NATIONAL: Federal authorities are urging schools across the U.S. to replace the electrical components in older light fixtures to reduce the threat of contamination from potentially cancer-causing chemicals.
In nonbinding recommendations released Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency says many schools built before 1979 use light fixtures that contain polychlorinated biphenyls, a manmade chemical that can affect the immune system and reproductive system and can cause cancer if they build up in the human body. The agency urges schools to replace the electrical components in the light fixtures to prevent the escape of PCBs into the air. If the chemicals do leak, they would not represent an immediate threat but could present health concerns if they persist over time, the EPA says. If the electrical components are already leaking PCBs, federal law requires the schools to remove them immediately.

The EPA is urging schools to replace the components after a study of three schools in New York City revealed that many fixtures in the schools were leaking PCBs. The EPA has also worked with school officials in Oregon, North Dakota and Massachusetts to address leaks.
But the cost of replacing the electrical components, or the entire light fixture, could be high. New York City officials estimate it would cost $1 billion to remove and replace lighting figures in about 800 buildings across the city. Because of the expense, New York City officials have balked at the EPA's attempts to make sure the city remove and replace the light fixtures on an expedited schedule.

CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles Unified School District is once again wrestling with its construction contracting and project delivery procedures. LAUSD canceled a pair of contracts in its $19.2-billion construction program in November when the LAUSD board citied violation of a no-subcontractor rule.

One contract was for $3.7 million to Consilia LLC for construction planning and the other for $90,000 to Kathi Littmann, former LAUSD chief of school construction for education specifications work. Littmann says staff told her that the contract had been awarded, cancelled and put back in place before LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines stopped it for good. Littmann is now president of City Prep Education consulting and charter management in Los Angeles. She won Engineering News-Record’s 2003 ENR Award of Excellence for her work at LAUSD before she left in 2002. She sees the controversy as a bad sign for the school’s contracting environment. “It’s just like 1999 [when Littmann started in the midst of a scandal over an $87-million high school being built on a toxic site]. There is no trust; the [school] board doesn’t understand the process and is interfering in contracting,” Littmann said. “It’s amazing how quickly it all unraveled.” Littmann also expressed concerns that the board is attempting to shift risk to outside contractors. “That requires a sophisticated facilities manager, but too many of the experienced people are now gone,” Littmann said.

LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines saw the confusion over the contracts as a miscommunication during a transition in the construction process. He explained that as the construction process is slowing down and the district is dealing with budget issues. The board wanted to emphasize using employees rather than contractors, he says, and made a no-subcontractors rule. “We didn’t do a very good job communicating board policy about not allowing subcontractors so the people who let the contracts were not aware of it,” Cortines said. “The contracts weren’t illegal, but they didn’t follow policy.” Cortinez emphasized that LAUSD still needs experienced contractors. “We just need to do it the right way,” he said.

The subcontractor debate was not the first time in 2010 that LAUSD came under scrutiny for contracting practices. In October, Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel released the first-ever audit of LAUSD’s construction program at the request of Cortines. The auditors’ report found that from 2002 to 2005, LAUSD’s policies and oversight for how contractors was selected were “weak.” The program led to potential conflicts of interest, including 225 instances where a regional director sat on a panel that selected the person’s employer as a contractor. However, it noted that from 2006 on, the district had “undergone a dramatic improvement and has done a good job ensuring the integrity of the selection process.”

FLORIDA: A statewide grand jury on public corruption has been investigating the Broward School District for nearly a year under a customary veil of secrecy. But some details have emerged that indicate it is honing in on the district's massive construction spending program. Records show the 18-member panel is also looking at whether the district improperly opened new schools without meeting all safety codes.

School district auditors in recent years have alleged sweeping problems in the construction department, including overpayments to contractors, unauthorized work and improper bidding. The district currently has a $1.34 billion capital budget, down sharply from previous years because its aggressive building program coincided with a drop in enrollment, leading to tens of thousands of empty seats.

Grand juries released reports dealing with Broward schools in 2003 and 1997, both times focusing on shoddy construction that led to mold and mildew problems. The district has since corrected many of the air quality issues. But some issues brought out in those reports appear to be under scrutiny again, including the influence of lobbyists on the awarding of construction contracts. Another reoccurring problem under review: allowing children and teachers to occupy buildings before they are completed.

CALIFORNIA: Local school officials reluctantly allowed a reality television show onto campuses with promises of remodeling, then got stuck with a substandard paint job at one school and at another an embarrassing made-for-TV "reenactment" of an event that never occurred. Some of the work at the two Los Angeles schools went well or at least did no harm. And "School Pride" still has local fans, especially because it inspired community volunteerism and school spirit. Still, some in the Los Angeles Unified School District are annoyed, at the least because the school system is spending more than $100,000 to repaint Hollenbeck Middle School, east of downtown.

The job at Hollenbeck was carried out with little or no prep work, without primer and with only one coat of paint; that's why it's already peeling in places, especially the railings, and isn't expected to last, Schmader said. Only part of the interior was painted to begin with. Areas of overspray also mar the work. The handling of lockers was especially sloppy, the district said. They were painted over entirely, including the locker numbers, handles and tumblers.

Horizon Alternative Television, which produced the show, declined to comment on the issues at Hollenbeck and the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, or LACES, in Mid-City. There also was no comment from NBC, which aired the seven one-hour episodes on Friday nights in the fall. It is not expected to be picked up for a new season. Los Angeles school district officials were hesitant to be overly critical of "School Pride".

NATIONAL: Many things are built into the "green schools": solar panels, green roofs, high efficiency boilers - and student motivation. Reporter Jessica Brown refers to a "green mentality" that often permeates these schools, which are built with an eye toward energy efficiency, reduced environmental impact and sustainable building materials. Clever teachers use their new or renovated facility as a source of science experiments, math problems and social studies projects that incorporate environmental themes. Students like the hands-on learning and the way the information can apply to their everyday lives.

