have a new tool at their disposal, under a bill that was introduced to help an upper Savannah River school district raise money for new schools.
Two state lawmakers from Aiken County have introduced a bill at the request of their local school board members to allow them to present county voters with a 1-cent sales tax request in November.The effort by Sen. Tom Young, R-Aiken, and Rep. Roland Smith, R-Warrenville, would provide the penny-tax option to not just their constituents but to the rest of the state’s counties that do not raise a minimum amount in accommodation taxes. Currently only one-fourth of the state’s school districts have the ability to consider a penny sales tax for school construction needs, according to proponents of the bill, H. 4512.
As for Beaufort County School District, the spokesman didn’t rule out the idea on Thursday. However, the superintendent of Jasper County School District, Vashti Washington, said a county sales tax would not yield a sizable revenue stream.
Beaufort County School District already has two new schools in the planning stages, spokesman James Foster said, and financing for both is already secured.
“But some areas of our county are growing at a rapid pace, so it’s a near-certainty that we’ll have additional facilities needs down the road,” he said in an email. “Because of that, we’re always looking for ways to meet our future facilities needs and also keep our existing buildings in good shape.”
Depending on the dynamics of a county, the proposal could pull in hefty dollars.
For instance, in Aiken County an estimated $16 million to $20 million annually could be collected for capital improvements.
-- SARITA CHOUREY Senate panel puts brakes on school construction-- SFGate Wyoming: February 27, 2014 [ abstract] CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) " The Senate Appropriations Committee put the brakes on spending in a K-12 school construction bill after members raised concern that some proposed school building projects appeared to have skipped initial stages of the established legislative process for approval.
The panel on Thursday unanimously advanced House Bill 42 to the floor of the full House for further debate after voting to delay four projects. Two of the projects are in Big Horn County District 4, and one each in Albany 1 and Laramie 2.
Collectively, the four accounted for about $9.5 million in design costs. The Big Horn district projects also were slated to receive money for construction valued at about $25.6 million.
They are among dozens of proposed school building projects that the bill provides $20.3 million for design and $230.8 million for construction.
Members of the committee objected to the projects appearing on the design and construction list without appearing to go through the initial planning step that had been used in past school construction bills.
Committee Chairman Sen. Eli Bebout, R-Riverton, said none of the projects were being proposed because the schools lacked space to accommodate their student populations. Most of the projects in the bill are judged necessary to meet enrollment numbers.
Sen. Bill Landen, who chairs the Select Committee on School Facilities, explained that his committee was trying to get school building projects moving after bureaucratic red tape in the past caused frustration with projects being held up.
The appropriations committee endorsed the design and construction of school projects that were needed to meet student enrollment and one in Laramie County District 2.
Bill Panos, director of the School Facilities Department, said the projects remaining on the design and construction list will allow the state to finally achieve the long sought goal of having enough schools to meet the number of enrolled students statewide.
-- BOB MOEN, Associated Press Shelby County School Board votes to close 10 schools at charged meeting-- Chalkbeat Tennessee Tennessee: February 26, 2014 [ abstract] After nearly a year of planning, two months of community engagement, and an emotional four hour meeting Tuesday, the Shelby County Schools board decided to close 10 schools in Memphis this year. It’s the largest single round of school closures in the city’s recent history and part of an effort to “right-size” a recently-merged district that is struggling financially and academically.
Over the last several weeks, parents, teachers, alumni, students and politicians have protested the closings, which they say will disrupt students’ education and hurt communities’ stability. Many have raised concerns that the closings disproportionately affect low-income black communities and represent a historical pattern of disinvestment.
“As a county, we’re being looked upon by people from all over the world,” said Shelby County commissioner Justin Ford in a speech that referenced Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. “As a member of the commission, I’ve heard and I’ve listened to the people of Westhaven, Lanier, Riverview and Northside. To the board, you all continue to do your jobs, but keep the schools open.”
Hopson said that his decisions were driven by academics, not budgetary pressures.
“The reality is, for many of our students, education is their last best chance to change their circumstance in life,” he said. “We have one of the poorest school districts in this country. We have about 40,000 students in households where income is less than $10,000 per year. The last best chance for these students is to create a condition where they can use the education system to their benefit.” Hopson said the closings were part of an effort to create those conditions.
In a series of split votes Tuesday, the board approved Hopson’s modified school closure proposal Tuesday. Alcy Elementary School will remain open, and Northside High School’s closing was deferred for a year.
-- Jaclyn Zubrzycki $62.4M Released for Hawaii Public School Facilities-- Honolulu Civil Beat Hawaii: February 24, 2014 [ abstract] Gov. Neil Abercrombie announced today that he’s set aside about $62.4 million for public school capital improvement projects, according to a press release.
The approved projects, initially identified by state lawmakers, include the following:
$36,365,000 " Improving and Maintaining Facilities and Infrastructure " planning, design, construction and equipment to improve and maintain facilities and infrastructure for various schools statewide. DOE’s estimated roadblock for repair and maintenance is at $265 million. These projects include general school building improvements, electrical upgrades and playground equipment repair, along with maintenance and other school repairs and renovations. Some of these funds will go to the overall repair project at the damaged Farrington High Auditorium.
$7,554,000 " Program Support " planning, land, design, construction and equipment for program support at various schools statewide, including new/temporary facilities, improvements to existing facilities, ground and site improvements, and for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and gender equity. ADA projects include McKinley High, Baldwin High, Kohala Elementary and Honokaa High. Gender equity projects include Keaau High, Waiakea High and Waipahu High softball fields and Kahuku High and Intermediate girls’ athletic locker room. Funds will also complete construction of a locker room project at Lahainaluna High and complete design of a locker room at Konawaena Middle School.
$7,500,000 " Equity " Design and construction for equality projects to improve instructional spaces such as science labs, special education classroom renovations and classrooms on a statewide basis for classroom/learning environment parity. Equity projects also include energy improvements relating to heat abatement in classrooms.
-- Alia Wong Schools return construction funds to St. Mary’s government-- Southern Maryland Newspapers Online Maryland: February 14, 2014 [ abstract] The St. Mary’s school board voted Wednesday to return nearly $200,000 in construction funds to county government.
Kim Howe, director of capital planning and green schools, said her department recently looked at 17 active school construction project accounts.
“Looking at the projects, we identified $187,592 in project funds that were in closeout or nearing closeout that could be reverted back to the county,” Howe said.
Board member Cathy Allen said she was glad to see the school construction department is “diligent and cautious with the use of funds.”
Allen said she was particularly impressed that the school board will be able to return $100,000 from the Mechanicsville Elementary School parking lot renovation project, especially considering how old that school is and the unknowns involved with that type of work.
-- Jesse Yeatman Church to pay $775K settlement in lawsuit over using facilities at Hawaii public schools-- The Republic Hawaii: February 13, 2014 [ abstract] HONOLULU — One of the churches a lawsuit claims owes millions for renting facilities at Hawaii public schools is planning to pay a settlement.
New Hope churches will pay $775,000 to settle the suit by Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of Church and State founder Mitchell Kahle and public advocate Holly Huber. They claim various churches shortchanged the state for using school facilities over six years.
Hawaii News Now (http://ow.ly/tB5hj ) reported Wednesday the settlement was disclosed in court filings by New Hope's parent organization, the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.
New Hope isn't admitting any wrongdoing by settling.
-- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A new school is an investment choice, not an expense-- SeaCoastonline.com New Hampshire: February 11, 2014 [ abstract] To the Editor:
I choose to invest in a new school for Newmarket. I make that choice confidently because I've spent eight years educating myself — attending facilities meetings and town meetings, taking tours of our schools and schools in surrounding towns, reading about the history of our town, and understanding the diversity of the population that makes up our community. I make that choice because I want to see the value of my house appreciate. I make that choice because I believe in our country and want to invest in its future. Education mobilizes the economy.
I choose to invest in a building that meets the basic needs for our students in order to give them the opportunity to pursue excellence. I am choosing to invest in our community hoping that in five to ten years when neighboring communities are renegotiating their tuition agreements, they will look favorably upon our town, and will choose to invest in us too. The new school is designed to be expandable and does not limit long-term possibilities or opportunities.
"If we build it, they will come." This phrase often causes angst. I prefer to say, "They have already come, and we need to build it." If you vote only to meet fire and life safety standards then we will need portables. If you still believe we can renovate and that it will be cheaper, we know that not to be the case. The summer science lab egress project showed that we'd continue to uncover unexpected problems and expenses.
Most importantly, a renovation would require three years of portables and interrupted learning. The final result would be a piece-mailed building that inadequately supports our educational programs. Portables are a visual eyesore and a reminder of less than optimal planning.
Finally, you cannot move students back to the elementary school and resolve the high school facility issues. The town chose to forgo building the elementary school with load-bearing walls. We can't expand upwards. There is not enough acreage to support moving students back. We must focus on a long-term plan for necessary upgrades to the elementary school in smaller bites once we solve the junior-senior high school problem.
-- Opinion - Jill Berry After three years, fate of RSU 19 school buildings still uncertain-- The Bangor Daily News Maine: February 11, 2014 [ abstract] NEWPORT, Maine " After eight public forums, a detailed analysis of renovation versus replacement of schools and a review by the Department of Education, the fate of school buildings in RSU 19 is still uncertain.
“The state is not in a position to authorize any decision at this time,” RSU 19 Superintendent Greg Potter reported to the school building committee meeting on Monday, Feb. 10. “The state also wants more specific discussions with the community of certain scenarios.”
Though it has taken three years to get to this stage in the school building planning, the school building committee’s final plan will be voted on at a district-wide referendum next February.
Specialists were hired by the district to research options after considering public input from the district towns of Corinna, Dixmont, Etna, Hartland, Newport, Palmyra, Plymouth and St. Albans. Oak Point Associates of Biddeford recommended to the state that it was more cost effective to build a new elementary and high school than to renovate them. Considerations included for renovations included the cost of portable buildings during renovations, modifying existing buildings to handle different grades (bathrooms in the pre-K and kindergarten classrooms) and the need to make schools more handicap accessible.
The initial hearings aired concerns from many viewpoints such as food services and nursing as well as comments regarding custodial, HVAC and educational systems.
In 2011, the state identified two schools in Newport as needing replacement or renovation: the Newport Elementary School on Elm Street was third in the state and Nokomis Regional High School on Williams Road in Newport was sixth.
It was up to the communities in the district to decide what was best in terms of money and school population, which is expected to decline 10 percent over the next 10 years.
The school building committee will once again reach out to the communities for their input from a wide range of scenarios. These range from consolidating the district’s eight schools into four, changing the grades served in the buildings, modifying buildings to better serve students or build the two schools the state identified as in need. The community forums will begin in March.
“It’s not an easy decision,” said Darren Briggs, committee chair. “And we need the public’s input and support to make the best choice for the next generation of students while not adding to the tax rate.”
-- Grace Lommel Farm At Walker-Jones Will Be Relocated-- dcist District of Columbia: February 05, 2014 [ abstract] The urban farm at the Walker-Jones Education Campus will be relocated to make way for the city's Northwest One redevelopment.
David Hilmy, the Walker Jones teacher who runs and funds the farm, said he was first notified of the city's intent in September 2013. Since then, Hilmy says "not a single person has communicated" with him about any relocation plans, except to direct him to remove a letter of protest from the farm's blog.
Chanda Washington, a spokesperson for the Office of the Deputy Mayor for planning and Economic Development, says the farm will be relocated — eventually. "However, development will not begin until after a development team has been selected and master planning for the overall redevelopment plan has been completed. DMPED intends to solicit a master developer for the site this spring, that process typically takes six months," she continued. "Once the developer is selected master planning and deal structuring will take another one to two years."
Washington says DMPED will identify a new location for the farm during the master planning process: "We will hold a series of meetings to get input from the community to understand how our planning can best benefit the community."
Charles Allen, a Ward 6 Council candidate and former chief of staff to Tommy Wells, said in an email, "I'm glad to hear DMPED recognizes the value of the Walker-Jones farm, but this doesn't sound like much of a relocation plan to me. It leaves the farm in place for the next two or three years, but it also leaves the community farm in limbo and without a clear future."
In an email to supporters of the farm, Himly writes that, if the farm is indeed relocated to another space, it will still no longer be adjacent to the school and students won't be able to work it during a regular class schedule. They "will be unable to gain the unique organic and sustainable agriculture education this learning lab afforded them," he writes.
-- Sarah Anne Hughes FCC to Boost Broadband Funding for K-12, Libraries-- Education Week National: February 03, 2014 [ abstract] Federal officials are planning to double support for schools' and libraries' broadband connectivity through the E-rate program, a step that comes amid increasing demands in the education community for faster, more reliable Internet service.
The E-rate program is currently funded at about $2.4 billion annually. The Federal Communications Commission will call for raising the portion of money flowing specifically to high-speed broadband to schools and libraries from $1 billion to $2 billion a year, a federal official told Education Week.
The new money would come through a rechanneling of existing E-rate money rather than through an infusion of new funding, the New York Times reported, citing unnamed federal officials.
President Obama last year pressed for deep changes to the E-rate program, including directing money to the kinds of technologies schools need the most, rather than antiquated ones. Specifically, Obama said his goal was to ensure that 99 percent of U.S. schools have access to high-speed broadband technology within five years.
Not long after that, the FCC, which oversees the program, unveiled a broadly worded proposal that reflected many of the president's priorities—calling for trimming waste and streamlining the flow of money to applicants seeking aid.
In describing Obama's proposal last year, administration officials did not offer a definitive price tag for making those changes to the E-rate, which is supported through fees on telecommunications providers and their customers. But back then, White House officials said if fees needed to be raised, it would result in a temporary charge of no more than $5 in annual fees on phone bills.
In his State of the Union Address last week, Obama signaled that a definitive plan for providing schools with more technology support was coming soon.
-- Sean Cavanagh School Board prioritizes renovations for legacy high schools-- Fairfax Times Virginia: January 30, 2014 [ abstract] Fairfax County’s five “legacy high schools” could be receiving renovations sooner than expected.
The county School Board prioritized facilities upgrades for the schools at its meeting last Thursday. This group of schools - Falls Church, Herndon, Langley, Oakton and West Springfield - were all built around the same time in the 1960s and have never been fully renovated.
The move came as the School Board considered its building plans for the next five years.
The 2015-19 Capital Improvement Program, a projection of the school system’s facilities needs, includes $866 million in construction and renovations. The CIP called for five new elementary schools and one new high school to help cover enrollment growth.
At the same time, the list of existing schools in need of renovation grows ever longer. And before last week’s School Board meeting, relief for one of the legacy high schools - Falls Church - was not even on the horizon.
Before approving the CIP last Thursday, the School Board voted unanimously to add Falls Church to the docket.
Still, while all five legacy high schools are now on the schedule presented in the CIP, only renovations for Langley are on schedule to be completed in the next five years. In five year’s time, renovations for Falls Church, Herndon, Oakton and West Springfield will likely still be in planning.
“The major disappointment for me is that Falls Church is really no further along than it was before,” said School Board member Patty Reed (Providence District). “To me, this is one of the last schools that should be waiting and waiting.”
Concern over the urgency of updating these five schools prompted the School Board to adopt an additional resolution, directing staff to identify methods to expedite renovations at legacy high schools. The Board plans to hear the possible options by July.
-- Kate Yanchulis Toxins at proposed site for high school spark worries-- ctpost.com Connecticut: January 28, 2014 [ abstract] BRIDGEPORT -- Concern about building the new Harding High School atop a former manufacturing site that contains arsenic, lead and petroleum-based pollutants has kicked up again.
Members of the new city school board, bolstered by worried members of the public, want to hit the pause button on the $78 million project to relocate the city high school to the former GE site on the city's East Side.
"We have to be aware of what is going on ... We don't want another Three Mile Island situation occurring there," Board Chairman Sauda Baraka said during a meeting Monday night, referring to a 1979 nuclear accident in Pennsylvania -- a huge environmental disaster.
Baraka wrote a letter to the city's planning and Zoning Commission asking it to postpone acting on the matter until the board has seen the site plans and environmental reports from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The zoning meeting has been rescheduled to Feb. 10.
The property is bounded by Boston Avenue and Bond Street, and is still owned by GE, which for decades manufactured small motors and various electrical devices in its factories there. Before that, Remington Arms made munitions on the property. The board gave an initial nod to the location last year, but has not been consulted on the plans.
GE is responsible for the cleanup, and outgoing Schools Superintendent Paul Vallas said the property must be brought up to residential standards for the federal Environmental Protection Agency to allow a school there.
-- Linda Conner Lambeck Repairs, renovations to OPS buildings could cost up to $650 million-- Omaha.com Nebraska: January 23, 2014 [ abstract] Repairs and renovations to Omaha Public Schools buildings could carry a price tag of up to $650 million.
The school district's latest facility study identifies $570 million in building upgrades for 79 schools, whose needs range from relatively simple maintenance projects — paint touch-ups and roof repairs — to multimillion-dollar classroom additions to ease overcrowding.
Additional work on alternative schools and outbuildings like school stadiums could send costs swelling to somewhere between $600 million and $650 million, said John Sova, a principal at RDG planning & Design, the architecture and engineering firm that conducted the analysis.
The $570 million figure addresses infrastructure needs at existing buildings and does not include costs, or recommendations, for building new schools.
That amount would fund extensive improvements, especially in aging schools left out in OPS's last two bond issues, in 1988 and 1999. Some haven't seen major renovations or repairs in more than 25 years, including schools built from the 1950s to 1970s.
The initial report presented at Wednesday's school board meeting is not the final word on OPS's building needs, Sova said.
A final report could be completed in the next 60 days, Sova said. The school board and OPS administration will ultimately decide which, if any projects, are recommended for funding.
So is an OPS bond issue imminent?
Board members were mum on that, but they said the district would discuss in coming months how to pay for the lengthy list of improvements as part of a larger conversation that ties in with the district's new strategic plan.
-- Erin Duffy School Board Accepts Facilities Report-- ThePilot.com North Carolina: January 22, 2014 [ abstract] Moore County School Board members have accepted, but not yet voted to approve, the final report of a task force created to study future facilities growth.
In a work session held Wednesday, Moore County Schools 21st Century Facilities planning Task Force co-chairmen Pat Corso and Robert Hayter presented their findings before the school board, task force group members and advisors, and community members.
Formed in the fall of 2013 and composed of community leaders and former school personnel, the task force was asked to gather public opinion along with their own input to form recommendations for school facilities growth and development. Members were asked to consider both aging structures among county schools, along with the need for additional space in district schools that would accommodate projected overcrowding and 21st century digital learning.
Should the school board approve the group's findings, members will then approach the county board of commissioners for their approval of a bond referendum to finance the project. The facilities upgrade is estimated to cost as much as $127 million over a 10-year period.
Hayter summarized the report as an opportunity to begin the process for positive change.
"I thank the board for their background, insight, wisdom and passion," Hayter said. "On behalf of the members of the 21st Century Facilities Task Force, I am pleased to offer our final recommendations.
-- John Lentz School districts still waiting for $1 billion from state-- The Morning Call Pennsylvania: January 19, 2014 [ abstract] For weeks, Gov. Tom Corbett's administration has been warning that next year's budget could have an estimated $1.2 billion deficit due in part to a spike in pension payments needed to help cover decades of unfunded liabilities.
Last Thursday, about two dozen public school officials and one lawmaker gathered in the Capitol to remind the governor and the Legislature about another unfunded liability: construction costs.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education owes about $1 billion to numerous school districts, including several in the Lehigh Valley, for about 350 state-approved renovation and construction projects.
In 2011, the administration cut reimbursement payments by $20 million to $296 million. Then the department put a moratorium on approving new projects for reimbursement by essentially shutting down the construction review process known as The planning and Construction Workbook, or PlanCon.
The moratorium is in place until June 30, unless the Legislature extends it. But public school officials want the money now, saying losing the state funds has caused them to dip into their own finances, lay off staff, or cut programs.
"The need for legislative action regarding the funding of PlanCon is critical and necessary without hesitation to avoid financial ruin of our district and the many others who are facing the same peril due to what I consider to be a deliberate and unconstitutional act," said Richard Bernazzoli, superintendent of the rural Portage Area School District in Cambria County, which has yet to receive $6.1 million in reimbursements for a 2009 elementary school project.
"If we had been informed prior to entering into such a project, knowing full well that this would happen, we would have never started," Bernazzoli said. "So I ask you, why are we being punished for doing what was right by our students and district residents?"
State Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, said the moratorium has put school districts in a bind. The department did a poor job running its PlanCon process and approved far more projects than the state could afford, he said.
-- Steve Esack and Adam Clark R.I. school officials get education on building costs-- Providence Journal Rhode Island: January 18, 2014 [ abstract] Communities around Rhode Island would have to pump a combined $1.7 billion into construction projects to bring all of the state's aging schools up to top condition, according to a recently completed assessment by the state Department of Education.
To bring Rhode Island's education facilities up to that standard will require cooperation from state, municipal, school leaders and residents, acknowledged attendees at a Saturday conference at Rhode Island College hosted by the Rhode Island Association of School Committees.
The information comes from the Public Schoolhouse Assessment, a report developed as an outgrowth of recent state law that requires school districts to follow standardized facility planning, design and construction regulations for school construction.
Release of the data comes as a state moratorium on school construction is set to expire June 30 - the end of the current fiscal year.
Physical conditions are central to the "equity and adequacy" of schools, said Joseph DaSilva, the state's school construction coordinator. Those attributes are core matters to ensure districts across the state create and maintain high-performing education systems.
According to the assessment, 70 percent of the state's schools were built between 25 and 75 years ago. The average age of a school building in Rhode Island is 58 years.
Meanwhile, excess capacity exists at every school level in Rhode Island, with middle schools having the most. With enrollments projected to decline over the next five years in most Rhode Island districts, excess capacity should continue to climb to more than 20 percent by 2016-2017.
The education department, in 2007, revised its school construction regulations to curb the steady increase in state spending on reimbursements. Since the regulations were changed (and until the moratorium kicked in), the department has cut its construction reimbursements from an annual average of $182 million to approximately $75 million annually.
While cutting state spending, the moratorium hampered school districts by draining money from maintenance of roofs, heating, and ventilation systems and other infrastructure needs. Only work needed to ensure the "immediate health and safety" of students, staff and visitors could be undertaken.
In the three years since the General Assembly imposed the moratorium, $600 million in repairs, energy efficiency work and other school improvements have been deferred, DaSilva told a Senate task force last week. When the moratorium lifts, schools will apply to the education department for roughly $50 million in school construction projects.
One way for districts to reduce costs is to be more thoughtful about energy use, something that construction regulations encourage and which another state agency -- the Office of Energy Resources -- promotes through a partnership with National Grid.
The opening of a new school on Aquidneck Island is an example of how these tandem programs are creating "21st century buildings," DaSilva said.
-- Paul Grimaldi Renovate schools or redistrict, state says-- Journalinquirer.com Connecticut: January 10, 2014 [ abstract] The State Board of Education has approved a racial balance plan developed by local education officials that would lead to the redistricting of students should a school building renovation project not move forward.
Officials are keeping a close eye on Verplanck and Robertson elementary schools. If the racial imbalance in those schools increases in the fall, state officials say, they will require redistricting if voters do not approve funding to create a grade 5 and 6 complex at Bennet Academy.
The redistricting plans haven’t been developed, as officials hope voters will approve funding to renovate the buildings at a referendum.
The state board’s approval of the plan was contingent on the referendum passing. If voters reject the renovation plans, state education officials said they want local leaders to come up with a new plan within 90 days of the failed referendum.
Interim Superintendent Richard Kisiel assured State Board of Education members that any school renovation plans in the future will adhere to the state’s racial-balance requirements.
“The key to this whole plan rests with the creation of this grade 5/6 school,” Kisiel told the State Board of Education. “Without that piece in place, we’re essentially back to 2012 planning and looking at each school again.”
The next step in the renovation plan would be to ask voters to approve bonding millions of dollars to renovate and expand Robertson and either Verplanck or Waddell elementary schools.
Under this plan, two elementary schools would likely close. Officials are hoping to make these changes within the next six years.
While several school board members were pushing to have a referendum in April, officials are now talking about delaying a vote until November when voter turnout likely would be higher.
-- David Huck FBISD board reviews school zoning and capacity options-- Fortbendstar.com Texas: January 09, 2014 [ abstract] A combination of new construction, school additions and new boundaries are possible solutions to fix capacity and zoning problems and projected growth in the state’s seventh largest school district.
Fort Bend ISD’s Board of Trustees reviewed the preliminary report by educational facility planning firm Dejong-Richter at a December 16 board workshop. The board also reviewed a preliminary assessment from Jacobs Engineering which found $448 million in facility needs over the next five years.
“The probability of you addressing all $448 million is very slim”, Tracy Richter of Dejong-Richter told the board. “There is a financial cap that you’re going to have because the community will not support things past a certain point.”
The Dejong-Richter report was the result of a series of community dialogue meetings and an online survey that looked at the three geographic planning areas in the district: Area A in the north and west; Area B in the south and Area C in the east.
Richter said 1,100 people attended the meetings and 1,500 online and written surveys were submitted.
“Community meetings can get uncomfortable but your community did not, at any point, make this process uncomfortable”, Richter said. “They came with a concern, expressed their concern and left feeling like they had been heard”.
-- Betsy Dolan Report: Fairfax needs school-boundary changes to alleviate crowding-- The Washington Post Virginia: January 09, 2014 [ abstract] The Fairfax County School Board should conduct a massive boundary study and consider abolishing all current school boundaries to help alleviate crowding issues in the coming years, according to a new report from a citizens committee.
The facilities planning advisory council (FPAC) offered a series of frank suggestions Wednesday to the school board as the administration considers $866 million in construction and renovations.
The FPAC members, school board appointees, offered a counterpoint to the administration’s proposed capital improvement program, which calls for new school buildings across the county to address a surge in student enrollment. By 2018, projections show that Fairfax County’s enrollment could reach 199,000 students. The school system has grown since 2006 by about 20,000 students, and enrollment this year is expected to reach 184,500.
But the administration’s proposal doesn’t go far enough, FPAC members said. Without further boundary changes, about 45,000 students, or about one in four of the total enrollment, will attend schools that are at least 15 percent over capacity, they said.
The solution FPAC members suggested at a meeting Wednesday included a broad examination of the boundaries, which the council viewed as archaic.
In some neighborhoods, students ride buses past schools that are closer to their homes but technically beyond their school boundaries. FPAC members said that practice doesn’t make sense.
-- T. Rees Shapiro Despite moratorium, Bethlehem schools seeking state reimbursement for Nitschmann project-- The Morning Call Pennsylvania: January 07, 2014 [ abstract] Bethlehem Area School District's outlook toward receiving state reimbursement for its new Nitschmann Middle School is in line with the old adage, "It never hurts to ask."
Despite Pennsylvania's indefinite freeze on construction funds, the district will submit an application to the state for its planned new Nitschmann, pending approval by the school board later this month.
By submitting the documents, the district gives itself a chance to get money if the backlog of projects waiting for funding eventually clears, Superintendent Joseph Roy told the school board Facilities Committee on Monday. The district has projected it could receive about $7 million from the state for the $53 million school.
Over the past few years, hundreds of schools across the state have waited longer than expected for reimbursement from the planning and Construction Workbook, Pennsylvania's complicated system for overseeing and reimbursing school construction projects.
As of July 2013, 188 projects had reached the final stage of the "PlanCon" process but had yet to receive reimbursement. Another 166 were in the PlanCon pipeline.
The state's moratorium is in place until June 30, and the state Education Department reported to the Legislature last May that it could take three years until new projects will be accepted, assuming the budget for PlanCon remains flat.
The backlog is partially caused by a roughly $20 million cut to PlanCon line item in 2011. The rise of charter schools has also cut into the available money, representing about 2.7 percent of PlanCon spending in 2012-12, because charters receive lease reimbursement through the same pot of funds.
The Department of Education has attributed the backlog to prior management of PlanCon, saying simply that more projects were allowed into the program than the state could afford to reimburse.
By submitting the PlanCon forms, Bethlehem is agreeing to follow the PlanCon process. That includes holding public meetings about the new school.
The new Nitschmann will be built on the tract behind the current school at Eighth Avenue and Union Boulevard in west Bethlehem. When the school opens in 2017 it will have the functionality of a modern middle school, including a floor plan designed for team teaching and the separation of sixth, seventh and eighth grades.
The school design is also supposed to improve the traffic flow near Nitschmann.
In other business Monday, the Facilities Committee reviewed nearly $1 million in capital projects that will take place this summer, pending full board approval.
The projects include replacing the gymnasium roof at Spring Garden Elementary School and the emergency generator at Asa Packer Elementary School.
The district will also continue upgrading its security cameras, with a focus on Liberty High School.
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-- Adam Clark School Facilities Group Completes Findings-- ThePilot.com North Carolina: January 06, 2014 [ abstract] A member of a community group tasked with addressing future school facilities needs in the county said he plans to present the group's findings to the school board at their January 13 meeting.
Robert Hayter, co-chairman of the 14-member Moore County Schools 21st Century Facilities planning Task Force, said that he will ask group members to send him their comments and recommendations this week following the group's final meeting held Monday night. Should the school board approve the group's findings, which involves school closures and renovations along with new school construction and is estimated to cost as much as $127 million, the board will then approach the county board of commissioners for their approval of a bond referendum to finance the project.
"I believe that presenting this material to the board next week is doable," Hayter said after the meeting was adjourned. "I plan to ask group members to email their final comments to myself and co-chairman Pat Corso later this week, and hope to have a draft for Pat and I to consider this week as well.
"We are now entering another arena and are going in with sound and valid data," he said. "The next step is to foster dialog with the school board and then with the community so that any of the angst and tension that is here at this point will be out of the way before we approach the public with these recommendations."
To assist in making their determinations on school needs, the task force considered the district as three separate areas, each containing one of the three high schools in the county and their feeder schools.
-- John Lentz Notable in 2013: School landscapes get facelifts-- Chillicothe Gazette Ohio: December 31, 2013 [ abstract] The landscape in which area students attend classes and enjoy extracurricular activities changed dramatically during the past year, with some good news about other changes on the horizon arriving late in the year.
The Chillicothe City Schools received that news earlier this month that it could begin the active planning process in conjunction with the Ohio School Facilities Construction Commission as the first step toward securing the funding in a state-local split.
The district " which has been awaiting that word from the state to move forward with plans to either construct two new elementary school campuses to handle all district elementary students or a single elementary school for all K-6 students " has until Jan. 17 to decide whether to take advantage of the opportunity.
District Superintendent Jon Saxton told the Gazette in mid-December that, if the district goes ahead and everything goes according to plan, funds couild arrive in 2014 or 2015.
The good news comes after residents of the district already had the opportunity to enjoy newly renovated athletic facilities at the Herrnstein Field complex. Thanks to a community fundraising drive conducted by the Cavalier Club, the newly named Obadiah Harris Family Athletic Complex boasts an artificial surface for Herrnstein Field, a new grandstand, new press box and a video scoreboard.
-- The Gazette staff Springfield Public Schools revises guidelines for new school construction-- News-Leader.com Missouri: December 30, 2013 [ abstract] Larger classrooms, bigger high school gyms and more flexible learning space.
Those were key changes in Springfield Public Schools’ recently revised guidelines for new school construction. The details were provided to the school board in mid-December, as planning continues for a handful of major projects.
A $71.65 million bond issue approved by voters in April will fund a new Sherwood Elementary, additions at Fremont and Hickory Hills elementary schools and renovations at Kickapoo and Glendale high schools. Much of the work will break ground in 2014.
Scott Wendt, director of business operations for the 25,000-student district, said the guidelines are a living document and nearly all of the recent tweaks focus on spaces and sizes.
He said to better meet “21st century learning” needs and provide more flexibility, the recommended elementary classroom size of 900 square feet was bumped up to 1,100 square feet.
The recommended size of art classrooms went up to 1,300 square feet, an increase of 200 square feet, and bigger cafeteria dining spaces were also included. At the high school level, science classrooms will go from 1,250 to 1,500 square feet.
“As you look at a typical science room, you have both the lab area and a classroom area and that’s always been a very tight configuration,” he said.
-- Claudette Riley Sacramento suburban schools expect growth-- The Sacramento Bee California: December 26, 2013 [ abstract] After delaying construction during lean economic years, Sacramento’s suburban school districts are preparing for a new growth spurt and the children that come with it.
Roseville City School District opened Fiddyment Farm Elementary this school year. Washington Unified in West Sacramento is planning to open a K-8 school within the next five years.
Elk Grove Unified " the largest district in the region " broke ground on a new elementary school in November and sees the long-term potential for 54 new campuses.
“It’s very clear the market is rebounding and coming back,” said Robert Pierce, associate superintendent of facilities and planning at Elk Grove Unified.
Pierce doesn’t expect the sort of growth the region experienced a decade ago, when the district pulled in about $55 million in developer fees a year. The 54 schools " including 40 elementary schools, seven middle schools and seven high schools " will be built as they are needed over the next few decades, he said.
But the pace is picking up. Last year, Elk Grove Unified collected $10 million in developer fees, more than double the amount in its lowest year, 2008-09, when it brought in $4 million. A recent update to the school district’s master facilities plan shows its student population is projected to expand from 62,000 today to 110,000 in 20 years. The district boundaries include the city of Elk Grove, as well as sections of south Sacramento and Rancho Cordova.
Since planners pay the district directly, it’s not too difficult for Elk Grove Unified to track building activity within its boundaries. They are suddenly seeing activity in subdivisions long planned, but left uncompleted during the recession.
-- Diana Lambert Chillicothe schools can begin plans to build-- Chillicothe Gazette Ohio: December 16, 2013 [ abstract] Superintendent Jon Saxton said the district was notified Friday that it could begin the “active planning process” with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, which is effectively the first step toward securing the funding with a state-local split.
Chillicothe has to decide whether to move forward with the OFCC by Jan. 17. Saxton on Monday recommended the board do so. Assuming all goes according to plan, funding could arrive sometime in 2014 or 2015, he said.
Chillicothe has been awaiting state funding for the construction of new elementary schools since 2004, when a facilities master plan was created. It called for the construction of two elementary school campuses " one at Mount Logan Elementary School and another at Worthington Elementary School " and the closure of Tiffin and Allen elementary schools.
In June, estimates by the district’s architecture firm pegged project costs at $45 million.
More recently, the board of education began discussing two other options. One would involve building a single elementary school to house all of the district’s students in kindergarten through sixth grade. The other would create two buildings with upper and lower grades split between the two.
The board will have to decide which option is best, and that decision might involve feedback from the community, Saxton said.
-- David Berman School Facilities Task Force Makes Progress-- ThePilot.com North Carolina: December 16, 2013 [ abstract] The community group helping to determine the future of Moore County Schools’ building needs moved closer on several key issues Monday.
While no official decisions were made, members of the Moore County Schools 21st Century Facilities planning Task Force showed consensus for proceeding with schools in central and northern Moore.
The 14-member group of community leaders and educators was formed earlier this year to address the building or renovation of old and new schools to accommodate future enrollment growth in the county.
Monday’s meeting was the group’s first since the school system sponsored four community meetings over the last couple of months to receive feedback on school facility needs.
The task force’s first action was to review the results of a survey to see which options were considered the most favorable. The schools were divided into three areas, each containing one of the trio of high schools in the county and their feeder schools.
Area I includes Union Pines High School, originally designed for 990 students but currently accommodating 1,274. In 2022, that figure is projected to be 1,676 students, 686 over capacity.
Option 1 for Area I is to expand Vass-Lakeview Elementary, Sandhills Farm Life Elementary and Carthage Elementary, and “to make minor renovations at Cameron Elementary,” said retired deputy superintendent Larry Upchurch, who is assisting the task force. The total estimated cost is $10.5 to $14 million.
-- John Lentz I-SS: Boiler issue exposes larger problem-- Statesville Record & Landmark North Carolina: December 13, 2013 [ abstract] Boiler problems this past week at Cool Spring Elementary School have provided a reminder of the continually growing need for an update to the county’s school facilities, according to an Iredell-Statesville Schools official.
On Friday, Monday and Tuesday, Cool Spring was without heat for at least part of the day due to a flame and igniter failure within the school’s boiler, which is more than 30 years old. The longest students were in the cold was at most two or three hours each of the days, but it was still enough to upset some parents.
“How can they work in heavy coats and toboggans?” asked parent Linda Harmon. “That’s ridiculous.”
Iredell-Statesville Schools’ facilities department has sent a technician to the school at 5:30 a.m. each day there were problems, most recently replacing the boiler’s igniter, which failed Tuesday, and plans to keep checking on the boiler each day for the next week.
Dr. Kenny Miller, associate superintendent of facilities and planning for I-SS, said the boiler trouble is indicative of a larger problem, though. Outdated equipment is present in almost every school in the district, and without a county bond for capital improvements, which was shot down this past summer by the Iredell County Board of Commissioners, more problems like the one at Cool Spring are likely to arise.
“We have a lot of old systems throughout the school system that are starting to show signs of breakdowns. It’s just going to happen,” said Miller. “You drive a car 200,000 miles, its going to break down more than a new one.
-- Preston Spencer School Boundary Process Expected To Come Quietly To A Close-- Lessburg Today Virginia: December 10, 2013 [ abstract] The redrawing of school attendance boundaries in Loudoun County has most often been a divisive process that pits neighbors against neighbors, school board members against school board members and, in recent years, is followed by lawsuits from unhappy families.
But the redrawn attendance boundaries for elementary schools in the South Riding area are scheduled to be approved tonight without a hitch.
The Loudoun County School Board must redraw the attendance boundaries in that part of the county to relieve overcrowded schools and prepare for Cardinal Ridge Elementary School, which will open next fall adjacent to J. Michael Lunsford Middle School in South Riding.
The only plan under consideration, called School Board Plan 2, has been posted on the school system’s website for more than a week and planning and Legislative Services Department Executive Director Sam Adamo said Monday his staff has not received one email about it. “It’s been pretty quiet.”
Most school attendance boundary changes draw hundreds of parents and students to the school boardroom to speak at public hearings, many dressed in the same color T-shirts as their neighbors to show unified support for one particular plan over another. Facebook pages are created, and School Board members’ inboxes are filled with several hundred emails.
The board’s final public hearing on its proposed attendance plan for South Riding Monday evening lasted little more than 10 minutes as just one person spoke on the matter.
Diane Hill, a bus driver, urged the board to adopt a boundary plan that keeps the students who live on Peach Orchard Drive near Aldie at Aldie Elementary School. She said any more buses on the gravel road would make it unsafe. “It could get pretty complicated,” she said.
The plan likely to be adopted tonight does not reassign students who attend Aldie Elementary.
-- Staff Writer Big crowd hotly decries plan to close Warwick Vets High School-- Providence Journal Rhode Island: December 02, 2013 [ abstract] More than 500 people turned out Monday night to protest a school consolidation plan that would convert Warwick Veterans High School into a junior high school and allow two junior high schools " Aldrich and Gorton " to close by 2015.
Many in the crowd wore the blue and gold colors of Warwick Vets, and emotions ran high as the people who filled the seats in the auditorium at Toll Gate High School were quick to show school officials that they wanted to be heard.
They booed and catcalled when officials started the meeting with an overview of the data that the administration and a special long-term planning committee used in coming up with the consolidation plan.
They jumped to their feet with standing ovations when people challenged the research or made emotional pleas to keep Warwick Vets open and serving surrounding neighborhoods where many families have generations who attended the school.
“You’re wasting our time,” people shouted as school officials tried to show that due to steadily declining enrollment, Warwick no longer needs or can afford three high schools and three junior high schools.
In response to the public’s demand to be heard, School Committee Chairwoman Bethany Furtado said that the board would put off taking its turn to publicly ask questions of the administration and the planning committee.
-- BARBARA POLICHETTI School district facility plan emphasizes existing schools-- The Herald Sun North Carolina: November 29, 2013 [ abstract] DURHAM " The school district’s new $396.7 million long-range facility plan focuses less on the building of new schools while placing greater emphasis on renovating existing ones.
The plan, approved by the school board last week, will be used to guide construction of possibly two new elementary schools and renovations to dozens of existing schools over the next decade.
“There are some new schools mentioned, but we’ve done a lot of that in the past and it’s time to really focus on the existing infrastructure,” Hugh Osteen, the school district’s chief operations officer, told school board members.
The school district last updated the plan in 2010, when it carried a $325 million price tag, which is about $71 million lower than the 2013 version of the plan.
“We have pent-up capital needs at our schools related to deferred maintenance we’ve had since 2008,” said School board Chairwoman Heidi Carter. “That will drive up the cost of facilities planning.”
Under the new plan, the lion’s share of the money -- $184.3 million -- would be spent on elementary schools. High schools would get $144 million and middle schools $51 million.
The plan also calls for spending $16.5 million on facilities that house administrative functions such as the Fuller Building downtown.
Much of the needed renovation and repair work for schools and administrative facilities includes new roofs and heating and cooling units.
Like in the past, school officials must sell the community on a bond referendum to pay for the improvements.
Durham last approved a bond referendum for schools in 2007, when voters signed off on $193.4 million for schools.
Voters also approved $105.3 million in school bonds in 2003 and $51.8 million in 2001.
-- Gregory Childress Prince George’s asks state for money to repair aging schools-- Washington Post Maryland: November 20, 2013 [ abstract] Prince George’s County has asked the state of Maryland for $118.1 million to fund school construction projects.
The amount is $20.2 million more than what the county asked for last year.
County Executive Rushern L. Baker III and the County Council sent a joint letter this week to the Interagency Committee on State School Construction, which oversees school projects in the state, prioritizing the projects the county wants funded.
The request “addresses the many needs faced by our county’s school such as replacement of current facilities, renovations and additional elementary seats,” the letter reads.
The priorities are divided into groups, including projects that have received state planning approval; projects under design and in need of state planning approval; and projects that focus on system replacement and renovations.
The biggest ticket item is for $9.9 million for a renovation at Glenarden Woods Elementary School. The county is also asking the state for $8.3 million for planning approval for limited renovations to the Bowie High School Annex. The letter says the planning approval will allow the county to move forward on the construction projects.
According to the Fiscal Year 2015 capital program, the school system is requesting $330.3 million in county and state funds to build, renovate and repair schools.
-- Ovetta Wiggins School plan ignites debate, tempers-- Warwick Beacon Rhode Island: November 19, 2013 [ abstract] As the Long Term Facilities planning Committee unanimously agreed to forward a recommendation to re-purpose Warwick Veterans Memorial High School as a junior high school to the School Committee, those opposed to the decision turned out to save the school.
The committee has been meeting since June to discuss plans to consolidate schools, but this was the first time the meeting room at the School Administration Building was filled to capacity. Almost 60 people were in attendance, with more filling the hallways and even more picketing outside. Most wore Vets clothing or the school’s colors, blue and gold, holding signs reading “Save Our School” and “Community Schools are the Key to Success.”
Kennedy, who was outside the administration building with other Vets supporters, also brought up the importance of Vets to current and future students in the Vets feeder system.
“For kids, their personal identity is attached to [Vets],” she said.
Kennedy also took the time to lay out some of the other arguments from those who are against consolidation, citing the importance of community schools, poverty causing low-test scores and underachieving students and not the conditions of a building, the rush of the process, decision and ultimate consolidation, and the fact that many feel the process was still not transparent to the public.
She also said that while she knows committee members have “the best of intentions and the kindest of hearts,” they do not have the expertise to assess the situation at hand.
Also at the protest were Vets freshmen Natasha Savage, Brittney Boyd, Julia French and Brianna Boyd.
“I think we just wanted to save the school,” said French when asked why the four field hockey players decided to attend the protest. “We just started and we already love it.”
Savage said that the decision to close Vets would separate the students who have been together for years and would make classroom sizes larger.
“People pay for smaller class sizes at private schools,” she pointed out. “It would make Warwick schools more attractive to people if they had smaller class sizes.”
The girls also believe that larger student populations will make it harder to make the different sports teams. They also don’t want to leave the community they are already such a part of, calling Vets a “family.”
-- Jen Rodrigues Carvalho: $1 billion bond initiative for Miami-Dade schools is on schedule at one-year mark-- Miami Herald Florida: November 10, 2013 [ abstract] Standing in front of a crowd cheering voters’ approval of a mammoth $1.2 billion school construction referendum, Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho promised last November to deliver the work “on time and under budget.”
So far, so good, he says " even if one year later, construction has yet to begin.
“We are either on schedule or ahead of schedule in all areas as we planned them,” Carvalho said.
With the first anniversary of the bond initiative’s passage on Wednesday, the district has launched 69 projects at 66 schools, worth close to $200 million collectively. planning on most of those projects, however, has only just started, and money has only just begun to flow.
The pace is intentional, according to Carvalho. After rushing to propose, promote and pass the bond initiative in just under three months " other efforts across the country have taken as long as a year " district officials spent most of the past year pursuing prep work that typically takes place before a referendum.
“We told folks [during the campaign] and we’ve told them since that we’re doing this backwards,” said Carvalho. “We told folks after the election that all the elements of bond preparation that weren’t done in the year of campaigning that usually takes place, we’d have to do afterward.”
That includes legitimizing the results of the referendum in court and then selling the first $200 million in bonds in July. The district also secured interest rates for the next $100 million in bonds, to be released in February, and announced it would be able to begin all projects within five years instead of the original seven.
The school board established an oversight committee of volunteers and officials to monitor the district’s progress. Board members also hired a project manager, Parsons Brinckerhoff, last May to oversee the several hundred projects, and district administrators budgeted and signed contracts for first-year projects.
-- DAVID SMILEY School closings, cuts may not be enough to close budget gap-- Cumberland Times-News Maryland: October 29, 2013 [ abstract] Even if the board of education chooses the most extreme option of the elementary school facility needs assessment and master plan study for Garrett County Public Schools, the savings wouldn’t be enough to close the $2.2 million budget gap, according to Paul Swanson, principal and co-founder of Facility Engineering Associates, P.C. of Fairfax, Va.
The most extreme option of the company’s study proposes closing two schools in the north end of the county as well as one school in the south end and includes reconfiguration of all grades in northern schools and adjusting school boundary lines.
“If we were to take the most extreme option and still only realize an 83 percent gain towards the $2.2 million deficit that we anticipate, how would we come up with what’s left?” said Superintendent of Schools Janet Wilson during a presentation of the study Monday.
If the schools were reconfigured it would lead to reductions in teachers, according to Wilson.
“We have reduced our staff by 88 positions since 2009,” said Wilson. “We have lost 609 students; at a 1-to-20 ratio we probably should reduce the staff.”
Some extracurricular programs would also need to be eliminated to help close the deficit, according to Wilson.
The goals of the study are to close a predicted $2.2 million budget gap and remedy overcrowding issues at Broad Ford and Yough Glades elementary schools.
The board will accept the facilities study during a meeting Nov. 12, but won’t tell the Maryland State Department of Education what option it chooses until April 1. The study as well as other data points that may be gathered will be throughly reviewed, according to Wilson.
“With the $2.2 million deficit there is the possibility that our school system will look very different, and as a result of that, the planning that will have to go into preparation for the next changes are no small task,” said Wilson.
-- Elaine Blaisdell Merced City School District Board of Education members ponder long-range facilities needs-- The Sacramento Bee California: October 24, 2013 [ abstract] Plenty of questions remained after Merced City School District Board of Education members pondered their long-range facilities master plan this week.
Nearly 90 minutes was spent during the board’s bimonthly business session going over future options. Two competing needs are emerging " upgrading technology and security features at all of the district’s 17 aging school sites or building a new school for an unserved area in north Merced.
Consultants from the Irvine-based Dolinka Group outlined strategies at Tuesday’s meeting and what has taken place in a lengthy series of planning meetings dating back to last year. The Oakland-based Lew Edwards polling firm is trying to determine what questions local voters should be asked about their willingness to support future school bonds.
Board member Darrell Cherf said trustees are looking at all options very carefully. There is no school north of Bear Creek and west of G Street, and each existing campus needs to be upgraded to meet 21st century technology requirements.
Board member Susan Walsh said they need to figure out what to do with the money available. She said she represents the community at large, and board members need to listen to the wishes of their constituents.
“We have old schools that need lots of work,” Walsh said. “All of our schools were built before the burst of technology. We don’t have the answer right now.”
One of the pivotal questions, Walsh said, is whether to build a new school in north Merced, add on to another campus or upgrade existing sites. Adding on to an existing school rather than building a brand-new campus would leave more money available for districtwide improvements.
Superintendent RoseMary Parga Duran said she wants to schedule a board study session to address growth questions and go over the long-range facilities master plan, due to be unveiled in December.
“We have lots of infrastructure needs we need to take care of,” Duran said. “There is a lot more to discuss.”
-- Doane Yawger Two-school district plans eight new schools-- Tracy Press California: October 18, 2013 [ abstract] Banta Elementary School District, which opened its second school this year in Lathrop’s River Islands development, is planning six elementary and two middle schools there as builders start constructing the first houses.
The Banta board of education authorized Superintendent Albert Garibaldi during their monthly meeting to have his staff to create a school construction timeline for the next five to 10 years.
"The board direction is to move forward with starting programs, and we’re starting to have a presence in that area of the district, and we are reacting accordingly," he said. "They’re anxious to get started."
So far, the district does not have exact dates to begin or complete any of the new schools.
"Part of the designing is dependent upon the growth of the River Islands project," he said. "The River Islands project does have a direct impact on how fast or how slow we are going to have to build these schools."
Garibaldi said school district leaders want to keep the timeline fluid at least until November or December to accommodate input from members of the Banta community, the board of education and site developers.
The next step, in May 2015, is beginning construction of the second phase of the River Islands Technology Academy school campus. That involves completion of separate campuses for the elementary and middle schools, which now share space.
Eventually, the elementary school will have 600 students and the middle school 750, with a shared gymnasium and library, Garibaldi said.
The school opened its doors in early August with approximately 400 students.
To help with planning, Banta Elementary School District recently hired consultant Tom Duffy to advise them on facilities and programs.
Duffy retired as the assistant superintendent of schools for Moorepark Unified School District. He is the legislative director of Coalition for Adequate School Housing and a partner in a Sacramento educational facilities consulting firm, Murdoch, Walrath and Holmes.
During a school board meeting on Oct. 10, Duffy said the next step was to submit phase-two construction plans to the Division of the State Architect, which oversees construction of K-12 schools in California.
-- Denise Ellen Rizzo District primed to build, restore several schools-- The Tampa Tribune Florida: October 11, 2013 [ abstract] New school construction in Pasco County, dormant for the past few years, is about to kick back into high gear.
The school district is planning an accelerated-construction schedule during the next three years that would include a combined middle and high school in Wesley Chapel, a new elementary school in Wesley Chapel and renovations at several other schools.
Also, Sanders Memorial Elementary in Land O’ Lakes, closed and mostly demolished a few years ago, would be rebuilt as a STEM magnet school. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math.
Marchman Technical Education Center in New Port Richey also would be renovated, possibly with a new mission in mind.
The district would pay for all this work with a roughly $115 million bond issue, using future Penny for Pasco sales-tax revenue to pay off the bonds.
“We can’t possibly pay as you go,” Assistant Superintendent Ray Gadd said. “The money doesn’t come in quick enough to deal with the growth.”
The school board is scheduled to discuss the bond issue at a workshop Tuesday afternoon, and the district’s Penny for Pasco Oversight Committee is to hear a report on the accelerated-construction schedule Tuesday morning while touring Richey Elementary in New Port Richey, a school that was reconstructed a year ago.
All of the projects already were in the school district’s 12-year capital plan, but many of them, including the new schools, weren’t supposed to happen in the next three years, Gadd said.
-- Ronnie Blair Some Neighbors Oppose Plan to Reuse School for Housing-- kcrg.com Iowa: October 11, 2013 [ abstract] A plan to turn an unneeded Cedar Rapids school building into affordable housing goes before the city council next month. But it won’t go with the blessing of some who live in the neighborhood.
The Affordable Housing Network, a non-profit group, wants to completely re-do the old Monroe School on Pioneer Avenue S.E. The group wants to create 19 apartments inside the old school itself and put up 24 single family homes outside on the old school grounds. The entire planned urban development would go by the name “Monroe Villas.”
But a fair number of people in the neighborhood are not entirely pleased with the plan.
On Thursday, the city’s planning and Zoning Commission voted 8-0 to approve the development and send it on to the entire city council. At least 40 neighbors showed up for the meeting and those who attended say most argued against the development.
Joe Lock, executive director of the Affordable Housing Network, said reusing an existing building and providing good rental housing for working families is a priority for the city.
“I’m excited we can do what’s called adaptive reuse. We’ll take this school built in 1961, that has great bones and was well maintained by the district, and it will make phenomenal apartments for families,” Lock said.
But some neighbors complain there are already too many multi-family apartments nearby mixed in with the single family homes. Some in the area also fear more subsidized housing units would just hurt property values further.
Jay Wurtele, one neighbor, said he was hoping for a small business or office or another option for the old Monroe School.
“I don’t know what it would take for a developer to make that into an assisted living area, but I would be a lot more favorable with those two ideas rather than another low-income housing area,” Wurtele said.
-- Dave Franzman Brevard schools get OK to spend impact fees on debt-- Florida Today Florida: October 08, 2013 [ abstract] The Brevard School District has received the go-ahead to use $8.3 million in impact fees collected by the county to help pay off debt from various school construction projects.
Brevard County commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved the plan to allocate educational facilities impact fees collected from July 1, 2011, to April 30, 2013. Previously, the plan had been unanimously approved by the Brevard School Board and by Educational Facilities Impact Fee Advisory Committees within four areas of the county.
Dane Theodore, the Brevard School District’s director of planning and project management, said he would provide the county a comprehensive accounting of how much money was used to pay debt on each project involved.
The continued collection of school impact fees on residential construction projects became an issue on the County Commission after the Brevard School Board voted to close four schools in the last two years.
At a joint meeting last month of the Brevard County Commission and the Brevard School Board, members agreed to commission a studyon school impact fees.
School district officials said, if they didn’t get the $8.3 million in fees to make debt payments for this school year and next year, they would have had to cut some maintenance projects from the budget to free up money to pay the debt.
-- Dave Berman Facilities uprades could cost district $55 million-- WinonaDailyNews.com Minnesota: October 04, 2013 [ abstract] The Winona Area Public Schools board could spend anywhere from just below $5 million up to $55 million on building upgrades.
Superintendent Scott Hannon briefed the board Thursday on preliminary long-range facilities planning data and options for deferred maintenance upgrades at the district's 10 schools.
Along with a $4.7 million bare-bones approach, Hannon outlined $34 million and $55 million middle ground and comprehensive deferred maintenance options.
One of the school board's strategic initiatives for 2013-2014 was to research an appropriate physical footprint for the district's enrollment. That work will be part of the Long-Range Facilities planning Committee, but the group is also looking at improving operating costs, maintenance costs and the educational environment of the district's facilities.
"The bottom line is what are we doing for the students," Hannon said. "A significant amount of deferred maintenance needs to be done on our buildings."
Hannon outlined three possible tiers of upgrades. The first-tier would only look at high-priority energy efficiency and maintenance items, and could be funded using energy savings bonding.
â€"It's a Band-Aid,†Hannon said. â€"It would allow the district to kick the can down the road about five years or so.â€
-- Nathan Hansen Caddo plan to close 3 schools, convert 17 others to avoid state takeover-- Shreveporttimes.com Louisiana: October 03, 2013 [ abstract] Caddo schools officials are planning to close three schools, revamp as many as 17 others and remove teachers and principals at failing schools in an effort to avoid state takeover of district schools.
The plan, unveiled Wednesday, would close Newton Smith Sixth Grade Center, Atkins Elementary and Northside Elementary. Faculty, staff and administration at the failing campuses will be completely removed and forced to reapply for positions.
Meanwhile, Woodlawn Leadership Academy and Fair Park College Prep would remain high schools and return to traditional ninth- to 12th-grade campuses. Woodlawn would focus once again on its military component with an emphasis on career technical education while Fair Park will keep its medical career emphasis while pushing career and technical education.
The board has yet to approve the plan, which would all take place by the start of the 2014-15 school year. District officials also caution the proposal is subject to change according to recommendations from the Recovery School District.
“We’re putting out a plan based on what we think is in the best interest of our students,” interim Superintendent Mary Nash Robinson said. “Now we have to see what the RSD can live with, what we can live with and at some point hopefully come to a compromise. This is a fluid plan that could change at any time as we move through that process.”
-- Mary Nash-Wood Massillon BOE asks state to assess school buildings-- IndeOnline.com Ohio: October 03, 2013 [ abstract] Massillon City Schools officials took the first step in addressing the district’s aging facilities by asking the Ohio School Facilities Commission to explore construction options for the district.
On Monday, the Board of Education approved a resolution that asks the OSFC to begin a year-long assessment of the district facilities, how the existing buildings are used, enrollment now and in the future and how the district hopes to use the buildings. There is no cost to the district for the assessment.
Assistant Superintendent Mark Fortner said if the request is approved, an OSFC representative will be assigned to the district for “active planning process.”
“We are looking to see what our current facilities look like and look to see the number of classrooms, teachers and learning centers we have and need (in the future) to achieve our goal of instruction,” he said.
While the study will look at the entire district, the focus will be on the district’s elementary schools, Fortner said.
In 2012, the district closed the smallest of its elementary schools " Bowers, Emerson and Smith. Three elementary schools " Franklin, Gorrell and Whittier " are used for kindergarten through third-grade classes. Franklin, which has the capacity to serve more students than any other building, also houses preschool students.
-- Amy Knapp US Dept Of ED Awards Nearly $1 Million to George Washington University to Support Educational Facilities Clearinghouse-- US Department of Education National: September 30, 2013 [ abstract] The U.S. Department of Education announced today first year grant award of $973,763 for George Washington University in Washington, D.C. to support the establishment and implementation of an Educational Facilities Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse will provide technical assistance, training and resources to public preschools, K-12 schools and higher education institutions on issues related to educational facility planning, design, financing, construction, improvement, operation, maintenance and safety.
"Students need safe, healthy and modern school facilities to be able to focus on learning and improving academic achievement," said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. "This grant will allow George Washington University to establish a Clearinghouse to help local education leaders plan for, build, improve and maintain educational facilities to help turnaround schools and close the achievement gap."
This award for the first year of a three-year project will provide the education community with a reliable resource for information that can be used to plan for new construction, renovation and improvements to educational facilities. The Clearinghouse will also develop resources and assemble best practices on issues related to ensuring safe, healthy and high-performance public facilities, including procedures for identifying hazards and conducting vulnerability assessment. More information is available at this link for the Educational Facilities Clearinghouse.
-- Press Office Greenon to close one school-- Springfield News-Sun Ohio: September 29, 2013 [ abstract] The Greenon Local School District will consolidate its K-12 programs into three buildings when Hustead Elementary School closes at the end of the current school year.
District leaders and staff will begin talking with the community about how best to do that at a public forum scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, in the cafeteria of Indian Valley Middle School.
“We recognize that consolidation … will mean many changes for Greenon’s students, staff and families,” said Superintendent Dan Bennett.
Bennett said consolidation is needed “to get our expenses under control” in the face of declining enrollment, rising building maintenance costs and district voters’ defeat of bond issues in May and November that would have raised money to modernize the schools.
“We believe there will be significant cost savings … and operational efficiencies” that can be put back into the academic program, he said.
This year, both Hustead and Enon Elementary schools teach grades K-4, Indian Valley Middle School houses grades 5-8, and Greenon High School teaches grades 9-12.
In the realignment, the district plans to move grades 7-12 into the high school, using a separate wing for grades 7 and 8, then distribute grades K-6 into the two remaining schools.
Although lower grades will be in Enon Elementary and older students in the current Indian Valley Middle School, where the grades will be divided is still up in the air.
Bennett said the high school operation is “still in its planning stages” as well.
-- Tom Stafford Board of Education OKs master plan for school buildings-- Chicago Sun-Times Illinois: September 25, 2013 [ abstract] Months after voting to close a record number of schools, Chicago’s Board of Education voted unanimously Wednesday to approve its first “blueprint for facilities investments over the next decade.”
Going into the vote, several board members still had substantive questions about the final document and its purpose.
Mandated by the state to help the district deal with capital planning, the Educational Facilities Master Plan accounts for building conditions and needs and lays out district investing priorities such as libraries in all schools and alleviating overcrowding. Released in draft form in May, it accounts for a total of $3.5 billion in needed school repairs districtwide, according Todd Babbitz, chief of transformation at CPS. But contrary to its name, the blueprint does not lay out any kind of spending plan for the next 10 years, a fact not lost on board member HenryBienen.
“I’m a little puzzled because at the end of the Facilities Master Plan, a number of items are listed, maintenance and repair, air conditioning, etc.,” Bienen said. “They have a price tag. And we all know that the cumulative price tag is much bigger than our resources. So this may be a plan in some sense but it is not a project plan. . . . It doesn’t tell me what the priorities are inside all these items, much less where they would go. . . . A plan would be, ‘We’re going to spend X amount of money on these items.’ ”
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis was the first of many to ask the board to consider taking more time before voting. She said the plan is still vague, should be easier for ordinary people to use and doesn’t yet spell out a clear process for how the district might enact the listed projects.
“It’s kind of hard to find your school, if you don’t know the new made-up communities, that I would highly highly highly ask that you not utilize because it makes research very difficult,” she said. “It would really behoove you to wait just a little bit. Ask for another extension. I’m sure Springfield will give it to you just to get this right. Even though it’s a living document, let’s not have the first one be at a minimum pass level.”
-- LAUREN FITZPATRICK Austin ISD continues facilities planning discussion-- Community Impact Texas: September 24, 2013 [ abstract] Austin ISD is working to form a master plan for how the school district funds its facilities, and AISD's board of trustees is working to develop guiding principles that will shape the way that plan is developed and implemented.
During the group's Sept. 23 work session, trustees discussed the language of draft guiding principles for its Facility Master Plan and made changes to the wording to add clarity.
"We need to make sure that the words we use [in FMP guiding principles] reflect exactly what our intentions are,†trustee Lori Moya said.
The board is scheduled to take action on its FMP guiding principles Sept. 30.
Board members stressed the need for community engagement around the guiding principles. Superintendent Meria Carstarphen said the administration could post the updated guiding principles on AISD's website and leave them up for a month or so, giving the public some time to provide their comments.
-- Kelli Weldon Schools wonder: If they build, will state reimburse?-- phillyburbs.com Pennsylvania: September 24, 2013 [ abstract] A state moratorium on reimbursements for approved school construction costs has some districts concerned the money might not come.
“You kind of worry about the future,” said Bob Riegel, Quakertown’s business manager, “and whether the money’s going to really be there for reimbursement.”
The worry stems from a moratorium of the state’s so-called PlanCon reimbursement. PlanCon refers to the Education Department’s $300 million a year “planning and Construction Workbook,” a complicated review that runs from justifying the need for a project to designing it, acquiring the land, building it and paying for it.
Schools, under financial pressure from growing pension obligations, are concerned the moratorium could lead to the program’s elimination.
This is no more evident than in Bucks County, where officials warned of “devastating effects” to districts if the moratorium continues.
Mark Klein of Council Rock and Samuel Lee of Bristol Township told members of a state House Democratic Policy Committee this summer that putting off renovations would force taxpayers to pay more in the long run.
Churchville Elementary School in Northampton was completed in 2011 for $13.8 million. Yet, despite approvals from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Council Rock has not seen the state’s $3.2 million reimbursement.
“It’s forced us to continue to drain our reserve fund,” Klein said. “The funding has stopped, but the regulations are still in place.”
When Riegel, Quakertown’s business manager, sees what Council Rock is dealing with, he worries about Quakertown’s budget.
“If they’re complete already and not getting the subsidy, maybe there’s not enough money in the allocation,” he said. “My biggest fear is we may never see it.”
Quakertown High School, built in the 1950s, was renovated in the 1960s. Decades after the presidencies of Eisenhower and Kennedy, the school is undergoing $71 million worth of improvements.
“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to upgrade what is a substandard core building,” Riegel said. “With interest rates this low, now is the time to get the building up to today’s standards.”
But with $4.6 million of the money due from PlanCon, Riegel said the district could have “a backlog making debt service payments. ... It will affect our budget.”
-- Gary Weckselblatt U.S. Dept. of ED to Visit Schools in Nations Capital - Final Leg of Facilities Best Practices Tour-- US Department of Education National: September 24, 2013 [ abstract] ED-Green Ribbon Schools Director Andrea Falken will be joined by several other senior Department officials to visit three honored green ribbon schools in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, Sept. 25 on the final leg of the 'Education Built To Last' Facilities Best Practices Tour. Joining them will be Stefan Huh, director, Charter Schools Program; Doug Herbert, special assistant, Office of Innovation and Improvement; Lily Clark, senior advisor, Office of planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development; and Adam Honeysett, acting managing director, state and local public engagement; and others.
They will be joined by other federal and local officials to tour the schools to see and discuss ways that school facilities can enhance the conditions of learning. Some of those officials include Crystal McDonald, policy advisor, U.S. Department of Energy; Jaquelyn Mosby, director, Office of Children's Health Protection, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); and EPA Regional Administrator Shawn Garvin.
The schools to be visited are: Washington Yu Ying Public Charter School; Woodrow Wilson High School; and Sidwell Friends School
The visits will include tours of school buildings and grounds, conversations with students and teachers regarding environmental education, health and sustainability, and discussions with key partners and energy management personnel. In addition, local district facilities personnel are invited to attend and participate in a listening session at Woodrow Wilson High School. The listening session will allow facilities experts to share best practices on school facilities and provide input to the U.S. Education Department.
The Department's 'Education Built to Last Facilities Best Practices Tour' features schools that exhibit best practices in school building and grounds design, construction, operations and management to support health, equity, educational outcomes, energy efficiency and cost savings in our nation's public schools.
-- Press Office Del Mar Union School District outreach group begins work on master plan-- Carmel Valley News California: September 20, 2013 [ abstract] The Del Mar Union School District’s facilities master plan outreach group began work last week on drawing up a long-term roadmap for how the district will deliver education in the future.
A group of about 40 staff members, parents and community members met at Del Mar Hills on Sept. 18 for the first of three meetings. They met in a small group format to discuss how they want their school’s facilities to create “a path for tomorrow’s innovative, global thinkers.”
The group will meet once more on Oct. 1 before a town hall meeting " open to all community members " is held on Wednesday, Nov. 6. After the town hall meeting, the outreach group will meet for a final time on Dec. 17 and the final master plan will be presented to the board on Jan. 22, 2014.
“A master plan can be about fixing what’s broken but it can also figure out where you want to be as a district 15 to 20 years from now,” said Don Pender, a principal with the district’s facilitator LPA Architects.
Pender said through this process the district can plan for facilities to fit what they want to teach rather than simply return the facilities to the condition they were before.
Kate Mraw, an interior designer with LPA, talked about what is happening currently in facilities planning for schools " how spaces are being designed to be innovative, sustainable and inspiring for students to learn.
-- Karen Billing Volusia school sales tax campaign eyed-- The Daytona Beach News-Journal Florida: September 15, 2013 [ abstract] planning for a campaign to extend a half-cent sales tax that raises money for Volusia County schools is about to get off the ground.
Most members of a citizens’ committee that will review school district needs and develop a list of projects that would be financed by the sales tax extension are now in place, and the group’s first meeting has been scheduled for Sept. 30.
The School Board decided in June to ask voters next year to approve an extension of the tax that’s due to expire at the end of 2016.
The tax has raised more than $342 million since its inception in 2002, about half the cost of a 10-year building program that wrapped up last fall. Proceeds from the rest of the tax collections will be used to pay off bonds and certificates of participation the School Board sold to jump start the construction program.
The citizens’ committee " which includes School Board members’ appointees and other representatives of the district, school-related groups and the community at large " is patterned after a similar group that helped develop a project list for the first sales tax campaign in 2001.
Tom Besaw, a now-retired school administrator who coordinated the first committee’s work, will take on that responsibility again, said Superintendent Margaret Smith.
-- Linda Trimble Mayor plans on opening new selective enrollment high schools or expanding existing ones-- Chicago Sun-Times Illinois: September 13, 2013 [ abstract] Sneed has learned Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has been criticized for closing schools, is planning on opening new selective enrollment high schools for academically advanced students or expanding existing ones.
¡°Mayor Emanuel is quietly charging ahead on his school modernization plans,¡± said a top Rahm source. ¡°Although it is not clear yet how many schools that will involve.
There are about 2,500 students who qualify already for advanced curriculum high school, but there are not enough seats available ¡ª and the mayor plans to fix that,¡± the source added.
¡°His new modernization plan will include expanding old schools or building new ones,¡± said the source.
¡°The mayor is leveraging every available dollar and going through TIFs (Tax Increment Financing funds) line by line to ensure that school modernization remains a top priority for TIF investment,¡± the source said.
In addition, Sneed is told Emanuel also plans to solve elementary school overcrowding the same way: ¡°By either constructing new school buildings or expanding old ones,¡± the source said.
According to the source, Emanuel does not plan to reopen any of the schools that closed for these projects.
-- Michael Sneed Taxpayers will be asked to pay bulk of $131.9m school project-- The Boston Globe Massachusetts: September 12, 2013 [ abstract] A proposed $131.9 million overhaul of Winchester High School that could add $800 to the average annual property tax bill might be a tough sell in a town where that bill already is approaching $10,000 annually.
School and town officials conceded that the cost of the project " which would be funded in part by the state " will face opposition even in a town known for its support of education.
“I think there is going to be sticker shock when they see the price tag,” said Bob Deering, chairman of the Educational Facilities planning and Building Committee, which is overseeing the project.
William H. McAlduff Jr., the school superintendent, estimated that the project would end up costing taxpayers $85 million to $90 million. The Massachusetts School Building Authority board on Oct. 2 will decide whether to provide partial reimbursement " projected to be 34 percent " for the project, which involves major renovations and construction of three additions to the 42-year-old building on Skillings Road.
Additional reimbursement from the state agency might be awarded based on meeting criteria such as green features in the project design.
Residents still would need to appropriate the full $131.9 million project budget and then approve a debt exclusion " or temporary tax increase " in votes this fall.
Attempts to increase taxes have had mixed results in recent years. In January 2011, voters approved a debt exclusion to fund the town’s $18 million share of the Vinson-Owen school project. But that March, they rejected a $1.44 million Proposition 21/2 override to fund operating expenses, and last June, they turned down a $350,000 override to create a technology fund.
From 2007 to 2013, the average property tax bill for a single-family home in Winchester climbed 26 percent, from $7,803 to $9,839, as the average assessed value increased at a much lower rate, from $755,415 to $770,456.
-- John Laidler Councilmen debate cost of building a new Heritage High School-- The News & Advance Virginia: September 11, 2013 [ abstract] Lynchburg City Councilman Turner Perrow and Mayor Michael Gillette found themselves in different camps Tuesday afternoon over the cost of constructing a new Heritage High School.
â€"When are we going to vote on how much we are going to spend?†asked Perrow, who has repeatedly complained about the scope of plans and costs for the project.
â€"I feel like the tail is wagging the dog, or the school board is confident that they've got four [council] votes to get whatever the want,†he said of the politics of the situation.
The councilman didn't get the response he was looking for.
â€"What I would say is that I want the school of quality that has been planned,†Gillette said. â€"If it costs $88 million, I am willing to spend that.â€
City Manager Kimball Payne weighed in to remind council members that staff has been working from a planning figure of $88.7 million. That, he said, was established when city council approved a Capital Improvement Plan based off the figure in May.
â€"I don't think it's up to the majority to revote what's already been voted,†Payne said.
Gillette, taking a cue from Payne, told Perrow if he wanted to stipulate a different figure than $88.7 million, he or another council member must come up with an alternate proposal for changes to the school building plan.
Otherwise, Gillette said, $88.7 million would stand as the number council is willing to pay, with room for the actually expenses to drop based on possible cost savings as the project moves forward. School board cost estimation consultant William Downey told council earlier in the afternoon work session his firm estimates the cost at about $84 million.
-- Jessie Pounds District 25 leans toward south site for new school-- The Ranger Wyoming: September 11, 2013 [ abstract] Fremont County School District 25 is making progress in securing real estate for a new elementary school and has started brainstorming future uses for the old Lincoln Elementary School property in east Riverton.
Superintendent Terry Snyder told the Riverton school board Tuesday that, "at this point we are making an offer on one of two properties and assistant superintendent Mike Collins and I will meet with the landowners (Wednesday) to talk about where they think they are. They have some concerns."
Snyder said he will sit down with the landowners and try to come to a resolution and have a contract ready to present to the sellers. If the contract is agreed to, it also will have to be approved by the Wyoming School Facilities Commission.
"Hopefully we can get something done with that in the near future, which then allows us the green light," Snyder said.
Easement
He also said Collins has discovered that an easement exists on property being considered for a new elementary school. The land begins where Monroe Avenue ends and extends west.
"That was, to me, good planning on the city's part on the need for a street through that part of the development. Whatever costs to put that through to Major (Avenue) will be to our expense. (Collins's) hunch was right," Snyder said.
Snyder also reported that the school district is considering the feasibility of building a district maintenance facility on the property where Lincoln Elementary School once stood.
"It is our intent to keep that property at this time," Snyder said. "We don't have a plan for it. We've discussed a couple of different options that it might be used for."
The maintenance facility option would require work with the SFC to proceed.
"We could get all of our equipment in and replace our old building," Snyder said.
-- Craig Blumenshine Washington County BOE unanimously approves six-year capital improvement plan-- herald-mail.com Maryland: September 08, 2013 [ abstract] The Washington County Board of Education unanimously approved its six-year capital improvement plan Sept. 3.
Although in recent years the school board had considered its requests for county and state capital funding separately, this time, the board considered them together.
The requests, which include major school construction as well as systemic projects, such as replacing roofs and HVAC systems, are reflective of the Educational Facilities Master Plan the board approved in June. That plan can change from year to year.
For the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2014, the school board is asking for $7.1 million from the state and $4.6 million from the county, according to a presentation document.
The board is asking for final funding for the new Bester Elementary School, requesting $1,491,500 from the county and $378,000 from the state. That school is on track to open in August 2014.
The board also is asking for $5 million from the state and $3.1 million from the county to begin construction of the new “West City” elementary school, which is planned for an August 2016 opening.
State funding of $1,747,000 is being sought to help pay to replace Washington County Technical High School’s HVAC system. The school system would need to provide $933,000 for the local match because the county’s capital improvement plan did not list that funding, Rob Rollins, the school system’s director of facilities planning and development, told the board.
-- JULIE E. GREENE New Fort Bend ISD superintendent says studies will engage public-- Community Impact Texas: September 05, 2013 [ abstract] Fort Bend ISD is conducting a five-year comprehensive study to include a facilities master plan, a strategic master plan concerning school curriculum and a study of the district’s school boundaries. The board of trustees and district administrators plan to engage the community in the process through a series of discussions beginning in September.
The facilities master plan will determine which campus additions or improvements are needed in the next five years, and the strategic master plan will ensure consistent curriculum is offered.
“This is a very comprehensive approach unlike anything we have undertaken in this district before,” FBISD superintendent Charles Dupre said. “We have a good plan, and we will be monitoring each step of the way.”
“The planning process will include significant community engagement that will enable all of the district’s stakeholders"parents, community leaders, students and district staff"to engage and be part of the actual development of this plan,” communications director Nancy Porter said. “The community’s voice is critical to support our instructional programs and to provide the best outcomes for our kids.”
-- John Rigg District Changing Shuttered Schools Sale Process-- NBC Philiadelphia Pennsylvania: August 29, 2013 [ abstract] The School District of Philadelphia is changing the way it plans to sell more than two dozen shuttered school buildings.
District officials announced Wednesday they will now lean on the city to help sell 31 properties that were closed under the district's Facilities Master Plan. Twenty-four of those buildings were shut down forever in June.
Called the Philadelphia Schools Repurposing Initiative, the new plan will allow the district to expedite the sale of "highly marketable" properties to generate funding more quickly.
The district will work with Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Alan Greenberger and other officials to identify possible reuses for the buildings.
The plan was announced as the district continues to try and close a budget deficit of $304 million. That deficit forced the layoff of more than 3,800 employees and ending of art programs and sports.
City officials have guaranteed $50 million in emergency funding to the district under two plans. One proposal, put forth by Philadelphia City Council, would generate cash through the sale of these buildings.
Under the district's old facilities sale plan, the Adaptive Sale and Reuse Policy, an evaluation team of up to 10 people -- including community members -- would have been put together for each school. That team would then review potential buyers and recommend the best.
The new plan gets rid of that process. Instead, city officials will assess each property and provide recommendations for reuse. A series of meetings will also be held by City planning Commission officials to listen to public input before facilities are sold, according to the district.
-- Vince Lattanzio Renovations, regulations contribute to high cost of school buildings -- Charleston City Paper South Carolina: August 28, 2013 [ abstract] On the first day of class at Buist Academy, a K-8 academic magnet school in downtown Charleston, crews were still at work laying bricks and sod along the Calhoun Street side of the building. After deciding in 2010 that Buist and four other district schools needed structural upgrades in order to withstand potential earthquakes, the Charleston County School District Board of Trustees had promised those schools' parents that their children would return to their original campuses by August 2013. The district kept its promise at Buist, and right in the nick of time.
Now more than two years into its 2011-2016 building program, which includes the seismic school upgrades, the school district has finished the contractor bidding process for eight of its 21 planned school construction projects. The projects vary widely in terms of overall cost, and all of the bids except for Charleston Progressive Academy came in at or under initial budget estimates. Still, one pattern that has emerged is that schools cost more to build than they once did.
Chief Operating Officer for Capital Programs Bill Lewis says that when he started working at the school district in 2001, the rule of thumb was that new school buildings in Charleston County cost about $100 per square foot in hard construction costs. Now, after more than a decade of dollar deflation and strengthening of building code requirements, the median hard construction cost of elementary schools built in the latest phase of new construction is $198 per square foot — just under the national median for elementary schools, $205/sq. ft.
The rising hard construction costs in Charleston County School District line up with a nationwide pattern. According to the School Construction Report, an annual publication put out by School planning & Management, median construction costs per square foot have indeed been on the rise at least since 2001, when the national median for elementary schools was $113.30/sq. ft.
Hard construction cost, as defined by the school district, includes the value of a school construction contract but does not include expenses such as land purchase, demolition, subsurface ground modification, class relocation, computer purchases, and Ocean and Coastal Resource Management inspections. Those expenses go toward the overall cost, also known as the program budget. At Buist, for instance, the hard construction cost of $18.4 million is just over half of the overall cost.
-- Paul Bowers Expansion likely for 4 D41 schools-- Chicago Tribune Illinois: August 20, 2013 [ abstract] Glen Ellyn School District 41's elementary schools may be headed for expansion over the next three years to create "innovation labs" that would give students the room to take on group projects without having to waste time rearranging desks.
As part of the district's long-range planning, the new labs would go hand in hand with the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math — or STEAM — curriculum that will be introduced in the 2014-15 school year.
"What we don't have are the big spaces so kids can move around," said district spokeswoman Julie Worthen. "We need furniture that can be moved out of the way or into another configuration … and different kinds of storage or lighting."
With a focus on project-based learning that teaches kids how to collaborate on ideas and solve problems as a team, officials hope to get moving on the expansion at Monday's Board of Education meeting when members will vote on approving $300,000 that will pay in part for the labs' designs.
The goal is to start construction next summer at Franklin Elementary School. Construction at the remaining three schools would be phased in over the next two years.
-- Krystyna Slivinski System considers building larger schools-- Forsythnews.com Georgia: August 10, 2013 [ abstract] Forsyth County school officials are thinking bigger as they plan for the next five years.
Building new schools was a given for the fast-growing system. But in addition to quantity, some of those schools also will be larger.
It’s being recommended that future elementary and middle schools be built to house as many as 1,500 students. The capacity at high schools would increase from 2,100 to 2,500 students.
Current school sizes are 1,500 students for elementary schools, so there would be no change at that level, and 1,100 for middle.
Tim Amerson, the district’s facilities planner, presented the recommendations to the Board of Education during its meeting Thursday. Those included seven construction projects. The final plan is slated for approval in November, following more discussion, planning and revisions.
Due to funding constraints, however, it likely will be some time before the system’s five-year facilities plan kicks in.
As proposed, the increased school sizes won’t begin until 2015, when future elementary school No. 14 could be built in southwest Forsyth to relieve crowding at Midway, Shiloh Point and Vickery Creek elementary schools. The site is proposed to be between Union Hill Road and McFarland Parkway.
Amerson said the 71-classroom campus is the system’s first priority. An application is being sent to the state next week to begin the process.
However, system spokeswoman Jennifer Caracciolo noted after the meeting that the state “does not fund the entire construction of a school and we have no local funding to make up the balance.”
“If voters approve a [bond] referendum in November 2014, then it is projected construction would begin in March 2015 with the school opening August 2016,” she said.
-- Jennifer Sami Boyertown School Board fires architecture firm; renovations in limbo-- readingeagle.com Pennsylvania: August 07, 2013 [ abstract] Boyertown School District's planned multimillion-dollar high school renovation and expansion project is in limbo.
The school board, during a special meeting Tuesday, severed its contract with the architecture firm that had been designing the project for nearly a year, saying the firm underestimated project costs.
The vote was 7-0, with Robert J. Haas and Donna L. Usavage absent.
Some residents who had spoken out against the building plan applauded the move.
However, representatives of the architectural firm, EI Associates Inc., said the board acted inappropriately and might have violated its contract.
Board members did not comment on the decision during the meeting.
But Dr. Richard Faidley, superintendent, said he recommended ending the contract when an estimate of project costs by the construction management firm, D'Huy Engineering, came in much higher than EI's estimate.
The original estimate was $55 million, but D'Huy thought the work would cost more than $70 million, Faidley said. He called the discrepancy a gross error on EI's part.
"The communication all along to our community is that the project will cost $55 million," Faidley said after the meeting, "and this board takes very seriously its commitment to the community."
He said the district hasn't decided whether or how it will continue with the project.
Mark S. Barnhardt, senior vice president for EI, said changing cost estimates are a normal part of project planning.
-- Liam Migdail-Smith Hawaii’s public school facilities get a critical eye-- Pacific Business News Hawaii: August 07, 2013 [ abstract] The Hawaii Department of Education says it is focusing on how to improve its approach to upgrading school facilities, following a critical report from the Board of Education’s audit committee.
The committee found inefficiencies in planning, building and construction management, which in turn has limited the Facilities Development Branch in “maximizing use of its biennium budget” for needed repairs.
“There is always an ongoing need for improving or building additional facilities to support our students, and we need to make the best use of our capital improvement dollars,” Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi said in a statement. “That’s why we commissioned a thorough review to help us better manage projects as we go forward.”
She said the committee’s findings “clearly indicate that outdated policies and procedures are prolonging many projects. Our department will work with all interested stakeholders to correct long-term challenges and address the recommendations.”
The audit committee also found that the Facilities Development Branch isn’t using technology that could streamline the process, and poor communication is seemingly contributing to setbacks within the branch as well.
-- Jenna Blakely Districts waiting for state to pay up on building projects-- The Morning Call Pennsylvania: July 27, 2013 [ abstract] The first students to go bounding down the kid-friendly floors and curving corridors at Fred J. Jaindl Elementary School in Breinigsville came in fall 2010.
The new building was designed with functionality and frugality in mind, and midway through the school year, Parkland School District officials applied to the state to begin receiving partial reimbursement for a $16 million loan it needed to complete construction.
The district hoped to gain approval for the eighth of 11 steps in the state's complicated construction approval process, the final hurdle before school districts can begin receiving reimbursement.
Typically, school districts have to wait two to three months to start receiving money after submitting that application, said John Vignone, Parkland's director of business administration. But three classes of Jaindl Elementary fifth-graders have graduated to middle school since then, and Parkland still hasn't received a penny.
According to the state, there's no telling when the district will.
The planning and Construction Workbook, Pennsylvania's system for public school construction and reimbursement, is so backlogged that 188 projects that reached the eighth step have yet to be approved for reimbursement. An additional 166 projects already are in the "PlanCon" pipeline, and the state issued a moratorium in October to prevent school districts from submitting new plans.
The House Democratic Policy Committee will hold a hearing about the problem Tuesday in Newtown Township, Bucks County.
And the state Department of Education is conducting a review of the process to determine how to pay the money the state owes and avoid a backlog in the future.
It's unknown whether the state will continue to provide direct reimbursement for school districts and there is no timetable for how long the process of restructuring PlanCon will take, Education Department spokesman Tim Eller said.
In the meantime, school districts such as Parkland are footing the bills themselves.
Jay Himes, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials, called the state's delayed payments "horribly unfair."
"There are dozens of districts who are in this two-to-three-years-and-growing waiting period that followed an unbelievably bureaucratic process," Himes said. "School districts don't get to say, 'We're not going to pay that bill.' In this case, that's what the state told districts — 'We don't have the money so we're not paying.'"
-- Adam Clark Iowa City School Board votes to close Hoover Elementary School-- KWWL.com Iowa: July 23, 2013 [ abstract] Tuesday was an emotional night for many parents in Iowa City. The Iowa City School Board voted to close Hoover Elementary School. It won't happen for a few more years but parents are upset.
The school means a lot to the community. Parents in Iowa City value neighborhood schools. Hoover basically sits in the parking lot for City High, so the school board voted to close this school to allow for expansion at the high school.
"I don't really want to lose any of my friends and I like to play on the playground," said Lily Lumb, Hoover Student.
The six-year-old loves her school.
"I think Hoover is special because I can walk to school and I like it because I don't really like to drive that much," said Lumb.
Tuesday the Iowa City School Board voted to close Hoover Elementary School. The move comes after months of review by a facilities master planning committee.
"I voted no," said Marla Swesey, School board President. "But I honestly think that this is probably the best move for the district for right now."
Armed with t-shirts and signs, parents spoke out for their kids in hopes of keeping Hoover.
"The question must be asked---why are considering closing something that is actually working," said Melanie Sigafoose, Parent.
-- Michelle Corless, Multimedia Journalist New high school tour brings planning, blueprints to life-- Alexandria Echo Press Minnesota: July 19, 2013 [ abstract] Alexandria School Board members donned hard hats and safety vests Monday evening and ventured inside the shell of the new Alexandria Area High School.
The tour of the new high school construction seemed to breathe life into months and months of meetings, blueprints and planning.
Dean Anderson, school board chair, said, “I was impressed with the quality of the construction. Both the exactness and accuracy of a project of this size and the strength and robustness of the structure. We are getting a very quality building. Credit goes to the design team, the architects, the construction managers, the contractors and especially the workers who seem to take a great deal of pride in their work and the product they are producing for us. The tour was also a real motivational boost of adrenaline as I think about all the progressive programming and the new teaching techniques going into making Alexandria an exemplary high school for the rest of the state and the nation.”
The tour included a swing through the auditorium, gymnasiums, student commons, media center and classroom wings, as well as a third-story view over the stadium, tennis courts and ballfields.
-- Amy Chaffins District officials to talk facilities master plan's future-- The Daily Iowan Iowa: July 16, 2013 [ abstract] Ahead of tonight’s meeting, one Iowa City School Board member said many questions remain unanswered after the Facilities Steering Committee presented two recommendations for the future of the district’s schools.
“I think there’s a lot of questions that are still out there,” School Board member Tuyet Dorau said.
She said she believes the biggest concerns for the community involve how school boundaries may change and how the district will pay for the chosen plan.
“I don’t think there’s ever going to be a perfect plan,” she said, noting it’s important for people to welcome compromise.
School Board members will meet tonight to further discuss a plan for the district’s future. The discussion will revolve around two recommendations " A and B " set forth by the Facilities Master planning Steering Committee.
The committee started a series of six committee meetings and seven public-input meetings earlier this year as a way to craft a plan for future and potential construction projects.
Under A, Hills Elementary would be rebuilt at its present location and would add 100 students.
Roosevelt Elementary, now repurposed as the Roosevelt Education Center, and Hoover would be swing facilities and would close after other facilities are renovated or constructed. A new high school would be built, and North Central Junior High in North Liberty would see a more than 100-student addition. Additionally, two Iowa City and one northern Johnson County elementary schools would also open, and Longfellow and Mann would be renovated.
-- KRISTEN EAST Panel faces up to hard choices for city schools-- Warwick Beacon Rhode Island: July 16, 2013 [ abstract] The School Department’s long-term planning facilities committee met last week to discuss a mission statement for the group, but it turned into a discussion of what went wrong during the hearings on closing Gorton Junior High School.
“What I saw was the School Committee being pitted against administration. The long-term facilities committee being lumped into the category of a negative entity that’s a sub-committee of the administration, when in fact we are a sub-committee of the School Committee,” said Jacqueline Harris-Connor, a member of the committee who joined as a concerned parent, community member and taxpayer.
At the July 11 meeting, she said the way the discussion to close Gorton occurred and the hearings regarding the issue were an “embarrassment” to the city.
Harris-Connor said the committee should have been in front of the story, and part of the problem was the division of the group into a long-term and short-term committee.
“When you subdivided us, you left an entire portion of the committee out of the conversation,” she said, adding that those left out were, for the most part, community members.
She also recalled her 11-year-old daughter coming home from school saying her science teacher had told the class to get their parents to the hearings because they wanted to close their school.
“Because we weren’t ahead of it, it became bigger than it needed to be,” said Harris-Connor.
Harris-Connor also admitted that she did not fully understand that funding from closing a building would not be found elsewhere, and hopes that the message will be able to reach the community this time around.
-- Jennifer Rodrigues City wants vacant school building rezoned-- Springfield News-Sun Ohio: July 15, 2013 [ abstract] The city wants to rezone the former Madison Street School parcel to make it more attractive to sell and to keep out any possible apartment complexes that city officials say neighbors don’t want.
The city-owned 6-acre parcel at 600 W. Madison St., on which sits the nearly 60,000 square foot vacant school built in 1939 and zoned as office/apartment, has become a burden to the city, City Manager Kim Jones said.
“We’re trying to market it to sell it, and the neighbors do not want apartment complexes there,” she said. “To try to help that situation there, we thought we’d rezone it the largest that we have in the city, which is (low density residential) so that apartments aren’t permitted.”
If approved, the R-2 zoning would permit single-family homes, places of worship and schools and academic institutions, though several conditional-use permits could be issued to the landowner.
Those include private, non-commercial recreational areas or facilities, necessary public facilities and utilities, cemeteries and home occupations.
There’s been no opposition to the rezoning itself, she said, but there was resident opposition to an alleged change of meeting time of the city’s planning board, during which the topic was discussed.
-- Mark McGregor Settlement will aid school construction-- Wyoming Tribune Eagle Wyoming: July 12, 2013 [ abstract] Funds for school construction planning are part of a recent agreement between Laramie County School District 1 and the state School Facilities Department.
The agreement lets the district move forward with planning work on both a proposed new elementary school in the east triad and the rebuild of Cheyenne’s Davis Elementary, which is currently at 6309 Yellowstone Road, according to the settlement.
“(The) two biggest parts of the agreement (were) they went ahead and agreed that the Davis project would move forward with some additional capacity, and the school would be replaced and expanded, and they agreed to put (in) planning and design money for an east capacity school,” LCSD1 Superintendent Mark Stock said.
The proposed capacity school is slated to be a fifth and sixth grade building near Cheyenne’s Anderson Elementary, which is at 2204 Plain View Road, southeast of Storey Boulevard and Converse Avenue, assistant superintendent of support operations Dave Bartlett said.
However, the district also is waiting on final approval from the school facilities director to free up some of the funding, he said.
“There’s $10 million out there to help with the schools,” Bartlett said. “We’re waiting for the interim director to approve our grade reconfiguration request.”
The district needs approval from the Wyoming Department of Education and the school facilities director of its request to change the grade-level configuration at the elementary level, Stock said. The change would split elementary schools into kindergarten through fourth grade buildings and fifth and sixth grade buildings n much like the current split in Cheyenne’s Deming and Miller elementary schools.
The grade reconfiguration is part of the district’s plan to reduce overcrowding and forced busing, he said.
The Education Department has already given its approval, he said. However, the district is still waiting to hear from the school facilities director.
-- Aerin Curtis Sweep of St. Mary’s school construction projects nets half-million dollars-- Southern Maryland Newspapers Online Maryland: July 12, 2013 [ abstract] A sweep of completed school construction projects netted more than half a million dollars in unspent funds, which will be returned to county coffers.
The St. Mary’s board of education approved Wednesday transferring $580,175 back to the county commissioners in leftover funds from completed or nearly completed projects, Kim Howe, director of capital planning and green schools, said.
Much of the money was planned for renovations to come in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Those projects were completed using other monies through scheduled renovations or money from the state dedicated to aging schools, Howe said.
The returned money also includes $119,000 from the $11.6 million renovation at Leonardtown Middle School completed a year and a half ago.
