WASHINGTON D.C. Area: All over Fairfax County and in most other Washington suburbs, the indoor gym has become highly prized as prime real estate. Once boys' basketball was king of the school gymnasium but today it must jostle for space with an array of other activities: girls' basketball, volleyball, badminton, dodge ball, indoor lacrosse and soccer, cheerleading, wrestling, baton twirling, flag and drum corps, and even competitive jump-rope. And that smorgasbord is vying with scouts, school bands, drama clubs, table tennis, martial arts, Jazzercise, and other pastimes that are turning schools into round-the-clock community centers.

The passion for sports in booming suburbs is pushing the limits of outdoor playing fields. But now the crunch is moving inside, into still-smaller spaces. With more than 1 million people and a surge in school-age children, the number of young gym users in Fairfax has exploded by 40 percent over six years. But the county's inventory of gym space grew by just 6.7 percent during that time. Coaches and school principals are clashing over who has rights to the neighborhood school, a public space that has never been booked with so many back-to-back activities.

ILLINOIS: The village of Homer Glen may impose a new impact fee on developers to help pay for future schools. The village board is expected to consider requiring a school facilities fee that would be in addition to the school site contribution fee assessed on all new development. Site contribution fees are limited for purchasing land and paying off the cost of land. The new fee would be used for building schools, Mayor Russ Petrizzo said. The proposed impact fee is based on Will County legislation that many area communities already have adopted.

OHIO: For the past six months, Akron leaders have been imagining a middle school with a focus on math, science, and technology inside the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Representatives from the Akron school district, the Inventors Hall, the University of Akron, and the City of Akron -- which owns the museum and leases the space --are committed to seeing the school move from concept to reality. Local leaders are hoping the Ohio School Facilities Commission will agree to pay for 59 percent of the school, the same percentage the commission is funding much of the Akron school district's overall $800 million construction program. The remainder would be covered by an Akron income tax hike that voters approved for the required local portion of the project.

The district outlined three ways to integrate the school and the Inventors Hall. The first has the school completely inside the Inventors Hall, the second would situate the two buildings side by side, with no shared space, and the third, which appears to be the most popular, involves using part of the Hall for the school, along with an addition that would be built in the courtyard between the Hall and the Akron Health Department.

MARYLAND: Baltimore County plans to focus its legislative lobbying on the construction needs of its aging schools amid predictions that money from the state for school projects will be severely limited again next year.

FLORIDA: Portable classrooms, once considered a quick fix for school crowding, have become part of the permanent landscape on school campuses. Even though the Palm Beach County School District spent $1 billion dollars for construction projects to relieve crowding and replace outdated schools, it has more portables than ever. This year, the school district has 1,809 portable classrooms, up from 1,789 last year. Five years ago, when the district faced far more severe crowding problems, there were 1,501 portables. Portables used to be the main indication that a school was crowded. But today, a school can operate at half its capacity and still have portables. This is largely due to the requirement for smaller classes.

Concrete portables cost about $100,000 each, roughly the same as building permanent classroom space. But the portables have advantages. They can be installed quickly and are easy to move if the needs of a school change, and they're considered to be just as good as regular classrooms.

CALIFORNIA: The Coronado school board's recent vote to spend $230,000 for adding 1,000 lockers to the ongoing $55 million reconstruction of Coronado High is an anomaly. Most California high schools built in recent years have not included student lockers, which are often seen as havens for weapons and contraband, targets for thieves and vandals, administrative problems when it comes to replacing lost locks and deciding who gets a locker when there aren't enough for everyone, and corridor spacewasters with banging doors. Still, students without lockers must carry their books around all day and home at night. Two years ago, the California Legislature passed a law requiring maximum weight standards for textbooks because of reports linking heavy backpacks to back pain in children.

DELAWARE: The Christina School Board has passed a measure to create 29 new security positions to spread among the district's five middle schools and three high schools. Christina has already moved ahead on other security measures and recently became the first district in the state to establish an Office of Safety and Security. Other safety initiatives have included a security hot line for students and a Web-based camera monitoring system at Newark High School. The monitoring system allows administrators to observe what's going on inside and outside the building 24 hours a day. Similar systems are planned for the district's two other high schools, and the technology will eventually be brought to the middle and elementary schools. So far, Christina, the state's largest district, is the only one in the state taking these measures.

MASSACHUSETTS: Since voters in November rejected a $5 million school construction and maintenance package that would have met classroom and maintenance needs at the Southwick-Tolland Regional School District's three schools, officials are now considering using portable classrooms, moving grade-four pupils, and converting space at both the middle and elementary schools to meet space needs for five to seven years. This option does not address the estimated $3 million in maintenance and repairs needed in the district.

The use of portable classrooms will be a temporary solution, and officials have a choice: purchase new portable classes at an estimated $475,000 or accept three used structures from Suffield, Connecticut, for $1 each and an estimated $80,000 cost to relocate and retrofit them for Southwick-Tolland. The district is awaiting information on whether the Suffield portables meet Massachusetts code requirements for school use. The plan to locate portable classes at the middle school is required, officials said, because there is no adequate location available at the elementary school. Also, the use of portables at the elementary would stress electrical, heating, and plumbing services at Woodland School.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Although school elections in Bedford are more than two months away, the campaigns for two competing high school construction proposals are already heating up. This year's debate over the issue boils down to building a public high school or paying tuition for students to attend a yet-to-be-constructed private high school in town. Some here hope the politically charged atmosphere doesn't become as divisive as in previous unsuccessful votes on the issue, but others believe it could be the worst yet.