Still, U.S. education has been slow to fully embrace environmental learning or solidly embed it into the science curriculum. No state, for example, requires an environmental education course for graduation. As an academic discipline, environmental education has been around for about 40 years. The first Earth Day in 1970 was an impetus for teaching about conservation, and later that year the National Environmental Education Act was passed to embed the topic in the K-12 curriculum. A year later the National Association for Environmental Education was created to provide resources and training for teachers. Still, environmental courses are most often offered as electives or optional units of study.

Now economic forces may be moving environmental education closer to the center of the curriculum. One major reason: "Green" is where future jobs are. States such as Maryland, which this year started requiring environmental education for every high school student, viewed it in part as a workplace readiness issue. Other states and districts have incorporated more of it as part of the "Leave No Child Indoors" movement to connect children to nature and get them moving. The obesity crisis and the absence of a health curriculum in some states - including Ohio - have pushed schools to find new places in the curriculum to teach children about healthy lifestyles and responsible personal choices.

Many educators say it helps that they're able to tie that new mindset to their physical space. An environmentally friendly school facility often sparks a heightened desire to recycle, reduce waste, promote healthy habits and simply to think more about the impact one's actions have on the environment and personal health. As those habits become part of the culture of their schools, educators say, students carry them home as well. Green schools cost on average about 2 percent more than traditional schools, but pay back the investment within eight years in energy savings. By motivating students to be more active, more environmentally conscious and more aware of what careers can grow out of that consciousness, green schools are a long-term investment in students' lives and a stronger local economy.

KENTUCKY: "Going green" has become more than a slogan in Kentucky schools. Thirty-five energy managers were hired statewide this year to cut costs in 130 of the 174 school districts. Some recently built schools in Northern Kentucky have green features, including Woodfill Elementary in Fort Thomas, Cooper High in Union and Crossroads Elementary in Cold Spring.

No district has embraced the green concept more than the Kenton County School District. With 18 schools and more than 13,000 students, the district has saved roughly $1.7 million in energy costs since 2005. It has opened three green schools in that time - Caywood Elementary, Twenhofel Middle and Turkey Foot Middle. Eight of its schools have earned the national Energy Star label. Turkey Foot, which opened this year, is expected to be the state's first net-zero middle school, meaning it will produce as much energy as it uses. With features such as a vegetative roof, geothermal heating and cooling, lighting-controls and a rain-catch system, the school used about 40 percent of the energy of the average Kentucky school in September and October, according to Chris Baker, the district's energy systems coordinator. There will also be $2 million in solar panels installed in the coming months.

Districtwide, electric consumption last year was reduced by more than 5 million kilowatt hours, which prevented the emission of more than 7.7 million pounds of carbon dioxide. That's the equivalent of taking 531 cars off the road or planting 1,000 trees, according to the district. The initiatives to reduce energy consumption are student-led. Every school has an Energy Wise team that promotes recycling, offers tips on saving energy at home and audits electricity use in each classroom.

While the newer schools receive much of the attention for their energy awareness, the green mentality in all the schools has resulted in huge reductions in energy consumption. Since 2005, 17 of Kenton's 18 schools have reduced energy usage, including 11 by double-digit percentages. The state's energy managers are in 16 of the 18 school districts in Boone, Campbell, Kenton, Gallatin, Grant and Pendleton counties. They continually look for ways to reduce energy, compile energy data, write grants and research and implement rebate programs offered by utility companies. Their salaries are paid for through April 2012 by the districts and money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. After that, the goal is for their salaries to be paid for with money saved from energy reductions.

OHIO: Cincinnati Public Schools are on pace to be one of the "greenest" school districts in the country. CPS is among the top school districts in the nation with LEED-registered buildings. It has 22 such buildings, a number topped only by Chicago (32) and Albuquerque, N.M., (26) according to numbers from the U.S. Green Building Council. CPS may rank higher than that. A spokesman for the Chicago district said only 22 LEED-registered buildings were on its internal list. Six of the Albuquerque projects are questionable because they're on hold or the district is considering forgoing LEED certification, according to a spokesman.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a voluntary national certification developed in 2000 by the U.S. Green Building Council. The designation signifies that the building has met high standards for energy conservation and attention to their impact on the environment through features like green roofs or solar panels. A district first registers its plans for a building with the U.S. Green Building Council. Once the building is built, it applies for LEED certification. Ohio and Cincinnati lead a national trend in green building, said Rachel Gutter, director for the Center for Green Schools, a division of the U.S. Green Building Council. Ohio required that all new public school buildings be LEED certified. That puts the state, which is in the midst of its biggest school building boom in a generation, on pace to have the most green schools in the country. "Ohio has the most ambitious and aggressive initiatives in place to rebuild all their schools green," Gutter said. Ohio school districts have registered 281 projects, far more than any other state. Cincinnati Public Schools have 22 LEED-registered schools. A 23rd CPS school, Pleasant Ridge Montessori, is already LEED-certified.

Cincinnati Public Schools is in the seventh year of a 10-year, $1.1 billion project to rebuild or renovate all of its 58 schools. The construction plan, funded with a mix of state and local money, has birthed buildings where water pipes are routed deep underground to regulate their temperature and where solar panels capture nature's energy to light classrooms. The initiative also produces learning opportunities. Students participate in recycling contests and measure air quality inside their buildings. The buildings themselves are science projects.

Gutter said larger districts especially are making the commitment to go green because of health benefits, educational opportunities and long-term cost savings. The Ohio School Facilities Commission estimates that LEED certification of a 130,000-square-foot middle school would save $6 million over the 40-year life span of the building.

LOUISIANA: A $5.1 million low-interest loan means D'Arbonne Woods Charter School in Union Parish can begin the bid process for construction of its facility outside of Farmerville. The charter school would be the first new school built in Union Parish in more than 20 years.