Other money returned was from various refunds given to the school system from construction contractors.
There is still about $74,000 left from a sewer line project at Margaret Brent Middle School, but that is tied up in legal issues, Howe said.
“We’re not closing out that project at this time,” she said.
Spring Ridge renovation plans approved
The school board on Wednesday also approved education specification plans for the Spring Ridge Middle School renovation.
-- Jesse Yeatman D.C. parents, activists offer mixed reaction to Catania's bills-- Washington Post District of Columbia: July 09, 2013 [ abstract] Critics argue that the facilities bill is shortsighted and hastens the transfer of public assets into private hands.
Catania's bill misses the point, said Mary Filardo of the 21st Century Schools Fund, an expert in school facilities. The problem is not that charters don't have enough access to buildings, she said, but that the District has no comprehensive plan for facilities and ends up using school buildings and capital dollars inefficiently.
Filardo said she's also concerned that if Catania's bill becomes law, 40 years from now, the city will have disposed of so many of its buildings that it will no longer have the public school buildings it needs to educate kids.
â€"What's drawn here is very narrow,†Filardo said. â€"It's a one-way street out of the public sector into the private sector over many years.â€
Catania pushed back, arguing that charter schools typically lease surplus buildings for 25 years — not forever.
He also shrugged off the suggestion that his bill should have paved the way for a more comprehensive approach to facilities planning, saying that the measure was only meant to ensure that the city observes existing law giving charters right of first refusal to DCPS buildings.
â€"It was never introduced as a way to reach nirvana for public facility planning,†he said.
Catania seemed more open to an argument from Matthew Frumin, a parent and former candidate for D.C. Council, that the bill should require charter schools, like DCPS, to share data on facilities use and future needs.
â€"That could be very powerful,†Catania said. â€"I think it will help illustrate for planning purposes what's coming down the pike.â€
Activists want greater independence for the Office of the State Superintendent of Education.
A provision in Catania's governance bill would make the State Superintendent of Education dismissible only for cause and by vote of the State Board of Education.
It's a wonky tweak that Ken Archer, a D.C. parent who contributes to the blog Greater Greater Washington, argues would make a big difference, insulating OSSE from the mayor and giving the agency greater latitude to make politically difficult decisions on issues such as closing schools and investigating cheating.
Greg Masucci, a parent of a special-needs child, also spoke in favor of the measure.
Masucci is battling the school system, arguing that his son is regressing in public school and has a legal right to a private-school placement. He argued that OSSE hearing officers charged with deciding such cases cannot be unbiased when they work for a mayor who came into office promising to cut the number of private placements in half by 2014.
-- Emma Brown Yonkers awaits finance study of private role in rebuilding schools-- lohud.com New York: July 06, 2013 [ abstract] An independent commission studying the school system’s plans for a public-private partnership to rebuild the city’s schools likely will offer its findings to Mayor Mike Spano this week.
The commission’s findings on the project’s financial prospects could affect the city’s support, which is crucial if the school system is to be able to move forward. School officials think a public-private partnership may be the only way to address the city’s crumbling, overcrowded schools.
“We did what the mayor asked us to do, look at the financial data,” said former Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, one of four members of the commission appointed by Spano. “This is not an exercise in social science or broad economic policy. We stick to the numbers.”
Brodsky did not want to reveal the findings before Spano sees them.
The school system has been carefully planning a $1.7 billion public-private partnership " known as a P3 " for several years. A group of consultants chosen by the district produced a report in March that supported an initial phase affecting six schools at a cost of up to $1 billion.
At that point, Spano asked the commission to independently look at the numbers.
Yonkers would be the first U.S. public school system to rebuild and refurbish schools using a P3. Under a P3, a group of private companies would contract to build or renovate and then operate city-owned schools for a period of years.
-- Gary Stern Not Enough Comprehensive Planning in Council’s School Facilities Proposal-- DC Fiscal Policy Institute District of Columbia: July 02, 2013 [ abstract] This Wednesday, the DC Council will hold a hearing on a bill that would make it much easier for public charter schools to gain access to facilities not being used by the DC Public Schools system. The District’s charter schools, which enroll more than 40 percent of DC students, have a great demand for adequate buildings, but advocates say the current process of trying to transfer unused DCPS facilities to charter schools is difficult and lacks transparency.
The Comprehensive planning and Utilization of School Facilities Act of 2013calls for an annual review of school facilities and establishes a process for surplus DCPS properties no longer needed for classroom, instruction, swing space or administrative purposes. The bill would require the Chancellor to submit an “Educational Facilities Plan” every year to describe DCPS facility needs for the next five years and offer recommendations on whether or not vacant properties will be needed in the near future. The District’s Department of General Services would determine which DCPS properties are considered surplus and keep a list of such properties online. The proposed bill would begin this process by declaring 12 DCPS properties, many of which were closed this past year, as surplus.
Many public charter schools say they are unable to secure suitable facilities to meet their needs due to the high cost of real estate in DC. According to this bill, “high-performing and financially sound” public charter schools would be one of the types of entities given the “right of first offer,” or the first pick of surplus DCPS facilities to buy or sign a long-term lease. The proposed bill also would allow the Public Charter School Board to sue the District on behalf of a public charter school if the District does not comply with the first-offer requirement.
The intent of this legislation is to promote better planning and use of school facilities " a good goal addressing a real need " but it falls short. While it tries to resolve the issue of getting surplus facilities in the hands of charter schools, the proposal needs to establish more flexibility for DCPS to reclaim properties in the future after they are leased to private entities, if there is a need. For example, what if a public charter school obtains a long-term lease for a DCPS building next year, but five years from now is using only half of the facility? The legislation should allow the District to reclaim the unused space under these conditions.
-- Soumya Bhat Planners OK restoration of one-room schoolhouse-- ThisWeek Community News Ohio: July 02, 2013 [ abstract] A living museum in the form of a one-room schoolhouse is one step closer to becoming a reality in Gahanna.
The Gahanna planning Commission on June 26 approved a site plan, landscaping, building design and signage for a late 1860s school building to be rebuilt at 515 Havens Corners Road, near the playground at Lincoln Elementary School.
The old schoolhouse, also known as Jefferson Township No. 2 School, was in front of the YMCA on U.S. Route 62 and had been converted into a garage.
Tom Gregory, a speech and television-production teacher at Gahanna Lincoln High School, led the effort to save the building when it was slated to be demolished a year ago. The school was on what was known as the Mechwart Farm, and various Gahanna families from local farms had sent their children to the school.
About $6,200 in donations was collected for the one-room school that will be used as a teaching tool for various classes in the Gahanna-Jefferson school district, including U.S. history, American literature, local government, global studies and drama.
"Bricks were taken down brick by brick, and they're stored at Middle School South," said Jan Elzey, the applicant at the planning Commission. "We thought we would build (at South) originally, but the schools feel this is a better site. We'd use the restrooms at the football field."
When the school is rebuilt, planning and zoning administrator Bonnie Gard said, it will look similar to Johnstown's Cornell one-room school that has window shutters and a bell tower on top.
She said a split-rail fence would be installed around the building. Landscaping will be added, as well as a paver path with stone entry.
Once reassembled, it will be open at specific times for students and the public to visit.
-- MARLA K. KUHLMAN Safer schools start with design, not security-- Daily Journal of Commerce National: June 27, 2013 [ abstract] rime prevention through environmental design, or CPTED, is a multidisciplinary strategy to deter criminal behavior through environmental and architectural design.
CPTED first caught the public eye in the early 1970s, but its fundamental principles have influenced architects, designers, civil engineers and security planners for thousands of years. CPTED concepts influenced designers of the Great Wall of China, the palace of Versailles and the ancient city of Alexandria.
Designers of castles, forts, cities and fortresses throughout history have incorporated the natural environment and architectural creativity to improve security. These principles became the basis of modern CPTED doctrine, which now guides consultants and designers around the world in creating safer cities and buildings.
CPTED strategies combine natural environments, building features, space planning and human psychology to influence personal decisions that precede criminal acts.
These strategies manifest themselves in a variety of design features such as landscaping elements, water features, pedestrian traffic flows and lighting, just to name a few. In most cases, implementation costs less than traditional approaches where security often becomes an afterthought for architectural planners.
5 design principles
CPTED-driven campuses and buildings require less security technology and can be supported by more efficient security staffing plans. By applying these logical and proven design philosophies, projects can improve public safety and reduce the potential for criminal acts:
• Natural surveillance refers to the placement of physical features such as trees, lighting, building elements and space layout to maximize visibility.
-- Scott McChesney and Nathan Larmore When a new school is the only game in town-- Daily Journal of Commerce Washington: June 27, 2013 [ abstract] When designing a new high school how do you determine the “right” vision for the future of education in your community? How does a small community take a chance on any particular vision when they only have one high school to “experiment” with?
That was the challenge Woodland School District in Cowlitz County faced when they chose to replace their high school. As they say, it’s the “only game in town.”
What the future holds
There are many visions for the future of education. Some emphasize online learning while others feature science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Programs that accentuate project-based learning and demonstration of proficiency also have supporters.
Fostering creativity and innovation are hallmarks of some models and many call for a greater connection between community resources and the amenities within the school. Some models claim to look out to the year 2020, others to 2025. The fact is, we are already planning schools that will be a few years old when that future arrives, and the buildings will last decades past those milestones.
There are some common characteristics of learning environments among the themes listed above. In addition to mastery of content, there is a focus on developing skills related to inquiry, creativity, teamwork and problem solving.
The models call for more collaboration among peers and working in teams. Less time during the school day is spent on the delivery of curriculum content, and more on the retrieval of relevant information to solve problems related to the curriculum.
-- Michael McGavock Teachers, parents dream up school upgrades-- statesman.com Texas: June 26, 2013 [ abstract] “Our priority is learning, and we’re building these concepts with the expectation that students will leave Eanes for a changing world.” " Consultant Judith Hoskens
The facilities master planning committee for the Eanes school district brainstormed June 20 on what changes they would make to each school campus, with many focusing on increased collaboration and getting rid of portable buildings.
The meeting is one of a series of meetings to help Eanes school district figure out where to focus as they update their facilities for 21st century learning, Cunningham Group consultant Judith Hoskens said.
“A lot of work has taken us to this day,” Hoskens said. “Our priority is learning, and we’re building these concepts with the expectation that students will leave Eanes for a changing world.”
Hoskens noted that the committee, comprised of teachers, parents and administrators, had made several priorities clear. Among them was the importance of outdoor learning, smaller settings for middle school students and considering adding a new elementary to serve the western side of the district.
The committee spent several hours split up into groups for each school, using colored blocks to illustrate their vision for restructuring the schools to more ideally fit student and teacher needs. Hill Country Middle School Principal Kathleen Sullivan presented her team’s ideas, which focused on creating more space for a growing student population.
“One of the things that came to our attention is there isn’t enough space for our 950 students, so we got dreamy and decided to go up, adding another level,” she said. “We also took out the tennis court and put in a fine arts building and gave them some really good space.”
-- Rachel Rice State Senate Votes On School Repair-- WABI-TV5 Maine: June 19, 2013 [ abstract] On Tuesday, the Senate voted 22"13 in favor of a measure to allow schools in need of repair to begin the process of rebuilding.
The measure would allow the top 12 schools on the Major Capital School Construction Priority List which have not been approved to receive state aid for reconstruction to begin the pre-planning process for building or rebuilding their schools. Schools seeking state aid must apply with the State Board of Education. School projects are ranked based on need, and the State Board approves schools as funds become available. Schools not approved for funding by the State Board must wait for assistance.
Seventy-one schools applied for aid, and only six were approved. The remaining sixty-five schools, all with various levels of need, will be penalized by the State Department of Education if they move forward with their projects.
The bill, LD 1235, “An Act Regarding School Construction,” now moves to the House for further votes.
-- Staff Writer School officials take next steps toward solving overcrowding-- Baltimore Sun Maryland: June 10, 2013 [ abstract] As he approaches the end of his first year in office, Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent Dallas Dance has begun to untangle the messy knot of school overcrowding left for him by his predecessors.
Even as Dance and his team are making a point to include stakeholders in the most affected communities — principally in southwest Baltimore County and the Towson area — community leaders are finding it difficult to look beyond past inadequacies and performances by the school system in addressing overcrowded schools.
"I think everybody has been willing to give Dr. Dance the benefit of the doubt," Del. Steve Lafferty, of Towson said. "At the same time, the folks who have been doing the planning for the last couple of years need to improve their game a little. It's just not been adequate, clearly, or we wouldn't find ourselves in the same position."
On Wednesday, June 12, at 6:30 p.m., at the new Carver Center, BCPS is holding a meeting to update Towson parents on the elementary school overcrowding situation. County Executive Kevin Kamenetz included 700 elementary school seats in the York Road corridor in his FY2014 budget, and some of those seats appear allocated for Towson.
Last month's meeting at Carver was the latest in nearly a decade of efforts to alleviate school overcrowding. Families at Rodgers Forge Elementary brought the overcrowding issue to BCPS's attention in 2005, said Towson Families United founder Cathi Forbes.
The school system didn't acknowledge there was a problem until 2007, when work began on a 451-seat West Towson Elementary on Ridge Ruxton's campus, as well as additions at Stoneleigh Elementary and Hampton Elementary.
-- Jon Meoli No guarantee of state funding help for Portland school renovation plan-- Bangor Daily News Maine: June 06, 2013 [ abstract] While the School Board is betting on $30 million in state funding to help build a new elementary school and renovate another, the state remains hesitant to make any promises.
On Tuesday night, the board was expected to hold the first public reading of the final, nearly $40 million renovations plan for several elementary schools developed by Oak Point Associates of Biddeford.
Board members and School Department staff are pinning hopes on receiving the state funding they applied for two years ago for two of the most urgent school projects: a new Hall Elementary School and expansion of Longfellow Elementary School. The aid would significantly reduce the potential borrowing burden for renovations at three other elementary schools.
The amount the district is planning to bond is lower than earlier projections of $46 million and far less than the $72.4 million proposed in other, more elaborate renovation proposals presented by Oak Point.
Peter Eglinton, the department’s chief operations officer, wrote in a recommendation to the board released Friday in support of the renovation campaign that the district is likely to receive state funding to renovate Hall, and possibly Longfellow elementary schools. Neither one is factored into the borrowing proposal.
“We recognize the challenge of acting on Lyseth, Presumpscot, and Reiche schools in the absence of a formal state decision on Hall and Longfellow,” Eglinton said in the May 31 memo. But, “an official from the Maine Department of Education has indicated a virtual certainty of state funding for Hall; with a good chance for support of Longfellow.”
But Jim Rier, deputy commissioner at the Department of Education, said while there is a “high likelihood” that the state will identify Hall for funding in the next construction round, how quickly the district will get the money is uncertain.
-- Will Graff, The Forecaster No guarantee of state funding help for Portland school renovation plan-- Bangor Daily News Maine: June 05, 2013 [ abstract] PORTLAND, Maine " While the School Board is betting on $30 million in state funding to help build a new elementary school and renovate another, the state remains hesitant to make any promises.
On Tuesday night, the board was expected to hold the first public reading of the final, nearly $40 million renovations plan for several elementary schools developed by Oak Point Associates of Biddeford.
Board members and School Department staff are pinning hopes on receiving the state funding they applied for two years ago for two of the most urgent school projects: a new Hall Elementary School and expansion of Longfellow Elementary School. The aid would significantly reduce the potential borrowing burden for renovations at three other elementary schools.
The amount the district is planning to bond is lower than earlier projections of $46 million and far less than the $72.4 million proposed in other, more elaborate renovation proposals presented by Oak Point.
Peter Eglinton, the department’s chief operations officer, wrote in a recommendation to the board released Friday in support of the renovation campaign that the district is likely to receive state funding to renovate Hall, and possibly Longfellow elementary schools. Neither one is factored into the borrowing proposal.
“We recognize the challenge of acting on Lyseth, Presumpscot, and Reiche schools in the absence of a formal state decision on Hall and Longfellow,” Eglinton said in the May 31 memo. But, “an official from the Maine Department of Education has indicated a virtual certainty of state funding for Hall; with a good chance for support of Longfellow.”
But Jim Rier, deputy commissioner at the Department of Education, said while there is a “high likelihood” that the state will identify Hall for funding in the next construction round, how quickly the district will get the money is uncertain.
He said funding could take a few years, and added that Longfellow is more of a long shot.
“With Longfellow, I’m less confident,” he said. “There’s a possibility we’ll get to it in this particular round, but I can’t be certain of that.”
School districts receive funding from the state based on where they rank on a priority list that is periodically updated at the discretion of the education commissioner.
-- Will Graff, The Forecaster Residential development following new school construction -- bgdailynews.com Kentucky: May 04, 2013 [ abstract]
New school construction in the Warren County schools has spawned nearby development.
Jody Richards Elementary School was planned for an area on Elrod Road that had potential for development in Ivan Downs but had initially languished. Once construction began and was completed over two years, even more homes have popped up.
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The original developer of Ivan Downs sold the undeveloped portion of the subdivision that has since become Belle Haven. “That is almost full now, and the second section of it has the streets under development,” said Mac Yowell, director of Warren County Public Works.
Yowell has kept an eye on the development in that area because of how it can impact the county road. Once the school was constructed, some stormwater improvements were needed so that the road wouldn’t flood.
“I definitely think that the school has helped spur development there,” Yowell said. “You can walk right across the neighborhood to the school.”
Now, similar development is taking place near South Warren Middle and High Schools.
“Sometimes development follows schools, and sometimes schools follow development,” said Steve Hunter, executive director of the City-County planning Commission of Warren County.
At least for the Rich Pond area, it appears that development is following the schools. A turn lane on U.S. 31-W and one on Rich Pond Road was constructed to accommodate the new school, and the expansion of 31-W to four lanes in the area is on the drawing board " things that are expected to make residential development in the area attractive.
Sewer also was extended initially to the new school and then to Mike Buchanon Park when the softball fields were added, Yowell said.
“I think that has been an impetus for more growth that direction,” he said. “Because there is sewer, you can have smaller lots and not have to take up valuable land space with a septic system.”
-- ROBYN L. MINOR School Closings Pose Big Challenge for Chicago Public Schools -- Huffington Post Illinois: April 25, 2013 [ abstract] As the saying goes, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Unfortunately, that saying does not bode well for the thousands of children who will be displaced when 54 schools shut down this year.
It's also a bad omen for communities. The last thing Englewood, Austin or any of the neighborhoods -- most of them poor and black -- that stand to lose schools need is another boarded-up vacant building. (CPS says it is "working with community and city departments on a comprehensive planning process to determine the best use for unused buildings.")
With CPS losing enrollment, officials insist that the closings are needed to "right-size" the district, to save money and to provide more resources in schools that will stay open.
But many long-time observers and community activists aren't buying that. They hope for the best, but see no evidence that mass closings, the largest ever in a major urban district, will bring anything but more chaos and turmoil to communities that already struggle with social and economic woes. Our chart in the latest issue of Catalyst In Depth gives readers some hard statistics on the challenges faced by the 54 schools and their neighborhoods.
As we report in our latest issue, members of the Chicago Educational Facilities Task Force, which was created by lawmakers, are already sounding the alarm about children "falling through the cracks."
That fear is based in part on what happened last year, when CPS shut down four small elementary schools and displaced 467 students. CPS now cannot account for the whereabouts of 51 of those children, slightly more than one in 10 students. Yes, that's a small number. But as task force members point out, what about the multiplier effect with 54 closings instead of four? If CPS can't adequately track 467 children, why believe they can track thousands?
-- Lorraine Forte State board approves school safety guidelines-- The Baltimore Sun Maryland: April 23, 2013 [ abstract] In the wake of the deadly bombings in Boston and the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, the Maryland State Board of Education on Tuesday approved new emergency planning guidelines meant to help local school systems better prepare for disaster.
"It's very timely that we're here today, given the events that occurred last week," said Chuck Buckler, executive director of the student services and strategic planning branch of the Maryland State Department of Education.
The 218-page document updates safety guidelines developed a decade ago and emphasizes the creation of individualized plans that address multiple hazards, from school shootings to tornadoes. But its developers were careful to stress that the text could only do so much.
It "means nothing" if the local school systems don't adopt it and put it into regular practice, said Sally Dorman, a psychological services specialist for the MSDE.
Among the recommendations are conducting an assessment of core buildings to determine how well they can weather different hazards, making sure that access to facilities is controlled, and requiring that schools conduct multiple drills for different scenarios — including severe weather, lockdowns, sheltering in place and evacuations — throughout the year.
School shootings in Baltimore County on the first day of school last August and in Newtown, Conn., where 26 elementary school students and staff members were fatally shot in December, demonstrated the need for a clear, concise strategy. Some area school systems reviewed their policies after the tragedies, but their commitment to implementing safety plans varies, Buckler acknowledged.
He added that new regulations governing how the systems put their plans in place are also in the works and will likely be brought to the board next month.
-- Tricia Bishop Wake schools look to promote diversity-- News Observer North Carolina: April 23, 2013 [ abstract] Wake County is planning once again to try to keep any school from having too many low-income students, but school board members say families shouldn’t worry that the effort will mean mass shuffling of students.
Democratic school board members on Tuesday said they’re in support of a draft student-assignment policy that would aim to minimize the number of schools with high concentrations of low-performing students and students from low-income families.
But board members also said they realize that student assignment isn’t the only way to promote diversity and equity. They said the assignment changes will be put in place along with a policy to provide equity for students and the formation of a new office to promote diversity and equity.
“We want the public to know that when we’re looking at student achievement, our focus is not just on student assignment,” said board member Susan Evans, a Democrat. “We are putting the focus on equity to promote student achievement for everyone in Wake County.”
The board is scheduled to vote on the revisions to the student-assignment policy May 7.
Also on Tuesday, the board voted 7-2 for a resolution supporting keeping the current school board election districts. Republican board members Deborah Prickett and John Tedesco were the dissenters.
The vote comes a day after the state Senate passed a bill changing the boundaries for all nine Wake school board seats and moving the elections to even-numbered years. The bill awaits a vote in the state House.
Opponents of the bill charge that it’s payback for the 2011 defeat of the Republican school board majority that had eliminated socioeconomic diversity from the assignment policy.
-- T. Keung Hui Wyoming school design and planning funds approved-- Casper Star-Tribune Online Wyoming: April 21, 2013 [ abstract] The Wyoming School Facilities Commission approved funds for planning and design of 19 projects intended to aid school districts running out of classroom space.
A $10 million allocation by the 2013 state Legislature was divvied among 18 districts.
The list includes $1 million to fund the design of a new elementary school in the Natrona County School District.
NCSD officials now plan to explore where a new, yet-unnamed elementary school for 384 students may go, said Dennis Bay, executive director of business services for the district.
“Right now we have a wonderful problem in that we don’t have the capacity in all of our schools for all of the kids that are coming to the district,” Bay said. “So it’s a great problem to have. Now we need to develop, as soon as possible, a solution to that problem.”
Thursday’s action in Casper was a step toward that solution, Bay said. He said he believes it satisfies the intent of a recently released School Facilities Department study that found a capacity problem in Natrona County and outlined solutions during the next few years.
The district was recently forced to increase class sizes from 17 to 18 students per teacher for kindergarten through third grade because of lack of schools.
-- ELYSIA CONNER D.C. school boundary revisions will not be ready before the fall, officials say-- Washington Post District of Columbia: April 01, 2013 [ abstract] D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson’s politically sensitive effort to overhaul school boundaries is moving more slowly than anticipated and will not be finalized in June as planned, officials said Monday.
Work on the revisions will continue throughout the summer and into the fall, according to spokeswoman Melissa Salmanowitz. Despite the delay, the changes are still expected to take effect for the 2014-15 school year.
“We want to make sure this process is as thorough and inclusive as possible,” Salmanowitz wrote in an e-mail. “It takes time to get all the right pieces together.”
The comprehensive review of boundaries, feeder patterns and enrollment policies is the first since the 1970s and could trigger a broad and divisive fight over access to some of the city’s highest-performing schools.
When the chancellor announced the undertaking this past fall, she said her staff would begin holding community meetings on proposed boundary changes in January.
Since then, no meetings have been held. No proposals have been made. And anxiety among parents " including among those who purchased their homes based on school zones " has been building.
“As months have been passing, parents have been wondering and asking,” said Jenny Backus, a mother at Lafayette Elementary, which feeds into Alice Deal Middle and Woodrow Wilson High, two of the city’s most sought-after and overcrowded schools. “I think there are some worries out there that we don’t know what’s happening yet.”
Backus is among more than a dozen Lafayette parents who began organizing months ago to defend the school’s boundaries and feeder pattern. They pleaded their case to schools officials in an online letter that has been signed by more than 300 people.
“We don’t want to wake up in a month and realize somehow we missed an opportunity to get our voices heard,” Backus said. “We know they have a really hard job and they’re going to try to balance a lot of competing interests.”
The boundary issue comes at a busy time for schools officials, who are preparing to close 13 schools in June and planning for the subsequent displacement of more than 2,500 students.
Henderson has floated the possibility of eliminating high school boundaries, replacing assigned neighborhood schools with magnets open to applicants citywide. But otherwise she has provided few clues about what might be in the offing.
The chancellor told D.C. Council members in March that boundaries-related work has been proceeding, even though it hasn’t been visible. Consultants have pulled together demographic and other data to inform decisions.
Now the school system is convening a task force that will be responsible for recommending changes to the chancellor based on community members’ questions and concerns.
The task force will include about 20 members of varied backgrounds, officials said, including parents from each ward; residents familiar with schools, neighborhoods and history; legal and policy experts; and D.C. government officials.
-- Emma Brown Making the grade: Administrators: School upgrades improve student outcomes -- The tribune-democrat Pennsylvania: March 31, 2013 [ abstract] Schoolhouses used to be tiny. In the 19th century, most were a single, vaulted room with rows of benches that could seat little more than a dozen pupils. They were usually painted white or bright red " the cheapest of paint colors at the time.
My, how things have changed. Education isn’t a luxury anymore " it’s a necessity. And 21st century school administrators aren’t just throwing up a plank shed in an afternoon and employing schoolmarms to teach the three ‘R’s’ " they’re planning and commissioning multiacre complexes to host a vast array of academic programs that cater to an ever-growing palette of student interests.
“A project (like this) is very consuming,” said Tom Fleming, superintendent for Richland School District. “At every phase of planning and construction, a decision needs to be made. It’s quite a process.”
The Richland Senior High School is the most recently developed in our area. Although the district’s decision to build was a reactive one " the former middle school building’s roof collapsed in 2003, diverting students to nearby Rachel Hill Elementary " Fleming said the board was committed to a new structure that could grow with the student body and the Richland community.
The three-phase project, which administrators would later tweak to house both middle and high school students, had a price tag around $40 million. It was commissioned by L.R. Kimball & Associates of Ebensburg and came in pieces: The Richland athletics turf field was in first, eight years ago, the fieldhouse " housing locker rooms and weight training areas " came a year after that, and students were filling the classrooms in 2007.
“We wanted to give equal space, expense and attention to the athletics side of the building as well as the arts side of the building,” Fleming said. “So, to have a facility that’s capable of hosting the events that a school is able to take on is something that’s a benefit and something we definitely considered in our planning.”
-- Justin Dennis More than just Hanover: Pa. owes many school districts money-- Evening Sun Pennsylvania: March 30, 2013 [ abstract] School districts waiting years for construction reimbursement from the state are banding together in hopes of initiating a change in Harrisburg.
In an effort to bring the topic to the forefront of the state's 2013-14 budget conversation, representatives from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association are asking affected districts to sign a letter urging government officials to allocate additional funding for construction next year.
Hanover is one of more than 100 districts that have been affected by insufficient funding for the planning and Construction Workbook, also known as PlanCon, according to the association.
"I believe it's a no-brainer," Superintendent Al Moyer said.
In Hanover's case, the Department of Education guaranteed partial reimbursement for the $10.5 million renovations of Washington Elementary and Hanover Street Elementary schools, which were completed in 2011, Business Manager Troy Wentz said. He estimated the department owes Hanover roughly $700,000 to date and the number will continue to rise over the next several years.
"This is one of the big issues that's impacting districts," said Hannah Barrick, government relations director for the association. "We're hearing about it from districts all over the state."
Under Department of Education PlanCon regulations, districts must get approval for projects in each of 11 steps - Part A through
-- KATY PETIFORD D.C. school facilities plan considers charters for the first time-- Washington Post District of Columbia: March 27, 2013 [ abstract] Neighborhoods in Southeast Washington, on Capitol Hill and along the eastern border of Rock Creek Park are among those most in need of school renovations, according to a school facilities plan the Gray administration released Wednesday.
While previous facilities plans outlined projected timelines for individual school construction projects, the new document offers few specifics and no estimate for how much taxpayer money will be needed to meet the projected demand for improved schools.
Instead, the report suggests broad strategies based on expected population growth and current buildings' capacity and physical condition.
Along with investing in certain high-need neighborhoods, the plan recommends upgrading the main entrance of every school and sharing half-empty District facilities with charters and community organizations. It also recommends an overhaul of middle schools, as the city's schools tend to lose enrollment at those grade levels.
The decision to avoid specifics is a sign that city officials are grappling with unanswered questions about how to plan for the coexistence of traditional and charter schools. The 2013 facilities plan is the first in the city's history to consider charters, the taxpayer-funded, independently run public schools that have grown quickly in recent years and now enroll more than 40 percent of the city's students.
â€"We want to take the time to think about how we invest in public education facilities,†said Jennifer Leonard, interim deputy mayor for education, whose office produced the study. She said the data compiled in the plan should inform further discussion. â€"Some of our policies still need to be fleshed out.â€
Some details about specific school construction projects should become available Thursday, when Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) is scheduled to release his fiscal 2014 budget, which will include his spending plan for next year's school renovations.
The master facilities plan, meanwhile, covers the next five years, a period in which the Office of planning forecasts an annual growth of about 2,850 school-age children across the city. Focusing only on physical buildings, the plan does not address school quality or programs and does not discuss the affects of the school system's plan to redraw school boundaries and feeder patterns for the first time in three decades.
The deputy mayor's office produced the plan in consultation with a working group of government and charter-school employees. Scott Pearson, executive director of the D.C. Public Charter School Board, said in a statement that he is â€"pleased to have a seat at the table†in discussions about improving school facilities.
Modernization of the city's crumbling schools was a cornerstone of efforts by Gray's predecessor, Adrian M. Fenty, to improve public education. Since 2008, the District has been on a school-construction blitz, spending nearly $1.5 billion on more than 60 schools.
-- Emma Brown School Closures Pit Race And Poverty Against Budgets-- Vermont Public Radio Vermont: March 23, 2013 [ abstract] In Chicago, parents are fighting to prevent the city from closing 54 public schools. The Chicago Teachers Union is planning a rally against the cost-cutting proposal next week.
School closings are nothing new, but in a growing number of districts around the country, what was once seen as a local decision to close schools has now morphed into a politically charged campaign.
People opposed to school closings have almost never organized beyond their own neighborhoods, let alone marched on Washington, until recently.
Helen Moore, a community organizer from Detroit, joined more than 200 protesters from 18 cities in January to call for a moratorium on school closings nationwide.
"I came here to demand. I ain't asking for not a damn thing," she said at a rally in Washington, D.C. "I'm telling you that I'm demanding an education for our children. They are our schools, they are our children, it is our money."
Finding The Trends
In cities like Detroit and Flint in Michigan, Oakland in California, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia, schools are closing because they're half-empty. The reason they're half-empty has intrigued researchers like Emily Dowdall with The Pew Charitable Trusts.
"We were actually pretty surprised to find that no one else has taken a comprehensive look at this issue," she says.
Dowdall co-authored two recent studies examining school closures in 12 cities, and she says two trends stood out.
"The number of school-age children is falling in these cities, even in cases where the overall population is up," she says. "The second main trend is the growth of charter schools, which has just been very rapid, very massive over the last decade or so."
Minority Communities At Risk
On the national stage, civil rights activists argue that school closings are disproportionately hurting poor, minority communities. Everywhere Dowdall looked, she says, school closings are displacing poor, black and Latino students.
"It's not isolated in one or two cities that have lost lots of population. It's actually very common even in cities that are seen as economic successes, like Washington, D.C., like Chicago," she says.
-- Claudio Sanchez Chicago school activists get trained in civil disobedience tactics-- Washington Post Illinois: March 15, 2013 [ abstract] Chicago Public Schools officials are considering closing as many as 129 public schools said to be under-enrolled " and activists are gearing up for a fight.
The Chicago Teachers Union is co-sponsoring “Citywide Non-Violent Civil Disobedience Trainings” to teach parents, teachers and others protest techniques, including disruptions, occupations and arrests, according to a union press release. The trainings, the release said, are going to be led by political activist and scholar Lisa Fithian, who for decades has been a student, labor and community organizer on a range of issues. Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey will participate in one of the training sessions, which is also being sponsored by the Grassroots Education Movement, a group of community-based organizations from across the city.
Over the last decade some 70 cities have closed public schools, some because they are under-enrolled and others because they are said to be academically failing and more mass closings are on the way. Washington, D.C. officials are planning to close 15 schools, and New York City, which closed more than 140 schools since 2002, recently announced plans to shut 17 more beginning next year.
-- Valerie Strauss Commissioners divided over school allocations-- Somdnews.com Maryland: March 13, 2013 [ abstract] An attempt by Charles County commissioners’ President Candice Quinn Kelly to put a temporary moratorium on developer rights and responsibilities agreements failed quickly Tuesday when three commissioners voted against it.
Following a presentation on the county’s DRRA program, Kelly (D) recommended the commissioners cease granting school allocations through DRRAs until a panel tasked with studying the process finishes its work later in the spring.
Commissioner Ken Robinson (D) voted with Kelly, but Commissioners Reuben B. Collins II (D), Debra M. Davis (D) and Bobby Rucci (D) voted against the motion.
Collins expressed concerns over the legal ramifications of such a move, while Davis said she thought school overcrowding was due to more than DRRAs and Rucci objected to holding up developers who had already poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into their projects.
In Charles County, DRRAs have been used since 2005 to help fund new school construction, providing developers an avenue to build new homes in areas with overcrowded schools in exchange for payments toward increasing school capacity.
Recent proffers have been around $14,500 per home, said Jason Groth, chief of resource and infrastructure management at the Charles County Department of planning and Growth Management.
The county has received payment on 1,396 school allocations through DRRAs since the program started, raising $22.7 million, Groth said. An additional 3,745 allocations have been pledged through 2025, which would raise another $45.6 million.
-- JEFF NEWMAN KIPP DC proposes new high school in Southwest Washington-- Washington Post District of Columbia: March 11, 2013 [ abstract] One of the District’s highest-performing charter schools is proposing to build a high school on public land in Southwest, drawing mixed reviews from those with a stake in that part of the city.
KIPP DC officials said they are aiming to put a campus at the Randall Recreation Center, in the shadow of Interstate 395 on South Capitol Street. KIPP officials said they spent 18 months looking for a centrally located site for the school; Randall is within walking distance of four Metro stations and is about four blocks north of Nationals Park.
Along with building the school, which would include a medical clinic to be operated in partnership with Georgetown University, KIPP DC is promising to renovate or rebuild Randall’s swimming pool, its playing fields and the recreation center.
The nonprofit organization, which has won wide admiration among philanthropists and government officials for its record of preparing poor children for college, would finance the $40 million project privately. There is also an ambitious timeline: KIPP hopes to break ground within a few months so it can open doors to students by summer 2014.
“KIPP DC is always going to operate with a sense of urgency, because we’re on the front lines of trying to educate our city’s kids and reach as many kids as we can,” chief executive Susan Schaeffler said.
Although city officials generally said they would encourage the addition of a high-performing high school, the location has sparked concerns from city and community leaders who worry that it would exclude neighborhood children and conflict with development slated for an adjacent parcel of private property.
The debate illustrates challenges that charter schools face as they seek room to grow. Meanwhile, the city is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to renovate traditional high schools that are struggling to retain students. KIPP DC considered moving into a closed D.C. public school facility, but officials didn’t find any of them suitable.
“This is Exhibit A as to what happens when there’s no facilities planning with regard to public education,” said D.C. Council member David Catania (I-At Large), chair of the education committee, who said he supports KIPP DC’s proposal because the city needs more good schools.
KIPP DC’s sole high school, in Southeast, enrolls about 400 students and can’t grow unless it moves. The organization educates about 3,000 students on three city campuses. A fourth campus is under construction. But the organization aims to serve 5,000 students by 2017, and it needs more space to expand, Schaeffler said.
(The chairman and chief executive of The Washington Post Co., Donald E. Graham, serves on KIPP DC’s board of trustees.)
KIPP DC would like to sign a 50-year lease for the 8.5-acre Randall site, including terms specifying that the rebuilt community center, pool and fields would remain open for public use, said general counsel Alex Shawe.
-- Emma Brown Thousands rally for Baltimore City School Building Funding-- abc2news Maryland: February 26, 2013 [ abstract] Thousands of people turned out at a Rally Monday night in Annapolis in support of rebuilding Baltimore City schools. The rally was in support of a Block Grant Bill.
It's a plan to renovate and rebuild the city's school buildings. The bill includes the creation of a new construction authority that would oversee planning, financing and construction of school projects.
Supporters say the bill is needed because the current system for financing school renovation will not catch up to the needs of Baltimore City School buildings.
Teachers, students and parents at the rally described bad conditions at city schools including: broken windows, hot classrooms and inadequate computer labs. They called upon lawmakers to provide the resources to rebuild the state's oldest school buildings.
The rally was sponsored by the Baltimore Education Coalition. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake and City Schools CEO Dr. Andres Alonzo led the effort to encourage the General Assembly to pass the School Construction Bill.
It comes up for a hearing in the House of Delegates on March 5th.
-- Sherrie Johnson School closings: Combining CPS schools could pose security challenge-- Chicago Tribune Illinois: February 25, 2013 [ abstract] When KIPP charter school was given space inside Penn elementary in North Lawndale nearly four years ago, charter students were bused from all over the West Side to a school in the heart of the "Holy City," home turf of the Vice Lords street gang.
Penn, where classrooms were still equipped with blackboards and where less than half of the students met state standards, had to share its building with a national charter network that furnished its classrooms with state-of-the-art projectors, enforced a strict discipline code and emphasized a path to college.
The cultural schism that developed inside the halls of the building at 1616 S. Avers Ave. led to conflicts between students and even teachers. A mediator had to be called in to settle bickering between the two schools over space.
The neighborhood also resented the outsiders from KIPP using their school. Violence has been a constant threat.
As Chicago Public Schools gets ready to close an unknown number of schools across the city this year, officials acknowledge it's possible that more neighborhood schools could wind up sharing space with privately run charters, which in most cases have greater resources. What happened at Penn and KIPP is a lesson in the trouble that can result from closing schools and shifting students around the city. It also illustrates the stark inequalities that exist throughout the system.
Leaders of Ceasefire say they have helped defuse potential clashes outside the school. The anti-violence group moved its North Lawndale operation into the building this school year.
"The kids themselves, they feel different," said Corin Federick, whose son is an eighth-grader at Penn. "They feel the KIPP kids think they're better than them. It teaches separatism, and that's not OK."
In a neighborhood where gang violence is an everyday occurrence, conflicts over control of a school is a serious concern. The 2009 videotaped beating death of Derrion Albert was the result of a brawl between Fenger High School students from different neighborhoods. Gang alliances and a culture of turf control create daily risks for schoolkids in Chicago.
District officials say security is a primary concern as they decide which buildings to close and which school communities to combine. "CPS knows the importance of reviewing the dynamics involved with merging school communities in planning for a safe environment," Jadine Chou, the district's safety and security chief, said in an email.
But those who've witnessed the tensions brought on by putting Penn and KIPP together say CPS failed to understand the dynamics of the neighborhood.
"When the KIPP kids came, we were like, 'These people don't know where they're at,'"said the Rev. Robin Hood, Ceasefire's administrator for North Lawndale.
-- Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah and David Heinzmann Fargo to create school facilities task force-- Inforum North Dakota: February 18, 2013 [ abstract] Fargo school officials hope to quickly assemble a task force of district residents as part of an ambitious timetable to create a new long-range facilities plan by July.
A school board committee on Monday directed administrators to work with Kansas-based consultant RSP and Associates to assemble a Long Range Facilities planning Task Force in the next couple weeks.
“Get ’er done!” school board member Rick Steen said.
The task force will examine construction scenarios being assembled by Mounds View, Minn.-based ICS Consulting.
Those scenarios " whether to repurpose, repair or replace buildings " would go to the public in April and May for feedback, with the task force using comments to help create a consensus.
That consensus plan or ranking of facilities plans would go to the school board in June, with a decision by July, a timeline document shows.
“It’s entirely doable. … Sometimes deadlines help us perform. Yet, we need to be flexible with those deadlines” said John Strand, chairman of the school board’s ad hoc long-range facilities planning group.
“This is our moment to bring other stakeholders to the table,” he said.
Strand urges people interested in being part of the task force to let board members and top administrators know “sooner rather than later.”
The school board is expected to be presented an early facilities plan by ICS on March 12. The options will include one that focuses on the cost of keeping the status quo.
-- Helmut Schmidt Brennan supports bill to increase cap on school construction bonds-- Portland Daily Sun Maine: February 13, 2013 [ abstract] Portland Mayor Michael Brennan testified Wednesday in support of legislation to return the state's school construction bond cap to $126 million. The current cap is $116 million.
Speaking on behalf of the Mayors' Coalition on Jobs and Economic Development, Brennan testified at a public hearing before the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs in support of LD 91, An Act to Raise the School Construction Bond Cap.
Portland is considering more than $45 million of infrastructure improvements for its elementary schools including more than $16 million for new construction costs associated with a replacement for Fred P. Hall Elementary School at 23 Orono Road. Hall Elementary School was closed after an early morning electrical fire in the building's ceiling on Sept. 17, 2012.
The Portland City Council unanimously approved $3 million for school projects in this year's Capital Improvement Plan, including money for elementary school technology and $700,000 for initial planning of the elementary building improvements. The Portland Public Schools has hired Oak Point Associates, an architectural and engineering firm based in Biddeford, to help plan for replacing Hall Elementary School and renovating or expanding four other elementary schools.
-- Staff Writer Districts owed more than $1 million in construction reimbursements-- Times Tribune Pennsylvania: February 11, 2013 [ abstract] Three area school districts are owed more than $1 million from the state for construction project reimbursements.
The delays are straining districts' finances, as bond payments are due and money expected from the state is nonexistent. The longer the delays, the greater chance student programs or jobs could be affected.
Students at Western Wayne's $21 million EverGreen Elementary School have been in the building for 18 months. The district expects to receive a $6 million reimbursement for the project, but has received nothing.
"If we were to not get any of that, it would cripple us," Interim Superintendent Clay LaCoe, Ed.D., said.
When school districts build new or renovate existing buildings, the state offers the opportunity to apply for reimbursement through PlanCon, an acronym for planning and Construction Workbook. After being approved for PlanCon A through PlanCon H steps, gradual reimbursement begins.
Area districts experiencing a delay have submitted PlanCon H, but months, even more than a year later, are still waiting approval.
As funding is available, projects are approved, said Tim Eller, Department of Education spokesman. There is $296 million in the current budget and another $296 million in the proposed 2013-14 budget for the reimbursements, and 355 projects are within the PlanCon process.
Last year, the state Legislature approved a moratorium on new projects through PlanCon. In his budget unveiled Tuesday, Gov. Tom Corbett proposed extending the moratorium. Projects already in the PlanCon process are able to continue going through the steps.
At Mid Valley, officials expected to receive a reimbursement of 17 percent, or $2.7 million, for the $15.9 million expansion and renovation of the elementary school.
The district is already behind about $500,000 in reimbursements from the state, business manager Joseph Caputo said. As bond payments come due, the district must make up the money by taking from other places, he said.
The Carbondale Area School District expects to be reimbursed for about one-third of the $15 million cost for its high school renovation project.
-- SARAH HOFIUS HALL Sacramento School District Rushing to Close 1/5 of its Elementary Schools-- Daily Kos California: February 10, 2013 [ abstract] On January 16th, the Sacramento City Unified School District announced that it was planning to close 11 elementary schools - 1/5 of the total elementary schools in the entire district. This came as a shock to many, since city voters had just overwhelmingly passed Measures Q and R, providing $414 million in bonds to fund repairs and expansion recommended by the District's own Facilities Master Plan. Now, two months later, the same officials are claiming that a "District Right-Sizing" plan is urgently needed to address budget problems and declines in enrollment. These cuts are so pressing, according to the District, that a final vote on the school closures is being held on February 21st, just five weeks after they were announced.
Parents in Sacramento are raising serious concerns about the process used to select schools to close, the District's failure to follow established practices for school closures, and the possible motives behind this sudden rush to close schools. We'll look into these questions, and local reaction, after the jump.
The Sacramento City Unified School District claims that the 11 schools selected for closure were chosen because they were "severely under-enrolled" and were costing the District too much to keep open. The District came up with their under-enrollment ratings in a very interesting way - instead of consulting district records or talking to principals, they got out the school floor plans to count the number of rooms, or "teachable spaces" in each school, and then used state guidelines for maximum classroom size to determine the Capacity of the school.
This initially led to many non-classroom spaces being counted as "teachable space," and parents complained to the District about the unfair criteria. Cosmo Garvin, a writer for the Sacramento News and Review and Sacramento Current, spoke with several of them in his fantastic article about the proposed cuts.
-- ERTBenFollow Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner calls for schools renovation project in State of the City speech-- syracuse.com New York: January 24, 2013 [ abstract] State lawmakers from Syracuse will submit legislation to authorize up to $300 million in city school renovations that could be used to upgrade as many as 20 schools, Mayor Stephanie Miner is announcing tonight at her State of the City Address.
If the state Legislature approves the plan, the new phase of school renovations would further the efforts undertaken in a first phase that cost $151 million and yielded complete makeovers of four city schools.
Although planning for the first phase started years before she took office, Miner takes credit for bringing the projects to conclusion. She is giving her speech at Dr. Weeks Elementary School on Hawley Avenue, one of the four schools renovated during the first phase.
“Leadership over the last three years that focused like a laser beam on renovating and opening schools has led to beautiful new facilities, like the one we’re in tonight. Our children deserve facilities like these and we are delivering them,” Miner says in her prepared speech.
Legislation authorizing the second phase will be introduced today by Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli and state Sen. John DeFrancisco, Miner says.
-- Tim Knauss Academic Benefits of Schoolyard Habitats-- National Wildlife Federation National: January 16, 2013 [ abstract] The planning, design, implementation, and on-going monitoring and maintenance of a schoolyard habitat provides endless opportunities to meet and exceed high academic standards across the curriculum. Teaching with Schoolyard Habitats® as an integrating context across the subject areas can both support and deepen the quality of instruction and student engagement.
Educators who participate in the Schoolyard Habitats® program realize that use of these outdoor classrooms is an excellent way to meet the requirements of national and state educational standards.
•Science Standards: A schoolyard habitat serves as a living laboratory where students engage in hands-on inquiries into the natural world.
•Geography and Social Studies Standards: Geography and social studies involve understanding connections between people, social constructs and the environment, and the Schoolyard Habitats program can be applied successfully to help teach those connections by assisting students in understanding both space and place.
•Math Standards: A schoolyard habitat provides students with the opportunity to apply math concepts to the real world; whether estimating numbers of plants in an on-site plant community or looking for geometric shapes in nature, an outdoor area is full of mathematical wonders.
•English Standards: A schoolyard habitat provides a quiet space for creative writing about nature or a research laboratory where students can develop research, writing and communication skills.
In today's learning environments, where schools are striving to meet and exceed high standards of learning, educators and youth leaders must be creative in presenting content. The schoolyard can provide a valuable avenue for reinforcing concepts for students.
-- Staff Writer Newtown weighs fate of Sandy Hook Elementary School building-- New York Post Connecticut: January 13, 2013 [ abstract] Talk about Sandy Hook Elementary School is turning from last month's massacre to the future, with differing opinions on whether students and staff should ever return to the building where a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six educators.
Some Newtown residents say the school should be demolished and a memorial built on the property in honor of the victims killed Dec. 14. Others believe the school should be renovated and the areas where the killings occurred removed, like Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., after the 1999 mass shooting.
Those appear to be the two prevailing proposals as the community prepares for public hearings on the school's fate Sunday afternoon and Jan. 18 at Newtown High School. Town officials also are planning private meetings with the victims' families to get their input.
One of Newtown's selectmen, Jim Gaston, said the building's future has become a popular topic of discussion around town.
"It's pretty raw, but people are talking about it," he said. "We'd like to hear from as many people as we can."
It's a bittersweet discussion for parents and former students who have many good memories of Sandy Hook Elementary School, the site where Adam Lanza shot his way into the building and carried out the massacre before committing suicide as police arrived.
"I'm very torn," said Laurie Badick, of Newtown, whose children attended the school several years ago. "Sandy Hook school meant the world to us before this happened. ... I have my memories in my brain and in my heart, so the actual building, I think the victims need to decide what to do with that."
-- Associated Press Writer SD2 makes its case for increasing facilities-- Billings Gazette Montana: January 08, 2013 [ abstract] More than 50 people gathered at McKinley Elementary School on Tuesday night to hear about the next step in School District 2's facility planning process and to ask hard questions of the district leaders.
It's part of a tour by SD2 leaders to neighborhood schools that seeks to inform the public about the district's plan to update, improve and possibly build new schools in Billings. The tour ends next Thursday at Central Heights Elementary.
"What we've tried to do is increase the number of opportunities for people to share in the facilities-planning process," Superintendent Terry Bouck said.
At McKinley — a beloved three-story, red-brick schoolhouse near downtown that's more than 100 years old — residents wanted to know what would become of their school if the district moves forward with its new master facilities plan.
"Are you setting us up to tell us you want to tear down McKinley," called out one of the audience members.
"No," said Lew Anderson, SD2's facilities director. "Absolutely not."
He explained that McKinley was old and as such needed the deferred maintenance money called for in the master facilities plan. He also said given the school's location, it was vital to the district.
"We're always going to have children in this area," he said. "According to the demographers."
A big part of the master facilities plan was a demographic study that showed steady growth for the district over the next decade. SD2 has just more than 16,000 students — nearly a thousand more than it had four years ago. Over the next five years, the number of students is expected to grow to 17,600.
That growth has put classroom space in the district at a premium. Last summer, SD2 leaders were called to meet with the state board of public education to explain its chronically overcrowded classrooms.
The district was told it had to improve or face state sanctions.
The new master facilities plan — commissioned by SD2 and overseen by Billings-based O2 Architects and national design firm DLR Group — tries to solve the classroom space problem.
-- Rob Rogers More questions: charters, partners, and planning-- Community Media Workshop Illinois: December 19, 2012 [ abstract] Mayor Emanuel, CPS chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett and utilization commission chair Frank Clark have taken the position that â€"right-sizing†the district has nothing to do with the district's expansion of charter schools.
One has to do with declining enrollment and snowballing deficits, the other with choice and quality, according to this view.
The argument would work better if CPS's enrollment and utilization numbers held up; if school closings actually saved significant amounts of money; and if charters consistently offered quality rather than undermining most parents' first choice – a quality neighborhood school.
Even then, though, it's hard to separate the proliferation of charters from enrollment declines at neighborhood schools.
[Based on revelations in Tuesday's Tribune, the separation of school closings and charter expansions is purely strategic; when officials say they are unrelated, they are lying.]
A hundred new schools
In the past decade, as CPS lost 30,000 students, it's opened more than 100 new schools with space for nearly 50,000 additional students, according to a new report from CTU.
While CPS closed scores of schools during that period, the number of schools in the district went from 580 to over 680.
â€"To the extent excess capacity exists, the main driver is the district's aggressive charter proliferation campaign,†according to the report. â€"The current ‘utilization crisis' has been manufactured largely to justify the replacement of neighborhood schools by privatized charters.â€
Throughout Renaissance 2010, â€"there was no facilities plan†and facilities decisions were â€"ad hoc and haphazard,†according to CTU's report. Adding to the confusion was the practice of approving charter schools without specifying their location, and some charters' practice of repeatedly relocating their schools.
â€"CPS has opened charters haphazardly, without considering how they affect nearby schools,†according to a Sun Times editorial.
-- Curtis Black What’s the rush to close D.C. schools?-- Washington Post District of Columbia: December 18, 2012 [ abstract] Regarding the Dec. 2 Local Opinions commentary “Do school closings knock kids off course?” by Umut -zek and Michael Hansen:
The 2008 D.C. school closings did not benefit students. At best, the test scores of the students studied by Mr. -zek and Mr. Hansen went down, then reverted to their pre-closing levels. The learning gains and savings predicted by the backers of the closings never materialized, and total enrollment among the affected schools declined by about 3,000 students.
Parents of children in the D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) justifiably fear that more closings will lead to a continued downward spiral. DCPS will become a rump system west of Rock Creek Park, while the rest of the city will be served by DCPS schools enrolling largely very poor and special education students and lottery-admission charter schools for students whose parents can get them in. This would no longer be a true public education system.
Most of the schools now on the chopping block have become under-enrolled because they sit close to an increasing number of competing charter schools. But there’s no plan for relating the two sectors. A master facilities plan and an operating-cost study covering both are in progress, as is a study on school boundaries and feeder patterns. What’s the rush to close so many schools before study and planning are done?
At Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson’s community meetings, the turnout of parents passionately opposed to closings has been impressive. To her credit, Ms. Henderson says she is rethinking the list. We cannot take for granted these fragile communities that believe in their neighborhood school.
-- Op-Ed Mary Levy The proportion of privately run Chicago public schools to increase-- WBEZ Illinois: December 11, 2012 [ abstract] At the same time Chicago Public Schools says it needs to close down schools, maybe as many as 100, it’s planning to open brand new ones.
In a promotional video for a new high school called Intrinsic, illustrations of the city’s skyline and the EL tracks swirl around cartoon students. The students tout their teachers’ credentials and brag about the projects they’re working on.
“The teachers at Intrinsic are great,” says the cartoon boy. “They’ve worked at schools like Walter Payton and Whitney Young.”
Intrinsic is not open yet. It’s one of at least 17 new schools the district wants to open next fall. Fourteen charter and contract schools, run by outside groups and three district-run high schools. (See complete list at the end of this article.)
CPS leaders say 136 schools are half empty. Most of those schools are on the south and west sides of the city. School officials argue it doesn’t make sense to keep running those schools, because it costs money to keep the lights on and school resources get spread too thin.
They say if they consolidate, or “right-size,” they can spend more money on the buildings they do keep open"adding air-conditioning, art and music, all the things people say are missing right now.
But why would the district open schools when it says it has too many already?
“We also need to be strategic and ensure that we are doing everything we can to immediately expand access to high quality school options for parents in every community,” said CPS spokeswoman Becky Carroll.
Carroll also points to areas of the city where classrooms are overcrowded"the heavily Latino north and west sides of the city. She says CPS may need to build or open new schools in those areas.
Phyllis Lockett echoed Carroll’s point about quality. She runs New Schools for Chicago, which has raised more than $30 million to help CPS gradually open charter schools every year for the past decade.
“Saving dollars cannot be the only solution, you’ve got to focus on quality,” Lockett said.
While Lockett equates new schools with quality, the fact is, the new schools the city has created over the last decade have had mixed success.
Some people have said that closing traditional schools and opening charter schools is actually about privatizing education"not about quality or enrollment or anything else.
It’s true that if CPS closes dozens of traditional schools and then opens charters, the proportion of public schools run by private entities jumps significantly.
Think about the math. Right now, 14 percent of CPS’s 681 schools are privately run charter and contract schools.
If the district closes 100 schools, and then opens 60 new charters in the next five years, the percentage of privately run schools could jump up to 27 percent. In a grant application to the Gates Foundation, CPS leaders said they planned to open 100 new schools in the next five years, 60 of them charters. Carroll has said that number was just an estimate based on past growth.
-- Staff Writer SD2 looks at next step in master facilities plan-- Billings Gazette Montana: December 06, 2012 [ abstract] Community members gathered Thursday night and voiced opinions on School District 2's growing master facilities plan and its call for new school construction.
Trustees and district leaders had hoped for a large turnout.
"The intent is to allow our public to ask questions," Superintendent Terry Bouck said.
The master facilities plan is being conducted by Billings-based O2 Architects and national design firm DLR Group. Representatives from both companies were on hand.
â€"This is a critical moment for our school district,†Trustee Greta Besch Moen said. â€"This is the first time we've had a comprehensive systemwide master plan. Our community should be encouraged and reassured.â€
Roughly 50 parents, grandparents, community members and School District 2 staff members gathered at the Lincoln Center board room from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Bouck thanked the community for their support.
Bouck said more than 400 people have attended the community workshops in the past five months.
After a brief summary of the master facilities plan and planning process presented by Bouck, Lew Anderson, executive director of facilities, outlined the district's facility assessment, a 113-page report detailing 2.5 million square feet of space.
The assessment, Anderson said, is not an appraisal of quality of education but of space and capacity to provide a good education to students.
A handful of people addressed the board, planners and community members in the room with their support of the plan as well as their questions and concerns.
Candi Beaudry, city-county planning director, asked the school board and planners how the locations of new schools being built will be selected.
-- Rob Rogers Baltimore County looks to revive aging school infrastructure-- WBALTV11 Maryland: November 21, 2012 [ abstract] Baltimore County is already planning how it will lobby state lawmakers for more state dollars for schools.
One of the top priorities is getting enough money to renovate old schools and build new ones.
From now until state lawmakers return to Annapolis on Jan. 1, government and education leaders will be talking about the need for teamwork.
Students are still learning their way around the new George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Towson. The $89 million building opened a few months ago, in time for the first day of school.
"Carver is one of the crown jewels in Baltimore County, not just because of the academic programs, but also because of the facilities we just saw. But I think what you see now is you see a superintendent and county executive who are really, really committed to working together as a team to make sure we address infrastructure needs for the county," Baltimore County Superintendent Dr. Dallas Dance said.
"It's worth it. I wish we had the ability to keeping building Carver High Schools," Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenentz said.
The county executive couldn't agree more about the need to form a partnership in order to pitch key school projects in Annapolis.
"Well, obviously we all have to work together. It's both the county and the state and remember, in Baltimore County, we have to then compete with dollars with all of the other jurisdictions in this state. Part of the problem in Baltimore County is that 80 percent of our schools are more than 40 years old," Kamenentz said.
Baltimore County is hoping to use many of those same figures to make its case for more dollars, but no one is overlooking the need for input from the County Council and the local school board.
-- Staff Writer Boston schools asking parents for a leap of faith-- Boston Globe Massachusetts: November 18, 2012 [ abstract] Central to the agita over remaking Boston’s byzantine school assignment system is a chicken-and-egg conundrum. The city wants more parents to choose schools close to home, believing that will help improve them. But many parents want to see those schools improve before they’ll send their kids to them.
Everybody agrees it would be beyond great if every kid could walk to a good school. Less travel time means more students could take part in after-school programs, and more parents could get to school events. More schools could be community hubs, like churches used to be.
Heaven, right? But here’s another fact on which everybody agrees, and it’s a depressing one: Sixteen years after Mayor Tom Menino invited voters to judge him harshly on his efforts to transform education, there are still schools to which many parents wouldn’t dream of sending their kids. And those parents are terrified a new assignment system would give them no choice.
“We can play around with drawing lines on a map, but at the end of the day, there aren’t enough quality schools to go around,” says Kim Janey, senior project director at Massachusetts Advocates for Children.
The current system is a disaster, so bewildering and unpredictable that it sends middle-class parents running for the suburbs or for parochial and charter schools. An alarming number of the remaining kids the city spends tens of millions busing each year get little benefit from the trek, arriving at schools no better than those they could walk to.
Most of those unlucky souls are concentrated in the East Zone, the third of the city that includes South Boston, Mattapan, parts of Dorchester, and Hyde Park. Citywide, while 84 percent of white kids (who make up 13 percent of students) are landing in quality schools, only 52 percent of African American kids and 61 percent of Latino kids manage it, according to the Metropolitan Area planning Council.
“Moving kids around the city is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic,” says City Councillor John Connolly, who supports a new assignment plan.
-- Yvonne Abraham What will come of the buildings on D.C.’s closed-school list?-- Washington Post District of Columbia: November 18, 2012 [ abstract] It prompted hours of D.C. Council testimony, public shouting matches at neighborhood meetings and street demonstrations where protesters called on the mayor to be jailed.
Then-Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and his schools chancellor, Michelle Rhee, closed 23 schools four years ago. Once the schools were closed and the students relocated, the mayor transferred a dozen or more of the buildings to his deputy mayor for planning and economic development, Neil O. Albert, to see what the market value for the properties were.
Fenty was heavily criticized for his efforts to redevelop schools he and Rhee had closed. With Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s schools chancellor, Kaya Henderson, proposing to close 20 schools last week, memories of Fenty’s school redevelopment plans have been rekindled even though Henderson has proposed retaining most of the current buildings. What did Fenty achieve for his troubles? What became of those buildings?
Of 11 former school buildings that Fenty offered to the real estate market in December of 2008, none have been fully developed for commercial uses. This is in large part because of the economy; Fenty and Albert issued solicitations for the schools just three months after the collapse of Lehman Bros., when many real estate developers were scrambling for cash and not in a position to take on new projects.
Now, some of them are getting close. In August, three organizations began construction on a project that will turn the former M.M. Washington Career High School, at 27 O St. NW, into 82 subsidized apartments and 15,000 square feet of community space.
Two valuable properties that Fenty made available " the former Hine Jr. High School on Capitol Hill and the former Stevens Elementary School in the West End " are on their way to development as well. Hine is set to become a mixed-use project led by District developers EastBanc and Stanton, while District-based Akridge and Ivymount School plan to turn Stevens into an office building and special education center.
Many remain tied to education
Three of the schools Fenty proposed developing will assume new educational uses. Bertie Backus Middle School, at 5171 S. Dakota Ave. NE, is used by the University of the District of Columbia’s community college. Mary McLeod Bethune Day Academy Public Charter School took over the former Slowe Elementary School, while Washington Latin Public Charter School plans to open in the former Randolph School.
Of the remaining five schools Fenty proposed for redevelopment, three remain vacant (Langston, Randall Highlands and Young) according to the office of the deputy mayor for planning and economic development.
-- Jonathan O'Connell School Board Delays School Closing Decision, Green Lights Other Merger Moves-- Memphis Daily News Tennessee: November 16, 2012 [ abstract] Countywide school board members didn’t get to a decision Thursday, Nov. 15, on the schools merger recommendation to close 20 schools in Memphis.
But at a special meeting Thursday evening, they approved a group of 29 other recommendations from the consolidation planning commission on a variety of schools operations fronts.
A bundle of 40 recommendations out of a total of 172 made by the planning commission were all color coded green. The green designation means the staffs of the Memphis City Schools and Shelby County Schools had reviewed those recommendations and were far enough along to consider including them in a tentative budget for the first fiscal year of the merged school system which begins July 1, 2013.
The board decisions won’t be considered final until the board approves the budget for that first fiscal year. Still to come before that vote is a more precise fiscal note on how each item will impact the budget in terms of expense or savings.
Some of the recommendations approved are aspirational. Those recommendations set broad goals or state purposes the merged school system will pursue. Others are a common pursuit already present in both schools systems.
Along the way, the school board members discussed and debated such broad issues as the connection between the merged school system and charter schools and the state’s Achievement School District.
There was a lively discussion about which school construction projects should get priority " new schools or renovations and maintenance to older schools.
-- Bill Dries DCPS closing 20 schools, including Spingarn-- Greater Greater Washington District of Columbia: November 13, 2012 [ abstract] Chancellor Kaya Henderson announced today that DC Public Schools will close 20 of its schools in a long-anticipated move based, she said, primarily on right-sizing DCPS's capacity with its enrollment and educating more kids in modernized campuses.
The only high school slated to close is also the high school most in the transportation news: Spingarn High School, on Benning Road. DDOT has been planning a streetcar maintenance facility on the Spingarn grounds, and hoped to provide technical training in streetcar technology for Spingarn students.
Henderson said that this idea isn't gone; DCPS is looking into creating a "transportation career and technical education center" at Spingarn, but this plan is still in the early stages.
Matt Johnson made some maps of the proposed closures for neighborhood elementary, middle and high schools. There are also some schools that serve students with disabilities or other specialized groups which are not on these maps as they do not draw from neighborhood boundaries.
Henderson said that DCPS hopes to keep all of the school buildings for the future. The Office of planning estimates that the number of school-age children in DC, which has been declining for many years, will start rising again in 2015. Therefore, DCPS will likely begin needing more of these schools once more, but not for at least some years.
DCPS has plans for some of the buildings, such as expanding School Without Walls into the Francis-Stevens Education Campus, which is slated for closure. There are some preliminary ideas for some others, like a suggestion for a community arts center in what's now Garrison Elementary. For many, DCPS plans to work with the local community to identify the best use of the building, possibly including housing charter schools in the buildings.
Earlier this year, a report from IFF, a community development and consulting organization, recommended closing many schools with lower rates of student proficiency and moving kids to schools with higher proficiency. This report came under a lot of criticism for allegely oversimplifying and misreading the statistics.
At today's press conference, Henderson made no reference to the IFF report, and when asked said she had seen the data, but it wasn't the basis for her decisions. Instead, she talked about the Census and about data from the Office of planning, and claimed that she made decisions to close schools simply to align the supply of space with the student demand.
-- David Alpert and Ken Archer Bill drafted to help hasten school construction projects-- Wyoming News Wyoming: October 30, 2012 [ abstract] Lawmakers have drafted legislation as part of their effort to streamline the later stages of school construction in the state.
The draft bill came from the Select Committee on School Facilities and seeks to give more control to local districts during the building process.
Among other changes, it gives districts the ability to establish contracts then report back on them, the bill indicates.
“Our (building) pace per month has slowed considerably,” said committee Chairman Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Casper. “We’ve got about $700 million in (capital construction funds) still sitting in the bank.”
The proposed bill isn’t a criticism of how projects are managed, Harshman said. Rather, it is an attempt to find a better way for bureaucracies to interact, he explained. It also does not look to remove state oversight of projects, he added.
“It’s worth trying to find the best way,” Harshman said.
There has been recent concern that projects have started to bog down when they reach the construction phase, Harshman said. That was what prompted the suggested changes.
“Local districts are basically frustrated by the (path) of construction,” he added.
The changes would let the state’s school facilities department continue to monitor projects as they develop and move through the planning and design stages.
But it would give more control to districts during construction.
-- Aerin Curtis Closing one or more elementary schools being considered by Bristol, Va., School Board-- Bristol Herald Courier Virginia: October 01, 2012 [ abstract] Closing one or more elementary schools may generate opposition, but school officials want the public to be involved in its long-term facilities review.
The city School Board held its first discussion Monday about a series of options to address issues with its elementary schools. The board heard a lengthy presentation from Superintendent Mark Lineburg about potential cost savings and discussed meeting with consultants and holding sessions to hear public input.
Among the options being considered are closing Highland View Elementary and either sending all those students to Van Pelt Elementary or reconfiguring the grade levels of all three remaining buildings; redrawing district lines for the second time in five years or planning to build one elementary school and then shutting down Highland View, Stonewall Jackson and Washington-Lee.
“This board, this administration has set the goal to look at this and it’s certainly courageous,” board member Ronald Cameron said. “There is going to be emotion anytime you talk about closing a school. But we would be physically and fiscally irresponsible not to look at all the scenarios. We are so limited on our facilities right now we’ve got to look at long-term. There may be some difficult decisions but " as we look at the scenarios " there is so much data here it will take a while to absorb it. It’s going to take courage to make the decisions we need to make.”
Built in 1938, the Highland View facility was deemed “functionally obsolete” by a 2011 consultant’s study.
That same study projects that the city’s elementary grade enrollment will rise by about 200 students within the next decade at a time when two of its schools are currently at or near capacity.
-- David Mcgee Frederick County plans 10 new schools, additions-- Gazette.net Maryland: October 01, 2012 [ abstract] The Frederick County school board has approved a proposed 10-year school construction plan with one caveat: It reflects the difference between what that school system needs and what the Board of Commissioners are planning to fund.
The Board of Education voted unanimously on Sept. 26 to approve the master facilities plan, which outlines projects for the next decade and includes more than $305.3 million in requested funding. Of that request, $183.4 million would come from the county.
However, as they approved Schools Superintendent Theresa R. Alban’s proposed plan, board members chose to point out the differences between the system’s requested projects and those the commissioners have approved for funding.
“We would like everything funded today,” said board member April Miller, who suggested the change. “But that is not how it works.”
The additional information should help avoid confusion about the purpose of the system’s facilities master plan, Miller said. Although the document maps out the school construction needs, it still is more of a wish list and does not guarantee projects will be completed on the schedule outlined in the plan, Miller said.
For example, although the school system is asking to build another elementary school in the Urbana area in fiscal 2016, that project is not scheduled for construction funding until fiscal 2017 in the county’s approved plan. And although school officials have Urbana Elementary scheduled for modernization in fiscal 2018, the commissioners have approved funding for the project in fiscal 2019.
The decision to include such information follows criticism from Commissioners’ President Blaine Young (R) that the school system’s master plan was “unrealistic” and “overly aggressive.”
-- Margarita Raycheva A tough choice: Should city district close a school? -- Herald and News Oregon: September 29, 2012 [ abstract]
A tough question will soon be answered: Will an elementary school be closed in Klamath Falls? Having to make a school closing decision is one of the most heart-wrenching assignments any school board can have.
It has become a common issue in our tough financial times; many districts in the state and nation are struggling with the same challenge. The two schools under consideration are Pelican and Fairview.
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The question really boils down to a financial one: The district would save between $200,000 and $300,000 annually by closing an elementary school. This does not count the millions of dollars in maintenance and upkeep savings that closing a school makes possible. DLR, an architectural firm hired last year to do a district facility study, estimated about $4.6 million in such costs for Fairview in the next 10 years and about $3.07 million at Pelican. Is this savings worth the cost of losing a neighborhood school? That is the big question.
Are there other issues to consider in closing a school? Yes. One is class sizes, another is educational programming, a third is neighborhood supports, a fourth is local convenience, and a fifth is planning for the future of education in the district.
Equalizing class size
Districts with larger elementary schools with more sections of each grade are able to even out class sizes more equally.
Simply put, the more sections you have at a building the more similar you can make class sizes. One- or two-section buildings naturally have great upswings and downswings in class sizes grade-to-grade based on the number of students in that neighborhood in a given year.
A related benefit is a reduction in blended classrooms, or classes with more than one grade in them. Blends are more prevalent in smaller buildings. They result from upswings and downswings in local student populations.
Closing a school would not solve either of these problems, but would lessen them.
Reasons to keep schools
On the flip side, there is a local attachment common to smaller neighborhood schools. Neighbors seem more willing to volunteer in the school that is near to them. Also, churches and service organizations are sometimes willing to lend a hand to a school nearby. Proximity is also important to those wishing to be within walking distance of a school.
-- PAUL HILLYER Chicago School closings: what ‘everyone knows’
-- Community Media Workshop Illinois: September 20, 2012 [ abstract] “Everyone knows schools must be closed in large numbers,” according to a Chicago Sun-Times editorial published Thursday.
The editorial questions the savings involved in school closings and calls on CPS to be “more open and inclusive,” and to release a new facilities master plan required by state law before more closings are announced.
But does “everyone” really know schools must be closed? At hearings on proposed closings in recent years, there’s been consistent opposition " until paid protestors, later connected to Mayor Emanuel’s political operatives, began showing up.
We asked around, and here are some responses:
Laurene Heybach, Director, The Law Project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless:
The notion that “everyone knows [Chicago public] schools must be closed in large numbers” is a remarkably un-researched assertion. As a member of the Chicago Educational Facilities Task Force, I can say unequivocally that such is not the case. And CPS has never been able to make such a case.
Parents want quality neighborhood schools, not experiments (charters) which drain resources from their neighborhood school and don’t deliver. We hear this again and again, and parents are getting increasingly frustrated with a city that can help decorate the Willis Tower but tells neighborhood schools “no” for every request, from a math teacher to a working heating system to an air conditioner. Indeed, one parent spoke directly to the CPS representative on our task force to say precisely that: the Board of Education’s answer to just about anything our parents want is “no.”
It’s top-down and political people who push closures. This is why we need to return facility planning to our communities and stakeholders " parents, teachers, students and principals " and take it out of the hands of politicians.
J. Brian Malone, Executive Director, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization:
Everyone knows there has been population loss on the South and West Sides of the city. The issue with underutilization, at this stage, is largely the result of CPS cramming charter and contract schools down the throats of communities of color, while also:
-- Curtis Black How to fix the September Shuffle?-- Washington Post District of Columbia: September 10, 2012 [ abstract] The September Shuffle has become a dreaded ritual for Washington parents at this time of year. That’s the post-last-minute school roster changes that open classroom seats in more desirable public schools, presenting parents with a stressful dilemma: Whether to chuck all that summer logistical planning and emotional prep, swallow all the first-days-of-school jitters and pull a child out of a school to jump into a “better” school.
The Post’s Emma Brown wrote about the stressful shuffle in today’s Post.
She explained how it’s a product of the profusion of choice (some disgruntled parents call it the “illusion” of choice) in the District as more charter schools open and certain D.C. public schools change curriculum and earn better reputations. At the same time, more families are shopping for what they consider the best public education.
One of the biggest problems with the current system is that families can, and often do, hold seats in more than one school. Their last-minute decisions on which schools to enroll in create a domino effect as school officials only get a firm grasp of enrollment when the semester starts.
After the first week of school, officials across the city sprint to fill seats and parents end up switching schools, creating familial chaos and opening yet another seat in the discarded school.
-- Janice D'Arcy Moratorium nears for K-12 construction aid-- Central Penn Business Pennsylvania: August 31, 2012 [ abstract] Pennsylvania's construction industry could take as much as a 10-figure hit annually if a state reimbursement program aimed at helping school districts with building projects is eliminated, according to a trade association projection.
Pennsylvania's so-called PlanCon program, or "planning and Construction Workbook."
State officials will decide whether the extensive review process needs to be revamped or removed from the budget.
The state Department of Education receives about $300 million per year for the PlanCon reimbursement program. Those funds help leverage about $1.5 billion annually in school projects, said Chad Harvey, board secretary for Mid Atlantic BX, an association that tracks commercial construction.
"There is not a lot of upside," said Harvey, who has concerns that the review alone could have a major short-term impact on construction. "This (reimbursement) allows owners to leverage funds and create projects that otherwise would not exist."
Districts are reimbursed for a portion of projects up to a certain limit — based on the type of project and makeup of the school — and cannot receive reimbursement for multiple projects on the same building within 20 years.
Percentages vary, and larger shares go to the less-wealthy school districts, which are often smaller and in more rural areas. More than half of Pennsylvania's 500 school districts are considered rural, according to the Center for Rural Pennsylvania.
-- Jason Scott Harford school board faces tough decisions before capital improvement plan vote in September-- Baltimore Sun Maryland: August 30, 2012 [ abstract] Although the 2012-13 school year has just begun, the Harford County Board of Education is already focused on what's going to happen in 2014.
The board has already begun planning its fiscal year 2014 capital improvement plan, and the big debate over which school construction projects to put on there — if any — is still up in the air.
The decision, which will come near the end of September, won't be an easy one for the school board.
One influential board member says he wants to see what the superintendent and his staff recommend before taking his own position, while conceding the county has yet to explain where all the money will come from for projects that seem to be gaining favor with the public.
Several communities have been strongly advocating for new school buildings, but school systems across Maryland will be facing new fiscal challenges in the upcoming years, with the shift of teacher pension costs onto individual jurisdictions, rather than being covered by the state, placing a greater financial burden on counties to fund their schools' operating budgets.
And, if the Harford school system can afford to build a new school, the question still remains: Who goes first?
HdG High vs. Youth's Benefit Elementary
Havre de Grace residents, including several county officials led by Harford County Executive David Craig, have been pushing for the county's oldest high school to be rebuilt for quite some time.
Fallston community members have done the same, going as far as to form the organization Build It Now, which advocates for replacements of the school system's aging infrastructures, namely Youth's Benefit and, to a lesser extent, William Paca/Old Post Road Elementary School.
Earlier this summer, Craig made Havre de Grace High School's replacement building a priority for the county's school construction needs. In turn, he told the Harford County Council and school officials he would not fund any other school construction projects in the 2014 and 2015 county budgets unless HHS was first on the list.
Craig was criticized for this move, but stood behind his words.
-- MARISSA GALLO Palo Alto school building boom biggest since the 1950s -- Palo Alto Online California: August 25, 2012 [ abstract] In the midst of its biggest building boom since the 1950s, the Palo Alto school district is modernizing and adding space to its 17 campuses across the city.
Visible construction sites from Gunn High School in the south to Duveneck Elementary School in the north are the product of four years of architectural planning and state bureaucratic approvals since 2008, when Palo Alto school district voters decisively approved the $378 million "Strong Schools" facilities bond measure.
Six campuses both high schools, all three middle schools and Fairmeadow Elementary School opened the school year with hardhat zones. At Duveneck, portable classrooms have been moved to make way for groundbreaking on a new, two-story classroom building in early 2013.
About half the bond money $184 million already has been spent on or committed to projects that are under construction, according to Bob Golton, the district's facilities and bond program manager.
-- Chris Kenrick Wyoming School Facilities Commission discusses stabilizing school priorities list-- Star-Tribune Wyoming: August 24, 2012 [ abstract] The Wyoming School Facilities Commission acknowledged that state school districts lack confidence in the organization that oversees school construction funding in the state and will try to address some of those concerns.
One major concern is the needs index list, which prioritizes school construction projects.
The School Facilities Department oversees, re-evaluates and adjusts the list annually per state statute. In addition, the methodology of evaluating the facilities has changed over the past years, which in turn changes where schools fall on the list.
The School Facilities Department manages planning, design and construction of school projects. The School Facilities Commission, whose members are appointed by the governor, oversees the department.
Commissioners said the changes can make it difficult for districts to plan schools and agreed to discuss with legislators an idea of how to create a more stable list that won’t change as much from year to year.
“I think we need to first admit that what’s going on now is a bit chaotic,” Commissioner Pete Jorgensen said in a work session Wednesday. “And whether that’s a perception by the districts or a perception by the Legislature, I think we ought to look to making a solid statement ... if we can come to an agreement on what that statement would be.”
The state again is adjusting to a new method of evaluating school needs. This past year, the SFD contracted with Facilities Engineering and Associates Inc. to complete a condition assessment of all of the Wyoming schools. The company developed standards that include illumination, air quality, technology readiness and the appropriateness of educational space.
-- ELYSIA CONNER Pa. school building aid closing for evaluation-- Times Leader Pennsylvania: August 12, 2012 [ abstract] A $300-million-a-year state program that helps school districts pay to construct or renovate buildings will soon be closed to new projects, at least temporarily, as state officials decide if it needs to be changed or eliminated.
Some districts are rushing to get their plans into the pipeline before the October start of a nine-month moratorium that was quietly enacted along with the state budget earlier this summer.
School districts already under financial pressure from growing pension obligations and state funding cuts are eyeing the moratorium warily, concerned that it could be the first step toward eventual elimination of the so-called PlanCon reimbursement.
PlanCon refers to the Education Department’s “planning and Construction Workbook,” a complicated review that runs from justifying the need for a project to designing it, acquiring the land, building it and paying for it.
“We’re really in this incredible squeeze because we’re just trying to get through operational costs, much less construction costs,” said Jay Himes, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials. “Without some state support, those building projects are going to be more and more and more difficult.”
Republican Gov. Tom Corbett first raised the idea of a moratorium when he proposed a 2012-13 budget in February, but what eventually passed was scaled back so that it did not take effect until October and covered only new projects, not those already in the PlanCon pipeline.
The funding for the current year remained level " there are about 230 projects currently in PlanCon " but the moratorium is likely to mean that less construction and renovation will get under way in the coming years.
-- MARK SCOLFORO Maryland invests $25 million to cut schools' energy bills -- Baltimore Sun Maryland: July 25, 2012 [ abstract] Public school districts across Maryland can now apply for state funding to reduce their energy consumption as part of a new $25 million "green schools initiative," the Maryland Energy Administration announced Wednesday. The effort is meant to help "accelerate" the state's goal of reducing its overall energy consumption by 15 percent in the next three years, the administration said. The funding will come from the state's capital budget for schools planning, the administration said. New construction efforts and changes to lightbulbs and heating and air conditioning units in schools will save the state an estimated $80 million over the lifetime of the new equipment, the administration said. School districts with engineering design costs incurred between June 15 and Oct. 15 of this year are eligible for reimbursement through the program, though costs associated with joined "design-build projects" are not eligible, according to the administration's website. School districts must apply for the funding on the administration's website by Nov. 9.
The project is being run by the state's Public Schools Construction Program and is part of a $373 million budget for school construction. In a statement, State Superintendent of Schools Lillian M. Lowery called the program an "outstanding opportunity" for the state's public schools districts.
-- Kevin Rector Elementary students prepared to dig in and garden-- WKTV New York: July 19, 2012 [ abstract] Students at Martin Luther King School in Utica will get creative this fall in a large green space set aside for students and the community alike to enjoy.
The plan is to create green infrastructure, sustainable gardens, and and beds for each classroom to grow their own gardens.
"Our main focus is to use it for the joy of making this look like a suburbanite type of area within a city," said principal Mark DeSalvo.
The goal is not only to beautify the community, but also to give students hands-on science lessons.
The design for the outdoor space is still in its concept and planning stages.
"I wanted to create that 'wow' factor," said DeSalvo. "This shouldn't be looked at as a typical city school where you see a fence around the building and it says stay out."
MLK students were involved in the conception process.
Third and Fourth graders drew pictures of what they would like to see in their schoolyard.
So far, the school has only raised $1,500 of what is expected to be a $35,000 project, but administrators hope to begin on the first phase in the fall of 2012.
-- HILARY LANE School board divided over capital improvements master plan-- Baltimore Sun Maryland: June 25, 2012 [ abstract] Board of education members were divided Monday evening over the 2012 Educational Facilities Master Plan and what implications it could have on school construction prioritizations.
The master plan, which is submitted to the state every July 1, is used as a planning tool to address projected facility construction and improvements.
Schools on the project list include Homestead/Wakefield Elementary School, John Archer School, Youth's Benefit Elementary, William Paca-Old Post Road Elementary and Joppatowne High School, though not necessarily in that order.
The 2012 master plan, in particular, will serve as the basis for the 2014 fiscal year capital improvement program.
Projects that are part of the plan, as presented to the board, are on hold pending the completion of the Harford County Comprehensive Facilities Master Plan.
While the plan is only a road map for school construction projects and can be revised by the school board, board members were concerned that the plan may appear like a commitment to particular schools in a particular order.
The hesitation came as no surprise as members of the organization Build It Now spoke earlier that night, asking the board to put Youth's Benefit Elementary School on the Harford County Public School's fiscal year 2014 capital improvements budget.
Assistant Superintendent of Operations Cornell Brown explained to the board during its business meeting that it is required by the state to submit a master plan every July and it sets the framework for future capital improvement deliberations.
The plan includes board policies and procedures, information on enrollment and a facility's condition. It also supports the capital budget the school system submits to the state in October.
"The master plan does not obligate the board to any fiscal decision," Brown said. "It just establishes the ideas and parameters that we would continue to use."
He added that the plan does not indicate the priority of projects and the board would make that decision only once the county scope study has been completed.
-- MARISSA GALLO Houston Independent School District planning bond package up to $1.8 billion -- Houston Chronicle Texas: June 18, 2012 [ abstract] The Houston Independent School District is preparing to ask voters to fund up to $1.8 billion in bonds to replace and upgrade aging campuses. Superintendent Terry Grier has said the bond referendum - which would go to voters in November if the school board approves - likely would focus on high schools. Grier plans to reveal his specific proposal Thursday. Sources familiar with the plan say the amount will be as high as $1.8 billion, likely requiring a property tax increase of 6.25 cents per $100 of assessed value. "You could spend many times that number and still not touch everything," Grier said.
At that amount, owners of a $200,000 home would see their annual property tax bill rise by $91 annually in a few years, when the district prepares to start construction. A $1.8 billion referendum would be more than twice as large as the $805 million HISD voters narrowly approved in 2007.
Work from that package is still under way, but even critics of the district acknowledge more schools need repair. The question is whether taxpayers - some skeptical after two recent audits criticized HISD's contracting process - are willing to pay.
Grier and his staff have been touting the success of the 2007 bond in recent weeks. They launched a new website, for example, that says: "Promises Made. Promises Kept." Of 180 projects stemming from the bond election five years ago, 71 were in the planning, design or bid stage as of late March; all should be finished by 2014, according to the district'slatest report. The other 109 projects are finished or under construction, with 16 new elementary schools open.
HISD board president Mike Lunceford said he's withholding judgment on another bond until Grier unveils his proposal. Lunceford, who served on HISD's bond oversight committee in 2007, said all the work was supposed to have been completed by this year, but projects have been delayed for several unexpected reasons.
-- Ericka Mellon Success of school bond measures in California raise officials' hopes -- Sacramento Bee California: June 09, 2012 [ abstract] Pollock Pines Elementary School District and 22 other California school districts accomplished an unusual feat in this week's elections. Each passed a general obligation bond. "We are very pleased," said Kevin Monsma, superintendent of the Pollock Pines district. "Sixty-two percent support is a nice response from the community."
Strapped by years of budget cuts, school systems are looking for money to patch roofs, update air conditioning and heating systems, and bring advanced technology into classrooms. Statewide, about 26 percent of 95 school bond measures introduced between 2009 and 2011 failed, a website run by municipal finance expert Michael Coleman shows.
But on Tuesday, 23 of the 32 school bonds that appeared on the ballot passed, bringing in $1.86 billion for schools. Pollock Pines was the only district in the greater Sacramento region with a bond proposal on the ballot Tuesday.
Voters seem to be having a change of heart over the last year, approving 71 percent of general obligation bonds on the ballot last November and 72 percent on Tuesday, said officials from the consulting firm School Services of California. "It really goes to show the level of community and local support going to schools right now," said Cathy Allen, the San Juan Unified district's senior director of facilities and planning. "They are willing to open their pocketbooks if the money goes to local school districts."
-- Diana Lambert Shoshoni hears detail on new school planning-- The Daily Ranger Wyoming: June 07, 2012 [ abstract] Fremont County School District 24 patrons are getting their first taste of the revamped school construction process in Wyoming, and a meeting Monday night helped resolve some confusion.
One of the biggest misconceptions in the community, superintendent Tammy Cox said, was that the $45 million Gov. Matt Mead has allocated for the new K-12 school comes from the local tax base. She said this was not the case, and that the money comes from the state.
State Sen. Gerald Geis, R-Worland, said state statute requires tax moneys be sent to Cheyenne where it is reallocated evenly to all of the 48 school districts. The Wyoming School Facilities Department has administered school construction in the state for about 10 years, but this is Shoshoni's first project under the new system.
One man at Monday's meeting pointed out that the money still comes from the taxpayers.
"The funds are from Wyoming people. I don't like that mentality that it's free," he said. "There is a cost to that."
"I agree the money comes from us, but if it's not spent at Shoshoni, it will be spent on another school," trustee Shawn Steffen said, adding that Shoshoni deserves a new school.
'You have a window'
New schools have been constructed in Riverton, Lander, Pavillion and Arapahoe by the state over the past decade.
"You have a window that's been provided," state Sen. Eli Bebout, R-Riverton, told the audience.�
Many expressed concerns about future local bonds to help with the project.
Officials at the meeting said those are no longer needed because the state is required to fund appropriately sized facilities.
"We won't see bond issues anymore because those days are gone," Bebout said. "It's now the responsibility of the state."
Board member Kevin Smith also noted that the district a few years ago set aside $2 million for building enhancements, which are permitted under the state school facilities model.
Bebout cautioned the district to assure there will be no "unfair burden" on the town for infrastructure needs such as sewer and electrical lines for the facility.
"The town shouldn't have to spend anything on that," Bebout said.
-- Christina George School construction nears finish line; facility transition that is unlike any in the history of JISD-- Jacksonville Daily Progress Texas: June 01, 2012 [ abstract] School district personnel are busy preparing for a major facility transition that is unlike any in the history of JISD. In fall of 2010, Jacksonville voters approved a $49.865 million bond package that would address phase one of a long range proposed plan by a citizens’ facilities committee, formed to examine the needs of the district in light of its aging buildings. East Side Elementary was built in 1939, and Joe Wright was opened in 1954. While both structures were well maintained over the years, age had finally caught up with them and they were deteriorating rapidly. Fred Douglass Elementary students started eating lunch at around 10 o’clock in the morning due to the limited cafeteria space, and high school students were left with inadequate space in their cafeteria, band hall and science labs. The passing of the bond allowed JISD to proceed with building two new elementary campuses and planning extensive renovations to two existing schools in the district.
The JISD Board of Trustees selected Pogue Construction as the Construction Manager at risk. On June 30, 2011, 733 bids were taken from 413 subcontractors. The guaranteed maximum price (GMP) was accepted by the board for the construction of each new elementary school was $13.9 million for the new East Side Elementary and $16.5 million for the new Joe Wright Elementary. After the buyout of contracts from sub-contractors, JISD realized the total was overestimated and it would save $748,184. The money saved is now going toward the furnishing of the new schools and to fund alternate projects. According to Brian Rose of Pogue Construction, East Side is currently 63.4 percent completed with an expenditure of $8.84 million. Tiling work has begun and roofing is 98 percent completed at the site. Work at Joe Wright is 70 percent completed with an expenditure of $11.5 million. Administrators and staff at both of the existing campuses are preparing for major moves this summer. Meanwhile, construction crews work to meet the ambitious goal of opening both schools for the first day of school of the 2012-2013 school year. “We are excited for our teachers and staff,” Superintendent Joe Wardell said. “But, we are really thrilled for our students who will get the benefit of attending these new campuses.”
-- Staff writer State-of-the-art sustainable school opens in Richmond -- PR Newswire California: May 16, 2012 [ abstract] A new state-of-the-art sustainable school, Ford Elementary, will be having its grand opening celebration on Saturday, May 19th. Designed to address the whole child, both body and mind, Ford Elementary creates a strong learning environment from a child's point-of-view.
The two-story building, awhirl with bright colors and shapes, was designed by Sally Swanson Architects. Ms. Swanson, founding principal and CEO, explains, "Our goal is to provide a community-based school that is secure, totally green and healthy, and also delightful—relating to the age level of the students and very life-affirming."
A highly collaborative bilingual planning and design process has resulted in joint-use spaces, innovative technology and security systems, and a green and energy-saving campus. The new school was built with the support of the citizens of the West Contra Costa Unified School District, and has received strong support by the WCCUSD Board.
"The school's layout maximizes flexibility, accommodating a variety of diverse teaching methods and programs," explained Carlos Velilla, SSA's Director of Design. The second floor corridor is transformed into a street with light-filled corridors that double as a collaborative in-between space where learning can take place. The design also merges formal classroom spaces with accessible educational play equipment and outdoor programs.
The original school, built in 1949, was an outdated and unsafe learning environment that offered the community few amenities and little sense of ownership. Construction on the new 68,000 square feet school was completed by Alten Construction and overseen by SGI Construction Management. The new school's design references the community culture using an imaginative interpretation of the Mission style with decorative blue and yellow tiles and an outsized arched library window. The cheerful facade signals a school environment that incorporates equal parts fun, creativity and learning. Windows, openings, and building details reduce the large scale to that of a child. The educational program works hand in hand to engage younger minds.
The school's design process included a series of well-attended community workshops. Helping offset the dearth of neighborhood open space, the school includes a community garden, a mini-soccer field, as well as a small plaza with places for adults to sit, meet, and feel at home. The elementary school also provides after-hours joint-use spaces with the community, as well as Adult Education.
-- D. Fromm Chesterfield planners map school construction policy-- Richmond-Times Dispatch Virginia: May 15, 2012 [ abstract] A massive capital-improvement campaign could be on the horizon for the Chesterfield County school division.
Eight new schools are proposed to be built and 23 current schools could be affected in the division's facilities plan that will be part of the county's comprehensive plan that will drive land-use decisions for the next two decades.
David Myers, who is the division's assistant superintendent of business and finance, told the planning Commission during a briefing Tuesday afternoon that 23 schools currently in use are proposed to be "fully revitalized or replaced."
The proposed new schools would consist of three high schools, two middle schools and three elementary schools. Myers provided few details about cost and location but did say it would come with a "big price tag."
"In over 20 years, if we are able to accomplish that, it would be expensive," he said. "But at this point, we have a good, strong systemic way to evaluate our buildings."
The county projects its population to grow to nearly 460,000 people — a 45 percent increase from the current population of nearly 319,000 — by 2035 with the 19 and under age group expected to increase by 35 percent.