Bedford, one of the most affluent communities in the state, does not have its own high school. The town has been sending its older students to West High School in Manchester for decades, but with approximately 800 Bedford students going there now, many in town believe it's time to build a school of their own. The town has been torn over the issue for the last several years, with nearly a half-dozen special interest groups weighing in. A strong faction in town remains in favor of a long-term tuition contract with Manchester, while proponents of a private high school have not given up.

KENTUCKY: The bids came in lower than expected and the interest rates are favorable. Those two factors made the Simpson County Board of Education’s decision easy. They voted unanimously to issue bonds to launch a $10 million construction project that includes major renovations at the middle school and lesser ones at Simpson Elementary. "In the words of our fiscal agent, we hit a grandslam," said Superintendent Jim Flynn. "This thing fell right into place."

The School Board will spend $7.5 to $8 million on renovations and additions at the F-S Middle School and Simpson Elementary. In addition, another $2.4 million derived from performance contracts through guaranteed savings on utilities is to be bonded by the local school district. Additional monies realized by the district through the lower-than-expected costs will be used to complete other priorities on the school’s facilities needs list, such as a new roof for the high school and a parent dropoff loop for the middle school. Flynn said upgrades designed to save on utilities and thus free up more money for bonds will begin in January 2005.

KENTUCKY: The bids came in lower than expected and the interest rates are favorable. Those two factors made the Simpson County Board of Education’s decision easy. They voted unanimously to issue bonds to launch a $10 million construction project that includes major renovations at the middle school and lesser ones at Simpson Elementary. "In the words of our fiscal agent, we hit a grandslam," said Superintendent Jim Flynn. "This thing fell right into place."

The School Board will spend $7.5 to $8 million on renovations and additions at the F-S Middle School and Simpson Elementary. In addition, another $2.4 million derived from performance contracts through guaranteed savings on utilities is to be bonded by the local school district. Additional monies realized by the district through the lower-than-expected costs will be used to complete other priorities on the school’s facilities needs list, such as a new roof for the high school and a parent dropoff loop for the middle school. Flynn said upgrades designed to save on utilities and thus free up more money for bonds will begin in January 2005.

MONTANA: Armed with cameras monitoring hallways and parking lots, staff who keep an eye out for unexpected visitors, and partnerships with police and fire officials, Flathead Valley schools seem prepared for most anything. But, as evidenced by a November 15 bomb threat that cleared the building at Flathead High and an incident that involved real-looking plastic guns during an evening harvest party October 29 at Swan River School, unsettling situations still arise. Administrators across the Flathead Valley have contingency plans in place for those times when awareness must turn to action.

Bigfork schools began focusing on a security regimen about five years ago - locking all but one or two entry doors, installing closed-circuit television at the high school and middle school, doing FBI-fingerprint background checks on staffers and volunteers who may supervise children, issuing picture-identification badges to staffers and requiring visitor passes. Last year, a crackdown on bullying and abusive language became part of the school policy manual. Bigfork was among the first Montana schools to assign a law officer to its school, something common to local districts now. "Security is an issue over here because we can be as much as 20 minutes away from law enforcement response," school superintendent Kinzer said. Bigfork relies on sheriff's protection dispatched out of Kalispell.

NEW YORK: They are popping up all over, in the most unexpected places: an old salami factory in the Bronx, the boxy remains of a defunct department store in Harlem, a warehouse vacated by Sotheby's on the Upper East Side, the 13th floor of a downtown skyscraper. These days in New York City it is possible to find a public school almost anywhere that can hold a few hundred students and accommodate a redesign for classrooms and a cafeteria. The schools, with their loftlike spaces and sleek modern décor tucked inconspicuously into the cityscape, are a world away from the mammoth, often monumental but sometimes dreary-looking school buildings that had become the face of public education over the last century. And the Department of Education plans to spend more than $1 billion over the next five years creating more of them, turning on its head the traditional - some say outdated - notion of what a public school should be.

WYOMING: Cheyenne school officials still hope to get an extra gymnasium along with their new high school, and Sweetwater County School District 2 isn't being required to demolish Granger's elementary school just yet, allowing people in Sweetwater to continue using the school's auditorium and gymnasium. In both cases, the school districts initially appealed decisions of the state School Facilities Commission. But they dropped those actions after reaching compromises until courts rule on questions about the school facilities system. A statewide school coalition's lawsuit is challenging school finance reforms over whether the state school construction guidelines are legal and appropriate.

MASSACHUSETTS: The plan to upgrade security in Burlington's public schools with cameras, video monitors, and door buzzers has run into a critical obstacle -- money. School and law enforcement officials have estimated it could cost as much as $539,000 to install the security measures. Until recently, officials had planned to draft a warrant article for the Janurary Town Meeting to request funding for the equipment. At the School Committee meeting, the board voted to postpone the funding request until the annual Town Meeting in May. The School Committee's decision follows several weeks of debate among administrators, police, and parents over the adequacy of school security. Police Chief Francis Hart said he would like to see the schools immediately institute a locked-door policy. "At a minimum, that's something that should be done," said Hart. "Even if the town agrees to pay for the security cameras, the doors should still be locked. It would go a long way toward reassuring people about the safety of the schools."