Director Corie Williams announced the school has been approved for a $5.1 million Qualified School Construction Bond loan at 1 percent interest to begin construction on the 38,000-square-foot facility. The initial building is phase one of a long-range construction project and will include facilities for 600 students including classrooms, a gymnasium, a cafeteria, a playground, auditorium, a small library and room for athletic fields. The school's 2010 enrollment is 300 students. "Right now is an excellent time to build, if you have the money," Williams said. "Construction costs are at an all-time low. The timing allows us to take advantage of low construction costs to be able to build more facility for the same amount of money."

The QSCB bond is provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the Louisiana Department of Education. Locally, D'Arbonne Woods is working with Community Trust Bank. Banks that purchase the QSCB bonds receive tax credits from the federal government.

Williams said over the 19-year life of the loan, the school will save between $3.5 million and $4 million when compared to the average construction loan interest rate. The school's board of directors hopes to begin the bidding process immediately in order to begin construction as soon as possible. Williams said the school hopes to move into the new building, which will be about 3 miles east of Farmerville on Louisiana 2 in early 2012.

NEW YORK: The education sector, and especially the School Construction Authority, has become big business in the world of New York City real estate. As residential condominiums, office towers and other private sector projects have faltered, the authority has swooped in to take advantage of lower construction costs, amenable landlords and available land to pursue an aggressive expansion.
This year, the S.C.A. has built a record 26 new facilities, creating room for 17,500 students. The authority, which oversees the building and maintenance of the city’s nearly 1,700 public schools, is in the second year of an $11.7 billion five-year capital plan, to run from the 2010 to 2014 fiscal years. The city Department of Education is lobbying for an additional $4.4 billion that would put it on track to have added nearly 124,000 seats from 2003 to 2013. “The S.C.A. is the biggest game in town,” said Richard T. Anderson, the president of the New York Building Congress, a construction trade group. “In terms of actual construction, the S.C.A.’s five-year capital plan is the largest agency program in the city,” he said.

The education sector accounted for more than half of all construction starts in New York City from May 2008 to the end of last April, a pattern that is expected to continue, according to the building congress. In addition to traditional public schools, the number of charter schools in the city has surged to 125 in 2010, from just four in 1999, according to the New York City Charter School Center, and several private schools have been in the market for new buildings. At the postsecondary level, the City University of New York, New York University and Columbia University are all planning major expansions.

With so much money available for publicly financed schools, large construction firms that once eschewed public sector jobs in favor of private projects are now angling for the work. “There are no new commercial office buildings being built, but there are a lot of schools in the works, so we have gone back and focused more on the S.C.A.,” said Charles Murphy, a senior vice president at the Turner Construction Company and the general manager of the New York office. Turner is building four schools for the School Construction Authority, which now makes up about 12 percent of the company’s work in New York, up from zero during the real estate market peak, Mr. Murphy said. “All of a sudden, marquee construction firms that would only do projects that were $15 million and above are bidding for S.C.A. jobs,” said Louis J. Coletti, the president and chief executive of the Building Trades Employers’ Association, the largest contractor association in the state.

All this competition has been good news for the construction authority. “We have seen the cost of building stabilize, and we are attracting a number of high-end general contractors who are now bidding on our projects,” Ms. Grillo said. In addition, she said, “landlords seem more willing to work with us, as they recognize the value of a city tenant.” In downtown Manhattan, for example, “we have been able to find a lot of rental properties in office buildings; if the market was hotter, these landlords might not have been so willing to rent us the space.”

In addition to new schools financed by the construction authority, charter schools, private schools and universities are also rapidly expanding. This year, 27 new charter schools — which are public schools that are mostly privately financed — opened, and only one closed, the charter school center said. Civic Builders, one of the largest developers of charter schools, is building or about to build 440,000 square feet of space, said David M. Umansky, the firm’s chief executive.

There are signs, however, that the School Construction Authority’s spending spree may soon be over. The city and state are both facing looming deficits, and have financed the authority’s five-year capital plan only through the 2012 fiscal year. The city is estimating a deficit of $2.4 billion next year, and last week Mark Page, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, asked that various city departments, including the Department of Education, submit proposals to shave 20 percent a year from their capital spending. The state is facing a projected deficit next year of more than $9 billion.

CONNECTICUT: While reading, writing and arithmetic might describe some facets of the perfect school as seen by teachers and parents, Teachers’ Memorial Middle School student Annalyssa Velasquez thinks a roller skating rink should be added to the mix. “Students would be able to get a lot of exercise and be more fit,” the seventh-grade student told representatives from LEARN, the educational company hired to decide what Norwich schools will look like in the future.

The company will bring its findings to the Norwich public school design team as part of a $132,000 school redesign study expected to be completed in March. Doreen Marvin, director of development for LEARN, said allowing students to think freely brings new ideas to the development of new school policies. Marvin said that while a roller skating rink may not be practical, the desire for it shows that students would like more exercise in their daily routine. “We take their ideas and then distill from them what they really want,” Marvin said.

Principal William Peckham allowed nearly a dozen students from sixth, seventh, and eighth grades who are involved in the district’s Positive Behavior Support program to give their opinions. While some ideas, like the roller skating rink, are unlikely, suggestions of larger lockers and nicer changing rooms made by eighth-grader Teale Nadeau show a sensitivity for surroundings that might be missed by school planners. “I think it would be better to have something like e-readers so that we’re not carrying giant backpacks,” she said. By far, however, the largest wish by the students was voiced by Ryleigh Swanson, who advocated for “more technology.” Classmate Angelese Vargas said she would like to see a more powerful school website with cameras that would allow students to attend class even while home sick. “You’d still be able to do your class work and see what the teacher was saying,” she said. “A pool would be nice, too.” Lindsey Murray, a sixth-grade student, pushed for healthier lifestyle choices that included vending machines with healthy snacks, instead of candy. Several students wanted class work taken outside during good weather, and said that with smart tablets they would be able to learn more efficiently. “This is the type of information we really need in developing a new school system,” Marvin said. “It gives us valuable indications of what students really want.”