The county's School Board still needs to formally endorse a plan, and Myers indicated there has been no opposition to the direction of the plan. A first draft will be submitted to the planning Commission next week.
Commission Vice Chairman Reuben J. Waller Jr. said expensive is relative "and it may be too expensive not to do it."
-- Jeremy Slayton School construction jeopardized by proposed moratorium-- Abington Journal Wyoming: May 04, 2012 [ abstract] A proposed moratorium on the state program that helps cover costs of school construction and renovation could seriously impact some local district budgets.
Wyoming Valley West, for example, is expecting $479,000 in reimbursements for an expansion project at State Street Elementary, and now there’s no guarantee the money will come.
The risk has caused rumblings among some school boards and school administrators, though it’s unclear what would definitely happen if Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposals become reality.
The issue centers on the state’s complicated “planning and Construction Workbook” system " “PlanCon” " used in determining state reimbursements for school construction.
There are 11 steps labeled PlanCon A through PlanCon K, though the last step only applies if borrowing for a reimbursable project is refinanced.
PlanCon A through G involve preconstruction issues, such as justifying the project, design, site acquisition, and bid documents.
In Corbett’s proposal, the fate of reimbursement for many districts depends on whether they have completed PlanCon H, the pivot point in the process. As the state Department of Education website puts it: “Once PlanCon Part H is approved, reimbursement on a project commences.”
-- MARK GUYDISH Auburn Middle School parents to plead for school-- Roanoke Times Virginia: May 01, 2012 [ abstract] Riner parents are planning to give Montgomery County School Board members an earful tonight about a proposal to close Auburn Middle School for two years as a budget-saving measure.
"We would like to keep the Auburn community together, to keep the students together in a building of their own," Brad Hill of Riner said Monday, a day after he and other residents met to plan a response to the possible closing.
At a 7:30 p.m. meeting scheduled for tonight at the Montgomery County Government Center in Christiansburg, the school board is scheduled to continue wrestling with a $4.2 million budget shortfall.
Last week the board identified closing Auburn Middle as a potential $500,000 savings. The plan would temporarily relocate eighth-graders to Auburn High School and sixth- and seventh-graders to Christiansburg Middle School.
The board is set to approve a spending plan tonight so that a budget can be advertised, then hold a public hearing on it on May 15. Final approval for the school budget, along with its attendant closings or other measures, is to come after the hearing.
The Riner schools are in the midst of a construction and renovation project. A new Auburn High School is being built, and the current high school is to be renovated into a new middle school that can be occupied in 2014. The present middle school is slated for demolition.
Schools spokeswoman Brenda Drake Bowdel said Monday that if the board approves moving the middle schoolers, it would make the building and renovation work somewhat easier on the tight campus.
"If there would be an upside ... that would be it, more efficient construction," she said.
-- Mike Gangloff $51M school, but it's playground-poor-- Chicago Tribune Illinois: April 20, 2012 [ abstract] Ogden International School on Chicago's Near North Side opened this school year in a new $51 million building that has everything, almost.
Locked in a busy urban area, the neighborhood pre-k to sixth-grade school didn't have enough space for an outdoor playground for the older kids. And so recess is held on the three-story building's roof, where a plant-lined path leads to a fenced-in space children call "the cage." Student reviews have not been favorable.
"It could use some swings and slides," said fifth-grader Michael Johnson III.
Upset with the situation, students and parents are planning a protest Friday at Bughouse Square, officially known as Washington Square Park, diagonally across the street from Ogden. The park, crisscrossed with walkways and dotted with benches where homeless people linger, is the closest thing to green space of the sort that stretches invitingly around most suburban schools.
Fewer than half of elementary schools in the Chicago Public Schools system offer some form of recess, Ogden among them. But that will change next year, when Mayor Rahm Emanuel's longer day is introduced citywide and recess will be part of the schedule at all elementary and middle schools.
When that happens, many schools will face challenges similar to those faced by Ogden. For reasons including a lack of space, changing priorities and tight budgets, 98 elementary and middle schools don't have outdoor playgrounds.
-- Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah What Do New Enrollment Projections Mean for the Iowa City School District?-- Iowa City Patch Iowa: April 18, 2012 [ abstract] The Iowa City School Board has received new projected student enrollment numbers. What will determine planning next is how the board members interpret these projections.
Why is this important?
Because with limited School Infrastructure Local Option sales taxes available to build new buildings, how the school board members interpret these numbers could affect decision making for whether to build a fourth high school or two needed new elementary school buildings in the district. Or both.
The Forecast Calls for Growth
On Tuesday night, Geoffrey Smith with the University of Iowa Geography Department presented the Iowa City School Board members with new student enrollment projections for the Iowa City School District. (The slide presentation is attached in PDF form to this article)
His conclusion: the district is still projected to grow at a steady clip.
"Expect to have an increase of 200 to 300 students each year over each of the next four years," Smith told the board.
He projects that the district, with 12,047 students this year, will grow to 12,268 students by next school year.
-- Stephen Schmidt City Will Add Seats to Schools, But Still Fall Short of Demand-- New York Times New York: March 26, 2012 [ abstract] The New York City Education Department is planning to add 5,000 new seats to its plan for city schools, but will still fall short of what is needed to reduce crowding in parts of the city.
In an amendment to its capital plan, the city said it will add a total of 34,000 new seats in five years, from 2010 to 2014, primarily through new building and the addition of annexes to existing sites. But the School Construction Authority estimates that city schools actually need 50,000 new seats, according to its Five Year Capital Plan for fiscal years 2010-2014.
City Council members examined the amended plan on Monday at a hearing on the Education Department’s capital budget, which covers school facilities. Council members raised concerns about issues ranging from updating inadequate school bathrooms to getting more iPads in the hands of students.
School capacity, however, was of top concern. Population shifts in the five boroughs have created what education officials call “pockets of overcrowding,” even though the city’s overall enrollment has hovered around 1.1 million for the past 10 years.
-- Yasmeen Khan First-rate school now has the facilities to match, board president says -- Shore News Today New Jersey: March 14, 2012 [ abstract] Quality facilities are of the utmost importance to a school district, according to Mainland Regional High School Board of Education President John Medica, who said he was proud that the school’s structure finally matches the level of education students are getting within its walls.
“When you go to school as a student or work at a school as a teacher, the environment matters,” he said. After years of budgets being defeated and bond referendums denied by the community, the board finally was able to obtain the approval to fund the first major renovation in the school’s 50-year history.
In 2000, a science wing was added and other classrooms were repurposed. The library was built on top of a once-open quad.
“We got rid of an antiquated facility and replaced it with very useful labs,” Medica said. The new science wing also provided for ample teacher planning spaces.
The aquatic center was built in 2004. That year more classrooms were also added.
In 2009 through this year, other building modifications were made, including a new roof, a renovated entrance, solar panels, refurbished bathrooms and locker rooms, he said. The main office and guidance and child study team offices were also renovated, and additional classrooms were added.
-- Laura Stetser Yakima School District building a new foundation for education-- Yakima Herald-Republic Washington: March 04, 2012 [ abstract] The baseball and softball fields just north of Eisenhower High School are gone. Instead, it's a sea of concrete, steel, gravel and mud. A small fleet of construction machines -- excavators, front-loaders, cranes -- dots the work site for the new building that will replace the aging high school.
The school's new classrooms, gyms and auditorium are taking shape. Foundations have been poured, and the building's steel frame is rising from the ground.
The $106.6 million project is on time and on budget, Yakima School District officials say.
Replacing Ike is part of an ambitious plan to bring many of the district's schools into the 21st century.
The district is halfway through rebuilding Stanton Academy, its alternative school, in Yakima. The school is currently in Union Gap.
Davis High School is being substantially remodeled. The district has submitted plans to the city for approval of the project, which is estimated to cost at least $97 million.
Much of Davis was remodeled in the 1970s, but parts of the building date back to 1908, when it opened as North Yakima High School, according to planning documents.
Much of the school's infrastructure is worn down, district officials said.
The renovated Davis will offer students, teachers and staff the same capabilities as at Ike's new building.
-- Dan Catchpole State speeds up school data collection process-- Wyoming News Wyoming: March 03, 2012 [ abstract] State officials have about four months to measure and evaluate all Wyoming schools.
The schools are set to undergo a series of exams detailing items like building condition, air quality, lighting and size. The measurements are part of a data collection project being done by the Wyoming School Facilities Department to align with state statute.
The information collected will be used to generate a new prioritized list of school construction projects, said Stan Hobbs, planning administrator for the department.
The original timeline for the project was shortened, he said.
The new deadline allows the data to help shape the proposed project list for the next supplemental budget. The previous timeline had the project ending in September, Hobbs said.
The exams are set to start at the end of March and run through the middle of August. School measurements are set to be finished by July 15, however. The project, which includes measuring every classroom in the state, is set to cost about $3.7 million, he added.
The timeline was compacted at the request of members of the School Facilities Commission, which oversees the department, because the new data might not have been available in time for the next budget process.
“We’d like to see it done as soon as possible,” said Commission Chairman Jeffrey Carrier. “We’re pushing to get it done quicker.”
That request came after a meeting between School Facilities Commission and Laramie County School District 1 officials.
-- Aerin Curtis What’s wrong with D.C.’s facilities/charter study-- Washington Post District of Columbia: February 23, 2012 [ abstract] Background
Last month the District of Columbia Deputy Mayor for Education released “Quality Schools: Every Child, Every School, Every Neighborhood .” The study was paid for by the Walton Foundation and prepared by the Illinois Facilities Fund (IFF), a Chicago-based charter finance and real estate advisory organization. Preparation of the study was overseen by IFF’s director of research, Dr. Jovita Baber.
The study comes at a time when the District is within about five years of completing an ambitious modernization and right-sizing program for its public school facilities, and a long and substantial decline in enrollment in DCPS’s traditional public schools has slowed and may have begun to reverse.
Perhaps not un-relatedly, some of the District’s neighborhoods have also begun to reverse decades of declining population that saw the loss of much of its middle class.
Unfortunately, the study’s methodology, analysis, and recommendations are so seriously flawed, they fail to provide a valid basis for any actionable policies, or for guiding public investment or for school facilities planning.
Were the study’s recommendations to be implemented, the immediate effect would be to halt and hamstring scheduled modernizations of schools throughout the District. They would cause unwarranted disruption and uncertainty for thousands of students and families, while reducing accountability and fostering public distrust. They would also close and transfer governance of dozens of DCPS schools to charter operators, and turn over control of these real estate assets to the Public Charter School Board for use as “incentives” and disposition as it sees fit.
Conclusion
In the final analysis, there is no valid evidence to justify the outcomes IFF’s rankings and recommendations. Their only predictable results would be the disruption of the lives of thousands of students and families; the imposition of an arbitrary process to select schools for dis-investment, investment, demolition, and closure; the transfer of control of school facilities to a publicly-unaccountable appointed Board; and, the attendant loss of public trust that would result.
Although IFF’s study must be rejected, we are in agreement that the District should focus on its chronically lower-performing schools. It should do so in a manner that engages our citizens, educators, stakeholders, and capable local researchers to formulate a strategy for success. Such efforts could be informed by a study prepared for the District by the 21st Century School Fund, the Brookings Institution, and the Urban Institute in 2008 that recommends actions to increase education quality and housing opportunities. As part of an integrated strategy, we would not preclude the participation of charter operators with successful turnaround experience for a particular school or cluster.
We would also urge the District to stay the course on school modernizations and capacity-based right-sizing, while re-doubling and expanding its restructuring efforts, and directing new resources towards its chronically under-performing schools.
-- Valerie Strauss DCPS seeks authority to create charter schools-- Washington Examiner District of Columbia: February 21, 2012 [ abstract] D.C. Public Schools is pursuing the authority to create charter schools and turn existing schools into charters, the schools chancellor said Thursday.
"The reason I would pursue my chartering authority is twofold," Chancellor Kaya Henderson said. "One is I think that for a number of our schools that are doing very well, what we know is autonomy allows for innovation, and allows for people to be successful."
Henderson added that charter-school planning has not been "planful." Most operate in neighborhoods where the DCPS school is underperforming.
"First [charters] starve the DCPS school, and then they ultimately starve each other, and that's not a good use of all our resources," Henderson told D.C. Council members at the annual DCPS performance oversight hearing. "I think we'd be able to encourage charter providers to go where we need them most and fill in gaps we can't accomplish."
Council Chairman Kwame Brown said he already has "some rough-draft things written up."
Currently, chartering is the exclusive authority of the D.C. Public Charter School Board. Charter schools enroll 41 percent of the District's public school students, and have outpaced DCPS in both test scores and enrollment growth.
-- Lisa Gartner Christie Announces New School Construction Projects-- NJ Today New Jersey: February 15, 2012 [ abstract] Gov. Chris Christie was in Hudson County this morning to announce a new round of school construction projects by the Schools Development Authority.
Christie blamed his predecessors for the slow pace of school construction in the state under the old the Schools Construction Corporation but says today’s announcement of 20 school projects was an indication that the new team at the renamed Schools Development Authority (SDA) has turned the agency around.
“The legacy of the school construction program … is one that unfortunately has been filled with wasteful, profligate spending, swollen bureaucracy and too many empty promises about the schools that were to be built " 52 " versus the number of schools that were actually completed " just 2,” said the governor, promising $675 million for the first eight school construction projects on his list, including facilities from Keansburg to West New York.
New SDA CEO Marc Larkins said his first job at the agency was to get the fiscal house in order, cutting $10 million in salaries and other costs over the past two years and reworking the selection process. He said he aims to make less promises and actually build more schools.
“This isn’t a ‘you have to complete the first ten before you move to the next phase.’ This is a rolling program, so some of these are already moving along,” he said. “We can talk all we want and make all these announcements but in the end what we really have to do, is build the schools, and that’s what we’re planning to do.”
-- David Cruz Philadelphia's school district will close buildings early to save money-- Philly.com Pennsylvania: February 05, 2012 [ abstract] Starting next week, the Philadelphia School District will cancel all weekend programs and shut school buildings an hour early during the week to save $2.8 million.
The efficiencies are necessary to close a $61 million budget gap by June, officials said.
Spokesman Fernando Gallard on Saturday confirmed that the district was "planning on closing the schools on the weekends" and at 8 p.m. on weekdays and said an official announcement would be made early this week.
The closures will affect many non-district programs. City Recreation Department activities often take place in city school buildings.
The cuts will begin Saturday, Gallard said.
The changes mean that all weekday extracurricular activities and programs - including Recreation Department activities, school programs, and athletic events - will now end by 7:30 p.m. so buildings can close by 8 p.m.
Organizations that pay the district to use its buildings will still be able to use them. It is unclear if these groups will be able to pay to keep the buildings open longer.
In a letter Friday to elected officials, a district official wrote: "These organizations will be billed for the cost of keeping the school open for their activities. Organizations that currently have payment agreements with the district will be grandfathered into those agreements, but all new activities will be paid for according to the district's payment schedule."
The changes "are being enacted to create a substantial savings in utilities, personnel and overtime spending," the letter said.
-- Kristen A. Graham HIGH SCHOOL UNVEILS BUILDING FOR METAL WORKS, SPECIAL ED-- UT Sandiego California: February 02, 2012 [ abstract] Not content to dedicate El Cajon Valley High School’s new Metal Works Facility and Special Education Suites with a symbolic snip of a ribbon, school and district representatives resorted to fire power last week. As begoggled officials looked on, welding student Anthony Crisp used an oxy acetylene torch to slice through a chain link rope like a hot knife through butter.
With that sparkling gesture, Building 600 " a $3.6 million, 16,866-square-foot modernization and expansion project completed in December " was formally unveiled. It was a far cry from 1952 when the building was first dedicated as a barn for the agriculture department.
“What you will see today is a totally transformed facility, which no longer houses cows and horses, but a modern welding and fabrication facility with state-of-the-art equipment, which will provide training in the vital manufacturing industry sector for many years into the future,” said El Cajon Valley High Principal Erin Richison in her welcoming remarks to Grossmont Union High School District officials, staff, and community members and leaders.
For the past 30 years, Building 600 has housed the high school’s successful ROP welding program that gives students " and adults in the evenings " the opportunity to explore careers in manufacturing and welding. The only public education offering in San Diego County that provides American Welding Society certification, the program is expected to certificate 180 El Cajon Valley High students this year.
But the facility itself was in a sorry state. It was dark, crowded, lacked restrooms, and was so poorly ventilated, the air quality left “a haze of smoke like Los Angeles in the 1960s,” said project architect John Neighbors of Sprotte + Watson Architecture and planning, the Vista firm charged with bringing Building 600 into the 21st century.
-- Staff Writer School closings in Fayette County still tug on heartstrings-- WV Gazette West Virginia: December 10, 2011 [ abstract] Nuttall Middle School, a nondescript three-story building in Fayette County, stands alone alongside an old road that twists and turns with West Virginia's New River, about 60 miles east of the state capital.
The school has been around since the 1920s, and its students have lived through World War II, the Civil Rights movement, and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Parents, grandparents and great-grandparents have all walked the school's halls.
But that could end.
The West Virginia Department of Education and the local school board are planning to shutter the 83-year-old school and send most of the fifth-, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders to neighboring middle schools. They also want to close Danese Elementary School, a school on the far end of Fayette County that serves 114 students.
-- Amy Julia Harris Sadness and Anger Over School Closings-- New York Times New York: December 09, 2011 [ abstract] The proverbial other shoe will drop Friday, when as many as 10 more New York City public schools will be placed on a list to be closed, but already the fallout has begun after the city’s announcement on Thursday recommending a dozen school closings and the “truncation” of grades from three additional schools.
Gotham Schools dispatched its troops to some of the schools that will most likely be phased out over the next few years (it can be virtually assumed that the Panel for Educational Policy will rubber-stamp the Department of Education‘s suggested closings, and probably soon), and found disappointment.
Parents and educators from Public School 14 Cornelius Vanderbilt, the first school on Staten Island chosen for closing since 2002, when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took over control of the city’s schools, are planning to hold a rally on Friday in front of borough hall, The Staten Island Advance reports.
“The staff is absolutely brokenhearted, and totally against the possibility that there’s going to be a closure,” said Sean Rotkowitz, District 31 representative for the United Federation of Teachers.
Supporters of P.S. 14 will rally in support of the school at Borough Hall today at 4 p.m. Rotkowitz said he expects a big showing.
“This school is being targeted for political reasons " those reasons being that Staten Island has never had a school that has been threatened with closure or has been closed,” he said.
-- Mary Ann Giordano Cancellation of Arts Magnet Raises Questions About D.C. Middle Schools-- Georgetown Patch District of Columbia: December 08, 2011 [ abstract] A proposed arts magnet school, Principal Patrick Pope and, some would argue, Hardy Middle School are all casualties of D.C. Public Schools efforts to develop a city-wide comprehensive middle school plan. But critics worry that DCPS is not doing enough to share its plans with parents and invested community members.
Georgetown resident and Greater Greater Washington contributor, Ken Archer, reports that DCPS has canceled the promised arts magnet middle school that former Hardy Middle School Principal Pope was to have started. Pope is now serving as the principal at Savoy Elementary in Southeast between Barry Farms and Historic Anacostia. His promised middle school has been canceled.
In an email to Archer, DCPS spokesperson Frederick Lewis wrote:
We stopped the planning process for a proposed arts magnet middle school last school year with the appointment of Patrick Pope as principal of Savoy Elementary. This school year, faced with major questions to resolve around school closures and a city-wide demand for a comprehensive middle school plan, we are rethinking all of our options.
-- Shaun Courtney Harford panel calls for reform in school construction decision making, funding-- Baltimore Sun Maryland: November 29, 2011 [ abstract] Harford County's $300 million school construction program needs more cooperation and collaboration at the state and county levels, according to a county council commission that spent the past two years studying the program.
The panel, named the Bi-Partisan Commission on School Construction, also concluded that there is a direct correlation between the quality of the physical facilities and the education the county's 38,000 public school children receive and said it observed "what appears to be a disparity among school facilities."
"This presumed disparity is believed to be affecting the variety of curricular programming that can be offered at particular schools within our county school system," reads the commission's final report. "While we understand that within a school system differences will occur, we note that some of our aging facilities continue to be overlooked and that some communities seem to lack a variety of higher level programs."
To implement a more a coordinated approach to planning and funding decisions — the chairman called the current process "mind numbing" — the panel recommended creating a multi-jurisdictional board to oversee the county's school construction program.
The report also calls for a reform in the state government's laws and rules covering school construction funding.
-- ALLAN VOUGHT Planning for Renovation of Park View School Moves Forward-- Park View DC Blog District of Columbia: November 23, 2011 [ abstract] Yesterday at 4 p.m. there was a substantial meeting between community members, parents, teachers, and city representatives to follow up from the earlier May 2011 meeting on both the immediate needs and planned modernization of the Bruce-Monroe @ Park View School. Among the city representatives present were the Deputy Mayor for Education De’Shawn Wright, Councilmember Jim Graham, Ahnna Smith (from Deputy Mayor for Education’s office), Mel Butler (of OPEFM), and Darrell Pressley from the Department of General Services (DGS).
In reviewing outstanding issues from the May meeting, the chief concerns continued to be the health of students and faculty and the state of the cafeteria.
-- Kent Boese New School Design To Save State Thousands In Utility Bills-- Civil Beat Hawaii: November 18, 2011 [ abstract] Hawaii's new Ewa Makai Middle School, which opened in January, has already exceeded lofty environmental sustainability expectations and could save the Department of Education as much as $22,000 per year in utility costs.
The department announced on Friday that Ewa Makai received Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for its energy-efficient construction and environmentally friendly design — a step higher than the Silver certification expected.
The middle school is equipped with an air conditioning system that works with day lighting to conserve energy. Contractors were also required to use green materials, include special control for storm water runoff, and test for material emissions before students moved into the building. Its energy efficiency has the potential to save the department up to $22,000 per year in utilities. That's a boon to a department that earlier this year predicted it would cost $1.5 billion to air condition all of Hawaii's public school campuses.
The 175,900-square-foot campus in Ewa Beach cost $64.8 million to build and is one of the first single-structure schools in Hawaii. But more like it are in the planning stage in anticipation of rapid population growth on the west side of Oahu.
-- Katherine Poythress Montgomery’s big fight over school construction dollars-- Gazette.net Maryland: November 16, 2011 [ abstract] Concerned parents imploring the Board of Education to fix aging and overcrowded schools can at least point to the fact that a school system proposal, even when adjusted for enrollment, far exceeds the requests of neighboring counties.
For fiscal 2013, Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua P. Starr is requesting $278.8 million to fund construction and other infrastructure projects to serve the school system’s 146,600 students. Of that request, $194.7 million is for state funds, although state funding requests regularly far exceed actual aid.
By comparison, Prince George’s County Public Schools has requested less than half in construction funds, $127.5 million, even though it has 85 percent of Montgomery’s enrollment (about 124,000 students), and roughly the same number of schools (205, compared to the 200 in Montgomery).
In Baltimore County, with 105,000 students, the school system’s request for state funding is less than half of Montgomery’s, $74.8 million. (The school system’s county funding request is not yet finalized.)
The chairman of the Capital Improvements Program committee for the county PTA, Steve Augustino, said Montgomery’s figure far exceeds other counties because it must account for its large projected enrollment growth.
There are projected to be 156,000 students in Montgomery’s public schools by 2017. Prince George’s schools have declined in enrollment recently, while Baltimore County’s rose this year.
Augustino said Montgomery was planning for systemic projects in 2013, such as HVAC upgrades, that did not appear to be on the same scale in Prince George’s, and that Montgomery’s schools may in fact be older on average.
-- Andrew Ujifusa Build new or keep the old?-- News Press Now Missouri: November 12, 2011 [ abstract] Whether new facilities or old, it costs a good chunk of money to maintain school buildings.
The St. Joseph School District budgeted $1.352 million for capital improvement projects this school year. But many times, even that isn’t enough when you have to replace acres of roofs and asphalt and do other repairs on 34 buildings.
Rick Hartigan, the district’s chief executive officer, said this is non-discretionary money. No one gets to decide where the money is spent. The buildings do.
“We have 34 buildings and we have $1.3 million to spread among those buildings. Some are over 100 years old,” he said.
As the PACT (planning A Course Together) long-range planning team enters the final stretch on deciding a facilities plan, the cost of doing nothing " compared to building new buildings and closing others " is an issue.
A plan in four phases
The plan presented by PACT officials to the school board in June calls for reducing the number of schools from 23 to 20. The four-phase plan, if accepted by the board, would build new elementary schools in Midtown and the northeast part of town, and close Noyes, Edison, Hall and Humboldt elementary schools.
Renovations would be made to Benton, Central and Lafayette high schools and Mark Twain and Parkway elementary schools. Hosea, Eugene Field, Coleman, Lindbergh, Pershing and Skaith elementary schools would receive larger classrooms.
Lake Contrary would be re-purposed and become a middle school, while Hyde would close, with Spring Garden taking its place as an elementary school.
Bode Middle School would close, and Pickett would be re-purposed into a middle school. Grade schools would go from kindergarten through fifth grade, and middle schools would expand to sixth through eighth grade.
PACT officials are gathering more public input before presenting its final recommendations in January.
Samuel Johnson, with BLDD Architects, said the plan would take anywhere from 18 to 20 years for complete implementation. The cost benefit ratio of the plan is comparable to doing nothing, he said.
“If you do nothing, you spend almost the same amount and you get a much lower return on your educational dollars,” he said. “In other words, you don’t have an environment that supports your educational program.”
-- Alonzo Weston Natrona County school construction stalls-- Star Tribune Wyoming: November 06, 2011 [ abstract] Natrona County’s high school construction projects have been in the spotlight, while four elementary school projects have not moved forward since money was appropriated in early March.
District officials said they repeatedly requested permission from the state School Facilities Department to move forward in the planning stage for four elementary schools " Park, Evansville, Pineview and North Casper " since August. Officials said the department did not grant their requests, delaying project planning and in turn design and construction.
Money to plan the four schools was outlined in a supplemental budget request and became available to the district in March. District officials did not seek official approval to plan, called a Director’s Authorization Letter, until August because they thought verbal communication with the local project manager was enough, said Mark Antrim, associate superintendent of facilities and technology.
“It has been frustrating because our students and patrons are left in the unknown zone for periods of time,” Antrim said.
The district has to fulfill several requirements before official planning with state money can begin, and district officials received a list of those requirements, said Ian Catellier, director of the School Facilities Department.
“This is not a new process,” said Catellier, who began his term as director in June. “They know the things they have to get in place. We will work with them.”
But district officials say the process has not been clear. Antrim said the steps to receive a DAL and planning money " civil engineering survey, land appraisals " require funding. In October, school districts were told they could use major maintenance money from the state to complete the DAL requirements and would be reimbursed later as long as projects had been approved.
The four Natrona County schools have been " for the planning phase, at least.
-- JACKIE BORCHARDT New school sites will allow developments to move forward-- Baltimore Sun Maryland: November 06, 2011 [ abstract] The selection of two new school sites in Elkridge at Oxford Square and Ducketts Lane — chosen to alleviate overcrowding in northeast Howard County — could clear the way for developers to build new homes in the area.
Nearly 30 new housing developments planned for Elkridge have been on hold because growth-control laws curb development around schools that are 15 percent or more over capacity. Three northeast middle schools and four elementary schools were predicted to soon exceed their limits, but with two new school sites chosen, the County Council can now approve the number of new home projects in the area.
The council must approve the housing unit allocation and the school capacity charts together; both will be introduced at Monday's legislative session.
The school board had delayed submitting its capacity charts over the summer until it had secured two new schools in the northeast, said Joel Gallihue, manager of planning for the county schools.
Unlike the rest of the county, the northeast still has a waiting list of builders hoping to start new projects, as officials have promoted development along the U.S. 1 corridor. The recession has also helped shift home building trends in Howard — from large single-family homes in the west, to less expensive multi-family apartment, townhome and condo developments in the east.
Jeff Bronow, the county planning department's chief of research, said there are 27 projects on hold in Elkridge.
-- Jessica Anderson Schools rebuilt but lack students-- Columbus Dispatch Ohio: November 06, 2011 [ abstract] All five school buildings in the neighborhoods that surround East High School are top-notch. And this, in an odd way, is the problem.
The schools the district spent $73.6 million sprucing up are on average only 72 percent full. But the Columbus district, which is on a mission to close under-enrolled schools, won’t consider tossing aside its investment to shutter newly improved buildings.
Neighborhood activists are worried. Some wonder whether the district wasted its money and whether officials checked population projections before the first hammer was swung.
“That, to me, is the big question: Why wasn’t that considered when you’re investing that kind of money? Where was the foresight?” asked Willis Brown, president of the Bronzeville Neighborhood Association. “The return on that investment doesn’t look very good.”
Crumbling East Side schools were in the worst shape, so they were among the first to be fixed up in the Columbus district’s huge building project.
The projections used as the basis for planning the district’s building project showed that the high-school population at East would be greater than 800, said Carole Olshavsky, who oversees district facilities.
“The middle-school numbers were even stronger than that,” Olshavsky said. They showed that Champion would have more than 500 children.
-- Jennifer Smith Richards Facilities master plan will shed 14,000 'empty seats'Print Page-- Plan Philly Pennsylvania: November 03, 2011 [ abstract] [Update Thursday a.m.] After months of speculation that dozens of schools across the city could be shut down, District officials have recommended to the School Reform Commission that just nine schools be closed by 2014.
The recommendations come as part of a package of facilities changes that District officials say will reduce their excess capacity by 14,000 seats – a far cry from the target of 40,000 seatsthey had earlier set.
â€"The path we're taking, we think fits the times that we're in,†said Acting Superintendent Leroy Nunery.
But the District's cautious approach met some immediate questions, including from some members of the SRC.
Asked if the plan goes far enough, Interim SRC Chairman Wendell Pritchett said simply, â€"We need to do more.â€
For months, officials have argued that the District needs to dramatically â€"rightsize†its aging physical plant in response to dramatic declines in student enrollment , changing demographic realities, and ongoing fiscal challenges. Over the past ten years, the District has lost over 50,000 students, leaving the system's facilities operating at only about 68 percent of its capacity.
Wednesday's recommendations will only take the District to about 71 percent capacity – well short of the 85 percent target adopted by the SRC last spring. But officials, calling this â€"phase four†of a facilities master planning process that started over a year ago, made clear that there could be more to come.
Nunery and District Deputy for Strategic Initiatives Danielle Floyd presented the District's current recommendations at a special meeting of the School Reform Commission Wednesday evening. Their plan includes over 30 proposed actions, including 17 grade reconfigurations and the relocation of another school.
Inevitably, though, most of the attention was on the proposed closures.
Five of the schools that could be shuttered are elementary schools, two are middle schools, and two are high schools. All but one, Philadelphia High School for Business, are neighborhood schools serving their surrounding catchment areas. Eight of the nine closings would take place next fall.
Parents, students and supporters at E.M. Stanton Elementary in South Philadelphia were out in force Wednesday to voice their displeasure at the possibility of being shut down.
â€"I'm outraged,†said Angela Anderson, the parent of two students at E.M. Stanton. â€"I got physically sick to my stomach when I heard it.â€
-- Benjamin Herold Starr Recommends New Site Selection for Middle School -- Kensington Patch Maryland: November 03, 2011 [ abstract] Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr said Wednesday he wants to redo the site-selection process for the second Bethesda-Chevy Chase cluster middle school, which is currently planned for Rock Creek Hills Park.
At last night's Board of Education worksession, Starr said he is concerned about the community's response to the process and about possible legal roadblocks that could prevent the schools from reclaiming the park.
"My recommendation to redo the site-selection process is not inconsistent with my CIP recommendation to open the new B-CC middle school in August 2017," Starr said. "There is sufficient time in this schedule to allow for the new site selection process and still open the new middle school by the recommended date of August 2017."
Starr said he will send a memo to the Board in the coming days, detailing the new site-selection process and its timeframe.
Rock Creek Hills Park is the former site of the now-closed Kensington Junior High. After that school was shuttered, the park was transferred to the Park and planning Commission with the caveat that MCPS could reclaim the site if ever it needed space for a school in the area.
However, in the 1990s, the county used federal funds to develop the park, and the acceptance of that money places restrictions on future uses of the land, Starr said. This may stop MCPS from being able to reclaim the park site, he said. School staff is investigating the issue further.
Starr also pointed to the initial site-selection process, which took place before his tenure and violated the Maryland Open Meetings Act. That site-selection committee conformed to all of the Board's policies and regulations, Starr said, but the negative response from the community makes the issue worth revisiting.
-- Damian Garde Chesapeake weighs $485.9M plan to fix aging schools-- The Virginian-Pilot Virginia: October 25, 2011 [ abstract] Chesapeake schools would spend nearly half a billion dollars on construction and maintenance over the next five years under a plan unveiled Monday night.
And all of it, division officials said, is needed.
The projects are mostly maintenance, said officials who presented the annual Capital Improvement Plan to the School Board.
Chesapeake built many of its schools around the same time, during a population boom in the 1980s and '90s. Now those schools are simultaneously coming due for new roofs, heating and cooling systems and other maintenance.
"We are an aging school division," Paige Stutz, director of new school construction and planning, told board members.
The plan would cost $47.7 million next year and a total of $485.9 million over five years, but Monday's presentation is just the first step. The board will have to approve the plan before the city can consider it along with capital project requests from Chesapeake's other agencies.
-- Elisabeth Hulette New Schools, Please: Mercer Island Citizens Speak in Support of Rebuilding Campaign -- Mercer Island Patch Washington: October 04, 2011 [ abstract] Mercer Island needs new schools, say a group of community members, and the time to build them is now.
At a Sept. 29 Mercer Island School Board meeting, the 21st Century Facilities planning Committee (21CFPC) issued their recommendations for a phased "3-1-1" appoach: building three new two-story elementary schools and one middle school on their current properties to address school overcrowding and outdated buildings that don't support the district's vision. Mercer Island High School could then be rebuilt in a later phase.
"Our teachers are doing an incredible job … despite the facilities they are in," said 21CFPC facilitator Kris Kelsay, who led the 21CFPC process.
Thanking the panel for their work, Mercer Island School District Superintendent Dr. Gary Plano and school board members offered a standing ovation and formal certificates of gratitude for their work.
"You are an amazing model," Plano said. "This is how community action should follow."
The so-called Great Recession has taken it's toll as voters across the Puget Sound have refused to support tax increases and occasionally have refused to fund new school construction. But a majority of the 21CFPC panel believe the time is right for Mercer Island to rebuild schools first built in the 1950s and 1960s. Based on the recommendation to rebuild all four schools in the first phase, a bond could cost anywhere between $157 million to $177 million.
-- Kendall Watson Task force created to consider ban on schools built in rural areas-- Sno Valley Star Washington: October 04, 2011 [ abstract] King County has delayed a decision on a proposed controversial policy change to prohibit new schools being built in rural areas.
The change would have left the Snoqualmie Valley School District and six other school districts unable to use 15 properties worth about $12 million.
The county’s Growth Management planning Council appointed a task force to evaluate the issue at its Sept. 27 meeting.
The School Siting Task Force consists of officials from school districts, cities, public health and the county. It will review rural properties currently owned by school districts, and recommend the best location for schools considering the interests of students, taxpayers and the state Growth Management Act.
The task force will report its findings to the council and King County Executive Dow Constantine in February 2012.
The group’s formation stemmed from a compromise reached by King County, Seattle, Bellevue and the Suburban Cities Association to further explore the issue.
The policy change is backed by anti-sprawl advocates who say that it would bring county codes inline with existing state law.
School officials and the Suburban Cities Association pushed for properties already owned by districts to be grandfathered in.
The site Snoqualmie Valley district officials are concerned about is next to Twin Falls Middle School and is earmarked for an elementary school in 15 to 20 years. The district paid $675,000 for 40 acres in 1998, half of which it used for the middle school.
-- Dan Catchpole Cincinnati Public Schools Massive Building Project Nears Finish -- Cincinnati.com Ohio: October 01, 2011 [ abstract] The renovation of Rothenberg Preparatory Academy in Over-the-Rhine is the latest visible sign of Cincinnati Public Schools' 10-year, $1.1 billion taxpayer-funded plan to completely overhaul its aging building stock for this district of 33,000 students. This is the eighth year of the most ambitious, expensive and high-profile building project it's undertaken.
The project is part of a statewide school building boom begun when Ohio created the Ohio School Facilities Commission in 1997 to help districts fund school overhauls. CPS' budget has grown by about $173 million despite the size of the project shrinking by 15 schools, or 23 percent. It's also running about a year behind the original schedule and is now due to end in late 2014 instead of 2013. Once the project is finished, students will be educated in 51 new or renovated state-of-the art buildings that are technology-rich and environmentally friendly. District property owners will be paying off the project for another 18 years after the last ribbon is cut.
So what were voters promised? How was their money spent? And why, after getting $1 billion for this project, is the district now planning to use revenue from a Nov. 8 levy - if it passes - to finish renovating three schools that were in the original plan?
What voters got: Many of the new buildings are home to community learning centers, athletic events and health clinics. Some schools have stadiums for the first time. Gone are drafty windows, leaky roofs and old wiring that couldn't support more than a few computers, let alone a computer lab. The plan also brought private money to the table - an unprecedented $31 million in the case of the School for the Creative and Performing Arts to build added theater space. Citizen committees gave input on the plan and recommended features like the health clinics or after-school programs. Academics in the district have improved since the construction began, but it's unclear how big a role the new schools played. Of the 34 schools open long enough for a comparison, 26 had higher or equal ratings on their most recent Ohio Report Card.
Proponents say the new buildings provide a more conducive learning environment - and improved grades - because they're air conditioned, are more accessible and have updated technology.
-- Jessica Brown School district answers new school questions -- Echo Press Virginia: September 21, 2011 [ abstract] School District 206 voters are getting ready to mark their ballots.
On Tuesday, September 27, district voters will decide whether to build a new high school in Alexandria.
This article concludes a four-part series explaining the $65.15 million building bond referendum, focusing on the project, the need, the cost and answering questions posed within the community.
QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS
People living in the community submitted questions about the upcoming bond referendum to the Echo Press.
Here are the school district’s answers:
Q1. If the bond is approved, grades will be reconfigured to put 9-12th into the new school and move 6th graders into middle school. Wouldn’t this hurt the small elementary schools in the district that have 6th graders?
The school board recognizes that schools are part of a community’s identity and vibrancy and, as such, has remained committed to the elementary schools that serve our rural communities of Garfield, Miltona, and Carlos. A grade configuration of 6-8 at the middle school would create opportunities and efficiencies " 6th graders interested in the music programs could participate on site rather than having to leave their elementary building to go to Discovery as is the current practice; and they could participate in elective course offerings at an earlier age that might open their world to career interests. Finally, changing to K-5 schools reduces crowding in all our elementaries.
Q2. Why not remodel Jefferson? Wouldn’t that be a lot cheaper? I heard it would cost only about one-fourth the amount of the referendum.
Renovation wouldn’t solve the issues identified. To fix leaks and update the mechanical and electrical systems would cost approximately $17 million but wouldn’t address Jefferson’s facilities issues as identified by the school board and construction experts. An extensive renovation would cost approximately $40 million and still wouldn’t address issues such as needed space for learning, athletics and extra-curricular; appropriate building design for today’s educational standards; safety/security issues; and flexible technology infrastructure. The recommendation to build new is based on several years of research, planning and listening " including community and expert opinion.
Q3. Why not expand at Jefferson’s current location? There seems to be plenty of room there.
-- Staff Writer Montgomery Board of Ed president intrigued by privatizing construction, maintenance-- Gazette.net Maryland: September 20, 2011 [ abstract] Montgomery County’s top elected education official is intrigued by the concept of using private sector dollars to build and operate schools.
“I’m actually pretty excited about finding out what potential options are out there,” said Board of Education President Christopher S. Barclay (Dist. 4) of Takoma Park.
With the amount of traditional state and local money inadequate to keep up with short- and long-term capital needs, schools throughout Maryland are giving closer scrutiny to alternatives, some of which have been tested in other countries.
For example, in fiscal 2012, Montgomery County requested $163 million in state aid for projects under way or already completed, but only received $42 million.
Barclay and dozens of other school and government officials attended the meeting for “Alternative Funding and Financing of School Facilities” in Annapolis on Monday, which was hosted by the Public School Construction Program.
On Monday, David Lever, executive director of the state’s Interagency Committee on Public School Construction, noted that $6 billion would be needed just to bring Maryland public schools up to minimum building standards.
In Maryland’s 2012 Capital Improvements Program approved by the state’s Board of Public Works in May, $257.2 million in school construction aid was approved for 148 construction projects statewide, and 23 projects received planning approval. The state received $612.29 million in requests for construction (244 projects) and planning approval (61 projects).
The concept Barclay is interested in works by private organizations or consortia contracting with a school board (typically for 25 to 30 years) to build new schools, sometimes bundling them together, and then operating and maintaining them in exchange for scheduled payments. The public still would own the buildings, and the school systems would still be responsible for instruction.
-- andrew ujifusa Court ruling in Cave Creek school district lawsuit shatters Peoria's bond plans-- AZ Central Arizona: September 18, 2011 [ abstract] Earlier this week, Peoria Unified School District was considering $10.4 million in leftover bond money be used for much-needed school maintenance and bus repairs, among other things.
But the day before the issue was up for discussion at a special board meeting Friday, Peoria's plans suddenly unraveled when a court judgement was reached in a lawsuit against Cave Creek Unified School District.
"My recommendation, before yesterday, was that in November we go and we reallocate those monies to things that were more pressing to the district,†said Michael Finn, Peoria's chief financial officer, to the school board.
When voters approved the $93.5-million bond in 2002, Peoria promised the $10.4-million chunk would fund a new elementary school in the northern area of its boundaries to accommodate the then-rapid growth.
But as enrollment, state funding and the nation's economy starting on a sour detour several years ago, Peoria faced reality and put construction on the back-burner.
Instead of funding a new school, the district was planning to propose the $10.4 million serve its immediate needs, such as building renovations, capital improvement projects, updating technology and school bus repairs.
"That recommendation is now, clearly, obsolete,†Finn said.
-- Kristena Hansen Wanted: schools close to home-- Tennessean Tennessee: September 18, 2011 [ abstract] Around 8:15 a.m. each school day, students and their parents pad onto the grounds of Nolensville Elementary School on a walking path connected to their nearby neighborhood.
The path, also popular for scooters and bikes, is a source of pride for school and town officials who worked together to get funds for it.
About the same time the walkers are arriving, a line of cars forms, and school staffers wave their arms to coax parents along. Children know to exit their minivans quickly.
How many kids walk and how many ride buses and cars is just one consequence of school placement decisions that Middle Tennessee schools have been making rapidly. Williamson and Rutherford counties have led the way by opening 12 new schools since 2007, with more construction under way and scheduled.
The pace of building has increased the urgency of transportation, health, environmental and historic preservation groups seeking changes in where schools are built. They’re pushing back against the trend of putting big schools on large land plots far from students’ homes. Instead, they see long-term cost savings, health benefits and reduced burdens on infrastructure and roads if schools can be anchored to neighborhoods where more students can walk to them.
This month, the federal Environmental Protection Agency is due to release guidelines for school siting. A separate study of Tennessee’s policies is in progress, and a Nashville-based planning group is calling attention to school placement.
“People underestimate the impact on traffic, air quality … health,” said Leslie Meehan, senior planner with the Nashville Area Metropolitan planning Organization, which covers seven counties.
-- Tony Gonzalez Gray plans to develop Stevens, Franklin and three other D.C. properties-- Washington Post District of Columbia: September 12, 2011 [ abstract] Mayor Vincent C. Gray's economic development team plans to seek private sector partners this fall to develop five city-owned properties, including two historic former school buildings, the Stevens Elementary School in the West End and the Franklin School downtown.
In addition to the two schools, Gray and his deputy mayor for planning and economic development, Victor Hoskins, will seek partners for property the city owns at 7th street and Rhode Island Avenue in the Northwest – often referred to as Parcel 42 – as well as R.L. Christian Library at 1300 H Street NE and parcels at 2251 Sherman Avenue NW, according to spokesman Jose Sousa.
Sousa said Hoskins has been prioritizing the city's development portfolio and assessing its inventory of properties with an eye on which could be redeveloped.
â€"We received a significant amount of interest from the private sector on many of these parcels and we believe them to be developments that can be put in place without any District subsidy,†Sousa said.
Former mayor Adrian M. Fenty attempted to redevelop some of the properties, only to see the economy or community opposition scuttle the plans. Fenty initially picked developers for both schools, but the city later severed both relationships.
-- Jonathan O'Connell Wyoming school official: Class sizes not linked to school construction-- Star Tribune Wyoming: September 11, 2011 [ abstract] About one-third of Wyoming school districts plan to seek exemptions from a new law limiting class size in early grades, according to information from the Wyoming School Facilities Department.
Officials from 16 districts have told the department they plan to seek a formal waiver from a law requiring districts to average no greater than 16 students per class in kindergarten through third grade. Lawmakers added the provision during a session bent on reforming education in Wyoming. The state funds one elementary school teacher for every 16 students, so lawmakers said the money is already available for districts to spend in the classroom.
School districts that don’t comply with the law are subject to funding penalties in 2012-13. Districts can request a waiver for three reasons: “Insufficient school facility capacity, positive school performance, positive student achievement or for other reasons related to the delivery of the education program to students.” While most school districts meet the requirement or will this year, several said they lack the available funding for more teachers and space in their schools.
Hearing complaints from constituents, state legislators on the Select Committee on School Facilities Committee questioned facilities department director Ian Catellier on Thursday about how class size is factored into school building needs.
His answer: It doesn’t.
School capacity is determined by student population and square footage. Lawmakers said old guidelines considered the number of students per classroom and supported including class size and other recommendations from the state school funding model during facilities planning.
-- JACKIE BORCHARDT Community asked to weigh in on MPS facilities plan-- On Milwaukee Wisconsin: September 08, 2011 [ abstract] All summer long, Milwaukee Public Schools has been working on a new long-range facilities plan, the final version of which is due to arrive in October.
The plan – which, according to the district, "will provide a framework for decision-making regarding school facilities" – comes on the heels of city and state officials' desire to wrest control of the buildings away from the district.
MPS conducts a facilities assessment every 10 years, says MPS media manager Phil Harris.
In February, the process was initiated via an RFP and by May, MPS data was being collected by Ohio-based DeJong-Richter, a school facilities planning firm. In June, there were field surveys and a community meeting and an initial report was issued. This 27-page document included information on all the district's buildings and a detailed condition report on those structures.
Birth rates and census data were collected. There were analyses of current programs, capacity and educational adequacy of MPS buildings, which are helping to determine the needs of the district.
Another 40-page document was presented at a special school board meeting on Aug. 20. At that meeting, a wealth of information on all aspects of the process was presented.
Before the final plan is released, five community meetings will be held on the subject in September.
-- Bobby Tanzilo New Bill to Improve CPS Facilities and Increase Transparency-- Chicagoist Illinois: August 21, 2011 [ abstract] Yesterday, Governor Pat Quinn signed a legislation that would improve school facility planning as well as "increase transparency and accountability in Chicago Public Schools."
With the new bill comes a lot of new measures. The bill requires that CPS to create a 10-year master facility plan to lay out any future school construction projects, and to guarantee teacher, parent, and community involvement in such processes. For instance, the CPS is required to inform the public of any actions it plans on taking by December of each year, and is further required to hold hearings in advance to discuss any proposals, increasing community involvement with the processes at CPS that very much concern members of the public.
The new legislation goes into effect immediately, and we hope that it brings about some much needed positivity for CPS.
-- Soyoung Kwak New York Public School’s Rooftop ‘Eco-center’ Will Reshape Science Curriculum-- SmartPlanet New York: July 12, 2011 [ abstract] New York Public School 6 (PS 6) on the upper east side of Manhattan has opened a new rooftop “eco-center” that has been four years in the making. The facility, which includes an 800-square-foot greenhouse classroom, solar panels, a weather station, and a planting area, will be used to help reshape the science curriculum in the K-5 facility " and (it is hoped) in other public schools across the city.
Marcia Sudolsky, a PS 6 parent and a co-chair of the planning committee that has spearheaded the project for the past four years, said the eco-center builds on the dream of Eric Dutt, a 34-year-old PS 6 science teacher who died unexpectedly in 2007 of a heart attack after a science field trip. His idea for a rooftop classroom had been a pet project for the school’s future curriculum.
-- Heather Clancy $12 Million Doled Out for Hawaii School Construction-- Star Advertiser Hawaii: July 03, 2011 [ abstract] The governor has released more than $12 million for nine construction projects at schools, including $7.8 million for a new multipurpose science facility at Stevenson Middle School. The Department of Education is moving forward on the planning and design phase for the facility, aimed at creating a "science-focused learning laboratory." Officials expect to put the project out to bid next year. The Legislature appropriated funds for the facility in 2009, but the money had not been released. Stevenson Principal Rodney Luke said the facility will strengthen the school's efforts to emphasize the sciences. "It's going to continue the momentum," he said, adding the facility will be a "gathering spot where our students are able to collaborate with each other."
On Wednesday, the governor also released: $2.5 million for covered play courts at Mililani Middle; $600,000 for building renovations and structural improvements at Waihee Elementary; $575,000 for roof work at Fern Elementary; $500,000 for an expansion of Noelani Elementary's library and the addition of a technology and media center; $312,000 for resurfacing of the parking lot at Mililani High; $175,000 for accessibility improvements at Kaelepulu Elementary; $132,000 for work on a dual basketball and volleyball court at Moanalua Elementary; $36,000 for improvements to the cafeteria at Mililani Uka Elementary. Earlier last month, the governor released more than $15 million for 17 capital improvement projects at public schools.
-- Mary Vorsino Springfield School District plans for community tornado safe rooms in 3 buildings-- KY3 News Missouri: June 22, 2011 [ abstract] In 2009, the work to put tornado safe rooms in Springfield School District buildings seemed important. Today, it feels essential, and staff are pleased they started planning when they did
-- Marie Saavedra, After schools are closed, who decides their fate?
-- Philadelphia Public School Notebook Pennsylvania: June 03, 2011 [ abstract] Parent activist Cecelia Thompson succeeded in getting the SRC to delay its vote on a key policy about school closings. Since then, the District has moved to be more open about how the future of closed buildings will be decided " but is it enough?
Cecelia Thompson wants neighborhood residents to have a meaningful say in what happens to closed school buildings in their communities.
Take the shuttered Beeber-Wynnefield Annex, just three blocks from her home in West Philadelphia. It’s one of eight buildings the District is putting on the market, aiming to raise $10 million toward its $629 million budget gap.
The neighborhood doesn’t need another charter school, parent activist Thompson argues " Mastery Charter’s Mann Elementary is right up the street. And residents don’t need more retail " there are plenty of nearby stores, and a new Target recently opened on City Line Avenue.
What’s missing, says Thompson, is a community center within easy walking distance for the hundreds of young children and senior citizens in the neighborhood.
“We know what we want,” said Thompson. “So ask us.”
That, however, is not going to happen " at least not as directly as Thompson would like.
The School District is developing a new Adaptive Reuse Policy to govern the sale of as many as 50 school buildings set to be closed over the next few years. Officials have stressed that the policy will allow for far more community input into what happens to shuttered buildings than ever before. But they have been reluctant to allow widespread public participation at the beginning of the decision-making process, especially on the key question of how a building should be reused.
“It seems to me disingenuous to ask [the public to weigh in on] something we may or may not be able to deliver on,” said District Deputy for Strategic Initiatives Danielle Floyd, who is overseeing the District’s facilities master planning process.
The School Reform Commission (SRC) was supposed to vote last month on an earlier version of the Adaptive Reuse Policy. That version called for District staff to internally make this most fundamental decision about what happens to a school " whether it would be slated for educational, public, or private reuse " without any formal public input.
In practical terms, that meant that neighborhood residents would have had no say on whether the Beeber-Wynnefield Annex became, for example, a charter school, a supermarket, or a community center. They would have only been involved in deciding, for instance, which supermarket it became.
But after Thompson testified that parents needed more time to understand the policy and argued that communities should have more of a role, the SRC, prompted by Commissioner Joseph Dworetzky, postponed its decision.
In the three weeks since, District staff have been busy consulting with the SRC and revising the policy.
According to the most recent draft policy, the District now intends to accept proposals from all types of buyers for every property listed for sale. That represents a significant departure from its earlier position. But officials will still retain some ability to steer buildings towards particular types of reuse through internally developed “evaluation rubrics” that will be used to score proposals from potential buyers.
And the newly proposed version of the Adaptive Reuse Policy will still tightly limit the opportunities for parents and community residents to be involved in real decision-making.
-- Benjamin Herold Putnam County schools undergo makeover
-- CHARLESTON Daily Mail West Virginia: May 31, 2011 [ abstract] As planning for the new Winfield Middle School enters its early phases, Superintendent Chuck Hatfield isn't concerned about how some students in the current building will have to be moved around mid-construction. The new school will be built directly in front of the old school.
He said two-thirds of the 650 students already are learning in portable classrooms.
"The design of the building is such that it'll be built in phases and we'll move kids out of the old section so we can do demolition and such so we can keep everything flowing," Hatfield said.
Hatfield along with Brad Hodges, Putnam County schools' facilities director, met with G&G Builders of Hurricane last week. Hatfield called it a "preconstruction meeting."
Though most of it will be demolished, a wing of the old Winfield Middle will be kept, including the gym. It will service the new school as an auxiliary gym.
Hodges said work should begin in the next two to three weeks and that the new school will be completed by Dec. 2013.
Winfield Middle is one of four schools to be swapped with newer counterparts in Putnam County. The other three are Poca Middle, Buffalo High and Confidence Elementary.
While the state School Building Authority is covering the $22 million Winfield Middle project, reconstruction of the other schools and renovations to still more stems from the approval of a $56.75 million school bond sale in August 2009.
-- Amber Marra Politics and the facilities master plan
-- The Notebook Pennsylvania: May 23, 2011 [ abstract] It is not yet entirely clear how the School District of Philadelphia will handle the biggest downsizing in its history. As many as 50 facilities are slated to be sold off in coming years, but the district has no plans to identify them until October, and the policy governing those sales remains a work in progress.
Will the process be transparent? Will neighborhoods have a real say? Will politically favored developers and non-profits have an inside track? It is simply too soon to say.
But school district policy is only part of the process. The laws and traditions of the City of Philadelphia shape virtually every major development project, and the rules of that game are well-established.
Most buyers of school properties - certainly those who plan to use a facility for a non-educational purpose - will be required by law to work their way through the city’s development bureaucracy, a process that is extraordinarily sensitive both to political pressure and community sentiment.
“I think we’d want to take a look at every site, and certainly some of the more prominent ones we will have particular concerns about,” said Gary Jastrzab, executive director of the Philadelphia City planning Commission.
Which means that, even after the school district sells off its land, there is likely to be ample opportunity for those affected by facility closures to shape their redevelopment.
-- Patrick Kerkstra School board backs off plan to build at Silver Spring park-- Washington Examiner Maryland: April 30, 2011 [ abstract]
The Montgomery County school board backpedaled on its plan to build a middle school in a popular Silver Spring park following stern letters from county officials, who said the parkland wasn't theirs to take.
But the Department of Parks also raised concerns about the school board's selection process, charging that they met in secret, ignored input from parks officials, and wasted time considering Rosemary Hills-Lyttonsville Local Park.
"To include this park as a strong candidate for a school -- let alone as the number one choice -- when there is little likelihood of acquiring it seems at best unproductive, and at worst unfair or misleading to the members of the site selection committee," wrote Francoise Carrier, chairwoman of the Montgomery County planning Board, in a letter to school board President Christopher Barclay.
Instead, the school board approved a study of Kensington's Rock Creek Hills Local Park, also in the cluster's region, and the board's second choice; it also falls under the Parks Department's domain, but because it was a former school site conveyed to the county in 1991, the district can reclaim the land.
Barclay did not return phone calls seeking comment.
In a March 8 report, the site selection advisory committee named Rosemary Hills-Lyttonsville the best site for a new middle school for the Bethesda-Chevy Chase cluster, citing its "access, cost, availability, location, and consistency with [environmental] criteria."
-- Lisa Gartner Mansfield schools planning uses for vacant buildings-- Mansfield News Journal Ohio: April 28, 2011 [ abstract] Mansfield City Schools is moving forward with plans to make use of its vacant buildings.
Superintendent Dan Freund said the district hopes to remove asbestos from Simpson Middle School and demolish the building this summer.
Mansfield's board of education was scheduled to approve a contract to excavate the West Fourth Street property at a special meeting Wednesday, but it was tabled so details could be finalized.
-- Bryan Bullock Shawano School District’s Gold LEED Certified Primary School-- WISBusiness Wisconsin: April 15, 2011 [ abstract] Miron Construction Co., Inc. announced today that Shawano School District’s new 145,789-square-foot Hillcrest Primary School has been awarded Gold LEED® certification, as established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI), by earning 56 out of 80 points.
By addressing the uniqueness of school spaces and issues such as classroom acoustics, master planning, mold prevention, community space sharing, and indoor air quality, items that directly affect the health and well-being of children, LEED® for Schools provides a comprehensive green design and construction tool that enhances the quality of the facility. The rating system, focused on water and energy reduction, provides guidelines for measuring actual building performance.
-- Joshua Morby Portland Public Schools' building plan comes with premium price tag
-- The Oregonian Oregon: April 02, 2011 [ abstract] Portland Public Schools leaders have presented their $330 million plan to remake nine of the districts' aging schools as prudent, low- to mid-cost and in line with surrounding districts.
But an analysis by The Oregonian shows that the district plans to spend $325 a square foot to fully renovate six old schools and $415 a square foot to build a small, updated Jefferson High.
Those rates are at least 15 percent to 30 percent higher than average school construction costs for the region as reported in School planning & Management's 2011 Annual School Construction Report and extrapolated from construction cost specialist Rider Levett Bucknall's quarterly cost estimates. They also far exceed the costs that districts including Beaverton and North Clackamas have paid to build or fully remodel schools in recent years.
The largest project Portland proposes, a full-scale renovation of 1920s-era Cleveland High for an estimated 2011 price tag of $80 million, would be among the most expensive high schools ever built or rebuilt in Oregon. The projects would be paid for by a $548 million bond on the May ballot. If voters pass the bond, the typical homeowner will pay about $300 a year to foot the bill.
-- Betsy Hammond Comptroller Visits Cabin John Middle School to Assess Construction Funding Needs
-- The Patch Maryland: March 29, 2011 [ abstract] Donning hard hats, PTA members, representatives from Montgomery County Public Schools, local officials and Comptroller Peter Franchot got an exclusive tour of Cabin John Middle School on Tuesday, just a few months before the completion of the school's modernization.
Franchot — who is a member of the state's Board of Public Works, which approves school construction funding — stopped by to get a firsthand look at the new facility and assess construction funding needs.
The school system is asking the state for more than $18 million to complete the construction for 160,000 square-foot school, which will be finished around the end of June so students can use the school when classes start in the fall. The $32 million project is about 85 percent complete, said Jan Sadowski, Vice President of Dustin Construction, the company behind the school's construction.
Twenty-one school districts throughout Maryland are requesting a total of $606 million. Also, Cabin John Middle School is one out of 30 projects where Montgomery County is asking for more funding, Franchot said.
Franchot said he was impressed with the design and environmental consciousness that went into planning for the school.
-- Sarah Beth Hensley In City Schools, Tech Spending to Rise Despite Cuts-- New York Times New York: March 29, 2011 [ abstract] Despite sharp drops in state aid, New York City’s Department of Education plans to increase its technology spending, including $542 million next year alone that will primarily pay for wiring and other behind-the-wall upgrades to city schools. The surge is part of an effort to move toward more online learning and computer-based standardized tests.
Some local officials are questioning the timing, since the city is also planning to cut $1.3 billion from its budget for new school construction over the next three years, and to eliminate 6,100 teaching positions, including 4,600 by layoffs. While state law prevents capital funding, the source of much of the technology spending, from being used for salaries, both moves are likely to make class sizes rise.
Despite the hundreds of millions of dollars already spent on wiring, city officials now say those connections are insufficient, given the need to stream high-definition video and interactive programs that they were not designed to handle. It is proposing to spend $465 million to upgrade those connections at 363 schools next year, and $315 million for additional schools by 2014, with schools chosen based on the state of their current technology infrastructure and the poverty level of their students.
-- Sharon Otterman Shoreline City Council Approves Plan To Save Ballinger Neighborhood Open Space
-- The Patch Washington: March 29, 2011 [ abstract] In a long-awaited decision, the Shoreline City Council voted unanimously Monday to approve a plan that would preserve six to seven acres of a piece of property in the Ballinger neighborhood for park space.
The result of an extensive joint planning process between city officials, the school district and members of the Ballinger neighborhood, the plan will allow the school district to sell the 16-acre property to a developer to raise money to help fund schools through an endowment. However, the buyer will be obligated to dedicate six to seven acres of the southern portion for park space in exchange for higher density development in the northern part.
City council members hailed the plan as an example of community partnering.
“A year ago this was a tough issue,” City Council Member Will Hall said. “Things had gotten to the point where people were trying to duck things or shift responsibility. It has been an extraordinary honor and pleasure to watch what has happened since then.”
-- Chris G. Collison CPS consolidation means severe crowding-- Community Media Workshop Illinois: March 27, 2011 [ abstract] At least one school consolidation proposed by CPS last week would result in a severely crowded facility.
That’s one of a number of issues to be taken up at a hearing Monday by a legislative task force that is pressing to reform CPS facilities planning.
The General Assembly’s Chicago Educational Facilities Task Force called a special session for Monday, March 28 at 5:30 p.m. (Erie Neighborhood House, 1347 W. Erie) to hear from schools and communities impacted by the proposed closings and consolidations.
If CPS refuses to wait for state guidelines to make their facilities planning transparent and accountable, “they could at least look at the recommendations and best practices” developed by the task force (pdf) for “ways to manage this smoothly so that nearly 5,000 students aren’t being hurt by their educational decisions,” said task force member Cecile Carroll of Blocks Together.
-- Curtis Black Volunteers Bringing New Life to Courtyard at Middle School-- BaskingRidgePatch New Jersey: March 25, 2011 [ abstract] For too long, a large courtyard surrounded by the walls of the William Annin Middle School has been neglected and serving no purpose, said Nick Beykirch, one of the school's teachers leading a project to revitalize the courtyard and make it usable for students. The project has brought the whole school community together, said Beykirch, a technology education teacher at the grades 6-8 middle school. Last weekend, carrying out the first phase of a project to bring students and usefulness back to the courtyard, about 35 volunteers worked hard to build planting boxes that can be used by several classes and programs, Beykirch said.
The project was made possible by donations from the township's Municipal Alliance Against Substance Abuse, local landscaping and garden companies and Home Depot, which donated funds for garden tools and bulbs, Beykirch said. A committee has been planning out the rebirth of the courtyard. The first phase was the creation of planting boxes where foods classes and a class in life skills for special education students can plant vegetables, Beykirch said. Planting boxes were also installed for use by other teachers in each grade level, he said. Future proposed phases include the installation of benches and, next year, the construction of a gazebo and fish point, Beykirch said. The courtyard measures approximately 45 by 500 feet in size, he said.
-- Linda Sadlouskos City Is Planning Major Cuts in the Construction of Schools-- New York Times New York: March 21, 2011 [ abstract] New York City education officials are set to approve a school construction budget on Wednesday that would significantly cut the number of schools to be built in the next three years, as the city faces what it says is a new cap on state construction aid.
The School Construction Authority’s $9.3 billion budget, which covers work through 2014, will go before the Panel for Educational Policy, where it is expected to pass, and will then move to the City Council. Instead of the 56 new schools that the Council approved last year, the budget would support the construction of 26 schools across the city, reducing the number of places for new students to 14,000 from roughly 28,000.
The cuts come as class sizes have swollen in much of the city, a situation serious enough that the city has received a state waiver from court-mandated class size reduction targets for all but 75 of its nearly 1,700 schools.
Between 2005 and 2009, the state matched New York City in school construction financing, resulting in a $13 billion building boom. But with the state facing a huge budget deficit, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has proposed a limit of $2 billion for school construction, with at most half of that going to the city.
-- SHARON OTTERMAN PRINCETON: Littlebrook School garden is a source for lessons-- Central Jersey.com New Jersey: March 17, 2011 [ abstract] In addition to the luck of the Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, it’s also lucky to plant your peas on March 17. Kindergartners at Littlebrook School learned this lesson, adding to many others, yesterday as part of the school’s garden program. ”We can grow most vegetables and fruits,” said kindergartner Sara Carson. “Worms help plants grow,” she added when asked what she has learned. Classmate Clara McClintock added, “I really love to garden. I love to put seeds in and cover them up.” ”Every adult that comes in is like ‘why wasn’t my science class like this?’” said Martha Friend, the science lab teacher. “The students own the garden, it’s theirs.”
Pupils are involved in every aspect of the garden, including the planning, said Amy Mayer, parent coordinator of the garden. One example of this is the bulb garden, where children decided what to plant where based on height, color and bloom time and then mapped it out.
The pupil’s questions often drive the experiments they do in the science lab. Next week’s project with garlic plants was inspired by a question from one of the first graders who wanted to know if it mattered how the bulbs were put in the ground " they will find out later this year. Next week they will plant bulbs sideways and upside down to see what the results are, said Ms. Mayer. This hands-on learning appeals to the kids and flip-flops the usual method of teaching in Linda Kujawski’s first grade class. ”I teach from this,” she said, indicating the children participating in a scavenger hunt for plants in the garden. She uses the hands-on experiences the children are having as a basis for some of her lessons.
-- Victoria Hurley-Schubert School Board launches early facility planning with state agency-- The Gateway News Ohio: March 16, 2011 [ abstract] Very early planning has begun for an update to the Streetsboro City Schools' facilities.
At a Feb. 26 strategic planning meeting of the School Board, Bill Prenosil, a planning director with the Ohio School Facilities Commission, spoke with Board members about the district's timeline for building a new high school with funding help from the OSFC.
Prenosil said it's likely to be two to three years before the district can leverage credit it has built up over the past 10 years to do a significant facilities update.
-- Bob Gaetjens CPS school utilization standard ‘flawed’-- News Tips Illinois: March 10, 2011 [ abstract] When CPS interim CEO Terry Mazany says there are 30 schools that could be closed due to “underutilization” " or when charter school advocates say there are 100 “underutilized” public schools that should be turned over to new charters " the utilization standard they’re relying on is virtually meaningless.
That’s one conclusion of a legislative task force on CPS school facilities planning that will release its final recommendations tomorrow (Friday, March 11, 9:30 a.m., Bilandic Building, 160 N. Michigan, Room 505.)
CPS measures building capacity by counting potential classroom spaces and multiplying by standard class sizes. As has been noted before, this ignores a range of educational needs, from smaller classes for special education to art and music rooms and science and computer labs.
A more comprehensive standard accounts for a variety of educational programming as well as a couple multi-use rooms (cafeterias, auditoriums and/or gyms), and can be roughly expressed in terms of square feet per student, said Mary Filardo of the 21st Century School Fund in Washington, who’s advising the task force.
Based on national standards, CPS should aim at an average of 150 square feet per student " more for high schools, less for elementary schools, she said. The nation’s best schools have as much as 200 square feet per student. Systemwide, CPS has 96.
Absurd results
Applied to individual schools " particularly 224 schools CPS lists as utilizing less than 50 percent of capacity " the CPS standard can yield absurd results. At full capacity as defined by CPS, Clark Elementary would have 51 square feet per student; Brown Academy would have 43 square feet per student, according to the task force.
-- Curtis Black Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Will Lease its Shuttered Schools-- South Charlotte News North Carolina: March 09, 2011 [ abstract] Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is now taking bids from organizations interested in leasing any of the nine school buildings CMS plans to close for the 2011-12 school year. CMS decided to close 11 school buildings and lease nine to help bridge a budget gap projected to be as much as $100 million.
Leasing some of the empty buildings will allow the school system to avoid the costs associated with maintenance, as leaseholders will be responsible for all maintenance and operations of the buildings. "Even when the building is not being used, you still have to do some pest management, send a custodian, (air) conditioning to avoid mold," said Dennis LaCaria, director of facilities planning and real estate for CMS. "The extent to which we can avoid those costs, that's mostly what can be used to keep some jobs. But the rent revenue is not really going to ... be a significant impact."
-- Caroline McMillan Maine DOE Releases School Construction Priorities List-- Current Maine: March 09, 2011 [ abstract] The Maine Department of Education has released its recommendations to the State Board of Education for school construction funding priorities. David Connerty-Marin, director of communications for the Department of Education, said in a press release the proposed priority list is the first rating of school construction projects since the 2004-05 rating cycle. "The list is a vitally important tool for us in understanding the scope of the needs in our schools," Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen said. "When resources become available, we'll be able to address the most significant needs first."
Connerty-Marin said the list is just the first step in a comprehensive process that includes prioritizing, determining solutions, designing and building. The commissioner must decide how many projects will be able to move forward and the timing of those projects, he said. The list was comprised using a scoring system that assigns points to the level of need in a large number of areas, Connerty-Marin said. Those areas include unsafe building and site conditions, program-related facility and system deficiencies, enrollment and overcrowding, and program and planning, he said. Scoring was conducted by a Department of Education team over the past six months and included extensive site visits, he said.
-- Joey Cresta District seeks new uses for schools-- Concord Moniter New Hampshire: March 07, 2011 [ abstract] What's the next phase of life for a building that's spent decades as a school? Concord School District officials hope to find help answering that question as the district prepares to shutter as many as five former school buildings next year.
The district recently issued an invitation to organizers to bid on the job of assessing the properties, gathering information and opinions from the community, and giving the buildings new life.
With five buildings that could be left empty by September 2012 - the Dewey, Dame, Eastman Rumford and Walker buildings - district officials want to hit the ground running, said Matt Cashman, director of facilities and planning for the district.
-- Sarah Palermo LETTER: Better planning needed on school buildings-- The Leaf Chronicle Tennessee: February 25, 2011 [ abstract] Regarding the Feb. 20 Leaf-Chronicle story on school funding: Money has always been a government downfall. The government has no pockets of its own so it reaches into ours: They cry and grab it, we feel it and cry. So, this way they are assured of being funded even though we have not had a raise in eons; we can live off the leftover change.
Then what is the problem about how and where to spend the booty? Crowded classrooms have been with us from the beginning when there were the "overcrowded" one-room schoolhouses; what a jumble to be teaching so many subjects at one time to that assortment of grade levels.
-- MODRIS STRAUSS Saga of rebuilt McDonogh No. 11 School in hospital footprint exposes snags in post-Katrina planning-- The Times-Picayune Louisiana: February 14, 2011 [ abstract] Public officials at all levels of government began charting New Orleans' recovery almost as soon as the city was pumped dry and levees patched in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina.
The Orleans Parish School Board's plans involved using the FEMA Public Assistance program, the primary source of rebuilding money for public entities, to repair Mid-City's flooded, wind-whipped McDonogh No. 11 School, a late 19th century structure built as part of a post-Civil War school construction boom. The school had been restored before Katrina and was repaired again after the storm at a cost of $3 million to federal taxpayers.
For Louisiana State University and the state facilities office, top priorities included building a new academic medical center to replace Charity Hospital, a project also dependent on the FEMA Public Assistance program. The state's chosen site: 34 acres that surround a fully restored McDonogh No. 11 in the neighborhood immediately across South Claiborne Avenue from the existing downtown medical district. The state wants to pay Orleans Parish schools $2.365 million for the building, then demolish it.
The conflict will lead in the coming months to a court fight as the School Board and the state, each using private attorneys, haggle over compensation for the building, which the state is soon to claim under eminent domain authority. School Board officials say the system is entitled to replacement cost, which in this case is $20 million to $25 million beyond the state's offer. The board last fall spent $3 million on temporary classrooms for the 265 displaced students of Priestley School of Architecture and Construction. They now meet on a modular campus at 4300 Almonaster Ave. in eastern New Orleans.
-- Bill Barrow Around The State Districts Planning To Close Schools-- OPB News Oregon: February 07, 2011 [ abstract] Three school buildings are slated to close in Eugene. Local school administrators have also proposed closing three in Lake Oswego, and three in North Clackamas.
Those are just a few of the districts feeling financial pressure, and planning to close school buildings.
This week, Governor John Kitzhaber is expected to announce a new education team, charged with encouraging more school closures.
Rob Manning reports on the benefits, and costs, of closing school buildings.
Members of the Eugene school board approved a sweeping cost-cutting plan last week. Among the least popular cuts in the plan, is the step to close three school buildings. Before voting on the plan, Eugene board vice-chair, Alicia Hays thought back to when the plan first came out.
Alicia Hays: “I sat up here and I said ‘I hope we don’t focus on the one million for closing schools, because there’s so much than that one million’.”
Twenty-three million dollars more, in fact. That’s money the district intends to cut by laying off employees and trimming the school calendar.
Parents in Springfield, Clackamas, Lake Oswego, Albany, and elsewhere are worried about plans to close their schools.
That might be just the beginning. Eugene Superintendent George Russell reminded board members recently about a peculiarity in Governor Kitzhaber’s new two-year schools’ budget proposal, which still needs to be approved by the legislature.
It has more money in the first year for a reason.
-- Rob Manning Sierra Vista school district faces hard decisions-- Sierra Vista Herald Arizona: February 02, 2011 [ abstract] Town and Country Elementary School will join Village Meadows Elementary School on the potential chopping block as district administration plans to recommend shuttering another school site in Sierra Vista. This time a possible closure is not being suggested as a means to balance the budget but in an effort to best serve students by bringing back specialists to teach programs like art, music and physical education.
This would enable to district to extend the elementary school day by 45 minutes, back to what it was about two years ago, and provide teachers with planning time during the day again.
Superintendent Brett Agenbroad plans to discuss the specific options with the governing board during a work session at the Buena High School Drama Pod at 6 p.m. on Thursday. There will be no action taken or call to the public offered during the work session but it is open to anyone wishing to attend.
-- Adam Curtis Dallas ISD building new schools despite changed landscape since voters approved them
-- Dallas Morning News Texas: January 31, 2011 [ abstract] Backhoes, bulldozers and construction crews across Dallas are busy building schools at breakneck speed to open 14 campuses in the coming years " all funded by a $1.3 billion bond package approved in 2008.
But much has changed in 21/2 years.
The economy has taken a beating of historical proportions, new housing construction has all but halted, and the Texas Legislature is expected to slash the district’s funding, perhaps by 20 percent.
Despite the changed landscape, Dallas ISD officials say they are plowing ahead with their plans and are more committed than ever. They say the campuses are needed to relieve school crowding; construction costs are down; and the work created by the program is keeping thousands of people employed.
“We feel that we have been monitoring everything,” Superintendent Michael Hinojosa said, “Right now we don’t need to make any big adjustments.”
The demographic study that pinpointed areas most in need of the new schools was completed in 2007. Four years later, two central questions emerge:
Will the campuses be in the right spots?
Will the district be able to afford to operate the new campuses despite a potential historic cut in state funding?
District officials say yes on both counts.
Those who have worked in school planning and finance could not comment specifically on Dallas ISD’s situation but said school districts must make absolutely sure that there’s a demand for new schools, and they must be able to pivot plans to new realities.
-- MATTHEW HAAG Facilities planning committee presents findings
-- Mercer Island Reporter Washington: January 26, 2011 [ abstract] All the schools in the Mercer Island School District have reached or exceeded capacity. With little or no hope of funding from the state of Washington or the federal government, the district is going to have to get creative on how to move forward and accommodate the growing number of students expected in the long-term.
Monday night, members of the School Board and the public listened to a thorough presentation by the 21st Century Facilities planning Committee, presented by facilitator Kris Kelsay.
The committee consists of 16 community members, three student representatives, City Council member Bruce Bassett, and board liaison Janet Frohnmayer. It has been tasked to come up with a master facilities plan for the board within a 12 to 18-month period.
The committee is made up of engineers, a legal expert, entrepreneurs, a PTA mom and a host of experts in their field.
To date, the committee " which first met in September 2010 " has had six regular meetings, a school construction tour and three enrollment sub-committee meetings. The group plans to meet twice a month from now on, with the goal of making a recommendation by September of this year.
All three elementary schools are very limited to remodeling or expansion in a one-story footprint and absolutely cannot be built up to two stories due to the existing structural system. All three could be rebuilt with expansion on the existing sites or even on the current footprint, the committee concluded.
Two-story expansion is out of the question for Mercer Island High School, Islander Middle School and the North Mercer campus as well, due to existing structural issues. MIHS and IMS could be remodeled with expansion or rebuilt with expansion on their existing sites, but the North Mercer campus will not hold up for a remodel " it would have to be rebuilt due to the condition of the building.
-- LINDA BALL New Orleans school recovery concept called architectural 'game-changer'-- The Times-Picayune Louisiana: January 25, 2011 [ abstract] A leading architectural journal has heralded an effort to rebuild New Orleans' public schools as community hubs as one of six new ideas with the power to transform urban planning.
In its January issue, Metropolis magazine highlights the "nexus" concept conceived by local planner and architect Steven Bingler, whose firm played a leading role in developing the school facilities master plan for the Orleans Parish School Board and the Recovery School District.
Rather than simply rebuilding schools, playgrounds, fire stations, senior centers and health clinics as they were before the flood, so-called "nexus" campuses place those buildings in clusters, and in some cases under the same roof.
"By grouping all of these community services within walking distance of each other and a school, we could also address a lot of things at once: equitable access, sustainability, and wellness," Bingler told Metropolis Executive Editor Martin C. Pedersen.
The article notes that the "nexus" concept is being incorporated as part of the school systems' "quick start" construction initiative, part of the push to build or completely renovate 28 schools by 2013. And it touts Mayor Mitch Landrieu's support for the idea, which the mayor refers to as "place-based planning."
-- Michelle Krupa Kamenetz presents school construction budget
-- Baltimore Sun Maryland: January 20, 2011 [ abstract] Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said Thursday afternoon that his school construction requests for the fiscal year starting this summer recognize the need for spending restraint in difficult times, but he said the same economic challenges "make the education of our future work force and leaders more important than ever," according to his prepared remarks.
The executive's annual message to the 15-member planning board on capital spending for 2012 offered highlights of a $670 million spending plan. Kamenetz focused on school construction, a contentious issue among many parents whose children are coping with crowded schools. The capital improvements budget also covers an array of maintenance projects, including roads, county buildings and parks.
The plan includes construction of three high schools and doubling the size of an elementary school. The request — much of which continues spending on projects that have begun — is part of what Kamenetz called the county's "commitment to ensuring that all of our schools are capable of giving our children the finest education possible."
In his two-page presentation, Kamenetz said the county's schools are among the oldest in the state, many of them opening more than 50 years ago. He praised the accomplishments of the school system but said that "our teachers cannot succeed, and our students cannot excel, if our classrooms and facilities are inadequate to provide what is required for a quality 21st-century education."
The capital improvements plan is for the fiscal 2012 year, starting July 1, and the plans are drafted every other year. The $600 million includes $285 million in borrowing approved in a referendum in the November election, which can be spent during more than one fiscal year, county spokeswoman Ellen Kobler said.
-- Arthur Hirsch Residents concerned over use of former St. Louis Elementary school building
-- The Morning Sun Michigan: January 20, 2011 [ abstract] Idling engines, bright headlights, horns sounding and warning alarms ringing have some residents around the former St. Louis Westgate Elementary school concerned about the current use of the building.
In addition, St. Louis city officials are concerned about the lack of permits for the work being done on the property.
The school district has leased a portion of the building to Dean Transportation of Lansing to be used as a central location for special education transportation for the Gratiot Isabella RESD. The former elementary school is centrally located for schools in Gratiot and Isabella counties and is a good location for a transportation center.
“The concern now is we have a commercial business in an area zoned residential,” Bob McConkie, St. Louis city manager said.
McConkie said schools are governed by the state where zoning is concerned, but when the district leased a portion of the building for commercial use, then local zoning and ordinances come into play.
“We’ve had some complaints from residents in the area that busses are being started at 5 a.m. and are idling while they are tested out. Drivers have to test headlines, horns and the warning alarm for backing up,” McConkie said. “People are calling to complain about headlights shinning in their bedroom windows.”
McConkie said the city’s planning commission is currently working on the issue and added the planning commission recognizes the need for the district to generate revenue for the building. McConkie said that planning commissioners are trying to figure out a way to work with the school that is compatible with a residential neighborhood.
“The planning commission is working on drafting an amendment that deals with vacant school buildings,” McConkie said.” If the school district wants to use the property for something other than public instruction then they must ask for a special use permit. There are certain types of uses that are compatible with a residential area.”
He noted that a parking lot was added and a radio tower was erected without permits.
-- PHYLLIS MCCROSSIN State to pay less of costs to build St. Mary's schools
-- Southern Maryland Newspaper Online Maryland: January 19, 2011 [ abstract] St. Mary's County government will be chipping in more on school construction projects over the next few years because the state has revised its public school construction funding formula.
The state currently pays 75 percent of public school construction projects in St. Mary's County. That will decrease in steps until it settles at 64 percent of construction costs in 2015, according to St. Mary's school officials
Brad Clements, chief operating officer for St. Mary's public schools, said the state reviews every few years what share of construction projects it pays.
The current 75 percent state portion is based on the county's wealth and effort to help fund such projects, Kim Howe, coordinating supervisor of capital planning and green schools, said.
St. Mary's County government currently pays for any land purchases, planning and the remaining 25 percent of construction through its capital budget.
The state/local cost share formula is based on a number of factors, according to a state capital improvements document, including percentage of students receiving free or reduced price meals, unemployment rates, enrollment growth and school construction debt.
The minimum state share allowed under the formula is 50 percent and the maximum state share is 97 percent.
-- JESSE YEATMAN Chico Unified School District looks into savings from solar
-- Chicoer.com California: January 18, 2011 [ abstract] Electricity may be getting substantially less expensive for the Chico Unified School District.
For several months, the district has been looking into a deal that will have a Foster City company build solar electric arrays at five CUSD locations.
The construction would be at no cost to the district, but the CUSD would agree to purchase all of its power for the five locations from the company.
Mike Weissenborn, CUSD's manager of facilities planning and construction, said SolarCity provided the winning proposal on the project.
Wednesday, Weissenborn will ask the CUSD board of trustees to approve a resolution that will get the project going.
At previous meetings, he has projected that the district would save $3.8 million over 20 years on the power costs.
The deal is economically worthwhile for the company because it and its investors will be able to take advantage of tax breaks and rebates that would not be available to a government entity such as CUSD.
Most of the solar arrays would be constructed as shade structures over parking lots at the district corporation yard, Chico High School, Pleasant Valley High School, Marsh Junior High School and Chapman School.
-- Staff Reports School Renovation Project Key to Renewal for California Community-- Contra Costa Times California: January 14, 2011 [ abstract] When the multimillion-dollar renovation project kicks off at Jordan High School in 2013, community members hope it will also spark the revitalization of North Long Beach. "It gives us something to be proud of," said Liliana Carrillo, a Jordan graduate and president of the Parent Teacher Organization at Starr King Elementary School. "As a parent, I want the best education for my kid."
The initiative is tied to a massive $105 million renovation project at Jordan, which is scheduled for completion in 2015. The project is the single largest one funded by Measure K, a $1.2 billion school bond plan approved by local voters in 2008. By law, Measure K funds may only be used for school construction and modernization, which protects renovation projects from state budget cuts.
Long Beach Unified School District Superintendent Christopher Steinhauser said the funds are not only an investment in Jordan, but in the larger North Long Beach area. The school, he said, will act as a community hub and centerpiece for revitalization. "We hope it will become the mecca of what urban planning can be," he said. The North Long Beach area, which has 12 schools and 14,500 students, faces significant challenges.
-- Kelly Puente Meridian High School construction project moving forward; state matching funds up in the air-- Bellingham Herald Washington: December 28, 2010 [ abstract] Construction of the new greenhouse at Meridian High School - the first phase of rebuilding the campus - is under way, with much of the project slated to start early next year.
In February, Meridian School District voters approved a $17 million bond measure to rebuild much of Meridian High School and renovate and expand Irene Reither Primary School.
The plans for the main part of the high school renovation and rebuild are currently in the final review stages, with Zervas Architect Group leading the way. The Meridian School Board has indicated it would prefer to use Zervas for designing the work to be done at Irene Reither Primary as well.
The majority of the high school project is tentatively planned to go out for construction bids in February, said Superintendent Tim Yeomans. The project will be done in phases, due to the campus being occupied during construction. The high school project, including the removal of the current Old Main building, is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2013.
Finishing both projects requires state construction funding, which is provided to school districts to help ensure schools are maintained and upgraded. The amount of funding a project receives depends on several factors, including the type of project, enrollment and the district's ability to raise money through property taxes. Whether a district receives funding in a given year depends on how necessary the construction project is compared to others across the state.
When Meridian started planning for the $17 million high school rebuild, the state was expected to reimburse about $12.6 million in July 2011. But with the current state budget deficit, fewer projects statewide may get funded over the next few years.
The high school project is almost entirely "front funded," which means the district has enough money to pay for almost all of the high school rebuild without any state assistance, Yeomans said. Depending on if state funding comes through, and how high the construction bids are, district officials may be able to add some "alternative plans," Yeomans said, not getting into design specifics.
"We have a project that is front funded, but to do everything we wanted to do for the community, we need state matching funds," he said.
To fulfill the second part of the bond measure - renovating and expanding Irene Reither Primary School - the district would need the state funds. The primary school project already has been approved by the state as being eligible for funds. Yeomans doesn't expect that project to go to bid until 2012.
-- KIRA M. COX School building upkeep is vital-- The Boston Globe Massachusetts: December 28, 2010 [ abstract] BUILDING CONDITIONS were supposed to be among the criteria in decisions to close nine Boston schools. Yet on closer examination, the “Redesign and Reinvest Plan’’ presents a mixed message about school closure decisions and Boston public schools’ capital planning and building maintenance.
Some schools slated for closure have benefited from upgrades, such as a new boiler at the Farragut School and a major renovation at the Hyde Park facility, paid for in part with state school construction funds. Other schools that will remain open still wait for roof replacements and repairs that can affect student health and learning.
-- Tolle Graham and Mary White Clients See Construction Quality Slipping
-- Hartford Business Connecticut: December 27, 2010 [ abstract] As finances tightened in the construction industry over the past two years, property owners say they experienced a remarkable decrease in the quality of service provided by architects, engineers and construction managers.
“There used to be a certain level of confidence that your design professional was watching your job,” said James Keaney, director of capital projects for the City of Hartford. “Now more responsibility for oversight is shifting to the owner.”
Keaney delivered this message at the Construction Institute’s Owners’ Forum on Dec. 10 at Northeast Utilities in Berlin where four property owner representatives laid out their concerns in front of an audience of design and construction professionals.
The consensus from the panel " along with design and construction professionals on a rebuttal panel " was the quality of service provided to the owners is declining, more so in the public sector where building longstanding relationships with design and management companies is much more difficult. Although many factors contribute to the decline, the main culprit is a changing fee structure awarding less money to oversight firms.
“The realization that reduced fees are affecting quality is real,” said James McManus, chairman of the S/L/A/M Collaborative, a construction design and planning firm in Glastonbury.
In the City of Hartford, which has done $500 million in school construction in the past eight years, the fees for architects and engineers dropped to 5.7 percent of a project’s cost, the lowest level since 2005 and significantly below the fees leading up to the recession. For construction managers, the fees dipped to 1.5 percent, nearly half the 2007 levels and the lowest since before 2003.
As a result, items such as preconstruction planning and management have been substandard over the past two years, Keaney said. There has been a drop off in construction administration as well, and field reports from construction sites are not as good.
Poor communication between owners and their design and management teams leads to problems such as several different types of energy efficient LED light bulbs installed in each new facility. While LED lighting is great for the environment, the building and grounds departments must stock the many different types of bulbs to use as replacements, which is difficult and costly.
“These are all small things, but as we know, in this industry small things can become big things,” Keaney said.
-- Brad Kane New York’s Schools Seize a Chance to Expand-- The New York Times New York: December 22, 2010 [ abstract] The education sector, and especially the School Construction Authority, has become big business in the world of New York City real estate. As residential condominiums, office towers and other private sector projects have faltered, the authority has swooped in to take advantage of lower construction costs, amenable landlords and available land to pursue an aggressive expansion.
This year, the S.C.A. has built a record 26 new facilities, creating room for 17,500 students. The authority, which oversees the building and maintenance of the city’s nearly 1,700 public schools, is in the second year of an $11.7 billion five-year capital plan, to run from the 2010 to 2014 fiscal years. The city Department of Education is lobbying for an additional $4.4 billion that would put it on track to have added nearly 124,000 seats from 2003 to 2013. “The S.C.A. is the biggest game in town,” said Richard T. Anderson, the president of the New York Building Congress, a construction trade group. “In terms of actual construction, the S.C.A.’s five-year capital plan is the largest agency program in the city,” he said.
The education sector accounted for more than half of all construction starts in New York City from May 2008 to the end of last April, a pattern that is expected to continue, according to the building congress. In addition to traditional public schools, the number of charter schools in the city has surged to 125 in 2010, from just four in 1999, according to the New York City Charter School Center, and several private schools have been in the market for new buildings. At the postsecondary level, the City University of New York, New York University and Columbia University are all planning major expansions.
-- JULIE SATOW Rockville legislators look to kill Senate bill denying city right to zoning authority over schools
-- Gazette Maryland: December 14, 2010 [ abstract] Rockville's leaders hope working with state legislators will help them preserve authority over school facilities within city limits.
On Monday night they told District 17 representatives that a proposal from state Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Dist. 18) of Kensington that would exclude county schools from Rockville's zoning process is inappropriate and unnecessary.
Madaleno does not represent Rockville in the state General Assembly.
The bill is a "nuclear option," Councilman Piotr Gajewski said.
The bill was proposed in November, three months into a four-month battle between the city and county school system over installing portable classrooms at College Gardens Elementary School. The city believes the portables violate Rockville's growth law while school system leaders claim state agencies, like county schools, are exempt from such laws.
The bill, which only applies to Montgomery County, would subject county schools to the county planning process even when a facility is within municipal limits. That would eliminate Rockville's authority to regulate county school facilities.
"I think the whole conversation with schools over the portables at College Gardens [Elementary] just got out of hand," Councilman Mark Pierzchala said. "I'd like you all to just dump this bill and allow us to work with the school system and come to an understanding."
State Sen. Jennie M. Forehand (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville, State House Majority Leader Kumar P. Barve (D-Dist. 17) of Gaithersburg and Del. Luiz R.S. Simmons (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville were at the meeting to discuss the city's 2011 legislative goals. Madaleno's legislation, however, quickly dominated the conversation.
Del. James W. Gilchrist (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville was not at the meeting because he was in Turkey.
When he proposed the legislation Madaleno explained the need, saying the city should not be able to require "expensive" changes to a school plan that would then be paid for by the entire county.
Forehand said she would try convincing her fellow senators the bill was not worth pursuing.
The city's strongest arguments against the legislation, Barve said, are that the city is working to amend its zoning ordinance, the school possesses the right to mandatory review, the city is willing to engage in an agreement with county schools and the city was quick to act when county schools overturned the planning Commission decision.
-- Sean Patrick Norris Today, voters to decide on $89.8M school facilities project-- North Jersey.com New Jersey: December 14, 2010 [ abstract] s the Dec. 14 school referendum vote nears, the argument to support or reject construction of a new school continues to heat up.
Some residents, like Chris Nicholas, a current planning Board member, are dumbfounded as to why the Board of Education is trying to pass the biggest school referendum in the borough's history to alleviate overcrowding in the system.
-- MAXIM ALMENAS Cromwell Must Give $1.3 Million Back To State For Woodside School-- The Hartford Courant Connecticut: December 10, 2010 [ abstract] Enrollment at Woodside Intermediate School is lower than projected, a state audit has found, prompting the state to ask the town to return of $1.3 million used to build the school.
There are 494 students enrolled at the school, 105 fewer than predicted by the school building committee when the school was in the planning stages in 2001.
"We have a formula that authorizes payments per square foot per student," said Tom Murphy, spokesman for the state Department of Education. "With this school, there is a square footage allotment per pupil that the state will reimburse or cost share. But if you build a school that is too large, then the state will only pay up to the authorized square footages."
The state initially sought $1.6 million from the town, but reduced the amount by $377,000 by decreasing the square footage used in the grant calculation, Murphy said. The 84,000-square-foot school was completed in 2006 at a cost of $27.4 million.
Superintendent Matthew Bisceglia said the town got the data to support its enrollment projections through studies conducted by a state education consultant and an educational consulting agency. Bisceglia, who was not superintendent when the school was built, said he questions the validity of such projections, pointing out that the consultant's study projected that Cromwell's overall student enrollment for 2010-2011 would be lower than it actually is.