CALIFORNIA: Colton Joint and Rialto unified school districts can reach 15,000 parents in less than 15 minutes after contracting with Connect-Ed Emergency, Attendance, and Public Interest Phone Notification Services. The technology can be used during emergency lockdowns or to issue an Amber Alert, inform parents that their child missed a class, or remind families about school photos. About 15 percent of California schools use this notification technology, including 60 percent of Orange County schools and half of San Diego schools. Connect-Ed messages can be sent via the Internet, regular phone, or cell phone. The cost is $5 per student, but schools can lower that to $3.60 if they work with a local corporate sponsor. In the first year, Rialto Unified will spend $112,519 for setup, support and the annual message fee. The district is paying for it through its School Safety and Violence Prevention fund.

IOWA: Members of the Fairfield Community School District's School Infrastructure Committee learned it could cost about $26 million to make needed improvements to six school buildings. A company hired to help the district with its long-term facilities planning inspected the school's facilities and its architectural, mechanical, and electrical systems. "These numbers are staggering," said committee member Warren Wechsler.

CALIFORNIA: Both the Rancho Buena Vista and the Vista High School campuses, each built for 1,800 students, now have 3,200 students and any relief is at least two years away. District officials say the crowding at these two schools was brought on by years of enrollment growth and little money to build new campuses. The district has a solution – a plan to build two magnet high schools – and it has $79 million to build them on land near state Route 76 and Melrose Drive. The money comes from a $140 million bond package voters approved two years ago. But Vista Unified doesn't have the legal clearance to purchase the land and start construction. A judge ruled last month that the district did not get proper approval before filing to seize the 66 acres. While the district prepares an appeal and awaits a January hearing on an undecided portion of the case, students and teachers know that they must live with the crowded conditions at least two more years.

MARYLAND: State police estimated that vandals caused more than $60,000 worth of damage to Parr's Ridge Elementary in Mount Airy. The school, which is under construction, is scheduled to open next fall with about 440 pupils in kindergarten through second grade. Spray-painted nicknames and a distinctive drawing of the cartoon character Scooby-Doo scrawled across classroom walls, hallways, and other surfaces led police to five Mount Airy residents who are suspected in connection with the Thanksgiving weekend burglary and vandalism at the school.

School officials are assessing the damage in an effort to determine what can be salvaged and what must be replaced. According to Ray Prokop, facilities director for the school system, "The spray paint was on many different surfaces, and that's what we're struggling with now." Eighty percent of the school - including classrooms and corridors - has been affected to some degree. From the main corridor, one can see damage along the entire length of the hallway that leads to the classrooms. Erasing the damage isn't necessarily as simple as repainting all the surfaces. Prokop is awaiting word from the manufacturer of the damaged door frames because they were produced with a protective powder coating to make them maintenance-free. He is also waiting to hear from the manufacturer of the damaged cabinets to ensure that the paint can be properly removed without harming the finish. Crews have had trouble removing paint from some of the floor tiles, which will have to be replaced.

ARKANSAS: A citizens committee of bankers and educators voted to recommend that legislators first consider raising property taxes when deciding how to find money for improving school buildings. Members of the Ad Hoc Finance Committee, formed to help advise the legislative Joint Committee on Educational Facilities, described the state’s property tax codes as backward and said that the state can’t capitalize on property value growth in part because of constitutional limits on property tax increases. A member of the committee said that whatever funding source is chosen will likely hinge on further debate over the $2.3 billion estimate to bring school facilities in Arkansas up to code. Of that amount, $87 million was deemed to be needed for emergency safety issues. School superintendents differ over that estimate and claim their schools aren’t as bad as assessors hired by the state have estimated.

NEW JERSEY: Capping a year that started slow but ended in a mad rush, New Jersey voters approved two-thirds of their local school construction referenda in the state's largest day yet of school building votes. Thirty-three school districts went to the polls December 14th to ask their voters to approve nearly $700 million in projects, virtually all of them repairs, renovations, and expansions. By the end of the evening, 25 of the proposals had won approval, for more than $500 million in work.

The votes capped an up-and-down year for the state's $8.6 billion school construction program. Including the latest results, voters this year have approved more than $1 billion in projects in 48 of the state's suburban districts. Under the act, the state pays for up to 40 percent of the costs of these projects. More than $600 million in projects also have been cleared so far this year in New Jersey's neediest cities and towns, under the Abbott vs. Burke ruling. Those projects, for which the state pays the full amount, do not require local voter approval.

NEW JERSEY: Capping a year that started slow but ended in a mad rush, New Jersey voters approved two-thirds of their local school construction referenda in the state's largest day yet of school building votes. Thirty-three school districts went to the polls December 14th to ask their voters to approve nearly $700 million in projects, virtually all of them repairs, renovations, and expansions. By the end of the evening, 25 of the proposals had won approval, for more than $500 million in work.

The votes capped an up-and-down year for the state's $8.6 billion school construction program. Including the latest results, voters this year have approved more than $1 billion in projects in 48 of the state's suburban districts. Under the act, the state pays for up to 40 percent of the costs of these projects. More than $600 million in projects also have been cleared so far this year in New Jersey's neediest cities and towns, under the Abbott vs. Burke ruling. Those projects, for which the state pays the full amount, do not require local voter approval.