CONNECTICUT: While reading, writing and arithmetic might describe some facets of the perfect school as seen by teachers and parents, Teachers’ Memorial Middle School student Annalyssa Velasquez thinks a roller skating rink should be added to the mix. “Students would be able to get a lot of exercise and be more fit,” the seventh-grade student told representatives from LEARN, the educational company hired to decide what Norwich schools will look like in the future.

The company will bring its findings to the Norwich public school design team as part of a $132,000 school redesign study expected to be completed in March. Doreen Marvin, director of development for LEARN, said allowing students to think freely brings new ideas to the development of new school policies. Marvin said that while a roller skating rink may not be practical, the desire for it shows that students would like more exercise in their daily routine. “We take their ideas and then distill from them what they really want,” Marvin said.

Principal William Peckham allowed nearly a dozen students from sixth, seventh, and eighth grades who are involved in the district’s Positive Behavior Support program to give their opinions. While some ideas, like the roller skating rink, are unlikely, suggestions of larger lockers and nicer changing rooms made by eighth-grader Teale Nadeau show a sensitivity for surroundings that might be missed by school planners. “I think it would be better to have something like e-readers so that we’re not carrying giant backpacks,” she said. By far, however, the largest wish by the students was voiced by Ryleigh Swanson, who advocated for “more technology.” Classmate Angelese Vargas said she would like to see a more powerful school website with cameras that would allow students to attend class even while home sick. “You’d still be able to do your class work and see what the teacher was saying,” she said. “A pool would be nice, too.” Lindsey Murray, a sixth-grade student, pushed for healthier lifestyle choices that included vending machines with healthy snacks, instead of candy. Several students wanted class work taken outside during good weather, and said that with smart tablets they would be able to learn more efficiently. “This is the type of information we really need in developing a new school system,” Marvin said. “It gives us valuable indications of what students really want.”

NEW YORK: Take one look at the digitally rendered drawings of the proposed green roof for PS 58, ?The Carroll School? and you'll be seeing veritable visions of sugar plums: from grassy lawns to vegetable beds, from native plantings to greenhouses, the project conjures visions of happy students learning hands-on in the most distinctive of classrooms.
While the green roof project makes progress on 1st Place and Smith Street, nearby, students at The Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies and PS 29 are busy at work expanding their own green initiatives. (And don't forget about the ?plans for a Green Roof ?at the New Horizons School on Hoyt Street.) Though it may come as no surprise to many in this locavore-minded neighborhood, Carroll Gardens students are cultivating the cutting edge of the farm to school movement.

Parent David Briggs became involved in PS 58's project to transform the school's 30,000 square foot roof into a "living classroom" in 2009, after his architecture firm completed a new library for the school. "Parents started talking," he explained. "The impetus being a general interest to bring ecology back into the environment and create a 'green belt' in the community – a chain of sustainably designed green spaces."
The green roof would provide students with hands-on learning opportunities like growing and harvesting food that would wind up on their plates in the school's cafeteria, and researching and planting native flora. The project also aims to help combat childhood obesity and serve as a storm water management tool. Science teachers Diana Marsh and Keith Wynne, already champions of various green initiatives in the school, jumped on board and hosted meetings for fellow teachers to gauge their interest and dream up a design, which Mr. Briggs' firm, Loci Architecture, has translated into a striking Powerpoint presentation.

While impressive in scope, the project has yet to get off the ground. Green roof construction is notoriously expensive, and the school lacks needed seed money. Once funds are raised, the school must go through the ?School Construction Authority? (SCA) to hire approved engineers. Luckily, Mr. Briggs is now an approved architect through the SCA. The school's Garden Committee, made up of parents and teachers, is working to find funding while also seeking the support of ?Councilmember Brad Lander? and other potential backers. The green roof will most likely develop in stages. "We may need to start small, first by developing a smaller 5,000 square feet section, and then using that to build momentum and interest in expanding the project," Briggs said. In the meantime, Ms. Marsh and Mr. Wynne are busy in their various efforts to meet the demand for environmentally sensitive lessons. Mr. Wynne will lead students in planting out garden boxes with native plants in the spring, after fifth graders research what plants are indigenous to New York City.

LOUISIANA: With $1.8 billion of FEMA money in hand and construction costs at new lows, the comprehensive overhaul of New Orleans public school buildings is proceeding at an accelerated pace with groundbreakings at eight elementary schools.
In addition to the groundbreakings, about a dozen school construction projects are already under way and five more will begin by the middle of next year. Three new schools and three top-to-bottom renovations were already finished before the historic FEMA settlement to compensate for widespread Hurricane Katrina damage to school buildings was announced in August.
If all six phases of the school facilities master plan are completed, encompassing 80 or so projects, nearly every student in New Orleans would attend school in a new or renovated building. But education officials concede that the FEMA settlement, which allows for new structures to be built where they are most needed rather than merely replacing what was there before, will likely run out after phase three or four, and they are preparing a report on just how far the money will go.

Critics are highlighting the shortfall and questioning how the spending is being overseen and who will shoulder the cost of maintaining the new facilities. Even with an accelerated pace of work, many students will spend at least the next few years in modular campuses or crumbling old facilities, the result of years of pre-Katrina deferred maintenance as well as storm and flooding damage. In a report released earlier this month, researchers at Tulane's Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives determined that initial cost estimates of $633 million have been exceeded by about $119 million for projects completed or ongoing. "There is no indication that the increase is due to any mismanagement of the projects or flaws in the original estimates," the report said. "Nevertheless, this change will have a major impact on the ability to complete the plan with currently available funds."