-- MELISSA PIONZIO Franklin Co. commission rebuffs fee tied to schools-- Tri City Herald Washington: December 09, 2010 [ abstract] Franklin County commissioners are not willing to charge builders a fee to raise money for new Pasco school facilities.
Pasco School District officials have been planning to ask Pasco and Franklin County to adopt an "impact fee" on new construction in the district that could be used to provide facilities for new students who come with development.
County commissioners said Wednesday that they think the fee is a bad idea.
The school district's draft capital facilities plan for 2010-16 includes the proposal, with fees of $6,012 for a single-family home and $5,272 for a multi-family residence.
The district has struggled to keep up with population growth as its student population has increased by an average of 700 students per year over the last decade.
The district had almost 15,000 students at the beginning of the school year, and expects to reach almost 21,000 students in 2016.
-- Kristi Pihl Chatham, Harwich OK schools merger-- Cape Cod Times Massachusetts: December 07, 2010 [ abstract] The towns of Chatham and Harwich decided it's time to share a school district.
Monday night, a record turnout at Chatham's special town meeting narrowly approved the regionalization plan 592-531. Earlier in the evening, Harwich voters overwhelmingly approved the measure 766-21.
"We're thrilled," said Chatham School Committee chairman Jeffrey Dykens, also a member of the Chatham Harwich Regional School District planning Board that recommended the merger, after the close vote was announced at 10:30 p.m. "We're really excited about our future opportunities with Harwich."
Voters in both towns decided "what is probably the single most important issue you've decided in many, many years ... with consequences for decades to come," Chatham Town Moderator William Litchfield said at the start of 90 minutes of debate.
The two towns called the simultaneous special town meetings to act on merging their schools, a proposal studied several times over the last 50 years. The issue came to a vote just once, in 1960, and Chatham voters decisively rejected the idea.
Then, as now, Chatham voters were wary of change and loss of autonomy.
"The plan as presented to us would change Chatham as we know it forever," Chatham Finance Committee chairwoman Jo Ann Sprague said, explaining why the committee voted 6-1 against it. "It would change not only the way in which our children are educated but it would also change the place where they are educated."
There were other options besides regionalization, other speakers said, asking the record turnout, an estimated 1,400 voters, for more time to explore them.
Voters filled up the high school gym, with the overflow crowd settling in the auditorium and middle school gym. Town clerks from Orleans and Yarmouth assisted in counting the Chatham written ballot.
Supporters of regionalization warned that the town's small school system faced a grim future as the town's best and brightest left for larger schools with more opportunities and those who remained would be stuck in a declining school system.
-- Susan Milton SMCPS Receives Exciting News on School Construction Projects-- The Bay Net Maryland: December 07, 2010 [ abstract] On December 7, 2010, St. Mary’s County Public Schools (SMCPS) received exciting news from the Maryland Public School Construction Program, which announced the second round of recommendations on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 State Capital Improvements Program.
The Interagency Committee on School Construction is recommending planning approval for the Second New Elementary School, which is needed to meet capacity and program requirements, and $2,030,814 in funding for two projects. The Leonardtown Middle School Limited Renovation project received the full amount of $1,230,814 requested in FY 2012 in construction funding and the Oakville Elementary School HVAC Systemic Renovation project received $800,000 of the $1,833,000 construction funding requested in FY 2012. The balance of $1,033,000 will be appealed to the Board of Public Works on January 26, 2011. The Second New Elementary School, to be located on the Hayden Property, received a recommendation for planning approval. The new school will provide capacity relief to the adjacent schools and will be ready for occupancy in August 2015. It will be modeled after the LEED™ Gold certified Evergreen Elementary School and will incorporate additional sustainable design enhancements, including the possibility of a complete geothermal heating system.
-- Staff Writer District 30 rezoning pending, call for more schools-- Queens Courier New York: December 06, 2010 [ abstract] Parents, teachers and community members met at P.S. 149 in Jackson Heights to discuss the rezoning of school district 30, instead they were met with a new proposed Five-Year Capital Plan by the Department of Education’s School Construction Authority (SCA).
The community had been awaiting the rezoning decision for eight schools in District 30, starting in the 2011-2012 school year. That’s because the Department of Education (DOE) is working on creating a new zone to accommodate the newly opened Public School 280 on 94th Street and 35th Avenue in Jackson Heights. Some of the schools that will be affected by the rezoning are P.S. 69, P.S. 92, P.S./I.S. 127, P.S. 148, P.S. 149, P.S. 212, P.S. 222 and P.S. 228.
“We have fought consistently to have more schools in our neighborhood, I think we’ve done a fairly good job,” said Edwin O’Keefe Westley, president of the Jackson Heights Beautification Group. “What they can do is rezone schools within the district and tell us which schools to pull from in order to work out the overcrowding issue.”
But at the Community District Education Council 30 (CDEC30) meeting on November 18, SCA representatives stayed away from the rezoning matter. However, they urged parents to write to their state senators and assemblypersons to provide funds to build more schools.
“With Catholic and private schools closing more students are coming into the public school system making them over crowded,” said Monica Gutierrez from the SCA. “Write to your state senator or your assembly person to improve your schools.”
The Five-Year Capital Plan includes the building of I.S. 230 Annex, a new school that will be built on an already purchased empty lot on 34th Avenue and 73rd Street in East Elmhurst. The annex will be a support for schools in the area. According to the proposal, the Annex will have new amenities such as a brand new kitchen, new library, smart boards that will replace black boards, to name a few.
“We are asking for an additional $4.4 billion, on top of the already granted $11.3,” said Gutierrez. “If you want new schools, new kitchens, smart boards, auditoriums, playgrounds, these are things you have to request your state senator or assemblyperson under Resolution A.”
Parents who were concerned how the construction of more new schools would affect the rezoning of the school district were directed to the DOE for answers.
“Those are Department of Education questions, we are the School Construction Authority,” Gutierrez said.
CDEC30 Co-President Isaac Carmignani explained the council has 45 days to vote on the proposed rezoning plan. The plan by the DOE’s Office of Portfolio planning will most likely be voted on during the next CDEC30 meeting on December 16. DOE hopes to have a plan approved by the end of December before registration for kindergarten begins between January and February.
“We were close to a final plan in our discussion with the DOE,” Carmignani said. “But there were a few points that needed hashing out and which the community felt passionate about.”
-- LA SHAWN PAGÁN Schools Prepare Kits in Case Disaster Strikes-- Berkshire Eagle Massachusetts: December 06, 2010 [ abstract] In case of an emergency, classes in the Central Berkshire Regional School District will be ready to go. The district's School Emergency planning Council (SEPC) recently completed a yearlong project to fund and assemble emergency "Go-Kits" to put in every classroom and administrative office in the district's six schools as well as St. Agnes School. Council members include school staff and educators; local and state police; fire, emergency management and emergency medical personnel from the seven member towns of the district
-- Jenn Smith Franklin Pierce School District looks to create 20-year plan-- The News Tribune Washington: December 03, 2010 [ abstract]
The last time the Franklin Pierce School District constructed a new school building " Midland Elementary " was in 2003. The last time the 7,500-student school district passed a bond measure to help pay for new and remodeled schools was in 1998 " for $25.5 million.
Tonight, a school district committee will embark on a plan to look at facility needs and funding options for the next two decades. The plan that is set to emerge by summer is dubbed FPS 2030.
“We want this community-driven planning group to essentially ask themselves what kind of quality of life they want for our community over the next 20 years as far as their schools are concerned,” said Superintendent Frank Hewins. “We want the community to determine what the facility needs are and what of those they’re willing to support " and when.”
Student growth in Franklin Pierce schools has been relatively flat in the past five years, and future projections don’t indicate growth. Rather, say district officials, it’s the declining state of existing schools that has prompted a look at possible future new buildings or renovations.
The FPS 2030 committee is chaired by district parent Tom Utterback, who works as the City of Puyallup’s planning director. His committee " made up of district employees, parents, business and civic leaders and others " will start off looking at conditions in the district.
They’ll have plenty to look at, according to Hewins.
-- DEBBIE CAFAZZO Future of popular Build America Bonds program in doubt-- Stateline National: December 03, 2010 [ abstract] The fate of a popular federal stimulus borrowing program that state officials say created thousands of jobs and launched hundreds of transportation, public safety and water and sewer projects may hinge on whether Congress extends several unrelated tax breaks before the end of the year.
Build America Bonds, under which state and local governments have sold more than $150 billion in taxable bond offerings since April 2009, is set to expire at the end of the year. The Obama administration, which established the program as part of the $787 billion economic stimulus plan, favors extending it permanently. Leaders of the current Democratic-controlled Congress generally back an extension, but when the GOP takes control of the House in January, the future of the program will be in doubt because many key Republicans oppose it.
Though the final outcome is difficult to predict, Democrats believe they have a strategy to save the bonds, which make up about a quarter of the municipal bond market. They are planning to include the extension of Build America Bonds in legislation favored by Republicans that would continue a series of Bush-era individual and business tax breaks. The bonds legislation currently is separate from the hotly debated tax cuts on income, dividends and capital gains.
Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, recently questioned the transparency of Build America Bonds, asking for an inquiry into how much Wall Street banks receive in fees for the bond sales. “I would prefer to see Build America Bonds expire,” Grassley told Stateline in an e-mail. But Grassley predicts the extension will pass provided Democrats can agree with Republicans on the tax breaks.
-- David Combs Gilbert board OKs new high school
-- The Tribune Iowa: December 02, 2010 [ abstract] The Gilbert Community School Board approved a master facilities plan on Tuesday that includes building a new high school and making improvements to existing schools.
The board’s approval paves the way for putting a bond issue referendum before voters.
The board approved the $23.5 million budget for the facilities plan delivered by DLR Group, Superintendent John Kinley said. The scope of the plan includes building a new high school on Gretten Street south of Second Street, making improvements to the current high school to serve grades three through five in the future, and making improvements at the current elementary school, he said.
Gilbert’s certified enrollment this year is 1,197, an increase of about 40 students over last year. The Ames district, by contrast, which serves about 4,280 students, lost about 78 students this year over last.
Gilbert board president Marcia DeZonia said the board’s next task is to approve Feb. 1, 2011, as the date for a referendum for voters to decide whether to allow the district to take on debt in the form of general obligation bonds not to exceed $11.1 million.
One-cent local option sales tax revenues will fund the remainder of the project, De Zonia said.
Kinley said work by Brad Heemstra, of Integrity Construction Services, has smoothed the process for the district and the city of Gilbert to begin planning for the new high school site’s infrastructure.
Gilbert’s City Council has approved the site plan, Kinley said, and the city and school district are in the discussion process for reaching agreement on the proposed needs and costs for infrastructure, such as storm and sanitary sewers, electricity and water systems.
Heemstra said his experience as construction manager of school projects has helped him facilitate the preconstruction phase.
“It’s good that the school district and the city are trying to work out how this will work early in the process,” he said.
A traffic study, for example, recommended street improvements including the widening of the main intersection at Matthews Drive and Gretten Street, Kinley said.
DeZonia said a citizens’ committee has been getting the signatures in place needed for the board to call for the bond referendum. The board anticipates receiving the petition in time for its Dec 13 board meeting.
Heemstra said after the board approves the referendum, a committee of interested parents, co-chaired by Rusty Harder and Mary Gibbons, will be forming to help get information out to the voters about the bond issue.
Kathy Hanson can be reached at (515) 663-6933 or khanson@amestrib.com.
-- Kathy Hanson A Closer Look at Portland’s $548 Million School Modernization Proposal: Biggest Bang for Your Buck?-- Cascade Policy Institute Oregon: December 01, 2010 [ abstract] The Portland Public School District will hold a public hearing tonight (12/1) at 5:30 pm concerning its $548 million School Modernization Bond Measure.
The District is arguing that such an expensive bond, the largest local bond in Oregon state history, is necessary to tear down and rebuild only eight of the 85 schools in the District. For those eight schools, they have allocated $372 million. The other $176 million is earmarked for minor upgrades to other schools and paying off previous school improvement debt that the District has incurred. The goal? The District argues that the new schools will increase property values in Portland, improve student achievement and behavior and increase enrollment. But in this down economy, are Portland residents getting the biggest bang for their buck when it comes to the cost value of these “rebuild” schools?
The following is the testimony Lindsay Berschauer has prepared for the public hearing.
The breakdown of the costs associated with rebuilding includes $90-92M for Cleveland High, $82-86M for Roosevelt, $48-52M for Jefferson, an average of $30M for each of the five primary schools, and $6M just for the pre-planning process of rebuilding Lincoln High. Now, let’s compare the Portland School Bond Measure to the 2008 Capital Bond Program in the Wilsonville/West Linn School District. As part of that bond measure, the District is building two brand-new schools: Trillium Creek Primary School in West Linn and Lowrie Primary School in Wilsonville. Trillium will be a 60,000-square-foot building costing $28 million and serving 500 kids. In contrast, Roosevelt High in Portland is a roughly 42,000-square-foot building serving about 680 kids. So, the cost to rebuild Roosevelt is three times the cost to build a bigger, new Trillium school. If both of these schools will be essentially “brand new” and similar in size, why is PPS proposing to spend almost $56M more on Roosevelt High?
-- Lindsay Berschauer Residents, Board Members Question Delay Of Ashburn Schools In Proposed CIP
-- Leesburg Today Virginia: November 30, 2010 [ abstract] The School Board held the first of its FY12-16 Capital Improvement Program public input and work sessions last night, and support for making Ashburn area schools a priority in the construction plan again took center stage.
Residents and parents questioned why the recommended plan accelerates construction of schools in the Dulles area while delaying new schools in Ashburn when both the School Board and Board of Supervisors last year recognized need for more schools in that area to accommodate the existing student population.
During the FY11 budget debate, the Board of Supervisors adopted a CIP that included funding for three schools in the Ashburn area. ES-22 and MS-6 received funding in FY12 and HS-8 was placed in FY13. However in his recommended CIP for FY12, Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick delayed funding for all of those schools until FY13. Under that plan, the elementary school would not open until 2014, while the middle and high schools would open the following year.
That proposal did not sit well with parents from the Ashburn area. Wendy Wooley, a resident of Ashburn Farm, who was a part of the advocacy group Ashburn Farm Parents United, said little has changed in terms of future development and enrollment levels, and enrollment numbers from Sept. 30 continue to show Ashburn as suffering from a lack of capacity across all grade levels. The Sept. 30 enrollment numbers are used for future school planning.
"Everything has stayed the same, so why change priorities," Wooley questioned, noting that the adopted FY11 CIP indicated the county-owned Farmwell property and land on the Newton-Lee Elementary School site as potential sites for ES-22 and MS-6, respectively. The Farmwell site was formerly planned to be the home of an Islamic Saudi Academy before it was purchased by supervisors in 2004. The Newton-Lee property would require the addition of five acres of property currently owned by the Virginia Regional Park Authority to allow for a middle school.
Other speakers questioned the numbers used by school staff in anticipating future enrollment levels, with Eric Hornberger, president of the Ashburn Farm Board of Trustees, noting that students in his neighborhood are still bused south to attend schools in the Dulles area and that enrollment figures presented by staff failed to include that fact when calculating for available school capacity. He was joined by others in urging the board to "affirm the hard work of both boards and dozens of citizens have done over these past two years" by placing ES-22 and MS-6 as top priorities in FY12 and HS-8 as a top priority in FY13.
Sam Adamo, director of planning and legislative services for the school system, said staff had looked to move construction of HS-6, located in Loudoun Valley Estates II, and ES-16, located at the proffered Moorefield Station property, forward in the construction plan because suitable sites had already been located and moved through the legislative process, including commission permitting and the special exception approval, allowing construction to begin as soon as funding is received.
-- Alex Bahr Fargo, North Dakota School Board Approves $7.6 Million in District-wide Construction Projects Using QSCBs -- West Fargo Pioneer North Dakota: November 24, 2010 [ abstract] The board unanimously approved the planning and Development’s suggestion of moving forward with seven projects that will cost an estimated $7.6 million. All the projects will be funded by One-Time Supplemental and Qualified School Construction Bonds. The projects needed approval so they could have the chance of hopefully being completed before next school year, Lemer said.
He also noted that the district has three years to use all $5 million of the Qualified School Construction Bonds, so there is ample time to finish the remaining projects.
-- Tyler Shoberg L.A. Unified suspends 4 key consultants on school construction program
-- LA Times California: November 17, 2010 [ abstract] Four key consultants behind the nation's largest school construction program have been suspended from their work with the Los Angeles Unified School District pending an internal investigation into their recently formed company, The Times has learned.
The suspended consultants — Charlie Anderson, John Creer, Rod Hamilton and Edwin Van Ginkel — have held prominent roles in acquiring real estate and overseeing environmental reviews, planning and school design over the last decade. They received compensation that surpassed district employees, including that of Supt. Ramon C. Cortines.
District officials have ordered a reduction in the number of highly paid outside consultants during the ongoing budget crisis. The four consultants officially had left the district only to be rehired immediately this fall as a group in a newly formed company.
"It looks funny when we say we are reducing the number of consultants, then the consultants leave and we turn around and hire their consulting firm," Cortines said.
The superintendent said he would discuss the matter with the Board of Education next week after he has reviewed an internal investigation.
Critics of the construction program have praised the increased scrutiny, but its defenders say the district is eliminating the expertise that has made the $20-billion effort successful.
The four executives recently formed Consilia, the company that was to oversee how the district would spend $7 billion in bond funds authorized under Measure Q, passed by voters in 2008.
Their role involved construction and other planning at 580 schools, for which they would receive more than $3.7 million, at a rate of about $185,000 per month. The contract also includes a $40,000 fee for furniture and related office costs, according to a new district audit.
Beyond whether officials violated the directive to reduce consultants, sources said another concern is whether the contractors circumvented competitive bidding rules with the complicity of the senior district staff.
These sources, who asked to remain anonymous because they feared for their jobs or were not authorized to speak about the issue, allege that the consultants designed the scope of the work and then created Consilia to carry it out.
District facilities director James Sohn defended the integrity of the contracting process. He said Consilia won its contract after a request for proposals was sent to "dozens and dozens" of entities, from which three proposals emerged.
-- Howard Blume In need of repair: School facilities pose major challenge for district planning-- Ames Tribune Iowa: November 13, 2010 [ abstract] When the Ames Community School District’s director of facilities planning and management presented a report on the condition of the district’s facilities to the school board last week, he had to dig deep to find something encouraging to say about the elementary school buildings.
“The sloped metal roofs are in good shape,” Gerry Peters said, pointing out the district has just one section of roof on a high school building that remains to be replaced to complete a project 15 years in the making.
The district’s elementary schools’ deteriorating condition has been the impetus for a districtwide facilities plan scheduled for delivery by the end of December. The newest buildings were constructed in 1970, and the oldest, Roosevelt, was built in 1923, Peters said.
-- Kathy Hanson Philadelphia district begins public meetings on the future of school buildings-- Philadelphia Inquirer Pennsylvania: November 12, 2010 [ abstract]
There are more empty desks in Philadelphia School District schools - 45,000 - than there are seats in Citizens Bank Park, and the district is working on a long-range plan to solve the problem.
At Wednesday's School Reform Commission meeting, officials said the district would begin a three-step process with a series of public meetings beginning Wednesday to create a master facilities plan that will result in closing or finding new uses for some of the district's 284 schools and in upgrading others.
"We have more buildings than our current enrollment dictates, and our future enrollment needs dictate," Danielle Floyd, deputy for strategic initiatives, told the commission.
She and other district officials said it was too early to know how many schools could end up being closed or finding new uses, including providing space to charter schools.
The project, "Imagine Great Schools," is designed to mesh with Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's Imagine 2014 education-reform initiative and will consider grade configurations and academic offerings.
"Really, the bottom line here is we need to achieve greater efficiencies while still supporting the key academic reforms," Floyd said.
The district, which had 198,000 students in 2001, has 163,000 now.
Declining population in parts of the city, as well as the shift of more than 35,000 students to charter schools, has left the district with partially empty buildings that still need to be staffed, heated, and maintained.
Although schools in West and South Philadelphia are underused, buildings in the east and Northeast portions of the city are near capacity or overcrowded.
"I think that it's important that people understand the complexities of what we're doing," Floyd said.
In trying to determine its future space needs, the district is working closely with the city's planning Commission, the Housing Authority, and community development organizations to discuss their residential development plans.
-- Martha Woodall School district facility upgrades moving forward-- Simi Valley Acron California: November 12, 2010 [ abstract] The school district’s C-4 bond projects are more than halfway complete, and the largest and most costly facility improvement"the new auditorium at Santa Susana High School"is on track to open in January.
In 2004, voters approved the Measure C-4 bond, which provided $145 million to upgrade facilities and infrastructure at campuses throughout the Simi Valley Unified School District.
Pedro Avila, director of facilities and planning for the school district, said that despite earlier setbacks after the bond money was approved, work is moving along.
-- Carissa Marsh Shuttered schools remain stalled, empty in D.C.-- Washington Business Journal District of Columbia: November 10, 2010 [ abstract] More than half the shuttered public schools that D.C. offered for redevelopment or reuse nearly two years ago remain in the District`s inventory, unlikely to see construction crews any time soon.
The latest to join that group is the historic Stevens Elementary School at 1050 21st St. NW in the West End. The city has cut ties with Equity Residential, the company chosen more than a year ago to redevelop Stevens and has given all the original bidders three weeks to provide final offers.
Chicago-based Equity had offered to redevelop Stevens as an apartment complex with more than 100 units and a restaurant. But the West End/Foggy Bottom community adamantly opposed rental units, fearing the building would morph into a de facto dormitory for The George Washington University.
The proposal was ``dead in the water,`` said D.C. Councilman Jack Evans, D-Ward 2. A spokesman for Mayor Adrian Fenty said there was little traction on the Equity plan, and it was ``time to move on.``
The partnership was terminated Oct. 28. Eight days later, the District asked for final offers from bidders Equity, Akridge, Donahoe Development Co., Toll Brothers Inc., Moddie Turay Co. and Peebles Corp. The offers are due in late November.
In addition to Equity, the other original finalists were Coral Gables, Fla.-based Peebles, which proposed a luxury hotel, and D.C.-based Moddie Turay, which also proposed a hotel but included office and retail as well. Both are expected to remain in the hunt.
Stevens was founded in 1868 to educate the children of freed slaves and closed 139 years later. Some want it reopened as an educational institution, while others want private development or a mix of the two. But there is widespread agreement that Stevens` history must be preserved, said Rebecca Coder, chair of the West End/Foggy Bottom advisory neighborhood commission.
``We may not have all agreed on what we want, but we were fully agreed that we did not want rental housing,`` Coder said.
Stevens, with 39,000 square feet of gross building area, is the second smallest of the 11 schools offered for redevelopment in December 2008. Randle Highlands Elementary, the historic 1911 school building, is the smallest with 20,900 square feet. It too has not been awarded a redevelopment agreement despite a solicitation from a nonprofit.
The closed schools that remain in the city`s inventory may be re-solicited in the future, said Jose Sousa, communication director with the deputy mayor for planning and economic development, but there are ``no definitive plans right now.``
-- Michael Neibauer Florida State Law Requires Home Construction Be Based on Available Space in Schools-- WMBB Florida: November 04, 2010 [ abstract] Building companies in Florida could face challenges. That’s because of a state law that is limiting home construction based on the available space in schools. It’s called “school concurrency.” It was implemented 4 years ago because of trouble with overcrowded schools in south Florida. “Developers were building and schools were not able to take on the students. So, they felt like the developer had to deal with the cost of building the schools,” Bay District Schools director of Facilities Wayne Elmore said.
The state is imposing the new law that will determine whether or not a builder can put homes in an area based on how full the surrounding schools are. The Bay District is being forced on board too. However, the rules are changing this year in Bay County. 4 years ago, developers could keep building as long there was enough class space to satisfy a new development project, in at least one school in the whole county. Now, Bay County is being divided into 5 districts, based on the number of high schools in the area. The county may be faced with different tough scenarios like giving building permits to a developer in Calla way, but turning a builder in panama city beach away because schools if schools in that district are full. “We will measure that capacity based on the number of school desks available on this side of the bridge,” Panama City Beach director of planning Mel Leonard said.
-- Kevin Character ‘Worst School Facilities’ in Ohio No More-- Marietta Times Ohio: October 19, 2010 [ abstract] Ground was officially broken at the Beallsville site for the first of seven school construction projects in the district, a major step for a school system that state officials once determined had the worst facilities out of all 612 of Ohio's school districts. It took years of planning, pleading and ultimately the state's governor and legislators to step in and offer a special, one-time deal to district taxpayers to make the $88 million plan happen.
Ultimately, the Ohio School Facilities Commission determined its one-size-fits-all approach didn't work for the large, rural district and allowed modifications to the size of schools to be constructed, allowing smaller student populations, and a lowering of the local share of the project. In May 2009, residents approved a bond issue and levy that has them paying $33 million of the project over 28 years, a savings of $15 million from the original state offer.
It took consultants, community surveys and those concessions from state government to make a project work, former OSFC executive director Mike Shoemaker, now the director of the Coalition of Rural and Appalachian Schools, said, crediting Ohio. Rep. Jennifer Garrison, D-Marietta, with helping to make it happen. Garrison introduced legislation that ranked schools based on current wealth rather than average wealth, putting the focus on real property value and benefiting the 2,760-student school district.
-- Kate York Manhattan School Exceeds Green Expectations
-- ny1.com New York: October 13, 2010 [ abstract] At PS 272 in Battery Park City, carbon dioxide sensors adjust air-conditioning based on how many people are in a room; photocells detect sunlight and turn off classroom lights; and solar panels power half the building. For planners and architects, it's a showcase of environmental building practices. "This building surpasses the requirements of state energy code by 26 percent. And I'm pretty confident that at this point, it's the most sustainable building from an energy point of view in New York," said Daniel Heuberger of Dattner Architects. The building, which houses 900 students, was in the works even before the city required schools to be built green. The Battery Park City Authority helped pay for the extra features.
But the ideal of green school construction extends beyond brick and mortar benefits into what's actually happening in the classrooms everyday. Educators say they're using the building as a springboard for science and social studies classes on the environment and urban planning.
The solar panels on the roof, in addition to generating electricity, will also generate a steady stream of data, which can be sent to any computer in the building and which tells you in real time how much power the solar panels are generating, which panels are doing the most work and we hope the teachers will use it for science labs and other educational purposes," Heuberger said. There's also an outdoor science lab, soon to include a weather station.
Next door, the Skyscraper Museum is developing a whole curriculum based on the new school building. "They have a matched set of images of our building being built and the Empire State Building being built. And it's a curriculum that is based on primary resources and the kids are going to be comparing the two images to see about methods of construction, how it's the same and different, and what makes something sustainably built," Ruyter said.
-- Lindsey Christ Wake anticipates 60,000 more students by 2020-- News Observer North Carolina: September 22, 2010 [ abstract] Wake County school board members, already grappling with overhauling the student assignment model, now also face the daunting prospect of more than $1 billion in new school construction over the next decade.
School administrators kicked off planning for the next school construction bond issue by telling board members Tuesday that at least 33 new schools need to be built by 2020 to keep up with student enrollment. Although administrators avoided giving dollar estimates, it would conservatively cost more than $1 billion to build that many schools based on current construction estimates.
That price tag doesn't include the hundreds of millions of dollars that will also be needed for renovation projects at aging schools. But it does underscore the cost of keeping pace with growth that could add roughly 60,000 students to Wake schools by 2020, creating a need for almost 40,000 classroom seats above the capacity of current schools and those already planned.
"It's a lot of money," said school board member Deborah Prickett. "I don't know where we'll get it."
The size and cost of Wake's school needs also puts more pressure on board members to bring a bond issue before voters sooner than they might like given the recession. Administrators have mentioned May 2012 as a possible referendum target.
"The longer we wait the more it will hurt us," said Ron Margiotta, school board chairman. "But I don't know how we can go out to the public in this economy."
Assignment plan push
Meanwhile on Tuesday, members of the school board majority pushed to accelerate completion of the new student assignment model in order to have at least partial implementation in the 2011-12 school year.
-- T. KEUNG HUI Wake may face more than $1 billion in school construction needs
-- News-Observer North Carolina: September 21, 2010 [ abstract] Wake County school board members learned they face needing to build more than $1 billion worth of new schools by 2020 to keep up with growth. School administrators told board members that Wake needs at least 34 new schools by 2020 or risk being 39,500 seats short of what’s needed for all the new students coming. Administrators said they need to begin planning on the next school construction bond referendum, which hasn’t been scheduled yet.
Although growth has slowed because of the recession, Wake is still projected to reach 200,000 students by the end of the decade. Wake has 143,235 students so far this school year, making it the 18th largest school district in the nation and the largest in the state. The last bond issue, a record $970 million request, was approved by voters in 2006. The timing for the next bond issue has been slowed by the recession.
Administrators avoided giving specific dollar figures today but $1 billion would be a conservative figure based on current construction costs. Administrators said eight new high schools, currently costing more than $70 million apiece, are needed. They said six year-round middle schools, currently costing more than $40 million apiece, are also needed. Add in 19 elementary schools that currently cost more than $20 million apiece. The construction costs are likely to rise with inflation ove the course of the decade. Administrators haven’t yet presented which renovation projects will also be needed over the next decade. Those renovations will likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
-- T. KEUNG HUI Indiana County Offers Wind Farm Investment Opportunity to Schools-- Lafayette Journal and Courier Indiana: September 08, 2010 [ abstract] Tippecanoe County is planning a 2,500-acre wind farm. Schools and Universities will have the opportunity to invest in Performance Park, a 50-megawatt, 25-turbine wind farm. Construction is to begin in fall 2011. One turbine would cost $3.6 million to install, plus annual maintenance of $30,000 to $40,000. Landowners are paid on a per-turbine basis, and for the number of acres they own in the wind farm boundaries. Schools would have several options to pay for construction, including bond issues. The schools then would reap the profits from the sales of energy produced.
-- Justin L. Mack Lancaster, Pennsylvania School District Installs 'Green' Roofs at Three Elementary Schools-- Intelligencer Journal Pennsylvania: August 26, 2010 [ abstract] When School District of Lancaster pupils return to classes at three elementary schools next week, they may be wondering: Who's gonna water the roof? That's because three of the schools — Lafayette, Wharton and Ross — installed "green" roofs this summer on new additions. The vegetated roofs, which are designed to reduce rainwater runoff and conserve energy, are the first ever installed at public schools in Lancaster County, said Mary Gattis-Schell of the county planning commission. Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster Mennonite School and a few local businesses have installed the roofs in recent years, but SDL is the first public school system to try out the green technology on a large scale, she said.
The roofs were funded with a portion of a $479,000 "energy harvesting" grant the planning commission received from the state Department of Environmental Protection. SDL received $118,710 for its two vegetated roofs at Lafayette and Wharton, each of which total 10,000 square feet. The district also received a $30,000 grant from the Lancaster Foundation for Educational Excellence for the 2,500-square-foot vegetated roof at Ross. The grants offset the higher cost — about $7 per square foot, or a total of $157,500 at the three schools — of the roofs, said Greg Collins, SDL's coordinator of capital projects.
-- Brian Wallace Groton committee seeks more middle school site data before choosing-- The Day Connecticut: July 21, 2010 [ abstract] The committee tasked with planning the second phase of new school construction in Groton is receiving an extra $75,000 to conduct a traffic study it says will allow it to finally decide where it would place a proposed middle school for all the town's seventh and eighth graders.
The Phase II School Design Committee has been working for the past several years to plan a new phase of school construction but has been unable to decide between two sites. The committee had initially been focusing on the King property, where Catherine Kolnaski Magnet School also sits, until Superintendent of Schools Paul Kadri authorized an additional study of the site of the current Claude Chester Elementary School, which would be razed and replaced with a new school.
-- Matt Collette Berkeley school projects continue-- Journal-News West Virginia: June 20, 2010 [ abstract] Manny Arvon, Berkeley County Schools superintendent, said that this summer will be the continuation and/or start of various school building projects that are anticipated to help better accommodate the county's rapid growth and increase in student enrollment.
"It's going to be quite a busy summer," Arvon said. "It's our hope that during the next five years, we will be in a very aggressive building program to complete all of those projects that were passed with the school bond."
He noted that since 2000, Berkeley County Schools' student enrollment has increased by more than 4,000 students.
"It's been an ongoing thing in Berkeley County to always be planning for the future. That has sort of been our theme for the past 15 years," he said.
Currently, work is being done to Spring Mills Primary School, which Arvon said will be the first of its kind in the state, as it will be a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified "green" school.
"Right now, we are about 40 percent through with work on the school, and everything should be completed in August of 2011," he said.
Last summer, Panhandle Builders & Excavating Inc. was awarded the bid to do the site work at the primary school. That site work began in July 2009.
Spring Mills Primary School is being built next to the existing Spring Mills Middle School, which is adjacent to the Hammond's Mill subdivision.
The school system received $10 million for the Spring Mills project from the School Building Authority, with a matching $1 million from the school system.
The energy-efficient school will house 550 students.
Just last week, the board approved two major additions at both North Middle and Musselman High schools.
"We're really excited about those because they are the the first two projects that were bid from the school bond call that ran in September," Arvon said. "This is sort of a celebration about the fact that we're kicking off the bond call building projects."
The $51.5 million school bond call passed successfully in September with a 63 percent "yes" vote, and from that bond will come four projects: Spring Mills High School, Mountain Ridge Middle School and the renovations and additions to North Middle and Musselman.
Each of those additions are 30,000 square feet and will result in the construction of 20 classrooms, four science labs, restrooms, elevators, stairwells and more.
The projects will eliminate the need for portable classrooms in use throughout the school year on both campuses.
-- Erienne Maczuzak School board okays bid-letting for new schools -- Timber Jay Minnesota: June 18, 2010 [ abstract] The St. Louis County School Board agreed 6-1 on Monday to let bids for the construction of two new schools although the district has not yet obtained the necessary permits to build them. Board member Andy Larson, who represents the Tower-Soudan attendance area, voted against the action.
The district is still in the environmental review process for the construction sites " one located between four to five miles north of Cook in Field Township and the other near Alborn " and also must receive conditional use permits from St. Louis County before work can begin. It could take until July or August before work could start on the south school if the permit is granted and could conceivably delay construction on the north site until September and possibly even December.
Audience members Marshall Helmberger and John Hess said that both projects may have to be modified to obtain permits and said calling for bids now may prove costly to taxpayers if bid specifications need to be revised by the district.
“You are incurring additional risks of spending taxpayer dollars...by essentially putting the cart before the horse,” said Helmberger, who added that it also seemed to run roughshod over the county’s legal process by soliciting bids before the planning Commission acted on the permit requests. “It’s surprisingly disrespectful. They should have the same prerogatives that this board assumes for itself.”
Hess said that contractors who spend time and money analyzing and preparing bids might pursue repayment through litigation if the district is forced to alter the specifications or locations of the schools and toss out the bids.
Gary Zifko, project manager for the Kraus-Anderson Construction Co., said the wording on the call for bids stipulates that the district can reject any and all bids and contractors would not be able to resort to any legal action.
Board member Zelda Bruns, of the Orr attendance area, said the district would not award any bids until it was able to proceed with construction, but was letting the bids so it could begin construction as soon as possible if the county authorizes the permits to build.
The St. Louis County building trades sent a letter in support of the board’s action.
-- Tom Klein School site selection process a mess-- Suffolk News-Herald Virginia: June 18, 2010 [ abstract] When it comes to the education of Suffolk’s children, you would hope a political turf war never came into the equation. But it appears that is exactly what we have, now that the Suffolk City Council has assumed control of selecting the site of a new school to be built in the southern end of the city.
For more than two years, the City Council and the School Board held meetings on what to do with the elementary schools in the Whaleyville and Holland villages. And it appeared last year that a decision had been reached to combine the two schools into one new school built in a central location.
The decision was celebrated as a compromise between the two communities and helped accomplish the goals of improving the facilities and ultimately saving money for the school system.
But when the planning Commission and City Council turned down the proposed school site because it did not conform to the city’s comprehensive plan, the entire process appeared to be thrown back to square one. Now, though, City Council has set the process back even further.
That unfortunate setback came Wednesday, when City Council members Jeffrey Gardy and Curtis Milteer proposed a motion that would have the city manager take over the responsibility of finding a school site. The motion was suggested " and later passed " without any consultation of the School Board, whose job it is to select the site and manage construction.
Yes, city leadership has been part of the process from the beginning and controls much of the funding. And, yes, the School Board " since the planning Commission’s refusal of the site " has dragged its feet in advancing the plan forward.
Now, the process has turned into a political debate that has City Council taking over a job it should not hold, leaving School Board members miffed at their City Council counterparts.
-- Staff Writer Assessors suggest Fort Frye replace schools-- The Marietta Times Ohio: June 12, 2010 [ abstract] The Fort Frye Local school district may be the next area school system to ask voters to partner with the state for a school construction project, but board members say they are frustrated with the lack of flexibility in state project guidelines.
The Fort Frye Board of Education had a special session Friday to meet with construction officials and a representative from the Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) to talk about the state of its current facilities and the possibility of a renovation and building project.
The district is expected to be offered state money in 2011 that would fund 50 percent of construction, and its four schools were recently reassessed to determine their current condition.
The last state assessment had been completed about five years ago, said district Treasurer Larry James.
The goal of Friday's meeting was to start determining a long-term facilities plan, not necessarily to move forward with a state partnership, said board member Kevin Worthington.
"The reason we wanted to have these buildings reassessed now is to see if there's something major there we need to know about," he said. "If we would have to replace them in five years and the (state funding) program isn't in place anymore, then the public will be looking at us and saying, 'Why didn't you plan better? We could have gotten half of it paid for.' We're just trying to look at where we are, the shape the buildings are in and what choices we might need to make."
Jeff Tuckerman, vice president of facility planning for Canton-based Hammond Construction, presented five possible master plans to the board for consideration, although there may be other options.
The plans were:
-- Kate York Four Delco districts receive construction bonds-- The Delaware County Daily Times Delaware: June 11, 2010 [ abstract] Four Delaware County school districts will be saving millions of dollars in interest and financing costs after being approved for low- and no-interest construction bonds made available through the federal stimulus bill.
“It’s a significant lift for us,” said Southeast Delco Superintendent Stephen Butz, whose district was approved for $15.7 million in Qualified School Construction Bonds that will be used for renovations at Academy Park High School. “We are projecting savings of roughly $6 million to $7 million,” he said.
William Penn ($15 million), Upper Darby ($5 million) and Radnor ($1.5 million) school districts were also approved for the bonds, which must be used for construction, rehabilitation or repair of public-school facilities, equipment for those facilities or related site acquisition.
“The planning for the Academy Park renovation has been under way for a while,” Butz said. “The last significant change to the high school was back in 1982 and there are significant areas of the school that have not been renovated since the 1960s.”
Butz said the interest-free bonds will “go a long way toward funding” the upgrade or replacement of the high school’s heating, electrical and fire systems and replacement of windows and piping.”
“One of the criteria (for the bonds) is that the projects be shovel-ready,” he said. “We expect this work to begin at the end of this year or very early in 2011.”
The Delco districts were among 46 in the state that will receive a total of more than $600 million in bonds made possible through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
“These funds will help put people to work on vital construction projects, save energy costs and help improve educational programs " and the attractive financing will save the taxpayers more than half a billion in financing costs,” said Gov. Ed Rendell. “With federal help, we lowered costs and are helping our districts make these terrific improvements.”
Rendell said the bonds will save taxpayers an estimated $513 million in financing costs.
William Penn Business Manager Joseph Otto said the bulk of the bond money in his district will be used for renovations at Ardmore Avenue Elementary School and energy-efficiency projects, such as new boilers and lighting.
-- TIMOTHY LOGUE School Construction Schedule Delays Trigger $40K Payment to School Board Consultant-- Clarke Daily News Virginia: June 10, 2010 [ abstract] With a continued tight school budget sending Clarke County Public School administrators scraping every conceivable account for spare dollars, School Board contractor Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates is turning a tidy profit based on the County’s procrastination. In Clarke County’s case, the “lack of haste” has made waste for the school construction budget and has generated a $40K windfall profit for CRA.
CRA is providing architectural, planning and construction advice to the Clarke County School Board for the new high school building. On Monday night the School Board approved a year-old contract change order invoice submitted by CRA. The $40K payment is based on a clause in CRA’s contract allowing a cost escalation if either the scope or the duration of CRA’s services to the School Board changes.
“The change order covered the cost escalation and CRA overhead factors that applied to the delays encountered in the schedule and did not correspond to any additional services per se” said School Board Chairperson Robina Bouffault in an electronic mail message response to questions posed about CRA’s charges by the Clarke Daily News. “Complications incurred with both the Special Use Permit and the Site Plan permitting result[ed] in a far lengthier permitting period than is normal, and which had not been scheduled.”
“In the case of Clarke County, the scope of the work did not change, however the time specified in the CRA’s Master Schedule was not adhered to.” Bouffault said in her e-mail.
-- Edward Leonard Master plan to be revealed-- The Adveritser Louisiana: May 18, 2010 [ abstract] The final result of a year of community meetings, planning and the Lafayette Parish School Board's $900,000 investment for planning consultants will be seen Wednesday afternoon.
Consultants CSRS Inc. is set to present the final version of a long-range facilities master plan at a workshop Wednesday afternoon and again later in the day at a regular board meeting.
At the last community meetings CSRS held, planners told residents that a long-range plan to fix public school facilities will cost $1.1 billion in uninflated dollars.
-- Tina Marie Macias St. Louis County seeks comments on school construction plan-- Duluth News Tribune Missouri: May 16, 2010 [ abstract] The St. Louis County planning and Development Department is seeking
public comments on the Environmental Assessment Worksheet for the St. Louis County school district’s proposed pre-kindergarten to grade 12 “South School Development.”
The project for District 2142 involves construction of a new public school complex for up to 650 students to be located in southern rural St. Louis County in the Town of New Independence northwest of Duluth.
-- News Tribune, South Washington District plans $24M in renovations-- Finance & Commerce Nebraska: May 10, 2010 [ abstract] With help from the feds, the South Washington County School District is expediting roughly $24 million worth of renovation projects.
South Washington, also known as District 833, is among the 10 Minnesota school districts that received authorization via the Minnesota Department of Education to obtain low- or no-interest construction and renovation loans through the federal Qualified School Construction Bond (QSCB) program.
The district received authorization for $19.6 million in bonding authority through that program. In addition, South Washington qualified for just under $4.4 million through another federal stimulus-funded program, the Qualified Zone Academy Bond Program.
Much of the money will go toward replacing mechanical systems in buildings that date to the 1960s and 1970s, according to Aaron Bushberger, finance director for the South Washington County Schools.
“We have had a mechanical system replacement plan,” he said. “Systems are aging in our buildings. We had an existing plan to replace those over the course of a 20-year period. … We were planning on issuing debt for this in the future, but this allowed us to do something with less impact to our taxpayers.
“And by using this funding, we were able to move a couple of schools up in the schedule.”
-- South Washington District plans $24M in renovation Planners to hold hearing on school communication towers -- Watertown Daily News Wisconsin: May 07, 2010 [ abstract] The Watertown Unified School District will get a major upgrade to its communications system in the coming months which will include installation of a new districtwide telephone system, an upgraded wiring system completely wireless Internet access and installation of communication antennas at all schools in the city.
The communication antennas will vary in height from 65 feet to 135 feet at the schools and that part of the project will be a topic of a public hearing before the Watertown planning Commission when it meets Monday at 4:30 p.m. in the council chambers of the municipal building.
The new antennas will resemble those for television which are seen along the sides of homes in the city but will be taller, according to Doug Linse, director of business services for the district. The antenna heights will be 105 feet at Schurz School, 135 feet at the high school, 95 feet at Douglas, Webster and Riverside schools, 85 feet at Lincoln and 65 at the district office.
-- Staff Writer Building a Sustainable Community College
-- Illinois Times Illinois: May 06, 2010 [ abstract] Lake Land College in Mattoon has reduced its energy costs by nearly $100,000 annually, as part of a campus-wide sustainability initiative. The 308-acre campus has experienced a 100 percent reduction in natural gas use and a 30 percent reduction in electricity use in two of its recently renovated buildings. Using energy-efficient lighting, daylight-harvesting, solar energy and a geothermal system, which heats and cools using the earth’s natural energy, the community college was able to cut electrical costs and gas costs and minimize its carbon footprint.
The college is seeking green solutions in a number of ways. Recent projects include the renovations of two of the nine campus buildings, as well as a 51,000-square-foot addition to an existing structure. Lake Land is also planning to install wind and solar systems, as well as LED lighting and energy-efficient computer technology.
Lake Land president Scott Lensink says he’s impressed with the savings the college has seen so far. “We’re looking at some solid data that’s coming off these particular projects, and it’s really impressing us,” Lensink says. “One of the things we’re looking at is a holistic aspect of sustainability. How can we move forward with not only geothermal, but also with wind, with high-efficiency lighting, with solar?”
-- Diane Ivey, Making Science Labs a Priority-- Education Week National: May 05, 2010 [ abstract] In January, an article in The Washington Post told the story of a group of Maryland science teachers who are learning how to replicate their DNA. Their school system’s DNA Resource Center, funded by six-figure annual grants from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has developed nine lab experiments that teach biotechnology concepts, according to the Post. The whole enterprise, it said, is “managed by a handful of part-time staff members and housed at Thomas S. Wootton High School in a supply room filled with pipettes and flasks. … The center staff trains teachers to use the lab activities in their classrooms and delivers all of the equipment and consumable materials that the exercises require.”
Last year, the center trained 70 teachers and provided more than 13,000 lab kits. School officials anticipate the budget for the center"about $280,000 in grant funds last year"will rise to about $350,000 this year, when the program expands to middle schools.
Kudos to the Montgomery County, Md., school system for implementing this initiative. But we have to ask: Why is this news? It shouldn’t be. Lab experiences and centers like this one should be commonplace in every high school building nationwide. Yet far too many school science labs are dismal at best. In fact, many students are selecting not to participate in science after high school because of the subpar facilities and instruction.
A few years ago, the National Research Council conducted a survey to assess the state of the nation’s high school science laboratories. Its conclusions were distressing. There was no consensus in the field on what, exactly, the high school lab experience should be. The survey also disclosed that most laboratory exercises do not have clear learning outcomes, do not integrate the learning of science content with processes of science, and tend to be isolated from the classroom science instruction.
"Good teachers know that high-quality laboratory and field experiences are an essential part of inquiry"the process of observing, asking questions, and forming hypotheses."
Shortly after the NRC report was issued, the organization I direct, the National Science Teachers Association, surveyed its members and asked teachers about the lab experiences at their schools. These responses reflect what many teachers told us:
“In my urban inner-city school, I teach a lab science in an old business room. There are no tables, benches, water or gas service, sinks, fire extinguishers, eyewash stations, fire blankets, or other equipment. In addition, while there is a high rate of attrition towards the end of the year, each September starts with 50 students in each class.”
“I have no specific, safe area in which to conduct labs. My yearly budget is the same as it was 12 years ago. I must purchase all my own equipment and supplies. I have no safety equipment other than a portable eyewash station and a fire extinguisher. My district claims labs are ‘extracurricular.’”
“While I do not teach high school science currently, but do teach in a two-year community college, I see many students entering with virtually no lab experience. While some students come quite prepared, it’s very frustrating for me to have students coming into a college biology class with no knowledge of basic lab equipment and techniques, such as using beakers, graduated cylinders, pipettes, or even basic microscopy skills.”
“I have not learned how to facilitate real thinking and essential planning for authentic lab experiences. I don’t know what students really need in an introductory chemistry experience at the high school level, and I cannot figure out how to teach logical thinking and sequencing to 20-plus students in lab at the same time.”
“Many teachers in my district, which is well-funded and well-equipped, lack the confidence to conduct lab experiences. They most often have poor classroom management, and therefore believe that the students would not practice safety, and that someone could be injured.”
These survey results tell us that many schools do not see science facilities as a necessary part of science instruction, and many teachers simply cannot conduct high-quality science labs. Administrators need to be adequately trained to recognize high-quality science and technology education and must work with their science departments and teacher leaders to support educators to maintain the high-level programs that are needed. Each school needs a lab budget, and should not be dependent on the pockets of the struggling teacher.
One of the most important and powerful tools in science education is providing students with the opportunity to interact directly with natural phenomena or with data collected by others. Good teachers know that high-quality laboratory and field experiences are an essential part of inquiry"the process of observing, asking questions, and forming hypotheses. They also know that for science to be taught well, labs must be an integral part of the science curriculum. This is why thousands of science educators nationwide have embraced National Lab Day.
National Lab Day, scheduled for the first week of May 2010, is more than just a day"it’s a new five-year, nationwide initiative to support science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, education in schools by connecting teachers with professionals in these fields (think Match.com), to bring more hands-on, inquiry-based lab experiences to students.
National Lab Day is one of the public-private partnerships that make up President Barack Obama’s “Educate to Innovate” initiative. More than 200 scientific societies and associations, representing six million STEM professionals, have pledged to support National Lab Day, or NLD. At the NLD website, teachers can post projects or request funding for equipment and other resources, ask for expert help with hands-on projects or lesson plans, and much more. The teachers are matched with STEM professionals, college students, or volunteers who have also registered on the site, and can assist with the expertise, resources, and/or funding needed. Projects can also center on computer labs or outdoor labs"anywhere students can observe, explore, record, and experiment, and get their hands dirty and their minds engaged, and where projects and lessons in the STEM subjects can come alive.
Is National Lab Day a silver bullet for STEM education? Probably not. But this movement can address a problem that has long been ignored by far too many schools. Building ongoing, long-term collaborations between STEM professionals and schools and teachers will help improve school facilities and provide discovery-based science experiences for all students.
If America is serious about educating its children in science, then all of us need to help provide better-quality lab experiences and equipment. Montgomery County’s DNA Resource Center is a model effort designed to bring together community experts, facilities, training, and equipment. And it should be replicated in every district in the country. National Lab Day can and should be an ongoing part of providing teachers everywhere with the tools and community resources that will give their students a high-quality lab experience.
-- Francis Eberle Ohio school District Looks for Livable Levy Strategy To Take Advantage of QSCBs and BABs-- Sandusky Register Ohio: May 03, 2010 [ abstract] Although Perkins Schools' finances look good for the near term, voters can expect to see a levy on the ballot in November as the district prepares to overhaul its facilities. The levy, however, won't be the traditional construction bond issue. School officials want to try an unusual way to raise money for construction, maintain a healthy general fund balance and retire a permanent improvement levy all at the same time.
It will cost tens of millions of dollars to redo the stadium and build three schools and a community arts and recreation center. The architecture firm guiding the planning process drafted a $102 million wish list based on community input. Even a more modest project of perhaps $70 million would make a bond issue prohibitive, superintendent Jim Gunner said. The district would also need a new operating levy in a few years, plus several renewals of various levies in the next decade, all while residents are still paying the bond levy.
Gunner and the school board hope to avoid voter fatigue by shifting millage among funds and winning approval of an operating levy in November. The whole plan rests on that levy.
Perkins has to go for the operating levy to take advantage of Qualified School Construction Bonds and Build America Bonds, federal programs that run out this year and are unlikely to be renewed if the economy continues to improve. If the district can borrow through those low-interest programs, Gunner said, it could save many millions of dollars in interest.
-- Susan McMillan Old Congress Heights School Gets Facelift-- Washington Informer District of Columbia: April 22, 2010 [ abstract] For nearly 30 years, the Old Congress Heights School on Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue in Southeast, has sat vacant and abandoned. In a community desensitized to blight and abandoned properties, the 42,528 square foot building became a refuge for vagrants and drug addicts and an eyesore for many Ward 8 residents who became impatient with its dilapidated condition.
But now District officials have a vision to restore the building " one of the oldest in Congress Heights " and they plan to use the space to provide the community with much-needed opportunities for economic development and community spaces.
District Mayor Adrian Fenty, Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), Deputy Mayor for planning and Economic Development Valerie Santos, District Development Group (DDG) owner Phinis Jones, and Imagine Southeast Public Charter School Principal Stacy Scott dug shovels into the soil at the ground-breaking ceremony on Mon., April 19. They were joined by community leaders and students from Imagine who said they look forward to the project’s completion and the day when their school will relocate there later this year.
“This school has been abandoned and an eyesore for 27 years on this corner,” said Jones, who has lived in Southeast for 40 years and has been a business owner in Congress Heights for more than 30 years. “It will be totally renovated; and not only will it alleviate the blight but it will be used by the community, as well.”
-- Norma Porter Anthony National school building group criticizes NYC charter space plan-- Gotham Schools New York: April 21, 2010 [ abstract] The head of a national advocacy group for improving school facilities is warning that a Brooklyn school building cannot support a charter school expansion plan that the citywide school board approved last night.
Mary Filardo, executive director of the 21st Century Schools Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that helps both district and charter schools plan their building space, composed a report on how space is used at Brooklynfs P.S. 15. The elementary school shares space with PAVE Academy Charter School, which will expand in the building while it awaits construction of its own private building. Filardofs report, prepared at the request of New Yorkfs Campaign for Fiscal Equity, was submitted as testimony against the cityfs plan at last nightfs Panel for Educational Policy meeting.
gMy overall impression is that even following the most optimal collaborative planning process and support from [the Department of Education], it will not be possible for PS 15 to support the continued expansion of PAVE per the DOE proposal,h Filardo writes.
At the most, Filardo estimates that P.S. 15 could give up one full classroom and one half-sized classroom without harm. But the cityfs plan requires much more: it will allocate an additional five full-size classrooms and three resource rooms to PAVE over the next three years.
In its plan, the DOE notes that P.S. 15 currently uses more space than is generally allocated to a school of its size by citywide standards. The plan states that the school will have to re-located its enrichment programs and supplemental services as PAVE expands, though the city says the impact on those programs will be gnot significant.h Filardofs report agrees that the space used for student support services gmay be a little on the high side.h But she also notes that in other areas, such as resource rooms, P.S. 15 uses less than the DOEfs minimum recommended allotments for space.
The space-sharing agreement between P.S. 15 and PAVE has become the center of a heated battle over whether expansion of charter schools in city buildings harms the district schools that share those buildings. The PEP originally approved the DOEfs plan for PAVE in January, but the city put the proposal to a re-vote last night after P.S. 15 parents appealed to the state education commissioner to halt the plan. The parents argue that the city has not provided adequate information about how the expansion plan would affect the quality of education at the schools. The commissioner has not yet ruled on the appeal.
-- Maura Walz A Lesson in Financing Finesse - Stimulus-Funded Bonding Boosts School Project-- Fianance and Commerce Minnesota: April 19, 2010 [ abstract] With a big assist from the federal government, a local school district is advancing plans to build a $27 million “education center” in New Hope. Intermediate District 287, which provides special education services for 13 west metro school districts, is among the 10 Minnesota school districts that won authorization this month to receive low- or no-interest bonding authority through the federal stimulus act. District 287 says it will save roughly $7 million in interest through the special bonding authority, known as Qualified School Construction Bonds.
District officials plan to build the North Education Center at 5530 New Zealand Ave. N. in New Hope, the site of a former middle school that District 287 occupies on lease from the Robbinsdale School District. The district has a letter of intent to purchase the building and then tear it down to make way for the new 122,000-square-foot building.
Sandy Lewandowski, District 287’s superintendent, said the school board had decided to go forward with the project before the stimulus-funded bonding authority came through. However, the stimulus money sweetens the deal in a big way. "The goal we set with our school board was we did not want our current payments for this building to exceed what our lease costs would be,” she said. “That was a fairly challenging goal to set. The reality was we believed that with today’s construction costs at very attractive rates, and the fact we could get the land and do this project in the time frame we were planning, we hit that goal. “But it was within a week after the board decided to go forward that these bonds were authorized. So it made it even better. This actually will probably allow us to … come in at lower costs than what our lease costs were.” The existing building would require “extensive renovations” to meet the needs of District 287’s students, according to the district.
Another factor: The district expects lease costs to rise 5 percent per year on average. Meanwhile, the climate for new construction is favorable, the district noted, with construction bids coming in 15 percent to 20 percent lower than “traditional rates.”
-- Brian Johnson Concord school board backs high school master plan group-- The Concord Journal Massachusetts: April 15, 2010 [ abstract] The School Committee Tuesday approved the Concord-Carlisle High School Facilities Master Plan Committee’s recommended approach for overhauling the high school facility.
Facilities Master Plan Committee Chairman Michael Fitzgerald also presented the a 70-page document prepared in concert with architects from the Office of Michael Rosenfeld, which lays out the existing conditions at the high school, the committee’s goals and recommendation and the cost of the proposed program. The report also details how the Master planning Committee’s recommendation stacks up against the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s guidelines. The full report is available online at www.cchsmasterplan.org.
“There is a difference between where we would like our program to be and the MSBA guidelines,” said Fitzgerald. “What these slides are truly saying is this facility has outlived its usefulness.”
The Master planning Committee’s preferred approach calls for a minor renovation and major addition built in three phases over four years. The $108 million approach would include about 55,000 feet of existing gross floor area and 233,000 feet of new space.
-- Patrick Ball New Prairie looks at capital improvements to high school-- Herald Argus Indiana: April 15, 2010 [ abstract] The New Prairie School District is looking at a potential 22.7 million bond issue for capital construction project improvements mostly targeting its High School facility.
During a meeting of the Community Facilities planning Committee Wednesday evening, the entity charged with recommending the scope and cost of the project to the New Prairie School Board, it was revealed that the project could include additions to the dinning room and kitchen area, relocate offices for the central administration and nurses in the center of the building, technology and football field upgrades.
Representatives from architect firm Fanning Howey broke the project up into the following segments: $3,719,000 for mechanical upgrades (heating and air conditioning); $3,942,000 for centralization of the administration offices and other upgrades; $1,975,000 for technology upgrades; $1,654,000 for ADA and Life Safety improvements (the building is currently not handicapped accessible); $1,442,000 in serving line renovations; $1,418,000 in dining room renovations and additions; $725,000 in kitchen renovations; and $452,000 in loose furnishings. Committee members also had the possible choices of $200,000 for a grass athletic field, or $875,000 for a synthesized one.
All these cost prices were estimates because they have yet to be bid out.
-- Matt Fritz Wake County, North Carolina To Review Costs of Green School Building Efforts -- News & Observer North Carolina: April 14, 2010 [ abstract] Wake County's environmentally green schools may be costing too much financial green for members of the school board's new ruling majority to keep in building plans. Chris Malone, chairman of the board's facilities committee, called for a financial review of Wake's green building efforts, which have led to features such as waterless urinals, natural lighting and recycled building material. Malone said these features can increase costs by as much as 5 percent and may no longer be justifiable when cash-strapped school leaders will need to ask voters in the next few years to approve a school bond referendum for hundreds of millions of dollars. "If we want a bond issue approved, we have to show voters we're saving dollars," said Malone, one of four newcomers swept into office in the fall.
But supporters of green schools said abandoning these efforts would be shortsighted. Green-school features are supposed to save money in the long haul, with lower electric and water bills because of greater efficiency. "I understand that these are hard economic times, but the costs will ultimately come back to the taxpayers," said Bae-Won Koh, chairman of the Triangle chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. "They'll have to pay more later."
Wake County voters last approved a school bond issue in 2006 for a record $970 million. Plans for a follow-up bond issue have been delayed because of the national recession. With the possibility of a bond issue going to voters in 2011 or 2012, Malone said Tuesday that it's time to spend the next few months considering the planning assumptions that will be used for the next school building program. Among the areas targeted for review by Malone are Wake's long-standing efforts to design schools to be in compliance with the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. The U.S. Green Building Council says LEED building standards can substantially reduce the emission of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. More than 1,100 schools have registered across the country for the LEED program.
Malone's call for a review occurs a week before Earth Day and at a time when global warming is a hot topic. Malone said he believes that man is causing the climate to change but thinks it uncertain whether humans are the major reason. Wake school administrators have noted that waterless urinals reduce water use by 20 percent and that designing buildings to use more natural lighting instead of electric lights can cut energy use by 20 percent to 30 percent. Doug Brinkley, past chairman of the Triangle chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, also touted how green schools can help improve student learning by ensuring good air quality. Schools can use paints that don't release as many chemicals into the air that can irritate people. "It's more than just about saving money; it's about the health of those inside," Brinkley said.
-- T. Keung Hui Consultants outline school facilities plan-- The Advertiser Louisiana: April 08, 2010 [ abstract] The long-range facilities master plan will likely be split into two phases, with the first one costing about $600 million in uninflated dollars to replace or construct eight schools, planners said Wednesday.
The estimate and plans are based off nearly a year of planning and community meetings held by planning consultants CSRS Inc. The final plan should be presented May 18.
The planners have held several community meetings since last year. The last round of meetings were held in March at all five high schools, where residents were asked to weigh in on whether they would support a tax initiative and how large of a plan they would be willing to support.
About 200 people attended the final meetings, CSRS Director Chris Pellegrin said.
About 82 percent strongly or moderately supported the most extensive and expensive plan.
Phase 1 includes about $423.77 million for major projects and $172.89 million for selective maintenance projects.
It would include the replacement of Northside and Lafayette high schools, L.J. Alleman Middle School and Carencro Heights, Green T. Lindon, Katherine Drexel and J.W. Faulk elementary schools.
It would fund the construction of the Comprehen-sive Career and Technical High School. CSRS has estimated the school will cost $70.7 million.
Where the school will be permanently located, however, has not been finalized. The school system will not disclose the location.
In addition, the board had discussed that every high school have about 1,500 students. Right now, population ranges between 2,300 at Lafayette High and 800 at Northside.
Evening out high school population, might not be possible, Pellegrin said. The draft plan recommends building Lafayette High for 2,000 students, transferring 300 Arts Academy students to Comeaux High School and building an auditorium at Comeaux.
To fund the Phase 1 long-range plan, a property tax would be needed, which 42 percent of the 200 surveyed said they support. Twenty-six percent said they would like a sales tax. The rest did not want a tax or wanted a combination of both sales and property taxes.
The second phase would have to be considered later, maybe seven years down the road, Pellegrin said.
That phase includes replacing Truman Montes-sori, Evenageline, L. Leo Judice, Plantation, Prairie, Ridge and S.J. Montgomery elementary schools.
-- Tina Marie Macias Keller officials may change design for new school
-- The Keller Citizen Texas: April 06, 2010 [ abstract] Keller school district officials may change the design for the elementary school slated to open next year in Marshall Ridge.
"Because of the topography of the site, we're rethinking whether the prototype is a good fit for the site," said Hudson Huff, construction coordinator.
Huff said the site has a 30-foot drop from one side to the other, meaning the prototype, a one-story "H"-shaped building, would require extensive retaining walls. The building design allows grades to be separated into wings with the cafeteria, gym, office and library running along the central hallway.
Since 1998, 10 of 14 elementary schools have been built along the same design, a move that construction officials say reduces costs by lowering architectural fees.
VLK Architects of Fort Worth created the prototype design first used at North Riverside and Willis Lane elementary schools.
The nontypical schools are Basswood, Bluebonnet, Caprock and Liberty. In each case, site constraints dictated different designs. The site for Bluebonnet was most challenging because the school had to be built into a hillside. The Marshall Ridge site is more like the one for Liberty, Huff said. All four schools include second stories, with most moving the library and third- and fourth-graders to the upper level.
"We're looking at incorporating some new things into the design such as some collaborative spaces like we have at Timberview," Huff said. Timberview is the fifth- through eighth-grade campus under construction on Old Denton Road.
Huff said the additions would stay within the school construction budget. In the 2008 bond package, voters approved $23.7 million for the district's 22nd elementary school (land purchase, fees, construction, furniture and equipment). With the slow economy, officials expect to save on building costs. The original budget included an annual inflation rate of 12 percent because of skyrocketing construction and fuel costs when the bond package was developed during the summer of 2008.
The school, which will be located just north of Mount Gilead Road, will draw primarily from the Woodland Springs Elementary attendance zone -- which includes Marshall Ridge -- with some expected to come from the adjacent Florence and Keller-Harvel boundaries, district planning Director Jeff Baker said. Just over half of the students will live east of U.S. 377 and the rest will come from west of the highway.
Baker said the new school will help alleviate crowding at Independence and Caprock as new attendance lines are drawn.
The school should be the last constructed within the Keller city limits and one of the last campuses needed in the district. Officials expect one more elementary school will be needed on the far west side. A 1,500-home development on the west side of Interstate 35W near Basswood Boulevard was tabled by D.R. Horton in 2007. If the area develops as projected, the neighborhood would be a logical location for an elementary school, Baker said.
-- SANDRA ENGELLAND Baltimore Grade Schools Go Green-- UrbaniteBaltimore Maryland: April 01, 2010 [ abstract] Baltimore’s grade-school students like the idea of having a planet to call home for a few more years. “Just because we’re young doesn’t mean we don’t care,” says Kayla Adams, a sixth-grader at the Stadium School, a small public charter middle school in Waverly. The Stadium School is one of sixteen Baltimore City schools that won thousand-dollar Sustainability Challenge grants in December to facilitate recycling, reduce waste, and create green spaces in their schoolyards. The grants came through a partnership of the Baltimore City Office of Sustainability, Baltimore City Public Schools, the Baltimore Community Foundation, and the city’s Cleaner, Greener Baltimore initiative.
Many of the Stadium School students participating in the Sustainability Challenge are also involved in a project-based class called Green Neighbors. “It’s important to recycle here at school because we waste a lot of good materials every day,” says seventh-grader Antrel McDowell. Kamryn Taylor adds, “I see all the garbage and think, ‘Is this what people think of the planet?’”
Some schools have taken eco-education a step or two further. Take the Green School, another public charter school located in the old Shrine of the Little Flower Catholic School in Belair-Edison. As the name suggests, the fundamental three “r’s” of education have been expanded to include three more"reduce, reuse, recycle. “Each grade has an anchor project called an investigation that involves science and social issues tied to the local environment,” says Green School director Kate Primm. Kindergarteners study pollinators; first-graders raise terrapins to be released in Poplar Island, a small island in the Chesapeake Bay that is being rebuilt using soil dredged from the Baltimore Harbor; second-graders grow underwater grasses that are transplanted in the Chesapeake Bay; and fifth-graders grow an organic vegetable garden. Each of these projects integrates traditional subjects with hands-on learning methods. For example, when planning and creating a garden, students must diagram and map out a site and calculate the cost of plants and other supplies"all activities that utilize math. “The students’ investigations are authentic applications they can apply in real life with meaningful context,” says Primm.
The Green School and thirteen other city schools have been awarded “Green School” certification by the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education. Both public and private schools are eligible for the program. Schools qualify for this seal of eco-approval by demonstrating activities such as waste reduction, water-use reduction, habitat restoration, and community involvement.
-- Maren Tarro, Board approves new accommodation school-- The Daily Courier Arizona: March 19, 2010 [ abstract] County School Superintendent Tim Carter hopes to open the doors of a new Yavapai County Accommodation School in August 2011.
An accommodation school serves children in the court system or who otherwise cannot attend school in their home district.
If all goes well, construction crews will break ground for the new 10,000-square-foot school this summer.
The Arizona School Facilities Board approved a new 7-12 grade accommodation school in March 2007. A lack of money, however, kept the project from moving forward. According to Carter, the accommodation school "remained in line" for new buildings and, when the state board received federal stimulus money, he received the go-ahead to build a new school.
The accommodation school received a $3.6 million grant from the School Facilities Board to buy land and build the new school.
School Facilities Board Executive Director Dean Gray said the legislation authorizing the use of qualified school construction bonds or Build America Bonds is part of Gov. Jan Brewer's budget proposal.
The facilities board is waiting for final approval of the bonds, as well as looking at the make-up of the federal program, before releasing any money.
"Depending on the program requirements, we will decide which projects we can afford to fund," Gray said.
The director said the board has many details to finalize, but "hopefully we will know something this week. When the legislation passes, and I don't see a problem with it, we have to wait 90 days before going out for a bond sale."
The current accommodation school in Prescott Valley was built for 75 students, "but we are at capacity. The school services students in the 9 through 12 grades, although statutes allow for K-12 accommodation schools," Carter said.
The county superintendent indicated that a "substantial number of students would come to our school if we could handle them. Also, we don't have a middle school, and there are middle school students who do not want to go to district schools."
The project is currently in the planning phase, with Carter looking for property in the area of the Prescott Airport. He has submitted property proposals to the state, and he is preparing requests for proposals for architectural plans.
Carter is looking to build the school, and the accommodation district office, on about four acres.
-- Paula Rhoden Colo. Faces Monumental School-Repair Costs-- EDUCATION NEWS COLORADO Colorado: March 11, 2010 [ abstract] Colorado schools have $17.8 billion in maintenance and renovation needs over the next eight years, according to a statewide schools facilities study released Wednesday.
The study, required as part of the 2008 Building Excellent Schools Today law, was the first-ever comprehensive structural review of 8,419 buildings, from large classroom buildings to sheds.
The $17.8 billion estimate covers only what the study calls Tier I buildings " basically those used for instruction.
The study found those buildings need $9.4 billion of deferred maintenance work between now and 2013. An additional $13.9 billion is needed for energy and educational suitability projects. A final $3.9 billion in work is estimated to be necessary from 2014-18.
The study was released to the State Board of Education Wednesday afternoon.
Ted Hughes, director of the Capital Construction Assistance Division, noted that the study was the first-ever statewide inventory of school buildings and their conditions.
He said the division still has to come up with a ranking system for buildings and is planning to put all the data in a searchable database, to be called Schoolhouse that will include district and individual building information. The database will be updated regularly.
Mary Wickersham, chair of the Capital Construction Assistance Board, wasn’t shocked by the numbers, saying. “A lot of us have known for a long time the broad-stroke dimensions.” Wickersham several years ago led a less extensive study of school conditions. From that, she said, researchers roughly estimated $10 billion in needs.
Board members received the report with only a few comments.
The assessment isn’t a priority list from which state officials will choose projects. That’s because BEST is an opt-in program for which districts and charters must apply. But, the construction board will use the list to help set priorities among applicants. The program also is designed to encourage use of local matching grants, with only a few projects supported fully by state funds
-- Todd Engdahl Salem seeks less expensive school project-- The Day Massachusetts: March 11, 2010 [ abstract] The Board of Selectmen agreed that the new School planning/Building Committee needs to come up with a "less costly" plan to renovate the Salem School, but they weren't sure whether to direct them on how much the proposal should be.
Selectmen spent time at a special meeting Wednesday deciding what the new committee will be asked to accomplish. They are drafting a charge for their next meeting.
Last week, Superintendent Donna Leake wrote a letter to selectmen on behalf of the Board of Education, urging them to form a School Building Committee because a "major facility renovation is required at the school." Selectmen said they were going to create the committee in response to the town meeting in January.
-- Amy Renczkowski $2b later, Kansas City, Mo., may close half its schools-- boston.com Missouri: March 08, 2010 [ abstract] Kansas City was viewed as a national example of bold thinking when it tried to integrate its schools by making them better than the suburban districts where many children were moving. The result was one school with an Olympic-size swimming pool and another with recording studios.
Now it’s on the brink of bankruptcy and considering another bold move: closing nearly half its schools to stay afloat.
Officials say the cuts are necessary to keep the district from plowing through what little is left of the $2 billion it received as part of a groundbreaking desegregation case.
Buffeted for years by declining enrollment, political squabbling, and a revolving door of leadership, the district’s fortunes are so bleak that Superintendent John Covington has said diplomas given to many graduates “aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.’’
Kansas City is among the most striking examples of the challenges of saving urban school districts. The city spent freely to improve facilities, but boosting lagging test scores and stemming the exodus of students were more elusive.
The latest possible solution for Kansas City is the plan Covington submitted to the school board last week that called for closing 29 out of 61 schools to eliminate a projected $50 million budget shortfall. Covington also has said he wants to cut about 700 of the district’s 3,000 jobs, including 285 teachers. The school board vote is Wednesday.
The proposal has stunned the community.
“It’s crazy,’’ said Donnell Fletcher, the father of two girls, ages 4 and 12. “I just hope that with all the changes that they are planning on making, that the kids are the ones who are the most important and that hopefully they will get the resources and the education they need to be successful.’’
When Fletcher, 33, was a teenager, he transferred from a private school in the city to attend a showpiece of the desegregation plan, a high school with a high-profile fencing program. He, like many, wonders where the money has gone.
This year alone officials expect to overspend the $316 million budget by $15 million and if nothing changes, the district will be in the red by 2011.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
Kansas City appeared headed for a recovery when a federal judge in 1985 declared the district was unconstitutionally segregated. To boost test scores, integrate the schools, and repair decrepit classrooms, the state was ordered to spend about $2 billion to address the problems.
-- Heather Hollingsworth School board OKs up to $21.6M for Phase II of project-- Standard-Times Go San Angelo Texas: March 08, 2010 [ abstract] The San Angelo school board approved a guaranteed maximum price of $21.6 million for the second phase of the Central High School portion of the bond project, which will include construction of a new administration building, an agriculture shop and a building maintenance shop.
Steve Van Hoozer, the San Angelo Independent School District’s director of bond planning and construction, presented the price from the contractor at risk, Lee Lewis Construction, at the Monday night school board meeting. The project was put out to bid in February.
-- Laurel L. Scott Build New or Renovate. What To Do With Akron's King Elementary School?-- West Side Leader Ohio: March 04, 2010 [ abstract] To build new or to renovate? That was the main question that brought more than 100 people out on a snowy night to King Elementary School. It was the initial community planning meeting in a process that will eventually produce a renovated or a brand new King Community Learning Center. In attendance were Akron Public Schools District (APS) officials, school board members and former members, Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) and city of Akron representatives, architects and interested community members.
King is next in the APS’ 12-year program to replace or renovate all of its school buildings, with the help of the 59 percent of the funding that is being provided by the state through the OSFC. The remainder of the money is coming from a voter-approved quarter-percent city income tax. The APS’ executive director of facility services and capital improvements, Paul Flesher, said 17 buildings have been completed, four more will be complete by the end of the summer, four are under construction and four are in the design phase. The completed buildings are called community learning centers (CLCs), not schools. When a woman at the King meeting expressed her desire to keep the name King School, APS Superintendent David James explained that since the city of Akron is providing tax money to help build them, the buildings are operated jointly and the Ohio Revised Code requires they be called CLCs.
-- Becky Tompkins Economic Impact of New School Construction on Local Community Studied-- Huber Heights Courier Ohio: March 03, 2010 [ abstract] The Huber Heights City School District is planning on constructing five new K-6 elementary schools, a new middle school and a new high school at a cost of $159.1 million. The district wanted to know how this investment from Jan. 1, 2010 to August 2012 would affect the community outside of the schools, so they contracted with the Center for Urban & Public Affairs (CUPA) to conduct the economic impact of new school construction on the local economy.
"I think that the economic study does a good job of that--what they call the ripple affect--because it does impact the motels, and the restaurants, the service stations and grocery stores and all those other periphials," said William Kirby, superintendent of Huber Heights City Schools. "So, when we have that many contractors coming in to help build schools, that many other service providers, I think the economic study shows that its millions of dollars that's going to be spent in our community over the next two-and-one-half years, as a result of what we are putting in the schools."
The study estimates the construction project will generate a total of 1,944 jobs in Montgomery, Greene, and Miami counties related to the construction of the school buildings. It estimates that 1,113 laborers and professional employees will be directly related to the construction of the Huber Heights school buildings. Indirectly, 387 jobs will be created as a result of products and services (associated with the construction the Huber Heights facilities) purchased from area businesses. An additional 444 jobs will be created in the three-county area to support increased household spending generated by those workers affected directly and indirectly by the construction project.
The total labor income is estimated in the study to be nearly $92 million. The direct effect of labor income supported by the school district construction is approximately $55.4 million, while nearly $36.5 million in wages and benefits is projected to be generated in indirect and induced effects - $19.9 million and $16.7 million, respectively.
-- Staff Writer Fayette, Kentucky Schools Going Green With New Projects-- Herald Leader Kentucky: February 21, 2010 [ abstract] Fayette County Public Schools wants to paint some green on the Bluegrass with two upcoming construction projects. The school district says it will emphasize earth-friendly technology to reduce energy use and promote environmental sustainability at its new Locust Trace Agri-Science Center on Leestown Road and the new elementary school planned for Keithshire Way. Green concepts also will be integrated into the education experience at the facilities, district officials say.
Mary Wright, the district's chief operating officer, said the two projects should be the most environmentally friendly facilities the district has built. And green technology figures to be part of district plans from now on, she said. "We want to be more environmentally conscious, and a number of interested community groups have come to us and offered support in that regard," Wright said. "So, we're looking at utility usage, building design, curriculum planning and the impact of things like the new stormwater fees. It's all part of trying to take a more global approach."
Here are some of the green provisions being considered: buildings at both sites will be oriented to welcome morning sunshine and shade out harsh late afternoon sun, reducing power needs for lighting and cooling. Special ICF walls will provide high-insulation values; Keithshire Way will "harvest" and "manage" daylight to supplement its standard electrical lighting. Automatic sensors in classrooms and other areas will turn lights off or on as needed, saving energy; rainwater from roofs at Locust Trace will be collected and stored for irrigating soil and watering livestock. A deep well will supplement drinking-water needs. Livestock waste will be controlled. The overall goal is for the farm to "sit lightly on the land."
-- Jim Warren DeKalb to close four schools, cut administrators-- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Georgia: February 19, 2010 [ abstract] DeKalb County's superintendent said he will cut about 15 top administrators and close four schools to help with the district's $88 million deficit.
â€"We can no longer afford to operate schools which are at half capacity,†Superintendent Crawford Lewis told about 100 business leaders Friday at his State of the System address.
With 152 schools, DeKalb has the most school buildings in the state -- despite being the third-largest district and closing five schools in 2008, Lewis said.
Next week, school officials will identify the four elementary schools that will close at the end of the school year in May. They plan to close another eight to 10 schools in May 2011.
The schools will be selected out of the 29 schools with enrollments of less than 300 students. District officials are taking a look at schools in south DeKalb: The student enrollments in that area have dropped, and Dunwoody's student enrollment has become the county's fastest growing, Lewis said.
The Citizens planning Task Force, a group of 20 residents appointed by school board members, will work with school officials to make a recommendation on which schools to close. The board will then vote on the final closings, school system spokesman Dale Davis said.
Last year, DeKalb's enrollment grew by about 1,500 students to 101,000 children.
The school closings will allow the district to save about $2.5 million. Teachers from those schools will move with their students and be allowed to keep their jobs, but some other staff may be affected, Davis said.
The closings will mean the district will have to redraw the attendance boundaries and reroute buses before school starts in August.
The school closures are part of a systemwide trimming to meet a loss in state funding and property tax revenue.
â€"We are working really, really hard not to raise anyone's taxes,†Lewis said.
Last month, Lewis proposed a series of program cuts, staff furloughs and other reductions to meet what officials thought was a $56 million deficit. He now is scrambling to identify $32 million more to cut from next year's budget after learning the county's property values dove 6.7 percent.
â€"This year's budget will go back to the figure we had in 2005. That kind of tells you exactly how bad things are,†Lewis said.
-- Megan Matteucci Op-Ed: Falling Further Behind -- New York Times National: February 19, 2010 [ abstract] One section of the Maytown Elementary School in rural Maytown, Pa., was built in 1861. Another section was built in the late-1920s. There’s a time clock in the ancient gym that was donated by the class of 1946. This is a school that could use an update. No, scratch that. It needs to be replaced. Shelly Riedel, superintendent of the Donegal School District, which includes Maytown, told me that teachers can’t mount smart boards in their classrooms because of the asbestos “encapsulated” behind the walls. The asbestos is not dangerous as long as the walls are not disturbed. The electricity is not particularly reliable. A teacher who is using, say, an overhead projector has to check to make sure that other teachers are not using similar devices at the same time as that might cause an outage. There is no air conditioning. And there is no money right now to replace the school, which has an enrollment of 237.
You can travel the United States and find comparable, or worse, conditions in schools throughout the country. It’s part of the overwhelming problem of maintaining and modernizing American infrastructure. It’s hard to even get good data on the physical condition of the nation’s schools. But Lawrence Summers, President Obama’s chief economic adviser, has said that 75 percent of the public schools have structural deficiencies and 25 percent have problems with their ventilation systems.
The Donegal district is planning to build a bare-bones regional high school with money from its general budget. The existing school, which was built in 1954, has many problems, including a sewage system that saw its best days when names like Eisenhower and Kennedy were on the mailbox at the White House. The proposal for the new high school does not even include an athletic field for the kids.
Getting the nation’s schools up to date is an enormous problem, but it’s only a small part of the overall infrastructure challenge.
Schools, highways, the electric grid, water systems, ports, dams, levees " the list can seem endless " have to be maintained, upgraded, rebuilt or replaced if the U.S. is to remain a first-class nation with a first-class economy over the next several decades. And some entirely new infrastructure systems will have to be developed. But these systems have to be paid for, and right now there are not enough people at the higher echelons of government trying to figure out the best ways to raise the enormous amounts of money that will be required, and the most responsible ways of spending that money. And there are not enough leaders explaining to the public how heavy this lift will be, and why it is so necessary, and what sacrifices will be required to get the job properly done.
-- Bob Herbert Deer Park High School expansion expected be completed in fall-- The Spokesman-Review Washington: February 18, 2010 [ abstract] After three years of planning and two years of construction, teachers and students alike can finally see light at the end of the hallways. This is just one of the telltale signs that construction is near completion at Deer Park High School.
This tenacious expansion and modernization project is scheduled to be nearly finished this summer, putting an end to cramped classrooms, narrow hallways and outdated technology.
“It feels like I don’t have limits,” said computer teacher Kelli Demarest, while teaching a group of kids in the new Microsoft computer lab. Part of the project included building not one, but two computer labs. The new Mac lab will allow the school to be consistent with industry standards by teaching graphic design and a new mechanical design class next year on Macintosh computers.
-- Pamela J.S. Smith State OK spending $22 mil on new school-- Journal-Courier Illinois: February 14, 2010 [ abstract]
Gillespie school officials now have the blessing of the state to spend $22 million for a new elementary school to replace one shuttered because of underground mining.
Superintendent Paul Skeans told the School planning and Site Selection Committee this week that the state has sold bonds and “our district is first on the list of school construction projects.”
All that has to be done now is for a site for the new school to be selected, then the state can begin the surveying process and develop a budget plan.
-- MAGGIE BORMAN EPA’s Budget Proposal Seeks Efficiencies, Increased Environmental Protection-- EPA National: February 01, 2010 [ abstract] The Obama Administration today proposed a budget of $10 billion for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This budget heeds the president’s call to streamline and find efficiencies in the agency’s operations while supporting the seven priority areas EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson outlined to guide EPA’s work.
“To meet our environmental challenges and ensure fiscal responsibility, we’re proposing targeted investments in core priorities. This budget cuts spending while promoting clean air, land and water, growing the green economy and strengthening enforcement,” said Administrator Jackson. ”The president’s budget is focused on creating the conditions that help American families, communities and small businesses thrive.
Clean air, clear water and green jobs are rebuilding the foundations for prosperity in communities across the country.”
Budget Highlights:
Cleaning up communities: This budget includes $1.3 billion to address Superfund sites that may be releasing harmful or toxic substances into the surrounding community. Cleaning up these sites improves communities’
health and allows for these properties to be used for economic development.
In addition, $215 million is provided to clean up abandoned or underused industrial and commercial sites that are available for alternative uses but where redevelopment may be complicated by the presence of environmental contaminants. Revitalizing these once productive properties, known as brownfields, helps communities by removing blight, satisfying the growing demand for land, and enabling economic development. EPA will focus its efforts on area-wide planning and cleanups, especially in under-served and economically disadvantaged communities.
Assuring the Safety of Chemicals: This budget calls for $56 million for chemical assessment and risk review to ensure that no unreasonable risks are posed by new or existing chemicals. This budget also invests $29 million (including $15 million in grants funding) in the continuing effort to eliminate childhood lead poisoning, and $6 million to support national efforts to mitigate exposure to high-risk legacy chemicals, such as mercury and asbestos.
-- EPA Staff School Construction Moving Ahead in Maryland County; Taking Advantage of 30% Drop in Construction Costs-- Washington Post Maryland: January 15, 2010 [ abstract] School construction will move full speed ahead in Montgomery County under a six-year, $3.9 billion capital budget that county executive Isiah Leggett will unveil, officials said. The plan, which increases capital spending for schools by more than 17 percent over the previous six-year plan, shows that Leggett (D) is prioritizing education as budget woes force the county to make difficult decisions about where money is spent. The budget will fund all of the construction projects in the $1.5 billion plan approved by the Board of Education in November; Leggett's budget trims about 1 percent of the total request, county spokesman Patrick Lacefield said. "We're squeezing other projects to give schools more resources." Under the plan, 18 schools will be renovated, 11 will gain additions and a new elementary and middle school will be built in Clarksburg, one of the county's fastest-growing areas.
The new budget, which takes advantage of what county officials said was a 30 percent drop in construction costs in the past two years, puts back on track the modernization of Paint Branch, Gaithersburg and Wheaton high schools and gives the green light for an addition at Clarksburg High. The principals of those schools are planning to stand with Leggett as he introduces his proposal Friday at Paint Branch.
Even with the relatively generous plans for capital improvements, the school system's operating budget, which pays for day-to-day school operations, not construction, still faces a major crunch. And it could worsen, depending on funding decisions made by the Maryland legislature in the coming weeks. Leggett's proposed capital budget must be approved by the County Council.
-- Michael Birnbaum Parents Say Overcrowded Neighborhood School Preferable to New School-- Baltimore Sun Maryland: January 10, 2010 [ abstract] The Rodgers Forge community in Towson has long pushed to ease the crowding at its neighborhood elementary school. But if eliminating congestion means transferring their children to a new, $25 million school, few in this close-knit community of nearly 2,000 townhomes seem willing to make the change. The majority of parents want their children to remain at Rodgers Forge Elementary, where many of them can walk to school. They oppose any redistricting plan that would bus their children a few miles to West Towson Elementary, which is set to open in August on North Charles Street.
"Ours will always be a crowded school and that is a backdoor compliment to our neighborhood," said Janice Moore, president of the Rodgers Forge Community Association. "This is a viable, stable and desirable area. Everything is right about this community, including its school." Rather than "bounce kids around and fracture the school," she urged school officials to keep the neighborhood intact, regardless of capacity issues. Rodgers Forge Elementary, which dates to 1951, has long been the hub for the surrounding community, but its building serves nearly double its intended number and is surrounded by six portable classrooms. Fifth-graders go to class at nearby Dumbarton Middle.
While current Rodgers Forge Elementary fourth-graders will be able to stay at their home school regardless of the redistricting, keeping all neighborhood children there means the building would remain above its enrollment capacity of about 400, school officials said. State construction funding requires boundary options that take Rodgers Forge below capacity and ensure West Towson opens below its capacity of 451 students, officials said. "We looked first at keeping Rodgers Forge students all together, but that would put the school at 115 percent," said Pamela Carter, boundary specialist with the system's office of strategic planning. "For that reason, each option shows the school with a smaller enrollment and some of the children at West Towson."
Rodgers Forge Elementary "is the center of our neighborhood and brings the many homeowners together," she said. "My child lives a stone's throw away from Rodgers Forge Elementary, but, on most of the plans, would be bused to another school. Children sent to another school will miss out on the neighborhood feel that is the reason we bought our home here."
-- Mary Gail Hare Plans Approved for Photovoltaic Solar Power for 16 Denver Public School Buildings-- Electric Light & Power Colorado: January 07, 2010 [ abstract] he Denver Public School Board has approved plans for the development of photovoltaic (PV) solar energy projects on 16 school buildings throughout the school district. The projects are the result of more than two years of planning and coordination by Denver-based renewable energy developer Oak Leaf Energy Partners with the School District and the Denver Green Print Council. The projects will be owned and operated by MP2 Capital, a leading developer, financier and operator of solar projects throughout North America. MP2 will then sell the electricity produced to the district under a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). The School Board’s approval will elevate Denver as a leader in school-based sustainability initiatives, both in Colorado and nationally. The systems will be designed and built by Boulder-based Namaste Solar.
The projects will be completed on several sites throughout the district. The locations were selected by the optimal solar and roof qualities of the schools. The 16 systems will total approximately 1.8 MW of capacity and generate approximately 44 million kWh of clean solar electricity over the course of the 20-year PPA. The systems are expected be completed by November 2010, with the first project coming on-line in March 2010.
In addition to providing clean electricity, the projects also include an extensive educational curriculum for the host schools. Created by Namaste Solar, and taught by local teachers, the program will concentrate on the science and economics of photovoltaic energy generation.
-- Staff Writer Guilford, North Carolina Schools Focuses on Building-- News and Record North Carolina: January 03, 2010 [ abstract] Guilford County Schools officials are getting a good jump on more than $400 million in new school construction that voters approved in 2008. Work on projects " six new schools and 13 renovations and additions " is beginning to pick up with planning, design and land acquisition. Voters approved selling $457 million in bonds to pay for the projects. That work includes money for the already-rebuilt Eastern Guilford High School, destroyed by arson in 2006.
Finding property has proven difficult not just in the southeast area of the county but also in the west as the school board plans for the county’s newest high school. The district hopes to alleviate some of the crowding at Northwest and Southwest high schools with the opening of a new high school in western Greensboro, near Piedmont Triad International Airport. The airport-area high school project includes the purchase of property for the high school as well as a new middle school, but no money has been allocated for the middle school’s construction. The trouble officials are running into for these schools is the location. That part of the county is a highly desirable site for industrial development, so land values are high. “Land acquisition is certainly one of the more challenging aspects of this,” LaRowe said. “It’s difficult to locate a 100-acre tract of land that will meet the needs of a high school and middle school program.”
Officials are optimistic that, with much of the preliminary work done in 2009, 2010 will be the year construction gets under way for many of these projects. School board member Garth Hebert said, “I think we have done so much groundwork in 2009, that 2010 will be a steamroller.”
-- J. Brian Ewing School Board continues to review consolidation options-- Muskego Now Wisconsin: December 30, 2009 [ abstract] Muskego — Demolishing Lakeview Elementary School and building a new one on the same site will no longer be a facilities improvement option, the Muskego-Norway School Board decided last week.
Two other options remain, however, for Lakeview as part of the district's overall facilities planning. Lakeview could still be expanded and renovated or the building could be closed as a school and a new Lakeview Elementary School built on the site of Lake Denoon Middle School.
For many months, the School Board has been narrowing its options to improve school facilities. The board favors consolidating the five elementary schools into three by retiring the district's two oldest schools - Tess Corners Elementary and Muskego Elementary. In addition, one new school would be built on district land on North Cape Road. Lakeview and Mill Valley elementary schools would be expanded, as necessary. The combined Bay Lane Middle/Country Meadows Elementary would become either entirely a middle school or entirely an elementary school.
The various plans are organized into two general options that have some overlap.
Public feedback needed
But both the options cost money and public input sessions will start in late January to get a feel for whether there is enough support for borrowing to actually do the facilities update. If strong community support is found, the community might be asked to vote in a referendum as early as November 2010.
The board dropped the option of tearing Lakeview down and rebuilding it on the same site because of cost, the logistics, traffic patterns and keeping children safe during demolition and construction.
Another reason was that the School Board wanted to simplify the options for voters to those that are the most feasible, School Board President Jim Schaefer said.
"We do not want a jumbled message," he said.
And Lakeview had three ways it could be handled. Now it is a clearer choice of two, Schaefer said.
The board has looked at roughly 20 potential solutions to its facilities needs, Superintendent Joseph Schroeder said. Over the summer, the board narrowed the options to four and now the number is two, he said.
"These are the best two options to share with the community for their input," Schroeder said.
Solution one would cost roughly $50.3 million to $57.8 million. Solution two would cost $62.3 million to $72.5 million. In both cases, costs vary depending on which options are included. The most expensive options in solution one are building two elementary schools. In solution two, possibly building an elementary and a middle school push potential costs up.
The amounts are ballpark estimates, as the board is getting more cost information to make better predictions, Schroeder said.
The board favored holding five public input meetings where the options will be explained and the level of support might be gauged.
-- JANE FORD-STEWART School bonds still untapped-- News Observer National: December 27, 2009 [ abstract] Congress made a tantalizing offer to local governments this year, with no-interest loans for school construction and renovation.
But nearly a year after the school construction bonds were approved as part of the federal stimulus package, few school districts in the state or across the country have found companies willing to buy them.
That's left the promise of new schools, additions and land purchases - and the thousands of jobs that were supposed to be created by the construction work - largely unfulfilled.
"I'm disappointed," said Steve Taynton, section chief for school planning at the state Department of Public Instruction. "It could do a lot of good if we could get the money out there."