FLORIDa: The Town of Palm Beach said farewell to two historic schoolhouse buildings to make way for the construction of a new $13.4 million Palm Beach Public elementary school. But the project will attempt to honor the site's legacy by containing a $1.1 million replica of the 1921 and 1925 structures, which will hold administration offices when the new school opens in January 2006. Town Council members approved the demolition after Palm Beach County School District officials told them it would cost close to $1 million more to preserve the heavily damaged landmark buildings. Within hours of the vote, the structures that had stood for eight decades at Cocoanut Row and Seaview Avenue were gone.

OKLAHOMA: A Checotah school bond was approved for the first time since 1986, passing by one vote. Voters previously had rejected seven bond issues in a row. The $1.7 million bond will fund new roofs at the elementary and intermediate schools, repairs that officials said are long overdue. For years, students have been dodging drips at Marshall Elementary School. After a heavy rain, trash cans collect water in the halls and classrooms. Rain trickles down the walls, sometimes onto books and computers, and the classrooms smell musty. "We had to cover the computers with plastic garbage bags," said Mary Sellers, a reading specialist at the elementary school. The bond also will pay for four new classrooms, which will be shared by high school and junior high students. More than 30 air conditioners will be replaced at the elementary school, which was built in 1977. The athletics locker rooms will be repaired.

TEXAS: Nine school districts in Travis County recently joined forces to strengthen school emergency response and crisis management plans. The Travis County School Safety Consortium is teaching educators and administrators how to prepare for emergencies. "The concerns ranged from everything from your natural hazards: fires, floods, tornadoes, those sorts of things. It also includes human-caused events. Not only those events that occur inside the walls of the school or campus, but things in the vicinity - anything from hazardous materials to accidents," Jo Schweikhard Moss of the School Safety Consortium said.

ARIZONA: The Willcox School District hopes to spend an average of more than $500,000 per year over the next five years in building renewal funds at its three campuses. The state would provide nearly 90 percent of the $2.6 million funding for the renovation projects. One of the first items on the district plan is surveillance systems for the high school, middle school, and elementary school. For each system, the district would chip in $5,000 and the state would pay the remaining $25,000 of the cost.

WISCONSIN: Janesville Superintendent Tom Evert told the school board that a citizens committee studying expansion plans for Janesville's high schools should consider opening new facilities to the community. New gymnasiums could be made available for senior citizens for fitness walking, and new sports facilities could be used to host outside events. Such events might contribute to the city's economy by bringing in visitors. Evert said the committee might also look at whether the community could make use of academic areas of the high schools.

LOUISIANA: A lawsuit seeking to have Louisiana amend its formula for funding schools to include money for buildings and other school facilities has been dismissed by State District Judge Duke Welch, who said that there are several rulings handed down over the years that keep judges from telling the Legislature how it should spend state money. One of the them is a 1998 decision by the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal that prohibits the judiciary from forcing the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to include buildings in the funding formula for school districts. Suing the state were school systems in Livingston, East Baton Rouge, Lafayette, East Feliciana, Assumption, St. Helena, Tensas, and Union parishes. Attorney Tom Jones, representing the districts, said they will decide later whether to appeal.

FLORIDA: Crawfordville County's school bus compound behind Wakulla High School is getting a security fence, thanks to the federal government. The Wakulla County School Board was presented a $17,000 check by Leon County Schools Superintendent Bill Montford. The award is part of $379,772 in federal money from the Law Enforcement Terrorism Grant. Montford, who is chairman of the North Florida Regional Domestic Security Task Force Education Group, will present checks to the other 12 counties in North Florida that are a part of the Florida Task Force area. The money must be used to secure school facilities, which include precautionary devices like fences and security cameras. Wakulla officials chose the fence option. Rather than divide the money per pupil, the counties explained how the money would be used in their applications, Montford said. This way it gave smaller counties a better chance to get the money they needed.

ARKANSAS: The Community Safe Room at Peake Elementary School has been used several times already this year, but not for dangerous weather. The facility has been used for meeting space by the school district, parents, students, and faculty at Peake. If the district continues to grow, the building can also be divided into four spaces and used for classrooms. Built to withstand severe weather conditions, the main purpose of the building is to serve as a community storm shelter. The facility, located on Peake's campus as a separate building, was constructed using federal Hazard Mitigation Funds and local school funds.

NEW JERSEY: Figures released last week by the New Jersey's Schools Construction Corporation indicate that a significant number of women and minorities are helping to build new schools and winning construction contracts in Hudson County. In Jersey City, for example, where the SCC has completed three years worth of health and safety work and five new schools are under construction, minority workers accounted for more than 38 percent of the "total work hours" at the majority of new school construction sites. The state's goal for small businesses participation at a given construction site is 25 percent, SCC’s regional director, Raffat said, adding that most minority- and women-owned companies fall into this category.

FLORIDA: When they approved a half-percent sales tax last month to pay for $560 million worth of school construction, Palm Beach County voters may have thought they were taking care of all the district's school construction needs. But Palm Beach County schools still face up to $400 million in construction spending to reduce class sizes to state-mandated levels. The voter-approved money for school construction only will cover population growth and renovating older buildings. The sales-tax money, with a few exceptions, could not be used to build the additional classrooms needed to lower class size, district officials said.

