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NCEF News summarizes and provides links to news stories about educational facilities nationwide. Links to older articles may no longer be active.
About 650 Portable Classrooms in Dallas ISD Lack Fire Alarms
Diane Rado,
Dallas Morning News
May 30, 2010 TEXAS: Dallas ISD has failed to install fire alarms in hundreds of portable buildings across the district, violating fire codes and leaving students without the built-in protection of blaring alerts that signal a blaze on campus. The potentially dangerous situation has been neglected for several years, as budget-strapped DISD has struggled to find money to fix the problem and the city's fire department – charged with enforcing the fire code – has tolerated delays, records show. Fire officials say that portables in violation have battery-operated smoke detectors and that the main-building public address system can be used to alert children in portables to a fire. Still, they acknowledge that the lack of a wired-in fire alarm is a fire hazard. In Houston, for example, nearly 90 percent of portables have connected fire alarms, compared with 62 percent in Dallas. This school year, DISD connected 154 portable buildings to the alarm systems at 27 campuses, part of a years-long, phased-in approach to correct the code violations that were permitted by the fire department. About 650 portables still need permanent fire-alarm protection. They are on 111 DISD campuses, with more in southern Dallas than other areas of the city. Portables have been part of the school landscape in Dallas ISD for many years, a way to house children on campuses without building or expanding schools. While the district hoped to rid campuses of many portables after voters approved school construction bonds in 2002, about 1,700 portable buildings remain. The fire alarm issue came to the forefront in 2006, according to section chief Michaels, when Dallas amended its fire code to require that all portables within 100 feet of the main school building be tied into the school's fire alarm system. The point is to link those portables to an integrated fire protection system serving the whole school, said Harris, in the state fire marshal's office. "The kids in the portable need to know there is an emergency in the building," he said, whether that be a fire or an intruder with a gun. It's unclear whether students in portables are inherently at greater or lesser risk from fire. There were 231 fires in Texas schools in 2008, with fewer than 10 fires in portable buildings, according to the state fire marshal's office. There are more than 8,500 public schools in Texas. New North Carolina School Aims to Meet Strictest Environmental Standards
Sarah Newell Williamson ,
Hickory Daily Record
May 28, 2010 NORTH CAROLINA: Leaders shoveled the first brown dirt for Newton-Conover City Schools' first environmentally friendly school at a groundbreaking ceremony. "We wanted to set an example for young people," said Barry Redmond, Newton-Conover City Schools' superintendent. "We wanted to be responsible stewards of our resources." There are several levels of green certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. The criteria for schools has an increased emphasis on indoor environmental quality, natural light, better acoustics and low-emitting materials, because children are more susceptible to toxins. It also requires schools to use the green aspects of the school as a teaching tool. The new school will have solar panels on the roof, called photo voltaic cells, which take the sun's energy and convert it to electricity, said Redmond. The panels are the most expensive green feature in the school, at $890,700. The school system hopes to be reimbursed for the majority of cost. Newton-Conover City Schools is applying for a federal energy grant for $750,000. Other green elements in the school's design include water heated through pipes on the roof with thermal solar water heating and light fixtures with automatic sensors to turn on the lights when someone's in the room, Redmond said. The school will have a gray water system, so minimal water will be used. Trees and bushes will be positioned around the school to help cool the building. Redmond cited hot water savings of $7,500; heating and cooling savings of $24,000; and $14,000 in renewable energy savings. The U.S. Green Building Council has a rating system to determine if a building is green. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System covers the design, construction and execution of a building. There are categories for every aspect of a building, with a point value assigned for each of the green criteria a builder includes in the design. There are four levels: certified, silver, gold and platinum. Economic Stimulus Money to Help Rural Virginia School Systems
WSLS News Staff,
WSLS
May 28, 2010 VIRGINIA: Virginia Senator Jim Webb says $18 million from the economic stimulus act will be used to help rural areas. The grant money comes from the USDA Rural Development’s Community Facilities program. Of the uses approved for this round of stimulus cash, a number of them will help local school systems, and job training sites. According to a news release from Sen. Webb’s office they include: 1. Carroll County Industrial Development Authority: $434,490 loan. The funding will be used to purchase six new school buses. 2. Halifax Educational Foundation, Inc.: $50,000 grant. The funding will be used to purchase furnishings and equipment for a computer lab in an educational center. 3. Wythe County: $50,000 grant. The funding will be used to purchase a school bus. 4. Altavista, Virginia Technical Institute: $200,000 grant. The funding will be used to purchase lab equipment and classroom furniture. $64 Million School Construction, Upgrades Set To Start in Detroit
Sarah Cwiek ,
Michigan Radio
May 27, 2010 MICHIGAN: The Detroit Public Schools says it will spend more than $64 million to re-build or upgrade three Detroit schools. The three construction projects will be the first use of more than half a billion dollars in bond money that voters approved last fall. The district's Emergency Financial Manager, Robert Bobb, says the projects will employ mostly Detroit construction firms and skilled trades workers. "We will create 1375 jobs, 475 direct jobs and 900 indirect jobs," Bobb says, noting that those figures are based on a state job-creation formula. Bobb says work will begin immediately after school ends in June. He says the projects will go forward at "an aggressive pace" because all the bond money must be spent within three years. Bobb promised to announce 17 more school construction projects with the remainder of the bond money over the next four months. PCBs Found in Window Caulking During School Renovation
Linda Conner Lambeck,
Connecticut Post
May 25, 2010 CONNECTICUT: Students at Columbus School will get to spend another year in the so-called "swing space" school in the south end thanks to window caulk. School building officials who have been working for two years to update and renovate the permanent school on George Street recently discovered the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, an organic compound and probable carcinogen, in the caulk that insulates the windows. Recent changes in the Environmental Protection Agency laws led to the testing of the caulk, the Board of Education was told this week. "It's a pretty serious problem," said Ray Wiley, the city's school building projects manager of O&G Industries. Wiley said the problem is that unlike asbestos, which can be easily removed, PCBs can seep into porous materials like concrete, making cleanup harder. "We may have to take a good portion of the concrete out, which could jeopardize the structure of the building," said Wiley. Wiley said options are being considered, but that it is unlikely the school will be ready to reopen in the 2010-11 school year. For the past two years, the student body of Columbus have occupied a school at the edge of the University of Bridgeport campus. The school was built to host student bodies while their schools undergo major repairs or replacement. While other school renovation projects are in the works, none will be ready to start this fall, said Wiley. Wiley told the school board the new testing requirement went into effect in November. The presence of PCB-laced caulk is not uncommon for buildings constructed between 1950 and 1978, he added. Columbus was built in 1965. The board could not be told how much the removal of the material from Columbus will cost and whether cement infected with the chemical can be safely sealed rather than removed. New Jersey School Development Authority Announce Grants for 142 School Facilities Projects
Staff Writer,
MyCentralJersey.com
May 24, 2010 NEW JERSEY: Regular Operating District (ROD) grant funding is ready to be released for 142 facilities projects at 111 schools in 59 school districts throughout the State, School Development Authority Chief Executive Officer Marc Larkins and Education Commissioner Bret Schundler announced at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School-South. Funding for the program was made available from the sale of $500 million in bonds by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA), further advancing Governor Chris Christie's commitment to provide exemplary learning facilities for New Jersey students in a fiscally responsible manner. The State-funded grants represent at least 40 percent of eligible costs for projects in the RODs, addressing health-and-safety issues, student overcrowding and other critical needs. The announced grants represent a $36.9 million State investment, leveraging $77.5 million in total capital investment. The Department of Education determines the selection of school projects receiving grant funds from the SDA. The Authority currently has a portfolio of 1,004 ongoing grant projects in the RODs, 50 projects in SDA districts in various developmental phases, 12 projects already under construction and 134 emergent projects addressing health-and-safety issues across the state. Since its 2001 inception, New Jersey's school construction program has completed 621 projects in SDA Districts. In addition to building 54 new schools, the program has provided funding for 45 extensive additions, renovations and/or rehabilitations, and more than 500 other projects. The program also has provided more than 3,000 grants to RODs, totaling more than $2.3 billion. Including contributions from local school districts, these grants have leveraged projects estimated at $7.4 billion overall. Qualified School Construction Bonds to Provide Tennessee $126 Million for Construction and Renovation Projects
Staff Writer,
WDEF News
May 24, 2010 TENNESSEE: Communities across Tennessee will have an opportunity to apply for low-interest loans for school construction and renovation projects through the state’s Qualified School Construction Bond (QSCB) program. The Tennessee State School Bond Authority (TSSBA) is empowered to issue approximately $212.4 million of QSCBs during calendar year 2010. A portion of the allocation, $85.7 million, has been directly allocated by the federal government for loans to support projects in the Knox County School System, Memphis City Schools and Metro Nashville Public Schools. The remaining allocation of $126.7 million is available for other communities throughout the state. The TSSBA expects to make loans ranging from $2 million to $20 million for projects that qualify for funding. Proceeds from the QSCBs can only be used for new construction and rehabilitation or repair of public school facilities; land acquisition for qualified school construction projects; or equipment used in connection with qualified projects. Local school systems must jointly apply with their city or county governments in order to participate in the program. “I am pleased that we are able to make additional loan funds available this year through the QSCB program,” said Comptroller Justin P. Wilson, who serves as secretary of the TSSBA. “This program makes low-cost financing available to support worthy school improvement projects throughout our state.” “In these challenging economic times, our local governments can use these low-interest loans as a tool to move forward with projects they might otherwise find difficult to finance,” added Treasurer David H. Lillard Jr., who also serves on the TSSBA. “In the last year, I have visited a number of the communities that have received loans through the QSCB program – and I can tell you those loans are making a substantial difference in those communities,” said Secretary of State Tre Hargett, another TSSBA member. Last year, the TSSBA provided $177 million of QSCB loans to 13 local governments across the state. Those loans must be repaid at a rate of 1.515 percent over the next 17 years. California School a Pioneer in the Field of Solar Energy