The remainder of the master plan could be financed with new market tax credits, which are federal tax refunds given in return for investment in low-income communities, said Ramsey Green, the Recovery School District's deputy superintendent for operations. Green called the cost overrun issue raised by Cowen largely irrelevant because the original budget used extremely rough estimates. "It's yet to be determined whether this will allow us to put every child in a world-class school. But I don't think it was ever intended by this FEMA settlement that we would try to accomplish that," said State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek.

VIRGINIA: In preparation for a projected enrollment boom, Fairfax County education officials unveiled a plan to renovate a slew of aging schools at a cost of $805 million through the next decade. The plan also funds renovations at 27 schools, as well as the construction of one middle school and one elementary school. An unexpected savings of $31 million from lower than estimated construction costs for recent projects will help the district accelerate its plan - which is awaiting School Board approval - moving schools up the district's renovation list by several years.

The district's renovation list, which includes schools from across the county, was established by an independent study several years ago and will not be revised under the current capital improvement program. Officials say the renovations, which are funded largely with $155 million annual installments from the county's Board of Supervisors, must be done incrementally.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Our politics sometimes isn't expressed in personalities and policies and laws and elections. Sometimes it's in a building.
This week, we learned that Dunbar Senior High School will be razed as soon as 2013. That fall, if all goes as planned, students will attend a new, glassy, airy Dunbar next door.
The Dunbar that now stands is anything but glassy and airy, and few will lament its demolition just 33 years after its opening. Certainly the raves delivered by a Washington Post architecture critic, reviewing an early version of the design in December 1971, never came to pass. Few students who have had to navigate its dark, concrete-clad ramps or learn math in its chaotic open classrooms would care to describe it as a "building of a natural, almost blushingly modest beauty" that would "give most promising shape not only to the stagnant fluid of education in our ghettos, but also the life of its neighborhood." But in that building are lessons for politicians and planners and policymakers - not only the ones who build schools, but also the ones who govern what goes on inside them.

Then and now, the seemingly intractable problem of urban education cried out for a dramatic, simple solution. Forty years ago, they looked to a building to control what had become an uncontrollable learning environment, inhibiting student achievement. The city's architects and administrators have abandoned the notion of engineering a better school with bricks and mortar. But the idea of a one-fell-swoop solution to better schools still tempts.

Robert C. deJongh can speak to how his best-laid plans went awry. He was a young architect when he started design work on the Dunbar building in the early '70s. He was finishing up at Howard University's architectural school at the time and working for the well-regarded Bryant & Bryant firm, which designed the building. "To some degree, it was an experiment," deJongh recalls from his office on St. Thomas in his native U.S. Virgin Islands, where he has practiced since 1973. The design process began only a couple years after the 1968 riots decimated inner-city neighborhoods, including the Seventh Street commercial district just a few blocks west of Dunbar. And the buildings subsequently designed for those neighborhoods, in essence, had to be riot-proof - made of sturdy concrete or metal or other materials that would be difficult to vandalize. Glass, and hence sunlight, was essentially prohibited. "I remember having to fight for the windows we did have," deJongh said, adding that those that did make it into the final design were covered with heavy wire mesh. Because the old Dunbar had to remain next door, leaving only a small parcel to fit an expected 1,600 students, deJongh and his colleagues had no choice but to design the school as a high-rise. Then there was the open-classroom concept, which was in vogue among school administrators at the time.

A buildings administrator with the public school system told The Post in 1971 that open designs would "force the teacher to be a consultant to the child" and "shift the emphasis from teaching to learning." It was also a recipe for unfocused and wandering students. The combination of riot-proof design and open classrooms in a high-rise made Dunbar an exemplar of what deJongh calls a generation of "grim and brutal" structures "designed to keep occupants in and everyone else out."
A Post reporter covering that first day called Dunbar an "expensive monument of hope." But instead of hope, deJongh said, "the rebuilding was filled with fear and the threats that [the riots] could happen again."

CALIFORNIA: The school district here is installing solar panels in all its schools, a move expected to save more than $28 million over the life of the panels. The district will spend $18.5 million from Measure L, the school construction bond issue passed by voters Nov. 2, to put the panels at 14 school sites and offices. The panels have a 30-year expected life span and will offset the equivalent of 10 million gallons of gasoline, according to Rohnert Park-based Stellar Energy, the contractor on the project.

Foothill Elementary School has its panels and other sites will receive theirs over the next two years, according to associate superintendent Enrique Palacios. Contra Costa Office of Eduction spokeswoman Peggy Marshburn said Foothill is the first school site in the county she is aware of to go to solar. The entire system will pay for itself in about 12 years, Palacios said.

The district will have maintenance contracts for the panels that preclude unexpected costs. "The panels will be installed on school roofs where there is space and over parking lots," he said. Palacios is looking into fuel cells as an alternative to panels at Marina Vista Elementary School downtown. The two-story school is built on a small city block with limited parking and a large soccer field in the rear. "The site is small, and you need lots of square footage for solar panels," Palacios said.

CALIFORNIA: The State Allocation Board (SAB) announced that it has allocated $1.4 billion for “shovel-ready” school construction projects across the state. These state matching funds will help finance 442 school construction projects within 137 school districts, resulting in substantial job creation.
“The action taken at the December 15th Board meeting represents the largest round of funding for California K-12 school construction projects since 2008” said SAB Chair Cynthia Bryant. “By granting funding first to shovel-ready projects, we give a boost to the economy by providing much needed school facility funds that help create construction jobs in communities across California.“

The construction dollars approved represent the second round of funding approved under accelerated funding rules approved by the SAB in May. The $408 million allocated in August under the initial round was recently distributed to 78 school construction projects within 42 school districts. In order to qualify for priority funding, participating school districts certified that within 90 days of receiving an apportionment, they would have local matching funds, usually 50 percent of the total project cost, in hand, and at least half of their construction contracts in place. School districts in financial hardship were also able to compete for the priority-ordered funding to purchase sites or begin design work.
Prior to the approval of the accelerated Priorities in School Construction Funding rules, apportionments were granted based on the receipt and approval dates of complete funding applications, or on a first in, first out basis. Each approved project had up to 18 months to request release of the State funds.