Under a constitutional amendment passed in 2002, academic classes eventually must shrink to as small as 18 students for early elementary grades, 22 for middle grades, and 25 for high school grades. School districts must lower class size by two students every year until the targets are met or face penalties. District officials say the requirement for smaller classes initially created $500 million worth of building needs. The state has provided about $50 million for construction and the district has been able to raise almost $50 million more.

FLORIDA: When they approved a half-percent sales tax last month to pay for $560 million worth of school construction, Palm Beach County voters may have thought they were taking care of all the district's school construction needs. But Palm Beach County schools still face up to $400 million in construction spending to reduce class sizes to state-mandated levels. The voter-approved money for school construction only will cover population growth and renovating older buildings. The sales-tax money, with a few exceptions, could not be used to build the additional classrooms needed to lower class size, district officials said.

Under a constitutional amendment passed in 2002, academic classes eventually must shrink to as small as 18 students for early elementary grades, 22 for middle grades, and 25 for high school grades. School districts must lower class size by two students every year until the targets are met or face penalties. District officials say the requirement for smaller classes initially created $500 million worth of building needs. The state has provided about $50 million for construction and the district has been able to raise almost $50 million more.

MINNESOTA: The three boys ages 12, 13, and 14 who crept into a new science building at the University of Minnesota-Duluth last month intended to do damage. Not content to turn on dozens of faucets in the building, they connected tubing to the taps and ran the tubing past sinks so water would pour onto the floors, where it pooled on floors and soaked into walls and ceilings for 36 hours. By the time the vandalism was discovered, the $33 million building had sustained an estimated $8 million in damage. Photos show floors swimming in water covered in yellow scum, the residue from fire extinguishers. Water ran down three stories and leaked out onto the building's exterior through window sills. Laminate on cabinets warped. All the drywall and ceilings on the ground and first floors will have to be removed and replaced, as will electrical equipment, fume hoods, wiring, insulation, and cabinets. Research labs and offices, which span three floors and were within two weeks of completion, will have to be gutted to the studs and rebuilt.

Massachusetts: Boston school officials will spend at least $3 million next school year to rid schools of pests and to contend with leaky roofs, but they lack the money to immediately repair every problem cited in a recent environmental inspection report, an district administrator said. The report showed that 90 percent of the city's public schools had at least one environmental problem that could worsen asthma or allergies. Repairing everything at once, from poor ventilation to rodent infestation, would cost the school system about $200 million; Boston schools expect to receive only $30 million from the city to pay for building maintenance the next school year, said Michael Contompasis, the school system's chief operating officer.

FLORIDA: The new district facilities chief, Rose Diamond, has a five year construction plan for Miami-Dade schools that aims to eliminate school overcrowding and portable classrooms by 2010. The plan includes purchasing 20 new school sites, constructing 47 new schools, adding to 22 existing schools, and demolishing and rebuilding 16 aging schools.

Universities are starting to break down the walls that divide scientists -- literally. Over the past several years, dozens of new laboratory buildings have been constructed with large open spaces containing row upon row of laboratory benches. More are under construction around the country. These new lab designs represent a radical shift away from the long-held tradition that scientists work best in small rooms operated as private fiefdoms. In the new laboratories, professors no longer control their own work areas or lock others out at night. Instead, several investigators share a larger space, as well as much of the equipment and supplies within it.

MASSACHUSETTS: After receiving bids from general contractors, officials warned that the town can expect a $10.7 million estimated overrun for the $51.3 million high school renovation and addition project. The original estimate included an inflation rate between 3 and 4 percent; however, there has been an unexpected 24 percent increase for structural steel and 41 percent increase for reinforcing bars. According to the construction industry publication Engineering-News Record, price increases for metal products look to be steadying. "But while escalation is slowing, prices remain stuck at historically high levels."

NEW YORK: The Pawling Schools Enrollment Committee is studying student population growth and the impact of that growth on current and future facilities. Russ Davidson, an architect working with the committee, said that if the school district settles on a course of action, the public vote could be held as early as October of 2005. Davidson said that it is not possible to simply add classrooms to existing buildings because the parking, fields and common areas may not be adequate for the increased number of students. Four possible ways to expand the capacity of the public schools have been provided, with the cost of the various options ranging between $27 and $40 million.

NEW YORK: School districts across the country are replacing their blackboards and overhead projectors with interactive whiteboards. These oversized projection screens are hooked up to laptops with access to the Internet and can be written on using special markers or electronic ink through touch screen technology. Entire presentations - with notes specific to each class - can be printed out, published online, or saved for students who are absent or seek additional help. The New York City Department of Education says that it has interactive boards in 231 schools. This year, about 45,000 units are expected to arrive in American classrooms, up from just 10,000 in 2000.

ILLINOIS: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has poured billions of dollars into public education and millions into creating and redesigning high schools in troubled districts like Boston, New York, Chicago, and Oakland, California. While there's no single "Gates model," the foundation leans toward scrapping traditional high school behemoths for small schools with focused missions,good interaction between students and faculty, and designs that can be reproduced in other places. Chicago recently announced a plan to shut dozens of failing schools and open 100 smaller new ones. New York has also signed on to the small-schools approach.