Lewis Griswald,
Fresno Bee
May 22, 2010 CALIFORNIA: A new $4 million solar energy farm at Pioneer Union Elementary School District was dedicated in Hanford. The 10,898-panel system didn't cost the district a dime. Enfinity, a company in the solar energy field, arranged the can't-say-no deal. The district buys the electricity for 20 years, the company maintains it, and the district saves $30,000 a year on electricity. That's not enough to save a teacher's job, but it sure helps balance the budget, said school board president Linda Wright. Furthermore, it's green in other ways: it uses the sun to generate power. The 1,800-student district with two elementary schools and a middle school serves northwest Hanford, and each has a solar array. Together, they put out 788 kilowatts in peak sun, or 1.3 megawatt-hours a year. Schools in Central California are good candidates for solar because they have real estate, sunshine and a need to save money, said Mark Dominé, Enfinity's lead project developer. The solar farm will supply 77% of the district's electricity. Excess production feeds into the state's electricity grid; the school gets credits on its regular electricity bill. School Days Lift Spirits In Quake-Ravaged Haiti
Jason Beaubien,
NPR
May 21, 2010 HAITI: In Haiti, one of the strongest signs of life returning to normal four months after the earthquake is that each morning, the streets are once again filled with children in school uniforms. Reopening the classrooms was a huge challenge. Many school buildings were destroyed. Others were quickly occupied by people who had lost their homes and had nowhere else to live. The Ministry of Education has been constructing simple, open wood-frame classrooms to hold schools until more permanent structures can be built. One example is the St. Jean L'Evangeliste school in the Turgeau section of Port-au-Prince, which was destroyed in the earthquake. Now almost all the debris from the previous building is gone, with the exception of some shattered cinder blocks tossed to the edge of the lot. Classrooms of plywood walls and corrugated metal roofs stretch to the back of the property. And students have returned, like the group of fourth-grade boys who were recently shoving each other around on the concrete basketball court, yelling and laughing. The Rev. Nelson Augustin, the school's principal, says the old school had 29 classrooms, a library with 5,000 books, an auditorium and a computer lab. Now all they have are the simple classrooms with rows of desks facing a single blackboard. But he says the reopening of his school in mid-April has been a huge blessing. [Includes 12 slides and audio of full story.] North Dakota School Referendum Passes, With Help From Stimulus Bonds
Heidi Shaffer,
Inform
May 21, 2010 NORTH DAKOTA: School officials here had reason to celebrate after the passage of a $14.7 million building referendum. Sixty-nine percent of voters came out in favor of the three building projects, with 31 percent opposed. The district needed a 60 percent supermajority to pass the referendum. Voter turnout was significantly higher than in the past three tries at a referendum, all of which failed. District leaders will meet with architects in the next few months and begin bidding on the three projects next winter. The first, closing the 1950s-era K-1 school in nearby Davenport, moves 100 kindergarten and first-graders to Kindred while the district tries to sell the building. The school will remain open for the next two years as the other projects are completed, Hall said. The second project is to renovate the current second- through 12th-grade Kindred school to make it a pre-K through sixth-grade elementary. The third project is to build a $13.5 million seventh- through 12th-grade school. The 99,000-square-foot building on about 35 acres in north Kindred could take about 400 students. Earl Wilhelm, school board president, said the positive outcome had a lot to do with the Qualified School Construction Bonds that saves taxpayers $7 million and allows the district to complete the projects essentially interest-free, something the previous referendum attempts lacked.“That is a major part to the whole referendum this time,” he said.
RIBA Awards Gold Stars to School and University Buildings
Robert Booth,
Guardian
May 19, 2010 UNITED KINGDOM: In what may be the last hurrah for public buildings before government spending cuts bite, prizes for architectural quality were awarded to 17 new school and university buildings by the Royal Institute of British Architects. From a £27m art and design academy at Liverpool John Moores University to a multicoloured glass extension at Clapham Manor primary school, education buildings won almost a fifth of the RIBA's 93 awards in a feat that may not be repeated for a generation after the government ordered a moratorium on new plans for school buildings. Maryland County School Board Adopts School Prototype Policy
Dave McMillion,
Herald-Mail
May 18, 2010 MARYLAND: The Washington County Board of Education passed a policy that allows the school system to use one blueprint to build new schools, but with an amendment that allows school officials to be flexible on school construction. Using one blueprint to build more than one school was being considered to save taxpayer money, but Board Vice President Justin Hartings said he had concerns about the proposal. Hartings said the policy encourages repetitive school design “in the abstract,” but there are various issues that need to be considered when building new schools that might require a new design instead of using a generic one. Issues that need to be considered in school design include topography of the site and updated state requirements for building schools, Hartings said. Hartings introduced an amendment that allows school officials to consider different criteria to determine whether the school system should consider a repetitive design or a new design for a school. Earlier this month, four architects presented arguments opposing the use of a single-design plan. James H. Determan Jr. of Baltimore-based Hord, Coplan and Macht said 24 states no longer use prototype designs because they present too many problems. Determan said “plans become hopelessly obsolete” and there generally is no savings to the community. Prototypes also fail to keep up with energy-saving changes in technology, Determan said, which can cost more to operate a building in the long run. New York Governor Signs Bill Banning Pesticides on School Playing Fields
Delen Goldberg,
Post-Standard
May 18, 2010 NEW YORK: Gov. David Paterson signed a bill banning the use of pesticides on school athletic fields and day care playgrounds. Schools will have one year to stop applying pesticides on playing fields. They still will be able to use chemical treatments if a pest infestation breaks out. More than 18,000 people signed petitions in favor of the bill, which previously died in the Legislature nine times. Advocates cited scientific studies that show exposure to pesticides can increase children’s risk for cancer, exacerbate asthma and trigger seizures. Chemical companies lobbied against the bill. They say pesticides are highly regulated by the state and federal governments and therefore are safe to use. Schools will likely see a slight increase in cost during the first two years of switching from chemical to non-chemical treatments, but their annual cost should fall between 7 and 25 percent after the third year, according to a study by Grassroots Environmental Education, a nonprofit public health advocacy group in Nassau County. Grassroots Environmental Education also has offered free training to school groundskeepers on ways to care for fields without pesticides Historic Humble, Texas Schoolhouse Fades into Disrepair
Trilla Cook,
The Tribune
May 18, 2010 TEXAS: What will it take to save Bender High School? Constructed in 1929, Charles Bender High School – also known as the old Curriculum and Staff Development Center (CSDC) building – stands empty and in decay, after serving the community for more than 80 years. Still, she proudly wears her plaques and dedications as if they were Olympic medals for a job well done. Only silence now echoes in her halls at 611 Higgins Street in Humble. When Bender High School was constructed, with 48,000-square feet, it accommodated both junior and senior high school students. Two inspirational inscriptions, which have been read by thousands, on the side of the building read, “Impossible is Un-American” and “Ever Onward.” Although it is not listed on the Texas Historical Preservation Registry, in 1999 the City of Humble Preservation Society designated the building as a City of Humble historical site, complete with plaque. The designation encourages preservation, but is strictly voluntary and non-binding to the owner. Other plaques on the property pay tribute to WWI veterans. Each old oak tree in front of the building is dedicated to a WWI veteran. Eventually, an estimate in excess of $5 million was obtained to completely upgrade and renovate the facility to district standards, indicating the facility had roofing, HVAC, electrical, plumbing and structural issues. In July 2002, the Bond Review Committee recommended the construction of a new Instructional Support Center (ISC) with approximately twice the square footage for the same cost as renovations to the existing CSDC (old Bender High). The committee’s recommendation was included in Bond 2002 which was subsequently approved by voters. Upon completion of the ISC in 2004 on Magnolia Drive in Kingwood, the CSDC building became vacant and used only for district storage for a few years but stands empty now. “I do not have a current estimate for a complete upgrade and renovation in today’s dollars,” Buckner said. “It is important to remember that public school districts have to follow very strict rules regarding the retention or disposition of property...so, the district continues to wrestle with the future of 611 Higgins,” she said. “It would be a tremendous thing for many, many people if the building could be saved,” said Eloise Pursley McClellan, a 1939 graduate. McClellan recently donated a 1930’s DVD to the Humble Museum, which depicts what life was like at Bender High School and the Humble area during that era. The DVD can be purchased at the museum for $10. “The building can surely be utilized in some way instead of tearing it down,” said 1941 graduate Mary Lea Layton Taylor. “To demolish it would be the worst thing that can happen. I’m really sentimental about that building, along with all the others who went Fifty New Jersey School Construction Projects are Stuck in Limbo
Staff Writers,
Star-Ledger