A new kind of school construction bond created in the stimulus package would allow lenders to claim tax credits rather than earn interest. The plan was that borrowers were supposed to pay only the principal.
But officials said it has been tough to find banks interested in tax credits that won't do them much good when they're suffering losses.
North Carolina has a $275 million allotment of the school construction bonds this year.
Five big school districts, including Wake and Charlotte-Mecklenburg, had allocations within that pool earmarked for them. Wake was allowed to issue $17.3 million in construction bonds and CMS nearly $26 million.
Some counties, including Durham, didn't ask for a chance to issue bonds. Among those counties that did, only seven have gotten their borrowing approved by the Local Government Commission in the state treasurer's office. None of those is in the Triangle.
U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, a longtime champion of having the federal government help with school construction, recently supported an attempt to get around the problem of offering tax credits banks don't want. Under the change, state or local governments could choose to receive a direct payment from the federal government equal to the value of the tax credit. The payment would lower the local governments' borrowing costs. The provision was included in a bill the U.S. House passed this month. It awaits action in the Senate.
According to Etheridge's office, only $1.7 billion of the $11 billion in school construction bonds available nationwide has been used.
"Companies aren't making enough to use the credits," said Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat.
The law allows allocations local governments don't use this year to be returned to the states for redistribution, along with another $11 billion available next year.
With the change, local governments should be able to borrow nearly $22 billion for school construction and renovations next year, Etheridge said.
"We need to get them out and moving," he said of the bonds.
Keyword Search: ARRA, stimulus, bond
-- LYNN BONNER Numbers show Casper needs new high school -- Star-Tribune Wyoming: December 20, 2009 [ abstract] There are a number of moving pieces in Path to 2025, the Natrona County School District's effort to revamp its secondary education system.
In addition to building a new high school in Casper, mostly to accommodate the movement of ninth-graders into the city's high schools, district officials want to change the way students are taught in order to make classes more relevant to them. As a result, the idea of creating "professional pathway academies" and "small learning communities" at the two major existing high schools is being considered in conjunction with planning for a new school.
Career pathways would bring about dramatic change, requiring parents and students, starting in eighth grade, to carefully evaluate each school's unique offerings before deciding where to enroll. Whether eighth-graders are prepared to make such career-oriented choices is a legitimate matter for debate.
Regardless of that issue, however, the fact remains that Casper needs a new high school. And that shouldn't be forgotten in the discussion about career pathways, learning communities and the like.
First of all, it's important to note that the district's move to a new space-grade configuration -- elementary schools with grades kindergarten through 5, middle schools with grades 6 through 8, and high schools with 9 through 12 -- began in 2004. The transition isn't quite complete, but it's getting close.
As of the 11th day of this school year, Kelly Walsh High School had 1,438 students and Natrona County High School had 1,496. Meanwhile, there are 469 ninth-graders in middle schools.
District officials want to have high schools with between 1,000 and 1,200 students apiece. Enrollment projections show Casper needs another high school to make that happen.
Some would argue that the high school population could be accommodated with some expansion of existing facilities, but that would be impractical. The Wyoming School Facilities Commission has already signed off on the idea of a new high school, giving the district $5 million to design it. An additional $48 million for construction is anticipated in the 2013-14 biennium. If that happens, construction could begin in spring 2012.
-- Star-Tribune Editorial Board San Mateo County schools look up for power-- San Mateo County Times California: December 18, 2009 [ abstract] Crystal Springs Uplands School is planting nearly 2,000 trees.
Well, not literally. But the private school in Hillsborough is doing an equivalent of that through its newly-installed system that harnesses sun power. That system will offset close to 3.5 billion pounds of carbon dioxide, school officials said.
"It'll reduce our carbon footprint," said Bill Lautner, the school's facilities manager.
Crystal Springs is among a growing number of schools tapping into or planning on solar power.
Financing options for installing solar-panel systems and increased interest in clean energy have contributed to that rise.
Still, some risks remain for schools pursuing solar power partly because they are assuming utility costs will continue to go up.
Over the years, schools statewide have done small-scale solar projects — which at least spark interest in learning about alternative power sources, said Tor Allen, executive director of the Sebastopol-based Rahus Institute, a research and educational nonprofit that focuses on renewable energy.
But lately, schools are eyeing bigger projects, Allen said.
"There's definitely a lot more interest and growth in the large scale," he said, citing such efforts at San Jose and other Bay Area schools.
Billed as the largest effort of its kind among K-12 school districts nationwide and dedicated earlier this year, San Jose Unified's solar-energy system is expected to produce 5.5 megawatts of power at 14 sites and result in savings of more than $25 million over time.
San Jose Unified avoided upfront capital costs by partnering with Chevron and Bank of America, which is financing the project estimated at more than $18 million.
In this arrangement, the district agrees to buy the power generated by the solar panels from the bank. The district is expected to pay about $14 million.
-- Neil Gonzales Design of Forks High School building in works; historical desirable but cost a factor-- Peninsula Daily News Washington: December 17, 2009 [ abstract] Architects began asking Forks High School teachers and staff this week what they need in the new high school when it is built next year.
The architects, BRLB of Seattle, created the schematic drawing of the new high school -- estimated to cost up to $18 million -- that was approved by the Quillayute Valley School board in October.
They are expected to compile information gleaned from faculty and staff by the end of the month.
Those details will be added to a final project plan that will go out to bid next year, said Quillayute Valley School District Superintendent Diana Reaume.
"Now we are in the detail-planning stage, where we are getting into all the things the teachers need," Reaume said.
Construction is expected to begin after June 2010. The facility is expected to be completed by fall 2011.
Voters in the Quillayute Valley School District approved an $11 million construction bond in February for the high school. District officials also expect to get about $7 million in state funding.
The portion of the campus built this decade will be retained, but all other portions -- those built in 1925, 1957 and 1962 -- will be replaced.
Some portions of the school that will be replaced are not being used now because of safety issues, Reaume said.
-- Paige Dickerson Cape Girardeau School Facilities Priority Planning-- Southeast Missourian Missouri: December 10, 2009 [ abstract] planning for upgrading and constructing facilities in the Cape Girardeau School District has taken months of effort. School officials have worked with teachers, students and parents to determine what's needed the most. The latest compilation lists projects that would cost an estimated $40 million.
Paying for the improvements would require voters to approve the extension of a levy being used to pay off bonds for previous school projects. District officials say that, because a good portion of the projects are for maintenance, extending the levy also would free up funds for operational needs.
The school board now must make a final decision on what to include in the project list and whether to place the levy extension on the ballot, probably next April. As with all major spending plans, voters need to be fully informed about the proposal. They would have opportunities to hear presentations and ask questions before voting. And they need to let the school board and administration know what they think of the levy plan.
-- Staff Writer Counties make case for school projects-- Washington Post Maryland: December 06, 2009 [ abstract] Officials from Southern Maryland's school systems were in Annapolis last week making the case for new school construction despite the dismal economic climate.
All three school systems want to get on the State Department of Education's capital projects list, which would put them in line for funding with other school projects throughout the state. Each jurisdiction appealed their cases Thursday to the Interagency Committee on School Construction.
Charles L. Wineland, assistant superintendent of supporting services, said he told panel members they were being near-sighted for not approving Charles County's proposed $70 million high school for 1,600 students. Instead, Maryland approved the school, which would be in the heart of the growing St. Charles community, for 1,300 students, based on state enrollment data for the school's first three years.
"We know in the fourth year the school will be open, it will be over capacity," Wineland said in an interview.
He noted during a meeting with the Charles state delegation last week that the county's high schools are about 1,000 students over capacity combined.
Because most of the planning for the school has been completed, Charles school officials want to get construction bids this summer to get the cheapest price before the economy rebounds, Wineland said.
-- Christy Goodman Officials hope to follow other cities' experiences with light rail-- The Tampa Tribune Florida: December 04, 2009 [ abstract] It took a behind-the-scenes meeting in Washington in 2003 to crystallize local thinking on transit planning.
About a dozen Tampa Bay area businesspeople took a list of regional highway proposals to U.S. Rep. John Mica, a Winter Park Republican with clout on transportation issues.
Mica held a model locomotive to punctuate his responses as he told the group not to return until they included mass transit in their plans. That session helped push the Bay area toward a regional quest for light rail among bus and road improvements, joining a stunning transformation of Sun Belt cities with dominant auto cultures.
Dallas, Phoenix, Houston and even Los Angeles have devised commuter and light-rail networks that two or three decades ago were the most unlikely of prospects.
"I characterize these cities as growing up in the post-interstate era, apart from the rich history of public transportation in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago years ago," said Alan C. Wulkan, managing partner of InfraConsult in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Wulkan, who led successful transit efforts in Phoenix, Miami, Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas, is helping the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority by educating board members and the community on future projects should county taxpayers approve new community investment in transit.
"We are seeing a maturity of those Southern and Western cities, with lots of excitement in terms of a great diversity of culture, jobs and a whole range of other issues," Wulkan said.
But "as you run out of room in once expansive areas to build new freeways, and highways become congested, people want choices to get around."
Economic benefits
Most U.S. cities except, perhaps, New York and Washington, are auto-oriented.
Mass transit advocates acknowledge that the push for new modes of travel, including light rail, is not entirely about traffic congestion, although studies show public transportation can save people time, decrease fuel consumption and lower accident rates.
The Texas Transportation Institute of Texas A&M University reported the cost of traffic delays in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area " wasted fuel and lost productivity " rose from $500 million in 1995 to $1.2 billion in 2007.
Advocates also cite community gains in real estate development and higher property values near stations and along corridors, as well as enhanced competition for economic development.
The trend has been to implement light-rail networks in medium-size cities such as Charlotte, N.C., and large cities such as Dallas " places that historically have been auto dependent, said Branner Stewart of Cambridge Systematics Inc. The Massachusetts firm is working on a report for HART on the benefits of expanding public transportation.
-- TED JACKOVICS At least $4.2 million in projects on tap for Kingsport school-- timesnews.net Tennessee: November 25, 2009 [ abstract] The next three years will be busy with construction in the Kingsport school system thanks to more than $3.2 million in projects funded by low-interest bonds and another pending project that could be between $1 million and $3 million.
The Kingsport Board of Education got a glimpse at a potential timeline for projects to be funded by Build America Bonds and Qualified School Construction Bonds, both funded through the federal economic stimulus program.
Finance Director David Frye said BAB projects of $2 million are $300,000 for security modifications to various schools, $200,000 for the Lincoln Elementary parking lot, $200,000 for the Overlook Road parking next to Jefferson Elementary, and $1.3 million to relocate the Jefferson library and office.
QSCB projects are $250,000 to reconfigure career technical education (CTE) classrooms, $325,000 for Legion Center renovations, $600,000 for conversion of the current Central Office at Dobyns-Bennett High School for D-B use, and $65,000 for an emergency backup generator at D-B.
Given that 10 percent of the QSCB money has to be committed by June and all must be spent within three years, Frye presented the BOE with timelines that included the BOE approving architect contracts as early as Dec. 3.
Frye said Beeson Lusk and Street already has done work on the CTE project, while Wright and Henderson has done some work on the security projects, and the city engineering staff has worked on the Lincoln project. He said the generator project would need no architect.
That leaves the Overlook Road, Jefferson and Central Office projects with no identified architects.
Superintendent Richard Kitzmiller said it might make sense to go ahead and hire an architect to help in planning the new Central Office and converting the old one into classroom space. He said the private sector might be willing to build a new facility and then lease it back or sell it to the school system.
The new Central Office " to be 25,000 square feet of new construction or converted existing space " is to be paid for by capital funds including bond proceeds from Hawkins County and the possible sale of the Midland Center.
Cost estimates on that project have gone from $1 million, for using renovated space as supported by Alderman Ken Marsh, to around $3 million for a turnkey new building. Other options include a long-term lease and lease-to-purchase options.
Projects potentially to be finished by the summer of 2010 with architect votes coming soon are the security updates, Lincoln Elementary parking lot, CTE classrooms upgrade, and the emergency generator at D-B.
By the summer of 2011 the Overlook Road parking near Jefferson and the Jefferson library and office project are on the schedule, along with moving the Central Office operation to a new location away from D-B and renovation of the Legion Center, while the summer of 2012 would see renovation of the old Central Office area into classroom space for D-B.
Keyword Search: ARRA, stimulus, bond
-- Rick Wagner Ohio District May Receive More Federal Stimulus Money for School Construction-- Marion Stae Ohio: November 22, 2009 [ abstract] A campaign promise of federal help to build a new school may turn into more than expected for Elgin Local Schools. The district was told prior to the Nov. 3 bond issue that passing the bond issue would guarantee Elgin at least $2.5 million and possibly up to $6 million in interest-free loans thanks to federal stimulus money. That has increased to more than $11.97 million, school officials said Thursday. Ohio received about $267.1 million through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to use towards public school construction projects. The Qualified School Construction Bonds program provides federal tax credits that bond holders can receive in lieu of interest, which is meant to significantly reduce an issuer’s cost of borrowing money for school construction projects.
Elgin was part of a pool of $100 million set aside for school facility projects that were in the planning stage in districts that had not yet passed a bond issue. Out of 39 bond issues on the Nov. 3 ballot, Elgin interim Superintendent Jim Craycraft said only nine passed. “With stimulus money you got to spend it or it goes back, because it is meant to stimulate the economy,” said Craycraft. “They need to get the money out. That more than doubled the amount we were supposed to get.” What it means for Elgin is that, when the district sells bonds to cover the construction costs, it will cost less to borrow the district’s share of the $35.9 million project.
Elgin Treasurer Kim Reynolds said how much less and what it will mean for taxpayers is not yet known because the state is still studying how best to distribute the stimulus money. “I think there will be some kind of savings,” she said. “But it’s just unknown at this time.” She said school officials will release more information once they can determine the savings to taxpayers.
About 52 percent of voters passed a combined 7.49-mill, 28-year bond issue and a 1-mill continuous improvement levy on Nov. 3, according to unofficial Marion County Board of Elections results. At the time the district estimated it would cost the owner of a $100,000 property about $229 per year.The money will help construct and maintain a centralized kindergarten-12th grade building that will be built on the current Elgin High School campus and demolish the district’s existing four buildings. The Ohio School Facilities Commission will cover about $20 million of the project’s cost.
Keyword Search: ARRA, stimulus, bond
-- Kurt Moore Legal Loophole Keeps California School Construction Cash Local: Lease-Lease Back-- The Union California: November 20, 2009 [ abstract] A Nevada County contractor has landed his second school building job in less than one year, using an innovative arrangement that keeps local tax dollars in the community. In June, Grass Valley's Sierra Foothills Construction Co. and Tru-Line Builders used the arrangement to win the $13.2 million contract for the second phase of expansion and renovation at the Sierra College campus in Grass Valley. That work was paid for through a local, tax-funded bond issue. Now, Sierra Foothills has landed a job with the Nevada City School District to build a new bicycle repair shop at Seven Hills Middle School using the same process. planning and engineering is expected to cost $500,000, and construction to cost another $500,000, paid for by an anonymous donor. The district's contract with Sierra Foothill also calls for retrofitting bathrooms and sidewalks to accommodate disabled people at Deer Creek Elementary School, according to owner Keoni Allen. The cost for that work has not been established yet, he said.
The innovative arrangement that enabled a local builder to win the contract is lease-lease back, which is allowed under the California Education Code, said Dick Cowan, formerly of Sacramento-based Clark and Sullivan Construction. The firm completed the first phase of the Sierra College job and worked with Allen and Brady to land the second phase. â€"It's a common misconception that there's only one way†to build or expand a school, Cowan said. Under the process, contractors must prove they can do the work for a guaranteed price. When the job is awarded, the school district leases the construction site to the main contractor, Cowan said. That allows the contractor to go out and negotiate for the local subcontractors and suppliers he wants. Once the job is done, the contractor leases the site back to the school district for occupation. â€"That means we get to do the jobs with local tax money and keep the business here in town,†Allen said. â€"We're proving the local construction industry can do this kind of work quickly and efficiently.â€
Most publicly funded construction continues to be governed by state regulations that require agencies to award contracts to the lowest bidder. But about 10 percent of California's school districts are taking advantage of the provision for lease-lease back in the Education Code and using it to keep dollars local and have greater local control over design and building, said Cowan, who now works for a large, statewide construction firm. In addition, the regular bidding process â€"caused change orders and disputes that weren't the most economical way to go in the end,†Cowan said. â€"The real cool part is we have a new skill unit the college (work) helped impart to the local construction industry,†Allen said.
-- Dave Moller Teacher input part of construction planning-- Hartselle Enquirer Alabama: November 18, 2009 [ abstract] As Hartselle High School marks its 100-year anniversary, school officials are starting the hard process of planning for the construction of a new high school.
It's a process that requires looking into a proverbial crystal ball to predict the facility needs of a future student population.
Last week, Hartselle's City Council approved a 1-cent sales tax that, when coupled with some $22 million in interest-free federal stimulus funds, will pay for the school's construction. Now, city leaders and school board members will be meeting to discuss the school's location, with prevailing opinion being the school will be located on the interstate. The next decision will be what the high school will look like and the amenities it will include.
-- Leada Gore New law complicates Camden school ordinance-- DailyAdvance.com North Carolina: November 10, 2009 [ abstract] A state law adopted in August has thrown a wrench into enforcement of Camden County’s Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance by extending the validation period for some building permits.
County planning Director Porter told members of the county’s APFO Committee meeting last week that under the law, any building permit approved between January 2008 and Dec. 31, 2010 is automatically extended for three years.
In addition, any permit that still had a number of remaining months as of Jan. 1, 2008 will be valid for that additional period, he said.
One of the reasons for the legislation, Porter said, is the economic downturn.
-- Toby Tate 15 Pittsburgh Schools on Chopping Block; Study Is a Starting Point for District -- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pennsylvania: November 03, 2009 [ abstract] A consulting firm recommended closing 15 city school buildings, a proposal sure to stoke controversy in a district still debating the merits of a 2006 restructuring. City residents are particularly attached to their high schools, and DeJong Inc., an Ohio planning firm, recommended closing two of them -- Peabody in East Liberty and Oliver on the North Side, although the Oliver building would remain open as an alternative school. Under the plan, Oliver's students would go to Langley High School in Sheraden and Peabody's students would go to a reconstituted Westinghouse High School in Homewood. School board members Floyd "Skip" McCrea and Thomas Sumpter called DeJong's work a resource for the district to use in developing its own plan to address its declining enrollment. Superintendent Mark Roosevelt said last week that he envisioned a two- or three-year process for implementing the district's plan. Mr. Roosevelt acknowledged that DeJong's recommendations would provoke "some amount of turmoil or disgruntlement." Some parents still lament the 2006 reorganization and say it hasn't done enough to promote achievement.
In all, officials said, the plan would affect 35 schools and two early-childhood centers. While some would be closed, others would be assigned new grade configurations, face adjustments in feeder patters or have classrooms relocated to other buildings. The district now has about 70 schools and early-childhood centers. The proposal comes about three years after the board closed 22 schools -- 18 buildings altogether -- in a push to streamline the district amid dropping enrollment and fear of a state takeover. "This time, we're in a far better situation," Mr. Roosevelt said, referring to what he's hailed as improvements in academics and finances.
-- Joe Smydo Brentwood May Get New Continuation School-- Brentwood Grove California: October 25, 2009 [ abstract] The city of Brentwood may get a new school. Liberty Union School planners are planning on building a new continuation school. The construction of the new school will likely be done by Lathrop Construction Associates.
Lathrop was recently awarded the Brentwood Civic Center contract. Lathrop is responsible for many of the school construction projects around town. The new school will be located at Gunthrie Lane and Brentwood Boulevard, right next to the police station.
-- Jeremiah Peterson Panel considers options for new school site-- The Telegraph Illinois: October 25, 2009 [ abstract]
Officials with the Gillespie School District have a lot of decisions to make.
District officials are continuing with the monumental task of gathering information to move forward with multiple decisions to replace the Benld Elementary School, which was closed earlier this year because of severe structural damage from mine subsidence.
District officials organized a Site and planning Committee, made up of the Gillespie School Board, district officials, staff members and community residents. The panel will garner information and cost analysis about the best location for building another school facility in the Gillespie-Benld area, which is almost entirely located over former coal mines.
-- Maggie Borman School officials seek input from public on facilities-- The Register-Herald Wyoming: October 25, 2009 [ abstract] Wyoming County Schools officials want information concerning their facilities from the public this week.
A survey form has been added to the Wyoming County Schools’ Web site for this week only, according to Frank Blackwell, county schools superintendent.
That Web site is located at http:// boe.wyom.k12.wv.us/; just click on Wyoming County Schools Facility planning Questionnaire.
-- Mary Catherine Brooks Plugge: Additions, remodeling coming to three schools-- Iowa City Press-Citizen Iowa: October 23, 2009 [ abstract] Iowa City Schools Superintendent Lane Plugge said Friday he plans to ask for permission to start planning for additions to North Central Junior High and City High and remodeling science rooms at West High.
The projects would include 12 new classrooms at North Central Junior High, a fine arts wing at City High and an updating of the original science classrooms that have been at West High since the school opened in 1968, Plugge said.
-- Rob Daniel Warren school officials planning for new building-- The Daily News Kentucky: October 13, 2009 [ abstract] Plans for a new elementary school in the Ivan Downs area were unveiled Monday after the Warren County School Board approved an architect for the project.
The school, expected to house between 700 and 750 students, could resemble either Bristow Elementary School or a custom design created by architect Kenny Stanfield of Sherman Carter and Barnhart.
-- JOANIE BAKER HENDRICKS Elementary school feasible if needed-- The Republican Massachusetts: October 12, 2009 [ abstract] With proper planning, this city will be able to afford building a new elementary school if state and local officials recommend it is necessary to meet future classroom needs.
City Treasurer Gregory I. Kallfa says the "city must be conscious of its debt levels, but if city officials plan appropriately a new school can be funded." Such a project could cost as much as $30 million.
The state School Building Authority last month agreed to join city school officials in a feasibility study to determine classroom needs.
-- Ted LaBorde Dems call for construction of high school on North Shore-- Staten Island Today New York: October 10, 2009 [ abstract] STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Democratic North Shore City Council candidate Debi Rose said that overcrowding at Curtis High School points to the need for a new educational complex or high school to be built in the district.
"There has been a lack of planning, and a lack of political will," Ms. Rose said outside Curtis, where she was joined by state Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn). "The fight has not been for schools on the North Shore."
With Curtis at 170 percent capacity, Ms. Rose said that a new educational complex should be included in the redevelopment plan for the former Stapleton home port.
-- Tom Wrobleski Biggest Chunk of Seattle Tax Levy Would Go Toward Re-opening Shuttered Schools-- seattlepi Washington: October 08, 2009 [ abstract] The single biggest chunk of the proposed school tax levy will go to re-opening schools that have been shut down.
About $48 million of the Buildings, Technology and Academics III Levy is projected to cover the costs of re-opening five shuttered elementary schools, including two that were shut down as recently as 2007.
Seattle Public Schools said at a levy workshop on Tuesday that it needs to re-open the schools to manage capacity for the proposed New Student Assignment plan.
School board members Cheryl Chow and Michael DeBell expressed concern about explaining to the communities surrounding Rainier View and Viewlands elementary schools why they were shut down in the first place. Rainier View will cost about $7.4 million to re-open, while Viewlands is expected to cost about $11.1 million.
"Where in the planning is the community?" asked Chow, whose Southeast Region district includes Rainier View. "When we made that decision in 2007 it hurt the communities, and now because of enrollment going up we're saying were re-opening it."
The total projected levy that will go before voters Feb. 9 in a special election could provide either $253 million or $282 million for much needed upgrades. For a homeowner in Seattle, it would be about 4 cents per $1,000 worth of taxable home value, according to Seattle Public School staff.
DeBell said he wants the data to back up the reasons for re-opening Rainier View, in particular.
"... I have no doubt we should," DeBell said, "but at this point I haven't seen the demographic evidence for that."
Staff said it would work on providing the demographic evidence.
Three more schools are being re-opened and most were closed at least 20 years ago, including Sand Point, which will cost about $7 million to fix up, Old Hay, which will cost $7.5 million and McDonald, which will cost the most at about $15 million.
-- SARA KIESLER Board seeks $108 million for construction-- Gazette.net Maryland: October 08, 2009 [ abstract] The Prince George's County school board unanimously approved nearly $108 million in county and state funding requests for school construction and renovation in 2011. However, school officials said they are expecting to receive less than $67 million from the county and state.
"We ask for what we need, rather than what we know we'll get," board Vice Chairman Ron L. Watson (At large) said Oct. 3 at the board's Capital Improvement Plan budget meeting, which guides long-term planning for school construction.
For the 2009-2010 school year, the school system received a total of $67 million in funding, $28.2 million from the state and $38.8 million from the county, both of which are expected to decline this year because of the ailing economy, said county school system Chief Operating Officer Lawrence Fryer.
-- Megan McKeever Stadium issue coming to council-- Duluth News Tribune Minnesota: October 06, 2009 [ abstract] The Duluth City Council will vote on a small piece of the red plan on Monday when members decide whether to allow the school district to construct a new stadium at the eastern high school site.
The council will be asked to consider an appeal made by a resident who lives near the former Ordean Middle School.
Brian Ronstrom is asking that a decision made last month by the city planning Commission granting a variance and special use permit to construct the field be denied.
-- Brandon Stahl Raleigh kicks off Comprehensive Educational Facilities Planning -- Register-Herald West Virginia: September 28, 2009 [ abstract] A diverse group of local community members converged at the Raleigh County board of education office Monday evening for a preliminary discussion on the school district’s 2010-2020 Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan (CEFP), which expires at the end of this school term.
State mandate requires each school district in West Virginia to create a 10-year CEFP plan for school facility needs.
The CEFP plays a considerable role in determining the allocation of funding from the School Building Authority.
“This committee needs to look at the education system in Raleigh County, facility wise, everything, and make plans and project 10 years down the road " what do we think we want this school system to look like,” Raleigh County Superintendent Dr. Charlotte Hutchens said.
A school district is required to request an amendment through the SBA and state board of education for any major project changes which are not included in the 10-year plan
-- Jackie Ayres School board proposes ‘more realistic' state funding request list-- Business Gazette Maryland: September 24, 2009 [ abstract] The Prince George's County school board appears to have learned a lesson from the effort to get state school construction funding last year, when allegations of political pandering surfaced and the wish list clashed with the economic downturn and state leaders' priorities.
This year, several south county schools revealed to be in the worst condition are listed as high priorities — an omission last year that had state and county leaders at odds. The new list only asks for money for top priorities, putting the overall funding request from the state at about half the amount sought last year.
"It looks pretty reasonable," state Sen. Douglas J.J. Peters (D-Dist. 23) of Bowie said about this year's $107 million request from the state and county.
Of that amount, the county is seeking $53.65 million from the state. Last year, the county sought $100.4 million from the state.
"They've obviously taken to heart [what happened in 2008]," he said.
Last year, residents and some state leaders claimed politics was involved in the funding wish list, giving favor to areas where politicians made promises instead of schools most in need. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach chastised the school board in a Dec. 11 letter, stating members "need to go back and make the plea on the basis of merit not on politics."
Board Chairwoman Verjeana M. Jacobs (At-Large) said at the time that the board was "being held accountable for conditions that existed before we got here," explaining that school construction is planned several years in advance, and the board did not want to upset residents by removing projects that had been promised for years.
Miller's letter sparked the Maryland Interagency Committee on School Construction, which decides which county projects get state funding, to allow the county to revise its list. The board increased its state request by $12 million, for a total of $100.4 million in state funding alone. The omitted schools were approved for design and planning last year but received no construction funding.
The debacle came at the same time Peters led a failed attempt to create a state law requiring the county request to get state representatives' approval before going to the IAC.
-- Daniel Valentine School facilities review overdue-- Osceola News-Gazette Florida: September 24, 2009 [ abstract] The recently completed review of the Osceola County School District’s facilities department was long overdue and we hope new procedures and processes will improve communication and transparency and help us build new schools " when they are necessary " more efficiently and at the optimum size.
District officials have called the proposed recommendations a step in the right direction as the district’s financial resources diminish due to the recession, the foreclosure crisis and falling property values. We couldn’t agree more.
In the past, we believe what once was the maintenance and facilities department was run without enough oversight and the interdepartmental task force teams that will now help the reorganized department make construction " and renovation " related decisions is indeed a step in the right direction.
Over the last year or two many questions were raised " some of them by new School Board member Cindy Hartig, to her credit, over the facilities department and the contracts it was administering. Some of those questions related to not having contracts signed before work began, as one example.
Local business owners became skeptical whether the district’s bidding procedures were fair to them " and rightly so. And it was, in large part, because these businesses stepped forward that changes are being considered.
The review also recommended the creation of a budget team that would receive priorities from all district divisions planning to use money from the capital outlay fund. The team would be comprised of assistant superintendents, department directors and community members. That’s a good idea.
-- Staff Writer School’s Design Gets Lots of Input -- Middletown Journal Ohio: September 20, 2009 [ abstract] A project as large and complex as the new Edgewood High School has to be a creation not only of an architect, but of everyone who will be affected by it. That’s why the design of the $46 million school has seen input from everyone ranging from the board of education to community members. The current freshman class, which will be the first to attend the new building, will have its say as well. “We were involved in the design and planning,” said John Snyder, board of education president. He said the board especially liked how the building featured many wide, open spaces, with an emphasis on natural light. “It’s not a luxury kind of thing. We’re taking advantage of what’s available. We’re not building a Taj Mahal,” he said. One of the main reasons the new building was needed was to relieve overcrowding, particularly in the elementary buildings. “It provides us more room, for one thing. In the last year our enrollment did fall off a bit. We think that will pick up again. We’ll set ourselves up for 25 to 30 years as far as this new facility. We should not have space problems for years to come. It gives us the ability to put kids in classrooms and not cram kids under the stairwells,” Snyder said.
The Ohio School Facilities Commission, which provides oversight of the construction project, is paying for $20 million of the cost, while the district will pick up the other $26 million. Eventually, this will necessitate a need for more operating money, said Superintendent Larry Knapp. “This will be a bigger, better, smarter building ... the heat and air conditioning will be economically designed and installed ... it will be more economical to operate in the years to come,” said Knapp.
-- Eric Robinette Glacial Pace Of School Building-- RhinoTimes.com North Carolina: September 17, 2009 [ abstract] It's not immediately apparent, but the Guilford County Board of Education has little control of the design of schools in Guilford County.
It's been over a year since voters, in May 2008, approved $457 million in school bonds to pay for a massive $412 school building program and $45 million toward the $60 million rebuild of Eastern Guilford High School, which was destroyed by fire in 2006.
Since the referendum, the Guilford County Schools' mechanism for building new schools and renovating old ones has crawled into action. A full 16 months after the vote, only two school projects have entered construction: the new Eastern – which was given the rush treatment because of the emergency, and the need to get the school's students out of trailers and back into a real building – and Jamestown Middle School – a project that had to be hurried because the school board left it undone after the 2003 school bonds.
The school system had a design for Jamestown left over from 2003, and Eastern was built using the plans for the recently completed Northern Guilford High School.
Guilford County Schools is scheduled to break ground on a third project: the Meredith Leigh Haynes-Bennie Lee Inman Education Center for special-education students from the western half of the Guilford County. That school is scheduled to open in the fall of 2010.
Beyond those three projects, it's question marks as far as the eye can see. Of the remaining 24 projects on the list for the 2008 bond, 11 are in the design stage – which is what it sounds like – and 11 are in the planning stage – who knows, exactly, what that means.
That's not to say nothing is being done. The Guilford County Schools Facilities Department shows every sign of keeping busy – and it will have to, given its mysterious decision in July 2009, after a year of negotiations, not to hire the global construction firm Arcadis G&M, of the Netherlands and Denver, Colorado, to manage the $412 million program.
-- Paul C. Clark Rough draft of facilities plan calls for more than $35M-- Southeast Missourian Missouri: September 11, 2009 [ abstract] Bringing elementary schools up to the same standard and increasing safety measures was a central idea in the Cape Girardeau School District's evolving facilities plan.
The district rolled out a rough draft of more than $35 million in construction and renovation projects districtwide.
Neil Glass presented the plan to the facilities planning committee to gain feedback on the measure. He has been working with the committee since February to assess the needs of the district. Engineer Mark Strickland and architect Phillip Smith have been working with Glass on developing cost estimates.
The plan eases overcrowding throughout the elementary schools and standardizes space allocation. Under the first draft of the plan, each school would have 20 classrooms. Blanchard Elementary, which opened in 2000, was used as the model for the other schools, he said.
Plans at all the elementary schools except Blanchard include a centralized entrance to increase safety. At Clippard Elementary, for example, the entrance is not near the office where visitors would report.
Glass said the plan made allowances for moving the fifth grade back into the elementary schools and expanding pre-kindergarten to all elementaries in in the future. Because some elementaries already have more students than others, school boundaries would have to be redrawn, he said.
At the high school, the plan allows for an events complex, a 900- to 1,000-seat auditorium and a 22,230-square-foot classroom addition. When the school opened in 2002, budget cuts left out several construction projects, including a performing arts venue and events complex.
"The thing that echoes in my ears is 'finish what you started,'" he said.
-- Alaina Busch Fenty: New Tenleytown library will be able to support future development
-- Washington Examiner District of Columbia: September 10, 2009 [ abstract] The Fenty administration on Wednesday finally committed to spend upward of $1 million to build structural supports into the new Tenley-Friendship Library that would allow for residential development atop the branch.
The added supports are vocally opposed by neighborhood leaders who fear a residential tower would steal a significant amount of already-limited green space from the adjacent Janney Elementary School. They are widely backed by smart-growth advocates who want to see transit-oriented development on the prime site at Wisconsin Avenue and Albemarle Street, steps from the Tenleytown Metro Station.
"You have a building that's practically sitting on top of a Metro station," said Ward 3 D.C. Councilwoman Mary Cheh. "Not to have additional development there doesn't make sense."
The $16 million project's scheduled groundbreaking is Sept. 23. The supports are expected to add between $650,000 and $1 million to the total cost.
As of Tuesday evening, Mayor Adrian Fenty had "not made a decision on whether or not to pay for additional support for future development above the library," Sean Madigan, spokesman for the deputy mayor for planning and economic development, said in an e-mail. But by Wednesday, Madigan called to say, "We're doing them."
The funding source, he said, is unclear.
"This building's going to be there for 20 or 30 years, so we want to make sure it's built right," Madigan said.
The decision disappointed those who want a library and nothing else. The Tenleytown community has been without a full-service branch since December 2004.
"I think it's a very inappropriate decision," said Beverly Sklover, a Tenleytown advisory neighborhood commissioner. "Why spend $600,000 that could be used elsewhere to do this when there's not community support? It's absurd."
Robin Diener, executive director of the D.C. Library Renaissance Project, agreed.
"An apartment building or a condo building wedged between a school and a library is not the best use of that public property," Diener said. "It's a great opportunity missed."
Fenty, in October 2007, backed a controversial mixed-use project for the 3.6-acre site, to include a library and a 174-unit residential tower. That plan fell apart but was replaced with a compromise: a standalone library that could support residential later.
-- Michael Neibauer Economy Boosts Public Construction Projects -- Associated Press New Jersey: September 08, 2009 [ abstract] Public construction projects are getting cheaper as material prices fall and builders compete for contracts. According to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials winning bids are coming in 5 to 12 percent below estimates. The New Jersey School Development Authority has noticed an even sharper drop; four of their contracts awarded this year are 15 to 39 percent below state engineers' estimates.
One reason for the lower bids is that prices of construction materials have been falling. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the price of steel and iron scrap fell nearly 57 percent from June 2008 to June 2009, and cement prices were down 15 percent over that period. The falling bids go beyond materials. Texas –based contractor Jim Andoga said his company, facing more competition, has reduced built-in profit margins in its bids by about 20 to 25 percent over the past year. In 2006, he bid an average of 9 percent over engineers' estimates, compared with 17 percent under this year. Kris Kolluri, the CEO of New Jersey's school-building authority, said he won't promise that the cost saving will equal more schools than the state is already planning, for now. Real estate and construction costs can fluctuate quickly, he's routing the savings into a contingency fund.
-- Geoff Mulvihill MSBA: No money for new school without regionalization plan-- Fall River Herald News Massachusetts: September 03, 2009 [ abstract] An offer to create a regional high school remains open, but the Massachusetts School Building Authority won’t invest money in building a new regional high school until a regionalization plan is drawn up and adopted by both communities.
Andy Cherullo, deputy executive director of the Massachusetts School Building Authority, addressed the Somerset/Berkley Regional School planning Board Wednesday night at the Berkley Middle School.
“The real meat of the meeting was that the deputy executive director said the offer still stands,” said Somerset School Superintendent Richard Medeiros. "The message was very clear: The offer to provide reimbursement to build a new high school is only good if you regionalize.”
Medeiros said that, if all goes smoothly and regionalization is adopted at both towns’ town meetings, the project might see preliminary work in a year.
In 2007, Somerset applied to the MSBA to get on a list leading to 50 percent reimbursement of a $100 million new high school. The same year, Berkley requested MSBA reimbursement for a new high school.
The MSBA refused to consider either community’s request, saying the state would not fund two schools in such close geographic proximity. Both requests were denied in November 2007.
Since then, Somerset has formed a regionalization committee to discuss regionalizing its high school with neighboring Berkley, which has also appointed a regionalization committee. Berkley students attend Somerset High School under a tuition agreement and represent 23 percent of Somerset High School’s student body.
“He was very thorough," Berkley School Superintendent Thomas Lynch said of Cherullo. “He reiterated what the MSBA told us in June.”
-- Marc Munroe Dion New, renovated schools abound in region-- Allentown Morning Call Pennsylvania: September 01, 2009 [ abstract] And so the story of a new school begins.
Unopened boxes stacked high in the halls. Glossy, smudgeless tiles and freshly painted walls frame lockers, hundreds of them, free of scratches or dents. Outside, workers nail blue letters to the sprawling building, reading " Nazareth Middle School."
After thousands of walk-throughs and three years of planning, Principal Bob Kern stood at the school's entrance surveying the halls that will soon teem with 775 backpack-laden students jostling their way into new wireless classrooms.
He glanced at the glass-enclosed shelves that will soon spotlight awards and students' artwork, and then he set off for one last stroll through the school before opening its doors for a parents night.
For Kern, the building is more than a structure to house students and classrooms.
"I hope that this building will set students up to be successful," said Kern, touting the school's features, including a new career resource room and video-editing center, which he said exposes them to new possibilities. "This is a place where students may find their way and help them decide what they what to become."
New and renovated school buildings, with environmentally friendly features and high-tech classrooms, are sprouting up around the Lehigh Valley region as dozens of districts make room for swelling enrollments.
At least 661 Bethlehem Area School District students will begin their year in the $55 million Broughal Middle School, a four-story building that includes flat-screen televisions in every room, dozens of computers, and a new auditorium, gymnasium and community health clinic.
-- Marion Callahan Ross School nets $2.85 million in stimulus windfall
-- Marin Independent-Journal California: August 31, 2009 [ abstract] Ross School has won the federal stimulus fund lottery.
School officials learned Friday they would receive a $2.85 million school construction bond tax credit as part of the federal stimulus bill - a credit Superintendent Tammy Murphy believes will save Ross taxpayers $5.4 million in interest.
"We were so fortunate. It's just a wonderful story," Murphy said. "This would have been a 25-year term for our bond. Now we'll be able to pay it off in 15 years at zero to little interest. It's just great."
The federal stimulus bill, officially known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, includes a provision that allows tax credits on $22 billion of qualified school construction bonds nationwide. The tax credits are expected to equal the amount of interest school districts pay on debt, which typically equals half the cost of the bond.
More than 230 school districts and county offices of education - with a total of more than $3.7 billion in requests - applied for the $700 million in tax credits available to California public school districts.
Because so many applied for the limited funds, the state Department of Education held a lottery Friday, choosing 43 school districts and county offices to receive the funds. The single-school Ross Elementary District, which is overhauling Ross School at a total cost of $39 million, was the only district in Marin County to apply for the program.
"It was a public lottery in which all districts had an equal chance," said Kathleen Moore, director of the school facilities planning division for the state Department of Education. "The credit the district receives isn't actual dollars. It allows bonds to have a tax credit associated with them in the value of the allocation."
-- Rob Rogers Breaking ground, building a brighter future
-- San Diego Daily Transcript California: August 26, 2009 [ abstract] In the heart of the South Bay, joint venture partners Gilbane Building Co. and SGI Construction Management are providing program and project management services for the Sweetwater Union High School District Prop O Bond Program.
The first phase of the $644-million bond program has broken ground on eight campuses, with a ninth groundbreaking scheduled to take place later this month. Proposition O is funding the repairs and improvements needed to ensure that the 43,000 middle and high school students and 27,000 adult learners of the District are in a safe, healthy and quality learning environment.
Through innovative design and planning, the joint venture is building the largest 100% LEED-Gold certified school construction program in California. In a region that is on the brink of reinventing itself as a leader in sustainable living and development, Gilbane and SGI have created a program that serves as the spearhead for those South Bay efforts.
-- Staff Writer Charlotte Central School seeks aid for construction
-- BurlingtonFreePress.com Vermont: August 21, 2009 [ abstract] At Tuesday's meeting, the Charlotte Central School Board moved a few more steps ahead with its plans for a bond vote in November.
The board authorized Chairwoman Patrice Machavern and Chittenden South Supervisory Union Superintendent Elaine Pinckney to sign a letter of intent to apply for construction aid, to be mailed to the Vermont Department of Education. The letter is an essential step in the process of renovation planning; it requests an Education Department representative to accompany the board for an evaluation of the building to be renovated.
The school's oldest portion, a three-story building built in 1949, is the target of the proposed construction work. Responding to problems including masonry cracks, aging mechanical systems, roof leaks and deteriorated wood, the board decided this year to ask voters to approve a $2.8 million bond for renovation and a separate $1.5 million bond for a wood chip heating system for the school.
Lynne Jaunich, the board's designated spokeswoman for the project, said the two bonds will be separate because of the importance of fixing the deterioration: "We felt like the repair and renovation work has to get done."
Consideration of a wood chip heating facility began last year when oil prices peaked.
"It would reduce dependence on oil, and it's a renewable energy solution," Jaunich said. "In the long run, it probably would pay for itself."
Why vote now in this economic climate?
"The work has to get done, and the money is available now," Jaunich said.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act offers the potential for financial help. Under the ARRA, the U.S. Treasury has allocated money for zero-interest bonds called Qualified School Construction Bonds, and Vermont's authorization for 2009 is $24.8 million for repair and renovation. The board estimated that obtaining the interest-free bond would mean the owner of a $400,000 home would pay $120 more per year instead of the $200 cost under a 20-year loan at 4.07 percent.
In order to qualify for the next round of QSCB bond allocations Nov. 13, voter approval must be secured before that date. A vote is planned for Nov. 3, the the school bonds will be the only items on the ballot. No municipal vote is scheduled for November.
-- Dorothy Pellett Massachusetts District Struggles To Clean Up Toxic Dump Amid School Construction -- Boston Globe Massachusetts: August 16, 2009 [ abstract] Part of a neighborhood in New Bedford stands atop a former 101-acre dump where so much garbage and industrial waste were burned through the 1950s that it left ash 12 feet deep in places. But it wasn’t until workers broke ground for a new middle school five years ago that testing began in earnest to map the dump’s footprint and the extent of toxic contamination.
Now, as this financially strapped city struggles to find, haul away, or contain the pollution, its story is instructive for old cities across the country as they redevelop their gritty landscapes. The only available open land is often on industrial sites, where the recklessness of the past can easily overtake ambitions for the future. As New Bedford is belatedly learning, the more you look for pollution in such brownfields, the more you are likely to find. Costs escalate, yet no cleanup or amount of testing may ever be thorough enough to make people feel safe, especially when children are involved.
“I would never have built a middle school on that,’’ said Mayor Scott W. Lang, a local lawyer who was elected in 2005 after the middle school construction began. “But now, we’re trying to do what’s right."
EPA officials say they have no authority over where to site schools, only to ensure that contamination is removed or contained enough so that a site is safe for human use. State Department of Environmental Protection officials say the same. And the Department of Education, which used to oversee school building construction and help foot the bill, reviewed the New Bedford school as they normally did, but only after the site was picked and the design work was finished. The Massachusetts School Building Authority, which has since replaced the state Education Department in overseeing school construction, now gets involved early on in the planning stages.
-- Beth Daley School district plans addition with stimulus money-- WDAY North Dakota: August 13, 2009 [ abstract] For a Valley City school one million dollars of federal stimulus money is going a long way
The school district is planning to put an 825-thousand dollar addition on to its Jefferson Elementary School.
The 6-thousand square foot building project will add some much needed space to the school including a computer lab, music and art classrooms.
“By putting those locations out in the new addition those new facilities it will free up space in the present school building which will help us meet the needs that we have in front of us.”
The school district hopes for a construction date sometime in early October.
-- Staff Writer Yonkers schools may get $1.4B face-lift-- Lower Hudson Journal news New York: August 13, 2009 [ abstract] School officials are proposing a $1.4 billion modernization plan that could result in razing seven schools over 10 to 15 years.
The plan includes the reconstruction of 17 schools with additional space and the rehabilitation of four others.
The district’s priorities are Gorton High School, Kahlil Gibran School and Martin Luther King Jr. High Tech and Computer Magnet School.
Schools Superintendent Bernard Pierorazio told members of the Board of Education on Tuesday night that city taxpayers would not have to shoulder the entire burden of the modernization plan. He estimated that the state would reimburse the city for 39 percent to 53 percent of the cost, or possibly more if city officials are successful in lobbying state officials for more financial aid.
Pierorazio noted that Buffalo is in the final stages of a $1 billion modernization plan that got a 92 percent reimbursement from state officials.
“By having the plan done and voted on by the Board of Education, it now gives us the impetus to start working together with our legislators in Albany to start to tweak the reimbursement factor,” Pierorazio said.
“We can’t come and knock on the taxpayers’ doors and ask them to come up with five-hundred to six-hundred million dollars.”
About 75 percent of the classrooms in the city school district don’t meet current state Department of Education requirements, said Carl T. Thurnau of the state Education Department’s Office of Facilities planning. Thurnau attended Tuesday’s meeting to express the Department of Education’s support for the adoption of a modernization plan.
Before the meeting, Thurnau said that many of the district’s school buildings are suffering expensive, age-related problems that have caused school evacuations, such as a Jan. 9 boiler explosion at School 21 that cost the district $707,000.
-- Staff Writer Cannon Beach eyes uses for school site-- The Daily Astorian Oregon: August 12, 2009 [ abstract] When students from the Cannon Beach Elementary School are moved to a new school several years from now, the property may find a whole new life.
The 2.12-acre site, which almost certainly would be a target of any tsunami that hits Cannon Beach, could be a park. Or it could be a combination of a park and cultural center, a park with affordable housing or a park with high-density housing.
During a work session Tuesday night, the City Council discussed the results of a planning commission study of the site. In addition to the suggestions offered, some councilors also suggested that the area might provide needed parking to relieve a clogged downtown area when visitors arrive.
However, the council agreed to delay consideration of any new use for the property until the Seaside School District decides when it will no longer be using the school.
The school is on the north edge of downtown Cannon Beach, near the town's north entrance.
The Seaside School District is investigating hillside sites east of Seaside to build a new elementary school, and at least three other schools, which also are threatened by potential tsunamis. District Superintendent Doug Dougherty has estimated it could take at least 10 years before a bond measure is submitted to voters and construction begins on the schools.
The Cannon Beach Elementary School property consists of five tax lots. Three were deeded to the district by Clatsop County, with a reversionary clause that requires the lots to go back to the county if they aren't used for school purposes. The lots roughly correspond to the school's play field.
The property also has five buildings, including a 7,080-square-foot gym that was built by the community.
For several years, many Cannon Beach nonprofit organizations have eyed the school property as a potential community and cultural center. The city's comprehensive plan already precludes it from being rezoned for commercial or motel purposes and suggests that the land should be used for "community activities," including a center for performing arts and "education programs."
But Councilor Nancy Giasson suggested that the site be considered for additional parking, especially since more "eco-tourist" groups may be interested in the city's natural areas, such as the future Ecola watershed, local trails and the beach.
-- NANCY MCCARTHY Jefferson Parish school officials advance tax package for new schools-- The Times-Picayune Louisiana: August 10, 2009 [ abstract] With an eye toward building modern but modest campuses, Jefferson Parish public school officials Monday began laying out their visions for new schools and a property tax increase to build them.
Officials have less than a month to sell a $200 million construction package to the School Board but less than two weeks to draft a proposal for the board's scrutiny.
Board members plan to decide Sept. 2 whether to place the issue on the Nov. 14 ballot in the form of a 3.45-mill tax increase.
"We don't have long," said Carolyn Van Norman, West Bank regional assistant superintendent. "We've got to get this done."
Van Norman and the east bank regional assistant superintendent, Jeffery Helmstetter, conducted the meeting, the first of three this week with top-level administrators, parent leaders and officials from the Jefferson Federation of Teachers. Business leaders were invited but did not attend.
Using templates from the National Clearinghouse for Educational planning, officials discussed everything from appropriate class and school size to school layout and design.
Most of the discussion centered on elementary schools and the need to build schools that are ready for advanced technology, have space for professional development and parent volunteers and are designed around clusters that act as "schools within schools."
Chief Financial Officer Raylynn Stephens advised against building a school that cannot be expanded.
"I'm not talking about spending a lot of money to build a Taj Mahal," she said. "But it would be more cost effective to put what we need in these schools rather than coming back at a later date and adding on or adjusting."
-- Barri Bronston C.B. school district to build first new school in years-- SW Iowa News Iowa: August 05, 2009 [ abstract] The sign says it all: Future site of Council Bluffs Community School District elementary school.
The new school will rise on a piece of property at Valley View Drive and College Road. The sign went up Tuesday afternoon on the site across from Iowa Western Community College.
“It’s pretty moving to think this is the first new school in 50 years,” school board president Marvin Arnpriester said, describing the moment as “opening the door to the future” and as “an affirmation of kids and what’s happening in the community.”
Board members Glen Mitchell, J.J. Harvey and David Coziahr also showed up to see the sign erected, as did school Superintendent Martha Bruckner.
“We’re planning a two-story building to use the land to its best advantage. We can add on later if needed,” Bruckner said.
The school board voted on May 12 to buy the land near Iowa Western Community College for $500,000 from the New Horizon Presbyterian Church. The site near Mosquito Creek offers about 6 or 7 acres upon which the district hopes to build a school for educating up to 500 students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.
“We’ve had engineers look at the site, we’ve had architects look at it, and we’re assured we’re out of the 100-year flood plain,” Bruckner said.
The possibility of building a new school in the underserved eastern part of the district had been discussed for years, but board members and school officials began serious consideration of the proposal after setting out to upgrade all school facilities by 2015. One goal was to buy property in the eastern part of the district for a new school. Another was to build a new Carter Lake Elementary School to replace the current, substandard facility.
-- Dennis Friend NISD board approves interlocal agreement with San Antonio-- Bizjournals.com Texas: August 05, 2009 [ abstract] Northside Independent School District’sboard of trustees unanimously approved a proposed 10-year interlocal agreement with the City of San Antonio that should streamline the way school construction projects are completed in the city.
The proposal, if also approved by City Council on Aug. 20, would be in effect through July 2019. The interlocal agreement would set uniform procedures, requirements and fee structures for school construction projects. School districts must work with San Antonio’s planning and Development Services department on getting projects completed. “This agreement has been in the negotiating stage for 14 months,” says Vernon Dunagin, assistant superintendent for facilities & operations at Northside. “It’s a solid agreement that is good for all of San Antonio,”
He says Northside officials appreciate the fact that the city is collaborating with local school districts to make sure projects stay on schedule and are completed in a timely manner.
The City of San Antonio has been in working with education officials throughout the area to hammer out a series of interlocal agreements. The goal is to have set procedures in places that would apply to all 11 school districts as well as Alamo Colleges.
For school districts, in particular, any delays in construction could potentially impact thousands of students and parents.
-- Staff Writer School delays may exacerbate crowding-- News & Observer North Carolina: August 05, 2009 [ abstract] Thousands of Wake County students could face crowded classrooms over the next few years because the recession is delaying the opening of three new schools.
The openings of Forest Ridge High, Rolesville Middle and Walnut Creek Elementary schools have been delayed by two years because there's less money available to pay for school construction. As a result, the school board agreed Tuesday to delay the assignment of students to those schools by two years.
Administrators said not having those schools open by 2011 will lead to overcrowding in some areas, particularly the northeastern part of the county. This could result in additional classroom trailers being added to existing schools and, possibly, additional student assignment changes.
"We will need to look for some kind of crowding solution in the northern part of the county," said Chuck Dulaney, assistant superintendent for growth and planning.
Funding for Forest Ridge High School in northeast Raleigh, Rolesville Middle and Walnut Creek Elementary in Southeast Raleigh had been included in a $970million school construction bond issue approved by voters in 2006.
But the recession has limited the county's ability to sell the bonds.
Target dates for schools
Forest Ridge was scheduled to open in 2011. But it would have gotten a head start in 2010 by sharing part of the campus of the new Heritage High School in Wake Forest.
Forest Ridge's campus is now scheduled to open in 2012.
Rolesville Middle and Walnut Creek Elementary schools were both scheduled to open in 2011. They're now scheduled to open in 2013.
Students had been assigned to those three new schools as part of a multiyear reassignment plan that was adopted in February.
Administrators said they're still planning on moving those same neighborhoods to those three schools. But the Forest Ridge moves will be delayed until 2012, and those for Rolesville and Walnut Creek will be on hold until 2013.
-- T. KEUNG HUI One School Site Awaits Approval, As Planning for Future Schools Develops-- Loudoun Independent Virginia: July 30, 2009 [ abstract] While the Loudoun County governmental approval process for one school site enters the final phase of public hearings"and likely to be approved by the Board of Supervisors"preliminary discussions continue this week on planning recommendations for future schools, and the number and location of same
MS-5 is a Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) middle school, proposed to be built on 37 acres near the intersection of Braddock and Ticonderoga Roads in the South Riding area in Dulles District, and is on the agenda of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors July 28 meeting.
The Loudoun County planning Commission approved the LCPS application for the needed special exception and permits last month in a 7-2 vote. All that remains is approval from Loudoun supervisors, and then the School Board and LCPS staff may begin the process of getting bids for construction to meet the planned 2011-2012 school opening.
MS-5 is LCPS’ first two-story middle school, an 180,000 square foot facility that will serve 1,350 students. Unlike the proposed MS-5 school site at Lenah Run, the second MS-5 school site in the Dulles South area has fairly skated through the public hearing process, with little or no opposition from the public or appointed and elected officials.
Yet it remains to be seen how members of the Joint Supervisors/School Board committee and its Joint Subcommittee on Capital Construction Needs will come together to agree on present and future planning for LCPS schools.
The work continues on that front this week, with the subcommittee slated to meet Thursday, July 29 to discuss planning recommendations on the number of needed high schools and middle schools; what triggers the need for new schools; where schools should be located; and when the new schools go in the Capital Budget planning.
Also up for discussion are options to address capacity, and presentations by LCPS Director of planning and Legislative Services Dr. Sam Adamo on demographics and a capacity data review; and a committee member priority survey by Catoctin School Board member Jennifer Bergel.
-- Julia Stewart AISD to raise fees for facility rental-- Abilene Reporter-News Texas: July 29, 2009 [ abstract] Anyone planning a pancake breakfast or a spaghetti supper fundraiser at a school in the Abilene Independent School District had better do it soon before the prices go up.
The school board has given preliminary approval to new rental rates for outside entities to use school facilities.
Anyone not affiliated with a school who wants to use elementary cafeterias for a meeting or fundraiser might have to pay $50, which is $20 more than the current price. Anyone who might want to use a high school gym for a basketball tournament, like the Abilene Police Department did in recent years at Abilene High School, might have to pay $100 and an air conditioning fee of $50. The current price is just $50 for events that don’t charge admission.
Those prices cover the first four hours, and then the hourly rate is charged for additional time. School activities will always be free and take first priority.
“We want to make our facilities available to the community, but we want to make sure the reimbursement takes care of all our expenses and the community isn’t taking a financial hit, albeit a small one, from a private entity,” said Charles Perkins, AISD’s associate superintendent for support services. “We haven’t raised these prices in quite a while. Some prices might be 15 or 20 years old.”
Not many take advantage of the school availability, anyway. Last year, the district only made about $3,000 from facility rentals. Proceeds go into the general fund.
Perkins said occasionally churches have met in schools, like a church that had a water leak and needed a temporary place to worship a few years ago. About five years ago, Perkins recalled, Madison Middle School hosted the church of the assistant principal while the congregation was in transition between church facilities.
“They understood that we had to charge them because we can’t just make public buildings available to a religious organization,” he said, noting he isn’t aware of any churches that have used school facilities lately.
Outside groups that want to perform in a high school auditorium and charge admission will still pay $200 for the first night and $100 for any additional night. Charity shows will still cost $50.
On top of those prices, the district charges a custodial fee of $15 per hour and may require the group to hire outside security.
In an era of rising utility costs, the city of Abilene is also considering raising rental rates for swimming pools from $44 to $60 for a party of 75 people or less. Activity centers could cost $100 for a half-day, up from the current $75.
-- Emily Peters Carroll school district sells $58 million in bonds through stimulus package-- Fort Worth Star Telegram Texas: July 26, 2009 [ abstract] The Carroll school district has sold $58 million in bonds through a program created by the federal stimulus package that is expected to save the district $6.5 million, officials said.
Carroll appears to be the first school district in Texas to sell Build America Bonds, known as BABs, although other entities have used the program as well.
The bonds allow state and local governments to sell taxable debt and get back 35 percent of the interest payment from the U.S. Treasury Department. The bonds also provide government entities with funding at lower borrowing costs, said Lewis Wilks, Carroll’s financial adviser.
Since the program was launched in April, $17.4 billion in bonds have been issued in 34 states, the Treasury Department reported last week.
State governments, universities and transit authorities across the country are among those issuing the bonds, said Edie Behr, vice president and senior credit officer for Moody’s Corp.
"They are proving very popular," she said. "If local governments determine they offer a lower cost for funds, they take advantage of it."
In May, the Harris County Metropolitan Transportation Authority was the first in Texas to issue the bonds, followed quickly by San Antonio’s energy utility.
In June, the University of Texas System Board of Regents said it would sell a package of bonds including about $331 million BABs, with some of the proceeds used to restore the Galveston medical branch damaged by Hurricane Ike last year.
And Dallas Area Rapid Transit included $750 million of the bonds in a $1 billion bond issue to expand rail service.
The North Texas Tollway Authority said this month that it is planning $790 million of Build America Bonds as part of a $1.7 billion bond package, and Houston said it is considering the bonds for some of the nearly $1 billion in debt it plans to issue to renovate its airports.
In a special meeting Wednesday, Carroll trustees voted 5-0 to authorize the sale of $58 million in taxable Build America Bonds and $6.7 million in traditional tax-exempt bonds. Those funds are from a $138 million package approved by voters in May for projects including new schools, technology improvements and expansion of Dragon Stadium.
The district also refinanced $21 million in 1998 bonds to save an additional $3 million, said Robb Welch, Carroll’s assistant superintendent for financial services.
Keyword Search: stimulus, arra, bonds
-- JESSAMY BROWN School Construction Work Keeps Oregon Economy Moving -- Daily Journal of Commerce Oregon: July 24, 2009 [ abstract] As if crumbling and overcrowded schools weren’t motivation enough, school district and college officials in Oregon have additional pressure to get bond measures passed: the health of the design and construction industries depends on their success. Worth $109 billion, educational construction is the building industry’s largest sector, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. Nationwide, it’s been one of the few sectors that has grown during the recession and kept some life in a slumping construction market.
The trend holds for Oregon as well. Although the state does not measure the value of statewide school construction, data from individual school districts, colleges and universities suggests that work related to education projects remains strong. Dull Olson Weekes Architects, for example, is riding a wave that started rolling this past November on election night. “Because most of our work is schools, we were fortunate that a lot of the bills we worked on in planning passed,” said Tami Fuller, the firm’s marketing manager. School projects can take two to three years to complete design and construction, Fuller said. And districts often stretch out bond projects for a number of years, providing sustained work from a single bond measure. That promise of long-term work allowed Dull Olson Weekes to hire eight architectural employees and one administrative employee in the past year, Fuller said.
Educational construction has made up a larger portion of Turner Construction Co.’s work since the recession began, said Dan Kavanaugh, vice president and general manager. Turner is working on high-profile projects at the University of Oregon, Oregon State University and the University of Portland. “The public sector is really where a lot of work is available,” Kavanaugh said. “The higher ed folks seem to just keep plugging along.” They plug along because the need is so great, said Bob Simonton, capital construction director for the Oregon University System. “We have a $670 million backlog of capital repair projects and another $400-some-million in seismic (improvements),” Simonton said. All the universities need is money, Simonton said " and the Oregon Legislature just approved a bunch. The capital construction budget is $713 million, Simonton said, up from around $600 million last biennium. “We got one of the largest capital budgets in our history in one of the most difficult economic times.” Capital projects will provide jobs for years to come, he testified before the Legislature during the 2009 session. “I said, ‘I have ways to leverage the budget and create many more jobs,’” Simonton said. The university system has six years to complete projects paid for by each legislative session. And there’s always the promise of more projects in the next biennium. “It’s a great time for us to be busy,” Simonton said, “And for the contractors and design professionals. “They need the work, and we need the work done.”
-- Justin Carinci Granville eager to show off new primary school-- Peoria Journal Star Illinois: July 18, 2009 [ abstract] More than five years after a spring tornado hit an elementary school here and sparked a long legal and political battle on how to replace it, Putnam County School District officials are preparing to open the doors of a new building.
The district will host an open house with guided tours from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday to celebrate the completion of the new Putnam County Primary School on Silverspoon Road at the north edge of town.
The nearly 40,000-square-foot school sits on the site long occupied by the building hit by a tornado on April 20, 2004. But it will bring its own unique combination of history and innovation to that site when it opens Aug. 14 to receive the district's youngest students in grades pre-kindergarten through second grade.
For one thing, it will stand out as a relative rarity as a totally new school in an era when additions and expansions are the more common steps taken by school districts.
"It's the first new construction in almost 40 years in the Marshall-Putnam-Woodford regional school district," superintendent Jay McCracken said.
And as such, it represents an effort to design a school building based on the needs of the youngest children being served, noted School Board president Judith Hopkins. Whereas kindergarten and pre-K children were included in public school planning almost as an afterthought not long ago, they are the primary focus of the new facility in Granville, said Hopkins, a retired teacher and administrator.
"It's only recently that schools have been built for kindergarten and preschoolers," Hopkins said. "At Putnam County Primary School, teachers and students will have a great new space for learning."
-- GARY L. SMITH Proposal to rezone part of Judkins Middle School site draws criticism
-- San Luis Obispo Tribune California: July 15, 2009 [ abstract] A proposal by Lucia Mar Unified School District officials to sell part of the Judkins Middle School site for private development was met with a chilly response Tuesday from the Pismo Beach planning Commission and some local residents.
District officials are proposing to rezone a 3-acre field with an ocean view on the 19-acre school site from public use to medium-density residential, which the district would then sell to accommodate 10 to 12 homes.
Commissioners did not make a decision Tuesday, as the meeting was intended for the commission and the public to hear input and share their responses about the proposals. Commissioners expressed reluctance about taking land away from a school and about the possibility of rezoning public land into private land.
The sale could bring much-needed funds to the district, which could use the money for other facilities or possibly in its general fund. Currently, school districts are not allowed to use real estate funds for general use, but it may become possible in the future as state legislators are working out ways to provide funding to schools during the current state fiscal crisis, Superintendent Jim Hogeboom said.
“It seems that it should be apparent to everybody how in dire need school districts are for money,” Hogeboom said Wednesday. “With the budget crisis the way it is, we’ll look at any options that could bring the district revenue.”
Lucia Mar has struggled to offset a $9 million budget deficit for the upcoming school year and has done so by laying off more than 100 teachers and staff members, cutting services and increasing class sizes.
But some Pismo Heights residents questioned how much money the district would make, where the funds would go and how the area could accommodate more homes. District officials did not give an estimate on how much the land could be worth.
-- Dawn White Seneca, Missouri School Construction Project to Get Stimulus Boost-- Neosho Daily News Missouri: July 15, 2009 [ abstract] Funding for the Seneca R-7 School District construction project got a little boost this week from federal stimulus funds. More than half of the project will be financed by no interest bonds, allowing the school district to pay off the majority of their note faster, therefore saving money. Superintendent Rick Cook said the interest free bonds will save taxpayers about $2.5 million. The district secured $6.115 million in interest-free school bonds out of the $9.985 million project. “These bonds are 15-year bonds,” Cook said. “Of course, when you’re only paying principal you’re going to pay them off quicker. When you looked at the whole scheme of the whole project, if we just did regular obligation bonds that would have cost the taxpayers about $15 million over a 20-year period and these school construction bonds, they’re over a 15-year period and it will be somewhere around $12.5 million is what the taxpayers will pay " $12 to $12.5 million, that’s what we estimate.” The remaining $3.869 million will be Build America bonds " also from the stimulus funding " with a discount on the interest. “They give us a rebate of 35 percent on our interest,” Cook said. Taxpayers will see an 85-cent levy increase, but after the 15-year school bonds are paid off, the amount should drop. The Build America bonds will be issued for 20 years.
FEMA funds are tied to almost $1.5 million of the project. The district has verbal FEMA approval, but Cook said they are still waiting for the final stamp of approval before they can bid the project and begin construction. The bonds themselves will be sold in the next few weeks through Wells Fargo. Voters approved the levy in November, but the district started planning for the expansion in 2007. Once the 52,800-square-foot intermediate building goes up and the high school gets its 33,800-square-foot expansion, Cook said the district will be finished with major building projects.
Keyword Search Tags: Stimulus, arra, bond
-- Amye Buckley Superintendent: Sales tax will cover projects-- Clinton Herald Iowa: July 14, 2009 [ abstract] Clinton School District Superintendent Richard Basden says a referendum is not expected to go before voters to help cover the costs of three projects.
Instead, the school board wants more research and information, possibly from outside firms, to help determine what the trends will be for district enrollment in the future and whether the sales tax revenue " which benefits the district in the form of the local option sales tax " will grow.
The board is looking at those elements as it works to decide how to fund construction of a new middle school, air conditioning at Bluff and Whittier elementary schools and the construction of an aquatic center/gym at Clinton High School.
Basden told the board that estimates to complete all three projects range from $38 million to $44 million. The amount of sales tax that will be generated ranges from $37 to $44 million.
According to a memo from Basden to the board, a meeting took place July 7 in which those attending discussed current information as to the estimated amount of sales tax revenue that will be available for board allocation. Those who attended or participated via telephone were representatives from Piper Jaffray, Dave Briden, Iowa Association of School Board project managers, Gregg Cornilson, Jerry Van Scoy, and board members Mercia Wolf and Jim McGraw.
Board members Monday night said they believe that Piper Jaffray is extremely conservative and want more information from another source.
Many factors are impacting the estimated revenue. Supporting documents indicate that the total revenue estimates range from $54,181,647 to $69,228,313. After interest expense is deducted from both numbers the net spendable amount ranges from $37,170,002 " a worst case scenario in which there would be no sales tax revenue growth and a large decline in student population " to $44 million-plus.
On the project expense side, a new middle school was estimated to be from $25 to $30 million, the aquatic complex is estimated at $8.5 million, with the air conditioning project costing $3.5 million for a total of $37 to $42 million.
Basden is recommending the three projects move forward with design planning along with related services commitments. He said the thought originally was to possibly have a referendum to cover the projects, but that will not happen, he said.
-- Charlene Bielema School renovations decided on a scientific basis
-- The Herald-Mail Maryland: July 13, 2009 [ abstract] Although a Washington County Public Schools planning document lists only six major school renovations through 2022, schools countywide benefit from minor improvements throughout the year.
Some of those projects, including infrastructure improvements and equipment replacement, occur during the summer months to limit disruptions to students.
This summer, about $10.2 million will be spent on projects at 39 school sites and two administrative buildings.
Public schools in Washington County have a maintenance backlog totaling about $40 million, said Rob Rollins, executive director for operations. He said he expects that amount will be reduced by about $7.5 million after the completion of this summer’s project list.
School maintenance projects are completed according to a numerical system that ranks school facilities and equipment on a scale of one to five, with one being the worst.
Facilities are ranked base on their physical qualities, like exterior conditions, roof conditions, flooring and heating, and also based on functional features, like classrooms, instructional rooms, food service areas and media centers.
Based on the facilities master plan adopted this year, the best school based on the ranking system is Maugansville Elementary School, which opened in 2008 and has a total of 154 points. The second-highest-ranking school is Rockland Woods Elementary, which opened that same year and has 147 points.
According to the 2009 document, the facility with the lowest point total is Winter Street Elementary, which has 70 points. The second-worst facility, according to the numerical ranking system, is Conococheague Elementary, which has 78 points.
-- Staff Writer District won't apply for stimulus funds-- Lodi News-Sentinel California: July 08, 2009 [ abstract] Despite urging Tuesday by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell to school districts to apply for more than $773 million in the Qualified School Construction Bond program, at least one district said the funds are not something it will be looking into.
The programs provides $22 billion nationwide for this year and next, while California's share is $2.7 billion over the same two-year period.
Applications are due from school districts and charter schools next month, but Audrey Kilpatrick, Galt Joint Union High School District's chief business officer, said the district will not apply.
Lodi Unified, on the other hand, is still evaluating its opportunities under the program, according to Art Hand, assistant superintendent of facilities and planning.
"The filing deadline closes on Aug. 25, so we be looking to make a final decision prior to that date," he said in an e-mail.
— Jennifer Bonnett.
Keyword Search Tags: Stimulus, arra, bond
-- News-Sentinel Staff New School to Cost Less Than Expected -- The Advocate Louisiana: July 08, 2009 [ abstract] Bad news for the economy became good news for Ascension Parish schools when bids on their most recent project, a new primary school for Orange Grove subdivision in Sorrento, came back, a school system official said. Chad Lynch, director of planning and construction for the school system, said the low bid for the project, $9.798 million, came in $4 million under the projected $13,672,505 budgeted for the project. The school in Orange Grove subdivision development is among the last of the current wave of building projects funded by a 2005 bond initiative, Lynch said.
“We expected the cost to go up,” Lynch said of the Orange Grove project. In fact, the School Board voted to increase the original budget from just over $12 million to $13.7 million when construction costs steadily rose after hurricanes Katrina and Gustav, he said. Lynch said the school system has been using the same basic building plan for the last several school construction projects. “We’ve built this school for as low as $7 million " Duplessis (in 2002) " and as high as $13.3 million,” he said.Lynch credits the happy surprise on the Orange Grove school to the decline in the economy. “For a project like this, we’d typically have four or five bidders on the contract,” Lynch said. “For this project, we had 15. Contractors are going after projects they normally wouldn’t bid on. They’re struggling to get work,” he said.
-- C.J. FUTCH Would the Schoobrary Be a Bargain or Bust?-- Voice of San Diego California: July 07, 2009 [ abstract] The unusual idea of leasing space in the planned library for a downtown charter school has alternately been called visionary and foolhardy. But the bottom line is that it would not be cheap -- at least not compared to some of the newest San Diego Unified schools.
Leasing two floors of the planned library would end up being relatively more expensive than two of the last schools built in San Diego Unified, according to school district estimates. It would, however, be less expensive than an elementary school that opened three years ago.
Yet because the so-called "schoobrary" is a new animal among school buildings, and there are so many factors to consider -- from lease terms to utility costs -- it is difficult to decide what schools or projects to which it can fairly be compared. So the question of how well it pencils out financially is still a matter of opinion.
One advisor called it a good deal compared to the typical cost of renting space in a downtown high rise. And proponents say the costs are reasonable for the downtown market and worthwhile for a pioneering project that could marry the research heft of a new library to downtowners' desire for a new school.
"It's an area where you really need to be looking ahead for facilities," said Todd Ruth, a member of the Education Task Force at the Centre City Development Corporation, speaking in favor of the library school several weeks ago. He added, "If you can find a better value, please tell me where."
But other comparisons are less rosy. The unusual plan to spend school bond money to construct and lease two floors in the library would cost a total of $417 per square foot over 40 years, a heftier investment than both Lincoln High School ($362 per square foot) and Sherman Elementary ($295 per square foot), according to data supplied by Director of planning Jim Watts. The two schools reopened in 2007 and 2008 respectively.
-- EMILY ALPERT Michigan Schools to Improve Energy Efficiency With Qualified Zone Academy Bonds
-- Muskegon Chronicle Michigan: July 05, 2009 [ abstract] planning for a potential multimillion-dollar project to improve energy efficiency with new lighting, heating and other equipment is under way at Holton Public Schools. The school district has qualified for $4 million in federal low-interest bonds that would fund efficiency improvements. The bonds would be paid off with savings the district realizes through the energy investment. The district has not decided how many bonds it will sell, but is expected to use them to replace boilers and unit ventilators at the high school, and improve electronic control systems and lighting throughout the district, said Superintendent John Fazer. "The unit ventilators and the boilers have already outlived their life expectancy," Fazer said, explaining they are original to the building that was built in 1973.
The district recently learned it is eligible for Qualified Zone Academy Bonds from the U.S. Department of Education. The high school qualified for $2 million worth of bonds and the middle and elementary schools each qualified for $1 million. Most, if not all, of the interest on the bonds, which are available to low-income districts, is covered by the federal government through tax credits to financial institutions that hold the bonds.
The district has had studies performed to determine what types of savings can be achieved through various improvements. It has been "shovel ready" for two months, waiting for word on whether it qualified for the bonds, Fazer said. It applied for the bonds in December, and learned from the state education department June 16 it had qualified for them. District officials now are waiting to see exactly what the interest rate will be before deciding how much of them to issue, Fazer said. The bonds, which are paid off over 15 years, previously were interest free, but now the interest can be as high as 2 percent, he said. The school board is expected to vote on the scope of the project at its July 13 meeting.
Keyword Search Tags: stimulus, green, energy, bond, arra
-- Lynn Moore Performance Enhancements-- Athletic Business Ohio: July 02, 2009 [ abstract] You don't have to spend a lot of time searching the Internet to find study after study proclaiming the benefits of so-called green schools — facilities that create healthy, learning-conducive environments while saving energy, resources and money. Reports of improved test scores and reduced student absenteeism caused by illness come from all regions of the country. For example, at Third Creek Elementary School in Statesville, N.C. (the country's first LEED Gold-certified K-12 school, completed in 2002), test scores from before and after students moved into the building provide compelling evidence that learning improves in greener, healthier facilities. And an analysis of two school districts in Illinois found that student attendance rose by 5 percent after cost-effective indoor air quality improvements were made.
But can a similar parallel be made between green schools and increased performance on the basketball or volleyball court or in physical education classes? Ron Kull thinks so. "There would be no reason why you couldn't draw that same correlation," says the senior associate with GBBN Architects in Cincinnati, who is heavily involved with Cincinnati Public Schools' $1 billion facilities master plan. By 2013, CPS will be home to 54 first-class new or renovated schools — almost half of them LEED Silver-certified or higher. "If you're talking about how a student performs in certain environments, why wouldn't it apply to athletic facilities just as much as it does to classrooms?"
Seven years into the district's master plan, Cincinnati is fast becoming the site of one of the largest concentrations of sustainably designed schools in the country. Some of the green strategies include the addition of daylighting and stormwater management systems, geothermal energy technologies, low-flow plumbing fixtures, and low-VOC furniture, paints, carpets and adhesives. Increased recycling and composting efforts, reduced idling of school buses on school property, and improved overall air quality also are part of the plan. At the district's Pleasant Ridge Montessori School, which opened last August and is among the first building projects to be completed, an air-delivery system forces air to rise from the floor and through the ceiling, where it is filtered before re-entering the ventilation system with fresh outdoor air.
Gymnasiums also are a key part of the CPS master plan. Many elementary and secondary school gyms will feature heat-reducing roofs, ample daylighting from glare-reducing windows, high-output fluorescent lights and energy-efficient ceiling fans. Sensors will control the lights and fans to save energy, while also making the spaces more comfortable and conducive to extended periods of activity.
The ultimate goal, according to Robert Knight, GBBN's sustainable design initiative coordinator, is to marry energy efficiency with healthier indoor conditions. "The human body, just like the human mind, performs best in certain environments," he says. "At the professional level, the collegiate level and the high school level, people are looking for ways to create a competitive athletic advantage, and you do that through better indoor environments."
"The community has pushed us to be more aggressive with LEED," says Michael Burson, director of planning and construction for CPS, which enrolls 33,000 students (including more than 10,000 at 16 high schools). Almost half of the money used to fund the master plan is coming from a $480 million school construction bond approved by city voters in 2003. The Ohio School Facilities Commission, the agency charged with overseeing a statewide campaign to help districts fund, plan, design, and build or renovate schools, is kicking in another 23 percent, with the rest of the dollars coming from other local and state sources.
-- Michael Popke 'Smart growth' begins to take root in El Paso-- El Paso Times Texas: June 30, 2009 [ abstract] For all their brainpower, school districts do not always plan for "smart growth."
They have built schools on sites that are not connected to the neighborhoods they serve. This has forced parents in dozens of schools to drive their children to class, even though they live just blocks away.
"The cooperation between school districts and municipalities when it comes to developing smart communities has been lacking," said Nathan Norris of PlaceMakers, an urban-planning firm helping the city develop better growth patterns. "Fortunately, these conversations are taking place now in El Paso, and we should soon see a change in the way our schools are built and designed."
Smart growth is urban planning that promotes streets that connect sensibly, walkable communities, mixed land uses so services are available close to home, and other features aimed at reducing the impact on roads and the environment.
Norris said schools in El Paso typically were developed with little cooperation between the city and the school districts, and the result has been campuses that do not seem to fit with the neighborhood.
Campuses such as Chapin High School in the Northeast and R.E.L. Washington Elementary on the East Side, for example, do not have homes immediately surrounding them. Others such as H.R. Moye Elementary were built along busy thoroughfares, which forces parents to drive their children to school instead of allowing them to walk.
School officials said they are cognizant of the importance of using smart-growth principles when building a school. Still, they said, the designs they use are often limited by the land that is available for development.
"There's only a handful of sites that we can buy and turn into schools. We are normally trying to catch up with neighborhoods that already exist," said Patty Hughes, president of the El Paso Independent School District board of trustees. "If there is a property that is vacant and we can actually use smart growth, then I am confident that we will."
West-Central city Rep. Susie Byrd says the city needs to do everything it can to help schools comply with the smart-growth guidelines the City Council approved last year.
She said the city will work with building officials at each school district to develop policies that guarantee all new campuses will allow students to walk to school safely.
"These schools need to find a way to complement their neighborhoods because, unfortunately, that has not been happening lately," Byrd said. "We would like to closely work with them to change that."
Plans for more cooperation are under way.
-- Gustavo Reveles Acosta Timing is Good for More Oklahoma City School Construction -- The Oklahoman Oklahoma: June 28, 2009 [ abstract] With $54 million in construction money now in the bank, the Oklahoma City School District can fully begin what might best be described as MAPS for Kids, the sequel. The timing is good. The passage of a $248.3 million bond package in October 2007 marked the first bond issue election for the Oklahoma City district since MAPS for Kids passed in 2001. The district banked the proceeds from the most recent bond sale last week. It’s issuing new bonds as it pays off MAPS for Kids bonds so district patrons won’t face property tax increases. While considerably smaller than the original school rebuilding effort, the sequel victory was monumental. It passed with nearly 78 percent of the vote " thousands of votes beyond the 60 percent needed for approval. The bond portion of the original MAPS for Kids vote had only a few hundred votes to spare.
The 2007 victory was evidence of tremendous confidence in the district’s direction and how it had spent the hundreds of millions of dollars in sales tax and bond issue proceeds from the 2001 effort. It also no doubt reflected the importance of the planned work. The 2007 proposals earmarked money for new school buses to keep the fleet up-to-date, technology upgrades, classrooms for all-day kindergarten, stadium improvements at Taft and Speegle and gymnasiums for all elementary schools. Superintendent Karl Springer said district staff is busy planning the capital projects, focusing on the gymnasiums and classroom additions. The gymnasiums were particularly popular items among parents and patrons, and the classroom additions are badly need as the district expands its early childhood education offerings consistent with the MAPS for Kids academic goals. The district also has more than $2 million to spend on technology.
-- Editorial In Tough Times, Sacramento Districts Look to Lease Vacant Schools -- Sacramento Bee California: June 26, 2009 [ abstract] In the last five years, two of Sacramento's largest school districts have shuttered 16 campuses, and with tough budget cuts likely to go into next year, more will join the list. Most of the closed schools were elementaries. And Sacramento City Unified and San Juan Unified school districts have been actively pursuing multiyear leases to help offset the cost of holding onto the campuses.
Don Myers, San Juan's director of facilities and planning, said the leases can bring in between $20,000 and $30,000 a month. San Juan's school board voted Tuesday night to lease its last vacant property – Orangevale Elementary School – to a statewide charter. Orangevale sat empty for two years because the property does not fully comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Those issues will be addressed as part of the lease agreement, Myers said. During the two years that Orangevale sat empty, Myers said vandalism proved costly. Renting out schools might save on vandalism costs, but leases don't always cover the cost of maintenance and operations. Still, the goal is mostly to break even, said Myers, so the district isn't losing money, especially in these tough budget times.
-- Melody Gutierrez Some fear bigger, but unequal, P.S. 133-- YourNabe.com New York: June 26, 2009 [ abstract] The city’s plan to demolish P.S. 133 in Park Slope and erect a larger building was reviewed by the City Council this week.
During the public hearing led by the Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Siting and Maritime Uses, about 30 community residents spoke in opposition to the project.
“What we had been asking was that the SCA [School Construction Authority] withdraw their current proposal and work with a broad and representative group in the community to develop a plan that would preserve and renovate the historic P.S. 133 building while developing another building on the site to accommodate additional seats,” explained Butler Street resident S.J. Avery.
Avery believes the community would be better served if the city agreed to construct an annex and keep P.S. 133 intact " rather than demolish the 100−year−old school building and erect a new structure for 900 students, which is triple the size of P.S. 133’s current student body.
Residents have also questioned the logistics of the plan, saying that construction could undermine the foundations of their homes and bring rats and trash to the neighborhood.
They also say that by having two schools in the new building " one for P.S. 133, where the majority of students are African−American or Hispanic, and another for School District 15, where most students are white " it could give the appearance of “separate but equal.” (P.S. 133 is located in District 13, which includes Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Prospect Heights. District 15 spans Red Hook, Park Slope and Sunset Park.)
“I’m very much concerned about the environmental toxins, lack of outreach and planning, and what appears to be separate and unequal schools,” City Councilmember Letitia James told this paper. “And why are we rushing this decision?”
-- MichÈle De Meglio Schools consider ways to spend stimulus-- Columbia Daily Tribune Ohio: June 25, 2009 [ abstract] Columbia Public Schools officials have moved forward in planning how they will spend their federal stimulus money.
District officials expect to receive about $6.3 million overall, with $4 million earmarked for special education and about $2.3 million to be spent as Title I funds, intended to benefit low-income students.
Among the possible uses for the one-time funds, school officials say, could be plans to turn Field Elementary into the district’s special education facility and hire permanent substitute teachers for special education.
The district is progressing on its plans for stimulus money after months of knowing little about the funds it would receive. School officials now feel confident enough to begin preliminary discussions on how the millions of dollars could improve the school district.
“We don’t have a proposal,” said Lynn Barnett, assistant superintendent for student support services. “We’re playing around with those thoughts and ideas.”
If the funding comes through as expected, the money would be available to school officials during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years. School officials must spend it on special education or Title I services. The school district cannot use the stimulus money to pay for anything the district already is doing with those programs.
At yesterday’s school board finance committee meeting, Barnett said the district could use stimulus money to renovate Field Elementary into its special education facility, replacing the district’s Bearfield School.
The school district leases Bearfield School, expecting to pay $96,751 for its 2009-10 school year lease, Business Director Linda Quinley said.
“We really need a better facility for them,” Barnett said of the district’s special education students.
For example, Barnett said the district would have to make the bathrooms bigger at Field Elementary because older students would be using the building. Field Elementary also has a gymnasium the special education students could use to help them develop socially, Barnett said. Bearfield does not have a gym.
Stimulus funds could be used for the possible renovation because it wouldn’t be new construction. Stimulus funds cannot be spent on new buildings, only on repairs or renovations.
-- Jonathon Braden Facilities changing, master plan the same-- Cleburne Times-Review Texas: June 24, 2009 [ abstract] Godley was projected to be among the fastest growing school districts in the Metroplex five years ago.
Superintendent Paul Smithson knew that when he was hired in 2004-05.
Then a funny thing happened " for Godley, a good thing.
“The first year I was here, the projection was we were going to grow 5 to 6 percent,” Smithson said. “Well, we lost 5 to 6 percent. There was no reason. It just happened. We knew growth was coming. We could look all around Godley and see other people growing.
“But when we lost enrollment, we bought ourselves some time, about two years. The next year and the year after, we started growing again. We got involved with a demographer about three years ago when we knew we were about to outgrow our facilities. We started our planning process and went through all the scenarios. We decided the best thing to do was use the land we already have.”
Godley revamped its facilities but not its education master plan.
“We like the way our campuses are split up,” Smithson said. “We like our pre-K through 2, 3 through 5, 6 through 8 and 9 through 12. We want to keep those age groups together. Fortunately, we had enough land that we already owned that we ere able to do that. Our next step is probably adding an elementary school, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”
The key step in the entire building process was the community’s passage of a $27.8 million bond in May 2008.
“Our community is very supportive,” Smithson said. “You’re never going to make everyone happy, but we went into this with the idea that we were going to make our oldest building [the so-called Alamo, Godley’s intermediate school] the centerpiece of the district. We’re taking the old building back to its original look. It’s going to be beautiful.”
Likewise, the intermediate school extension, joined to the Alamo with a wing and with quarried stone outer walls so it resembles the original building.
The district was able to tackle every construction project it intended, Smithson said.
“We wanted to add on to the intermediate school. We’re doubling the size of that. We’re remodeling the current intermediate school. We’re adding on to the elementary school and building another PE facility at the elementary. We’re adding a band hall at the high school. We’re renovating the middle school. We built a weight room at the middle school and resurfaced the track. The last phase is to add on to the ag facility at the high school. We’ll get that done.”
-- Pete Kendall Government bonds available for area schools-- Blue Ridge Now North Carolina: June 23, 2009 [ abstract] Gov. Beverly Perdue signed a bill on Friday allowing school districts to apply for interest-free bonds backed by stimulus money for renovation and construction projects.
Districts can now apply for Qualified School Construction Bonds and Qualified Zone Academy Bonds. For QZAB bonds, school systems must have 35 percent of their students receiving free or reduced lunch. The money can only be used for repairs and renovation, and requires school districts to partner with businesses that will match 10 percent of the bond’s face-value through cash or in-kind contributions.
There are fewer requirements for QSCBs, however. There is no free and reduced lunch or business match requirement. It’s a new bond program created with stimulus money, according to a press release from Perdue’s office, and will be administered through the School planning Section of the School Support Division at the Department of Public Instruction.
Keyword Search Tags: Stimulus, arra, bond
-- Jennifer Heaslip Neighbors sue city over gym, football field-- OCRegister California: June 23, 2009 [ abstract] Residents living near Brethren Christian Junior Senior High School have filed a lawsuit against the city for allowing a 27,000-square-foot gym and football field to be built on the campus in their south Surf City neighborhood.
The lawsuit states that the city should have done an environmental impact report on the $3.5 million school modernization project that included potential traffic and noise pollution. Because this type environmental report was not done, residents and city officials were not properly informed of the plans, according to the suit filed Friday in Orange County Superior Court.
The neighborhood group is asking that an environmental analysis be done and that work on the campus be stopped until the lawsuit is settled.
"We very much look forward to our day in court on this, since the city left us no other recourse," said Alicia Waterhouse, a member of the Neighborhoods for Safety and Quality group.
A city committee made up of staff from Public Works, the planning Department and the city attorney's office reviewed the Brethren plans that call for a gym, bleachers to seat about 600 spectators at an outside field, and an expansion to the school's sports program to include evening football and basketball games.
The Environmental Assessment Committee voted 2-1 on Jan. 26 that the project did not need an environmental impact report, but that a different, less intensive report called a Mitigated Negative Declaration was needed. Staff from the attorney's office said they wanted more than the declaration, but the committee's decision was not appealed.
"It was determined by the (committee), based on the information provided, that an environmental impact report was not necessary and that (the declaration) was sufficient," City Attorney Jennifer McGrath said.
In May, the project got its last major stamp of approval from the City Council with a 5-2 vote. Council members Jill Hardy and Joe Carchio voted against the project.
-- ANNIE BURRIS Talk of 3-town regional school district stirs hopes and fears-- Worcester Telegram Massachusetts: June 19, 2009 [ abstract] Colleen Shapiro says she’s fine being called a “townie.”
She grew up in Lunenburg and attended local schools, and moved back to town when she was about to have her first child. Now the mother of three, she is happy with her choice.
“Everybody knows my kids. Everybody knows me. I like that,” Ms. Shapiro said this week. “I like that teachers and everyone in the building knows who the kids are. I know their friends. I know their friends’ parents.”
It is that close-knit sense of community that she fears could be lost if the town forms a regional school district with Shirley and Ayer. A regionalization planning committee has been immersed in discussions for more than a year, and an agreement is expected to go before voters in the three communities this fall.
Visions of improved educational offerings and more state aid for new facilities are among the elements spurring the talks. It is an emotional topic involving local identity and self-determination, but complicated by financial realities.
“I firmly believe regionalization does work,” said Stephen R. Hemman, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools and the former superintendent of the Narragansett Regional School District.
Small districts don’t have the resources to offer the breadth of opportunities available in larger schools, Mr. Hemman said, suggesting a minimum size of 2,500 to 3,000 students for an effective district. The individual Lunenburg, Ayer and Shirley districts total just over 3,500 students.
Proponents of the regional plan suggest educational benefits such as offering foreign languages at an earlier age, more in-district special education services, and greater Advanced Placement opportunities in high school.
Several of the towns’ schools need repair or modernization, and the state School Building Authority is pushing for regional solutions. Containing building costs was the impetus for the original push for regional schools back in 1949, said J.C. Considine, spokesman for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
-- Matthew Bruun Pasco begins examining middle school boundaries-- Tampa Bay Online Florida: June 15, 2009 [ abstract] PORT RICHEY - As a committee began the process this week of redrawing attendance boundaries for middle schools in west Pasco County, the school district's planning director quickly put to rest any thoughts that the task would be a snap.
"Sometimes people think, 'What's so hard about drawing lines on a map?' " Chris Williams said. "You'll see that it's a lot harder than it looks."
The reason: Several factors come into play when attendance boundaries shift, such as how the change might affect bus rides or whether future growth trends could cause crowding problems at a school.
The district also tries to maintain a balance in the racial and economic diversity of the student population. Other factors that come into play include an effort to send children in the same neighborhood to the same schools, and whether proposed boundary changes fit into long-term school construction plans.
-- Ronnie Blair The Case for Consolidation-- Bangor Daily News Maine: June 06, 2009 [ abstract] Repealing the state’s school district consolidation law is not a solution to the problems that plague the controversial reorganization law or the financial constraints that schools will continue to face.
The reality is that Maine cannot afford the sprawling education system it has. Recognizing this, lawmakers two years ago voted in favor of reducing Maine’s 290 school districts to 80. As expected, the process was difficult and some districts will need more time to complete consolidation.
So far, however, reorganization plans have been approved for 26 regional school units statewide. Another 41 alternative plans have been approved, mostly large school districts, like Bangor, that didn’t have to consolidate with other communities. These approved plans cover 84 percent of all stu-dents in the state.
At the same time, however, 22 plans were rejected by voters earlier this year, leaving many communities in limbo. While this is not a good outcome, stopping consolidation is not a solution because the problem of Maine spending too much on school administration remains. This will be exacerbated by a drop in school funding in 2011, when the state stops receiving federal stimulus funds.
So, it is a disservice to both districts that have consolidated and those that have not for lawmakers to repeal the reorganization law, a path they appear to be taking. The Senate on Thursday voted 19-16 to repeal the consolidation law. A day earlier, the House was two votes short of repeal, a margin it is likely to make up when the measure is reconsidered early next week.