NEW JERSEY: Solar energy is not only proving good business for New Jersey public schools, it’s proving pretty good politics, too. Tuesday’s referenda on school construction projects saw voters approve another solar panel installation, this time a $41.5 million roof replacement project involving 21 Woodbridge schools. The Woodbridge project was by far the biggest of the six projects approved by voters on Tuesday, and represented half of all public money winning the voters’ backing. Actually, it has been a good run for solar on the rooftops and parking lots of public schools for a few years now. Voters have approved more than three quarters of the construction projects that include solar since 2008.

Overall, the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has cleared nearly 80 school solar projects since 2008, as well as another 25 in private and parochial schools. The BPU has provided purchase credits and more than $12 million in Clean Energy rebates to the projects. Other big projects include $10.5 million for panel installations at seven Lawrence Township schools, and $9.5 million for solar panels at four schools in Lumberton. “It’s been very popular for schools, and you certainly see them woven into more extensive projects as well,” said Frank Belluscio, a spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association.

Overall, 2010 was not a very good year for school construction projects, with only half of 34 proposals winning voters’ approval in five different elections. Last year, it was better than two thirds of proposals winning at the polls. That has made the passage of solar projects all the more noticeable, due to a number of factors that separate them from typical school projects. A big one is the potential for long-term savings and even additional revenues, a benefit that solar companies have marketed to schools. “Any time schools can control energy costs, that has benefit passed through to the taxpayers,” said Fred Zalcman, director of regulatory affairs for SunEdison, a solar development company doing extensive work at schools nationwide. But Zalcman also pointed out the increasing use of power-purchase agreements, in which the schools generate excess power through their installations and sell it back into the energy grid. It is especially good business during the summer months when schools are closed and the sun is high, he said. “That can offset the energy consumption in the other months,” he said. “It is like having basically a power plant on the roof of the school.”

There have increasingly been educational benefits as well, as the companies and government agencies have developed classroom curricula to go along with the solar installations. And that makes good business in the long-run, too, with all the potential marketers in the classrooms.

CALIFORNIA: The first requirement of any school classroom building is that it be able to take abuse. Picture a herd of kids tromping down a stairway, and you’ll understand why. Beyond that, though, what other qualities should go into designing classroom buildings? That was the question Rick Parks and his fellow architects at the DLR Group offices in Sacramento tried to answer when they were selected to design a new, 30,000-square-foot, 18-classroom building at Chico High School. Specifically, they were looking for a way to create a structure that put the needs of students first while being as energy-efficient as possible.

They’d been designing such buildings for some time, following the best-practices guidelines developed by the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that provides resources to schools, school districts and professionals seeking to make school buildings better places to learn as well as more efficient. But no two schools or school buildings are alike, and the building at Chico High presented unique challenges.

The structure, which was constructed by Modern Building Co., of Chico, has two stories and two wings. In fact, it’s really two buildings joined by a short upstairs skyway. They sit parallel with each other, about 15 feet apart, on an east-west axis but staggered so that they overlap only partially. The larger of the two—the main wing—abuts West Sacramento Avenue, presenting an impressive bank of angled north-facing windows to the street. The more westerly wing, which is set back from the street, has similarly large windows on its south side. Parks explained that the need was for a structure that would complete the building layout that surrounds the large square, or quad, in the center of the school. It also needed to harmonize with the rest of the school’s architecture, to look new and modern but blend in with buildings that are decades older.
The buildings aren’t lavish, but they’re attractive and highly functional. “We tried to make it about good architecture, not fancy buildings,” Park said. In talking with students early on, the DLR team learned that they wanted the structure to have a strong entryway and a commons space inside. The result is a small plaza in front of the main wing that leads into a large, two-story, glassed-in room with a tile floor, like a large foyer, that can be used for a variety of student purposes.

The classrooms are designed to use natural light. The windows are large but set high enough to minimize distractions. The views of West Sacramento Avenue, for example, show the houses and trees across the street but not cars on the road or people walking on the sidewalk. The classrooms are equipped with sensors that automatically increase illumination on cloudy days and shut off the lights when the room is empty Restrooms have motion-activated lights. There’s a solar array on the roof, and the buildings are equipped with an AC system that chills the air with water before it reaches compressors that pump it into the building through floor-level vents. It spreads across the floor, becomes warmed by students’ bodies, then rises, lifting pollutants with it, and is filtered out. The system is also able to “flush out” the rooms with cool air at night. Overall, the buildings use just two-thirds as much energy as conventional school buildings, Park said.

OREGON: Portland Public Schools, the largest school district in Oregon, is about to send a $548 million bond issue to voters in May; the school board unanimously approved the proposal December 13. If voters approve the bond, nine schools will be totally rebuilt and the other 76 substantially improved; work is to be completed in 2017.
Portland has allowed its school facilities to age without substantial new or improved buildings in the last several decades. Many of Portland's school buildings date to the pre-World War II era — the average age is 65 years — and are considerably behind nearby suburban schools in terms of technology and other important educational tools.
It is easy to make a case for the bonds; any inspection of Portland schools will lead an observer to see the need. The more difficult case will be financial and political. Financial because the bonds will cost an average Portland homeowner about $350 a year, following a series of other property-tax measures approved in recent years, including a 2007 operating levy for schools totaling nearly $40 million a year. Political because, unlike previous bond measures, the money won't be spread equally around the district, but will "go deep" on the nine targeted schools, raising the danger that passed-over patrons will stay home on election day.

In some ways, Portland and Seattle schools are comparable: Student enrollment is virtually identical at about 47,000 students and issues of minorities, poverty and languages are similar and both have had traumatic experiences with racial balancing and reorganization. But Seattle schools draw on a property-tax base three times that of Portland, which lacks Seattle's industrial base.
Portland currently has one advantage over Seattle, however; its leadership enjoys community-wide support and a respectable financial record while Seattle struggles with a scathing state audit earlier this year and the resignation of its internal auditor just last week.