May 18, 2010 NEW JERSEY: In 2006, students at the A. Chester Redshaw Elementary School in New Brunswick moved into a temporary warehouse facility with no playground or auditorium, but with the promise a new state-of-the-art school would soon be built for them. Four years later, they’re still in the warehouse — and still waiting. Redshaw Elementary is one of more than 50 New Jersey schools in limbo as state funding for construction has been caught up in years of mismanagement scandals, financial crises and red tape. The delays have left many frustrated districts — from Newark to Perth Amboy to Camden — unsure if their students will ever get out of temporary classrooms. After months of uncertainty, state officials said shovels may be in the ground soon on many stalled school construction projects. Last month, the state said it will borrow $500 million for the state Schools Development Authority to start building again. "We are excited about the governor’s continued support of this program," said Marc Larkins, the new head of the authority. "The authority is committed to providing safe, modern schools for our students while devoting ourselves to the highest standards of accountability and efficiency." However, authority officials said they still have no timetable for when districts will hear whether they will get funding to build their new schools. The authority will work with the state Department of Education to determine which projects will get funding once the money starts arriving. They have plenty from which to choose. There are 50 school construction projects in various stages of development and another 12 under construction, Schools Development Authority officials said. The authority also has a list of 134 emergency repair projects addressing health and safety problems in schools across the state and an additional 1,004 ongoing grant projects in suburban districts. Gov. Chris Christie has charged Larkins — a former federal prosecutor he appointed in January to revamp the authority — with overseeing a review of all the projects to determine which deserve funding. During his campaign, Christie was an outspoken critic of what he called a rampant waste of taxpayer funds at the Schools Development Authority. In one of his first acts as governor, Christie stopped the authority from making a $1.2 million payment for a $28.7 million high school in Burlington City that was nearly $17 million over budget. Education advocates are keeping a close eye as the Christie administration reshapes the authority, said David Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center, a Newark group that works to improve education in the state’s poorest districts. "My worry is that the SDA will run out of money ... and all these projects in which we’ve invested millions of dollars are going to remain on the drawing board," Sciarra said. "We have kids in temporary spaces that frankly are unacceptable for long-term educational use." The problems date back to the old Schools Construction Corp., the troubled state agency that oversaw school building projects. Investigations by the state Inspector General and state Auditor found the corporation had mismanaged and wasted millions of dollars. The agency failed to complete an order by the state Supreme Court to repair or replace aging schools in New Jersey’s 31 poorest districts under terms of the landmark Abbott vs. Burke school funding lawsuit. In 2007, the Legislature abolished the Schools Construction Corp. and replaced it with the New Jersey Schools Development Authority, a reformed authority with expanded measures to control costs. But criticism of the program continued and Christie ordered a review. Michigan District's Taxpayers Get $12.9M Bond Break with QSCBs and BABs
Frank Konkel,
Daily Press & Argus
May 17, 2010 MICHIGAN: Hartland Consolidated Schools and the district’s taxpayers will save an estimated $12.9 million in interest costs associated with the school system’s recent $28 million bond issue, thanks to the use of two different federal stimulus sources. According to Paul Stauder, vice president of the district’s financial adviser, Stauder Barch & Associates in Ann Arbor, the savings comes from utilizing Qualified School Construction bonds and Build America bonds. “Prior to 2009, schools that borrowed for capital improvement projects were able to issue tax-exempt bonds to finance projects, which creates a lower interest rate than if they were to borrow on a taxable basis,” Stauder said. “Last February, the federal government passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that provides certain additional incentives for communities and schools to borrow at lower costs.” Issued as tax-exempt bonds, the $28 million bond issue’s interest rate would have been at 4.53 percent over 25 years, leading to an estimated total bond interest of $20.4 million and an estimated school bond-loan-fund interest total of $23 million — or approximately $43.5 million in estimated total interest. Issued as taxable bonds, Build America bonds and Qualified School Construction bonds, the estimated interest rate drops to 2.61 percent, while the estimated total bond interest drops to $11.5 million, the school bond-loan-fund interest drops to $19.1 million, leaving a decreased total interest cost of $30.6 million — or a cumulative net savings of $12.9 million. The bond issue voters approved Feb. 23 will bring improvements to all the buildings in the school system. Fairbanks, Alaska Middle School Students Win National Award for Green School Design
Molly Rettig ,
Daily News Miner
May 17, 2010 ALASKA: The school of the future is a net-zero-energy building with three triangular wings, a solar array, green roof, spherical dome and astronomy aqua-tower, all straddling a river. And it resides in Fairbanks. SubZero Middle School is a futuristic model designed by 10 students from Barnette Magnet Middle School. On April 30, the group won first place and a $2,000 prize for Barnette in the nationwide School of the Future competition in Washington, D.C. The class spent a week in D.C. in late April, competing against seven other finalists and presenting its project before 20 judges. “I’m most proud of it because it’s not some far-fetched idea. It’s very realistic,” said Eliza Lawler, who took a feeder guppy to Washington to stock the mockup of the Chena River. “You get a bunch of 12- and 13-year-olds together, and it’s amazing. It’s unbridled imagination,” said local architect Steve Keller, who helped students with the project and accompanied them to D.C. “They’re thinking like adults, but they don’t have the constraints that full-grown adults have.” Back in Fairbanks, in the afterglow of victory, the students demonstrated their model’s features in the school lobby. Lawler opened a valve on part of the model’s floor that sat over the Chena River, several miles downstream from the Aurora Energy power plant. “If you open the aperture, hot air rises into the dome and cool air rushes up to fill the space so we won’t need A.C.,” she said. “We calculated each student uses three gallons of water per day. We collect rainwater and store it in the astronomy aqua-tower,” she said. The glass aqua-tower is arched to withstand the impact of ice flowing down the river. “It’s modeled after the shell of a chicken egg, where the chicken can sit on it and it won’t break,” Aubrea Stoltz said. Dakota Myers described the green roof and greenhouse. “We grow produce for the school to eat and for the farmer’s market,” he said. A dome over the common area provides natural lighting and shade, Ben Witmer said. Inside the school, “mirrors on the south walls reflect sun to classrooms on the north side.” The project started as a class, and then took on a life of its own, said teacher Colleen Smith. In response to the class’s enthusiasm, Smith enlisted local mentors such as Keller and Fairbanks North Star Borough school district projects manager Larry Morris. After the class ended, students continued to spend evenings and weekends at USKH architectural firm working with architects and using professional design software and leftover samples. They also toured the Cold Climate Housing Research Center and a power plant to learn about energy, and did some underground research. “We went under the city and saw the utilidors. It’s a whole world down there,” Smith said. While at the nation’s capital, students visited the offices of Sen. Mark Begich and Sen. Lisa Murkowski and talked about green energy. Their discussion of the project shows they absorbed not just an understanding of architecture and green technology but also of teamwork. “The most important thing is we actually debated everything and picked the best ideas,” team member Hailey Zacheis said. They weren’t the only ones impacted by the experience. “It’s been one of the most meaningful things that I’ve had in my career to date, and I’ve been an architect for over 25 years,” Keller said. The Children Are Bright; the Setting, Scruffy
Sharon Otterman,
New York Times
May 17, 2010 NEW YORK: The hulking three-story school building has corrugated metal siding and grates on the windows. The closest playground, in the shadow of a housing project, has missing swings and peeling paint. At recess, the students play on a bare square of pavement in a public park, a thick metal chain on the gate to warn away the public during school hours. At TAG Young Scholars, a citywide school in East Harlem for the talented and gifted, what goes on inside the classroom is praised by parents, but the aesthetics and facilities are, in a word, challenging. On a recent tour of the school, prospective kindergartners’ parents, many of whom live miles away, asked more questions about safety than curriculum. Janette Cesar, who has led the TAG program for more than a decade, initially disagreed with the new parents who were complaining about the school’s resources. “What is the point of comparing ourselves to the other schools?” she asked. “Is that what we want to teach our children?” She noted that the local middle schools in TAG’s building, which serve poorer children than those at TAG, are just as deserving of space and services. But last week, after a promising meeting with a nonprofit group that may be interested in helping the school find a nicer, more spacious building, it seemed that she was starting to change her mind. She had hired an artist to guide the children in painting murals to brighten the dim hallways, and she said, perhaps optimistically, she was glad they would be on canvas, “so we can take them when we move.” “I have been focused on the academics — what happens in the classroom,” she said. But now that the young school’s foundation is laid, and its test scores place it among the best in the city, maybe, she said, it should get more attention. “It’s time.” New Science School in Vail Valley Aims To Be Greenest in Colorado
Sarah Mausolf,
Vail Daily
May 17, 2010 COLORADO: Gore Range Natural Science School's new campus in the Vail Valley could become the greenest school in Colorado. From solar panels to grass-covered roofs to recycled newspapers as insulation, the design for the campus the school plans to build in Avon is packed with environmentally-friendly features. In fact, school officials are shooting for the highest rating the U.S. Green Building Council offers for eco-friendly construction. That would be platinum certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design system, better known as L.E.E.D. “That's a lofty goal for them to go for,” said Deb Kleinman, executive director of the U.S. Green Building Council's Colorado chapter. If school officials meet their goal, Gore Range Natural Science School would be the first school to get platinum status, Kleinman said. Located on 5 acres nestled in the mountains, the new school will stand near a pond, wetlands and hiking trails, school executive director Markian Feduschak said. That's a fitting setting for a school that encourages children to explore nature. On the heels of three years of fundraising, work on the $10 million campus is set to begin in July, he said. To match the school's mission, the design tries to work with, not against, the environment. Brian Sipes, a principal with Zehren & Associates in Avon, the architecture firm designing the campus, described the project as “the best kind of challenge.” “We've talked from the very beginning of this project about integrated design,” he said. “The environmental features weave themselves throughout the entire building. They're part of the basic decision-making process on everything we've done.” School officials did not have estimates available for how much extra money it cost to build the school to platinum standards. High Lead Levels Hurt Learning for Detroit Public Schools Kids
Tina Lam and Kristi Tanner-White,
Detroit Free Press
May 16, 2010 MICHIGAN: More than half of the students tested in Detroit Public Schools have a history of lead poisoning, which affects brain function for life, according to data compiled by city health and education officials. The data also show, for the first time in Detroit, a link between higher lead levels and poor academic performance. About 60% of DPS students who performed below their grade level on 2008 standardized tests had elevated lead levels. The higher the lead levels, the lower the MEAP scores, though other factors also may play a role. The research -- the result of an unusual collaboration between the city's Department of Health & Wellness Promotion and DPS -- also reveals that children receiving special education were more likely to have lead poisoning. The data, involving tens of thousands of city children, underscore the persistent and troubling legacy of lead, even as the overall number of lead cases continues to fall in Detroit and across the nation.