A common sentiment among senators was that the state has not fulfilled its obligation to fund 55 percent of K-12 education as required by a 2004 referendum. A recent analysis by the Maine Heritage Policy Center, no friend of the Baldacci administration, found that when factoring in teacher re-tirement benefits " which cost the state nearly $200 million this year " the state exceeds 55 percent of K-12 funding. “Taxpayers should be fully aware of the truly enormous sums of money being spent by Maine’s schools,” wrote the report’s author, Stephen Bowen " a former teacher.
Further, the same law that called for 55 percent state funding set spending caps for all levels of government. According to the most recent analysis by the State planning Office, the state and the majority of municipalities and counties were under their limits, but 82 percent of school units exceeded their caps by a total of $132 million, money borne by taxpayers. The percentage of school units exceeding the caps has increased each year since LD 1 went into effect.
Since the 2004-05 biennium, state funding to school districts has increased by about $800 million. Total state funding to local school districts will have increased by 37 percent from 2006 to 2009. The consumer price index is projected to rise by 11 percent during that period.
-- Staff Writer Bibb County school system requests $218M for new schools-- Macon Telegraph Georgia: June 05, 2009 [ abstract] The Bibb County school system presented Thursday $218.6 million in future school construction and renovation needs that officials say will ensure schools are low cost to maintain and more modern for student learning through 2015.
The first-look presentation was made by school construction officials during a called work session, but no votes were taken regarding the preliminary plan.
Since 2000, Bibb’s school construction upgrades have led to more than 15 new schools, including Howard High and a newly rebuilt Central and Southwest High to open this fall, but new elementary schools are now needed, officials said.
Current school buildings have an average age of 24 years instead of 36 years, which was the average building age prior to 2000 when construction projects countywide first began.
The almost decade-long repair work also has eliminated 107 modular classrooms.
“The mission does continue,” said Bob Flowers, the school system’s capital program administrator. “Our current plans only addressed a portion of our needs. This is a continuation.”
The system presented a five-year school facilities plan that the school board adopted last month to qualify for state school building funds called capital outlay. That plan laid out $135 million in school construction needs with the state planning to fund $47 million of it.
Thursday’s presentation expanded on that plan adding projects totaling $218 million.
The entire plan proposes to phase out seven aging Bibb schools, Barden, Bernd, Burke, Jones, Morgan, Porter and Rice, and build four replacement schools for about $14 million each.
It also asks for $14.37 million to rebuild Heard Elementary School. Heard is a wooden structure that has been added on four times since being built in 1934.
Other proposed projects include $4 million in upgrades at Williams Elementary and $5.4 million in upgrades at Union Elementary, which was built in 1982.
“It needs roof and mechanical (repairs). The ceiling tile is sagging,” said Charlie Griffis, director of pre-construction for Parish Construction who helped put together the facility needs plan. “The building does not meet current (American Disability Act) codes.”
But Flowers said other projects that don’t qualify for state funding and still need work also were added to the latest facility needs plan.
Westside High, he said, needs $14.5 million in upgrades with a new auditorium and a classroom expansion to replace mobile classrooms.
-- Julie Hubbard Cities Plan for Growth, But Forget About New Schools-- Opposing Views National: June 04, 2009 [ abstract] New York magazine featured a great story last week on school overcrowding in Manhattan. What struck me -- aside from concerns about how my own kid might fare -- was this passage about the city's failure to anticipate that New York's success in retaining families over the last decade would result in the need for more classroom space:
Growth is not spontaneous; a city must build it before they will come. When Bloomberg promised to reinvent downtown, and by extension the rest of New York, after 9/11, he stoked residential development with an array of tax breaks. Unlike the towers of old, the buildings that sprang up weren't marketed as pieds-Ã -terre for Port Washington sophisticates or glam toeholds for junior execs. In a borough once synonymous with the studio apartment, the new Manhattan properties featured three and four bedrooms, plus the signature millennial amenity: the building playroom.
In 2007, the Department of Buildings issued permits for 31,918 units, a 35-year high-water mark. By the most conservative estimate, that year's activity alone brought hundreds of millions of dollars into the city coffers in closing taxes, much of it from buyers lured by strong public schools. But a disconnect yawned between development and the children it engendered. The crux of it, says Beveridge, is revealed in PlaNYC 2030, the mayor's blueprint for a livable city of 9 million people-who, it should be noted, will be making lots more kindergartners. The document called for parkland within ten minutes of each New Yorker and a local war on global warming, but spent less than a sentence on the DOE's capacity needs. "School construction is not part of the plan-full stop," Beveridge says. "They plan all the other infrastructure, but they don't worry about the schools."
When I covered growth and development for The Charlotte Observer in North Carolina earlier this decade, some city officials had exactly the same kind of blinders on. It seemed that the planning commission and the school board could never get on the same page.
-- Scott Dodd KC School District proposes closing 13 schools-- Kansas City Star Missouri: June 04, 2009 [ abstract] Kansas City school administrators unveiled a plan Thursday night to close 13 schools as a shrinking district struggles to cut costs.
The proposal figures to launch a vigorous public debate before the Board of Education attempts to agree on a final plan and budget by the end of June.
Seven elementary schools would merge with other schools.
Other closures include two eighth-grade centers that are phasing out. Two previously closed schools that had been used as temporary sites would close again. The district’s alternative K-8 program would be relocating to a site not yet determined. And a training school for Montessori teachers would close.
Board members and administrators wrangled over the puzzle for two hours Thursday, the last of three nights of budget workshops, leaving many issues unresolved.
“It’s been a very difficult year,” board member Arthur Benson II said at the end. “We’ve asked a lot of critical questions. … We’re not where we want to be, but change is palpable. Once you get a taste of better schools, the desire for more feeds on itself.”
The district has several elementary schools facing state sanctions that need to be reconstituted. It has buildings without air conditioning or in need of repairs.
The administration wants to combine closed schools into schools with adjacent boundaries, but also consolidate underenrolled seventh- and eighth-grade classes.
It’s also trying to resolve a conflict between a conversion to K-8 schools that has drawn enrollment from a middle school that feeds its fine arts and performing arts high school at Paseo Academy.
There would be no other boundary changes under the proposal. No changes were proposed for high schools or middle schools.
The changes would reduce the number of schools from 64 to 51 and potentially save the district $4 million to $5 million.
Based on current enrollment, 1,800 to 2,000 students would be changing schools in August.
The school closures are part of a budget proposal heavy on cutbacks that is absorbing an expected 16 percent drop in revenue, from $274 million to $230 million, in the coming school year. Although John Covington does not officially start as superintendent until July 1, he was in Kansas City this week participating in planning that
can’t wait until then.
Along with closing schools, the district projected it will be cutting some 300 teaching positions, more than 50 building administrators and close to 20 central-office positions. Attrition probably would cover most of the losses. Whether layoffs would be needed remains unclear.
The district also is planning to reduce pre-kindergarten programming that it was funding out of its general budget without state aid.
Covington, who was not at the meeting Thursday, will be briefed, interim superintendent Clive Coleman said.
The administration will refine the plan, and the public will have its say on the budget at 6:30 p.m. June 16 at district headquarters.
The district is coping with an erosion in enrollment. The district projects that the number of students will fall again in 2009-10, from 18,178 to under 17,000.
The district has closed, razed or sold more than 35 buildings since the late 1960s, when enrollment peaked at nearly 75,000 students. But the cutbacks have not kept pace with the steep decline. Many buildings this year were less than half full.
Competing charter schools, which began opening in 2000, enrolled nearly 8,000 students in 2008-09 and are expected to increase next year.
An administrative team weighed several factors as it came up with the plan to close schools.
First, the district just went through a round of redrawing boundaries as it converted to a mostly K-8 system and saw seven of its schools switched into the Independence School District. So boundaries were not redrawn again.
The team gave top consideration to moving schools that had gone several years without meeting the Annual
Yearly Progress requirements, or AYP, dictated under the federal No Child Left Behind law.
The team also considered enrollment; the condition of buildings, including whether they had air conditioning; and how well buildings were wired for high technology.
The options were not always clear-cut.
In proposing to close McCoy Elementary, the district would move out of a school that has made AYP every year under No Child Left Behind. It is mostly full and has strong community programs.
But McCoy is an old building in need of expensive repairs, and it lacks air conditioning. The district wants to move staff and students to Rogers and Trailwoods, new buildings with air conditioning that have struggled academically.
-- JOE ROBERTSON New high school will depend on state funding-- Casper Journal Wyoming: May 27, 2009 [ abstract] The new high school that the Natrona County School District hopes to open in 2012 “will be unlike anything this county, state or nation has ever seen before in terms of the opportunities it will offer our community’s young adults,” District Superintendent Dr. Joel Dvorak said in February in an overview of Path to 2025.
When the initiative is said and done in June, getting another high school for Natrona County still will depend on revenues in the state coffers from energy development and sales tax that flows through the Legislature and the Wyoming School Facilities Commission.
So far, the SFC has allocated $3.6 million for high school design. The district hasn’t spent any of that money, pending the completion and review of Path to 2025, according to NCSD Facilities and planning Manager Dennis Bay.
Any additional funding for Casper high schools would come if the district’s request is included and approved as part of the SFC’s next legislative allocation.
“Even if there’s not a new high school, there’s a ton of work we can do,” Dvorak said.
Path to 2025 is “really about how we’re going to teach, some of what we’re going to teach and whom we’re going to partner with,” according to the superintendent.
The series of workshops and advisory groups that began in February originally had a hefty price tag of a little more than $885,000.
With a budget amendment that moved $368,000 for “thought partners” into the board of trustees’ discretionary account, the current budget to recreate secondary education is $517,300.
An update to the NCSD board of trustees is planned for June 8, with board final review and possible adoption tentatively scheduled for the end of the month.
As of April 22, $149,099 and change had been spent on creating the “fundamentally different learning experience for 21st century middle and high school students” outlined in the Path to 2025 mission statement.
-- Carol Crump Shuffling the deck on enrollment
-- San Diego Union Tribune California: May 23, 2009 [ abstract] After years of rapid growth and an aggressive building campaign, the Del Mar Union School District faces a new challenge: dramatically uneven enrollment at its eight campuses.
A quick look at the latest numbers, updated just last week, reveals the differences. Some examples: Del Mar Hills Elementary, west of Interstate 5, enrolls 375 students. Sage Canyon Elementary, in sprawling Carmel Valley, has 733.
Del Mar Union has worked hard in recent years to keep pace with a fast-growing suburbia in North San Diego, building five schools since the late 1990s. But changing demographics have prompted the district to form a committee that this summer and fall will examine how to balance enrollment.
The committee could recommend closing a campus and redistributing students at other schools. The closed school would become a new home for the district office and a maintenance yard.
¡°We have to be aware of the sizes of our schools so we don't have schools that are too large or too small,¡± said Superintendent Sharon McClain, the district's new schools chief, who came on board last fall. ¡°There's a happy medium . . . to make it run efficiently.¡±
A district study completed this past winter projects that Del Mar Union will grow 27 percent by 2018, but that growth assumes that a huge housing development in the Pacific Highlands Ranch area will move forward. The growth would hit Sycamore Ridge the most, boosting enrollment to 1,474 ¨C far above capacity.
District administrators are skeptical, however, that the Pacific Highlands Ranch development will go forward anytime soon. Residential development there can't proceed until an interchange from southbound I-5 to eastbound state Route 56 is built, said Rodger Smith, the school district's director of human resources and facilities planning. Also, some residents near the proposed interchange are opposed to the project.
¡°That project will probably be tied up in the courts for many years . . . so the build-out of Pacifica Highlands Ranch isn't even on our radar screen,¡± Smith said.
If that holds true, the overall number of students in Del Mar Union will remain relatively stable, but uneven enrollment is a problem that still must be addressed, administrators said.
The committee will consider a range of options, McClain said. Just because Del Mar Hills Elementary School now has the lowest enrollment doesn't necessarily mean it's a top candidate for closure, she said.
-- Bruce Lieberman Coppell officials deny charter school permit after resident complaints-- Dallas Morning News Texas: May 22, 2009 [ abstract] Coppell’s planning and zoning commission recommended Thursday denying the rezoning request of a public charter school seeking to open in the city amid heavy neighborhood opposition.
During a meeting that lasted more than four hours, residents living nearby the proposed Manara Academy elementary school lined up one by one to speak against its planned opening in August.
They told commissioners that if the school is allowed to open with 326 students in the former Christ Our Savior Lutheran school building, it will cause traffic and safety problems. They also expressed concerns that many of the school’s students live outside the city and will be bused in.
Manara touts that it will be the first in the state to offer expeditionary learning, a hands-on curriculum. It also would be one of the few in the state offering Arabic and French classes. Leaders say that in Arabic, manara means beacon or lighthouse.
-- KATHERINE LEAL UNMUTH Arkansas School Districts Making Decisions on Stimulus Spending Plans-- Arkansas Democrat Gazette Arkansas: May 17, 2009 [ abstract] Arkansas school districts will begin sending to the state Department of Education their plans for spending federal stimulus funds, a windfall of more than $565 million. The amounts of stimulus money available to each district for spending by December 2011 are large.
Distribution will start in early June, as soon as state officials can verify that a district's plan falls within the parameters of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama in February. The projects must pass through the "filters" established by the U.S. Education Department for the money: Does it improve the economy? Is it a shortterm investment with long-term benefits? Is it allowable under the terms of the existing federal programs and the stimulus act? Can it lead to improved student achievement? Districts must spend the money by the end of 2011.
Some of the stimulus money can be used for facilities. The Pulaski County Special district is planning to complete a new library at Robinson Middle School for $3 million; replace roofs at two schools and update restrooms at eight; add security lights at a school; carpet another; and fix the heating and air conditioning at still another. The Batesville district is planning to redo the high school library, upgrade school science laboratories, add an Environmental and Spatial Technology (EAST) laboratory, add a classroom to teach living skills to special-needs students, upgrade a family/consumer science classroom, purchase large musical instruments and turn some classrooms into state-of-the-art technology centers, including individual student computers.
Keyword Search Tags: Stimulus, arra
-- Cynthia Howell MENIFEE: High school site eyed-- North County Times California: May 10, 2009 [ abstract] Four and a half years after voters in the Perris Union High School District approved a bond measure that, in part, would pay for a second high school in Menifee, land has been targeted for the campus.
The district wants to buy three adjoining plots of land, covering 57 acres, at Leon and Wickerd roads.
The price is still being negotiated, according to Candace Reines, assistant superintendent of business services.
The district earmarked $2.5 million of the $46 million from Measure Z, which was approved in November 2004, to buy land on which to build a second high school in Menifee.
There is no timetable to build the campus, which would be the district's fourth comprehensive high school. Perris High opened at its current site in 1961, Paloma Valley High opened in Menifee in 1995, and Heritage High in Romoland ---- which is the home school for many Menifee students who live west of I-215 ---- opened in 2007.
Reines said officials are planning the new high school predominantly in anticipation of development resuming throughout the district and the anticipated increases in enrollment that would come with it. None of the high schools are currently overcrowded, she said.
Plans for the new campus come as a proposal to unify the Menifee Union School District is on hold. If that drive ultimately is successful, Paloma Valley would be transferred to the Menifee district, which currently serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
"We know that unification, some day in the future, will happen," Reines said. But, she says, Perris administrators are still moving forward with plans for a new high school. "We still have a duty to proceed as though Menifee is in our district."
Officials from both school districts have agreed on moving Paloma Valley into the Menifee district, but trustees of both decided in June that it would be too expensive to move forward with the shift at that time. They are expected to reassess the move sometime this year.
Because the high school would be built within the Menifee boundaries, it would become part of that district when it unifies, according to Betti Cadmus, spokeswoman for Menifee schools.
-- CRAIG SHULTZ Neighbors would like park on old school site-- Oneida Dispatch New York: May 08, 2009 [ abstract] Residents who live around the lot which once held the old high school on Elizabeth Street seem to agree that after looking at the abandoned building for so long, looking at a park would be nice.
“We’ve looked at that school for many years. Now it would be good to look at some flowers,” said Peter Vibbert who lives on the Elizabeth Street side of the school.
Hilary Barker, also of Elizabeth Street, agrees. “We’ve been talking about it for weeks. We would like to see a nice park. Flowers, couple of benches, maybe a playground.” She and husband William have two kids ages one and six.
Susanne Jones would also like to see a park. She lives around the corner from the school and was walking her 21-month-old son, Kai. “We’d like to see a park, he loves to swing and slide.”
And on Main Street, Cindy Wolcott said “my favorite thing would be a park. Or a new library, especially if they kept the design with the historical look of the area.”
Jim and Deborah Clarey live next door to Wolcott and directly across from the lot now piled with demolition debris.
Clarey who is on the planning board said it would be difficult to put houses on the site because of the set-back requirements. “Also, it is a historical district so houses would have to be designed with that in mind,” said Clarey.
He, too, would like to see a park “some trees, flowers, paths, benches. Or a new library.”
Clarey complimented city officials for getting rid of the “eyesore we have been looking at for all these years.”
-- JODY MCNICHOL Getting a facelift?-- Culpeper Star Exponent Virginia: May 04, 2009 [ abstract] Cracked and uneven sidewalks surround Culpeper County High School. The brick exterior is water-damaged and air easily escapes through the single-pane aluminum windows of the two-story, 40-year-old building.
Inside, discolored ceilings sag. The restrooms, clock system and fire alarm system are all outdated.
These are some of the more visible issues addressed last week by SHW Group, a Reston-based planning and architecture firm, during a 90-minute PowerPoint presentation for the CCHS Renovation Plan Steering Committee.
During Wednesday’s presentation, consultants pointed out a list of facility conditions that need to be addressed, including: interior and exterior architecture, structures, civil conditions, mechanical conditions, systems-life expectancies, plumbing and electrical conditions.
“It’s a pretty tall order when there’s this much to be done,” SHW Group Managing Principal Derk Jeffrey said following his presentation.
Jeffrey and his team spent a day taking pictures in and around the 130,000-square-foot school during spring break in early April.
Jeffrey shared his findings with the committee " a group consisting of School Board members, Culpeper County supervisors, local business leaders, CCHS Principal Jeff Dietz, the school division’s maintenance director and the construction projects manager.
The report wasn’t anything new to school officials. What they’re waiting on is for SHW consultants to produce a master plan prioritizing the to-do list.
According to the $125,500 contract, the SHW Group must produce a list prioritizing a plan to the committee by this summer.
CCHS was built in 1969 on Achievement Drive and houses nearly 1,020 students.
Getting the job done
After the presentation, committee members and people in the audience had plenty to say.
“From this viewpoint, this school doesn’t have a whole lot going for it,” said a man who attended CCHS as a teenager. “Is it a train wreck?”
Jeffrey declared that while a lot of the systems are outdated, the “building is solid.”
“There’s nothing wrong with the building structurally,” he explained. “There is a 100-year life expectancy, and there’s about 60 more useful years worth of the floors, the structure and the structure holding the roof.”
Bill Bradley of the Charlottesville office talked about how the building affects instruction.
What about the cost?
When SHW Group produces a CCHS renovation priority list to the school system, it will most likely be in phases. It is still unclear how much it will cost and how long it will take.
School Board Chairman George Dasher estimates that this ongoing renovation project would cost between $1.5 million and $2.5 million annually to renovate CCHS. He’s hoping federal stimulus money and the capital improvement plan account would cover the expenses.
-- Rhonda Simmons Back to the Boundary Drawing Board-- Washington Post Virginia: May 03, 2009 [ abstract] A controversy over how to redraw high school attendance boundaries in central Loudoun County is back in the hands of the school district's planning staff and probably won't be resolved until the fall.
The Loudoun School Board alternated between two boundary plans during several hours of discussion Tuesday night, before voting well past midnight to reject both options and send the matter back to staff members for further review.
"Both of these plans are so flawed . . . there is no need for us to make a decision now," said School Board member Tom Marshall (Leesburg).
Boundaries must be changed for the 2010-11 school year, when Tuscarora High School is scheduled to open in Leesburg. Loudoun School Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick III asked that a decision be made by the fall.
In the coming months, a panel of county supervisors and School Board members will discuss future high school construction in Ashburn and Dulles, and planning staff members are likely to wait until the talks are over before drawing up another boundary proposal.
The joint panel's work will make it clearer whether a new Ashburn area high school will be built in the next few years, a project designed to relieve crowding at schools east of Leesburg. Several School Board members spoke of their desire for a new school at Tuesday's meeting.
The boundary issue has sparked tension between the Lansdowne and Ashburn Farm communities, with one of them likely to be shifted from Stone Bridge High School to another high school when Tuscarora opens. Although boundary changes are nothing new in Loudoun, a switch in high schools can hit hard.
"I went to high school with my sisters, and I would like my children to have the same privilege," Ashburn Farm resident Cathy Dorman said at Tuesday's meeting.
Dorman's older child has attended Stone Bridge. But under the plan that was recommended by the school administration's staff, her younger child, and many other Ashburn Farm residents, would have been sent to Briar Woods, even though some of those students live within walking distance of Stone Bridge. Lansdowne residents, who live a few miles from Stone Bridge, would have remained within its attendance boundaries.
Heritage High School, which has 1,800 students -- 200 more than its capacity -- would have seen its enrollment plummet to 1,100 in 2010 under the staff plan, and Loudoun County High's enrollment would have dropped by more than 300 as students from both schools moved north to Tuscarora.
Stone Bridge's enrollment would have remained about the same, and Briar Woods' enrollment would have jumped by about 450.
The board defeated that proposal by a vote of 4 to 4, with one abstention.
-- Michael Birnbaum The Big Green Market: Schools-- greentechmedia.com National: April 30, 2009 [ abstract] The American Institute of Architects is holding its annual conference this week and the topic that seems to come up in every meeting is schools.
"For the next few years, commercial is where it is at " schools, federal and government buildings," said Don Ernst, green products director for Timber Holdings, which is releasing a new line of sustainable flooring and molding for the inside of buildings at the show. Traditionally, Timber has focused on high-end sustainable hardwoods from South America for exteriors.
"K-12 will continue no matter what," said Noah Eckhouse, vice president of the global building performance group at Bentley Systems, which specializes in complex simulation and planning software for HVAC and construction engineers. The company recently also participated in a large project for the Los Angeles County Community College System.
Chalk it up to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). A lot of attention has been paid to how the ARRA will funnel money into transportation, solar and smart grid, but it also contains billions for retrofitting government buildings. In all, $4.5 billion will be spent retrofitting federal buildings and another $6.3 billion goes to grants for improving the energy efficiency of state agencies. A substantial portion of that money will likely go to buildings.
Additionally, $95 billion goes to schools. Most of this money will go toward educational programs, but those grants potentially ease the pressure on capital improvement budgets.
-- Michael Kanellos Petition calls for third high school-- Iowa City Press Citizen Iowa: April 29, 2009 [ abstract] Parents in the Iowa City School District are circulating a petition saying district officials should resume planning for a third high school.
The petition, being circulated on paper and online, calls on the school board to continue planning for a new high school in the North Corridor area. It also calls on the district to buy land for the school by the end of 2009 and to not build onto West High or City High to accommodate extra students.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the online petition had gathered more than 350 signatures, with plans to submit it to the school board Monday, said Anne Johnson, an organizer of the petition.
"It's about getting the board to resume planning," she said. "We felt it was important to pursue a third high school. If we don't start planning now, we will (have problems)."
District officials recently said they were holding off on plans to build the new high school because of budget issues and a slowdown in enrollment growth. Both City and West have fewer students this year than the previous year, and Superintendent Lane Plugge has said West High is projected to have 2,100 students enrolled by 2011. City High's enrollment is expected to remain stable at 1,400 to 1,500 students during the next 10 years.
The district also is working to cut $6 million from its budget over the next two years. Plugge, who did not immediately return a phone call asking for comment, has said it would cost about $3 million per year to operate a new 800-student high school.
Johnson, who has a daughter in second grade at Penn Elementary and a 4-year-old son who will start school in 2010, said enrollment projections call for West High to have about 2,500 students by 2017.
-- Rob Daniel Parents Petition To Stop New High School Construction
-- WPXI.com Pennsylvania: April 23, 2009 [ abstract] Parents in a local school district are making a stand to stop construction on a new building.
Bethel Park is planning to build a new $100 million high school.
An online petition started by parent Jeff Becker calls on the district to stop construction.
"We're hoping to compel the School Board to put this on a referendum. This is the most expensive construction project in the history of Bethel Park,†Becker said. â€"Obviously the tax increase that's going to go along with it is going to be overwhelming. We're hoping they'll listen to reason and allow the taxpayers who foot the bill vote on this.â€
The battle for building the new school has been a tough one. Zoning was first denied, but the district won in court.
The parents against the construction are set to hold an organizational meeting Thursday night.
-- Staff Writer Historic St. Louis Schools Face Uncertain Future-- NPR Missouri: April 21, 2009 [ abstract] The city of St. Louis is trying to decide what will become of many of its historic school buildings and the neighborhoods that they anchor.
Some of the schools were designed by architect William Ittner. His buildings — from the late 19th and early 20th centuries — dot St. Louis' landscape. Open-floor plans, 15-foot ceilings and hardwood floors are hallmarks of Ittner's designs. His concepts influenced the way schools were built around the country.
Now, the city is planning to sell 10 of Ittner's schools. Five are already on the market, and five more are slated for closing as the St. Louis Public School District cuts back. At its peak enrollment in the 1930s, 115,000 students went to St. Louis public schools. Now it is more like 27,000.
This year, the district is closing 14 schools, including some that Ittner did not design.
Troubled Old Buildings
Among the Ittner schools that will be sold, demolished or repurposed is Horace Mann Elementary, built in 1901. Principal Brian Zimmerman says the decision to close Mann came down to its lack of central air-conditioning.
Ittner's first project for the St. Louis school district — Arlington School — is one of those already up for sale. It was completed in 1898 and closed in 1994. After a decade and a half of neglect, its walls are collapsing and floorboards are cracked and warped. Brass lion heads that once decorated the roof's cornice have been hacked off.
Despite the broken chalkboards and graffiti-covered walls, the rooms have a soothing character.
On a recent visit, Michael Allen, assistant director of the St. Louis Landmarks Association, noted three tall windows in one classroom.
"Even on an overcast day," he said, the room "is bathed in a very beautiful natural light."
-- Adam Allington Student body busting out of new school building-- WTOL Ohio: April 21, 2009 [ abstract] Some students at the new Arlington Elementary in south Toledo might be moving into portable units next school year.
And that's frustrating to some parents, including Michelle Alley.
"We were excited to be moving to a new building with fresh facilities with room for everyone. Now apparently we're going to end up with portables and teachers on carts," Alley said.
About 410 kids are enrolled for the Fall, but superintendent John Foley says the new school was built to serve just 350 students, enrollment numbers that were projected by the State before he took office.
For now, four portable classrooms seem like the best option.
"We're almost finished with that building; to add on is an option. I don't know that it would be ready in August at the start of school," Foley said.
An explanation not fully satisfactory to Alley.
"It just seems if we're going to spend all of this much money, two more classrooms could have been planned in somehow."
Foley says Arlington should get some relief by the middle of 2011 when the district's new K-8 building is up and running and Arlington's sixth-graders move there.
But Alley says two more years is too long to wait.
"I don't know that there's a better way solution. I certainly don't have one myself, because I can't make money appear and neither can Mr. Foley -- and I understand that. But we just wish that somehow the planning could have been better, or there was some other solution."
-- Tanieya Lewis School plan talks OK’d -- 2TheAdvocate Louisiana: April 17, 2009 [ abstract] The Lafayette Parish School Board voted Thursday night to begin negotiations with the Baton Rouge-based firm CSRS for the development of a facilities master plan for the district.
The Baton Rouge firm manages a $300 million capital improvement program for East Baton Rouge Parish Schools’ 105 campuses.
The CSRS planning team also includes Architects Southwest, the Lafayette firm that prepared the most recent CADD drawings of the system’s facilities.
Following the meeting, Chris Pellegrin, CSRS senior project manager, said negotiations will begin immediately so work can get under way. According to its own timeline, the team had hoped to begin work in March, if selected.
“There’s a lot of work to be done,” Pellegrin said. “One of the first things we will do is a visioning forum with the community and establish communitywide input.”
The negotiations will need to address the project’s cost " $1.3 million for a total of 9,522 hours of work, board member Shelton Cobb said.
Billy Guidry, the Lafayette school district’s chief financial officer, will represent the district in negotiations. The board has budgeted at least $900,000 in preparation for the study.
“Cost and scope go hand in hand,” Pellegrin said. “In our proposal we offer alternatives to reduce costs.”
-- MARSHA SILLS Henrico residents push for high school planned for Varina-- Richmond Times Dispatch Virginia: April 15, 2009 [ abstract] Many residents of eastern Henrico County don't care where the funds come from to build a new school. What they care about is that students aren't going to classes in trailers, don't have to wait in long cafeteria lines and have facilities on par with other parts of the county.
About 75 residents attended a public hearing about the proposed Henrico budget last night at a Board of Supervisors meeting. Many wore buttons reading "Eastern Henrico Schools Now."
"We are in dire need of creating a new high school in the eastern end of the county," Bruce Richardson said.
Residents lined up to speak at the hearing, urging the supervisors to amend the proposed capital budget to include moving up a new high school planned for the Varina District.
County Manager Virgil R. Hazelett's proposed capital budget delays appropriating $77.5 million for 2005 bond referendum projects originally slated for funding in the 2009-10 budget, including the planning money for the new school.
The budget does fully fund the School Board's requests for operations funding. The school system will receive a 1.9 percent increase in funding for fiscal 2010. The $518.4 million school budget accounts for 54.9 percent of the county's $1.06 billion overall budget.
Gay Lund, a Varina District resident, said she is concerned about where students would attend school when growth picks up again. "It's something I don't feel we can ignore or put off any longer."
-- Lisa Crutchfield Lockport hopeful for school funds-- Joliet Herald News Illinois: April 11, 2009 [ abstract] Lockport Township High School would be in a crowded field looking for school construction money from the state, Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno said this week.
However, Radogno hopes there will be enough money in the capital fund to meet the need.
» Click to enlarge image Students walk through the hallways at Lockport Township High School's East Campus in 2008. School leaders want to build a Cedar Road campus to alleviate crowded conditions at the two current Lockport campuses.
(Sun-Times News Group File)
School leaders want to build a Cedar Road campus to alleviate crowded conditions at the two current Lockport campuses. However, voters have rejected five building proposals in the last three years.
State leaders are planning a possible capital program that could include a school construction component, Radogno said.
Could this present an opportunity for funding to help build a high school campus on Cedar Road?
Process explained
Several years ago, the high school applied for school construction money, and Lockport is in the queue should funds be allocated, said Superintendent Garry Raymond.
Raymond is cautiously hopeful that money would be available. However, he is not counting on it, given the current economic picture in Illinois and nationwide.
Radogno, a state senator from Lemont, explained the process Wednesday.
Lawmakers first would have to pass the capital bill. Then voters in the Lockport Township High School District would have to pass a referendum to participate in cost sharing. Then Lockport's place on the list would have to come up.
Radogno said she hopes the General Assembly puts money into the school construction program before June.
"But now, having said that, there are a whole bunch of schools lined up that have already submitted applications," she said.
Apparently, Lockport already is on the list, Radogno said.
-- TONY GRAF Officials gather to discuss Roosevelt-- Iowa City Press Citizen Iowa: April 09, 2009 [ abstract] Officials from the Iowa City School Board and Iowa City Council said Wednesday both sides should communicate more when it comes to development and school movement issues.
The issues came to a front at a joint government meeting at the school district's Central Administrative Office, in which elected officials from the school board and Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, Johnson County and University Heights met. Conflict occurred as district officials announced plans in February to close Roosevelt Elementary and move the students to a new school in the Crossings development in western Iowa City and Coralville and to nearby Horn Elementary. The school board said at its March 10 meeting that it would delay approval of the plan for the time being.
Jeff Davidson, Iowa City planning director, said the city's 1997 comprehensive plan called for, among other things, preservation of older neighborhoods. He said schools played a large role in preserving the neighborhoods because they act as social gathering places, recreation areas and landmarks.
"They are more than places of education," Davidson said. "We include the schools in our open space plan."
Iowa City Councilor Connie Champion said the schools are the most important part of a neighborhood and helps the city prevent urban sprawl and keep businesses downtown. She said the district needed to have more of a comprehensive plan to help end rumors that older schools such as Longfellow and Mann are slated to be replaced.
School board president Toni Cilek said there was no plan to replace any school besides Roosevelt Elementary. She said the district's facility plan was a draft that had been developed after conversations with consultants and staff meetings after the School Infrastructure Local Option sales tax was approved by voters in February 2007.
"We need to be on the same page," Cilek said. "We don't have a planning staff. Sometimes our people are stretched really thin."
Plugge said the district is reconvening its facility advisory committee to study the district's building and forming a task force to look at high enrollment issues.
-- Rob Daniel More debate on CPS oversight bill as it moves to Illinois Senate-- Medill Reports Illinois: April 08, 2009 [ abstract] Today policy makers, community groups and educators say the passing of House Bill 363 in the Illinois Senate would create another layer of bureaucracy for Chicago Public Schools. Whether this is good or bad, however, is contested.
The bill would establish state laws and an oversight committee regarding school facilities planning. CPS would be bound by this legislation when dealing with a number of school facilities issues, including school closings. Bill proponents say this measure would stem what they call uninformed school closings.
“If we were to close every low-performing school in this city, we would have way too few places to send our kids,” said David Mayrowetz, associate professor at University of Illinois-Chicago’s educational policy studies department.
House Bill 363, championed by Rep. Cynthia Soto, passed unanimously in the House last week with 118 votes. Soto had support across party lines, a fact Collin Hitt, education policy specialist at the Illinois Policy Institute, says makes the bill seem innocent despite setting what he calls an unnecessary precedent.
“We do not support it,” Hitt said, “and we oppose efforts to further regulate districts that in fact need greater flexibility in personnel and infrastructure decisions.”
But community activists said the bill is necessary to ensure equitable treatment in the district.
“For 30 years [CPS-backed reform initiatives] have not delivered on providing a first-class education for all children in Chicago no matter where they’re coming from,” said Jackson Potter, steering committee of the Caucus of Rank and File Educators. “We’re saying the time is now.”
CPS currently does not have a set practice or standard for school facilities issues, but looks at underutilization, low academic performance and the condition of the physical facility according to a CPS spokesman. Sixty schools have closed since 2002, not including the 16 school slated for closure after a CPS board vote in February..
Some supporters were disappointed by the removal of a one-year moratorium on school closings in the original bill language. The moratorium would have applied to the recently closed schools and would have involved an evaluation and hearing from affected members of the school community.
-- Anthonia Akitunde Parents pleased with latest Garrett Park elementary design-- Business Gazette Maryland: April 08, 2009 [ abstract] The latest design for the modernization of Garrett Park Elementary School presented to parents and community members last week has soothed concerns about pedestrian safety on the cramped school site.
Architects for Montgomery County Public Schools, responding to near-universal dismay at a previous design for the school, returned last week to show parents for the first time a design that made pedestrians a priority and took into account the multitude of directions from which walkers approach the site. The design is scheduled to go before the planning Board for approval on Tuesday.
"I think that we've taken everything to heart and we understand and we're trying to make this the safest site we can," said architect Mike Bosiacki.
Parents and community members have been giving input on the design for Garrett Park Elementary School, which is to be torn down and rebuilt twice as big by December 2011. A design agreed upon in December was recently deemed by the Maryland-National Capital Park and planning Commission and the Maryland Department of Transportation to be in non-compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act accessibility requirements, so MCPS two weeks ago presented a solution to that problem featuring a bus loop completely surrounding a nursery school on the site.
-- Jen Beasley School builders get an A for effort, D for planning-- examiner District of Columbia: April 07, 2009 [ abstract] By this time of year in D.C. we would have heard reports from across the school system about broken pipes and busted furnaces and kids wearing jackets to school just to keep warm.
This year " silence.
And parents across town, from the Chase Chase to Deanwood, would be shopping for toilet paper and supplies to bring to school for the bathrooms that were either undersupplied or out of order.
This year " silence.
April would bring showers that would run into the schools through leaky roofs.
This year " all’s dry in the classrooms.
The reason for the silence is that Allen Lew and his team at the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization have fixed the furnaces and the plumbing and the bathrooms. And the roofs.
As Lew reported to the council last month, his “heating and boiler blitz” had the heaters working in all the schools. They also renovated athletic fields at 10 high schools and fixed up more playgrounds. They painted more than 100 schools and spent $600 million last fiscal year to clear out 25,000 work orders, some of which had been pending for more than a decade.
In short, Allen Lew gets stuff done.
This fact was evident in a report by the Public School Modernization Advisory Committee sent last month to Council Chairman Vince Gray. The panel was created by the first school-modernization law in 2006. The committee members, all volunteers, said they visited schools and talked to Lew.
“During our relationship with OPEFM we could not help but notice that Allen Lew has assembled a hardworking, talented staff comprising individuals with a wide range of talents who have provided the city the quality of workmanship and leadership it deserves,” the committee wrote.
But implicit in the essentially glowing report are questions that could bring grief to Lew and his grand plans to fix school buildings across town. Having finished the basic work of making bathrooms and furnaces and air conditioning units work, Lew and his crew are embarking on the more ambitious plans to renovate entire school buildings. They already have fixed five; 12 are in the planning stages.
The money is there. Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi told the council in February that $1.7 billion is available for Lew and his team.
-- Harry Jaffe New BHS creating a 'buzz'-- The Post-Searchlight Georgia: April 03, 2009 [ abstract] The new Bainbridge High School's construction and design is creating a "buzz" around the state, and its architects, builders and school officials couldn't have been more pleased with the results, they said Thursday during the monthly Chamber of Commerce breakfast.
"This has been the smoothest running project we have ever worked on," said Keith Barrett, an architect with Altman and Barrett, who is a partner with Walter Altman in their architecture firm from Valdosta.
Barrett said the building has attracted statewide attention because of its design and how well the project has progressed.
"I've never seen anything like it," Barrett said of the building's design. He said state fire marshals are already saying how the design of the building may be copied by other school systems.
Barrett and Altman, who are both sons of educators, said after garnering much input, including that from each staff member of all the departments of the high school, the architects then looked at 10 to 12 other schools to help develop ideas on their design.
What they ended up with was a design that "is very unique," and one that the designers, builders and school officials said the community should be extremely proud of.
The two-story 369,180-square-foot building is now being finished up with some final "punch lists" getting checked off.
Decatur County School Superintendent Ralph Jones says furnishings are being installed or bid out for order, and a community grand opening is still in the planning stages.
"It's been the best project I've been associated with in 38 years," said Bob Folkman, project manager for JCI General Contractors Inc. of Moultrie.
He said approximately 1,000 workers, builders, plumbers, electricians, craftsmen and others completed the building in less than two years. Some of those employed included high school students on a work-study program.
-- Carol Heard Plans for elementary school changed after parents protest-- Business Gazette Maryland: April 01, 2009 [ abstract] A redesign proposal that upset Garrett Park Elementary School parents for what they perceived as poor pedestrian safety standards has been largely adjusted back to a previous design following outcry at a meeting last week.
The new design will be presented at an update meeting at 7 p.m. tonight at Garrett Park Elementary School, 4810 Oxford Street, Kensington.
Montgomery County Public Schools originally held five meetings with parents, staff and community members to hear input for the plans for the tear down and redesign of the school. But upon showing the consensus scheme to the Maryland-National Capital Park and planning Commission and the Maryland Department of Transportation, MCPS concluded the design agreed upon could not be built in three dimensions because of the elevation differences on the site. It was also determined that the site plans would not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements for accessible ramps.
The significant changes prompted another meeting last week to present the amended plans to parents, who turned out in larger numbers than previous meetings. They balked at the proposed traffic flow, which showed the bus loop surrounding a day care on the elementary school site. The bus loop, because of grade differences, was separated from the day care with a retaining wall like a moat, and parents worried that children would not use the long sidewalk around it to access the day care, where many kids play after school.
"There is no place for the kids to go once they get out of school, unless they immediately get in a car and drive off the property," said parent Natalie Grande.
-- Jen Beasley Important for town to move forward now on high school-- Wayland Town Crier Massachusetts: March 26, 2009 [ abstract] For many years, the town of Wayland, under the leadership of the High School Building Committee (HSBC), has been working to address the needs of the Wayland High School facility. Three forces have coalesced to make it important the town move forward with the planning process: (1) an immediate need exists to address the school’s aged buildings; (2) three regulatory agencies (NEASC, OSHA and DEP) have cited the High School for its failing systems;, and (3) the state has restarted its school building assistance program and will provide 40 percent of the funding for the town to move forward with the first phase of a modernization project.
The process is closely governed by the new regulations of the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA). The first step required is a feasibility study and schematic design project. According to the MSBA, we must go through this phase even though the HSBC already has performed much analysis in this area.
The purpose of this article is to summarize the work done in connection with the preliminary phase of the feasibility study, which was performed by the Futures Team. This work was funded through money previously appropriated to the High School Building Committee at Town Meeting for the purpose of continuing to move the process forward with the state.
The Futures Team was made up of a diverse group of 57 volunteers, half of whom were Wayland residents, some of whom had favored and some of whom had opposed the original 2004 Wayland High School vote, and half of whom were teachers, students and administrators.
The mission for the Futures Team was to: 1) consider the educational needs of our students and the broader needs of our community; 2) develop draft guiding principles for the educational program; 3) begin to draft educational specifications; and 4) begin to look at possible designs for a flexible building that would address those needs now and well into the future.
The Futures Team worked with education architectural consultant Frank Locker and came to broad consensus in several areas.
-- Futures Team Massachusetts School Building Authority Foresees Funding Shortfall -- Boston Globe Massachusetts: March 26, 2009 [ abstract] With sales tax revenue on a steady decline, the Massachusetts School Building Authority is projecting its portion of state funds will fall short by at least $100 million this fiscal year. The authority gets about 1 cent for every 5 cents collected in state sales tax to help cities and towns pay for school construction, renovations, and major building repairs. Under the law establishing the authority, it expected at least $702 million to spend for the year that ends June 30, regardless of the amount of sales tax collected because of a minimum budget the state guarantees.
Katherine Craven, the authority's executive director, said that if the state isn't able to make up the shortfall, some 200 or more projects now in the earliest planning stages could be in jeopardy and the authority might have to cut back on future projects. Those schools that have already been approved for feasibility studies or for design and budgeting would not be affected by a deficit, she said. The authority has a five-year, $2.5 billion capital pipeline to fund school projects.
To make sure districts are spending their funds wisely, the authority has conducted 800 project audits and is encouraging some communities to consider adopting a "model school" program, which lowers costs by standardizing facilities' designs.
-- Christina Pazzanese Bid award for school may be delayed-- The Northern Virginia Daily Virginia: March 25, 2009 [ abstract] Although the Front Royal planning Commission unanimously approved the Luray Avenue middle school construction project site plan last week, the project's bid award might still be delayed pending contract approval.
The bids for the construction project to renovate the county's old high school into a new 800-pupil capacity middle school were originally set to be announced at the Warren County School Board's meeting on Feb. 26. But the announcement was postponed so the architecture firm of Ballou, Justice and Upton could overhaul the project's parking lots to meet with the town's zoning requirements. The initial site plan did not provide enough parking spaces for the new building's extended use.
The bid awarding could now be further delayed because of contract negotiations between the School Board and the interested construction company, Warren County Schools Assistant Superintendent Louis Justis said.
The draft contract must be agreeable to both the board and the contractor, Justis said, and the draft has not yet been finalized and submitted for the contractor's approval.
"If there are glitches anywhere along the line, it could be postponed," Justis said.
If postponed, the School Board chairman would have to call a special meeting for the bid awards after contract negotiations are settled, Justis said.
"My thought would be that, if at all possible, we would get this out of the way before our spring break," Justis said.
The school system received eight bids for the Luray Avenue construction project on March 12. Lantz Construction Inc. of Winchester submitted the lowest total bid of $17.7 million.
The bulk of the site plan issues that were in need of compliance with town codes were already added before the planning Commission's March 18 meeting, according to Steve Burke, the town's director of environmental services.
The site plan now provides for permanent and additional temporary parking spaces with the addition of fields to be used for both recreation and sports, or event parking as needed.
-- M.K. Luther Investigators: Green school claims oversold-- KING5.com Washington: March 25, 2009 [ abstract] The new Gray Middle School in Tacoma isn't really gray, it's green.
It has impressive environmentally friendly features everywhere you look. Some of them include banks of windows for lots of natural light, recycled beams from an old high school, rubber flooring that doesn't require chemicals, drought tolerant landscaping, and a filtration system that circulates fresh air all day long.
Pete Wall, director of planning and construction for Tacoma Public Schools, says Gray Middle School is a success in terms of providing a great learning environment for students.
"This building I think is our best effort to date," said Wall.
Gray is one of about 35 schools under construction or built in the state so far using new guidelines.
When the green schools law passed four years ago, supporters touted the small costs and big benefits of the program.
Many of the positive aspects of the green schools initiative are detailed in a video produced by the Washington state Department of Ecology and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The video can be accessed by anyone by going to the Superintendent of Public Schools' Web site.
-- SUSANNAH FRAME School Board adopts budget-- Southwest Virginia Today Virginia: March 24, 2009 [ abstract] Doom and gloom last week at the Bland County School Board office turned into sunshine and smiles Monday night as fears of job loss and haphazard school consolidation evaporated into program preservation and even pay raises with the governing body’s unanimous passage of a stimulus-boosted budget.
But despite the turnaround, Superintendent Don Hodock cautioned that this year’s budgetary storm clouds may not be permanently off the school system’s radar.
“We think we have a very workable budget that will allow us to keep all programs and staff and allow each employee either a step increase [a pay raise based on experience] or 1 percent, whichever is most,” Hodock said Monday night regarding the 2009-10 school year budget.
Despite a reduction in normal state funding sources, the School Board budget provides for slight pay increases and preserves instructional programs without asking for more money from the county Board of Supervisors.
The overall 2009-10 budget as approved by the School Board amounts to a total of $9.5 million, up $357,207 from this school year’s funding. The county-appropriated total for general operations is set to stay the same at just more than $2 million and a debt service reduction actually saves the county $2,249 from last year’s total amount earmarked for school payments.
Hodock said after Monday’s meeting that he would submit the budget to the Board of Supervisors within the next few days. The supervisors then also have to approve the budget before it is officially finalized.
Blessing added that studies already have shown that the county can support the debt for a new school.
He brushed aside the tough economic times, stating that a school was built in Ceres during the Great Depression and calling for the community to take a “leap of faith.”
“We have no excuses,” he said.
After the hearing, Hodock said Blessing’s comments didn’t match up with the supervisors’ reaction just three years ago when the School Board did in fact present the Board of Supervisors with an early-stages $14 million new school proposal.
A Messenger story about the school system’s 2006 proposal did seem to back up Hodock’s claims as Blessing was quoted at the time calling the cost of the project “a heart attack” and “sobering.”
Blessing added back in 2006 that the nearly $1 million a year in debt service called for by the plan could shoot up taxes and that the proposal “is not going to fly” with voters. The other supervisors " all of whom remain on the board " also made similar disapproving comments in 2006 regarding spending $14 million for school construction.
Last week, though, Blessing continued to emphasize in remarks after the hearing that he is eager to move forward with a new school.
“It was time 40 years ago,” he said.
The supervisors asked Hodock at the end of the 2006 hearing for more detailed plans, but Hodock was quoted expressing the futility of spending additional time planning if the county couldn’t afford $14 million anyway.
“If you’re saying we can’t afford $14 million right now, why do the work until we can afford $14 million?” Hodock said in 2006.
But the superintendent also last week challenged Blessing’s insinuation that the school system has simply ignored the school construction issue in recent years, detailing a number of ways that he has been working on developing revamped plans.
Hodock said he even visited a nearby school for construction ideas as recently as last month and added that the school system has workable plans being prepared for either a renovated/expanded high school on the current Rocky Gap campus or a new high school in Bastian.
As the school construction/consolidation issue continues to loom, Hodock also cautioned last week and Monday night that the stimulus money might not be there to plug budget holes in 2010-11 or especially 2011-12.
-- NATE HUBBARD Decision nears on MNW school closing-- Fort Dodge Messenger Iowa: March 23, 2009 [ abstract] In a second public hearing Monday night, Manson Northwest Webster School District Superintendent Mark Egli said that the Manson Northwest Webster Board of Education will take action in an open meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday to close either the elementary center building in Manson or the middle school building in Barnum.
Quoting a letter from the Iowa Department of Education, Egli said the state projects the school district's budget will be $712,000 negative by the end of 2010.
Major budget reductions are necessary," Egli said.
He said that closing a building is the next step in keeping the district vital.
The Manson Northwest Webster School Board has been seeking input from residents of the district as it deliberates over the architects' findings and the information gathered by the Facilities Use Committee.
Egli said the Facilities Use Committee was made up of patrons from both the west and east sides of the district, open enrollment representatives and board members. Speaking on behalf of the committee, Tony Jacobsen presented its findings as well as those of two architectural firms.
Jacobsen said that Facilities Cost Management Group and FEH Associates of Sioux City both noted that the elementary school building in Manson has several weaknesses.
He said both architectural firms noted the building is better suited for a warmer climate and was constructed in a time when energy was cheap.
Jacobsen said that Facilities Cost Management Group said the elementary building in Manson is not a building the district should include in future planning.
He said that both firms found that asbestos in ceilings, floor tiles and pipes is a problem in the Manson building.
-- JO VETTER Planned Owings Mills community shrinks to add school-- Baltimore Sun Maryland: March 23, 2009 [ abstract] The number of residences proposed to be built on the last large parcel of developable land in Owings Mills has decreased by more than 100 now that Baltimore County has requested an elementary school site on the property.
Plans for Plinlimmon Farms had included 330 townhouses, 430 condominiums and a retail and office complex on 104 acres along Lyons Mill Road near Lyonswood Drive in New Town. The same parcel had been zoned for 430 detached homes.
The County Council approved the project as a planned-unit development about 18 months ago, eliminating some zoning requirements. The townhouse project was set to go to the county planning Board until officials determined that the additional residential units would require a new elementary school to ease already crowded classrooms in the surrounding schools, said Arnold F. "Pat" Keller III, county planning director.
"Once we saw the project and the site, we knew we needed a new school," Keller said. "We told the developer 'you're it' for the school. That took a number of the initial units off the table."
The planned-unit development with fewer units will likely come before the county planning Board for a review late next month.
Keller said the project could not proceed "without a high level of certainty that a school site would work on the property." After a review of a nearly 20-acre portion of the property, planners think the school site will work, he said.
Developer Steve Weinstein is amenable to the changes, said Robert Hoffman, Weinstein's attorney.
"The plan means less houses, but we have made the modifications and redesigned the public space for a school," Hoffman said.
-- Mary Gail Hare Conception to completion: The Hamilton Avenue School reconstruction project-- Greenwich Time Connecticut: March 21, 2009 [ abstract] December 2003: Board of Education approves funds for construction planning for the school.
March 2004: Preliminary plans call for renovating or rebuilding at a cost of $22-$24 million, with a fall 2007 re-opening.
May 2004: Board of Education approves plan to relocate students to a temporary modular facility to be built at Western Middle School.
June 2004: Representative Town Meeting postpones approval of a school building committee because "educational specifications" have not been finalized.
August 2004: Building firm recommends rebuilding, instead of renovating, the school; Superintendent of Schools Larry Leverett backs the plan.
September 2004: RTM approves the building committee, chaired by Frank Mazza, a retired engineer who has served on building committees for Cos Cob, Glenville and Greenwich High schools.
October 2004: School board approves funds for school reconstruction and purchase of a pre-fabricated modular facility. Relocation to the modular facility scheduled for December 2005.
November 2004: School officials postpone students' move to the modular building until February, citing unforeseen construction problems and bad weather.
Dec. 3, 2004: Closing ceremony held at the old Hamilton Avenue School.
January 2005: School officials postpone students' move to the modular building to March, citing unexpected site conditions and a lengthy permitting process. Tempe, Ariz.-based PinnacleOne is selected as project manager.
March 2005: School officials postpone students' move to the modular building to April, citing additional unforeseen construction problems. Costs expected to exceed the $3 million budget by $390,000.
April 26, 2005: Students' first day of class at the modular building.
Mid-August 2005: With plumbing, wires and drywall stripped, crews begin knocking down the old Chickahominy school.
September 2005: Bidding begins on a contract to build a 92-space parking garage at the school.
October 2005: Building committee awards an estimated $1.6 million contract to Bethel-based Worth Construction, the lowest bidder, to build garage.
Nov. 6, 2005: Worth is ousted from $46 million highway contract by New York comptroller, who cites alleged mob ties. The firm has also been implicated in a bribery probe involving the former Waterbury mayor. Worth denies the allegations.
-- Greenwich Time Staff Plans for schools take shape-- Centre Daily Times Pennsylvania: March 20, 2009 [ abstract] A State College Area School District committee that has been studying district facilities agreed on a direction for the high school buildings. They plan to recommend that the school board keep the current setup, with a ninth and 10th grade building on one side of Westerly Parkway and an 11th and 12th grade building on the other.
PV lets go of small schoolhouse
County gets $509,000 in auction of property
It was the most popular choice based on the community dialogue results.
Some committee members, like Marla Yukelson, thought that better options existed.
“But if that’s the consensus of the committee, I’m willing to move forward,” said Yukelson, a middle school teacher in the district and one of about 25 steering committee members who attended Thursday night’s meeting at Mount Nittany Middle School. Committee members opted to hold an additional meeting on April 20 to finalize all of their recommendations.
Earlier in Thursday night’s meeting, steering committee member Dan Rowland said the committee should also recommend that the board consider building two separate high schools, each serving grades nine through 12.
Two variations of that option were presented at the community dialogue. In the individual responses, 57 and 58 percent of respondents ranked the options as low while 25 and 24 percent ranked them as high. In the Web responses, 58 and 59 percent ranked those options as low while 22 and 25 percent ranked them as high.
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Rowland, who represents State High Vision on the committee, said some community dialogue voters may have been influenced by the stated higher price of the separate nine through 12 options. But he said those prices could be offset depending on what the district does with its other buildings, such as the Central Office.
“I don’t want to close a door,” Rowland said, later adding, “It’s about making sure that we’ve looked at everything before we put a recommendation forward.”
The CEO of the Ohio-based planning firm hired to facilitate the master plan process said too many community members were opposed to that options to make it viable.
“They didn’t want to see the community split; they didn’t want to see two sets of sports teams that had to be supported,” William DeJong said.
As of 9:30 p.m. Thursday, the committee had not determined whether to recommend that high school construction projects must meet the educational -----specifications, which were determined by a separate district committee. The educational specifications aren’t state requirements, but define the characteristics for an educational environment.
DeJong said the final facilities master plan will include information on enrollment projections, facility assessments, financial data and other information which has influenced the recommendations.
-- Ed Mahon Schools Versus Taxes: Tennessee County Leaders Divided Over Building Schools Now -- Tennessean Tennessee: March 15, 2009 [ abstract] County officials face a difficult economic choice: invest in new schools to open by August 2010 or avoid the major tax increase it would take to pay for them. This debate divided Rutherford County commissioners when they voted 11-10 to delay funding to open two middle schools and Central Academic Magnet School.
Susan Allen, a member of the local planning advocacy group Rutherford Neighborhood Alliance, urged commissioners to delay funding for the schools. "The tax increase will impact your constituents," she said. "You will add to the burden for projects that should wait."
But advocates for the schools say these projects will lead to construction jobs, entice new housing and businesses near the campuses, and attract high-paying industry interested in good schools for employees' children. "Economic development depends on education," Commissioner Jeff Phillips said before voting in favor of funding the schools. Each proposed middle school, for example, would have up to 150 construction workers daily during a majority of a project that will take about 14 months to build, said Jim Coleman, the vice president and co-owner of Biscan Construction, a Brentwood company hoping the Board of Education here will award it up to $36 million to build both middle schools. "The construction industry has been hit very hard," Coleman said. "It's projects just like this that lead to turning that around. If you combine the two, that's a huge job."
-- Scott Broden District working out last details of Cañon closure-- Colorado Springs Gazette Colorado: March 14, 2009 [ abstract] Nearly 200 students have been assigned to different schools, departure celebrations are planned and plenty of ideas have been floated for using Cañon Elementary School after it is closed in May.
But some key details of a school closure in the works for nearly a year are not final. Principal Joe Torrez, six teachers and several support staff members don't know if they'll still have a job in the district, Cheyenne Mountain School District 12 Superintendent Walt Cooper said Friday, though he's hopeful that will change as the district finalizes next year's staffing over the coming weeks. The Cheyenne Mountain School District 12 board voted in April 2008 to close Cañon at the end of this school year because of declining enrollment in its traditional schools and budget constraints.
The district did not alter boundaries for its other five elementary schools, and gave Cañon families an early permit window to choose another school, Cooper said. The biggest group, 48, will move to Skyway Elementary School to the north of Cañon. Another 38 will attend Gold Camp Elementary and 33 will move to Broadmoor Elementary. The school's 46 sixth-graders will move to the junior high.
The five remaining schools have invited the new students to various activities, such as a movie night at Skyway.
"We want as little shock as possible when the school year begins in the fall," Cooper said.
The Canon PTO is planning a community open house at 2 p.m. May 3 to celebrate the school's 55 years of teaching children. But the community also seems to be celebrating the school building's future, Cooper said.
-- SUE McMILLIN Boone school board discusses building consolidation plans -- Boone News Republican Iowa: March 13, 2009 [ abstract] With Boone Community School District patrons giving 86-percent district-wide approval to a revenue purpose statement referendum in December, many questions regarding long-range facility planning and the district's future use of its current facilities were addressed during the Boone Community School District Board of Education's regular meeting Tuesday.
The passage of the revenue purpose statement referendum granted approval to the district's board of education to utilize the one-percent sales tax dollars, which currently constitutes a state sales tax.
The current School Infrastructure Local Option Tax for the Boone district is set to expire in 2013 and the revenue purpose statement is intended to replace the SILO Tax vote and remain in effect until the expiration of the State Penny for School Infrastructure in 2029.
With the revenue purpose statement passed, the school board has the capability to potentially bond against the project sales tax for the next 20 years and to use those funds immediately for legally permissible purposes, which would predominantly focus on infrastructure improvements.
Though no decision has yet been finalized and would require a public hearing for public input, Superintendent Dr. Theron Schutte said the revenue purpose statement will allow the school board to further pursue options for the district's future use of its current facilities. Currently, the school board's considerations involve grade reconfigurations due to potential expansions at Boone Middle School and Franklin Elementary School, as well as the possibility of building closures
-- Matt Oliver Carver reflects on potential future RISD building needs-- Rockwall County Herald Banner Texas: March 13, 2009 [ abstract] At various city council meetings and in informal conversations around the county, future building plans of Rockwall ISD are sometimes mentioned.
To find out if what is being discussed is actually what the district is planning, the Rockwall County Herald-Banner had a discussion in February with Greg Carver, district superintendent for construction.
Schools are particularly of interest to folks in McLendon-Chisholm, which is on the verge of annexing as yet undeveloped acreage, which will at build-out add about 3,000 population, and to folks in Fate, which crossed the 5,000 threshold population in 2007.
The district does have in inventory, Carver said, an elementary school site in Fate, and it owns land in McLendon-Chisholm.
The McLendon-Chisholm area “lacks infrastructure which limits the potential of a new school site. Building infrastructure over several miles is too expensive for the district to undertake,” he said.
Only real estate purchases which are complete are revealed to the media, in an effort to minimize any potential price increase during a negotiation process.
He explained the basic philosophy of the district on construction plans.
“When Rockwall ISD reaches build-out, we anticipate approximately 44 schools distributed throughout the district proper, including Fate and McLendon-Chisholm,” said Carver.
Over the past few months, the district has had more than 13,400 in student population.
Student population grows or declines in parallel with the housing market, he said.
“We feel certain the market is in a temporary stall,” he said.
“Building new buildings without at least 60 to 70 percent occupancy would burden the local taxpayers and greatly impact the district’s general operating fund.
“In the 2007 bond authorization, the voters approved two elementary schools. Neither has been built, and the funds are held in account until construction,” he said.
Demographic numbers, specific site availability, and final closings form the basis of school site selection and short-range and long-range building plans.
-- Leslie Gibson School construction activity here eases, but still strong -- Spokane Journal of Business Washington: March 13, 2009 [ abstract] Education-related construction activity is slowing, due partly to economy-related concerns and funding constraints, but remains relatively strong, with projects collectively valued at upwards of $200 million currently under way or expected to begin this year.
Community Colleges of Spokane is planning roughly $155 million in construction projects, nearly $100 million of which are scheduled to get under way this year if final funding is approved by the Washington Legislature, as expected.
The largest of those projects would be a technical education building at Spokane Community College and a new science building at Spokane Falls Community College, with estimated costs of $34.6 million and $31 million, respectively.
The largest Spokane Public Schools project, a roughly $74 million expansion and modernization of Shadle Park High School, at 4327 N. Ash, is in the third of five phases"about 70 percent complete"and is expected to wrap up in the summer of 2010.
-- Kim Crompton Board gives nod to plans for work at schools-- DesMoinesRegister.com Iowa: March 12, 2009 [ abstract] Construction at two Urbandale schools will move forward after the school board approved design plans at a meeting Monday.
The board unanimously approved a preliminary design with three additions and more space for parking at Urbandale Middle School, and board members voted 6-1 in favor of a design plan that would add two classrooms to each grade level at Webster Elementary.
The Webster plan is now set to go before the Urbandale planning and Zoning Commission. The board will see the middle school plans again at its April 20 meeting and likely continue discussions on a timeline for construction.
School officials have said both projects are needed to relieve overcrowding, but board member Cate Newberg questioned Monday whether more should be done to prevent future space problems.
"Maybe we should be more proactive and less reactionary and actually allow for potential growth," Newberg said.
The Urbandale school board last month approved plans to borrow against money from a future statewide sales tax for a total of $21.7 million in additions and renovations at the schools.
District officials estimate they will collect $49.9 million from the penny-per-dollar sales tax over 20 years - or an average of $2.5 million annually.
Improvements to both schools are estimated to cost $21 million, with $18 million of that total to be spent on the middle school.
Board members also discussed Monday whether other district schools need improvements.
-- MOLLY HOTTLE Judge denies injunction to stop closing of Pine Lake school-- Mirror Michigan: March 12, 2009 [ abstract] An injunction to prevent the closing of Pine Lake Elementary School was denied Thursday by Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Michael Warren.
The injunction was sought by a group of Pine Lake area parents who contend that the property was given to the district in 1955 by Mae Callow to be used exclusively as a school site.
However, “The district provided the court with information from the 1955 Board of Education minutes and business records to prove that Bloomfield Hills paid $1,800 per acre, or $18,000 total for the Calloway property,” said school spokeswoman Betsy Erikson in a prepared statement.
“This information was introduced to rebut Plaintiffs’ assertion that the property was donated to the District and should be considered a charitable trust gift, and thus subject to deed restrictions on use.”
“While some of defendants’ records refer to different dollar amounts in relation to the Pine Lake School property, there is no direct evidence... of any payment having been made to Mae Callow. There is, however, significant evidence that the Pine Lake School property was charitably deeded by her for ‘nominal’ consideration,” according to Terrence Hall, attorney for the parents.
The district is planning to close the school, along with Hickory Grove Elementary School, at the end of the school year because of declining revenue and increasing costs.
Although the injunction was denied, the case will proceed to trial, with a pre-trial conference set for next Thursday.
-- Greg Kowalski Franchot praises JMB-- Delmarva Daily Times Maryland: March 10, 2009 [ abstract] Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot said Monday that the new James M. Bennett High School is a model for school construction statewide and a smart investment even during a fierce recession.
His assessment carries some clout. Franchot serves on the state Board of Public Works with Gov. Martin O'Malley and Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp. The board holds the final purse strings in the competitive arena of school construction projects.
"This school has got an overcrowding problem, a facility problem. We have tough times in the state, but this place is a good place to make an investment," he said Monday outside the current JMB High School, which opened in 1963 and is timed to be replaced by September 2011.
A next-generation JMB is being built behind the existing school on College Avenue. Costing $88 million, the school will be 44 percent larger and use energy efficient technologies, including geothermal wells for heating and cooling needs, according to engineering documents provided by Wicomico County Board of Education.
Franchot also called it a "priority" that the state authorize the planning steps needed to start the construction of a new James Bennett Middle School. County school officials have yet to finalize the location for the school, which will be moved south of Salisbury.
This year, county school officials have requested $13 million in state funding for construction costs related to the high school. Of that total, about $10 million has been awarded, said Delegate Norman Conway, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
Getting full funding each year from the state has been challenging, said Conway, D-38B-Wicomico.
New revenue projections that will be released Wednesday by the State Board of Revenue Estimates won't make soliciting for school dollars any easier.
-- Greg Latshaw School board puts master plan on hold-- Times Observer Blog Pennsylvania: March 10, 2009 [ abstract] Any action regarding the Master Facilities Plan is now on hold after inconsistencies were discussed at the Warren County School District's board of directors meeting Monday.
"It wasn't what we had talked about," said Board Member Kirsten Turfitt.
The proposal submitted by planning agency DeJONG included 15 options for the Master Facilities Plan, as opposed to the four by the Warren County School District.
The plan provides proposed renovations or the replacement of multiple schools in the area, including Eisenhower Middle/High School, Sugar Grove Elementary School and Beaty-Warren Middle School. There was also information included to merge South Street Early Learning Center and Pleasant Township School as phase one of the plan.
"I think what they are proposing here is way overboard on what we wanted," said Board Member Tom Knapp.
Instead of waiting to have a representative from DeJONG attend the next board of directors meeting next month, it was suggested that Board Member Donna Zariczny and Treasurer Petter Turnquist set-up a conference call with DeJONG to correct what was wrong with the proposal.
"If we need to, we'll have a special meeting for just the purpose of the proposal," said Board President Kim Angove.
Added Angove, we need "to get it to where we need it to be, or what we were looking for."
-- STEPHANIE HAMM Planners OK Permit For New School-- Southern Pines Pilot South Carolina: March 07, 2009 [ abstract] A new school proposed near West End will receive a conditional-use permit for construction in zoning districts designated for residential and agricultural uses.
The Moore County planning Board voted unanimously Thursday night to grant the conditional-use permit for the school to be built on a 25.42-acre tract adjacent to the existing West Pine Middle School on N.C. 211. The site will have access by Archie Road as well as along an extension of the existing driveway to West Pine.
During a public hearing on the request, the owner of neighboring property raised objections because of heavy traffic expected once the school is operational.
Donnie Corcoran was the only person who signed up to speak during the hearing, other than two representatives of the school proposal.
John Hawthorne, supervisor of construction for the Moore County School System, tried to assure Corcoran that road improvements would alleviate her concerns. He told of plans by the N.C. Department of Transportation to add school lanes and left-turn and right-turn lanes at the school. Hawthorne said this should eliminate some traffic on Archie Road and added that the campus is being designed to avoid heavy lines of backup traffic when drivers drop off and pick up school children.
Hawthorne also said the campus layout and buffering would help the situation.
"That's not the problem. The problem is the traffic," Corcoran said.
Board members asked a number of questions of Hawthorne and architect Mollie Wood. Kim VonCanon sympathized with Corcoran's concerns about traffic conditions near a school, and Martha Blake asked about alternative routing.
However, Hawthorne said all feasible alternatives had been explored. He also said that regulations and guidelines established by the N.C. Department of Insurance, NCDOT and the state school administration prohibit the designated use of certain drives by both school buses and private vehicles.
Dave Kinney asked how many people live in the area across from the school site. Told that several others own property and live in the area, he asked why the others were not present to add their voices to Corcoran's. She replied that apparently they were depending on her to serve as their spokesperson.
-- FLORENCE GILKESON SAN MARCOS: City, school district working on joint-use agreement for shared facilities-- North County Times California: March 07, 2009 [ abstract] After years of casually sharing fields, parks and other facilities, city and San Marcos Unified School District officials are taking steps to formalize the arrangements.
San Marcos community services Director Craig Sargent-Beach said last week that the two sides began working recently on a joint-use agreement that will cover all the sites the two share, including baseball fields at just about every local elementary school, a city pool and baseball, softball and soccer fields at several city parks.
The joint use agreement will lay out who gets to use what when, who will be responsible for everything from maintenance to insurance, the types of activities allowed on the properties, and how those activities will be scheduled, Sargent-Beach said.
Kathy Tanner, executive director of facilities and planning for the San Marcos Unified School District, said she sees several benefits to sharing athletic fields, pools and other facilities with the city.
"Whenever you do a joint use, there's a potential for both agencies to save money on it," she said. "And it also provides more program flexibility."
The city and the school district began using each other's facilities in the 1960s, when the city asked if a San Marcos Middle School playing field could be used for youth sports after students went home for the day and on weekends.
As the number of local youth sports leagues grew, Sargent-Beach said, the city and district agreed verbally to involve other school fields and city parks. In a few rare cases, the two sides worked out piecemeal agreements covering individual facilities.
City and school officials started talking about the need for an umbrella agreement that will cover all joint-use facilities last year, after the city opened Hollandia Park off Mission Road in east San Marcos, said Sargent-Beach.
Spread over 30 acres, the park is adjacent to Mission Hills High School and includes two lighted softball fields and a lighted multipurpose field. School officials would like to use those fields for Mission Hills High's physical education classes and softball team practices, Sargent-Beach said.
"The school district and the city have always had a good working relationship," he said. "(But) it seems like between (Hollandia Park's opening) and some other agreements that should have been formalized, it makes sense now to get this all pulled together and to use this as an impetus to do it."
-- ANDREA MOSS School-tax plan shocks Keizer council-- Statesman Journal Oregon: March 06, 2009 [ abstract] Keizer city councilors were unanimous Monday but not in a vote — in outrage at a proposed Salem-Keizer School District tax.
Salem-Keizer School District representatives presented information on an excise tax on residential and commercial development during public testimony at a city council meeting.
The district board plans in April or May to hold a first reading of an ordinance to create the excise tax, said Mary Paulson, school district chief of staff.
"The board hasn't made any decision whether to implement this tax," Paulson said earlier this week. "They are getting the information they need to make the decision whether to implement this tax."
The tax would charge developers a maximum of $1 per square foot for new residential development and a maximum of 50 cents per square foot for new retail, office and industrial development.
The tax would raise about $1 million per year for the school district. The board can pass the tax without the approval of voters or government entities within the school district.
"Why now?" City Councilor Cathy Clark asked at the meeting. "The housing market is hurting very badly. Commercial construction is very much constricted. Why implement this now when it could wait for the market's improvement?"
The board is considering the tax because of a commitment made to the community at public meetings last year before the bond was passed, said Luis Caraballo, school district facilities and planning director.
-- Jillian Daley 'Bridge' to high school building on stimulus list-- Middleboro Gazette Massachusetts: March 05, 2009 [ abstract] All over the country state and local officials have lists of road and bridge repair or replacement projects they believe are eligible for federal economic stimulus money, and Middleboro is no exception. In fact, one of the most pressing infrastructure issues on the town's list involves a bridge of sorts.
The bridge, actually a concrete walkway at the main entrance to the high school, is built into a portion of the teachers' dining room and cafeteria below. The structure has deteriorated to the point where rainwater is leaking into the building, selectmen were told Monday night.
Supt. of Schools Robert Sullivan outlined a total of up to $2 million worth of school construction projects that have been submitted to the Municipal Facilities Task Force the state has established to prioritize spending of federal stimulus funding. The projects have been on the town's Capital planning Committee priority list, some for several years.
Supt. Sullivan said a request for priority lists came from the lieutenant governor in January with a "24- to 48-hour turnaround deadline," and town officials decided the Capital planning Committee list represented construction projects most likely to meet the Obama administration's requirement that projects be "shovel-ready" in order to qualify for funding.
Estimated at $275,000, replacement of the high school walkway is the project closest to being shovel-ready" of anything on the towns list, Supt. Sullivan said. He said the project could go out to bid in four to six weeks.
Chairman of Selectmen Patrick Rogers, who is also chairman of the Capital planning Committee, joined the School Committee in touring school buildings last year and said the walkway must be replaced fairly soon or its deteriorating condition will begin affecting the integrity of the cafeteria below. He said the leak problem could also become a health issue.
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-- JANE LOPES Facilities plan vote set March 18
-- 2TheAdvocate Louisiana: March 05, 2009 [ abstract] After meeting nearly six hours and hearing five presentations from firms vying to help plan the future of parish school facilities, the Lafayette Parish School Board decided Tuesday to continue its question and answer session before making a final decision on March 18.
Any plan will likely call for major renovations and new construction in the district. That will mean rousing community support for the plan " both in mind and pocketbook " because a bond issue will likely be needed to implement the plan.
Each firm is more than capable of doing the job, board member Rae Trahan said following the presentations.
“The most important portion is the community aspect,” Trahan said. “Being able to go out there communicate with the community and get them on board in the very beginning.”
Tuesday’s meeting ended just after 11 p.m. Each team had 30 minutes to make a presentation and 15 minutes to answer questions.
Four of the five presenters were partnered with local architecture or construction firms. The teams included a who’s who in local design and national educational facilities consulting.
A master plan to address deferred maintenance and future facility growth was tagged as a major need for the system by the Community Coalition for Lafayette Schools.
The coalition drafted the request for proposals, which included a plan to address deferred maintenance and ongoing maintenance needs " a move not often considered by school districts in the planning process, according to some of the presenters.
The coalition ranked the proposals prior to the presentations, and the team of CSRS and Architects Southwest finished at the top of its list.
While the team’s proposal came at the top of the price list at $1.3 million, the firm committed the most hours to the project " 9,522 total hours and 1,196 devoted to community meetings and outreach.
The SHW Group/Architects Beazley Moliere was ranked second by the coalition. It offered 1,040 hours committed to community meetings and charettes for a total of 7,491 hours for a total project estimate of more than $1 million.
-- MARSHA SILLS Project offers unprecedented school support-- Amador Ledger-Dispatch California: March 05, 2009 [ abstract] Throughout the years I've served on the Amador County Unified School District Board Of Trustees and been in public education, I and many others have often been frustrated by the lack of funding for state-of-the-art school facilities for the children of Amador County and Sutter Creek. In my view, providing top-notch schools helps our kids reach their potential and helps preserve our quality of life here in the Mother Lode.
Today, Sutter Creek children attend two antiquated schools. Many parents are forced to drive all the way to Ione to drop their children off at the junior high school. Due to the rising cost of land and the small size of our school district budget, we have been unable to marshal the funds for school property.
The Gold Rush Ranch project is a rare opportunity for Sutter Creek and the school district to build a high quality school our children need and deserve. When Gold Rush Ranch was first conceived many years ago, its project sponsors sought me out and were very clear about their commitment to improve Amador County's schools, even if that meant going far above and beyond their legal requirements. To their credit, the Gold Rush Ranch project sponsors listened to our needs - and then we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. After years of collaboration, the result is a project designed to meet the academic needs of our kids with the following unprecedented contributions:
- The proposed donation from the Gold Rush project sponsors of a 17-acre school site worth millions of dollars and perfect for a new K-8 school
- New funding to the school district, including $10 million in new fees and $6 million in annual revenues
- Possible donation of a site for a new public library
Normally, the school district would have to use its scarce taxpayer dollars to purchase a 17-acre school site. This proposed donation from Gold Rush Ranch means our district can better use your tax dollars for construction of a state-recommended K-8 school that will reduce the need for parents to shuttle their children to multiple schools. Gold Rush's donation is all the more critical now that it is clear that the state of California will not be able to help us fund new school construction due to its own budget problems.
In the long run, the investment that Gold Rush Ranch is willing to make in creating high quality local schools will help sustain the vitality of our community and the Mother Lode's quality of life.
Gold Rush Ranch has applied the same kind of thoughtful planning to the rest of the project as they exhibited with schools.
-- Mary Walser Supporters of Mooresville’s school building projects plan their strategy
-- Reporter-Times Indiana: March 04, 2009 [ abstract] It will only be a couple of months before a voting referendum is held to decide if the Mooresville Consolidated School Corp. will build a new middle school and expand and remodel the current high school. The date for the referendum has been set for May 19.
It will be a two-question referendum: residents can vote yes or no to the new middle school building and yes or no to the high school expansion project.
Brian Wiser, part of a committee that researched seven options for the building project, gathered supporters Thursday at The Church at Mt. Gilead to plan a public strategy.
Residents from Brown, Madison and Harrison townships were part of the planning committee.
Wiser said parents, teachers and residents who are in favor of the building plan didn’t want to clash head-to-head with opponents after the 1028 hearing in October. He said they wanted to wait until enough negative information was put out there before taking a stand.
“We’re trying to decide where we go from here,” Wiser said. “We want to set up a timeline for sharing our side of the story, so everyone " especially people who don’t have children in the schools " can understand why we need to do this.”
The group is planning more meetings in March and April to develop a volunteer base and a plan of action. Supporters are also setting up a Web site at www.supportmooresvillekids.com. That Web site is not yet active.
“There will be charts and graphs, tax information and pictures of the schools. Most people haven’t even been in all the schools. My wife teaches at Newby (Memorial) Elementary, but I couldn’t tell you what its facility needs are,” Wiser said.
He added that when people come to events at the high school, all they usually see are the newer parts, like the boys’ gym, the pool and auditorium. They don’t see the crowded hallways, the cafeteria, the electrical problems and leaky roofs. He said school officials wanted to build a new middle school in 1998, but plans were struck down. And the cost to build keeps going up.
-- Amy Hillenburg Central students headed to Wal-Mart next school year-- MyWebTimes.com Illinois: February 26, 2009 [ abstract] Fifth- and sixth-grade Ottawa Elementary School students will be under one roof again for the 2009-2010 school year, though not likely at the Central School building.
During a special meeting Wednesday, the OES board voted 6-0, with board member Frank Polancic absent, to utilize the old Wal-Mart building through Dec. 31, 2011, for Central School students.
The decision was made on the heels of an announcement from La Salle County Regional Superintendent Richard Myers, who said that based on recommendations from the Illinois Department of Public Health, Central has been condemned by the Regional Office of Education.
This decision means the school district cannot reoccupy that space without meeting all the requirements for remediation. The IDPH cited asbestos contamination as the main issue, with asbestos found in the auditorium, in the boiler room and from floor tiles loosened from the humidity and flood waters.
The cost to remediate would be $1.8 million, said Superintendent Craig Doster.
The district is still waiting for official word from the Federal Emergency Management Agency whether Central is recognized as being in a flood plain and whether FEMA will accept the district's appraisal of the building. If approved — and Doster expects that answer soon — FEMA will pay for 75 percent of the costs to construct a new building and temporarily relocate Central students, based on what insurance will not cover.
Doster said the district has been working with legislators, including U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson, D-Crete; state Sen. Gary Dahl, R-Granville; and state Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley.
In the meantime, the board met Wednesday to make a decision regarding where students will go next year, so school officials can begin planning. Doster presented options including a modular system at Shepherd Middle School, renovating Wal-Mart with either built-in walls or partitions or scattering the students to the remaining four buildings.
-- Melissa Garzanelli Closure of Knox school gains supporters-- Schenectady Gazette New York: February 26, 2009 [ abstract] A growing chorus of voices is arguing for what was once unthinkable: closure of Knox Junior High School rather than one of the district’s elementary schools.
The Greater Johnstown School District’s Board of Education is preparing to examine the question of whether to close a school in response to declining enrollment and likely cuts in anticipated state aid. The board has appointed a 15-member advisory committee to help them with the decision.
At a Jan. 8 meeting, a majority of the committees decided that closing Jansen Avenue Elementary School and converting it to a central administration building and possible bus garage was the best of four plans considered. At the time, closing Knox Junior High School received the least support among the options. Since then, the Jansen Avenue conversion plan, first put forward by committee member and Fulton County planning Department Director James Mraz, has come under fire from the Johnstown Teachers Association. On Feb. 12, the district’s teacher union formally endorsed closing Knox instead.
JTA Co-President Kathryn Zajicek said the teachers are adamantly against converting Jansen Avenue into an administration building and would prefer that it be mothballed with the hope that it could eventually be restaffed with teachers if enrollment increased. She said her 158-member union would rather close Knox and convert Warren Street Elementary School into a middle school because Warren Street’s proximity to the high school would open up educational synergies and shorten drive times for teachers who teach at Knox and the high school. She said locker rooms and nostalgia for the district’s oldest school building should not make Knox a sacred cow.
“The first phase, this fall, would put the students at Warren Street at the other elementary buildings; the Knox students would stay at Knox while modifications and construction could take place at Warren Street,” Zajicek said. “It’s about time this district looked at a middle school concept.”
Closing Knox also received verbal support from committee members Elena Willett, Patrick Javarone and Scott Miller, who is also a member of the school board.
-- Jason Subik Stimulus monies could result in changes to Duplin school plans, kill consolidation
-- Mount Olive Tribune North Carolina: February 26, 2009 [ abstract] The subject of school facilities, and particularly school consolidation has long been a hot topic for the Duplin County Board of Education and the county’s citizens. But the dissent caused between factions, one in favor of a large centralized high school, the other, fighting fervently to hold on to their smaller community high schools, may end up being resolved by the promise of the government’s new stimulus package.
Two new facility plans (sketches) were introduced on Tuesday, February 17, and neither mentioned the consolidation of three county schools. What the new plans did do is set the Duplin County School System up with its hand out for quick federal funds.
At a meeting last month, Robbie Ferris, who has been assisting school administrators with architectural drafts for a new central high school, in recent years, presented two new drafts to the Board. The drafts included plans for sites that Ferris believes would most likely be able to be considered “shovel ready.” The term ‘shovel ready’ was coined for use in correspondence sent to state, federal and local government officials with reference to major, economy-stimulating projects that could be begun within approximately 120 days of approval from the stimulus package. Shovel ready projects are expected to quickly boost the economy. Often grant-funded programs involve much more government red tape and can take years to overcome these issues. This is common with most grant-funded plans, particularly in the area of building infrastructure. Smaller municipalities in the county are concerned with the same issues, but their water and sewer projects are farther along the planning stage.
For the past couple of years, the mere mention of the terms “consolidation” or “facilities plan” ignited instant animosity between the two factions. Yet there, under Section 4, Item (a) of the February 17 Board of Education meeting agenda was precariously placed the words … “Items for Board Action/Consideration, Facilities--Site Plan Update--Robbie Ferris”.
-- Angela Faison The Massachusetts School Building Authority could help pay for Needham's Newman School renovations-- Needham Times Massachusetts: February 26, 2009 [ abstract] Needham’s chances for receiving reimbursement from the Massachusetts School Building Authority for heating and ventilation renovations at the Newman School appear good.
Representatives from the MSBA visited the Newman School on Feb. 25 and met with town and school officials to begin the process of possible MSBA reimbursement.
“Treasurer [Tim] Cahill was very happy because this is something we can put good money into,” said Katherine Craven, executive director of the MSBA, who noted all the work the town has already done in remediation and narrowing its options for tackling the heating and ventilation problem.
“With projects with great cost overruns, there was not a lot of planning upfront,” Craven said.
The MSBA can reimburse the communities between 40 and 80 percent of a school project’s total cost. That number is determined through numbers from the Department of Revenue. Needham school officials said the town would likely see closer to a 40-percent reimbursement.
Last month, the MSBA placed the Newman School in the “under repair” category. Although preliminary estimates had the price tag for repairing the heating and ventilation system pegged as high as $26 to $29 million, more recent estimates have that number closer to $20 million.
About $16 million would go toward construction costs, with the rest of the $20 million likely going toward temporarily housing Newman School students during construction. The project would likely require an override.
The town is debating whether to do construction while students are housed in temporary modular classrooms or doing the work over the course of six summers. The town has also looked at office space and classroom space in and around Needham to reduce the number of modular classrooms and keep as many students off campus during construction as possible.
“We never done an elementary school project with children in the school,” said Permanent Public Building Committee Chairman George Kent.
-- Staff Writer Funding issue doesn't deter new Murrieta Mesa High School from making progress
-- The Press-Enterprise California: February 25, 2009 [ abstract] A state freeze on school construction funding hasn't slowed the progress of Murrieta Mesa High School.
Principal Mary Walters and her administrative team are hiring staff, registering students and planning their first year as workers continue construction on the 62-acre campus.
"There's so much to plan. There's a huge laundry list that needs to be done," Walters said. "The school opens Aug. 12. We'll get it done."
School officials have committed to opening Murrieta Mesa, the Murrieta Valley Unified School District's third high school, on time despite the freeze earlier this year of $76 million in construction funding the school district had been expecting.
Even with a state budget in place, it could be months or longer before Murrieta sees the money, which was to be used for Murrieta Mesa and McElhinney Middle School, said Bill Olien, assistant superintendent for facilities and operational services.
The delay has created a cash-flow problem that Murrieta school officials hope to resolve with a $42 million bridge loan from a private lender. Administrators expect to bring the financing proposal to the school board at its March 10 meeting, Olien said.
Construction on the campus is about 70 percent done, with most of the major exterior work completed, he said. The theater and the gymnasium may not be ready for the first day of school but should be finished within a couple of weeks of opening. Theater and physical education classrooms will be ready to go, he said.
The funding issue has not caused any significant delays, and as long as the financing goes through, Murrieta Mesa should be ready to open on time, he said.
-- MICHELLE L. KLAMPE Ruff: Slimmer chance of stimulus funds for school consolidation-- South Hill Enterprise Virginia: February 24, 2009 [ abstract] State Sen. Frank Ruff, Jr. (R - 15th District) said the chances are now “slimmer” that Mecklenburg County may receive funding from the federal economic stimulus package to help build a new consolidated high school/middle school complex.
The January vote to move toward consolidating the county’s two high schools and two middle schools into one complex built in the central part of the county was based partly, according to the Mecklenburg County School Board, on the idea that they would need to be ready to partake in funds that would become available through the Economic Recovery Package of 2009, proposed by President Barack Obama, which was passed last week in an altered, $780 billion form.
As a member of the School Board’s Facilities Steering Committee, Ruff had encouraged the committee and the School Board to move forward with a commitment to build the complex, thus ensuring a place in line to receive funding in the proposed stimulus package. He stressed the need for the school system to provide the students with schools that were not 50 or more years old.
The Enterprise asked Ruff late last week if there was any part of the stimulus package that would benefit Mecklenburg County schools. He said, “At this point the chances are slimmer than I had hoped.
“The picture is clearer than it was a week or two ago but it still is not clearly in focus at this time,” Ruff said.
“Some of the money that is earmarked for Virginia might still help Mecklenburg; therefore, I hope the county will move forward in the planning. Gov. Kaine will control some of the money to focus on some things. The xounty can and should, in my opinion, propose that Mecklenburg should be one of those places.
“There are various alternatives that could help,” Ruff said. “One would be some capital money for the project. Other possibilities might be low interest loans. “
Keyword Search Tags: Stimulus, arra
-- Lisa Andrews Wise County school projects expected to create 500 jobs-- Kingsport Times News Tennessee: February 24, 2009 [ abstract] Wise County’s high school projects could support 500 or more local jobs during construction, a Roanoke construction management executive told the Wise County School Board on Monday.
Rick Ott, a senior executive vice president at M.B. Kahn Construction Co. Inc., said choice of management methods before and during construction of three new high schools could have a positive impact on local contractors and businesses. Ott presented five management options, some that maximized the ability of local businesses to become a part of the construction process.
Choice of a management firm to ride herd on costs and construction schedules boils down to “hire professionals,” Ott said, “and hold the professionals’ feet to the fire.”
The board hired M.B. Kahn last month to oversee the first phase of the consolidation program, primarily assessment of potential building sites.
The county is pursuing closure of its six existing high schools in favor of three modern facilities. School division administrators hope to present a detailed consolidation plan to the Board of Supervisors this summer for approval of a finance strategy.
M.B. Kahn engineers will survey potential sites beginning Tuesday and will provide the board with site development cost projects and total project cost estimates. The board will later consider hiring a construction management firm to oversee the entire program from planning through construction.
During Monday’s workshop session at St. Paul High School, School Superintendent Jeff Perry said discussions continue with Norton over that school division’s interest in joining the county’s consolidation. Potential costs in bringing Norton’s two dozen high school teachers into the county system was discussed Monday with Norton Superintendent Lee Brannon, Perry said, as well as other revenue forecasts should such a merger occur.
-- Steve Igo Loudoun Aims to Make Most of Stimulus-- Washington Post Virginia: February 22, 2009 [ abstract] Loudoun County officials are combing through the $787 billion federal stimulus package signed into law last week to see what public infrastructure projects in the county might be eligible.
The county's share of the school and transportation funds in the package remains unclear because the rules for distributing the money to localities have not been finalized, Loudoun officials said.
The rules for energy-saving projects are known, and officials are hopeful that Loudoun will get at least $1 million of that aid. The county can apply directly to the federal government for a share of a $3.2 billion energy efficiency and conservation block grant. Some of the grant money is set aside for the 10 most populous localities in each state, a category that includes Loudoun.
A Feb. 11 county staff report based on the House version of the stimulus package, which allocated $3.5 billion for the energy program, estimated Loudoun's share at $1.6 million.
The wish list approved by supervisors last month totaled $744 million and included many road and school construction projects, such as $91.2 million to widen Route 659 between Route 7 and the Dulles Greenway, $83 million to build Tuscarora High School and $70.6 million to build Woodgrove High School.
County staff members said they expect to have enough information by next month to brief supervisors on which projects are likely to receive federal stimulus funds.
"We're trying to align our wish list with what may be available," said Assistant County Administrator John Sandy. "We're going to dust off our project list and see if any of that stuff lines up."
State and local governments in Virginia are expecting to get about $4 billion from the stimulus package. Education-related aid will most likely be allocated through the state and include some funding for school construction, Sandy said.
"That's one of the things that we have to basically look into, to determine how the monies are going to be arrayed," Sandy said. "We're going to work with the state."
Loudoun's share of transportation aid will depend on whether the money goes through the state or is distributed directly to regional planning districts, Sandy said, adding that Loudoun might fare better with the latter arrangement.
"We might be able to be a little more competitive [in Northern Virginia] as opposed to the state," he said.
Keyword Search Tags: Stimulus, arra, energy
-- Kafia A. Hosh New study on school infrastructure could influence Obama's economic stimulus plan-- University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee National: February 22, 2009 [ abstract] Milwaukee faculty member is co-author of a recently released national study that could become a resource for President Barack Obama in considering improvements to school facilities. Faith E. Crampton, associate professor in the UWM School of Education, wrote the report, "School Infrastructure Funding Need," for the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The AFT released the report, along with another on "green" school buildings, in December and sent both to Obama's transition planning team. Part of the president's stimulus plan to jump-start the economy includes improvements to the physical and technological infrastructure of U.S. schools.
"It's pretty exciting stuff to have one's research gain the attention of national policymakers," says Crampton. "One of the reasons you do the research is the hope that it will have an impact."
The 82-page report, co-authored with David C. Thompson, professor and chair of the Department of Educational Leadership at Kansas State University, is an update of a 2001 state-by-state assessment the two researchers did on the need for school repairs, remodeling and rebuilding. That report also resulted in their 2003 book, "Saving America's School Infrastructure."
Crampton says she's "cautiously optimistic" that the Obama plan may provide vital aid to improve school facilities. She hopes that the study, which documents infrastructure funding needs in each of the 50 states, will be helpful in the planning process because it provides the numbers policymakers require. A number of prominent politicians, including Sen. Edward Kennedy, who wrote a foreword for her earlier book on school infrastructure, strongly support efforts to fund much-needed school repairs, remodeling and rebuilding.
Some economic researchers report that every dollar spent on such projects can generate almost another dollar in local spending.
"It could have a very positive effect on the economies of communities and even potentially help with property-tax burdens for school facilities."
The report to the AFT recommends that federal, state and local officials work in partnership to improve school facilities, and calls for immediate federal action through direct funding to address inadequacies and inequalities in school facilities attended by low-income children.
-- Staff Writer Revisions likely for Blairsville-Saltsburg School project-- BLAIRSVILLE DISPATCH Pennsylvania: February 20, 2009 [ abstract] It appears likely that the Blairsville-Saltsburg School Board will need to make revisions to planning documents for its proposed K-12 Saltsburg building project. But school board President Beverly Caranese said updated information required by state education officials won't alter the board's plan to construct an elementary addition to the Saltsburg Middle/High School and shouldn't delay a projected start of construction this summer.
"This is just a little delay," she said. "Our project is still going to be on time.
"It's just about getting more information to the PDE (Pennsylvania Department of Education). It's not going to change the result of us moving forward with the project."
Over the past few months, the school board has submitted several parts in a series of PlanCon planning documents for the proposed $26.2 million building project that are required for the work to be eligible for partial state reimbursement.