NATIONAL: The Senate voted 81 to 19 Wednesday on tax legislation that contains neither an extension of the Build America Bond program nor the increased small issuer limit for bank-qualified bonds, both of which expire Dec. 31. The legislation will be sent to the House for a vote, which could come as soon as tonight.

The bill would extend qualified zone academy bonds through 2011 and authorize $400 million more for them, but only as tax-credit bonds without any direct-pay option similar to BABs.It would not prevent muni issuers from continuing to sell qualified school construction bonds, qualified energy conservation bonds, and clean renewable energy bonds already allocated with the direct-pay option, even after 2010.
QSCB issuers get payments from the federal government equal to the lesser of the bonds’ actual interest rate or the tax credit rate. QECB and CREB issuers get payments equal to 70% of their interest cost.

The bill also contains a two-year extension, through 2012, for an arbitrage-rebate exception for school construction bonds and allows issuers to sell private-activity bonds outside of state volume caps for certain qualified education facilities.

NATIONAL: The Senate voted 81 to 19 Wednesday on tax legislation that contains neither an extension of the Build America Bond program nor the increased small issuer limit for bank-qualified bonds, both of which expire Dec. 31. The legislation will be sent to the House for a vote, which could come as soon as tonight.

The bill would extend qualified zone academy bonds through 2011 and authorize $400 million more for them, but only as tax-credit bonds without any direct-pay option similar to BABs.It would not prevent muni issuers from continuing to sell qualified school construction bonds, qualified energy conservation bonds, and clean renewable energy bonds already allocated with the direct-pay option, even after 2010.
QSCB issuers get payments from the federal government equal to the lesser of the bonds’ actual interest rate or the tax credit rate. QECB and CREB issuers get payments equal to 70% of their interest cost.

The bill also contains a two-year extension, through 2012, for an arbitrage-rebate exception for school construction bonds and allows issuers to sell private-activity bonds outside of state volume caps for certain qualified education facilities.

MARYLAND: The American Civil Liberties Union presented a financial plan to fund $2.8 billion in upgrades of dilapidated Baltimore school buildings that suggests imposing local taxes, partnering with an investor and increasing government funding. The funding proposal follows an ACLU report released in June that found that 70 percent of city schools were in urgent need of upgrades. For years, Baltimore students have attended schools with nonfunctioning heating and air conditioning, broken windows and limited electrical systems, the June report said.

The follow-up report, compiled by the Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute, likened the crisis of the city schools to that of a natural disaster and asked that city and state leaders respond as such. The work would need to take place rapidly over 10 years, the report said, rather than the 50 years it would take under the current city school funding structure. The Tax Policy Institute explored how the city could establish new revenue streams through a 1 percent local sales tax increase and a 1 percent tax on meals and beverages in Baltimore, both of which would require legislative approval.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: After a year-long design competition for the new Dunbar High School, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced that the winning proposal was submitted by the architecture team of Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects-Engineers (EEK) and Moody-Nolan Architects. Both firms are based in Washington, D.C.

“The historic Dunbar building was so much a part of the fabric of Washington, DC that I am proud that we are now poised to build a facility that honors that past with all of the 21st-century technology and academic amenities of the finest schools in the world,” said Fenty. “This design is fantastic and I anticipate the new Dunbar will not only encourage our students to reach greater heights, but become a catalyst for the ongoing revitalization of this neighborhood.”

OPEFM issued a Request for Proposals for an architect to design a brand new school that would evoke the same pride and passion of the original historic Paul Laurence Dunbar High School built on the site in 1917 as the first municipally funded public high school for African-American students. Dunbar has produced a virtual “Who¹s Who” of notable African-Americans including Charles Drew, Duke Ellington, and the District¹s current Congressional Representative, Eleanor Holmes Norton.
“The Dunbar design competition represents just how far DC schools have come in four short years,” said Lew. “Nearly 20 world-class architectural firms, including two European firms, bid on this project. I am confident that the winning team and their innovative approach exhibits a level of design excellence that is consistent with OPEFM’s recent projects such as Stoddert, School Without Walls and H.D. Woodson. I¹d place this design next to any private school in the area.”

The winning team is a joint venture of Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects-Engineers, a DC-based, award-winning international practice with particular expertise in urban school design. They have collaborated with DC-based Moody-Nolan, the largest African American-owned architectural practice in the United States. Both firms are the recipients of numerous architectural design awards. EEK has garnered several awards for their work on DC school modernization projects including Stoddert Elementary and School Without Walls High School. On average Moody-Nolan wins a design award every 39.2 days. To date, the firm has been awarded more than 155 design citations, including the Gold Medal Firm of the Year Award from AIA, Ohio Chapter and the inaugural 2000-2001 NOMA Firm of the Year Award.

“As residents of the District of Columbia we are incredibly proud to have been selected to design the new Dunbar High School,” said Sean O¹Donnell, a principal with EEK. “Our design will honor the school's traditions, distinguished history and notable alumni, respect and enhance the neighborhood and create a sustainable 21st Century learning environment that, like the original 1917 building, will become the pride of all of the families of the District of Columbia.”

NATIONAL: Chevy Chase may be a college man on the NBC hit Community, but he’s aiming to participate in a different kind of education through his annual charity auction with wife Jayni to benefit their organization GREEN Community Schools.
The goal of their GREEN program is to ensure that kids live well and make smart choices. How do they do that? Well, it’s pretty great and eco-friendly, actually. They raise funds to transform schools into centers for green development, spreading environmental literacy and awareness so that children can learn the fundamentals about what sustains us— air, water and soil to grow our food. The programs they develop build partnerships with teachers so that lessons in the classrooms will give practical and hands-on knowledge about living sustainably.