Manassas Park, Virginia Elementary School Winning Awards for Green Design
Katherine Mercurio- Gotthardt,
InsideNoVa.com
May 16, 2010 VIRGINIA: The designers of Manassas Park Elementary School were recently selected by the American Institute of Architects and its Committee on the Environment as one of the top 10 examples of sustainable architecture and green design solutions that protect and enhance the environment. The Charlottesville school firm VMDO Architects project was the only elementary building cited in the top 10 selections. "It is especially rewarding that the Manassas Park Elementary project has been recognized as one of the 2010 COTE selections," said Bob Moje, principal of K-12 Public School Projects at VMDO. "The innovative design for Manassas Park encourages students to become future environmental stewards. We are grateful for our long-standing collaboration with this community, a truly gratifying ex-perience." Manassas Park Elementary School is designed around the premise that people, especially children, cannot be expected to preserve or protect something they do not understand. As such, the school itself is conceived as a teaching tool that shepherds children along a path of environmental stewardship, he noted. Inside and out, sustainable design is integrated with the elementary curriculum. Design decisions were made with the goal of showcasing as many teachable moments as possible. Interior extended learning spaces offer close views of the neighboring mixed oak forest, while elementary classrooms face shady moss and fern-covered learning courtyards featuring "fallen" trees and other particulars of an Eastern deciduous forest floor. "Our new elementary school is receiving a wonderful recognition," said Thomas DeBolt, superintendant of Manassas Park Schools. Since the school's opening in April 2009, the design has garnered a number of other awards, includ-ing K-12 Project of the Year, Mid-Atlantic Construction magazine; Platinum Design Award and People's Choice Award, 2009 Virginia School Board; Association Exhibition of School Architecture; 1st place in the 2007 Go Green Competition, USGBC James River Chapter. Manassas Park Elementary School was also featured in a film documentary by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and in an article by the National Education Association. $2 Billion Sought to Overhaul Ruined Haiti Schools
Associated Press,
Yahoo News
May 15, 2010 HAITI: The Inter-American Development Bank is seeking $2 billion to expand access to Haitian schools. President Rene Preval and Bank President Luis Moreno announced the five-year program. It could be among the first presented for possible funding by the new Haitian Interim Reconstruction Commission co-chaired by Bill Clinton. The program aims to rebuild a system in shambles before nearly 4,000 schools were destroyed. Its advisers include Louisiana post-Katrina school superintendent Paul Vallas. Nearly all Haitian schools are private, forcing parents to spend food money on books, uniforms and tuition. Just one in 10 Haitian teachers is a qualified educator. The bank's program calls for the adoption of a national curriculum, teacher training and facility improvements. Tulsa Public Schools Protecting Students With New Weather Technology
Craig Day,
News on 6
May 15, 2010 OKLAHOMA: Tulsa Public Schools is investing in weather technology to protect students from lightning strikes. TPS is getting new equipment to help relay information about potential lightning to coaches and teachers. The district has one Thor Guard lightning detection system at East Central High and is now adding eight more. "It's going to be predicting if lightning can strike within a certain mile radius of the school. Or even within the school grounds itself," said Ben Tippin, TPS sound and light technician. Sensors collect electrostatic energy. When it reaches a certain point, a siren goes off warning anyone within about 800 yards there is the potential for a lightning strike. "And then they can make the call, to call the game for 20 minutes or call the game completely," said Tippin. The lightning detection system at East Central High is being paid for with school maintenance funds. The other systems, which will be installed by the start of next football season, are being funding through school security grant money. A Question of Security
Bob Stuart,
NewsVirginian.com
May 14, 2010 VIRGINIA: A nationally known expert said security cameras like those being considered for Waynesboro High School can serve as a resource, but are no substitute for a school safety program and should be obtained only with a clear understanding of their use. Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, said school districts should not substitute cameras for vigilance by school administrators and students. “The first and best line of defense is a well-trained, highly alert staff and student body,’’ said Trump. And while the cameras might not infringe on students’ consitutional rights, they invade individual privacy and lead to a broader policy question of “Big Brother Government,’’ said Kent Willis, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia. “It is a question of how far we want to move toward being a Big Brother society,’’ Willis said. The Waynesboro School Board is expected to spend the next several months working with a security consultant on a new bid package for cameras at the high school. Superintendent Robin Crowder said further study was needed after the school district heard from security vendors who said putting the cameras at exit doors in the high school was not enough. Security cameras have worked well in the Augusta County Schools, according to district officials, principals and school resource officers. Secretary Sebelius Announces $1 Billion in NIH Recovery Act Awards to Construct or Improve Biomedical Research Facilities
Press Release,
NIH News
May 14, 2010 NATIONAL: U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced one billion dollars of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds have been awarded to construct, repair and renovate scientific research laboratories and related facilities across the country. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) administered the grants, which are expected to create or sustain jobs nationwide and to help foster scientific advances that may lead to improved human health. A total of 146 grants to institutions in 44 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico were awarded to upgrade and construct buildings, laboratory spaces and core facilities that are crucial to biomedical and behavioral investigators. "This unprecedented Recovery Act investment in research facility construction will not only give our world-class scientists the modern facilities they need for impact research, it will also help create and maintain jobs in varied business sectors and in all regions of our country," said Secretary Sebelius. Environmental impact is a key component of the Recovery Act and was a prominent theme of the related NCRR construction application and awards process. The construction grants awarded through the Recovery Act encouraged, and in many cases required, grantees to implement several primary elements of sustainable technologies and design principles. These elements ensure energy efficiency, reduction of the environmental impact of building materials and minimized use of compounds that deplete the ozone. Budget Cuts May Force More Pinellas, Florida School Closings
Ron Matus,
St. Petersburg Times
May 13, 2010 FLORIDA: Pinellas superintendent Julie Janssen said that more school closings are possible as the district grapples with $26 million in budget cuts next year and potentially $53 million the year after that. After closing or consolidating 10 schools this year, the district promised it would not consider more closings for 2010-11, Janssen told the St. Petersburg Times editorial board. But given the magnitude of cuts ahead, the district must look at the possibility for 2011-12, she said. The recent closings and consolidations save about $6 million a year. "This is not temporary," Janssen said of coming cuts. "Whatever we do now we have to add to it to get to the $53 million for the following budget." Oklahoma Receives $12 Million Impact Aid School Construction Grants, Funded by Stimulus
Jim Myers,
Tulsa World
May 13, 2010 OKLAHOMA: U.S. Rep. Dan Boren, D-Okla., announced $12 million in school-construction grants to six eastern Oklahoma communities. Provided through the federal government's impact aid program, the unusually large grants were funded by the 2009 federal stimulus package. Locust Grove Public Schools received a $4.4 million grant, the largest covered by the announcement by Boren, D-Okla., to replace an early learning center. Other grants went to school systems in Antlers, $2.7 million; Colcord, $1.7 million; Kinta, $979,674; and Clayton, $316,604. The Cave Springs School District also received $1.8 million. In his announcement, Boren spoke of the immediate impact the grants will make on those school systems. The U.S. Department of Education's Impact Aid School Construction Program provides financial assistance to schools located in areas whose tax base is reduced through various federal activities. Illinois Pays Up on School Construction Projects Dating Back to 2002
Michelle Manchir,
Chicago Tribune
May 13, 2010 ILLINOIS: Relief came for 26 school districts across Illinois as the state is finally paying out more than $166 million for school construction projects dating back to at least 2002. About half of the districts added classrooms or opened new schools, only to be left juggling money while waiting for the state to pay its promised share. For Chicago Public Schools, that means $29.7 million for school construction. Five suburban Cook County schools are in line for another $4.5 million, ranging from $1.8 million for West Northfield School District 31 to $26,000 for Westchester School District 92 1/2. Across the collar counties, Joliet Public Schools District 86 is getting $26.8 million and Big Hollow School District 38 in Lake County almost $252,000. The saga started with Republican Gov. George Ryan, who promised the cash in 2002. Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich then put the schools through a series of hoops, including one particularly confounding episode in 2007 in which he blamed the schools for failing to file the proper paperwork. After Gov. Pat Quinn and lawmakers approved a public works program last year, the money finally is available. School Construction Savings Go Toward Solar Panels
Staff Writer,
Norwich Bulletin
May 12, 2010 CONNECTICUT: The Griswold Board of Selectmen approved two change orders to allow the school department to shift money from the Griswold Middle School project and use it to buy more photovoltaic panels for the elementary school under construction. School Building Committee Chairman Franklin Everett told selectmen the middle school came in under budget, and the contractor released $650,000. Everett said the school department wanted to invest $581,183 of that money in additional solar panels that would generate electricity and save on energy costs at the new school. School on Yakama Reservation in Washington State Given Impact Aid Grant for Renovations