More recently, the foundation has been active at a broader policy level. Because its funding strategy has been so focused, it has had an effect on the direction of school reform even greater than the billions spent. Wielding that kind of private influence over a public arena is a tricky business, and some people question whether it's a good idea. Chicago and New York may have initiated their reforms even without Gates; the foundation is certainly just one of many factors, including the accountability movement, pushing change, and both cities had done some experimenting with small schools on their own. But it can be hard for a district to say no to extra money. The foundation's checks have arguably pushed a specific reform strategy - small schools - front and center, even though there's still little data on their success.

MARYLAND: Twice a year, Churchville Elementary teachers use an air quality checklist provided by the EPA from it’s “Tools for Schools” air quality program. The school's effort has paid off in more ways than one. Churchville Elementary has twice won the American Lung Association's Excellence Award for its efforts to improve air quality, and it was cited for its success last week at the EPA's fifth annual Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Symposium in Washington. One in five of the nation's 110,000 schools have reported unsatisfactory indoor air quality, according to studies by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Elizabeth Cotsworth, director of the EPA Office of Radiation and Indoor Air, said that more than 10,000 schools have used the Tools for Schools kit since 1995.

CALIFORNIA: Residents of Banning - and Sun Lakes Country Club retirees in particular - contributed heaviest to the defeat of Beaumont Unified School District's proposed $54 million school bond measure, according to figures released by the Riverside County Registrar of Voters. The measure, which would have generated funds to build classrooms and other school facilities, fell more than six points short of the required 55 percent approval rate. Jim Love, who co-chaired the Classrooms for Kids Committee that spearheaded the bond effort, said his group did its best to get the yes vote out. "But basically, it's the people of Sun Lakes not caring about children, about them living in a gated community and not being part of the larger community. The people of Sun Lakes basically voted against children," he said.

CALIFORNIA: Residents of Banning - and Sun Lakes Country Club retirees in particular - contributed heaviest to the defeat of Beaumont Unified School District's proposed $54 million school bond measure, according to figures released by the Riverside County Registrar of Voters. The measure, which would have generated funds to build classrooms and other school facilities, fell more than six points short of the required 55 percent approval rate. Jim Love, who co-chaired the Classrooms for Kids Committee that spearheaded the bond effort, said his group did its best to get the yes vote out. "But basically, it's the people of Sun Lakes not caring about children, about them living in a gated community and not being part of the larger community. The people of Sun Lakes basically voted against children," he said.

RHODE ISLAND: Narragansett's students may be high performing, but its schools are just barely getting by. Those were the findings of a Connecticut-based architectural firm hired to examine the state of the town's school facilities. The firm presented the results during a joint meeting of the Town Council and School Committee, recommending nearly $12 million in renovations to the town's three schools, transportation facility, and the school department's administrative offices. Though many of the recommended changes appear to be pressing -- some relating to health and safety, and others to bringing the schools into accordance with state regulations -- officials were hesitant to move quickly. After the presentation, members of the council and School Committee reached a consensus to form a committee to look into the conclusions and explore options.

GEORGIA: Fulton school officials are saying they won't pay another dime to solve county infrastructure issues surrounding schools. Over the past eight years, the school system has paid more than $20 million to widen roads and add traffic signals, including $3.7 million around Alpharetta High, which opened this year. But the district is slamming shut the purse, stating that road improvements are the responsibility of the county and city.

ARKANSAS: Arkansas’ public school buildings need about $2.3 billion worth of immediate upgrades, including $86.7 million for repairs critical to the health and safety of students and teachers. The price tag grows to $4.5 billion when it includes the need to add space in crowded schools, account for population growth over the next five years, and make the repairs expected over that time.

The numbers were in the long-awaited final report assessing the needs of Arkansas school facilities that was released during a meeting of the legislative Joint Committee on Educational Facilities. The report showed that statewide, excluding temporary structures, Arkansas’ 254 school districts have 5,766 buildings containing 78.8 million square feet, about 8 million more than needed to teach the districts’ 455,000 students. "There’s a few buildings where there may be 100 students or 150 students in a 60,000- or 70,000-square-foot building," said Bill DeJong of Dublin, Ohio, the consultant hired to lead the study. "It’s just not efficient, not effective."

INDIANA: Take a client with multiple problems, a complex fast-track simultaneous construction plan involving more than 20 aging buildings, a make-or-break deadline, and an out-of-town contractor and mix them all together under the watchful eyes of a small town school board and what do you get? The word disaster might spring to mind, but the community of South Bend, Indiana, hopes it is a recipe for a major success story. The untried, the unusual and the unorthodox all came together as the South Bend Community School Corporation banked on a new superintendent–and design-build–to jumpstart the school system’s fortunes.

FLORIDA: The St. Lucie County school district is risking lawsuits -- and the safety of teachers and students -- by not testing for mold resulting from water damage caused by hurricanes, a national expert says. Meanwhile, a female teacher could face disciplinary action for bringing in an unauthorized firm to test her classroom's air. The incident is still under investigation.

TENNESSEE: Principal Butch Vaughn used to think Rutherford County Schools provided maximum safety but changed his mind after a recent meeting that included the county's sheriff's department, emergency management agency, emergency medical services, and La Vergne and Smyrna Police. "It's one of the best meetings I've ever been to," Vaughn said. "It really opened my eyes to find out how insecure we really are." The principal said the district needs to provide schools with more satellite communications equipment that transfers messages when regular phone lines and cell phones are not working; install emergency generators in case schools lose power; adopt a uniform way to respond to emergencies; and increase faculty and staff training to carry out emergency response plans. "We need to be proactive," Vaughn said. "We hope that nothing ever happens. But if it does, we need to be prepared. We don't want to be like Columbine."