The PDE initially approved PlanCon parts A and B for the project, but put the project on hold and has been re-examining the plans since receiving a written complaint filed by the citizens' group Reclaim Our Communities (ROC). The group has argued the project is too costly and will create more space than is needed for the district's declining student population. In the complaint, ROC alleged that a district-wide feasibility study required as a supporting document for PlanCon Part A was incomplete.
In a Feb. 10 e-mail to district officials, PDE architectural consultant James E. Vogel, in fact, cited seven areas of the study where the state requires additional information or explanation.
Among information found lacking or incomplete was: an overview of factors that impact the district's facilities, such as geographically separate population centers on the Saltsburg and Blairsville ends of the district; special facility needs relating to educational programs for all district buildings, not just Saltsburg area schools; a review of methodologies used to create enrollment projections cited in the study; an analysis of each district school building's student capacity as it relates to educational programs; an analysis of each building's physical condition; estimates of costs to upgrade each building to current standards; and an analysis of building construction options.
-- Jeff Himler Schools mull overhaul of construction policy-- Explore Howard County Maryland: February 19, 2009 [ abstract] As Glenelg High School was renovated and a new wing added to the building in recent years, students commonly complained of headaches, nausea and asthma problems they believed to be caused by noise, dust and fumes from the construction, according to parent Johnnie Nussbaum.
As the school's PTSA president, Nussbaum wants those kinds of distractions minimized or eliminated, she told the Howard County Board of Education at a public hearing last week.
"In order to fix the problems that occurred during our construction and renovation project we need a policy ... that clearly outlines all the preventative safety measures needed to ensure the least amount of negative impact on the people in the building," she told the board.
Nussbaum was one of eight people who testified before the school board Feb. 12 regarding proposed revisions to the school system's construction policy. The policy sets forth guidelines for school planning and construction projects. Others who spoke about the policy urged the board to consider making all of its construction projects meet environmentally conscious design standards. Such projects can be certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System.
Although the board was slated to vote on the construction policy March 12, last week's public hearing convinced officials to consider additional revisions, board chairman Frank Aquino said, adding that he expects the policy to be presented to the board again later this spring.
Work raises health concerns
With more and more school renovation projects on the horizon, the work cannot always be limited to the summer months. When renovation occurs during the school year, safety standards must be heightened, according to Elizabeth Edsall Kromm, a representative of the county Health Department who testified on behalf of county Health Officer Dr. Peter Beilenson.
"The Health Department firmly believes that school construction and renovation policies, and procedures must be designed and implemented in a manner that protects the health and safety of our students and staff," she said. "The school environment should not interfere with our students' focus on learning."
-- Jennifer Choi Green’ school moves forward-- BrooklynPapers.com New York: January 29, 2009 [ abstract] A city plan to build an elementary school at the site of Bay Ridge’s now-demolished “Green Church” advanced last week, thanks to a nearly unanimous vote by Community Board 10.
The Jan. 26 vote backed the city’s plan for a 680-seat primary school in a new four- or five-story building that would rise from the rubble of the emerald-hued Bay Ridge United Methodist Church at the corner of Ovington and Fourth Avenues.
The church’s congregation tore down its verdant house of worship in October to make room for a smaller, easier to maintain church funded by pending $9.75-million sale of its land.
Developer Abe Betesh initially said he would construct 72 condominiums on the site, but later changed his mind, hawking the site as perfect for a school.
The city can not formally acquire the land from Betesh until the site goes through a public-review process that includes a traffic study and a signoff by the City Council and the Department of City planning.
-- Ben Muessig New Study on School infrastructure Influences Obama's Economic Stimulus Plan -- EurekaAlert National: January 22, 2009 [ abstract] A University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee faculty member is co-author of a recently released national study that could become a resource for President Barack Obama in considering improvements to school facilities. Faith E. Crampton, associate professor in the UWM School of Education, wrote the report, "School Infrastructure Funding Need," for the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The AFT released the report, along with another on "green" school buildings, in December and sent both to Obama's transition planning team. Part of the president's stimulus plan to jump-start the economy includes improvements to the physical and technological infrastructure of U.S. schools.
"It's pretty exciting stuff to have one's research gain the attention of national policymakers," says Crampton. "One of the reasons you do the research is the hope that it will have an impact."
The 82-page report, co-authored with David C. Thompson, professor and chair of the Department of Educational Leadership at Kansas State University, is an update of a 2001 state-by-state assessment the two researchers did on the need for school repairs, remodeling and rebuilding. That report also resulted in their 2003 book, "Saving America's School Infrastructure."
Crampton says she's "cautiously optimistic" that the Obama plan may provide vital aid to improve school facilities. She hopes that the study, which documents infrastructure funding needs in each of the 50 states, will be helpful in the planning process because it provides the numbers policymakers require. A number of prominent politicians, including Sen. Edward Kennedy, who wrote a foreword for her earlier book on school infrastructure, strongly support efforts to fund much-needed school repairs, remodeling and rebuilding.
Some economic researchers report that every dollar spent on such projects can generate almost another dollar in local spending. "It could have a very positive effect on the economies of communities and even potentially help with property-tax burdens for school facilities." The report to the AFT recommends that federal, state and local officials work in partnership to improve school facilities, and calls for immediate federal action through direct funding to address inadequacies and inequalities in school facilities attended by low-income children.
-- Faith Crampton Stamford, CT OKs Funds to Study Schools' Buildings Eligible for Federal Funding-- The Advocate Connecticut: January 12, 2009 [ abstract] The Board of Finance has approved a $246,000 contract to assess the condition of nearly all school buildings. Members voted 5-0 to OK the pact after questioning the need for it. School projects are included on a list that could be eligible for federal economic stimulus funding, members said.
Under the contract, EMG Engineering & Environmental Consulting Services of Hunt Valley, Md., would identify which school buildings need windows, code compliance work, roof repairs and more, so the Board of Education can prioritize capital needs. Now, when education officials go to the Board of Finance and the planning Board to ask for money for projects, "we deal with old information," William Dunn, chief operating officer for the schools, told finance board members. The last full audit was completed in 2000 and updated in 2003, though the extent of the update was not clear.
The Board of Education prepares its operating budget, but its capital needs are folded in with the city's capital budget, subject to approval from the planning Board, the Board of Finance and the Board of Representatives. The city engineering department works with the Board of Education to set priorities for school projects.
Seventeen of the city's 20 school buildings were included on a list of projects that was compiled in case money becomes available through the economic revitalization plan proposed by President-elect Barack Obama, who takes office Jan. 20. The Board of Education did not contribute to the list; it was compiled by engineering, Starr said. Louizos asked that the study be used to maximize the city's chances of using any money it gets for school projects. Preliminary results from the audit are expected by February, Dunn said.
-- Wynne Parry Wisconsin Schools Tighten Security Measures -- Wisconsin State Journal Wisconsin: January 11, 2009 [ abstract] The Verona School District is planning to become the first in Dane County to lock all doors at some schools and require visitors to appear on camera to receive permission to enter, and the first to require that high school students display identification badges at all times. Many students support the moves, even as others question whether they're really needed in the community that calls itself "Hometown, USA." In Middleton, educators are deep into discussions that could lead to asking taxpayers for $3.5 million for cameras, other equipment and remodeling projects to tighten security at their 10 schools. Madison school officials have begun a major review of security measures that by spring could lead to proposals to control the public's access to that district's 48 schools. These are signs that despite tight budgets, Wisconsin educators are pushing ahead in their efforts to keep schools safe — efforts that took on added urgency with the 2006 slaying of Weston High School principal John Klang by a student, and other tragedies across the nation.
Increasingly, local educators are banding together and working with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and emergency response officials to devise and coordinate school safety strategies — plans that contain growing numbers of cameras and locks, and state-of-the-art architecture requiring visitors to pass through a front office. But there are limits to the gadgets and designs. Experts agree that the key to school safety remains building strong personal connections between students, parents and school employees.
-- Andy Hall Community task force to talk school facility options-- Terre Haute Tribune Star Indiana: January 10, 2009 [ abstract] Both a community task force looking at school facilities and the Vigo County School Board will meet Monday in the administration building.
The facilities task force will meet at 5 p.m. and the School Board at 7 p.m.
The task force, which is assisting with the development of a 10-year school corporation facilities master plan, eventually will provide recommendations to the School Board. Schmidt Associates has been hired to oversee the planning process.
At its last meeting Dec. 8, the task force heard three options that look at redistricting, possible school closings and school renovations.
On Monday, Deb Kunce, program manager with Schmidt Associates, will provide more information on the impact of closing school buildings, if that were to occur.
The three facility options were proposed as starting points for discussion. The task force could recommend one of the options, none of the options or something in between, Kunce said.
One option (Option S) calls for closing three schools that have significant facility needs and are under-used: West Vigo Elementary, Chauncey Rose Middle School and Booker T. Washington High School. It also calls for relocating the administration building.
In addition, it calls for renovation of 13 schools with significant facility needs.
Option A calls for “no renovations and redistricting only,” while Option Z calls for renovation of 17 buildings and no school closings.
-- Staff report Roseville board to vote on plans for sixth high school-- Sacramento Bee California: January 06, 2009 [ abstract] Roseville Joint Union High School District trustees are expected tonight to hire an architect to design a sixth high school campus for an area of the district with few homes and few students.
Although the district was forced to make significant budget reductions this school year and faces a potential cut of $3 million from its 2009-2010 budget, a $115 million school construction bond approved by voters two years ago can't be used as a budget bailout.
By law, it can only be used to build school facilities.
One thing is certain, district board member Garry Genzlinger said, "There will be a sixth high school eventually."
Such are the challenges school districts face planning for the future in the midst of a unpredictable economy.
"It's all about housing starts. Development is slow right now," said district Superintendent Tony Monetti.
In January 2007, hoping to get ahead of the growth curve, the district created a school facilities improvement district to tax future property owners for a new high school in a sparsely developed portion of Placer County.
Later that year, the handful of registered voters living within the improvement district approved a bond to help fund the new school.
The final tally in the special election was 11 to 1 in favor.
The improvement district is anticipated to someday have 25,000 homes.
However, with the sluggish housing market, homes aren't popping up as quickly as anticipated.
-- Walter Yost Schools Vital to Obama's Plan to Stimulate Economy -- The Sun California: January 05, 2009 [ abstract] President-elect Barack Obama can't fix every leaky roof and busted boiler in the nation's schools. But educators say his sweeping school-modernization program - if he spends enough - could jump-start student achievement. More kids than ever are crammed into aging, run-down schools that need an estimated $255billion in repairs, renovations or construction. Although Obama is likely to ask Congress for only a fraction of that, education experts said it still could make a big difference. "With limited funding under the state-funded programs, any funding or money is welcome," said Craig Misso, director of facilities planning and operations for the Ontario-Montclair School District. "We would envision its use to augment the district's current facility plan as well as expand the district's efforts in energy conservation and use of green technology." Kathy Kinley, former Chaffey Joint Union High School District board member and former president of the California School Boards Association, said, "Any additional help will be more than welcome because we all know schools are used and they're used heavily." Kinley also said it will be interesting to see how the proposed modernization program will be funded. If the state has to match the money, modernization could be jeopardized because the state has announced it cannot sell its bonds to raise the money, Kinley said.
Educators also caution that throwing huge sums of money at programs that haven't proved to be effective, such as the federal "E-Rate" program that gives technology discounts to schools, won't help student achievement or the economy. Obama is promising to give every student access to the Internet - the federal "E-Rate" program. Outgoing Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said billions already have been spent through "E-Rate." "It's made very little difference in enhancing student achievement," she said. "We should never spend money in the public sector, especially in education, unless we're getting something for it. Unless it's to some good end," Spellings said. "I commend him (Obama) for taking that on. That's another very ripe area. But not unless it's moving the needle for kids."
-- Staff Writers Full Steam Ahead in '09 for School Construction in Hamilton, Ohio -- Journal News Ohio: December 29, 2008 [ abstract] Through ongoing and new construction scheduled in 2009, residents all over the Hamilton City School District will see their tax dollars at work. Four elementary schools are scheduled to open in 2009; four more in 2010. "Given the excellent level of planning and design that has gone into these buildings, the taxpayers and students are getting an excellent value for their investment, time and money," said Jim Boerke, district director of planning, operations and construction management.
The top priority for new construction in the district is to improve the learning environment for student success, officials say. "When we open all of these new buildings, it's not going to be the same old thing," said board President Dr. Glenn Stitsinger. "Structure of the new buildings is very important but how and what students are taught is more important. "The curriculum is going to be vastly improved due to technology and new expectations for both students and staff." State-of-the-art science and computer labs and media centers will be obvious to students and parents visiting the new schools.
What may not be as obvious is a number of energy cost cutting initiatives, which include an HVAC system with high efficiency mechanical systems. Energy recovery wheels which allow for heat and cooling energy to be recovered as air is expelled from the building and that energy that is recovered is able to treat the fresh air required for ventilation, which reduces energy required to treat outdoor air by 70 percent. Demand ventilation, which will allow officials to limit the ventilation air to only what is required for the present occupants. Occupancy sensors, which control lighting in all spaces and turns lights off when there are no occupants. A daylight harvesting system — which maximizes the access to daylight and minimizes the need for artificial light — will be provided in all classrooms. It includes sloped ceilings to introduce natural lighting deep into space, and daylight sensors and lighting fixtures that dim automatically according to the amount of natural light. "All of which creates an excellent learning environment," Boerke said.
-- Linda Ebbing Director of Operations Working Magic and Miracles for Carson City Children -- Nevada Appeal Nevada: December 24, 2008 [ abstract] Job performance is based on results. Take St. Nick for instance. Tonight is the one night that his job performance is rated, despite the other 364 days and nights of planning, preparation, and personnel (elf management). Then there’s Mike Mitchell, the soon-to-be-retired director of operations for the Carson City School District. Mike has been working magic and miracles for Carson City’s children, parents and taxpayers for 16 years. Trained as an architect, and gifted with communication skills and common sense, Mike had what the school district needed to remodel its facilities and build credibility with taxpayers. If you think it’s hard to deliver toys to the children of the world in one night (and not just any toy will do) then you know Mike Mitchell and Santa Claus have a lot in common.
Mike has delivered every day for Carson City’s schools and students. Mike has cared for the facilities of the school district by making buildings more energy efficient, cost effective and conducive to education. He earmarked money for capital improvements to replace roofs, resurface parking lots and remodel bathrooms. He has made the best use of Carson’s aging school facilities by extending their life through scheduled maintenance and extreme makeovers.
He has had a love-hate relationship with portable classrooms. Portables expand school capacity without the cost and permanency of bricks and mortar. But they drain precious dollars that could be used for a permanent solution, and are susceptible to mold and weather damage. Mike now knows more about mold than an insurance claims adjustor, after dealing with the portable classroom mold crisis that ultimately resulted in an innovative expansion to Bordewich-Bray Elementary School.
-- Abby Johnson D.C. Solicits Development For 11 Former School Sites -- Washington Post District of Columbia: December 23, 2008 [ abstract] The administration of D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty said that it is seeking to redevelop 11 now-shuttered public schools, inviting developers to submit proposals that can include retail space, offices and high-priced and affordable housing. The schools are located across the city and include Stevens Elementary in Foggy Bottom, opened in 1868 to educate the children of freed slaves; Hine Junior High on Capitol Hill; and Randle Highlands Elementary in Southeast Washington. "We have a rare opportunity to bring transformative projects that will improve neighborhoods across the city," Neil O. Albert, deputy mayor for planning and economic development, said in a statement. "We are looking for capable, creative partners with great ideas for these sites." But the initiative has drawn criticism from some schools advocates, who say it squanders valuable public buildings that could be used for charter schools or other educational purposes. "I question whether this is good academic policy and whether it is sound economic policy," said D.C. State Board of Education member Mary Lord. The future of the schools has been under discussion since the end of the 2007-08 academic year, when Fenty (D) and Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee shut down 23 buildings. They said that declining enrollment had left the schools underused and that the money needed to keep them open could be better spent elsewhere.
-- Paul Schwartzman and Bill Turque School Design Can Help Spark Student Curiosity.
-- Working Waterfront Maine: December 18, 2008 [ abstract] It isn't just for the sake of doing business that architect Steve Blatt wishes there were lots of island schools off the coast of Maine. After designing the North Haven Community School, which opened this fall, he is now planning the renovations and new construction for the Islesboro Central School. That experience is making him realize the significance of these institutions in an island community. Typically the largest of all civic buildings on an island, and considered the most important, island schools provide many facilities also shared with the public, perhaps offering a fitness center, gymnasium, library, music and art studios, gallery space, auditorium, meeting rooms, computer technology, cafeteria and kitchen. Schools can offer residents a place to shoot hoops, compete at volleyball, attend cultural performances, enjoy a fundraiser, or share a potluck. But most importantly, as Blatt sees it, these schools make islands a viable place for families to live.
As a sailor who knows the coast, and with a home on Vinalhaven, Blatt feels comfortable working with island communities. And he sees one of his initial tasks in designing their schools as getting to know the community. He especially feels that staff who will work and teach in a school, and not just administrators, should be involved in articulating what a new building should provide. Blatt says his goal as architect is "to make a school the best it can be for everybody." He believes the building needs to be welcoming and available to the public and also serve as a source of civic pride. He hopes his designs draw on the ambience and the architecture of the community, at the same time slightly reinterpreting some aspect of that look. He calls it "edgy;" and that could be interpreted to mean that some slight variation of a familiar theme offers a fresh, new perspective.
-- Tina Cohen Dallas School District's Construction Bonds OK Despite State Backing Removal -- Dallas Morning News Texas: December 17, 2008 [ abstract] The Dallas Independent School District's recent sale of $400 million in construction bonds won't be affected by a state decision to suspend its backing of school bonds. But the suspension, which is tied to the poor economy, could put at least 20 districts that are planning bond elections and several others in the process of selling bonds in a bind.
The Allen and Keller ISDs could be affected, a Texas Education Association spokeswoman said. The TEA said school bonds could be guaranteed again as soon as next month – although that depends on the market. The state guarantee helps lower interest costs on construction projects. The Dallas ISD sold its bonds the first week of December, allowing it to move ahead on a $1.35 billion construction program. The district does not plan another bond sale soon, so the state's decision will affect Dallas only if the suspension is prolonged, spokesman Jon Dahlander said. But the suspension might mean the Allen ISD has to sell its bonds at a higher interest rate, said Mark Tarpley, assistant superintendent for finance. At this point, though, he said, the state's decision has minimal impact because the bond market was already weak.
-- Kent Fischer and Matthew Haag County to Seek Less From State in School Construction Funding-- Washington Post Maryland: November 20, 2008 [ abstract] The Prince George's County Council voted last week to cut $49 million from the amount it will seek from the state for school construction, saying the Board of Education's original $137.5 million request could not be justified in the current economic climate.
The cuts, proposed by County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D), eliminated construction money for replacing Fairmont Heights and Oxon Hill high schools and funding for a new auditorium at Laurel High School. planning funding for the schools remains.
"To come down with $130 million, particularly in this economic climate . . . we thought we should come back with something more reasonable," said Jonathan R. Seeman, the county's management and budget director.
School board members attended the meeting en masse, but that didn't sway the County Council, which voted unanimously to shrink the school construction request to $88.5 million.
-- Nelson Hernandez Senators seek input on school construction priorities-- Gazette Maryland: November 20, 2008 [ abstract] Two state senators from Prince George's County are proposing legislation that would require them to sign off on future requests for state construction money, citing concerns over changes to school building priorities and communication with other county departments.
The legislation would require the county executive and County Council to get approval from the county school board and state House and Senate chairmen before submitting annual requests to the state for school construction funding. Currently, the County Council and county executive submit Prince George's funding requests for school construction based on recommendations from the county school board — state representatives are not involved in formulating the list.
Sens. Douglas J.J. Peters (D-Dist. 23) of Bowie and C. Anthony Muse (D-Dist. 26) of Fort Washington say legislative leaders should be involved in the process before the list is submitted to the state.
"What we're trying to do is get everyone around the table," said Peters, who chairs the delegation of senators with Muse. "[The state] has to fund it, and we rely on the school board to tell us what they need. There should be much more consensus."
While supporters say the proposed legislation would help unite the county so that legislators will all know which projects to push for funding in the General Assembly, others say that involving another level of politicians creates potential for more disputes in the realm of school planning.
-- Daniel Valentine Across Maryland, a Call for Classrooms with Walls -- Baltimore Sun Maryland: November 02, 2008 [ abstract] Crofton Woods Elementary is one of 34 Anne Arundel County schools without walls separating its classes. Now, county school leaders are planning to spend millions of dollars to construct real classrooms - joining school systems across the state in a multimillion-dollar mission to put to rest the '70s-era experiment of "open-space" schools. From the Eastern Shore to Western Maryland, students are still struggling to learn in classrooms without walls. And school systems are lining up for money to build walls. Anne Arundel County schools Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell designated $5 million in his recently proposed capital budget for construction at five elementary schools and is hoping to install so-called "open space enclosures" at five or six schools a year. Anne Arundel County school board member Eugene Peterson pushed successfully to bring the level of potential funding for the next fiscal year to $8 million. His daughter, now grown and teaching music at a county elementary school, attended Brock Ridge Elementary, an open-space school in the southern part of the county. "We put up with it," Peterson said. "She got good grades. She paid attention." But, he added: "The bottom line is: They're not, in my opinion, a good environment for learning. We tried that experiment. It didn't work."
-- Nicole Fuller L.A. Unified Seeks to Build Apartments on Campuses' Surplus Land -- Los Angeles Times California: November 01, 2008 [ abstract] The Los Angeles Unified School District is looking to develop low-cost apartments on as many as 12 campuses in an effort to help teachers find less expensive housing and live closer to their jobs. District officials have begun asking real estate developers to submit housing proposals on school campuses in Hollywood and Harbor Gateway and are reviewing other campuses where apartments could be built on surplus land. But the development plan is drawing fire from opponents of Measure Q, the district's $7-billion construction and repair bond issue on Tuesday's ballot. Critics contend that the district should not seek to increase property taxes to pay for new facilities if it has enough real estate to start housing its employees. "They're complaining that they have a lack of revenue and yet they don't do the obvious thing with surplus property, which is to sell it to the highest bidder in a way that wouldn't conflict with . . . a school," said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. Coupal said the district should stick to educating children. But L.A. Unified officials say the housing initiative will meet a critical need by creating apartments for school employees who are having trouble finding reasonably priced homes near their jobs.
District officials said they could save $20,000 each year in training costs by reducing the teacher attrition rate at three campuses. And they argue that Measure Q voters should be encouraged by the district's efforts to maximize its land holdings in a way that generates long-term rental income. "We're always trying to utilize our assets better," said John Creer, district director of planning and development. "But we're not doing it to the detriment of our core mission, which is to provide education." Measure Q is the district's fifth bond issue in 11 years. The measure includes at least $400 million for new schools and at least $450 million for the construction and expansion of charter schools.
-- David Zahniser San Juan School District Starts Wave of New Projects as Construction Costs Fall
-- Sacramento Bee California: October 28, 2008 [ abstract] San Juan Unified School District broke ground last week on a $4.3 million gym at Mesa Verde High School, the district's first major construction in 15 years. Come December, the district will start building another gym at Del Campo High School, and in June, construction will begin on a brand new library at Mesa Verde. Turns out, the bottom falling out of the housing industry is good for districts such as San Juan that have passed school construction bonds but not yet used them up. The gym would have cost about 25 percent more to build just a few years ago, said Don Myers, the district's senior director of facilities and planning. "We're seeing really hungry contractors right now."
Robert Pierce, associate superintendent for facilities and planning in Elk Grove Unified School District, said districts are experiencing a favorable climate for construction bids. "Our bids are coming in at far less than our architects or engineers have estimated," Pierce said. "All of the sudden, contractors are sharpening their pencils because quite honestly people are hungry for money." Funding for the new San Juan buildings comes from a $350 million bond that voters approved in 2002. "We saw construction prices escalate after the bond passed in 2002," Myers said. "But because of the downturn in the economy for the last year now, as well as the downturn in housing market, we've actually gotten a very good price (on the gym construction)."
-- Melissa Nix Homebuilding slowdown a relief to school planners-- Examiner Maryland: October 23, 2008 [ abstract] Bad news for housing developers this year meant a small bit of relief for Montgomery County schools as enrollment numbers in the fastest-growing suburbs fell below expectations.
Over the past several years, the school system has had to funnel resources into booming towns like Clarksburg, where developers have built or are planning to build hundreds of new homes. The district has responded with plans for pricey new school buildings and an influx of teachers.
This year, though, Clarksburg Elementary had 69 fewer students than expected. Several miles away, Cedar Grove Elementary had 65 fewer than expected. Nearby Little Bennett Elementary, where most of the past growth has been concentrated, fell 47 students short of expectations.
“It’s somewhat good news,” said Bruce Crispell, the district’s senior planner. Because of the lower numbers, Crispell said fewer students would be affected by boundary changes to take effect next fall upon the opening of a new school in Clarksburg.
For the past two years, the district and area parents have gone back and forth trying to determine where schools belong and who should attend them, based largely on growth projections made before the economy’s downturn.
Chris McDermott, a Parent-Teacher Association parent at Little Bennett Elementary, said the most important factor has been stabilizing the boundaries so that kids who moved into the school when it opened in 2006 won’t have to turn around and move to another school next year.
Superintendent Jerry Weast’s plan for the boundaries, released last week, make the best of a challenging puzzle, McDermott said.
At Clarksburg Elementary, however, PTA President Crystal Crigger worries underenrollment will have negative effects on classroom size.
-- Leah Fabel The Most Expensive High School in LA's History Finally Opens
-- LAist California: October 19, 2008 [ abstract] There was the ribbon cutting and grand opening of a school that has gone down on the record books of local history thanks to its years of woefully planning and eventually enormous price tag. Yes, Belmont/Roybal Learning Center is up and running. The school is "one of 74 new schools completed as part of LAUSD's $12.6 billion new school construction program to end involuntary busing and year-round calendars, and to provide every student a seat in a neighborhood school" and is both a crowning jewel and a thorn in the side for the massive district. The project started twenty years ago, but hit a major snag in the 1990s when it was determined that the site had soil contamination, described as grounds beleaguered by "old oil wells, and potentially harmful gases -- methane and hydrogen sulfide -- associated with petroleum were seeping to the surface." The LAUSD did not give up, however, and sought bids from private companies to address the issue and construction moved forward. They hit another setback a few years ago when earthquakes destroyed 60% of the buildings. After pouring more time, money, and other resources, the school was completed and opened for matriculation last month not as Belmont as intended, but re-named to honor the late Congressman Edward R. Roybal, and set up as a "learning community" as opposed to a more traditional high school.
-- Lindsay Williams-Ross District ponders facility needs study
-- Wisconsin Dells Events Wisconsin: October 14, 2008 [ abstract] The Wisconsin Dells School District Buildings and Grounds Committee decided Tuesday to let a substitute teacher and former school board member present his building assessment services to the school board at Monday's meeting.
Bill Anderson touted his six years of experience as a district administrator in Berlin where he led building addition projects of elementary and middle schools, as well as oversaw construction of a new high school. The experiences qualify him for the task of creating a study of the Dells School District's future building needs, he said.
The committee's decision came after a September meeting when the full school board discussed building additions at Spring Hill School, possibly constructing a new high school and perhaps closing Lake Delton Elementary School.
Anderson said he's opposed building expansion projects in the past because the needs assessments for them haven't been sufficient.
He said he brings a certain mind set about conducting the task.
"I think you need to look at your present facilities, their usage. I think you have to look at trends and growth in your population. I think you have to start talking and planning for further curriculum needs," he said, referring to initiatives like starting kindergarten for 4-year-olds.
The district will need to think about its long-range costs to keep buildings open.
He said his assessment, which he estimated to cost $20,000 for four months work, would include observations on individual classrooms, the number of students in each grade level, square footage of rooms, the percentage of the day classrooms would be occupied and the amount of instructional equipment, such as computers, that each room is expected to house.
It would also look at gyms, hallways, lunch rooms, kitchens, office space, technical education rooms and locker space.
His assessment would include information on the district's ability to maintain its current buildings, as well.
-- Anna Krejci School Board Faces Tough Decisions On Future Construction -- Chipley Florida Online Newspaper Florida: October 14, 2008 [ abstract] Because of shifting school population, state mandated pupil-teacher ratios, state regulations governing almost all aspect of school construction, an unwillingness to change historic divisions between Vernon and Chipley schools and, most importantly, difficulty in accessing adequate funds, the Washington County School Board listened to Staffer Joe Taylor describe the problems, the possible difficulties and the costs facing the board for future school building construction.
Taylor (shown at left) reported that the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) is planning to visit Washington County the week of March 16, 2009 to check on the FISH validation and the week of July 27, 2009 for a School District Survey. These events triggered the workshop meeting Oct. 13th.
Some of the options for future construction are:
* A new school building to replace Kate Smith Elementary almost completely. Only the Kindergarten and 3rd Grade Wing would be retained per FDOE requirements. Problems with funding and scheduling of construction versus continued school usage crop up.
* Move the 5th Graders at Vernon Middle School, which is considered overly full by FDOE, back to
Vernon Elementary School, or in lieu of that add several classroom additions to VMS. Then the board
would like to match the move at Chipley , moving the 5th Graders back to Kate Smith Elementary, which would overload that facility.
* Build a new school facility on the newly acquired land in Sunny Hills on Dumajack Road. If historic bus
routes are kept this would remove a substantial part of Vernon students and only a few Chipley students.
-- John V Foster High school site plan almost done-- Daily News Transcript Massachusetts: October 13, 2008 [ abstract] Architects working on the design of the proposed new high school have nearly finalized a site plan for the building, parking lots and access roads.
The High School Working Group will meet Monday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. at the Police and Fire station's community room to go over the plan in detail and possibly get a final approval from town officials.
Working Group Chairman Dick Kief said Friday the plan, which has the proposed new 227,500 square-foot school being built behind the existing structure on Nichols Street, has been studied by a number of different town officials and committees.
Kief said he wants to get the plan finalized as soon as possible to bring it to the planning Board for the necessary permits, a process that is scheduled to begin Nov. 24.
Kief said he might also have an interior plan for consideration.
"Hopefully we'll have that done - the architects are working on that now - but I don't know if it will be ready," Kief said.
Kief said the current site plan is a good one.
"The working group is in consensus that this plan meets all the various requirements from safety and traffic flow points of view," said Kief, who said the plan will also leave the proposed new school with more parking spots than the existing facility, which has 244.
-- Brian Falla Camden makes case for better schools-- Cherry Hill Courier Post New Jersey: October 09, 2008 [ abstract] Before a powerful New Jersey Senate Subcommittee on School Facilities and Construction, 17-year-old Zakia Boone articulated the clearest vision Wednesday for the future of Camden High School.
Boone, a senior at the school, said she wanted the 90-year-old Castle on the Hill -- a nickname for Camden High School -- to remain standing and possibly be used for administration.
Then she looked up at the subcommittee chairwoman, state Sen. Dana Redd, D-Camden, as if she were Santa Claus and proceeded with her wish list for a new Camden High School.
For academics, the new high school should have dedicated wings concentrating in English, math and science. Facilities should include a bigger gymnasium and locker room, swimming pool, school store, cafeteria with food court, better libraries and computer centers. An indoor and outdoor track wouldn't be out of question either, Boone said.
"I know some of you may say this seems a bit too much, but this is not even half of what I want to see," Boone said with a smile. "I am only asking this because this will affect my children."
Boone's comments came during a nearly four-hour public hearing about how to allocate the $3.9 billion the state approved for new school construction. Most of it, $2.9 billion, is intended for the former Abbott districts. The remaining $1 billion will be granted to non-Abbott districts and county vocational schools whose projects are eligible for partial funding.
Camden's share of funds from the state's School Development Authority is roughly $200 million -- $110 million for Camden High School, $42 million for Pyne Poynt Middle School and $45 million for Lanning Square Elementary School, according to the latest planning estimates from the SDA. Gloucester City is also slated for a new middle school for $66 million.
-- JOSEPH GIDJUNIS Work on 10-year facilities plan begins in CASD-- Daily Courier Pennsylvania: October 08, 2008 [ abstract] Almost 200 parents, educators and taxpayers attended a public input session Tuesday sponsored by MGT of America regarding a 10-year facilities master plan.
Yesterday's meeting allowed the audience to vote electronically on a series of questions. They then broke into small groups with trained facilitators to discuss answers and concerns about the district. The community input will be included in the master plan that MGT will present at a December meeting.
The meeting is one part of the Tallahassee, Fla.-based company's approach to facilities planning. MGT also is performing a four-point building assessment, site condition, educational suitability and technology readiness.
Ed Humble, project director, said the study includes building capacity and utilization, demographics and enrollment, community collaboration, facilities master planning and bond preparation support services.
-- Judy Kroeger Fuel Cell System Approved At Connecticut High School -- Hartford Courant Connecticut: September 24, 2008 [ abstract] Voters overwhelmingly approved authorizing the city to spend $1.3 million in grants it received to pay for a fuel cell energy system and emergency generator at the new Middletown High School. The approval allows officials to use the money to pay for a hydrogen fuel cell that will supply a portion of the school's electrical power needs and a two-megawatt generator, costs that were not included in the $106.65 million school construction project voters had approved.
The referendum marks one of the final votes on the 282,000-square-foot high school, which sits on 44 acres off Route 3. The project took seven years for planning, approvals and construction, and it involved several votes on funding, a new construction company to build the school after the first was fired, and more money to get the job done.
During construction of the school, which opened last month, the state legislature came up with $1.3 million in grants to pay for the fuel cell system and the generator, sparing local taxpayers the additional expense. Although the additions did not cost the city more money, the grants did put the project above the $106.65 million voters had approved. The generator allows the school to be used as a shelter during natural disasters. It would be used to power food services, heat, air conditioning, hot water and lighting.
-- Peter Marteka Commissioner Best: School board is "planting flowers around the outhouse"-- Goldsboro News Argus North Carolina: September 07, 2008 [ abstract] Wayne County isn't fixing problems with schools, rather "it is planting flowers around the outhouse," Commissioner Jack Best said.
Best voiced concerns during the commission's Tuesday meeting that school press releases tout the number of high school graduates who go on to college, while little is heard about the ones who drop out of school.
"All they are doing is putting flowers around the outhouse," he said. "I am not sure how to get the public the truth about what is happening in our school system. It just bothers me."
Best's comments were sparked by a letter from the parent of a Spring Creek High School student.
Best said the parent wrote that while attending an open house at Spring Creek Elementary School, he had been told "our duly elected commissioners refused to allocate funds for further expansion," specifically a new gym at the high school.
The parent also complained that Spring Creek High School is actually two schools -- a high school and a middle school -- with an inadequate gym and "zero room" to grow. He added that commissioners appear more concerned about avoiding a property tax increase in an election year than planning for the future.
"They are blaming people who don't have any control of what the (school facilities) priorities are," Best said. "It is unbelievable people are still blaming county commissioners for no gym at Spring Creek High School, and it is not even on the (school board facilities) priority list."
The commission could solve the gym problem at Spring Creek and every other facilities' deficiency with one vote -- although taxpayers might not be too happy about the consequences, he added.
-- Steve Herring D.C. Council Chief Criticizes Quality of Some School Repairs-- Washington Post District of Columbia: August 21, 2008 [ abstract] The quality of this summer's $163 million in renovations to D.C. schools varies widely, with some projects suffering from time pressures, poor planning and inadequate oversight of contractors, Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray said yesterday.
In a letter to Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), Gray said council staff visits to 15 schools over the past two weeks show "major improvements" in areas such as roofing, science labs and auditoriums. But they also reveal problems that leave several schools "not learning ready," with classes scheduled to begin Monday, he said.
The letter from Gray (D) is the latest sign of deep official anxiety over whether city schools will open smoothly after a nine-week program of school closures and consolidations imposed by Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee. In June, Rhee closed 23 schools because of low enrollment and designated 28 others to receive thousands of children from the shuttered buildings. Some schools needed extensive renovation to accommodate pre-k and kindergarten students.
City officials acknowledged Tuesday that renovations at four schools that are scheduled to accept hundreds of additional students -- Browne Education Center, Emery Education Center and Eliot-Hine Middle School in Northeast, and Raymond Elementary in Northwest -- may not be finished by Monday.
Gray took no responsibility for the delays, although his concerns about the costs and education policy implications of the school realignment delayed council approval of some funding and slowed work at some sites for about two weeks.
His letter also cited Eliot-Hine and mentioned others schools that might encounter problems next week. He said asbestos abatement in the auditorium at Garnet-Patterson-Shaw Middle School in Northwest has prevented other renovations from going forward. "This is a de facto acknowledgement that the work cannot be finished before the start of school," Gray wrote. He also mentioned Francis-Stevens Learning Center, a newly consolidated Pre-K-8 school in Foggy Bottom, as "not learning ready."
-- Bill Turque Consultants will assess county school facilities-- Orange County Review California: August 14, 2008 [ abstract] At the beginning of the year, the board of supervisors, hoping to get a handle on future school facilities needs, agreed not to issue money for county schools’ capital improvements until they knew precisely how that money would be spent. So in order to determine priority of projects, school and county officials are bringing in a private consultant to perform an assessment.
“This assessment will involve evaluation of all the school facilities to identify condition, and if the facilities are appropriate for the desired uses, Orange County Director of Public Works Kurt Hildebrand said. “In addition, an assessment will be made of the schools’ programs, enrollment projections, etc., to aid in planning for future expansions and construction needs,” he added.
County government staff has already completed the request for proposals process, Hildebrand said, and will likely put BWCH Architects on the payroll in coming weeks. BWCH is a Richmond-based architecture and planning firm specializing in schools.
-- Hannah Wever School Principal Gets an Education in Planning New School
-- Virginian-Pilot Virginia: August 12, 2008 [ abstract] Linda Scott's office is filled with scraps of carpet. Thick books stuffed with blueprints are spread across the Oscar Smith Middle School principal's desk and samples of wood patterns are propped up next to piles of boxes. Scott isn't renovating her kitchen. The blueprints are for the new Oscar Smith Middle School being built next door. She's scoured them for ways to improve traffic flow between classes. She's picked through the samples to decide on carpeting and cabinets in the new classrooms. The boxes are needed because, in a few weeks, Scott will move out of her office and into a trailer on the site of the new school's construction.
They don't teach this stuff in principal school. "It's all by experience," Scott said with a sigh. Scott will take a year off from her day-to-day duties to get the new Oscar Smith Middle ready to open in the fall of 2009. Before Grassfield High School opened last fall, Principal Carolyn Bernard spent two years in planning mode.
As education grows more research-based, schools today are built with more input from the educators who actually see the buildings in action. Teachers in new schools fill out surveys on how they could be improved; principals help form committees that discuss school design.
-- Alicia P.Q. Wittmeyer Killingly school district planning $75,000 study of space needs-- Norwich Bulletin Connecticut: August 08, 2008 [ abstract] As work continues at the new high school site, the district is examining how its four existing schools will be affected by the opening of the new $81.2 million facility.
The Board of Education has hired Cambridge Associates of Massachusetts to conduct a space-needs assessment of its schools. The assessment will be completed in October. The $75,000 study will determine if any grades will shift to a different building after the new high school opens in 2010.
“We don’t know exactly how the new school will affect the make-up of the other schools yet,” Superintendent of Schools William Silver said. “A lot has changed since our last assessment about six years ago.”
Among those changes is an unexpected dip in projected enrollment, he said. Previous estimates predicted a district enrollment of 3,200 by 2012, but new figures show about 250 fewer students.
The original study recommended moving third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students to the existing high school building, while keeping kindergarten through second grade at Killingly Memorial and Killingly Central schools. Sixth, seventh and eighth graders were to remain at Killingly Intermediate School under the old plan.
-- JOHN PENNEY Ascension board accepts land for Sorrento school site-- 2TheAdvocate Louisiana: August 06, 2008 [ abstract] Board on Tuesday accepted 10 acres that will be used to build a new school in the parish.
The land, off La. 22 in Sorrento, is a part of the Orange Grove development, a 135-acre site that may eventually include 349 single-family lots when it is complete.
Renaissance Development Group LLC began planning Orange Grove in 2006 with the intent of donating the land from the start, but issues on both sides have delayed the official act of donation.
“I have never spent so much time and so much money to give something away,” said Tony Bull, chief operating officer of Renaissance.
School Board attorney Jeff Diez presented the 50-page agreement that took months to work out and said he thinks everything is covered.
School Board members also approved entering into an agreement that outlines the obligations and rights of both sides.
Since the district intends to open a school on the land for the 2010-11 school year, officials are facing a tight construction deadline. Following six months for preparation, the estimated construction time is about 20 months.
The Orange Grove school is expected to house between 350 and 500 students enrolled in kindergarten through fifth grade from Sorrento, Pelican Point subdivision and surrounding areas between the Mississippi River and Airline Highway, north of the St. James Parish line
-- JOHN A. COLVIN Strategic plan facility study subcommittee report, introduction-- Quad-Cities Online Illinois: August 06, 2008 [ abstract] On September 25, 2006, the Board of Education approved a Strategic Plan with one of the major goals focusing on Facilities/Technology and stating that, 'The Moline/Coal Valley School District No. 40 will have facilities of the appropriate size and type so that they are equipped to meet the educational need, extracurricular, and community needs of all stakeholder groups. Special emphasis is placed on students meeting their full academic potential.'
As a result, committees were formed, decisions made and parameters established regarding the 'educational structure' of the District's future programming. The Board of Education acted in December of 2007 to approve delivering instruction through a future configuration of elementary schools providing services for students in kindergarten through fifth grade, middle schools providing services for students in sixth through eighth grade and a ninth through twelfth grade high school. In addition, recommendations from the 'School Structure Committee' (report contained in the appendix) reported that:
preschool students should be served at a single site within the district
elementary schools should contain a minimum of 4 sections per grade level
class sizes for grades K-2 < 16 and grades 3-4 < 20
class size for middle school be < 24
the current initiatives to develop the concept of a 'School within a School' philosophy be continued and expanded
the 'Campus Structure' (all buildings in one central location) had merit and should be considered.
In addition, in January/February 2008 the administration expressed a desire to implement the decision of moving 6th graders into the existing middle schools as a very high priority, with a desire to implement this part of the plan first and within an accelerated time frame. This would require additional square footage at both existing buildings.
Both the long and short term Facility planning Committees have been meeting since January 2007 to familiarize themselves with their respective charges, review information about current District facilities and sites, become familiar with data and research relative to school facilities and their impact on student achievement and identify information needed for future decision making. These efforts resulted in preliminary reports which were presented to the Board while waiting for direction about the 'structure' the district wished to pursue. Their reports are contained in the appendix.
-- Courtesy Moline School District 40 When will this become a school?-- Rocky Mount Telegram North Carolina: August 04, 2008 [ abstract] The last bit of farmland and woods that landscape the intersection of Old Mill and Bethlehem roads remains undeveloped for now. But its owners have much bigger plans for the property's future.
Eventually, the crops will be uprooted and turned into Rocky Mount High School; the trees will fall to make room for athletics facilities.
The Nash-Rocky Mount Board of Education spent years searching for those 60 acres – and they didn't come easy. In all, three parcels of land were purchased and an eminent domain case was settled.
Now that the board has the space, the question has turned to funding.
On Monday, the Board of Education will request approval from the Nash County Board of Commissioners to spend about $2 million to start the planning and architectural phase of the new Rocky Mount high school. The two boards held a casual dinner meeting nearly three weeks ago to discuss the matter.
While the Board of Education is determined to press on with its plans, the county has to OK the funding in order for pen to meet paper – a decision that very well could be split.
-- Carolyn Casey Barry stalls school renovations, decries ‘lack of accountability’-- The Examiner District of Columbia: August 01, 2008 [ abstract] D.C. Councilman Marion Barry is holding up nearly $200 million in contracts sought by Mayor Adrian Fenty, threatening school renovations and a major Southwest development.
Barry, D-Ward 8, filed a package of disapproval resolutions last Friday, halting at least eight contracts submitted by Fenty for 45 days, or until the holds are lifted. Among them: $9 million for school facility upgrades, $10 million for athletic field modernization and $310,000 for mechanical work at Brightwood Elementary School in Fenty’s Ward 4.
“I’m going to keep these on as long as I can,” Barry told The Examiner Thursday.
Barry said he would withdraw his block of a $527,805 contract for renovations at Samuel Wheatley Elementary School at the behest of Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas Jr. He also intends to lift his hold on a $16.7 million contract to rebuild Fourth Street Southwest as part of the Waterside Mall mixed-use development.
“It’s our understanding if this contract doesn’t move forward then the project stalls and we have a big hole in the ground,” Charles Allen, chief of staff to Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells, said of the deal with Waterfront Associates.
Most of the contracts, which were provided to the council on the eve of its summer recess, are tied up in school renovations. Such last-minute submissions demonstrate a lack of proper planning on the part of the Fenty administration, said Barry, whose relationship with the mayor’s team has steadily deteriorated.
“This is the only way I can express my displeasure with this lack of accountability,” he said.
-- Michael Neibauer City Adopts School Concurrency Plan Requirement Prior to Building New Housing -- Lake Wale News Florida: July 16, 2008 [ abstract] Commissioners voted to pass an ordinance that would bring the city of Lake Wales in agreement with county standards regarding school concurrency. School concurrency is a guarantee that any housing developments will not be approved for construction until school facilities are in place to serve the development. According to Margaret Swanson, the city’s director of planning and development, all jurisdictions in Polk County were required to have school concurrency regulations in place by March 1. Since the county had already adopted its comprehensive plan amendments to reflect the changes mandated by state law, surrounding municipalities have had to adjust their plans accordingly.
On Feb. 19, the city adopted amendments to the Zoning, Land Use and Development Regulations, which included maintaining the level of service standards for public school facilities. Swanson’s information to commissioners notes that the new legislation requires that each municipality adopt a Public School Facilities Element (PSFE) “as part of its Comprehensive Plan and adopt related policies in its Capital Improvements and Intergovernmental Coordination Elements.” The PSFE has to include school quality, how many schools are needed, how large they should be, and their location in regards to the residential development.
-- Staff Writer Report Rates Montana School Facilities -- Great Falls Tribune Montana: July 16, 2008 [ abstract] A new report compiled by state officials shows that more than 95 percent of Montana's school facilities are in good or fair condition. The report, compiled by the Department of Administration Architecture and Engineering Division, was aimed at taking an inventory of Montana's schools for future planning and financial allocations. "It shows us that our school districts have been very conscientious about keeping their schools in good shape," said Superintendent of Public Instruction Linda McCulloch.The K-12 public schools facility condition assessment was authorized by the 2005 special legislative session. The first phase, which was completed by September 2006, consisted of surveys completed online by individual school districts. The second phase began this year with site surveys at each school across the state. Nearly 2,200 buildings were surveyed — including schools, shops and other school-related property. "Basically, we just had no idea, even on the size of our buildings," McCulloch said.
-- Kristen Cates School-Capacity Tool To Be Applied Prior to Approving New Housing Developments -- Times-Dispatch Virginia: July 16, 2008 [ abstract] Another residential growth-management tool for Chesterfield County has received the blessing of its planning Commission, this one based on school capacity. The panel recommended that countywide levels-of-service standards be approved when the issue comes before the Board of Supervisors. If approved by the supervisors, the policy's guidelines would suggest denial of rezoning applications that would put affected schools at more than 120 percent of their functional capacity. Four of the county's 50 schools are already at or above that level, with many others not far behind.
Levels of service for schools is a policy that the supervisors adopted for the first time last month as part of the Upper Swift Creek Plan Amendment area. In that plan, the threshold was set at 120 percent of building capacity for schools. In other parts of the county, rezoning decisions have not historically been decided based on percentage changes in school capacity. Generally, any new development's impact on schools is considered on a case-by-case basis.
-- Wesley P. Hester Tax would help schools meet mandates-- Mt. Vernon Register-News Illinois: June 28, 2008 [ abstract] During an informational meeting on the Illinois Schools Facilities Tax earlier this week, one of the ideas that came forward was the creation of a report on the condition of schools county-wide.
That’s something that District 80 Superintendent Kevin Settle said has been done in the city schools and is why he believes the tax would help the district.
“We spent about two years going through our Life, Health and Safety surveys and going over facilities needs in our buildings,” Settle said. “We have a list of over $4 million in projects that have to be done by law. The Life, Health and Safety surveys are done every 10 years, and we had ours done three or four years ago. They give you three years to accomplish some of the projects, and the 10 years for others. We knew what we had to do besides the regular things that come up. Last month we had to borrow $1.7 million. What I’d like to do is give that money back to the taxpayers and use the sales tax instead.”
County schools have been discussing whether or not to go to referendum on the new sales tax, which has been implemented in Williamson County since its approval by the General Assembly. Under terms of the facilities tax act, county schools work together to pass the sales tax at a rate determined by the schools. If voters approve the measure, the tax is collected and distributed to all schools in the county based on the school’s annual attendance percentage. The funds can only be used for school facilities purposes, such as acquisition, development, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, improvement, financing, architectural planning and installation of capital facilities consisting of land, buildings and durable equipment. In addition, schools can use the funds for fire prevention, safety, energy conservation, disabled accessibility, school security and specified repair purposes.
-- TESA CULLI Children Will Be Kept Safe During School Construction Project -- Norwich Bulletin Connecticut: June 23, 2008 [ abstract] The Griswold School Building Committee has assumed proactive leadership in planning for the first year of the school construction project. We’ve worked diligently with the school’s administrative staff, the architect and the construction manager to ensure the construction impact to the school’s daily routine is minimized to the extent feasibly possible. Safety is the committee’s No. 1 concern. With that in mind, a site logistics plan was developed that complies with all state and federal codes and regulations. The construction area will be fully enclosed with an 8-foot-high chain link fence separating construction personnel from students and staff. Inside the school, any doors or hallways that would allow access to the addition will be blocked off to prevent students and construction personnel from freely moving back and forth between the two areas. All construction parking and storage will be within the fenced area. All construction personnel will be required to be on site prior to the morning bus drop-off time. No construction deliveries will be allowed during the bus drop-off and pick-up times. At no time will construction deliveries or personnel be allowed to interfere with the daily operations of the school.
-- Frank Everett South Carolina County Planners Shopping Possibility for Green Schools -- Beaufort Gazette South Carolina: June 16, 2008 [ abstract] The schools of Beaufort County's future could operate with dramatically lower utility costs and offer a healthier, more comfortable environment for students and faculty that can improve learning. Schools built with green goals in mind experienced an average of 33 percent lower utility costs with an up front premium of only 1.65 percent above regular construction costs, according to a study of 30 green schools across the country. Impressive facts like that flew from the podium one after another at a joint committee meeting of the Beaufort County Council and Beaufort County Board of Education on Tuesday, where Joel McKellar, a research assistant with the Charleston architecture firm LS3P and chairman of the Lowcountry branch of the U.S. Green Building Council, briefed the committee on the benefits of building green schools.
The topic is particularly relevant because the school district has a five-year facilities plan calling for more than a quarter billion dollars in new schools and major renovations. As part of that plan, school officials put a bond referendum before county voters in April, who narrowly authorized borrowing $162.7 million. To date, North Charleston Elementary School is the only school in the state to obtain the green building council's increasingly popular Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification. County planning director Tony Criscitiello, whose department arranged McKellar's presentation, said the county's comprehensive plan will include a chapter entirely about sustainability. The document is meant to guide county development for the next 10 years.
-- Jeremy Hsieh Field, track first on task list-- Columbus Local News Ohio: June 11, 2008 [ abstract] What was a pull of the voting lever in election booths around Reynoldsburg in March will materialize as new football field turf and a new track at Reynoldsburg High School this summer.
The money raised by the 4.9-mill bond issue and tax levy package voters passed in March will fund the final phase of the school district's master facilities plan, which includes the construction of a new elementary school and new high school and renovations at all other existing schools.
The first project of the final phase will begin this month when the district renovates Reynoldsburg High School's football field and track.
District Business Manager Ron Strussion said he wants to begin construction with smaller projects, while bigger projects such as the new elementary and high schools are still in the planning phase.
"Some of these smaller projects we can get started and we can get done and get out of the way," he said. "That's what we are trying to do with the football field ... so that everything doesn't hit all at one time."
Strussion said the $1 million for the project had to come from local funding because the Ohio School Facilities Commission does not help fund projects involving athletic facilities, school auditoriums or road infrastructure around schools.
Still, he said he hopes to have a substantial portion of the $1 million project paid for by the school's Touchdown Club, a parent organization that raises money for all high school sports teams and facilities.
Strussion said the football field and track were in an unusuable state.
"The drainage is bad ... it floods and becomes a mud pit in the middle of the football season," he said of the field.
Also, the track was not up to snuff to hold a track meet, he said.
-- IAN PORTER Over-the-Rhine's Washington Park is expanding-- Business Courier Ohio: June 02, 2008 [ abstract] Cincinnati Public Schools and the Cincinnati Park Board have reached an agreement to add a one-block, permanent extension to Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine as part of the park's planned renovation.
In the fall of 2007, Cincinnati Public Schools demolished the former Washington Park School at the corner of 14th and Race streets and decided not to rebuild on the site, which created the opportunity to expand the six-acre park up to 14th Street.
After discussions with the Cincinnati Park Board and the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp., known as 3CDC, the school district has agreed to permanently transfer the title for the former school site to the park board. Discussions regarding specific details of the transfer are ongoing. The action will enable the park renovation and expansion planning process to move forward.
"We are very grateful to CPS and its administration for working with us to make this important land transfer," park board Director Willie Carden said in a news release. "Expanding green space in an urban park is an opportunity that doesn't come along every day. This will not only enhance the beauty of Washington Park, it will serve as a national model for other urban neighborhoods."
In a statement, CPS Superintendent Rosa Blackwell said the school district "is proud to be a partner in the revitalization of Over-the-Rhine."
-- Lucy May Plan for school buildings delayed again
-- Examiner District of Columbia: June 02, 2008 [ abstract] D.C. Schools Facilities Chief Allen Lew won't release a master plan for school buildings until September, more than a year after the original deadline, members of his staff told The Examiner.
Initially Lew was charged with releasing the critical planning document at the start of the academic year — so the public and city officials would have a clear understanding of the cost analysis and schedules for school construction.
In the fall, Lew successfully extended his deadline until October 2007, when he officially took over the school facilities office, and then again to May 2008. Now he has delayed once more, meaning the final version of his master plan won't be available for three more months.
The plan is expected to give an enormous amount of detail about projects now under way and on plans to close, modernize and update deteriorating school buildings. Activists who follow school construction funds said the multiple delays were worrisome.
-- Dena Levitz BOE looks long-term -- Fairfield Minuteman Connecticut: May 29, 2008 [ abstract] The Fairfield Board of Education introduced a draft of its Long Range Facilities Plan, Tuesday, issued by the Facilities, Technology, Long-Term planning Standing Committee.
About the long range plan for Fairfield public school facilities, BOE Chairman Catherine Albin said, the committee will continue to work on the plan for further discussion by the board at its June 10 meeting and for a final vote by the end of June.
The long range plan poses a variety of recommendations to the Fairfield school system to address overcrowding and space utilization over the next 5 to 10 years.
The long range plan clearly states that "the recommendations are subject to ongoing review and revision based on changing events."
BOE Vice Chairman John Mitola, a member of the committee said the plan "is a draft. Although it has everything we looked at, I think in needs more tweaking. It is very comprehensive."
"There has to be a partnership between the Board of Education and other town bodies as to what we can do in the time frame," Mitola said.
In the plan the committee states that a district-wide redistricting would not be an effective way for Fairfield to manage school enrollments.
Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum & Instruction John Boyle, a member of the committee, said, "We did not see redistricting as an option given the current number of students in existence at each one of the schools."
-- AUDREY ADADE New York City DOE's Building Plan is Flawed, Fails To Solve Overcrowding -- Gazette New York: May 21, 2008 [ abstract] Despite the Department of Education's ongoing construction program of more than 36,000 new elementary and middle school seats, the city public school system is failing to build enough new schools to make a dent in the severe overcrowding problem that has plagued the system for several decades and probably will continue, Comptroller William C. Thompson charged recently. Thompson said that a major reason why this situation continues to afflict the 1.1- million student school system is the flawed capital planning process that guides the DOE and which fails to detect the need for more schools in neighborhoods experiencing construction booms in Queens and in other boroughs. "The capital planning process for public schools in New York City is broken," Thompson declared. "There are too many neighborhoods with overcrowded schools- elementary schools in particular- and no relief for years to come. With the DOE, it's too little too late."
-- John Toscano Blueprints for a Green School -- San Diego Union-Tribune California: May 17, 2008 [ abstract] Talk with Dax London about his plans for the future High Tech High Quarry Falls School and you'll hear about sustainable development, green building standards and the basketball court he wants to add to the roof. London, 15, is one of 45 students at Point Loma-based Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High School learning about city planning, environmental awareness, property rights and more through designing a green school slated for Mission Valley.
During the â€"Gravel to Green†project, students from Isaac Jones and Peter Jana's 10th-grade classes are acting as architects for the 700-student kindergarten-through-eighth-grade charter school planned for a 3Â1/2-acre parcel in the proposed Quarry Falls development. No architect has been chosen to design the school, but officials say it is possible some of the elements from the Gravel to Green project would be incorporated into the campus.
-- Jennifer K Mahal Fitch Rates Clark County School District's (Nevada) $675MM GOs 'AA' -- Business Wire Nevada: May 13, 2008 [ abstract] Fitch Ratings assigns an 'AA' rating to Clark County School District, Nevada, $675 million general obligation ([GO] limited tax) building bonds series 2008A. Fitch also affirms the 'AA' rating on Clark County School District's (the district) $4.5 billion outstanding GO (limited tax) bonds. The bonds are scheduled to sell competitively on May 15. The Rating Outlook is Stable.
The bonds are GOs of the district, subject to constitutional and statutory limitations on the aggregate levy of ad valorem taxes.
The 'AA' rating is based on Clark County School District's large and expanding economic base, strong property tax revenue growth, moderate debt levels aided by rapid amortization, adequate financial position supported by a sizeable state funding guarantee, and good long-term capital planning and management practices. Credit risks include the overall economic slowdown precipitated by the significant weakness in the residential housing market, which has resulted in slower assessed valuation (AV) and pledged property tax revenue growth.
This issuance is the final series under the district's 1998 bond authorization which permits unlimited bond issuance secured by a fixed tax rate. Bond security is enhanced by the statutory reserve account of the debt service fund, required to be funded at the lesser of 10% of outstanding par or 100% of the next fiscal year's debt service. The estimated balance as of the end of fiscal 2008 will be approximately $614 million, compared to the reserve requirement of $524 million. In addition, the GO pledge provides some credit strength, although both operating and debt service levies are at their maximum rates and the general fund unreserved balance is thin. District projections are for slower property tax revenue growth in the near term and Fitch expects the district to adjust its long-term capital planning to reflect the adjusted expectations.
-- press release Unanswered Questions in Sequel to Massive Schools Borrowing
-- Voice of San Diego California: May 12, 2008 [ abstract] San Diego Unified is poised to place an estimated $1.51 billion facilities bond on the November ballot, riding the coattails of an unprecedented decade-long makeover for local schools.
But two major uncertainties hang over the ambitious plan, which has yet to be approved by the school board. The list of projects the bond will finance is unsettled. And the school district's backlog of routine repairs, left undone when budgets drained, could undercut some voters' enthusiasm for the bond.
Yet amid those uncertainties, supporters have already collected roughly $100,000 to pay for the campaign to persuade voters to support the measure.
Currently in its planning stages, the new bond would succeed Proposition MM, a popular measure of the same size passed in 1998. At the time, it was the largest bond ever undertaken by San Diego Unified. Since MM passed, taxpayers have paid up to $95.75 annually for each $100,000 assessed worth of property they own.
Those dollars built the vast new Lincoln High School, new elementary schools in City Heights, Chollas View and Golden Hill, and modernized more than 100 schools districtwide. Now, as student numbers stagnate, staffers are largely turning away from new construction and focusing instead on improving existing schools.
-- EMILY ALPERT School districts take different directions in building planning
-- Marion Star Ohio: May 10, 2008 [ abstract] Talk of a Ridgedale Local Schools construction project is on hold while the district waits to see the fate of a state legislative bill, Superintendent Eric Hoffman said.
Elgin Local Schools, another Marion County school district, expects to continue discussions on Monday.
The Ridgedale school board has been discussing whether to partner with the Ohio School Facilities Commission to either renovate existing elementary and junior/senior high school buildings or to build a new building. Hoffman said that the board is waiting to see whether Ohio Senate Bill 273 passes, which Hoffman said would factor in the district's number of open enrollment students when determining the state share.
He said it could mean the state paying about $2.5 million more towards the project than it would if open enrollment was not factored into the calculation.
"Right now we're on hold," said Hoffman, who said he expects the board will continue its discussion in September. He said he does not expect the district will be placing a bond issue on the ballot in November.
The Ohio School Facilities Commission offered a variety of options including tearing down the elementary school, renovating the junior/senior high school and adding a wing that would hold elementary students. That specific project was estimated to cost about $17.4 million with the local share being either 40 percent or about $6.95 million or 52 percent or about $9 million.
-- KURT MOORE Seneca R-7 Facilities Planning Committee meetings review
-- Seneca News Dispatch Montana: May 09, 2008 [ abstract] For those who may have missed the earlier newspaper articles, this overview will provide you with the discussion highlights of each of the meetings.
The first meeting of the Facilities Committee was held on January 30, 2008, at the R-7 School Board office. Mr. Rick Cook, Superintendent, served as chairman for each meeting. He presented charts, graphs, budget numbers, and other pertinent information to the members during each of the four meetings that were held.
There were different representatives of the community attending each of the meetings, and many different options and ideas for meeting the overcrowding needs of the school district were presented and discussed.
The current financial profile of the district was reviewed at every meeting, so that members were well aware of the building possibilities that could realistically be considered. Even though the committee would like to present a plan for a new high school, new elementary, and modern updates for the current middle school, the reality is that these kinds of expenses are not within the budget of the district at this time.
-- submitted by Seneca school officials Study hard-- News Observer North Carolina: May 07, 2008 [ abstract] It is no secret, and in fact is a painful reality, that the Wake County commissioners, who control the purse strings for the public schools, and members of the school board have been in a frequent state of agitation with each other. That's risky for students who need solid, unified community support for the school system. So a fresh idea from the Wake Education Partnership and the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce is to be taken seriously.
The proposal would give commissioners responsibility for planning facilities, buying the land for them, building them and maintaining them. Those tasks currently fall under the school board's leadership. Another part of the idea, tempting to the school board, is a funding formula that would be multi-year instead of year-to-year, and would have as one goal closing the achievement gap between white and minority students.
Commissioners are all for this, as they demonstrated in a unanimous, non-binding resolution Monday. They've clashed with the school board in particular over what commissioners felt were proposals to buy land for school sites that was priced above appraisals, and in some cases without adequate appraisals. It was something the schools should have been watching more closely.
But several important questions have to be asked and answered before any final arrangement is set.
-- Editorial In defense of Measure Q: a Q-and-A
-- Press Banner California: May 02, 2008 [ abstract] Lately, some have wondered whether the school facilities bond, Measure Q, is ready for prime time. As a public member of the school facilities committee the past 11/2 years, I say, “Absolutely. Let’s roll!”
First, however, you may be curious about the committee that developed the facilities proposal. The committee was open to anyone who wanted to participate. This, of course, includes those who would now belatedly cast stones. The district advertised for members about 11/2 years ago, and about a dozen residents responded, with a very broad level and depth of expertise.
Among the community members, there were three general contractors (one who builds pre-engineered schools), an attorney with expertise in education and public works construction, the city manager, a member of the planning commission, engineers, the president of Santa Cruz County Bank and parent leaders. A majority of the fact finding and discussion was led by the community members.
It is understandable that those who were not on the committee or have not attended the public meetings would have some questions. Here are responses to several concerns I have heard and which we discussed (sometimes to utter exhaustion).
‘I’m worried about declining enrollment.’
It is not an answer to house our children and teachers in obsolete facilities simply because there may be fewer of them. All children and teachers deserve a comfortable environment that is conducive to learning. Who in our community wants to subject our children to drafty rat traps where the roofs leak and the heaters cannot control temperatures in the buildings? The answer is to plan according to present needs, but build in contingencies.
-- Gary Fish Redenbacher Rising Costs Force Texas School Districts to Reconsider Bond Projects -- Star-Telegram Texas: April 21, 2008 [ abstract] Gas has risen above $3.30 a gallon, diesel has soared to more than $4, and the prices are projected to climb even higher this summer. The rising costs of transportation and construction materials and labor have forced school districts to re-examine and, in some cases, cut back on building projects. "It's significant, and it's not going to stop any time soon," said Mark Youngs, Keller's deputy superintendent. Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma combined are projected to complete $2.7 billion in school construction projects in 2008, more than 14 percent of the nationwide total, according to School planning & Management magazine. But they're competing with the construction boom in China, the continued need for lumber along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, and even the need for cement in the Cowboys stadium in Arlington. "The building industry as a whole, not just schools, is experiencing an increase in the cost of construction materials," said Judy Marks, associate director of the nonprofit National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities in Washington, D.C. "There's many reasons for that, including transportation costs."
-- Katherine Cromer Brock Council president floats plan to cut construction funds-- the examiner Maryland: April 09, 2008 [ abstract] Montgomery residents would wait longer for some improvements under a proposal floated Tuesday by their council president that delays some school renovations and park construction in an effort to reconcile a ballooning capital budget with scarce funds.
Council President Mike Knapp’s suggestions were nonbinding, but were intended to get the County Council and the public to realize that the commitments made by council members for capital projects are $363 million over spending guidelines recommended to keep the county’s AAA bond rating.
County Executive Ike Leggett proposed a $3.2 billion capital spending budget in January that raised spending by only 1.1 percent over the last budget " saying it was necessary to keep spending in check given difficult financial times. Some council members, however, had criticized Leggett’s lean proposal as unrealistic, because it allocated money for the planning and design of many projects but often did not include funds for actual construction. Since then, council members have tacked on $363 million more in funds saying they wanted the budget to reflect the entire cost of a project.
Knapp’s suggestions Tuesday, however, were somewhat similar to Leggett’s proposal, often recommending axing the construction funds allocated for projects but spending money on design
-- Kathleen Miller California Ballot Provision Forces Public Campuses to Share Space with Charters
-- Los Angeles Times California: April 07, 2008 [ abstract] The faculty at tradition-proud but low-performing Fairfax High School has worked for two years on a plan to improve the school while also attracting long-absent middle-class families. Scheduled to start next fall, the new setup includes dividing the sprawling campus into small academies -- each with a different theme, each designed to devote attention to every student. But there's something Fairfax wasn't planning on. The school suddenly is expected to share space with one of the district's privately run charter schools.
A vocal group of teachers, students, parents and community organizations say the charter school will impede Fairfax's rise by taking up needed classrooms and creating logistical headaches. "I don't think I've ever seen an issue that has brought together teachers in essentially unanimous agreement that this is hurtful to everything we're trying to do at Fairfax," said social studies teacher Mike Stryer.
-- Howard Blume School Construction Continues Despite Fewer Students, Dollars in Florida -- Highlands Today Florida: April 06, 2008 [ abstract] Some school districts in Florida are planning to close down schools, but in Highlands County construction is under way on two classroom buildings " one at Sebring High School and the other at Hill-Gustat Middle School. A drop in student enrollment and budget concerns are forcing some school districts to save money by closing schools. The Volusia County School Board decided to close seven schools in three years. Highlands County is taking advantage of the slowdown in student population to catch up with school construction and reduce the number of portable classrooms.
-- Marc Valero Schools on Hold in Syracuse, New York -- Post-Standard New York: March 28, 2008 [ abstract] The biggest school construction project in Syracuse history still is stuck in the planning stage nearly five years after the proposal was first presented to city residents. A month ago, district and city officials were grappling with an incredible 50 percent discrepancy between what the district and the project managers believed a proposed technology high school would cost. The high school is the cornerstone of the $180 million first phase of the project, which also includes the renovation of six other schools. The full project aims to rehabilitate every school in the district. District, city officials and the projects' manager, Gilbane Inc., seemed confident that the discrepancy in the cost of the high school the difference between $35.9 million and $55 million could be worked out without shortchanging the high school or the other schools in the first phase.
-- Editorial The Vacant School Wish List-- Washington Post District of Columbia: March 26, 2008 [ abstract] Recreation center? Art gallery? Charter school? Dozens turned out Monday night at Harriet Tubman Elementary school in Columbia Heights to give their ideas for what should happen with two school buildings in Ward 1 that are slated to close. Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham (D), ever eager to stay on top of issues in his ward, also came out and talked to the group about what might happen to the empty buildings.
Meyer Elementary in Columbia Heights and Gage Eckington Elementary in nearby LeDroit Park will close in June. Graham told the crowd that their input was critical, and that his understanding, based on meetings with the city's Office of planning and conversations with the mayor, was that no closed school buildings would be sold and all would remain city property-- either to be used as a school, a government office or some other kind of public purpose.
-- Theola Labbé Florida District Speeds up School Projects to Boost Economy -- Orlando Business Journal Florida: March 25, 2008 [ abstract] Orange County Public Schools announced it was speeding up its school-renovation program to boost the economy and trim construction costs. Instead of the four projects planned this year, the district will start work on 15. The district plans to advance $12 million from its 2009 budget to fund planning and design for the 15 projects this fiscal year. The district will advance $50 million for construction funding in the 2008-2009 fiscal year and $96 million for projects in the 2009-2010 fiscal year. If the district has success with moving up its projects, it may continue doing so in future years.
-- Staff Writer Planning under way for new high school -- The Northeast Georgian Georgia: March 20, 2008 [ abstract] Habersham County's new high school should be ready to occupy in 2010, provided the process stays on track.
That was the message the Habersham County Board of Education heard Monday during an orientation meeting with its new architects, Southern Architects & Engineers.
"We're glad to be here," said Roy Denny of Southern A&E. "We appreciate y'all's support."
"The board deliberated long and hard," said Chairman Gilbert Barrett.
-- Rob Moore Marysville will take pride in new schools-- Port Huron Times Herald Michigan: February 24, 2008 [ abstract] There is one thing I've certainly learned in the past year. Overseeing $74.6 million construction project is a big responsibility. Last May, Marysville Public Schools voters generously approved a facilities bond proposal for that amount, and we are putting every penny to good use.
The key is planning. The projects voters authorized will radically transform our facilities. The centerpiece will be a new high school, but millions of dollars in renovations also are planned for our middle school, elementary schools and athletic facilities.
-- John Silveri Myrtle Beach School District to Co-Own Stadium Facility, Split Check with City
-- The Sun News North Carolina: February 19, 2008 [ abstract] The Horry County School Board approved an agreement with the city of Myrtle Beach for renovations and co-ownership of Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium. "The district's involvement after this point will be presenting the funds and participating in an oversight committee to monitor construction," said Will Garland, school board chairman. The school district will pay $610,000 to become co-owner of the stadium and about $1.2 million for renovations, according to the agreement. The city previously had full ownership of the stadium and allowed the school district to use it for Myrtle Beach High School sporting events. The city approached the school district about making needed renovations that would have cost around $3 million last spring. The school board voted to become part-owner of the stadium in August. "The school board didn't want to make a financial agreement for the needed renovations without owning part of the facility," said Teal Britton, spokeswoman for Horry County Schools. The city is planning to put the money along with about $1.5 million in additional funds toward further renovations, city Councilman Wayne Gray said.
-- Claudia Lauer RSD provides best hope for N.O. schools
-- New Orleans City Business Louisiana: February 18, 2008 [ abstract] Paul Pastorek, state schools superintendent, and Paul Vallas, Recovery School District superintendent, talked candidly about our schools at a presentation last week sponsored by the New Orleans Business Council and the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce.
The topic for their one-hour presentation: “planning for the future of school facilities in Orleans Parish.” Both are polished, professional speakers and their subject matter is compelling and very, very important.
Pastorek set the stage with background information. Some of it was interesting, some trivial and some breathtaking.
First the interesting and trivial.
Seventy schools in Orleans Parish have been rehabilitated, renovated or are working out of modular buildings. The schools have been rebuilt using money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and community development block grants, which are one-time funds designated to help rebuild schools.
-- Mark Singletary 'Green' School Construction a Growing Trend -- Topeka Capital-Journal Kansas: February 04, 2008 [ abstract] Auburn-Washburn Unified School District 437's new elementary school will harness more natural light and be greener for the environment. planning for how the building will be constructed is closely linked with how it will be used by students and teachers. "Fifteen or 20 years ago we weren't really thinking about how kids learn in the environment," said Superintendent Brenda Dietrich. "Now we pay particular attention to what will the students be engaged in and what materials will be learner-friendly, too. Auburn-Washburn's school will have classroom wings that will help break up the large school into smaller spaces. Classrooms will be larger than in some older schools, reflecting the additional space consumed by computers as well as changes in teaching techniques. To address growing safety concerns, visitors will have to enter the building through the school office. The new school will have lots of windows that will reduce electricity needed to power lights and will use geothermal energy, a process in which excess heat will be used for other purposes or stored rather than simply pumped out of the school. Throughout the district's bond projects, materials will be salvaged and used for the outdoor education center. For example, a former gym floor might be used as doors or partitions.
-- Barbara Hollingsworth Hearing on School Closings Is Long and Emotional-- Washington Post District of Columbia: January 14, 2008 [ abstract] Heartbroken students told D.C. Council members yesterday that they didn't want their schools closed, and parents and community activists voiced suspicions about how and why Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee picked the schools to be shuttered.
The council's public hearing on the controversial proposal to close 23 schools was filled with accusations, ranging from racism to poor planning to complaints that Fenty and Rhee hoped to quash opposition by scheduling 23 simultaneous hearings on the issue Thursday night.
Testimony stretched into the night as Rhee, the day's prime witness and last on a list of 60 speakers, sat in the council chambers and listened to students' pleas and parents' fears. About two hours into the testimony, the chambers were rocked by an outburst by Zein El-Amine, a member of Save Our Schools, who stood up while someone else was testifying and said Rhee had reneged on her pledge to listen to residents' concerns.
"You promised me!" he shouted.
-- Nikita Stewart and Theola Labbé Dream Dies for Retail Site at Los Angeles School
-- Los Angeles Times California: January 07, 2008 [ abstract] A relic of the tortured Belmont Learning Complex project was laid to rest last month when school officials voted to spend $35.9 million to turn an abandoned shopping center shell beneath the school into a training and testing center for teachers. The commercial space was to have been part of an ambitious re-imagination of what a school could be -- as well as a potential money-generator. In addition to a high school, the site was to have housed a market, retail shops and restaurants, affordable housing and a community center. Those plans fell apart seven years ago. The new concept is being touted as a long-run money saver that will allow the Los Angeles Unified School District to spend less on hotel conference space and leased offices.
When the school opens next fall under a new name, Vista Hermosa, it will almost certainly have the distinction of being the nation's most expensive high school, with construction costs in excess of $400 million. One element of this price tag was the retail development included in the initial design. The retail portion drove the layout of the entire school, situated on a 33-acre site at First Street and Beaudry Avenue just west of the Harbor Freeway downtown. As originally envisioned, businesses would be at the bottom of an immense concrete structure with parking in the middle and the school sitting on top. The campus itself would stretch almost level into what remained of a steep, expansive hill that would be shorn away. This multipurpose design grew out of discussions with residents and merchants in the working-class community, said former school board member Victoria M. Castro, who represented the Belmont area during most of the initial planning.
-- Howard Blume Wyoming Schools Wait on School Construction Funding -- Jackson Hole Star Tribune Wyoming: January 03, 2008 [ abstract] The Natrona County School District is waiting for key decisions from the Wyoming Legislature and the Wyoming School Facilities Commission before proceeding with four new elementary schools. Designs for the new Evansville, Pineview, Park and the Mills-Mountain View schools have all been funded, said Dennis Bay, the school district's facilities planning and construction manager. "We're anxiously awaiting what, if any or all, of these schools will get construction funding from the Legislature," Bay said. The commission will prioritize which schools will benefit from an estimated $442 million for capital construction and other maintenance projects, based on surveys conducted on each school building in the state.
-- Jasa Santos Two unanimous council votes mean a new middle school for Unit 5-- pantagraph Illinois: December 27, 2007 [ abstract] In two unanimous votes Wednesday, the Bloomington City Council approved a proposal by the Normal-based Unit 5 school district for a middle school site in southeast Bloomington.
In its first vote, the council approved rezoning 40 acres along U.S. 150 and west of McLean County Highway 30 from agricultural use to public land and approved a pre-annexation agreement that eventually will bring the land into the city limits.
The 40 acres is owned by James Shirk and Peggy Jo Schlucter of Bloomington.
The land likely will be the site of a new Unit 5 middle school. Funding for the construction of the school is included in the $96.7 million the district is seeking from voters in a referendum Feb. 5.
The council also unanimously agreed to rezone roughly 25 acres at Hershey and Ireland Grove roads from public land to residential and neighborhood shopping districts. The land, currently owned by the school district, will be given to Shirk and Schlucter in exchange for the 40 acres along U.S. 150.
Unit 5 attorney Frank Miles reminded the council at the start of the discussion that both items had to be approved for the district to continue with its plans.
He also spoke to some of the concerns expressed by residents near the proposed school site during the hearings held before the Bloomington planning Commission.
“This will change the area, an area that has been farmland for more than 100 years,” Miles said. “That’s true and we’ve tried to be sensitive to that.”
Among those concerned about the change in the farmland are Frank and Barbara Wieting, rural Bloomington.
-- M.K. Guetersloh Wyoming Deals With School Construction Decisions-- Casper Star Tribune Wyoming: December 09, 2007 [ abstract] At least one school building in Douglas County is rapidly running out of room, with enrollment increasing even as unprecedented community growth is forecast for the next 10 to 25 years. Superintendent Dan Espeland wants to prepare now for when those young students grow into their middle and high school years, but is somewhat strapped in advance planning. He's facing skepticism from lawmakers and School Facilities Commission officials, and a reluctance to build now for projected needs. â€"I think there is some skepticism in the Legislature about whether, actually, we will experience the continued growth some people are predicting,†Espeland said. The local economic development organization recently publicized information suggesting the city's population could double within seven to 15 years due to energy development. â€"There is that fear we may hit a bust down the line. And there's some concern with overbuilding -- that's not a good situation, either," Espeland said.
Espeland anticipates a School Facilities Commission report in about three weeks that will prioritize capital construction projects across the state, including a new primary school for Douglas. The best news, however, may be that the commission has decided to hold back some of the capital construction money it expects to receive from the state this biennium, as a backup for emergency situations. Following a joint meeting of the Select School Facilities Committee and School Facilities Commission Friday in Casper, director Ken Daraie said about $20 million of the commission's appropriation will be reserved until the last six to nine months of the biennium, when money typically runs out but needs are more clear. â€"It's a lot of money, and yet it's not a lot, depending on what you wish to be able to do with it,†Daraie said. At that point, the $20 million could fund a new elementary school and a few emergencies, such as boiler or roof problems, Daraie said. If no emergencies arise, the money would fund the next item down on the commission's priority list.
-- Rena Delbridge New Charleston Middle School Called 'a Dream' -- Charleston Daily Mail West Virginia: December 03, 2007 [ abstract] When Sissonville Middle School Principal Brian Eddy walks through the doors of the newly built school Dec. 19, he may have to pinch himself a few times to make sure he is not dreaming. After nearly five years of planning, the new Sissonville Middle School soon will open its doors to Eddy and about 490 students. "For anybody in education, this is a dream," he said.
As Eddy gives a tour of the $17.5 million new school, he can't help but constantly grin. The school, for which the state School Building Authority provided about $7 million in funding, is a sprawling, state-of-the-art complex where technology and academics have taken a front seat to athletics. For example, all students will have a computer class. They will have access to two wired labs - one with 30 computers and another with 33. In addition, there will be a wireless computer lab for each grade in the school. The wireless labs consist of 30 laptop computers that can be carted between classrooms. Every classroom will have a 42-inch, flat-screen television. Teachers will be able to use white boards, also known as smart boards. Teachers and students can write on the boards with electronic pens. All teachers will have their own laptop computer and printer at their workstation. Every classroom will have three computers. The latest technology is evident everywhere, even in the cafeteria, which can double as an auditorium. A huge data projector hangs on a wall in the cafeteria above a classroom that can be converted into a stage. Two steps lead from the cafeteria to the stage. While school is in session, the stage will serve as a health classroom. A retractable wall will separate the cafeteria from the classroom. When the wall is in place, the entrance to the room is through a door adjacent to the gym.
-- Kelly L. Holleran California High School Mold Cleanup Millions Over Budget -- The Record California: November 20, 2007 [ abstract] Toxic mold cleanup at Tokay High School has run millions of dollars over its estimated budget, raising the total cost of the emergency project to $13.5 million and forcing the district to borrow close to $4.5 million to pay its portion of the costs. Originally, district officials hoped eradication of the mold, which was found in June, would cost between $8 million and about $11.5 million. To begin cleanup immediately, the district authorized the transfer of $8 million into facilities funds from other district accounts, essentially giving a loan to itself that has to be paid back in full. The rising costs stem from additional mold found in the school's performing arts and industrial arts buildings, Lodi Unified's assistant superintendent for facilities and planning.
-- Keith Reid New home buyers may foot bill to ease schools overcrowding
-- The Examiner Maryland: November 08, 2007 [ abstract] New home buyers in Montgomery County could be forced to pay more to ease school crowding under the county council’s proposed long-term growth plan, but some funds may be used to meet the immediate needs of a system reeling from a changing student body.
The Montgomery County Council is poised to pass a growth plan that would require developers to make school facility payments in order to get building permits. But the proposed payment might be used, in part, on lower-income communities that will likely bear the brunt of the ongoing influx of new students from minority and immigrant families.
“We have to stretch things and prioritize,” said Bruce Crispell, director of long-range planning for the county’s public schools, said Wednesday.
-- Courtney Mabeus Home-Construction Woes Don't Slow Arizona School Building -- Tucson Citizen/Associated Press Arizona: October 29, 2007 [ abstract] New schools are built at state expense to accommodate enrollment growth, but Arizona is seeing a big slowdown in housing construction. Shouldn't that add up to welcome savings in the state's costly school-construction program? After all, the work carries a $370 million pricetag in just this fiscal year alone and the $10.6 billion state budget faces a projected $600 million shortfall. Not so far, officials said.
The state School Facilities Board has dropped a handful of school projects because planned housing developments dropped off the drawing table, reducing projected enrollment growth in the scattering of districts involved. But so far there hasn't been a major retrenchment in school The School Facilities Board's staff is analyzing more than 100 long-range planning reports recently submitted by districts under a new state requirement and Arizona's population continues to grow, Executive Director John Arnold said. That means more schools will be needed, he said. "While we're in the midst of a slowdown right now, everyone we talk to suggests the state is still going to grow and that we should be coming out of the slowdown in some future time," Arnold said.
-- Paul Davenport Education's Rising Costs for School Facilities in the Philadelphia Area -- The Bulletin Pennsylvania: October 19, 2007 [ abstract] Over the next few years, many students throughout Philadelphia's suburbs may be starting school in new, expensive - and in some cases - controversial high schools buildings. As more and more suburban schools age, many districts are struggling with the cost and rationale for replacing their school buildings. Lower Merion, Neshaminy, Souderton and Upper Dublin, among others, are all planning new schools or doing major renovations on the existing buildings. Private schools like Episcopal Academy and the Haverford School are also undergoing construction projects that range from minor to massive. Several more schools are rehabbing or expanding existing locations, upgrading facilities, or investing in new athletic fields or small stadiums.
According to a Pennsylvania School Boards Association survey, 32 percent of public schools in Pennsylvania were built between 1941 and 1960, and another 44 percent were constructed between 1961 and 1980. Six percent were built between 1900 and 1920. As these physical plants age, new school construction or renovation becomes increasingly necessary. Many older buildings do not meet current safety codes, and aging facilities cannot support modern technology. The survey found that districts rebuilding or renovating cited age of existing facilities as the number one reason for new construction. Insufficient technology and space constraints were second and third.
-- Juile Zauzmer Garage plan may delay upgrade to Arlington school-- The Examiner Virginia: October 12, 2007 [ abstract] A proposal to add a parking garage to the $102 million replacement of most of Yorktown High School threatens to delay the project.
Arlington’s citizen planning commission and transportation commission recommended adding a parking garage at the school. Neighbors have argued for months that the 347-space parking lot the county school system is planning is insufficient.
Arlington Public Schools staff proposes demolishing about 181,600 square feet of the existing building, built in 1950, and replacing it with 291,000 square feet of new school. As planned, the new construction would be built between the school’s existing auditorium and a $9.6 million wing added in 2005.
-- Maria Hegstad Developers may help fund school work-- The Examiner Maryland: October 09, 2007 [ abstract] Developers would be more likely to foot some of the costs for expanding over-capacity schools in areas where they build large housing complexes under changes to the county’s growth policy debated by Montgomery County’s council Monday.
The planning, Housing and Economic Development committee members analyzed a planning board proposal to charge developers a school-facilities payment when development would cause projected enrollment at area schools to increase to 110 percent of listed capacity.
The proposal would also put a moratorium on development around schools once they have reached more than 135 percent of capacity. Only permanent classrooms, not portables, would be factored into infrastructure capacity calculations.
“One of the problems with all the infrastructure is that it tends to be lumpy,” planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson said. “You can’t build enough lane for one car or enough school for one student so you have to do it in bigger batches. Part of the trick here is to try to design a policy that can produce clumps of money that make it possible to produce clumps of infrastructure.”
-- Kathleen Miller Lew Seeks Control of Maintaining Schools
-- Washington Post District of Columbia: September 28, 2007 [ abstract] Allen Y. Lew, the D.C. schools construction czar, asked the D.C. Council yesterday for power to take over the routine maintenance of school buildings, saying that to fully transform crumbling schoolhouses, he needs funding and staff members now assigned to the school system.
City education leaders also said yesterday, for the first time, that they plan to close some schools next year.
Lew said his Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization should acquire the school system's Office of Facilities Management, a $33 million department that responds to routine maintenance requests such as repairing roofs and does long-term planning for multimillion-dollar construction projects recommended in the Master Facilities Plan. He also asked for a one-year extension to submit an updated Master Facilities Plan, which was due Monday.
Lew testified in a public roundtable that he has run into "bureaucratic slowdowns" because the school system retains control of construction contracts.
"The system is in gridlock and paralysis," Lew said. If he managed that office, he told council members, "we can move forward in a cleaner, more efficient manner."
In a statement released last night, Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee said Lew had made significant progress with facilities "and could certainly bring about the same level of change and accountability to the Office of Facilities Management."
-- Theola Labb Single Sale of School Bonds Sought by Alabama Governor -- Montgomery Advertiser Alabama: September 24, 2007 [ abstract] State officials hope to speed up school construction projects by selling more than $1 billion in school bonds all at once rather than spreading out the sale over two years. The Alabama Public School and College Authority, headed by the governor, voted to hire financial advisers and lawyers to work on a single bond sale late this year -- provided the experts say it's workable.
When the Legislature approved the $1.07 billion bond issue in May, the Riley administration was planning to sell the state's largest school construction bond issue in increments over two years. But then state Superintendent of Education Joe Morton, who serves on the authority, explained that many school systems were planning projects so big, they couldn't begin until their full share of the bond issue was available. "It became apparent we needed to do a bond issue for $1 billion," state Finance Director Jim Main said at the authority meeting. They said schools that already have their building plans and contractors lined up could begin work shortly after the bonds are sold.
The bond issue is the state's first for school construction projects since 1998. It will cost the state an estimated $81.2 million per year for 20 years to pay off, according to fiscal experts. The bond issue will provide money to every city and county K-12 school system, ranging from $51.5 million in Mobile County to $618,908 in Linden, and will fund construction projects at two-year and four-year colleges.
-- Phillip Rawls School Officials Eager to Get Going on Yorktown Rebuild-- Sun Gazette Virginia: September 21, 2007 [ abstract] It might now be closer to a 50-50 possibility, but county school officials remain hopeful that the new Yorktown High School can be built within its $102 million budget.
School Board members were briefed on plans for the new school at their Sept. 20 meeting, but put off approval of the final design for the school as they await action by several county government committees.
At the end of all the deliberations, the County Board must approve a modified-use permit in order for the project to move forward.
“We will be back to this just as soon as the County Board has acted,” School Board Chairman Dave Foster said.
The Yorktown plan already has been considered by a number of advisory panels, but awaits review by the Transportation Commission and planning Commission. The County Board, which this month deferred action on the proposal, is set to take it up in mid-October.
The new facility will be built on the site of the existing high school in North Arlington.
School Board spokesman Linda Erdos told the Sun Gazette that it was too early to know whether the school would come in under its budgeted amount. In a memo to School Board members, Superintendent Robert Smith and his staff also hedged their bets.
As any homeowner who goes through a remodeling project knows, delays and changes can lead to extra costs.
The same is true for school construction, and school officials are bracing for additional costs because of the delays in getting the project through the approval process.
-- SCOTT McCAFFREY Arlington Co. education officials say board’s delay in approving high school may cost time, money
-- The examiner Virginia: September 12, 2007 [ abstract] Arlington school officials are concerned that the county board’s delay in approval of the construction application for Yorktown High School will add to the cost of the project and put it behind schedule.
Schools officials want to break ground in June on the $100 million project, which will replace much of the existing school.
The Arlington County Board deferred a vote beyond its meeting Saturday so two of its citizen panels " the planning and transportation commissions " can resolve concerns with the design.
“We’ll take the comments from the commissions and do our best to address it in October,” County Board Chairman Paul Ferguson said.
-- Maria Hegstad Court Ruling Could Derail New Florida Schools -- Orlando Sentinel Florida: September 12, 2007 [ abstract] A national credit-rating agency warned investors that a Florida school-district financing program faced "negative implications" because of last week's Florida Supreme Court ruling. The announcement from Standard & Poor's could lead to higher interest rates for school districts when they sell bonds, and that could increase school-construction costs.
For schools, the ruling has cast doubt on the legality of a widely used method of financing. "It's a killer," said Wayne Blanton, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association. "It's going to put a huge hole in our building program if every time we want to do a bond issue we also have to go through the whole procedure of an election." School districts do not seek voter approval before they issue "certificates of participation," a type of bond. The certificates, paid back with future tax money, have been used to build and renovate numerous schools in Central Florida, and school finance officers have planned to use them plenty in the future, too. The Orange County school district, for example, plans to finance the construction of a new Evans High in Orlando, a new middle school in the Ocoee area and renovations to Gotha Middle with these certificates in the coming year. The district was not planning to issue the certificates until early spring, so officials are hoping the court ruling will be clarified -- and in their favor -- before then, said Rick Collins, the district's chief financial officer.
-- Leslie Postal Sarasota, Florida Schools Could get Smaller -- Herald Tribune Florida: September 05, 2007 [ abstract] Fewer bathrooms, narrower hallways, less storage space: No, it is not a backward real estate pitch, but possibly the future of elementary education in Sarasota County. Public school classrooms throughout Florida are less crowded thanks to a 2001 law that limits class sizes to 18, 22 or 25 students, depending on the grade level. But in Sarasota and throughout the state students also could be spending more time waiting in line for the bathroom and jostling in crowded hallways. Under a new cost-cutting plan the Sarasota district unveiled recently, the new construction model for elementary school hallways will shrink to 7 feet wide from 10 feet. About half as many restrooms will be built in each new school. Recently built schools have one bathroom per classroom for either sex. The cost-cutting plan calls for one boys' bathroom and one girls' bathroom for every four classrooms.
The changes planned in Sarasota are similar to those made in other Florida school districts -- including Manatee and Charlotte. But they still concern some parents.
Other cost-cutting measures approved by the board include smaller kitchens, combining teacher planning and storage space and making it part of the regular classroom, using plastic pipes instead of copper and using premanufactured cabinets.
-- Zac Anderson A Minnesota School Built by a Thousand Hands -- Star Tribune Minnesota: August 21, 2007 [ abstract] Principal Jim Murphy stands in the school's atrium, pondering a decoration in front of him. Above the entrance to the music wing at the new Shakopee High School, a giant music staff adorns the wall. Instead of notes, lights are scattered on the staff. And Murphy laughs. "It's neat, but we don't know how to turn the lights on yet," he says. "Our custodians haven't found the switch."
Design of new high schools is a telling marker of what a community values. In the past 15 years, the south metro has had a wealth of new schools go up. Ask school officials in these districts who designed their new high schools, and their eyes start to glaze over. "Well," they'll start, and then they'll describe an involved process with task forces, community groups, teacher committees and hundreds and hundreds of voices.
In Shakopee, for example, the school district started with a long-range planning committee to study growth and facilities needs. After voters approved the school's funding, there was a committee that talked about the actual design. There were hundreds of meetings with community and teacher groups. Eventually, a design emerged.