Staff Writer,
Yakima Herald-Republic
May 12, 2010 WASHINGTON: After remaining mostly untouched for nearly half a century, Wapato High School will finally undergo some renovations, thanks to a $3.7 million federal grant. The school's west wing, home to 10 classrooms, will be renovated, according to school officials. Construction will begin as soon as possible and should be complete within two years, officials said. Built more than 50 years ago, the high school's plumbing, ventilation, heating and cooling and electrical systems are outdated. There are also safety issues, such as a lack of fire sprinklers, rooms with multiple doors -- a security risk -- and no accommodations for people with disabilities. School districts with lands that are not taxable qualify for federal impact aid money. The Wapato School District is on the Yakama Reservation, where there is much tribal land that is held in federal trust and exempt from property taxes
School Construction Projects Remain on New Jersey To-do List
Phil Gregory,
WHYY
May 12, 2010 NEW JERSEY: The head of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority does not believe the rejection of more than half of the local school budget proposals last month will put a brake on school construction projects. Schools Development Authority CEO Mark Larkins says there is still a need to build new schools in the Garden State. "What we know is that there's an need because we hear it expressed by the community, we hear it expressed by the districts and the representatives from these districts so I don't believe that this vote has any impact on the need or the desire for updated and state of the art educational facilities in the state," says Larkins. But Education Commissioner Bret Schundler says recent school budget defeats may prompt some school boards to defer new construction projects. $500 million in bonding was authorized last month so the Schools Development Authority can help fund projects that have already been approved. One-Room Schoolhouse Not A Relic In Wyoming Community
Michael Pearlman,
Sheridan Press
May 12, 2010 WYOMING: Five miles west of tiny Parkman, population 137, an unpaved road leads to one of the last one-room schoolhouses in the United States. Nestled in northern Sheridan County, three-quarters of a mile south of the Montana border, the Slack School boasts an enrollment of four eager elementary students in first through fourth grades. In a ranching community where self-sufficiency is a necessity, the school has held on as similar-size schools around the county are shuttered. Established in what was once the town of Slack, named after Civil War veteran Col. John Slack, the small white school building has been in existence since 1894, according to teacher Pete Mohseni. It burned in the 1920s and has closed occasionally over the years due to low enrollment. A typical day at the Slack School follows a schedule similar to larger elementary schools but allows for ample one-on-one instruction. After breakfast at 7:45 a.m., reading and writing lessons take place until 10, when the students take a morning recess and check the mail with Mohseni. Students tackle math before lunch, with social studies and science lessons in the afternoon. Mohseni is able not only to offer students individualized attention, but also to track their progress from year to year. Art and music classes take place in the teachery, an even smaller adjacent building that was historically the teacher's home. It now serves as the school cafeteria and lunchroom as well. While the school's design hearkens back to a simpler time, the Slack School is equipped with updated computer technology. The students use computers for research, reading and math activities, and high-speed Internet service allows Mohseni to administer standardized tests. The four Slack School students all live on nearby ranches and are aware of how unique their school experience is, contributing to a strong sense of school pride. "It's peaceful and not as noisy," said second-grader Sydney Butler. Mohseni and his students take advantage of the school's remote location and wide-open spaces by taking learning outdoors as often as possible. Cross-country skiing is a popular physical education activity in winter, and students receive firsthand learning opportunities about weather and wildlife. On Earth Day, students participated in a community cleanup, removing trash from a 10-mile stretch of Pass Creek Road. D. C. Council Backs Boost in Charter Facilities Fee
Bill Turque,
Washington Post
May 11, 2010 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The District's public charter schools, which have long held that they are shortchanged on funding compared to DCPS, would get a bit more money for rent, mortgage and other facilities costs under a recommendation Tuesday from the D.C. Council. Both public and public charter schools receive equal financing under the uniform per student funding formula, which is expected to be $8,945 in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. But unlike public schools, most of District's 57 charter schools, spread across 99 campuses with 28,000 students, come into existence without a publicly financed building waiting for them. So they receive a per pupil facilities allotment to cover their extra costs. Sitting as the Committee of the Whole, the council recommended that Mayor Adrian M. Fenty raise the uniform per pupil fee from $2,800 to $3,000. The Fenty administration cut the allotment from $3,109 last year, asserting that some schools have been diverting the facilities payments to cover other costs, such as teacher salaries. The mayor is recommending that the allotment remain at $2,800. Charter advocates say D.C. public schools enjoy significant streams of funding outside the uniform per student formula, including an enormous capital budget. Violent Philadelphia School Gets 126 New Cameras
Associated Press,
Lebanon Daily News
May 11, 2010 PENNSYLVANIA: More than 100 new security cameras have been installed in the Philadelphia high school where racially-charged violence led to a weeklong walkout by Asian students. Philadelphia schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman told City Council on Monday that 126 security cameras have been installed throughout South Philadelphia High School. Ackerman says the cameras cover every part of the building except the bathrooms. The school had 23 security cameras before the rash of attacks last year. Off-campus and lunchroom attacks injured about 30 Asian students in December, sparking a weeklong boycott. The violence prompted the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund to file a civil rights complaint with the Justice Department. Middle School to be Hawaii's First 'Green' Campus
Loren Moreno,
Honolulua Advertiser
May 11, 2010 HAWAII: When students begin attending 'Ewa Makai Middle School in January, they will study in the air-conditioned comfort of the Hawai'i public school system's first completely certified "green" campus and with such high-tech tools as iPad tablet computers. 'Ewa Makai's campus will be physically unique compared with other public schools in the state. It is the first school in Hawai'i being built as one enclosed building, as opposed to traditional school campuses in the state made up of several buildings linked by open-air walkways. Part of the reason for the new design is to meet "green" building requirements, or to be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified, as is now required for all new state facilities. It will be the first entire school campus to be so designated. As a LEED Silver Project, the school is fitted with air conditioning and natural day lighting design for energy conservation. Contractors are also using recycled "green" materials in construction. A special storm water runoff collection system will be installed, as will occupancy sensors in rooms to control lighting and plumbing fixtures. Cincinnati Closing 5 Older Schools To Consolidate Into 2 New Buildings
Denise Smith Amos,
Cincinnati Enquirer
May 10, 2010 OHIO: When Mindy Victor says goodbye to Room 24 in New Burlington Elementary later this month, the sixth-grade teacher will miss few things about the school. She says she won't miss its mismatched and sometimes wobbly chairs and desks. She won't miss how her room gets 20 degrees hotter than others across the hall because it's on the sunny side of the building. "This will be the last time I sweat in my classroom," she said last week, dreaming of her move to one of two new, air-conditioned elementary schools that Mt. Healthy is opening in August. "It's an oxymoron. OK, we're getting smaller, yet we're doubling in size" in each school building, she said. It's the end of an era for at Mt. Healthy, said Judith Ashton, district spokeswoman. The district is transforming into a leaner and environmentally greener district, shuttering five neighborhood elementary schools and opening two, larger elementary schools. The 3,450-student district also is opening a combined junior and senior high school in January. "We've had declining enrollment, but make no mistake," Superintendent David Horine said, "This is being driven by economic efficiency." Mt. Healthy will save $1.5 million to $1.8 million a year from its $35 million annual budget by operating fewer, newer schools, he said. It is happening all across the Cincinnati region: some suburban school districts are closing old, neighborhood elementary schools and opening newer district-wide buildings. School leaders hope that fewer, "greener" schools will save millions of dollars in energy, staff and operational costs. Many transforming districts are using state dollars paired with local bond issues. Here are some examples: Three Rivers voters last week approved a plan to close all four of its schools by fall 2013, when a new, single school will open to serve kindergarten-through-12th-grade on one campus on Cooper Road in Cleves. About 40 percent of the project's $62 million cost will come from the Ohio School Facilities Commission. Hamilton City Schools is going from 14 elementary schools to eight new ones, opening this year and next. The state is paying for half of the $240 million project, which includes additions to its high school and other improvements. North College Hill will close its three elementary schools May 20 and open one K-through-4th-grade building, North College Hill Elementary, this fall. The district also is replacing its junior high-high school building with a new middle-school and high school building. Fairfax Elementary is closing at the end of this school year and its students will head to Mariemont Elementary. The district, which will renovate and make additions to other buildings and rebuild its junior high, is going from five schools to four. School leaders and taxpayers are increasingly agreeing to close buildings while building new ones, hoping to find efficiencies. "I think there's a higher degree of awareness of operational costs among districts than there has been in the past," said Rick Savors, spokesman of the Ohio School Facilities Commission, which is funding the projects. "In some instances it is more efficient to lower the number of schools in a district," he said. "In addition to reducing the number of buildings, districts are looking at the campus effect, moving buildings closer together to reduce transportation costs." Downsizing the number of schools is inevitable, Savors said, especially in urban and metropolitan suburban districts that lost students over the past decade. "Most districts are doing this because it's really the most cost-efficient way to maintain," said Rhonda Bohannon, superintendent of Three Rivers in Cleves. 