MINNESOTA: You don't just name a school. It's an important decision. There might be pillars of the community, dead or alive, waiting to be immortalized for generations of students. Bucolic suburban types like to celebrate a nearby grove of oak trees or river. Neighborhoods and communities lobby hard for schools of their own. One thing's certain: You've got to get people involved in coming up with a name that fits. That's just what the Robbinsdale School District is doing. The latest among Twin Cities school districts to wrestle with naming a school, the district has set up a Web page and hot line so residents can send in their suggestions for naming the new middle school.

GEORGIA: A new group called the Impact Fees for Education Coalition is starting a crusade to put on the ballot a proposed Georgia state constitutional amendment that would allow local school boards to impose impact fees. Several states, such as California and Florida, levy impact fees on new houses to help pay for schools. In Georgia, impact fees pay for growth-related infrastructure such as new roads, sewer lines, or parks. But current state law doesn't allow the fees to be used for new schools, which generally are paid for with property taxes, bond issues, or local-option sales taxes for education. The Georgia School Boards Association has long supported impact fees for schools, but developers and real estate groups have fought them, arguing that the cost of the fees would be passed on to home buyers, who would have to pay more for houses.

VIRGINIA: As homes, schools, and businesses pop up across the rapidly developing suburbs, many religious institutions are a step behind, unable to build facilities to house their growing congregations. Now they are turning to local school systems to rent classrooms. In the 2003-04 school year, more than half of Loudoun County's then-61 schools hosted church services. "Our buildings are very heavily used," said Wayde Byard, a spokesman for Loudoun County public schools. He said principals decide whether to accommodate churches as they juggle similar requests from county parks and recreation programs, Boy and Girl Scout troops, English as a second language classes, senior citizen groups, and arts organizations. "It's not that we exclude anybody -- it's just that there's a lineup for space," Byard said.

The space crunch is not confined to the outer suburbs. Congregations are springing up in areas that are mostly built out. In Arlington County, for example, four churches meet regularly in three elementary schools and a middle school. In Fairfax County, churches needing space usually request middle or high schools; elementary school classrooms generally are off-limits because students keep their belongings in unlocked desks, said Amy Craig, who coordinates community use of school facilities. As a result, nearly all the county's middle and high schools not under renovation host a church meeting on weekends. Craig estimated that the roughly 90 churches that meet weekly at school facilities are charged $60 to $100 an hour, including custodial fees.

VIRGINIA: The recent siege of a school in Russia that left more than 300 people dead served as a reminder that schools could be a terrorism target. So did the U.S. military’s recent discovery of a computer disc in Iraq that contained photos and floor plans of schools in six states – none in Virginia. Federal dollars are flowing in to help local school divisions develop community-wide plans for responding to emergencies, including terrorism.

Terrorism has added a new dimension to an issue that took on a nationwide urgency after a series of school shootings in the late 1990s, the worst at Columbine High School in Colorado in April 1999. “When you have Columbine and 9/11 and Beslan, Russia, it kind of changed the playing field for everybody,” said Richard Ponti, Virginia Beach’s director of safe schools and risk management. Most high schools and a growing number of middle schools in Norfolk now have police officers who patrol the halls, handheld metal detectors, and security cameras. Most schools keep doorways locked during school hours. Portsmouth has begun installing security locks that require an ID card to open, said Carrie Kearney, the division’s interim security chief. “I believe it’s a sign of the times,” Kearney said.

VIRGINIA: The recent siege of a school in Russia that left more than 300 people dead served as a reminder that schools could be a terrorism target. So did the U.S. military’s recent discovery of a computer disc in Iraq that contained photos and floor plans of schools in six states – none in Virginia. Federal dollars are flowing in to help local school divisions develop community-wide plans for responding to emergencies, including terrorism.

Terrorism has added a new dimension to an issue that took on a nationwide urgency after a series of school shootings in the late 1990s, the worst at Columbine High School in Colorado in April 1999. “When you have Columbine and 9/11 and Beslan, Russia, it kind of changed the playing field for everybody,” said Richard Ponti, Virginia Beach’s director of safe schools and risk management. Most high schools and a growing number of middle schools in Norfolk now have police officers who patrol the halls, handheld metal detectors, and security cameras. Most schools keep doorways locked during school hours. Portsmouth has begun installing security locks that require an ID card to open, said Carrie Kearney, the division’s interim security chief. “I believe it’s a sign of the times,” Kearney said.

MASSACHUSETTS: Is Sever Hall, a red brick classroom building in Harvard Yard designed in 1878 by the great architect Henry Hobson Richardson, the best building in America?According to Philadelphia architect Robert Venturi, it is. Sever Hall is an example of "the validity of architecture as generic shelter rather than abstract-expressive sculpture and as flexible loft for accommodating evolving functions." "I love Sever Hall also for its aesthetic tension deriving from its vital details. I could stand and look at it all day. Thank you, H.H. Richardson." Translated into the vernacular, Venturi is saying he likes buildings with simple shapes and plain interiors, but fancy wrapping on the outside. That way they can accommodate changes of interior function over time without losing their architectural presence.