-- Emily Johns Amid Turmoil, Washington Latin Seeks Permission to Relocate
-- Washington Post District of Columbia: August 08, 2007 [ abstract] Washington Latin, a charter school with a classics-based curriculum that attracted parents in droves when it opened last year, is embroiled in turmoil over a plan to accept more students and move from its Upper Northwest location to downtown Washington.
Four board members resigned abruptly last month, including the chairman and former D.C. Council member Kevin P. Chavous, saying they could no longer work with headmaster T.R. Ahlstrom because he has "refused to cooperate or communicate."
Parents have flooded the D.C. Public Charter School Board with e-mails and phone calls, saying they are unsure whether they will re-enroll their children for a second year. Latin, which had 179 students in grades 5 through 7 last year, is planning to increase its enrollment to 320 this fall in grades 5 through 8. To accommodate more students, the school is contemplating a move from Christ Church in Northwest, where it pays $30,000 monthly in rent, to larger space in an office building on Eighth Street NW costing $90,000 a month.
The charter board is slated to discuss Latin's relocation at a public meeting tonight. Its approval is required for a lease.
The dispute at Latin pits parents accustomed to involvement in their children's schools and the governing board, which exercises financial oversight, against a headmaster with a vision of an independent public school "worthy of the best students, yet accessible to all."
Other charter schools also are experiencing growing pains after a first-year flush of excitement over starting a new kind of school.
-- Theola Labbé City schools may have difficulties staying cool
-- The Examiner District of Columbia: July 27, 2007 [ abstract] Thousands of District of Columbia Public School students could return to classrooms without air conditioning when the new academic year starts Aug. 27, Office of Facilities Modernization Director Allen Lew told The Examiner.
Lew said he was still determining how widespread air conditioning problems are and would work to get window units ordered and installed as quickly as possible.
“We could be talking about thousands of window units [that need to be ordered],” Lew said.
This is another example of the toll that neglect has taken on the system’s 144 public schools, Lew said.
Lew, who was handpicked by Mayor Adrian Fenty to lead the fledgling modernization office in June, has spent his first weeks on the job prioritizing immediate needs. Insufficient planning for a “blitz” program intended to address the most pressing repairs before the start of school has meant that work will continue through the academic year, Lew said. He will give an update on school repairs at a news conference next week, he said.
-- Courtney Mabeus Upkeep of Schools Is New Focus For Budget-- Washington Post Maryland: July 26, 2007 [ abstract] Howard County's four older high schools need $35 million in repairs, according to a recently released study, and education leaders are warning that a dedicated source of capital is needed.
"There are not sufficient funds unless we have a sustainable source of funding for school improvement," Superintendent Sydney L. Cousin said last week. "We will talk about this as a community. Stay tuned."
A recently released study -- spurred by debates over serious maintenance needs at Ellicott City's Mount Hebron High School -- took a look at deteriorating conditions at that facility along with three other older high schools: Atholton and Hammond in Columbia and Centennial in Ellicott City.
An estimated $35 million is needed for maintenance and replacement of essentials such as mechanical systems and roofs in the next two decades. "This is just the beginning," Cousin said. An additional $120 million would be required to bring the older schools up to the standards of the county's newer schools, according to Ken Roey, the district's executive director of facility planning.
A second phase of the study, examining the future maintenance needs of the eight other high schools and 19 middle schools in the district, is underway, Roey said. The third phase, looking at 39 elementary schools, is expected to finish next year.
School board Chairman Diane Mikulis said the report "quantifies the need."
But she, like Cousin, expressed concern about the future costs of school upkeep: "We need a sustainable revenue source."
-- Mary Otto Official Says Missteps Hindered DC School Repair ‘Blitz’ -- The Examiner District of Columbia: July 10, 2007 [ abstract] The repairs in the crumbling D.C. Public Schools have been slowed by months due to errors and poor planning on the part of school officials. The repair effort, which Mayor Adrian Fenty had promised would be completed by the first day of school, will now last well into the fall said Allen Lew, acting director of the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization. Low cost estimates and incomplete work orders will now cost at least $10 million more than the $41 million anticipated. As an example of the “dysfunctional system” he now leads, Lew pointed to one school where the work order sought repairs for a leaky roof but did not include any dollars for gutters or leaders. "Now they have pointing problems in the brick, and now they have interior damage from the water that’s been streaming down the side of the building,” he said.
Repairs will not be complete by the first day of school, Aug. 27th, and now, the school system simply hope to get enough work done by opening day so “that people notice.” Repairs during the fall semester will be scheduled to minimize classroom disruption. Allen Lew hopes to clear thousands of back work orders within a year, six months longer than anticipated.
-- Michael Neibauer U.S. Mayors Support Green Schools Resolution-- GreenBiz News National: July 05, 2007 [ abstract] The U.S. Conference of Mayors unanimously supported a resolution that urges Congress to fund K-12 green school projects and research. At the organization's 75th annual meeting, Mayor T.M. Franklin Cownie of Des Moines, Iowa, introduced the resolution in the wake of a green schools movement taking shape across the country.
More than 30 schools have received LEED certification, while almost 300 others are on a certification waiting list. "Studies show that children in green schools are healthier and more productive because of improved indoor air quality, lower levels of chemical emissions and a generous provision of natural day lighting," Mayor Cownie said in a statement. "The benefit of cleaner indoor air quality -- a key emphasis of green schools -- have been linked to lower asthma rates, fewer allergies, reduced absenteeism, and increased teacher retention rates."
The U.S. Green Building Council administers the LEED rating system for schools. It emphasizes classroom acoustics, master planning, indoor air quality, mold prevention, energy efficiency and water conservation. LEED certified green buildings use a third less energy, as much as 50 percent less water, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent, the USGBC said. It estimates that it costs $3 per square foot more to build a green school that a conventional school. Based only on energy savings, the payback begins within one year. Energy savings alone would total $20 billion during the next 10 years if all new schools and renovations were executed in a green manner, the USGBC said.
-- Staff Writer The "Big Box"-- American School and University National: July 01, 2007 [ abstract] The small-schools movement has revolutionized educational concepts, design and construction. By reconfiguring large high schools into smaller learning academies, districts believe they can educate students more effectively. The â€"big box†warehouse philosophy often found in public education is going the way of the dunce's cap.
Planners face numerous challenges in creating or renovating small schools, especially in urban environments where high real-estate prices can hinder development. Creating small schools for specialty curricula such as science, technology or performing arts presents a challenge in the planning, design, construction and administration of these facilities.
Rethinking high school
In 2003, New York City launched its â€"New Schools Initiative†as a core strategy of its â€"Children First†reform agenda. As of September 2006, the initiative had created 184 new secondary schools, six elementary schools and 36 charter schools. Most of these are renovated schools.
Organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, Open Society Institute and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation have contributed funding for the New Schools Initiative.
The New York City Department of Education Office of New Schools provides generic program guides to start the process, while its School Construction Authority oversees design and construction. School administrators collaborate with designers and planners to adapt spaces to meet specific needs.
-- Warren Gran and Kevin Krudwig Tennessee Schools Find Energy Efficiency Pays -- The Tennessean Tennessee: June 25, 2007 [ abstract] More and more Midstate districts are building environmentally friendly schools by using energy-efficient lighting and geothermal heating-cooling systems. And these nontraditional technologies are making schools green in more ways than one: Not only are they good for the environment, they save thousands of taxpayer dollars every year, according to those who've practiced it for years.
However, the largest school district in the region, Metro Nashville, is behind on the geothermal curve — and officials say they have their reasons. "I'm convinced that geothermal is an energy saver," said Arnold Von Hagen, the Metro district's director of planning and construction, "but I'm just not convinced that it's an economical way to save energy."
The geothermal system — a set of underground pipes that uses the earth's steady temperature to cool or heat water — has been touted by the federal environmental agency as the most efficient for this climate. The Sumner County school district's energy manager says he has data that prove its efficiency. Just by switching to a geothermal system, Gallatin High has shaved about $250,000 off its annual utility bill since 2004, Sumner officials said. Rutherford, Williamson, Robertson, Maury, Clarksville-Montgomery and Sumner districts have installed geothermal systems in some of their new schools and retrofitted others. But savings don't come just from using the non-conventional setup to heat and cool the classrooms. "We do everything we can to have an energy conservative building," said Robert McAllister, energy manager for the Sumner County school district, which started using geothermal systems in schools almost a decade ago. "I wouldn't tell anyone that the panacea for all this is geothermal. It's not. You take geothermal and a good, easy-to-use energy management system and use it. Then you're going to save money," he said.
-- Natalia Mielczarek Planners of New Orleans' Schools' Future are Selected -- Times-Picayune Louisiana: June 13, 2007 [ abstract] Two firms, including a company that helped coordinate the Unified New Orleans Plan, have been selected to craft a master plan that will govern the rebuilding of public schools in New Orleans, education officials said. Concordia, an architecture and planning firm based in New Orleans, and Parsons Corp., a construction management and planning firm based in Pasadena, Calif., will work together to develop a blueprint for school renovation and construction. The two companies beat out four firms to win the $3.8 million contract. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse the school district for the cost, officials said. The state-run Recovery School District, which operates the bulk of the 58 schools open in the city, and the Orleans Parish School Board will work together on the plan, expected to be completed in 2008.
Deciding which schools will open, and where, often presents thorny political issues. To earn community support, the planner will seek broad input, officials said. Concordia plans to hold forums in each of the 13 planning districts designated in the city's unified plan, probably starting in the fall, said Bobbie Hill, a principal in the company. For practical reasons, most of the reopened school are in the least devastated parts of the city. Some rebuilding neighborhoods still have no schools.
-- Darran Simon New York Schools Prepare for Building Boom
-- Observer-Dispatch New York: May 25, 2007 [ abstract] Additional state money for school construction projects could mean districts will face a shortage of labor services and higher prices. School leaders say they're feeling a sense of urgency to act quickly on projects in order to get a good selection of bids. Construction professionals, meanwhile, are looking forward to an abundance of work. "There's so much work out there and you don't want to rush the project," Utica Board of Education member D. Victor Pellegrino said. "But if you don't get your bids out there and lock up contractors, the schools that are already out there will get the better prices." The building boom is being driven by Excel funding, a $2.6 billion package in the 2006 state budget that sent $1.8 billion to New York City with the remaining $800 million to other districts. Ninety New York districts outside of New York City, including New Hartford and Mount Markham, already committed to Excel projects, and many more, such as Utica, are in preliminary planning stages, state and school officials said.
-- Vanessa Ebbeling School Trailers In Dispute
-- Washington Post Virginia: May 18, 2007 [ abstract] The Prince William County School Board has voted unanimously to file a lawsuit against the county planning Commission to settle a dispute over who has the power to decide whether trailers can be used as temporary classrooms at overcrowded public schools.
The dispute stems from the planning Commission's decision to deny the School Board's request to install seven trailers at Brentsville High School to add classroom space. The school has about 1,450 students, well over its official capacity, and already has six trailers. At the same meeting, the commission approved additional trailers at four elementary schools because those facilities, unlike the high school, have plans to alleviate crowding and eliminate the use of the trailers
-- Timothy Dwyer Amenities in California Schools Vary Widely-- Sacramento Bee California: March 19, 2007 [ abstract] While some school districts in the Sacramento region are closing campuses because of low enrollment and funding, others are pulling together millions for state-of-the-art schools in growing communities. Sacramento-region school districts report that inflation in the cost of steel and other materials and demand for construction workers is wreaking havoc on plans. Some districts didn't budget enough for the increased costs and must revise designs, rebid projects, seek millions more in bonds or pursue alternative forms of financing. California's formula for school construction calls for the state to fund 50 percent, with school districts responsible for the rest. Under a proposal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the formula could change so districts pay 60 percent.
No two schools are created equal; each project has its set of parameters and circumstances that drive costs, said Constantine Baranoff, Associate Superintendent of Facilities and planning at the Elk Grove District. Since 2000, the Elk Grove Unified School District has opened 17 new schools and plans to open four more by 2008 to handle the city's booming population. West Sacramento's $140 million high school will replace River City High. The new school will feature: 86 classrooms, eight science labs, a television studio and associated high-end computer lab, six multipurpose labs, an electronics-robotics lab, a 450-seat performing arts theater, three swimming pools and several athletic fields and courts. At 114 square feet per student, West Sacramento's new high school is in line with other schools being built such as Whitney High School, Rocklin, 111 square feet per student; Inderkum High School, North Natomas, 118 square feet per student; and Rosemont High School, Sacramento, 139 square feet per student.
-- Lakiesha McGhee New Memphis High School Will Embrace the Community-- Commercial Appeal Tennessee: March 16, 2007 [ abstract] When the new Douglass High opens, it will represent a new way to build schools in Memphis. The school will become a partner to Douglass Park as a North Memphis community hub. The site is northwest of Warford Street and Chelsea Avenue. "We are shifting our paradigm on how we can support each other, working toward comprehensive planning rather than isolated development," said Michael Goar, schools chief operating officer. The joint efforts save taxpayers money when the city and city schools aren't duplicating efforts, said Robert Lipscomb, chief financial officer for the city.
The Douglass community was heavily involved in the school's design. Two meetings last summer drew nearly 500 people, said Leonard Myers, schools facilities project manager. As the system renovates and builds other schools, it plans to repeat this process, getting community input and working with local government to create neighborhood projects.
The historically black school was closed in 1981 due to low enrollment. A nationwide network of alumni, including Memphis City Councilwoman Barbara Swearengen Ware, have been working for 24 years to bring the school back. Stone from the old building will be used for the front arch. Bricks will be sold and bear inscriptions from alumni and will be placed in the courtyard. The new school will house the national alumni association's office and will have its gym, media center and auditorium available for community use even when school is out of session. Details are still being worked out on paying for and supervising community access. â€"We are focused on creating community-based schools to revitalize the community," said Louise Mercuro, schools director of capital planning. "We are hoping (the school) will help spur further investments."
-- Dakarai I. Aarons Students protest rumored school closure
-- The Examiner District of Columbia: March 07, 2007 [ abstract] More than 150 students from Margaret Murray Washington Career High School walked about a mile in the bitter cold early Tuesday to demand answers from District of Columbia Public School officials about their future.
The students, who flooded the lobby of 825 N. Capitol St. in Northeast, where DCPS and the Board of Education central offices are located, failed to show up at the school, located at 27 O St. in Northwest, early Tuesday, Principal William Chiseolm said.
The students’ unannounced appearance at the downtown office surprised DCPS officials, who called Chiseolm downtown.
Students demanded a private meeting with Robert Kight, executive director for career and technical education for DCPS, to discuss a rumor that they would be displaced to other schools to continue academic programs currently offered at M.M. Washington.
This is not the first time activists and students have protested the rumored closure of District schools. DCPS and the school board are planning to close and consolidate some schools under the massive Master Facilities Plan. Schools planned for closure have not been publicly identified.
-- Courtney Mabeus Students Find New Doors Open With Completion of Academy
-- Washington Post District of Columbia: March 01, 2007 [ abstract] Phyllis Percy grew up playing with tape measures and helping her father as he handled the repairs in their Northwest home, everything from hanging windows to coping with plumbing emergencies.
Now the senior at Cardozo Senior High School in the District is poised for more formal training at the school's new construction academy -- a brightly lit renovated wing with hands-on learning stations and new equipment that will give more students throughout the city a chance to study heating, ventilation and air conditioning, carpentry and electrical trades.
"I can't wait to get in here so we can build nice stuff that I can put in my room," said Percy, 18, looking around yesterday at a jigsaw, a band saw and other tools.
After more than three years of planning with the city's leading developers and construction businesses, school and city leaders officially opened the doors yesterday of the Cardozo Academy of Construction and Design, a $2 million public-private partnership that represents the first construction of new classrooms for those disciplines in 40 years.
The goal is to have a technology-focused program that trains students to meet industry needs.
"It's not the same type of courses that students . . . are in now, that their parents associate with vocational education," said Alisha Hyslop, assistant director of public policy for the Association for Career and Technical Education. "It's a much more rigorous, challenging environment that's very relevant to their futures."
The poor state of vocational education in the city was a point of discussion during last year's political campaign for District and school board positions. The construction academy is designed to prepare students who may not go to college for jobs connected to the city's economic development.
Most D.C. public school students don't graduate from high school, and less than 10 percent graduate from college, according to a report released in October by the State Education Office.
The Cardozo program is supported by the nonprofit District of Columbia Students Construction Trades Foundation Inc., whose members include construction companies Miller & Long and Donohue, developer PN Hoffman and United Bank.
-- Theola Labbé Changing Face of Education Drives Need for New School Facilities-- Times Bulletin Ohio: February 26, 2007 [ abstract] In Ohio, more and more schools are improving facilities. Among some local residents, there is a strong feeling that new buildings are unnecessary, or are simply a waste of taxpayer money. Still, others feel that more modern, up-to-date structures are a solid investment in the future of the students. Not surprisingly, the three superintendents in Van Wert County are in favor of updating school facilities. Crestview's building is only 15 years old, and the board of education has been planning renovations over the past two years. Van Wert has closed three older elementary schools and constructed a new high school and middle school complex which opened only three months ago. Lincolnview has recently set a groundbreaking date this spring for a new building which should be finished in a couple of years. "Absolutely, the new facilities help kids," Van Wert County Supt. Cathy Hoffman said. "The modern, up-to-date facilities help us provide more adequate learning. Some old buildings don't even have sufficient electrical capabilities for the new technology."
Just last year when Parkway Local Schools was using the old building at Willshire as Parkway Middle School, the limitations of the historic building were apparent. If a teacher needed the use a small bank of computers for class, someone had to go out into the hallway and unplug the drinking fountain to prevent the breakers from switching off the power in that part of the building. It's the need for technology that partially fuels the current drive for new facilities. "There is more emphasis on the use of technology in schools, which is in line with the way jobs work today," Lincolnview Supt. Doug Fries pointed out. "New facilities make a big difference in trying to stay modernized with all the technology." It's not that a more modern facility will make a kid any smarter. For supporters, it's more a matter of giving a student a better chance."Facility improvement translates to a better working environment for students," Crestview Supt. John Basinger asserted. "That doesn't mean that every kid is going to pass, but it puts him in an environment where he can do better."
-- Ed Gebert School Design Often Calls for Outside Perspective-- Springfield Business Journal Missouri: February 19, 2007 [ abstract] What brings a national powerhouse architectural firm to a smaller market like Springfield to design schools? According to Jim French, senior principal at DLR and leader of the K-12 practice sector, it’s an ongoing revolution in how schools approach curriculum. With technology making the world smaller all the time, “what school districts are beginning to do is look for some outside expertise to help them with some of the planning and programming and the initial design work,” French said. As school facilities are get larger, educators are turning to small learning communities " small groups of students and teachers that give the feel of a small school environment " to personalize the education experience. Facility design can aid this process. Also, “school districts want to be more sophisticated in the way they deliver the educational program,” French said. That means more technology, early emphasis on career paths and spaces in which students can apply what they are learning. When districts decide they want to embrace these kinds of approaches, they sometimes turn to specialist firms such as DLR. It’s not that local architects aren’t capable of the work, but “having somebody that has dealt with these situations and speaks about these things nationally at conferences is a little more comforting to those school districts that feel they want to explore (new) educational curriculum,” French said.
-- Clarissa French Oregon Lawmakers Try to Help Defray School Construction Costs-- OregonLive.com Oregon: February 16, 2007 [ abstract] The push is on in Salem to help schools deal with overcrowded classrooms and aging facilities, but just what form such help might take is still evolving. A host of bills are on the table, including a proposal that would let cities and counties levy development charges on builders of new homes and subdivisions -- to help defray the subsequent cost of a rise in school enrollment. Developers already pay similar charges to support parks, sewers, water systems and roads.
Also in the works are plans to: eliminate the double-majority requirement, which requires at least 50 percent of voters to turn out for property tax measures backed by schools and local governments; allow school boards to vote to impose capped "school impact fees" on developers; set aside dollars from the state lottery to feed an account for school construction; allow local planning commissions to use school capacity, or a lack thereof, as a reason to make a permitting decision. Currently, planning commissions can deny building applications based on road and sewer capacity, but not on schools; permit schools to take advantage of state bonding authority to pay for construction, as the state's universities already can do.
,br>Oregon has long offered almost no help on school construction and remodeling to local districts. To do any building, districts need to persuade voters to pass general obligation bonds, not an easy task in cash-poor areas. In the November elections, for example, 18 districts successfully passed general obligation bonds, but 23 school districts and community colleges did not, including high-growth districts like David Douglas and Reynolds, outside of Portland. Legislation aimed at helping defray the crowded portable classrooms that have become staples in high-growth districts has come up in Salem before, but always been successfully fended off by building and development lobbyists, who argue that fees levied on new construction will drive up the cost of housing, and that schools are a community-wide responsibility, and should not be paid for by a select group of new homebuyers.
-- Julia Silverman/Associated Press Smarter School Planning Critical-- Montgomery Advertiser Alabama: February 15, 2007 [ abstract] Investments in educational facilities represent one of the largest capital outlays many local governments make. Over the next few decades, thousands of schools will be built or renovated across the country. Decisions about the construction and renovation of these schools will have important implications for their communities.
The average school size has grown and new schools have increasingly located on large sites away from the neighborhoods and towns they serve. The trend of school consolidation/larger schools is a key driver of the trend towards schools on large sites at the edges of the communities they serve. Compounding the problem, in many places there is a policy bias in favor of constructing new schools rather than renovating or expanding existing ones. Guidelines, recommendations and standards that encourage or require building large schools on new campuses are embedded in a variety of regulations and laws. Many states have school construction funding formulas that favor new construction over renovation. Such formulas typically establish a limit on what a district may spend to renovate rather than build new, usually a specific percentage of the cost of new construction. The National Trust for Historic Preservation urges states to eliminate these funding policies, because they penalize communities for maintaining and modernizing old schools, even when doing so costs less than building new.
-- Tim Torma Building the 21st-Century School
-- Roanoke Times Virginia: February 11, 2007 [ abstract] Pulaski and Riverlawn elementary schools are separated by a 20-minute drive and more than half a century of developments in school architecture. Pulaski, which opened two years ago, was built with computers and other modern teaching technologies in mind. It's wired with security cameras, has air conditioning and is built on one level so people such as Emily McGrail can get around easily. "I have no constraints here at all," the wheelchair-using teacher recently said while watching her second-grade class in the cafeteria. McGrail would not be able to say that at Riverlawn, which opened in 1949 and has so many sets of stairs that the rooms to which disabled students can be assigned is limited. The older school's outdated wiring does not allow for as many computers as are desired, and the lack of air conditioning means "the temperatures on the second floor are an issue in the fall and late spring," said John Bowler, Riverlawn's principal. But if all goes according to plan, that will no longer be the case 19 months from now.
Riverlawn is expected to have a new building for the 2008-09 school year. Together, the Riverlawn and Pulaski elementary schools will reflect the first wave of new school construction for the county in more than 30 years. Elsewhere in the New River Valley, Radford is planning to build its first new school since 1979, and Montgomery County is deciding which of its several "critical" projects to do first. Floyd County has no active projects but in 2005 completed a 10-year renovation program that cost about $19 million and affected all five of that county's schools.
-- Albert Raboteau Schools Leading Green Charge-- Charlotte Observer North Carolina: February 07, 2007 [ abstract] One of the "greenest" schools ever proposed in the Carolinas will transform a campus of modular classrooms into a working environmental laboratory. Carolina International School, a 415-student charter school in Harrisburg, is working on a construction plan that calls for green features ranging from rooftop vegetation to recycled water. The project is part of a green surge in the Carolinas. Charlotte's next three skyscrapers will be green, and residential developers have begun to promote environmentally sensitive neighborhoods. But that might not be the biggest piece of the action. Across the country, architects and contractors are calling green educational facilities -- not commercial buildings -- The Next Big Thing in construction.
McGraw-Hill Construction says the $53 billion education market -- the largest industry sector -- is the nation's fastest growing for green buildings. Fueling the trend, studies say, are such factors as energy cost savings, less impact on the environment, improved student and teacher health and better academic performance. The U.S. Green Building Council, which rates and certifies Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) buildings, says 31 schools (K-12) are certified nationwide.
The outlook for green educational construction is rosy, experts say, because many schools systems -- Charlotte-Mecklenburg included -- adopt green building principals without incurring the expense of LEED certification. The USGBC awards points based on energy savings and environmental design and certifies projects as Silver, Gold or Platinum, the highest level. Guy Chamberlain, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' assistant superintendent for auxiliary services, believes most of the system's schools built since 2002 would quality for the lowest level of certification. Environmentally sensitive issues such as energy efficiency, day lighting, stormwater runoff and water-based paints and adhesives will figure into the planning for 60 new schools over the next 10 years, he said.
-- Doug Smith Louisiana Governor Wants to Speed School Repair-- Times-Picayune Louisiana: February 06, 2007 [ abstract] Responding to accusations her administration ignored problems plaguing the state-run public schools in New Orleans, Gov. Kathleen Blanco assigned her top facilities planning official to investigate ways to streamline purchasing and contracting to repair and construct buildings to handle swelling student enrollment. Jerry Jones, director of the state Facilities planning and Control office, said he would "inject" himself into the business of cutting red tape for the estimated $1 billion in repair projects for the state's Recovery School District, which oversees most public schools in New Orleans and faces the biggest rebuilding task.
The recovery district has about 50 buildings repaired or being repaired, and many more anticipated for repairs later. The district is working on a plan to build new schools. Of the 34 occupied buildings in the recovery district, only about five are finished, according to a recovery district consultant.
-- Robert Travis Scott Board Wants to Attack School Repairs in 'All-Out Blitz'
-- Washington Post District of Columbia: January 25, 2007 [ abstract] A sign taped to a stall in a boys restroom at Maury Elementary School on Capitol Hill warns: "This stall is out of order. Do not enter." A plastic bag covering the commode reinforces that message.
Like many schools in the D.C. system, the 120-year-old Maury has several toilets and sinks -- and a whole restroom -- that have been unusable for months. But help for students, some of whom have to endure long walks to find a working restroom, may be on the way.
The D.C. Board of Education is proposing an emergency "blitz" to make improvements at more than 100 of the system's 140 schools, repairing restrooms, water fountains, windows, boilers and exterior lighting. Maury, with about 200 students, is near the top of the list.
"It would be wonderful if that can happen a lot sooner -- it will do something to the kids," Principal Michael A. Wilson said. "Those things are very important to them."
Initially, school system officials were planning to start work in October -- well into the next school year -- on Maury and 70 other schools deemed to be in the worst shape. But school board members pressed for more immediate action.
The board wants work to begin next month and to include more than 100 schools. Not included: the two dozen or so buildings that will be renovated in the first two years of a school modernization program.
Over the next few weeks, the school board will submit proposals in stages to the D.C. Council and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) seeking an advance of $75 million from the school modernization fund. In 2006, the council allocated $2.3 billion over at least 10 years to rehabilitate schools, and board members approved a master facilities plan last week detailing how that work will be carried out.
-- V. Dion Haynes New Orleans Recovery District Planning to Build 10 Modular Schools-- Times-Picayune Louisiana: January 09, 2007 [ abstract] Even after the state-run Recovery School District completes its plans to erect at least 10 modular campuses around the city, some children in eastern New Orleans will have to be bused to schools in other parts of town next school year, Superintendent Robin Jarvis said. One 600-student modular campus is under construction. At least 10 more modular schools, designed to house 7,200 additional students, are expected to be open in the fall. Four of them are slated for planning District 9 in eastern New Orleans. The site of severe flooding after Hurricane Katrina has just one open Recovery District school now. Construction on another 600-seat modular school began in December. Two west bank campuses -- Rosenwald Elementary, capacity 400, and L.B. Landry High School, capacity 800 -- are repaired but unoccupied. "Most of our needs are on the east bank," Jarvis said.
-- Bill Barrow Gates Grant to Target Low Performers-- Washington Post District of Columbia: December 19, 2006 [ abstract] D.C. School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey said yesterday a $4.8 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will help fund school system improvements in low-performing schools, including an expansion of reading and math remedial programs and conversion of several senior highs into career academies.
The grant comes as school system leaders struggle to find the money to finance a series of initiatives that Janey introduced this year to boost lackluster student achievement -- including year-round schools, vocational education courses and the career academies. However, the money, to be used for planning and implementing the programs, will make only a modest dent in the $34 million school officials are requesting from the city to pay for the reforms.
Turning around the troubled school system has been a top priority for Janey and new city leaders, including Mayor-elect Adrian M. Fenty.
During spring testing, 28 of 146 schools in the D.C. system made adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law. Moreover, a recent study, partially funded by the Gates Foundation, showed that only 9 percent of freshmen in the system will complete college within five years of graduating from high school.
"The partnership will allow us to really punctuate the importance of literacy for our secondary students," Janey said at a news conference at Ballou Senior High School in Southeast Washington, one of 28 schools that will receive grant money. "This is a very ambitious project."
-- V. Dion Haynes New Rule Requires Officials to Examine School Capacity Before Development-- Orlando Sentinel Florida: December 07, 2006 [ abstract] DeBary officials have a new tool to reject developments to help prevent school overcrowding. The City Council passed a school-planning ordinance that requires officials to examine school capacity before approving any new development. Under the new rule, officials can turn down developments in areas with overcrowded schools or in areas where no schools are planned. DeBary is the first city in Volusia County to enact such an ordinance. It echoes a recently approved county policy and a state rule that takes effect in 2008. Volusia voters approved an amendment to the county's home-rule charter that mandates the government to consider school capacity before allowing land-use changes or growth.
-- Tanya Caldwell School closings are likely to be on table in KC
-- Kansas City Star Kansas: November 27, 2006 [ abstract] When it comes to potential school closings in the Kansas City School District, it’s time to begin naming names.
Five citizen advisory groups, after some two dozen meetings with the district’s consultants, will come together this week one more time to get down to the hard stuff.
“Someone ultimately has to craft the potential plan, and that’s what we’re doing,” said Ron Smith of planning Advocates Inc., part of the consulting team.
After decades of shrinking enrollment, some 30 percent of the space in occupied district buildings is going unused. The school board has long understood that the district needs to consolidate schools and close buildings. Many buildings are old and in need of expensive repairs.
Since October, five groups of 20 to 30 people have been reviewing data and debating the criteria and priorities they think should guide the district’s decisions.
Wednesday evening at the Paseo Academy, the consultants will present a collection of scenarios that Smith expects will include school-closing options.
The consultants will gather whatever consensus they can muster and then spend two to three weeks forming a proposal to present to the school board by the end of the year.
Then, through the debates that are bound to follow, the board hopes to agree on a final plan early next year.
Wednesday’s meeting, like the previous advisory committee gatherings, will be open to the public.
Whether the community groups will feel that they have made a strong contribution remains to be seen, said Howard Townsend, a district parent, a homes association leader and one of several people who have worried that the groups have not had enough time.
“I know the school board wants to be able to say, ‘We gave the community opportunities for input,’ ” Townsend said. “I don’t know if we’ve had sufficient representation of the community
-- JOE ROBERTSON Colorado Schools Seek $300 Million Upgrade-- Denver Post Colorado: October 14, 2006 [ abstract] Next month, voters in the Boulder Valley School District will decide upon the largest bond issue in district history. At nearly $300 million, it is also the largest proposed school bond issue in the state this year and one of the largest ever for Colorado. The biggest single item in the bond issue is a budgeted $31 million to tear down the 1924 Casey Middle School building and replace it with a new one. But, if approved, officials plan to make improvements to every school in the district, where the average age of the buildings is 43 years, and district leaders believe repairs are long overdue. "This bond measure is really an investment in the existing neighborhood schools and in protecting them into the future," said Don Orr, the district's director of planning and engineering. "That makes this bond issue tougher to sell because it's not sexy. It's tough to get people interested in boiler replacements and roof replacements." The district - with an enrollment of 27,933 students - also plans to improve ventilation and heating and cooling systems, upgrade athletic fields, enlarge some buildings and improve Internet wiring throughout the schools. Critics of the bond measure don't question whether the schools need improving. Instead, they question whether the district can be trusted to handle all the money.
-- John Ingold Rise in Costs Could Affect School Design-- Charleston Daily Mail West Virginia: October 09, 2006 [ abstract] Rising construction costs may lead to changes in how new schools are designed; Chuck Wilson, facilities director for Kanawha County schools, estimates school construction costs have gone up about $100 per square foot in the last three years. He said costs have spiked mainly because of increased steel and fuel costs. David Sneed, interim executive director for the state's School Building Authority, agreed the cost of school construction has significantly increased. "Copper wiring, roofing, insulation, any kind of plastic or material made with petroleum. . . they've all gone up," Sneed said. Sneed said the building authority has been forced to boost its funding formula for schools numerous times to compensate for increased costs. The last time funds were divvied out, the building authority provided $161 per square foot for the construction of high schools, $165 per square foot for middle schools and $142 per square foot for elementary schools. Kanawha County school board members decided in August to construct two new elementary schools. According to cost projections, the price tag for the two new schools, after some redistricting, is about $26.1 million. According to preliminary cost estimates, the building authority might provide about $10.5 million of that, leaving the county to pay the remaining $15.5 million. "Costs have gone up tremendously since we started looking at those schools. I imagine that by the time we build it, costs will have doubled," Wilson said. "We need to look at ways we can use our educational facilities and be as efficient as possible.†Wilson said. Instead of full computer labs, Wilson said he has suggested rolling or mobile laptop labs; instead of each teacher having his or her own classroom, one teacher uses the room while another spends off time in the planning room.
-- Jessica M. Karmasek County backs off school site restraints-- venicegondolier Florida: October 01, 2006 [ abstract] Somewhat grudgingly the Sarasota Board of County Commissioners agreed Wednesday to back off plans that would have limited where middle and high schools can be built.
By a split vote of 3-2, the BOCC agreed to amended language in its Evaluation and Appraisal Report, part of a larger comprehensive planning document, granting the school board authority to site schools where it deems necessary. Property purchases still require prior BOCC approval.
The draft EAR language would have effectively kept Sarasota County School Board from building middle and high schools in certain development zones.
"We were objecting to the county constraining our ability to site schools in the northeast part of the county while they have been approving developments out that way," said Ken Marsh, director of long-range planning for the school district.
-- Greg Giles School of the Future Comes to Philadelphia-- MSNBC Pennsylvania: September 08, 2006 [ abstract] After three years of planning, the Microsoft Corporation-designed "School of the Future" opened its doors, a gleaming white modern facility looking out of place amid rows of ramshackle homes in a working-class West Philadelphia neighborhood. The school is being touted as unlike any in the world, with not only a high-tech building -- students have digital lockers and teachers use interactive "smart boards" -- but also a learning process modeled on Microsoft's management techniques. The company didn't pay the $63 million cost — that was borne by the Philadelphia School District — but shared its personnel and management skills. About 170 teens, nearly all black and mainly low-income, were chosen by lottery to make up the freshman class. The school eventually plans to enroll up to 750 students.
Students — who are called "learners" — use smart cards to register attendance, open their digital lockers and track calories they consume. They carry laptops, not books, and the entire campus has wireless Internet access. Teachers, or "educators," rather than using blackboards, have interactive "smart boards" that allow teachers to zoom in and out, write or draw, and even link to the Internet. There's no library, but an "interactive learning center" where information is all digital and a "multimedia specialist" will help out students. Instead of a cafeteria, there's a food court with restaurant-style seating. The performance center — where two sections rotate close to create a smaller space — replaces the typical auditorium.
-- Associated Press School Construction Builds Growth in Harrisonburg, Virginia-- WHSV-com Virginia: August 17, 2006 [ abstract] Lots of school construction means something not too many people want to talk about around here, growth. It's something experts say is inevitable. From Waynesboro's Kate Collins to Harrisonburg's new high school, a lot of school projects starting and finishing in the Valley. But what does this mean? "I think it does represent growth in terms of new schools being built," says Associate Economic Professor Jane Pietrowski of Mary Baldwin College. "Certainly families are moving to the valley and they are bringing their kids and their kids need educational services."
Maybe that's why all six major school systems within Page, Rockingham and Augusta County are spending close to a quarter billion dollars in construction! "This would be an indicator that work is coming here," says Pietrowski. "The question is what kinds of services are coming here and what kinds of skills are these people going to need." Experts suggest more jobs and location for the steady growth but some projects like in Staunton, say old buildings and technology are fueling its renovations. "Growth was not the driving factor when we started planning this," says Mark White of the Staunton City Schools. "It was just to renovate an old facility and make it a usable school." Staunton is keeping an eye on growth, as well as Augusta County. Its new Wilson Middle School opens Monday, alleviating overcrowding issues at two other schools.
-- Mike Mueller New School Facilities are Springing Up Around West Virginia-- Harold-Dispatch West Virginia: August 13, 2006 [ abstract] The new Wayne Elementary School is just the first of many new schools for students throughout the Tri-State. Cabell County and South Point, Ohio, are also in the process of building new facilities. The Wyne project cost more than $7.5 million, and the state School Building Authority helped fund it. The old school was built in 1929, and Wayne County Schools Assistant Superintendent Jerry Workman said the new school will have to last decades as well. The facility is a result of the support from the building authority, the board and the community. "These kids have lived in a substandard schools all their lives," Russell said. "We want to teach them to be proud of the building and to take care of it."
Five major building projects continue to race through the planning stages in Cabell County. All of the new buildings are a result from a January levy passed in the county that will bring in $65,455,000 over the next 15 years to supply new buildings for Barboursville Middle School, Milton Middle School and Martha Elementary School and a new building that would consolidate the current Cammack and Miller elementary schools. A portion of that money, more than $3 million, will come from state School Building Authority funds that have already been approved for a new Martha Elementary. The bond money would pay to renovate Cammack Middle School for the current populations of Cammack and West Middle School students.
When it's all said and done for the South Point Local School District, every school will be in a new building. Construction is continuing for the middle and high schools, and both are scheduled to open next fall. Both buildings are on the same site, and will have a common connector to the buildings, said superintendent Ken Cook. The Ohio Building Projects is funding about 80 percent of the projects, while local taxpayers passed a levy to fund the rest.
-- Rachel Gensler Harford County, Maryland Debates Facilities Statute-- Baltimore Sun Maryland: August 08, 2006 [ abstract] A Harford County councilman is charging that the county government is violating a law delaying development around crowded schools - a touchy issue this election year. Suburban politicians are under pressure from voters resentful of school crowding and traffic congestion to limit home construction, while builders complain the restrictions are driving up housing prices and forcing people to commute farther to work. But Harford County government approved nearly 2,200 residential permits in 2005, the most in at least a decade, according to figures from the planning and Zoning Department. Despite that, county officials said the planned opening of a new school next year should relieve the crowding, while at least one councilman says that is not good enough.
In a letter to County Executive David R. Craig, Councilman Dion F. Guthrie said that allowing development around three overcrowded schools based on projections that crowding will decrease next year violates the county's adequate public facilities law. The law prevents new projects being planned around county schools at more than 5 percent of their rated capacity.
Counties throughout Maryland have laws designed to prevent new homes from overwhelming essentials such as roads, water and schools - with varying degrees of success. In Baltimore County, a task force was formed in the spring to study why homes were continuing to be built near severely crowded schools. At the same time, a study by the University of Maryland's National Center for Smart Growth found that building restrictions in Harford, Howard and Montgomery have caused housing shortages, driven up home prices, and steered growth to areas that were meant to be preserved. As far back as December, Harford's Adequate Public Facilities Advisory Board had suggested moratoriums would be lifted because of redistricting and the opening of Patterson Mill.
-- Justin Fenton Delaware's Aging Schools Need Replacing, Upgrading-- News Journal Delaware: July 31, 2006 [ abstract] Milford Middle is a perfect example of a school that needs to be replaced because of old age, and it has plenty of company across Delaware, said John Marinucci, who runs school plant planning and maintenance for the state's Department of Education and is former director of operations in the Milford district. The average age of Delaware's schools is 46 years, Marinucci said. And that fact could point to costly construction and renovation, a steady parade of referenda and higher taxes for Delaware residents. Not all old schools are in bad shape, though. A school's condition depends on how well it was built and how often it was renovated, officials say.
But with an average age of 46, even schools built to last 50 years are reaching the end of their lives. And buildings that hang on beyond their life expectancy might not offer the best learning environments for students if infrastructure such as proper lighting and air circulation are not brought into the 21st century. "You make it tougher for kids to learn," said Paul Abramson, a national educational space-planning consultant and columnist for School planning and Management magazine. "Could you imagine the Philadelphia Eagles playing in a 46-year-old stadium, or the Phillies? You end up with kids who are not educated, or who are not educated enough to come into the modern world. Are you educating them for 1940, or are you educating them for 2040?"
Glen Earthman, a professor emeritus of education administration at Virginia Tech University, agrees. He conducted a study of North Dakota schools in 1995 that showed state test scores of students in schools with poor conditions were as much as 10 percent lower than students in better buildings. Similar studies in Virginia, Maryland and Washington produced similar results, he said.
To better educate children, school construction in Delaware also must keep pace with population growth and make room for full-day kindergarten. But casting its shadow on the need to build is the high cost of construction materials, which have soared in recent years because of factors such as increases in energy costs and an economic boom in China that has driven up worldwide demand for materials such as steel and concrete.
-- Edward L. Kenney and Andrew Tangel Rochester Schools Project in $1 Billion Class-- Rochester Democrat & Chronicle New York: July 30, 2006 [ abstract] School, government and business leaders are planning the largest construction project in Rochester history: an overhaul of the City School District's aged collection of buildings. The project's scope is massive. Eight brand-new schools would be built, neighborhoods around schools would be improved and every school in the district — 50 buildings — would be affected in some way. According to preliminary plans obtained by the Democrat and Chronicle, construction would extend over 15 years and could cost up to $1.2 billion, or about five times as much as the downtown Renaissance Square project. Although efforts in the state Legislature to pass a bill authorizing money for the school plan fell short last month, Rochester government and education leaders are confident they will soon get a green light from Albany. Much of the cost would be borne by the state, which has spent almost $10 billion so far this decade on school construction across New York. District officials say modernization is needed because Rochester's schools average 61 years in age and structural inequities exist throughout the city. More than half of the city's schools predate 1936. Ten are older than 90 years.
-- Gary McLendon San Diego School With Big Designs and Joint Use-- San Diego Union-Tribune California: July 26, 2006 [ abstract] The Del Mar Union School District plans to break ground next month on its eighth elementary school, doubling its number of schools since 2000. The Carmel Valley campus will be the district's largest, based on square footage. Ocean Air Elementary will be built on six acres and the district will build playgrounds on six acres of city-owned land as part of a joint-use park.
The design of the new school will be distinct from other schools in the district. Most of the classrooms will be in two-story buildings. The library will have a metal roof shaped like an open book. Posts will resemble crayons. And there will be open space on three sides of the school to make the grounds more visually appealing. Child-friendly shapes and colors will be combined with rustic tones and a stone veneer finish that blends with the character of the neighborhood, said Frisco White of Westberg + White, the architectural firm on the project. The city owns 15 acres adjacent to the school, six of which will be used for the school's playing fields. The city is planning to build a gymnasium, restrooms, a play area for smaller children and basketball courts.
-- Sherry Saavedra Lacking School, Developer's Proposal Rejected in Virginia-- Washington Post Virginia: July 25, 2006 [ abstract] The Prince William County developers offered more than $2.5 million to the school system as part of their package for more than 1,000 homes, offices and restaurants on 128 wooded acres near Gainesville. But it wasn't enough. The anonymous partners behind Wheeler's Grove LLC and HC Land Company LC did not designate any space for an elementary school, and so the Prince William planning Commission rejected their proposal, recommending that the Board of County Supervisors deny it. The commission's action signifies a strategic shift by Prince William officials seeking to balance the county's rapid growth with its need for new schools. In a county where 16 schools are expected to open or be built in the next 10 years, developers are being pressured to offer school sites with their proposals because vacant land has become so scarce.
The need for schools in Prince William is clear, county officials said. The school system -- the third-largest in Virginia behind Fairfax County and Virginia Beach -- grows by about 3 percent a year. It is expected to have about 70,200 students this academic year and nearly 87,000 students in 10 years. The school system is so concerned about obtaining the right land in the right place that it has been pushing to open a middle school in the central part of the county, despite the community's concerns that a sewage treatment facility now occupies the site. Prince William schools have become so crowded that some schools are using multiple trailers to house classrooms. In the Gainesville proposal, the developer did not offer any land for a school, which is needed because other schools in that area already are using trailers, said Ronald Burgess, planning Commission chairman. A handful of schools nearby, in the county's west end, have a total of 22 classroom trailers, he said.
-- Ian Shapira Charleston Schools' Mobile Fixtures-- Post and Courier South Carolina: July 17, 2006 [ abstract] They've become a fixture of schools today, as common as textbooks, tests and No. 2 pencils. Politically correct educators call them different names - "learning cottages," "cabanas" and "relocatable teaching stations." But anyone who's ever seen a double-wide knows what they are: mobile homes. No matter their name, mobile classrooms are school districts' answer to growth and the inability to build facilities fast enough to keep pace with burgeoning student populations. Every local district relies on them, whether its student enrollment is growing or shrinking. Educators work around the less-than-ideal accommodations to ensure the temporary classrooms don't hinder student learning.
During the summers, school maintenance workers dedicate themselves to renovating dilapidated mobiles while officials shift others among schools. The process requires months of planning, teams of workers and costs tens of thousands of dollars. The moving, adding and renovating of the units is a small part of the bigger story about districts' progress in housing their students. [See related stories: Eyesore, or Necessary Class Space?; Charleston County Trims Use of Mobiles; and District 2 Adds Portable Units.]
-- Staff Writer Detroit School District Weighs Use of School Facilities-- The Detroit News Michigan: July 06, 2006 [ abstract] Detroit School Board is seeking ways to market closed school buildings to developers. Nearly 30 public schools shut last year in Detroit due to shrinking enrollment and budget constraints. Many vacant school buildings have attracted vagrants, pilfering and vandalism. Charles Mitchell, chief of public safety for the district says that Officers patrol the buildings and respond to break-ins.
The elected school board, newly seated this year, is taking stock of the buildings, plus another 17 closed structures, to determine their possible use and seek opportunities for marketing them to community groups and developers. Most of the schools were closed by the previous reform board led by CEO Kenneth Burnley. School officials are planning to sell the former Wilbur Wright School to developers for reuse as loft condominiums and commercial. Mark Schrupp, Deputy Chief of Facilities, Maintenance and Auxiliary Services, is urging the board to add a full-time staff position to next year's budget for the purpose of marketing the vacant schools for alternative uses.
Board member Marvis Cofield, chairman of the facilities committee, believes selling the buildings should be a last resort. "We won't be selling just because we're not using it," he said. "You want to own as much land and as much buildings as possible. In neighborhoods that show the promise of growth, schools could reopen, he said. According to real estate agents, the loss of neighborhood schools has made homes in some areas less desirable.
-- Catherine Jun It's Not Just a Gym. Kids Win When We Let Them Be Part of the Team-- Philadelphia Inquirer Pennsylvania: June 17, 2006 [ abstract] Lankenau High School in the Andorra section of Philadelphia is getting a new gym. The $11 million addition is a very small part of the city school district's $1.7 billion construction makeover. But it could make a big difference in the future of some Lankenau students, because educators and the project architect took the time to make them a big part of the design team.
"I wanted to involve the whole school community in the project," said architect David Schrader. So he began work last September by involving students in a five-day version of the hands-on brainstorming sessions that architects call a charrette. The students were asked to help come up with options on where the addition should go, how it should look and how related renovations to the existing school should be handled. To give meaningful input, they had to learn about design, engineering, site planning, "green" buildings and landscaping. During the year, Nancy Bellew's math class and Michael Hardisky's science class took the lessons way further, under the guidance of Schrader's firm and architecture students from Philadelphia University. The 20-plus Lankenau students built handsome scale models of the building and of the entire site out of foam and butter board. They did a thorough environmental survey of the land on which their school sits. The students presented their work to their teachers, parents and members of the community last week, with enthusiasm, style and the inevitable hip-hop soundtrack.
-- Editorial Growth Drop-Off Might Delay Palm Beach School Construction-- Palm Beach Post Florida: June 08, 2006 [ abstract] Slowing growth may delay the construction of six Palm Beach County schools in the next five years, school officials said. The schools may not be needed as early as planned because of lower-than-expected enrollment that caught the district off guard this year. In August, the district expects about 500 fewer students than it had during the 2005-06 school year. Just last year, officials planned their schools expecting 5,000 new students each year. Now, they anticipate only about 5,000 new students total over the next five years.
Board member Monroe Benaim believes this year's slowdown is a temporary blip. He would like to see the district stick to its current schedule in its five-year construction plan, which the board has not finalized. "I think what's going to happen is we're going to be playing catch-up," Benaim said. But given the rapid increases in construction costs, the district might not be able to meet those goals, planning Director Kris Garrison said. "If the growth had kept going at 5,000 (students) a year... we would not have the money to build those schools," she said.
-- Rani Gupta Michigan School Districts Rework Security Inside Buildings-- The Times Herald Michigan: May 21, 2006 [ abstract] When most students participate in a lock-down drill, their teacher closes the door and the children sit quietly at their desks or on the floor. Bernie Howard's fifth-grade class at Sparlingville has to hit the road. During the drills, which practice securing individual classrooms in the case of an intruder or other threat, Howard's students must walk down the hall and around the corner to a designated classroom on the other side of the building. The reason is simple: about half the classrooms at Sparlingville don't have doors - as is the case with several classrooms at Thomas Edison Elementary School in Fort Gratiot. School officials said security awareness is one of the reasons the Port Huron Area School District Board of Education approved about $50,000 to install doors to improve security in the event of a lock down. School administrators said the renovations are a sign of the times, where student safety has evolved into a presence parents expect when they walk through the doors.
Sparlingville and Thomas Edison elementary schools were built in the 1960s, when large, open spaces were in vogue. Now, in addition to being noisy and visually distracting, open classrooms are making security tougher. At Sparlingville, the building is divided into two wings. Third- through fifth-grade students are assigned to the upper-elementary wing while kindergarten through second grade is in the lower-elementary wing. The lower-elementary rooms, which do have doors, frame the school's lunchroom. Upper-elementary classrooms ring the school's media center and do not have doors. The layout allows Sparlingville administrators to lock the outer doors and secure the building's perimeter. It does not allow teachers to secure each individual classroom, Sparlingville Principal Brenda Stevens said. Fourth- and fifth-grade rooms at Thomas Edison don't have doors and only have three walls, though teachers can pull a curtain to block out visual distractions. The rooms are arranged in an octagon shape around a common study area. School board funding also will pay for the installation of walls.
Most schools, including Sparlingville and Thomas Edison, have several security measures in place, including limiting access to the main entrance, mandatory visitor registration and extensive planning. In addition to individual security measures, all of the county's schools received training through the St. Clair Regional Educational Service Agency, which received a $350,000 grant about three years ago. In addition to training, the grant paid for consultants and some equipment, such as the two-way radios RESA bought for all of the district's schools. The most tech-savvy school security in St. Clair County may be at Yale Community Schools, where all buildings are equipped with video cameras at all entrances. In addition, all schools have an intercom entry system at the main entrances. Visitors must use the intercom to alert office personnel, who can see the visitor on a video monitor and are able to let them into the building.
-- Molly Montag Anxieties, Criticisms Precede Janey Decision-- Washington Post District of Columbia: May 14, 2006 [ abstract] The District is about to embark on a plan to close or consolidate several of its public schools, a downsizing with the potential to disrupt neighborhoods, distress parents and dislocate thousands of students.
Shuttering schools is a painful experience for any community, experts say. But in the District's case, the anxiety and criticism have flared even before the announcement of which schools will be closed or merged. Many parents, teachers and independent analysts say that D.C. school officials are rushing a process that requires careful planning and extensive community input.
-- Dion Haynes Political, Community Leaders Question Futures of Baltimore Schools Set to Close-- Baltimore Sun Maryland: April 18, 2006 [ abstract] Five years have passed since Baltimore's school system shut down six school buildings. Now Magna Baltimore Technical Training Center pays the city $1 a year to lease the old Northwest Baltimore school. Four of the other properties also remain under city control while one other has been sold. In the coming months, city officials will grapple with the problem of what to do with six more buildings.
As a cost-savings move, the city school board recently voted to close four buildings this summer and two more by 2008. Gary Cole, a city planning Department official, said the future of the buildings is uncertain. If they are declared surplus, they could be sold. If they don't go on the market, they could be used as offices for city agencies or could anchor urban renewal projects. The city school system is shutting down the buildings to comply with a state demand that it operate more efficiently. Many city school buildings have high maintenance costs because of their age and condition. The system also has more space than it needs because student enrollment is declining.
Some political and community leaders are concerned about the effects of the building closures. A resolution calls for a moratorium on the sale of properties until city officials have a chance to appraise their worth. They want the properties to be sold at "fair market value," and the money redistributed back to the schools.
-- Brent Jones SCCC Plans $10 million Performing Arts Center-- Star Ledger New Jersey: February 07, 2006 [ abstract] Sussex County Community College in Newton is planning to build a Performing
Arts Center, which would be ready to take over for the school's current
theater, a converted chapel, by late 2007.
Plans for the $10 million facility, the growing college's latest improvement,
are to be presented to the Newton planning Board Feb. 15 at 7:30 p.m.
A public notice for that meeting states the center would be 16,200 square
feet, but SCCC President Bradley Gottfried said a 30,000-square-foot structure
is actually envisioned.
-- Jim Lockwood Warren Township - Local News Briefs-- Star-Ledger New Jersey: January 24, 2006 [ abstract] Voters will decide today whether to approve an additional $3.2 million to complete an upgrade of Watchung Hills Regional High School.
Polls are open from 2 to 9 p.m. If the referendum fails, work on the high school will stop tomorrow , and about 55,000 square feet will remain unfinished, according to school officials.
Three years ago voters narrowly approved a $41.9 million referendum to pay for the entire project, but officials notified the public late last year that money has run out for the project that is already a year behind schedule.
School officials say they are still searching through $2 million worth of change orders and exploring possible litigation against a construction code official, a fire code inspector and the former superintendent in an effort to recoup some of the costs.
The added cost for the referendum to be decided today will be $14 for the owner of an average home assessed at $384,000 in Long Hill; $19 for the owner of the average home assessed at $635,000 in Warren; and $20 for the owner of the average home assessed at $721,000 in Watchung. Green Brook, which also is served by the school, pays tuition for the estimated 380 students it sends to the school.
Millstone A Hindu shrine to serve 250 worshippers could soon be constructed on a 6-acre Old Amwell Road residential property.
Nori Foundation of New Jersey has applied to the planning and zoning board for permission to construct a 9,300-square-foot temple devoted to Sai Baba near the border of Hillsborough Township, said Lloyd Tubman, the applicant's attorney.
As proposed, the one-story building would feature four domes with a maximum height of 55 feet. A large assembly room would be located on the main floor of the structure, which would also contain a basement. The lower level would be used for storage, coat rooms, a gift shop, rest rooms and a dining hall. A home that currently exists on the property would be used for a priest's residence.
The board will consider the application tonight at its 7:30 p.m. meeting, which will be held in the municipal building, 1353 Main St.
-- Staff Writer Busing Costs Strain Cincinatti Schools
-- Cincinatti Enquirer Ohio: October 16, 2005 [ abstract] If people think the price spike at the gas pump has hurt their pocketbooks, try driving 6,044 miles a day ... every weekday. That's how many miles Milford School District buses travel. School budgets throughout Greater Cincinnati are being hammered as gas prices have jumped nearly $1 a gallon on average from last year. The price spikes force districts to scale back field trips, cut summer school transportation, consolidate bus routes and turn off idling engines whenever possible. Other energy costs have skyrocketed, too, leaving some schools planning to turn down the heat this winter. Other districts are removing some light bulbs from classrooms. Even microwaves, small refrigerators and mug warmers might be expelled from some rooms.
-- Jennifer Mrozowski Bells Could be Ringing on New Orleans East Bank This School Year
-- Times-Picayune Newslog Louisiana: October 05, 2005 [ abstract] State Superintendent of Education Cecil Picard and Mayor Ray Nagin said they would not be opposed to allowing some public schools on the east bank of New Orleans to open this academic year, contradicting remarks by the Orleans Parish School Board president. Although the school district is tentatively planning a November opening of as many as eight schools on the city's West Bank, where many city services have already been restored, anticipated delays in returning those services to the east bank could delay reopenings of undamaged schools there until January, officials said.
Picard said Tuesday he is open to the prospect of opening some east bank schools in January, or whenever officials determine the city is safe for children and it's possible to open schools. Nagin agreed. "I want to get the water certified (by health officials), which will hopefully be this weekend, then I will be much more comfortable bringing back children," he said at a news conference Tuesday. Watson, however, said Nagin recently told her "he would not be comfortable with our opening schools outside of the West Bank until he was assured that the waste management controls in place were sufficient," adding that water treatment facilities were still in need of much work. Nagin also said he doesn't want students to return to the "deplorable conditions" that existed in some schools before the storm and encouraged district officials and the board to take advantage of this opportunity to improve the system. "My only push back to the School Board would be, 'Take this opportunity to fix yourself,' " he said.
-- Steve Ritea Indiana School Security Assessment Released-- Northwest Indiana News Indiana: August 19, 2005 [ abstract] Heeding the recommendations of a recently completed security assessment, Valparaiso Community Schools is planning a deluge of changes to increase safety across the district. From visible additions, like increased police presence and security cameras, to more discreet changes, like staff training and the formation of a security policy review committee, several new measures are being put into place to help ensure the safety of the corporation's 6,000-plus students. The changes are the result of an assessment conducted by Ken Trump, the nationally-known president of Ohio-based National School Safety and Security Services. Before writing the final report, Trump and his colleague conducted 155 interviews, visited all of the district sites, facilitated a community meeting for input, and reviewed all security-related documents in place at VCS.
-- Elizabeth Holmes Academy Seeks Site Approval for Renovations and Addition to Community Center
-- Detroit News Michigan: August 08, 2005 [ abstract] One of the fastest growing Jewish day high schools in the country is seeking site plan approvals from West Bloomfield Township to build a permanent facility through renovations and building an addition to the Jewish Community Center. The school has been operating out of temporary modular units attached to the community center. When the school opened six years ago, there were about 50 students, and officials project that more than 200 will fill classrooms this year, said Howard Dembs, who is overseeing the proposed $9 million project. "Having a high school in a building that already houses a gymnasium, locker rooms, swimming pools, running tracks, galleries, a museum, and a lot more will create a lot of synergy between the center and the academy. "We think it's going to be a win-win situation," he said. The plans call for renovating the second floor of the community center to create 26 classrooms. Space will also be carved out for a media center, lounge, administrative offices, and storage and utility areas. A new two-story addition will also be built, which will provide an entrance for the academy. Part of the new entrance addition will be a new loop drive that will provide an area for buses and other vehicles dropping off students. There also will be nine new angled parking spaces. Additional work will include creating a small courtyard, 6,476 square feet of new basement space for storage, 6,412 square feet of main floor conference space and a 6,300-square-foot chapel, according to township planning Commission reports.
-- Delores Patterson Maryland Schools Set for Building Boom
-- Washington Post District of Columbia: July 17, 2005 [ abstract] Maryland public schools are entering a mini-building boom, fueled by nearly $250 million in state construction funds announced this month. That sum is about double the amount approved a year ago, said state officials, and the highest in five years. The state's two largest school systems -- Montgomery and Prince George's counties -- will receive the largest amounts under the plan approved by the General Assembly and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. Each of the other 22 systems also will get a share. "Building new schools and modernizing existing ones is a critical component to giving our students a first-class education," Ehrlich said in a statement.
School construction is heavily vetted in Maryland. Local officials submit proposals each fall to the Interagency Committee on School Construction, which is led by the state School Superintendent. Other panelists are the state general services secretary and state planning secretary. A new state law this year added to the panel members appointed by the state Senate president and state House speaker. The committee screens the proposals and sends the Board of Public Works -- which is composed of the governor, state comptroller and state treasurer -- a list for approval. Then state lawmakers appropriate funding. After a final review by the construction committee, the executive branch distributes the money.
-- Nick Anderson Maryland School Building Projects Funded
-- Washington Post Maryland: July 14, 2005 [ abstract] Maryland public schools are entering a mini-building boom, fueled by nearly $250 million in state construction funds announced last week. That sum is about double the amount approved a year ago, said state officials, and the highest in five years. The state's two largest school systems -- Montgomery and Prince George's counties -- will receive the largest amounts under the plan approved by the General Assembly and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. Each of the other 22 systems also will get a share. "Building new schools and modernizing existing ones is a critical component to giving our students a first-class education," Ehrlich said in a statement.
School construction is heavily vetted in Maryland. Local officials submit proposals each fall to the Interagency Committee on School Construction, which is led by state School Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick. Other panelists are the state general services secretary and state planning secretary. A new state law this year added to the panel members appointed by the state Senate president and state House speaker. The committee screens the proposals and sends the Board of Public Works -- which is composed of the governor, state comptroller and state treasurer -- a list for approval. Then state lawmakers appropriate funding. After a final review by the construction committee, the executive branch distributes the money.
-- Nick Anderson Maryland School Building Projects Funded
-- The Washington Post Maryland: July 14, 2005 [ abstract] Maryland public schools are entering a mini-building boom, fueled by nearly $250 million in state construction funds announced last week. That sum is about double the amount approved a year ago, said state officials, and the highest in five years. The state's two largest school systems -- Montgomery and Prince George's counties -- will receive the largest amounts under the plan approved by the General Assembly and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. Each of the other 22 systems also will get a share. "Building new schools and modernizing existing ones is a critical component to giving our students a first-class education," Ehrlich said in a statement.
School construction is heavily vetted in Maryland. Local officials submit proposals each fall to the Interagency Committee on School Construction, which is led by state School Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick. Other panelists are the state general services secretary and state planning secretary. A new state law this year added to the panel members appointed by the state Senate president and state House speaker. The committee screens the proposals and sends the Board of Public Works -- which is composed of the governor, state comptroller and state treasurer -- a list for approval. Then state lawmakers appropriate funding. After a final review by the construction committee, the executive branch distributes the money.
-- Nick Anderson Tainted Soil to Be Removed Next to Westchester School
-- New York Times New York: July 04, 2005 [ abstract] In what state health officials call the first cleanup of its kind in the state, a school district in Westchester County is planning to remove soil next to an elementary school in Yorktown Heights because the soil is contaminated by PCB's from caulking in the school's windows. Dr. Daniel Lefkowitz requested tests on scraps of caulk left after maintenance at French Hill Elementary School, where his son, Evan, is a student. The tests found PCB's at 350 times above the federal limit. The cleanup at French Hill Elementary School, which will cost the district about $100,000, was prompted by a parent who had scraps of the caulking tested and found PCB's at 350 times above the federal limit. Soil around the school also showed evidence of PCB contamination, though at lower levels. PCB's, or polychlorinated biphenyls, which were banned in 1977, have been linked to developmental problems in children. School officials have fenced off parts of the school outside near many of its windows and are seeking bids from contractors to clean up the contaminated soil. They hope the work can be completed by the time the children return in September. A spokesman for the State Department of Health said the cleanup was the first the agency was aware of involving PCB contamination from caulk.
-- Barbara Whitaker School Cost Divides District, Agency
-- Star Tribune Wyoming: April 22, 2005 [ abstract] planning a Mercedes-Benz-class school when the state will only pay for a Buick is how some State Facilities Commission members described a conflict between the state and the Cheyenne school district. District and commission officials have been at odds for about two years over the cost estimates for the new high school, to be called South High. District officials say the project can't be built for the $117-per-square-foot cost allowed by the state commission guidelines. The district estimates the school will cost $53 million to $55 million. The School Facilities Commission budgeted $34 million in the district's five-year plan. The commission director, James "Bubba" Shivler, acknowledged he has "issues" with the district's plan, given that Spokane, Washington, built a school for 1,800 students plus a stadium for $29 million. The new two-story high school in south Cheyenne will have 1,300 students. If the state agrees to pay for the higher-cost school, it could set a precedent and jump the total cost of repairing old schools and building new ones to $1.1 billion, Shivler warned. Shivler said the mandate from the Wyoming Supreme Court was clear -- to build adequate, efficient and cost-effective schools.
-- Joan Barron Nevada Universities Scale Down Building Plans
-- Las Vegas Sun Nevada: March 15, 2005 [ abstract] Rising construction costs are forcing university officials to make major reductions in building plans as they beg lawmakers for additional money and do what they call "creative financing" to meet the increased need. They are giving up on parts of their original visions rather than risk losing the projects altogether. "Steel (prices) alone jumped up 20 to 30 percent, so that breaks the bank," said Thomas M. Hagge, associate vice president for facilities management and planning at UNLV.
-- Christina Littlefield Charlotte Turns to Modular Schools to House Students
-- Herald Tribune Florida: March 04, 2005 [ abstract] For the past six months, the Charlotte County School District has been replacing nearly a third of its hurricane-destroyed schools with modular campuses. Hurricane Charley devastated six of the district's 20 school buildings, displacing almost 5,000 students -- a quarter of the total -- from their schools. While the district faces a years-long, roughly $200 million rebuilding effort, the construction of the modular schools has been, in its own right, a significant undertaking. Requiring months of planning and scores of workers, the six modular campuses cost $20 million, which the district said will be covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The modular campuses, which can be assembled and open for students in as little as eight weeks, will house students for several years.
-- Kevin Dale Detroit School of Arts Opens With High Hopes-- Detroit Free Press Michigan: March 01, 2005 [ abstract] After years of planning and two more of construction, the Detroit School of Arts officially opened for business as one of the most elaborate high schools in the United States. At a cost of about $125 million, the six-story structure of glass and shiny steel features some of the most high-tech computer equipment and amenities available to high school students anywhere, including an 800-seat auditorium, an acoustically designed recital hall, dance, radio, and tv studios, and news media labs. The school is being paid for with a $1.5-billion capital improvement bond approved by Detroit voters in 1994.
-- Salina Ali Baltimore Urged to Oversee Public School Capital Funds
-- http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-te. Maryland: February 25, 2005 [ abstract] In the O'Malley administration's boldest step yet to improve aging and decrepit schools, the Baltimore planning Commission demanded that city agencies - and not the school system - take control of city money spent on school construction and called for the closure of under-populated buildings. The commission urged the city to develop within 90 days a plan to close "an appropriate number" of schools within 18 months and to sell those buildings and use the proceeds to fix up the remaining facilities. The sweeping recommendations - made as part of the planning commission's approval of the capital budget for the coming year - followed the acknowledgement by school officials to commission members a month ago that $97 million in approved construction money had gone unspent over the past five years.
-- Eric Siegel On Sundays, Hymn Books Replace Textbooks in NYC Schools
-- The New York Times New York: February 06, 2005 [ abstract] On Sunday mornings, Bushwick High School in Brooklyn undergoes a remarkable transformation: trucks pull up hauling musical instruments, cribs, tables, chairs, flowers, headsets and sound equipment, video screens, and cameras. A white canopy rises over one entrance, and by 12:30 p.m., the auditorium is packed with 800 worshipers from the Christ Tabernacle Church, rocking and singing to electronic music and a gospel choir. Ten classrooms are devoted to Bible study, day care, music, arts and crafts, and other children's activities. Christ Tabernacle is just one of at least two dozen churches and other religious groups that have found homes in New York City public schools since a 2002 federal court ruling said the city had to provide space in school buildings to religious institutions just as it did for other community groups. The churches typically rent on Sundays, when students are not present, and reimburse the city for the cost of custodial services. The churches - often desperate for space - say the arrangement is only fair. But the practice, generally accepted across the country, has run into opposition from some parents in New York City, and the Bloomberg administration is planning to challenge the court ruling.
-- Benjamin Weiser and Susan Saulny A Huge School With a Cozy Feel
-- Philadelphia Inquirer Pennsylvania: January 28, 2005 [ abstract] The new $83 million 397,347-square-foot Central Bucks High School South is big and beautiful. It has 105 classrooms and two gymnasiums. The swimming pool area has seating for 500; the library boasts 13,200 books and 29 computers. The stadium has an eight-lane track and sports field and seats 3,000.
The size of the school has been controversial. While Central Bucks officials agree with research that says smaller schools can help improve student performance and reduce violence by fostering closer student-teacher ties, they said large high schools are necessary because finding affordable and appropriate sites for schools of any size has become difficult in the district. One large school also prevents some duplication of staff and facilities and allows for more course offerings. The steps Central Bucks took to infuse a sense of coziness and community into the large building were typical of compromises that urban and fast-growing districts make. Students will spend most of their day on a single floor. Classrooms are clustered in groups of seven, which the district calls families. The teachers in each family share a planning area, where they can discuss needs of their students. Each family also has a common area in the hallway where students can work in small groups or use a computer.
-- Kellie Patrick Getting Fairfield School Facilities Up to Standards Could Cost $26 Million-- The Fairfield Ledger Iowa: December 17, 2004 [ abstract] Members of the Fairfield Community School District's School Infrastructure Committee learned it could cost about $26 million to make needed improvements to six school buildings. A company hired to help the district with its long-term facilities planning inspected the school's facilities and its architectural, mechanical, and electrical systems. "These numbers are staggering," said committee member Warren Wechsler.
-- Vicki Tillis 5-year Plan to Renovate Baltimore Schools OK'd-- The Baltimore Sun Maryland: November 12, 2004 [ abstract] Baltimore's planning Commission narrowly approved the school system's construction and renovation plan for the next five years, but chastised school officials for doing too little to fix decrepit buildings and for failing to provide a clear financial accounting of construction projects.
-- Laura Loh Planning For the Unthinkable
-- Wilmington Advocate Massachusetts: September 22, 2004 [ abstract] Along with kidnappings, suicides, and natural disasters, Wilmington school officials are reviewing emergency protocols and adding terror scenarios to the catastrophes they must prepare to respond to. "The situation in Russia was tragic, and it could happen anywhere," Wilmington Superintendent William McAlduff said. "It raised our awareness, and we are working to make sure our public safety protocols are in place."
The current emergency guide provides steps to take in the event of accidents, natural disasters, fire, explosions, kidnappings, bomb threats, or sexual assaults. It also provides guidelines for dealing with missing children, custody procedures, child abuse reporting, suicide and suicide symptoms, or bites from dangerous animals. The updates will provide procedures for mass evacuations, McAlduff said, and the district is currently working on what to do for acts of terrorism. McAlduff said he hopes to have the new procedures in place within the next few months.
-- Melissa Russell LEAD & MANAGE MY SCHOOL
Practical Information on Crisis Planning Brochure-- US Department of Education National: August 25, 2004 [ abstract] U.S. Department of Education Secretary Paige has announced a new emergency response and crisis management brochure with practical information designed to assist schools and communities prepare for a crisis.
-- Press Release School security stronger against tornadoes, terror -- The Daily Citizen Arkansas: August 21, 2004 [ abstract] Parents expect that schools will take care of their child as well as, or better than, they do. Schools, realizing this, have responded by planning for several contingencies, including school violence, chemical spills, fires, tornados, and terrorist attacks.
-- Kirk Dickey Back to school: Campus congestion-- The Arizona Republic Arizona: August 09, 2004 [ abstract] Because of Arizona's insatiable growth, school districts are scrambling to accommodate a record number of students for the 2004-05 school year. planning for the relentless stream of students is always a challenge, especially at a time when education reformists advocate downsizing schools to bolster student achievement.
While opinions differ on ideal school size, some researchers suggest that 300 to 400 students is best for elementary schools and 400 to 800 students is suitable for secondary schools. Arizona's schools are often four times as large, according to 2003-04 enrollment statistics.
School officials say large campuses address the public's push for reducing costs while increasing schools' academic offerings. Critics counter that big isn't always better, and that research shows that smaller schools encourage better attendance, fewer discipline problems, and less violence.
-- Mel Meléndez Frisco Police May Gain an Eye into Schools-- Dallas Morning News Texas: July 09, 2004 [ abstract] The Frisco Independent School District in Texas is planning an alliance that would link school security cameras to squad car computers, allowing police to monitor schools. During emergency situations police would get access to the system through an online identification name and password. City and district officials hope to have the system in place by the beginning of the school year on Aug. 16.
-- Stella M. Chavez Kentucky Districts Rush to Issue School Bonds-- Lexington Herald-Leader Kentucky: May 27, 2004 [ abstract] The Kentucky General Assembly's failure to pass a budget for next fiscal year has Kentucky school systems racing to issue a record amount of bonds before the current year ends June 30.
If the state still lacks a budget July 1, districts planning renovations and new buildings will be barred from selling bonds through the School Facilities Construction Commission -- their most economical method of borrowing money. The commission uses state money to help the districts pay bond interest.
-- LeRyan Alessi Renovation Plan Adds Pupils' Ideas -- The Buffalo News New York: May 01, 2004 [ abstract] Pupils, parents, administrators, and teachers are fully engaged in planning for a $14 million interior overhaul scheduled to begin early next year. So far in the dialogue with the architects and contractor, pupils have won inclusion of three features: an elevator, a renovated auditorium and classroom televisions - not tuned to MTV.
According to the project architect, formulating the layout has been "a very democratic process." "We can't isolate ourselves from the key users of the space," she said.
-- Tom Buckham Future of Historic School Debated-- The Washington Post District of Columbia: April 15, 2004 [ abstract] The 93-year-old Alexander Crummell School, named for a prominent African American educator-abolitionist and designed by Washington's first municipal architect, is a graceful red-brick building that has been vacant for almost 30 years -- and is now the subject of a heated redevelopment dispute.
At a recent committee hearing, representatives from the Ivy City-Trinidad Citizens Association and the Citizens planning Coalition said they oppose the city's decision to sell the school. They want the site renovated for use as a training center for building trades and arts preservation and they worry that that won't happen if the property is sold to a private business developer.
-- Patricia Sullivan Wyoming Seeks Court OK for School Projects -- Billings Gazette Wyoming: March 12, 2004 [ abstract] With $1.1 billion dedicated to new schools, state attorneys asked the Wyoming Supreme Court to declare the state's school construction funding system constitutional and relinquish the court's oversight of the matter. Since 1998, Wyoming has spent $695 million on construction and major maintenance of schools, including $294 million appropriated in the budget session that ended last week. An additional $392 million is expected to flow into the state's school capital construction account through 2010 from coal lease bonus payments, paid by coal companies to obtain federal leases. Additional funds are expected from federal and state royalties.
As a result of Supreme Court opinions in 1995 and 2001, the state took responsibility for school construction from local school districts and a School Facilities Commission was created in 2002 to oversee local planning and building efforts and develop district construction guidelines.
-- Associated Press Renovation estimate 1/3 of reality-- Detroit Free Press Michigan: February 09, 2004 [ abstract] The Oakland Intermediate Schools promised to renovate four vocational training centers when the district convinced voters to raise taxes in 2001, but now say it will cost almost three times as much as projected -- or about $50 million, instead of $17 million.
When asked how the original estimates were derived, a district spokeswoman said no true cost analysis was done and no architects were consulted.
A new member of the district board, said the problem was symptomatic of poor planning that was common in the pasat.
Oakland Schools assured local districts that it would share the vocational education money from the tax increase but later learned that state law prohibits such an arrangement.
-- TERESA MASK Hike in school impact fees urged-- Palm Beach Post Florida: January 16, 2004 [ abstract] County planning board recommended hiking school impact fees by more than 50 percent, an increase that a recent study says is needed to help pay for a growing student population and rising construction costs.
The county's local planning agency reluctantly advised the county commission to approve the increase, but said officials need to reexamine the way they calculate how much homeowners pay for their impacts.
It would be the first time the fee has been increased since 1995, although county rules require officials to reevaluate the charge every two years.
The study proposes a series of individual hikes based on the size of the home.
planning board members questioned the figures and the method used to calculate them.
-- Jennifer Sorentrue Basic High hopes to break new ground on health center-- LAS VEGAS SUN Nevada: December 15, 2003 [ abstract] Basic High School hopes to become the first Henderson campus in the Clark County School District to have an onsite health center.
As the district continues to grow, more students are coming to school with health needs that require immediate attention.
The health centers cut down on absenteeism, because the staff is allowed to treat students for minor illnesses or injuries and dispense medication, something the regular school nurse isn't allowed to do.
The school received a $10,000 planning grant earlier this year to draft the proposal and is seeking another $65,832 from the city of Henderson's Community Block Grant Program to fund renovations necessary to open the health center at the start of the 2004-05 academic year.
-- Emily Richmond Public can help plan schools -- Akron Beacon Journal Ohio: December 07, 2003 [ abstract] The public is invited to help make plans for the first eight new Akron school buildings, part of an $800 million project.
All of the district's 60 school buildings will be replaced or renovated over the next 15 years.
The new buildings, to be called community learning centers, will be available for civic activities in the evening and on weekends.
Residents can volunteer to be on one of the eight planning teams.
Meetings will be conducted by representatives of the city, the schools, the consortium of architects that will design the buildings slated for construction in the first phase of the project, and Concordia, a consulting firm that specializes in turning schools into community learning centers.
Call 330-761-2805.
Grant Will Help L.A. Unified Plan for Smaller High Schools-- Los Angeles Times California: November 19, 2003 [ abstract] The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced Tuesday it would provide a $900,000 planning grant to aid the Los Angeles Unified School District's efforts to create smaller high schools that emphasize personalized learning.
The grant is expected to be followed by a more significant gift from the foundation once the district has established a clear plan for creating "smaller learning communities" — either building new, smaller schools or dividing existing schools into groupings of a few hundred students.
Los Angeles School Supt. Roy Romer said he expected the district to have a plan in place by June 30.
-- Cara Mia DiMassa School board questions unapproved projects-- Atlanta Journal-Constitution Georgia: October 14, 2003 [ abstract] DeKalb County school board members are questioning why expensive construction and renovations projects that never received formal board approval keep moving along.
Some members had earlier challenged the district's ongoing planning for a high school and middle school at Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve in southeast DeKalb because they never voted to build schools at the site.
Board member Bebe Joyner also questioned a new round of renovations at East DeKalb Campus. The board approved an $863,600 contract with C.D. Moody Construction Co. Monday night.
-- JEN SANSBURY Is Mold the New Asbestos?-- American School Board Journal National: October 01, 2003 [ abstract] Indoor air quality (IAQ) is often used as an umbrella term for many environmental-based health threats, man-made or nature-made.
In 2002, insurance companies paid $2.5 billion in mold claims, reports the Insurance Information Institute.
Increased attention to asthma has focused attention on whether such respiratory conditions can be exacerbated by poor IAQ at school.
Mold problems in schools are usually connected to other facilities management shortcomings such as construction specifications in need of updating; poor oversight of ongoing building projects; inadequate planning for crisis communication; and maintenance strategies that lack such mundane demands as inspecting roofs and ceilings regularly for evidence of leaks.
-- Craig Colgan Public ideas reshape Cleveland school plans -- Cleveland Plain Dealer Ohio: July 13, 2003 [ abstract] When Cleveland school officials last year announced a $1.5 billion master plan to rebuild or renovate all the district's buildings, many residents complained that they had been left out of the planning process. The district responded by forming advisory committees in the neighborhoods surrounding several schools, the first of many that will help the district write and revise its plan. In five communities, committees made up of parents, teachers and neighbors have recommended significant changes. The district has accepted most of them, and further changes have not been ruled out. "The community did a good job of outlining what they were looking for, and the district did a good job of listening," said Debra Prater, executive director for Union-Miles Development Corp.
-- Ebony Reed and Janet Okoben Maryland Declares Moratorium on Planning-- School Construction News Maryland: June 12, 2003 [ abstract] A planning moratorium was put into place in late April so the state of Maryland can address a $260 million backlog of school construction projects awaiting state funds. The state is asking school districts to re-evaluate approved projects to determine if the need is dire. Local districts that proceed with projects without state approval could be stuck paying the entire cost.
State to assess facilities usage-- Casper Star-Tribune Wyoming: April 29, 2003 [ abstract] One of the first chores for the newly formed Wyoming School Facilities Commission will be to inventory the state's school buildings to see how they are being used by school districts, officials involved in the effort say. That will give the commission a much better handle on how many empty or soon to be empty school buildings there are across Wyoming, said the Commission's Director of planning Brad Oberg. The Legislature established the School Capital Construction Program to perform a statewide survey of school construction needs, to prepare a plan to meet those construction needs and to ensure all the state's educational facilities are used to the greatest extent practical or possible.
-- Jeff Gearino Editorial: Build flexibility into schools -- Cleveland Plain Dealer Ohio: March 22, 2003 [ abstract] The University of Washington released a report "The Future of School Facilities: Getting Ahead of the Curve" which urges the planners and designers of new school construction to plan for changes that will inevitably occur in school districts and buildings throughout upcoming decades. The report points out that school plans may seem reasonable and feasable at the time of planning, but students and staff must use them for decades. Past trends such as open-schools are proving to be a liability to school districts, and the report is trying to stop a repeat of design flaws in current plans.
-- Editorial At Beach High, when it rains it pours -- Miami Herald Florida: February 11, 2003 [ abstract] This article uses Miami Beach Senior High School located in Miami, Florida, as an example of the horrendous condition of school facilities, even in brand new buildings, the district faces. Four years ago a new building opened at the school, but the shine and excitement of the new building wore thin after the first rain, when it was discovered that the roof, as well as many windows and doors leaked heavily, destroying drywall, wiring, and computers that had been recently installed. Although the school continues to excel academically, chronic construction delays leave students, faculty, and parents wondering where the money from a $6 billion building program has been spent. A $51.5 million construction project is planned for the school, but the planning process has taken more than 30 months and construction is not expected to start for at least a year and a half. The ineptitude of the school district in handling the major facilities problems Miami Beach High faces is indicative of the way the district has handled all such problems in the past thirty years.
-- Debbie Cenziper Hurdles impede building schools: process too slow to fix state's economic woes -- San Francisco Gate California: February 10, 2003 [ abstract] Last November, California voters passed a $13 billion bond to pay for statewide school construction and repairs. Governor Gray Davis said in his budget address that the bonds and construction would create more than 300,000 jobs in addition to improving educational quality and increasing the number of classrooms. Officials in Los Angeles have been dealing with the struggles of school construction for years, and know first hand the difficulties associated with implementing and finishing a full construction plan. The deputy chief for new construction in Los Angeles says it takes an average of five to six years to complete the entire construction process- from site acquisition of land to construction- providing the process is not bogged down by bureaucracy. Many feel that the state of California is putting all their eggs in one basket, relying too much on the school construction plan to solve many of the state unemployment problems, and that in reality, the process will take too long to make any noticeable difference in the near future. However, state officials are working with districts to teach them how to streamline the process, and many districts have already begun the planning process, counting on the bond passage. The critical necessity, according to district officials, is to get the state to ease on some regulations, for example the mandatory land area required for a school. Whatever compromise the state and districts make, everyone involved hopes to avoid another disaster of management and spending found in the Belmont School site.
-- James Sterngold Missteps fuel crowding crisis -- Miami Herald Florida: February 10, 2003 [ abstract] School buildings in Miami-Dade County are chronically overcrowded, despite bond referendums and new schools being built. Many new schools opened with hundreds more students enrolled than there was space for, and the overcrowding persists. Construction delays and misinterpreting demographic data have been blamed for the crowding. Many parents and school officials believe school district employees did not do a good job estimating enrollment growth when planning the schools. The solution for now is to build bigger schools housing thousands of students in one building. In order to be in compliance with Florida's class size limit laws, the large buildings will eventually have to be broken down into smaller schools, but for now the state is allowing counties with rapid growth to overlook the law and ensure that each student has a desk.
-- Debbie Cenziper, Jason Grotto and Tim Henderson Crumbling schools: Tens of millions wasted in slow, sloppy construction, and Miami-Dade children are the losers -- Miami Herald Florida: February 09, 2003 [ abstract] Fifteen years ago, Miami-Dade County passed a $980 bond referendum to improve the district's public school facilities. But since that time, little or no progress shows in classrooms and schools around the region. Costs on projects started have soared above estimates, with delays from poor planning and errors by architects and engineers driving up costs. The article lists several problems that led to the cost increase, including: allowing principals and other school and district officials to haphazardly alter blueprints, repeatedly using contractors who had done shoddy work for the district in the past, and allowing construction projects planned to sit for years without starting construction. According to the article, the Miami-Dade school board had numerous opportunities to quell the overspending and fix many problems, but they did not take the advice of qualified consultants and experts.
-- Debbie Cenziper and Jason Grotto School job bidding should be redone, supt. says -- Memphis Commercial Appeal Tennessee: January 14, 2003 [ abstract] The school superintendent Johnnie Watson in Memphis, Tennessee recommended that the board of education reopen the bidding process on school heating and cooling duct renovations to allow more companies to compete and get the school system a better deal. Last year, only one company submitted a bid, and the superintendent feels the board is wasting tax dollars. Watson also ordered that all new construction be frozen as the school system's Division of Facility planning reorganizes itself. Members of the board were quick to say that their position differed from that of Watson. An independent consultant found that the bidder's per-square-foot charge was seven times the industry standard for air duct repair, and was enough to build two new elementary schools.
-- Ruma Banerji Construction Managers Create Online Planning Service -- School Construction News California: January 14, 2003 [ abstract] Vanir Construction Management Inc. now offers its own online project management tools to give owners, architects, and engineers real-time access to school plan and specification reviews. "We wanted
to find a way to meet the demand for design accountability and control from planning to construction" said a company spokesperson. Key program features include design checklists and project dialog boxes for specific review of
plans and specifications, a summary for clients, secure permission settings, and instant messaging.
Damaged Solon school to reopen in January -- Cleveland Plain Dealer Ohio: November 14, 2002 [ abstract] A school severely damaged by strong storms should reopen by the end of January, far earlier than the original estimates at the damage assessment the day after the storm. Parents were pleased with the quick progress the school board made in planning repairs. "You've done a remarkable job in taking what could have been a nightmare and making it work," one parent said at a meeting where plans were unveiled. Until the repairs are finished, students are being bussed to alternate sites.
-- John Horton School, farmers play ball on sale -- The Baltimore Sun Maryland: November 04, 2002 [ abstract] Archbishop Spalding High School has an agreement to purchase the adjacent 22-acre farm from three elderly Severn brothers who were determined the property wouldn't become another housing development. The school will pay about $2 million to convert the land to fields for lacrosse, soccer, and softball, while preserving the buildings with family significance. In addition to the fields, the school is planning its first new construction since it was created in the 1960s -- a new academic and athletic facility that will include eight classrooms, a gym and a weight-training center. The addition is expected to cost $4 million.
-- Rona Kobell An Overhaul in Building of Schools -- The New York Times New York: November 01, 2002 [ abstract] Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced yesterday that he would overhaul the byzantine system of building schools in New York City by merging the two agencies responsible for construction, cutting 600 jobs in the process. Mr. Bloomberg said that the Department of Education's school facilities division would be immediately combined with the School Construction Authority, an independent agency. The idea is to have a single entity in charge of both the planning and execution of school construction in an attempt to save money, streamline the system, and produce accountability. According to an investigation conducted last year, building a new school in New York City costs $432 per square foot in comparison with $146 per square foot nationally.
-- Abby Goodnough Report says City is Paying Too Much to Build Schools -- The New York Times New York: August 30, 2002 [ abstract] A state panel to investigate the school construction process in New York City reported this week that the cost of building a school in Manhattan in 2001 was three times the national average. The elevated price is due in part to contractors adding a 20 percent "aggrivation tax" to their bids to "offset the bureaucratic red tape," and partially due to lax oversight and poor communication and back biting between the Board of Education and the School Construction Authority. Partially in response to previous commission reports, a new system where the city school chancellor is also the chairman of the construction authority's board theoretically uniting the process of planning schools (formerly the Board of Education's responsibility) and building them (the School Construction Authority's) under one roof — that of the new Department of Education.
-- Jacques Steinberg Cookie-Cutter Schools Give Students Deja Vu -- Washington Post District of Columbia: August 25, 2002 [ abstract] This article presents both sides to the argument for prototypical school designing, a process in which one school is designed, and the plans are recycled and used again to build more schools. The schools are nearly identical, varying only in minute detail. Opponents of the concept, including Mary Filardo, Executive Director of the 21st Century School Fund, argue that schools provide an essential base for the surrounding community, and building cookie-cutter molds takes away the individuality of a community. Additionally, school buidlings meet a unique set of needs for each community, and a prototype built without the input of the community is unlikely to meet many of these needs. Propoents of the system say that the identical schools provide feelings of comfort to students transferring from one school to another, and, more importantly, save costs on planning and development.
-- Rosalind Helderman Vallas plans 9 new high schools -- Philadelphia Inquirer Pennsylvania: August 10, 2002 [ abstract] Philadelphia schools chief executive officer Paul G. Vallas, who built more than 70 schools over six years in Chicago, said yesterday that he was planning the "largest school-construction program in Philadelphia's history." It would include construction of nine high schools, a proposal met with gasps of delight from administrators, who oversee a largely run-down and antiquated system. The building program is likely to cost in excess of $1 billion, district officials said. It would be funded long-term through a capital budget and state reimbursement, and also includes the construction and renovation of other schools.
-- Susan Snyder School expansion irks some residents -- Inidanapolis Star Indiana: August 08, 2002 [ abstract] School officials in Carmel want to expand the high school campus to include a three-story, 200,000-square-foot freshman center estimated at $28 million, with $1 million going toward acquisition of five residential properties. Preliminary deals have been reached with four of those property owners. Some residents are upset that they were not included in the planning process, which began more than a year ago.
-- Josh Duke OPINION-Area schools: To think big, districts must plan small -- The Dallas Morning News Texas: July 08, 2002 [ abstract] Students may be out for the summer, but school leaders are not. They are busy planning how to spend the billions of dollars approved in bond packages for area school districts. But as school boards and administrators struggle to find enough space for their exploding student population, they must understand that small can be beautiful.
Planning under way to replace school -- St. Petersburg Times Florida: June 10, 2002 [ abstract] Sunset Hills Elementary has nine portable classrooms and is expected to add two more in the fall, one of the many signs that the school is outgrowing its buildings.
Crowding and the school's age are two of the reasons the school district plans to move the school down the street in a couple of years, to the opposite side of Tarpon Springs High from where the elementary school is now.
-- KATHERINE GAZELLA Plans for new schools lift development ban -- The Baltimore Sun Maryland: May 10, 2002 [ abstract] Now that plans for two new schools and student redistricting are in place, Carroll County planning officials say developers can move forward on four proposed South Carroll subdivisions that were halted in March because of school crowding in Sykesville, Eldersburg and Mount Airy.
-- Childs Walker CPS planning hindered by state rules -- This Week Magazine Ohio: April 10, 2002 [ abstract] State guidelines for new and renovated schools have created a number of hurdles as Columbus Public Schools administrators try to craft a long-range facilities plan. Other barriers -- such as getting voters to trust that CPS will equitably distribute facilities funding -- loom as CPS prepares to put a building tax issue on the November ballot.
-- Sue Hagan Joint-Use Projects Help District Acquire School Sites -- School Construction News California: January 14, 2002 [ abstract] As part of a $13 billion school construction bond passed in November, the Los Angeles Unified School District has a total of $5 billion to spend on its construction program. One of the first steps being taken with the money is to ensure that joint-use projects that benefit communities are increasingly part of the plans, an attempt to overcome teh scarcity of available school building sites. New Schools Beter Neighborhoods, a nonprofit organization, plans to underwrite collaborative planning for seven to nine demonstration projects in LA County. Los Angeles City officials promise to foster more cooperation between themselves and the school district. District officials see the potential not only for parks, but also housing and retail stores, and say all their schools are being adapted for use by the community in some way.
Wake schools outgrowing growth plan -- North Carolina: January 11, 2002 [ abstract] The construction program funded by the $500 million bond issue approved by voters in 2000 does not provide for another high school in southwestern Wake. But school officials at the planning session on Thursday discussed building a new high school there instead of an elementary school currently planned to keep up with the influx of high school students in Wake County.
New Linden school breaks ground for district (Ohio)-- Columbus Dispatch Ohio: December 19, 2001 [ abstract] A ground-breaking ceremony was held for the first new public school building to be constructed in Columbus in 25 years. Future construction projects are in the planning process by the school board. The board could ask voters to approve a $700 million bond levy in November to pay for repairs at every school, and perhaps replace several of them, in the next 15 years.
-- Mary Bridgman In Fayette, classes with empty seats-- Georgia: August 26, 2001 [ abstract] Tucked into Fayette Georgia's northwest corner, Sandy Creek is an oddity: a school in a fast-growing suburban county that simply cannot find enough students. In contrast, Fayette's three other schools are so jam-packed -and growing-at the school system is planning to build a new high school in the next three to four years. In many ways, Sandy Creek is a testament to the guesswork that often stands for school planning.
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