'I think when you have the ability to have all your staff together, there's so much more opportunity for teaming that will allow for better collaboration and continuity of your curriculum and programs ... and more sharing of staff who will have more access to resources." Horine said Mt. Healthy's savings will come from bringing more students and teachers together. Instead of some classes being half full, all will be full, and the district will need fewer teachers, he said. So far the district plans to cut 11 or 12 teachers' jobs, out of 238 or so employed, but there may be more, he said. Also, there will be 10 fewer bus drivers, 1.6 fewer administrators, at least one less secretary. Construction Employment Edges Up as Stimulus Funds Begin to Reach Nonresidential Construction
Staff Writer,
US Glass News Network
May 10, 2010 NATIONAL: Employment in construction and manufacturing sectors edged up in April, according to the employment report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on May 7. Ken Simonson, chief economist with the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), attributes such increases to, among other things, the fact that “the impacts of the stimulus [act] are now being felt across a much broader section of the construction industry.” BLS reported that the number of unemployed persons in April was 15.3 million, and the unemployment rate edged up to 9.9 percent. The rate had been 9.7 percent for the first three months of 2010. Manufacturing sectors added 44,000 jobs in April. Since December 2009, factory employment has risen by 101,000. Over the month, gains occurred in several durable goods industries, including fabricated metals (9,000) and machinery (7,000). Construction employment likewise edged up (14,000), following an increase of 26,000 in March. Over the month, nonresidential building and heavy construction added 9,000 jobs each. “The dramatic construction job losses have stopped and our industry is, at least temporarily, again adding jobs,” commented Simonson during a conference call on the report. Simonson pointed to the stimulus act and its “estimated $135 billion in construction and infrastructure investments” as one of the reasons construction contractors are seeing more work this spring. Although he said the impact of the stimulus until now largely has been “too limited and, frankly, too little,” Simonson added, “Starting this spring, however, things have begun to change … Indeed, nonresidential construction – the area most likely to be impacted by stimulus spending – added 24,600 jobs in April and 36,500 jobs in March, the first two gains since the beginning of 2008.” He added, “Nonresidential building and specialty trade contractors – the other nonresidential categories – have also added workers.” Despite the positive news, many general contractors continue to face increased competition, unemployment and “dry” commercial construction markets. “We have a lot of contractors searching for anything and everything they can find to stay busy,” said Ted Aadland, chief executive officer (CEO) and president of Aadland Evans Constructors in Portland, Ore. Aadland also noted that, in his area, the potentially promising markets for alternative energy projects aren’t seeing the hoped-for financial incentives. “We’ve had some changes in the tax credits that finance both wind and solar and it’s had a large effect on start-up projects,” he said. “We’ve had two or three projects get put off indefinitely because we can’t find companies that are willing to buy tax credits with the new changes in the tax credit business. Now they’re requiring that companies pay minimum tax and the difference that they have in tax is not great enough to finance some of these alternative projects so we’re seeing some of that work disappear.” Mark Hall, president of Hall Construction, a general contractor in Howell, N.J., specializing in historic restoration and school construction projects, noted, “We here in New Jersey now have 29 percent unemployment. It’s not unlikely to see 20 to 30 bidders on every project that we bid. Jobs are going not only at-cost but below-cost in some cases,” Hall said. He offered an example of a high school in the Atlantic City school district put out to bid as a $40 million project on which they had a referendum. “The bids came in at $26.4 million. We bid the job at cost and we were the ninth bidder,” Hall said. Still, he turned that dour scenario into a call for encouraging quick allocations of stimulus funding. “Today is the best time for the U.S. government—federal, local and state governments—to put work out on the street because they’re going to get the best value for their money right now,” Hall said. $500 Million Build America Bonds for New Jersey School Construction
Catarina Saraiva and Allison Bennett,
Bloomberg
May 10, 2010 NATIONAL: New Jersey’s $750 million sale of Build America Bonds this week is poised to lead total issuance since inception past $100 billion, one month after the first anniversary of their sales. Build America Bonds, the fastest-growing part of the $2.8 trillion municipal market, were created by last year’s federal economic stimulus package to help state and local governments lower borrowing costs for public works. Issuers sold $65 billion of the securities last year and have already marketed $35 billion so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Average yields on taxable Build Americas were 5.8 percent May 7, after sliding to 5.6 percent a day earlier, the lowest since August. New Jersey, the third most-indebted U.S. state, plans to offer its obligations in three-year, variable-rate notes. “The program has been a big positive influence on the municipal market for virtually all issuers,” said David Blair, a municipal debt analyst for Pacific Investment Management Co. in Newport Beach, California. Pimco’s Total Return Fund, with about $225 billion in assets is the world’s largest Bond Fund. About $500 million of New Jersey’s offering will be used for school construction and the remaining $250 million will be used to match a 2009 swap with Royal Bank of Canada, according to the state Treasurer’s office. The Build America program provides issuers with a 35 percent subsidy on interest costs. Build America Bonds have expanded the investor base for municipal securities and led to a reduction in tax-exempt debt sales, lowering borrowing costs for issuers, Blair said. Build Americas continue to be attractive compared with comparably rated corporate bonds, he said. Yields on Build America Bonds are falling because “buyers are becoming more educated as time goes on and getting a better handle on municipal credit,” Hallacy said. “They realize that despite all the noise in the headlines about budget gaps and financial pressures, the relative risk of downgrade or default is lower than other markets.” Build America Bonds have returned 9.6 percent so far this year, according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch index. That’s more than three times the gain on the municipal market, according to BofA Merrill Lynch’s Municipal Master Index. Austin, Texas School District Installing Solar Learning Centers at 21 Schools With Federal Energy Grant
Staff Writer,
Austin Business Journal
May 10, 2010 TEXAS: Austin Energy, in collaboration with the Austin Independent School District, is installing solar learning centers at 21 area schools. The outdoor centers will include functioning solar generators that power the host school and teach students about the solar industry.The school district has developed green energy-based curriculum for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade to go along with interactive centers. Construction will begin next fall. Austin Energy is funding the project through a $450,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and $375,000 from its own funds. AISD is also contributing in-kind funds of $75,000. More School Building Projects Going Green
Hristina Ninova,
Washington Examiner
May 09, 2010 NATIONAL: Whether it's making them more energy efficient, bringing more natural light into the building or improving the quality of the indoor air, sustainable schools are growing in popularity. According to the U.S. Green Building Council, there are 1,330 school projects nationwide that have sought Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, and 156 of them have been certified so far. Part of the go-green movement means carefully selecting the materials that are used in the project, said Steven Turckes, a principal of architectural design firm Perkins and Will. "We do not use materials that have polyvinyl chloride, or other toxins that are unhealthy when they off-gas into the environment," Turckes said. Going green is starting to become more financially viable. With better cooperation between the sustainable school builders and the green material providers, Turckes said, the builders can now offer more competitive prices. In some cases, he said, a sustainable school building might now cost only 3 percent more than a regular building. Some of the considerations and methods of sustainable school builders, aimed at more efficient energy use and higher comfort levels: aligning the orientation of the building to avoid the late afternoon sun heating up the classrooms more than is desired; making complicated calculations of the angle of the sunlight entering the building;installing shading devices such as horizontal light shelves that block direct light from coming in but also bounce more light inside, cutting down on the glare coming off computer screens. Turckes said ambitious sustainable projects are now aiming for up to 50 percent reduction of energy usage, 35 percent reduction of carbon emissions, 40 percent decrease of water use, and cutting down on about 70 percent of the solid waste. Why such a focus on sustainable schools? A new study shows almost 60 million Americans -- students, faculty and staff --spend a large portion of their weekdays inside school buildings.