CALIFORNIA: A financier tasked with building a public schools headquarters in Chula Vista believes he can do it at no net cost to taxpayers. The plan relies on financial alchemy that would turn $17 million in school district property into $847 million in tax revenue and property value for Chula Vista through land swaps, zoning changes, and home construction.

CALIFORNIA: The Los Angeles Conservancy and a coalition of other local organizations announced that they have filed two lawsuits seeking to stop the Los Angeles Unified School District from razing a significant portion of the historic Ambassador Hotel. The school district wants to build a $318-million campus for 4,200 students on the hotel property. In October, the Los Angeles Board of Education narrowly voted to back a plan that calls for saving the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, a coffee shop designed by noted architect Paul Williams, and parts of the ceiling of the Embassy Ballroom — but little else. That preservation would cost the district about $15 million. The district billed that plan as a compromise aimed at appeasing preservationists and those calling for the district to knock the hotel down altogether in favor of expediently building schools on the site.

FLORIDA: Members of the media got a sneak peek at the new $38.5 million Forest High School in Ocala. The two-story school contains more than 40 classrooms, 14 vocational labs, a media center, a 500-seat cafeteria, and a 700-seat auditorium with music and band rooms. The campus also has a sports stadium, complete with a press box, baseball and softball fields, and other athletic fields, as well as covered walkways between all buildings and greater safeguards against intruders.

CANADA: Dozens of schools in Greater Victoria fall into a "high risk" category and are likely to be seriously damaged in the event of a significant earthquake in the region. To deal with the problem, the district's board of trustees and its operations committee have drawn up a five-year, $108,264,026 capital plan for 41 schools in the district. Thirty of the schools listed in the five-year plan have been earmarked to receive upgraded "resistance to seismic loading." The government also announced it is committing $89 million to pay for seismic upgrades at 11 high-risk schools over a three-year period and that it intends to have all B.C. schools receive seismic upgrades within 15 years.

NEW JERSEY: New Jersey's program to build new schools in its 30 poorest school districts -- the largest single public works project in state history -- will need $2 billion more in 2006, state officials said. The state's top education official, however, said the state needs to find new ways to pay for the construction, which will have put state taxpayers $8.6 billion in debt by the end of next year, not including local contributions in many districts. Education Commissioner William L. Librera said poor school districts might need to pay for a portion of the future construction costs. The state also may decide some poor districts have become more financially sound and no longer need extraordinary aid.

CALIFORNIA: Using a combination of aggressive real estate negotiations, political gamesmanship, and eminent domain, the Los Angeles Unified School District is scooping up hundreds of acres of land in a $14-billion campus building program that will result in enough new classroom seats to fill Dodger Stadium three times over. When the program is completed in 2012, officials say, they will be ending overcrowding in the district, boosting academic performance, and remaking neighborhoods.

In an area where open space is scarce, schools are being built on formerly vacant commercial lots, in industrial zones, and on residential plots. About 1,200 families and 400 businesses have been displaced so far. "The impact on this town is monumental," said schools Superintendent Roy Romer. "It is literally going to change the face of Los Angeles." Construction sites are springing up from San Fernando to Lomita. The angular, contemporary buildings will have courtyards and spacious classrooms, and some will have community centers.

FLORIDA: After years of fighting with Dade school officials, an oversight board praised Superintendent Rudy Crew's building plans and hinted they might soon release $46 million in construction funds. The oversight board was created in 2001 by the Legislature after scandals in the departments that buy and develop land for new schools. It was given the power to freeze tens of millions of dollars in annual state construction funding.

ARKANSAS: The 7/8-cent Arkansas sales tax hike that was adopted and targeted to education this year should have enough muscle to help pay for school facilities improvements, the state's chief financial officer said. State lawmakers will be presented a letter from Gov. Mike Huckabee's administration telling them that collections from the tax should be higher than previously expected and could help with the court-ordered building improvements, said Richard Weiss, Department of Finance and Administration director. The letter is in response to the Legislative Council/Joint Budget Committee, which has threatened $80 million in across-the-board spending cuts because the governor's proposed two-year budget failed to account for the court-ordered facilities' upgrades. Lawmakers figure it might cost about that much to finance a bond issue for the improvements.

RHODE ISLAND: The physical conditions at Providence's Mount Pleasant High School cited in a highly critical accreditation report have resulted from decades of neglect because school maintenance is chronically shortchanged, Mayor David N. Cicilline said. Earlier this year he commissioned a plan for the long-term maintenance and renovation needs of the city's 55 public school buildings -- something that hasn't been done in at least 20 years. The mayor said he visits one school a week and cannot fail to notice "a different kind of energy" in buildings that are new or newly renovated. Most of the school buildings are more than 50 years old, Cicilline said. "It's shameful that we've allowed these facilities to be ignored for so many decades." He acknowledged that financing the recommendations of the report will be a major challenge.

RHODE ISLAND: The physical conditions at Providence's Mount Pleasant High School cited in a highly critical accreditation report have resulted from decades of neglect because school maintenance is chronically shortchanged, Mayor David N. Cicilline said. Earlier this year he commissioned a plan for the long-term maintenance and renovation needs of the city's 55 public school buildings -- something that hasn't been done in at least 20 years. The mayor said he visits one school a week and cannot fail to notice "a different kind of energy" in buildings tha