Intelligent Design: Stanford's New Design School Building
Avantika Agarwal,
Stanford Daily
May 07, 2010 CALIFORNIA: Imagine walking into your classroom every morning not knowing what it is going to look like. The large blocks of foam that functioned as chairs yesterday are now stacked against the walls or placed in wooden boxes and pushed together to create makeshift work surfaces. The portable whiteboards that were used for brainstorming the day before are now used as walls. This might sound uncharacteristic of an academic setting, but that sense of constant change is exactly what makes the new Design School (d.school) building so unique. “Our philosophy is very purposed towards the future,” said Banny Banerjee, the director of the Stanford Design Program and an assistant professor in Stanford’s mechanical engineering department. “You have no way of knowing what’s going to be appropriate tomorrow, what any situation is going to demand. And so we need our space to reflect that.” Walking around the new building, one can see that designers Cody Anderson Wasney (CAW) & MK Think have tried to make every inch reflect the school’s philosophy. The d.school has been continuously reinventing itself, having moved four times, starting from doublewide trailers, and finally ending up in its fifth and final home in Building 550 on Escondido Mall. According to David Kelley, the founder of the d.school and innovation and design firm IDEO, “We believe you can learn anything about an organization 30 seconds after walking into their workspace.” “People sitting in cubicles have cubicle shaped thoughts,” Banerjee added. “The d.school encourages highly expansive, collaborative, inventive thinking, and we need spaces that allow that, spaces that obscure rules that inhibit creativity.” The primary aim of the building, reads the d.school’s website, was “to create innovators rather than any particular innovation.” The building’s flexible design and fluid atmosphere are intended to foster that environment of innovation. The fluid and flexible spaces are meant to cater to every circumstance and every project’s demands. Walls, that are usually made of white boards are impermanent, and can slide around to open up spaces or divide spaces up. In general, almost everything in the d.school is on wheels. Instead of pristine spaces, beautiful fittings and ostentatious fountains, many parts of the building have a rough, unfinished feel to them–intended to create a flexible environment that removes any idea of permanence that might impose constraints on creativity. One such example is the “Jacks and Pegs” system, which consists of a series of unfinished two-by-two wooden planks which have pegs that hold light-weight, portable dry-erase boards. These boards can be scribbled on, used as tack-boards and can be easily removed and transported. The entire system can also slide on long tracks, doubling up as a space divider. That’s a lot of philosophy to pack into a single building, now the permanent home of the d.school. So far, reactions of students who use the d.school are mixed. Building a Sustainable Community College
Diane Ivey,
Illinois Times
May 06, 2010 ILLINOIS: 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?” Originally, the college was looking at a wind farm as its main source of energy. However, they decided on a system that would combine geothermal with solar, wind and other renewable technologies, says Raymond Rieck, the college’s vice president for business services. Lake Land’s location could generate some wind power, but not enough to be the only source of energy. The campus is located over an aquifer, an underground layer of water-bearing rock, which makes it ideal for the water-based geothermal system. Lake Land does plan to ultimately install four wind turbines, and is currently hearing proposals from two wind energy companies. Lake Land renovated its field house in 2008. The building used to run on a traditional boiler system, which Rieck says was old and inefficient. The field house now uses a solar water heater that produces up to 150 gallons of hot water per hour, which is more than enough for the building’s locker rooms during athletic events. The field house uses about 44 percent less energy than before renovations, saving the college about $32,000 a year. Lake Land also renovated the Northwest Building, a 35,000-square-foot structure containing classrooms for English, science and dental hygiene. The switch to geothermal energy for heating means the building will use only one percent natural gas, for Bunsen burners in science labs. Project energy savings are about $48,000 per year. The college used energy efficient lighting, daylight harvesting skylights and automatic turn-off systems to save an estimated $50,000 in energy costs for the West Building, which received a 51,000-square-foot addition last fall. “Our long-term goal in the next five to 10 years is to get to a point where we’re off the electrical grid for a substantial portion of the day,” Lensink says. He estimates that the college could be “off the grid” for as long as 16 hours. Besides saving money, decreasing Lake Land’s carbon footprint is another benefit of the eco-friendly renovations, Lensink says. As the campus moves forward with its sustainability goals, Lensink estimates they could get their carbon footprint below 1,000 tons of CO2 per year. A long-term decrease in energy costs could benefit students, Lensink says. Current estimates show the school could bring down tuition by as much as $10 per credit hour. “We’re looking at how we can become green, and how we can reduce costs to make education more affordable,” he says Charlotte County, Florida to Rebuild Schools with Fed Funds
Jason Witz,
Herald-Tribune
May 06, 2010 FLORIDA: School officials will begin construction on two of the district's oldest buildings this summer, using $60 million in borrowed federal stimulus funds to jumpstart the often-delayed projects. The Charlotte County school district will have a groundbreaking ceremony at Lemon Bay High School, ending a process that started more than two years ago. This year, the district was approved to participate in Qualified School Construction Bonds, a $25 billion national program which allows districts to issue bonds at no interest for building upgrades and reconstruction. Buyers of the bonds get a federal tax credit in lieu of interest. The groundbreaking follows repeated attempts by the district to allocate funding for Lemon Bay High and Meadow Park Elementary, schools said to be in need of upgrades. Lemon Bay High was built in 1962 as an elementary school. The district added classroom wings in the '70s when it was converted into a middle school and eventually into a high school. But officials never addressed the facility's lack of elevation, leaving sections of the campus prone to flooding. Meadow Park Elementary was built in the 1970s with an open space design, a concept that limits privacy between classrooms. Voters rejected a half-percentage-point sales tax in 2007 that would have generated more than $270 million over 20 years to replace the aging schools. Both projects have been delayed since, largely because of the decline in taxable property values. Officials applied for the bond program in October in hopes of accelerating the rebuilding. The district will have the authority to issue $40 million in bonds to replace Lemon Bay and $20 million for Meadow Park. New York's New School to Build a Multipurpose, 16-Story Building
Charles V. Bagli,
New York Times
May 05, 2010 NEW YORK: The board of the New School approved plans to build a 16-story, $353 million University Center, the largest construction project in the university’s 91-year history in Greenwich Village. The unusual bronze-and-glass structure will rise on Fifth Avenue, between 13th and 14th Streets, and house lecture halls, an auditorium, academic spaces, student lounges, stores and a 600-bed dormitory on the top nine floors. Horizontal and diagonal bands of glass on the sides of the building will allow pedestrians to see students and faculty members circulate along corridors and stairwells. The New School project is the latest indication that education is one of the city’s biggest growth industries. Columbia University has received approval to build a $6.3 billion, 17-acre satellite campus in Manhattanville, while New York University recently unveiled plans to build as much as six million square feet of dormitories, academic buildings and a hotel over the next 25 years 56 Nashville Schools Damaged By Storms
Jonathan Martin,
WMV
May 05, 2010 TENNESSEE: More than 50 schools in Nashville have reported some water or wind damage, mostly minor, from the historic floods. There are several Metro schools that had minor roof leaks, which the school system said is common during significant rainfall. School leaders are asking the state to forgive days missed due to flooding so that testing and graduations won't be affected. Six schools suffered some significant damage. Senate Indian Affairs Committee to Hold Hearing on Safety Issues at BIA Schools.
Staff Writer,
Haskell News
May 05, 2010 NATIONAL: U.S. Senator Tom Udall, D-NM, announced that the Senate Indian Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the massive health and safety deficiencies uncovered at Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools. Udall requested the hearing several months ago as part of his proposal to develop a "Marshall Plan" to eliminate the backlog in construction and maintenance of facilities that impact all parts of life in Indian Country - and ensure the safety of all Native children attending BIA schools. Currently, many schools within the BIA system have serious structural deficiencies, are not handicapped accessible, and are in violation of building and fire codes. $325 Million Funding Initiative for High-Performing Charter Schools
Staff Writer,
Market Watch
May 04, 2010 NATIONAL: JPMorgan Chase announced a $325 million initiative to support the growth of high-performing U.S. charter schools in today's challenging credit environment. The bank will provide $50 million in grants to community development financial institutions (CDFIs) focused on funding charter schools. In turn, these institutions will use these grants as permanent equity, which they will leverage to fund top-performing charter schools. Additionally, JPMorgan Chase will work with the CDFIs to provide about $175 million in debt and approximately $100 million in New Markets Tax Credit equity to support the development of charter school facilities. This will allow the CDFIs to access Obama Administration financing programs designed to help charter schools meet facility needs. JPMorgan Chase estimates that this initiative will help underwrite about 40 charter schools, which will serve more than 50,000 students throughout the term of the loan. The Future of Schools
Paul Kendall,
Telegraph
May 04, 2010 UNITED KINGDOM: A former sink school in the London borough of Southwark, Kingsdale Foundation School has an atrium that bears comparison with the Great Court at the British Museum. Underneath a soaring latticed roof, which bathes a grass-green floor in dappled sunlight, students sit at tables arranged in twos and threes across an area the size of half a football pitch. The roof is the largest of its kind in the world. At my school we ate in a dark, cramped refectory. Here, the 1,200 pupils eat their lunch café-style in an atmosphere you could almost call continental. Then, after lunch, many take in a film in the school’s cinema, a futuristic egg-shaped auditorium that looks like something from the set of Doctor Who. Others attend clubs in the new state-of-the-art music centre. A few simply sit with friends and hang out. To anyone who attended the school a few years ago, the place is virtually unrecognisable. Back in 1998, Kingsdale was said to be ‘failing’ after a report that the then chief inspector of schools, Chris Woodhead, described as one of the worst he’d ever seen. Bullying was rife. There were more than 280 exclusions a year (30 of them permanent) and only 15 per cent of students were leaving the school with five decent GCSE grades. Now, with the new atrium, the cinema and the music centre, that figure of 15 per cent has increased to 70 per cent, bullying is firmly under control and expulsions are down to almost zero. Kingsdale is one of the fastest improving schools in the country. So why, when this great turnaround has happened under the Labour Government, has Gordon Brown or the schools secretary Ed Balls not been shouting Kingsdale’s achievements from the roof tops? Why haven’t they dropped by for a photocall? Surely, during this election campaign, Labour could do with every good news story it can get. The answer is simple: they just don’t think anyone would believe it. They may hardly believe it themselves. But the truth is that, while the politicians continue to bicker over the old issues of teachers’ pay, class sizes and the national curriculum, there is one thing that has been proved to make a profound difference to pupils’ grades both at Kingsdale and many other schools in Britain and around the world: the physical design of the building. A hugely ambitious project, BSF aims to rebuild or refurbish every secondary school in England by 2020 and has so far seen more than 80 new schools open and around 70 reopen with significant refurbishments. (To give you some idea of the scale of the job, there are, in total, 3,500 secondary schools in England.) Not all of the projects have been successful. In 2008, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, which oversees all BSF projects, warned that eight out of 10 were mediocre or ‘not yet good enough’. But others feature brilliant, innovative designs that have transformed the atmosphere of the school and the way in which pupils are taught. Measures Address Oregon School Construction Funding
Anne Williams,
Register-Guard
May 03, 2010 OREGON: Two measures on the May 18 primary election ballot would deliver some modest relief to some cash-strapped Oregon schools and colleges. What’s more, they wouldn’t cost taxpayers a dime, at least in the short run — a fact that may explain why neither inspired a single “no” argument in the state Voters’ Pamphlet. Both measures would amend the Oregon Constitution, and were referred to the ballot by the 2009 Oregon Legislature. Measure 68, endorsed by both the Eugene and Springfield school boards, offers schools help with construction in two ways. First, it expands the definition of “capital costs,” allowing school districts for the first time to use voter-approved capital bond funds for items such as desks, computers, textbooks and even land. The new definition would apply to bonded indebtedness incurred on or after Jan. 1, 2011. Measure 68 also gives the state the authority to issue bonds and create a matching fund program for school construction and repair, conditional on legislative approval. State money could be used only to match funds approved by voters in local districts. The measure would dedicate 15 percent of state lottery revenues to the matching fund to repay state funds provided to districts. State bonds could not be repaid by raising property taxes. School districts finance all or most of their construction projects with bonds, thereby spreading the cost over many years. The use of school bond funds is strictly limited to capital costs, and can’t be used to pay ordinary operating expenses. The consensus is that districts having to build to accommodate rapid growth, as well as small rural districts with limited borrowing authority, stand to benefit the most. The district last passed a bond measure in 2002, for $116 million. It paid for two new elementary schools and two new middle schools. Lauch said at that time the plan was to float another measure in 2006; now it looks as though it will be fall 2011 before voters are asked to decide a capital measure. Measure 69, meanwhile, affirms and clarifies the state’s authority to use general obligation bonds, the lowest-cost method of borrowing, to finance projects for community colleges and public universities. In recent years, state law has been interpreted to limit use of such financing to the purchase of new buildings or land for classrooms, student housing, laboratories and other uses. The measure would clarify that it can also be used to buy and renovate existing buildings — something universities in urban settings, such as Eugene and Portland, sometimes do. By securing financing at the lowest possible interest rate, the Oregon University System and community colleges would save taxpayers money. Following Earthquake, California Announces $960.7 Million Funding for School Construction Projects
Staff Writer,
AzoBuilding
May 03, 2010 CALIFORNIA: At its monthly meeting the State Allocation Board also approved the funding of a $4.5 million school modernization project at the Calexico High School as part of the state’s effort to help school districts impacted by the recent earthquake in Imperial County. The Calexico project was financed as a result of new funding now available to school districts statewide due to recent bond sales by the Treasurer’s Office. Given the emergency state of affairs in that area due to the recent earthquake, the Office of Public School Construction, the state agency that handles applications for state funding from school districts, expedited the fund release request for the Calexico High School project. The local district will receive the cash transaction in a few days rather than the more typical four week process. Funding the Calexico project, which had been previously approved but was on a list of projects awaiting funding, was part of a series of actions recommended by the State Allocation Board. At the same meeting, in addition to apportioning funds to many statewide projects, the Board agreed to consider neighboring San Pasqual Valley School District’s three approved projects for funding acceleration based on health & safety reasons, and offered relocatable (modular) classrooms and help in working with Federal Emergency Management Agency programs to local school districts in Imperial, Riverside, and San Diego counties that were affected by the recent Baja earthquake. The Office of Public School Construction worked closely with the Division of the State Architect and the California Emergency Management Agency to quickly analyze the structural damage to schools in the region in the days following the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that was centered in Baja California on April 4, 2010. On April 5, 2010, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a State of Emergency in Imperial County and signed Executive Order S-06-10 — a preliminary step in securing federal disaster funding.
Students Design Tomorrow’s Green Schools: CEFPI Competition Winners
Barbara Worth,
CEFPI
May 03, 2010 NATIONAL: The 2010 winners of the annual School of the Future Design Competition, centerpiece of School Building Week, April 26-30, were announced during an award ceremony in Washington, DC. Sponsored by the Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI) and the National Association of Realtors® in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the American Institute of Architects, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and more than 20 other associations and private companies, the annual competition challenges middle school teams to think creatively as they design tomorrow’s green schools to enhance learning, conserve resources, be environmentally responsive and engage the surrounding community. The Award of Excellence went to Barnette Magnet School, Fairbanks, AK with Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School, Old Lyme, CT capturing second place. Seneca Middle School, Macomb, MI, was the third place winner. Awards of commendation were presented to Heritage Year Round Middle School, Wake Forest, NC; Roskruge Bilingual K-8, Tucson, AZ; Howard University Middle School/Math & Science, Washington, DC and Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools (ReThink), New Orleans, LA. Barnette Magnet School received $2,000 for their first-place project which demonstrated complete cultural and environmental integration, utilizing imaginative integration of the Greek Primordial elements – Earth/Water/Air/Fire – in the four building wings. The project, SubZero Middle School, met the unique climatic and cultural challenges represented by their location in Fairbanks, Alaska. The students created a “Learning Signature,” – bridging past knowledge with today’s community for a greener future, fully acknowledging that a school, and more specifically a green school, is not just a physical element, but rather becomes a cultural center of itself and its surrounding community. The students commented that true sustainability will not happen until each individual embraces and exhibits truly green practices, not only for the environment but for each other. Ohio school District Looks for Livable Levy Strategy To Take Advantage of QSCBs and BABs
Susan McMillan,
Sandusky Register
May 03, 2010 OHIO: 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.
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