This year marks the 7th annual GREEN Schools Auction on charitybuzz, where Chase calls in all his favors to compile a bounty of truly bid-worthy items. You can bid on tickets to a taping of SNL and passes to the after party, entrance to Robert Downey Jr.’s next movie premiere, a tennis lesson with John McEnroe (mind the swearing and racket throwing), and a brunch with Chase himself and National Lampoon co-star Beverly D’angelo. The auction is live at charitybuzz through December 20th.

NEW JERSEY: School construction contracts designed to allow only unionized workers cost taxpayers 30 percent more in the last decade and took longer to complete than projects that didn’t include special preferences, according to a report from the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Focusing on school construction completed between July 2002 and June 2008, the report found legislatively sanctioned union-only projects on average cost an additional $60 a square foot or $7,745 a student. Using that measure, the state could have saved more than $240 million on new school construction in the past decade — the cost to build five new high schools — by not limiting contracts.

The union-only contracts are established through “project labor agreements,” or PLAs, which are included in requests for bids and limit the work force in exchange for a promise by the unions not to strike and a relaxing of some work rules. Advocates for the use of PLAs say the agreements keep down costs, ensure public projects finish on time and prevent strikes or lockouts involving a single union that can disrupt an entire project. Opponents say by eliminating non-union contractors from the start, the agreements stifle competition and drive up costs.
Gov. Chris Christie called for the elimination of project labor agreements on the campaign trail. The School Development Authority, the government entity responsible for nearly all PLAs issued in New Jersey, is reviewing its construction policies and is expected to depart from the union-friendly practice. Fewer than half of school construction projects since 2002 have used PLAs, but all projects funded by the School Development Authority and its predecessor the Schools Construction Corporation, have used them. There are six school construction projects under way that include PLAs.

WYOMING: Students in Laramie County School District 1 will get hands-on education in green energy technology, thanks to a $495,000 state grant. The funds will be used to install wind turbines and solar panels at some of the schools in the district as well as provide training in green energy practices to LCSD1 teachers and staff. The grant, from federal stimulus funds, was passed to the district from the Wyoming State Energy Office. LCSD1 will have to match the grant with $140,630 of its own funds, said Dalton Jones, the district's energy manager. The wind turbines at the schools will be smaller versions of full-scale models, Jones added.

East High Principal Sam Mirich, whose school will get one of the wind turbines, said having the technology there will provide a great learning opportunity for the students. Learning about green energy is relevant because the technology is becoming more widespread, Mirich said. The purpose of installing the turbines and solar panels at the schools is not necessarily to cut down on energy costs but to provide educational tools for students, Jones said. But there will be some costs savings from the equipment, he added. For instance, the solar panels that will be put in at Cheyenne's Alta Vista Elementary are expected to cut down on electricity usage by 6-8 percent, Jones said. The grant also will fund seminars in which teachers can learn how to incorporate green energy education into the curriculum. In addition, the grant will pay for a consultant to help the district implement green-energy practices.

MICHIGAN: Step into Lauren Arnett's fourth-grade class and the excitement and energy for learning is palpable. From the technology, to its design and furniture, the classroom screams 21st century learner. The Cannonsburg Elementary class is one of Rockford Public Schools six “Classrooms of the Future” launched this fall, two each at the elementary, middle and high school. “The technology in the room makes things easier to learn,” said Lauren, 10, swerving in her rolling, swivel chair. “I can focus more and it's fun and more comfortable. I can tell the difference from my other class.”
The difference is the room is set-up to foster collaboration and communication. Students aren't staring at the back of someone's head in single desks lined up in a row, nor is the teacher front and center at a chalkboard or overhead. Picture an X with the teacher in the center and kids seated, face to face at tables of five or six at each four points with interactive whiteboards at three different angles.
Rockford set aside $500,000 in a prior bond issue to assist with such a project. It is partnering with Steelcase, which reached out to the district to be a prototype to gather data on how the learning environment and student achievement. “Companies are asking for the 21st century work skills – innovation, collaboration, critical thinking and communication skills - and a different classroom environment is needed to learn those things,” said Elise Valoe, senior design researcher for Steelcase.

In recent years, Valoe said, the company has used Grand Valley State University students to test its so-called LearnLab, as well as two community colleges in Texas. She said the colleges saw grades and attendance improve with the more dynamic classroom.

“Everything is designed for maximum engagement and interaction,” said Ryan Kelley, assistant superintendent for curriculum, who said Microsoft and Custer Workplace Interiors are also partners in the initiative. “Their working together to solve problems, working as a team, skills were are told the modern workforce is in need of.” Over the school year, Thelen said, the district will be surveying students and teachers and reviewing student achievement to determine whether to expand the program to more classes.

MICHIGAN: More than 270 students at Northwood Elementary decorated napkins with an eco-friendly message in a ?poster contest as part of a Michigan Green Schools event.
The state of Michigan has an official Michigan Green School Law that encourages all public and private schools to participate in energy saving and environmental activities that protect Michigan's resources. Green schools, like Northwood, do things like recycle papers and reuse newspapers and magazines. They adopt an endangered species animal from one of several organizations that offer adoption and they plan energy saving programs.

Holding a poster contest to promote ecology concerns is another way to demonstrate a school is green. The Northwood Green School Committee decided to use fabric napkins to conduct the poster challenge. The napkin designs will be judged by grade, with a first-, second- and third-place winner for each. When the contest is over the napkins will be returned to the students to be used in their lunch boxes. The idea is to reduce the use of paper napkins by having the students reuse their fabric napkins throughout the school year – another step toward waste-free lunches.

Julie Race, a member of Northwood's Green School Committee, was amazed by the number of students that participated in the voluntary contest. "We have about 480 students at our school and 270 kids decorated a napkin," she said. "Napkins are still coming in. This contest really got the kids excited."
It wasn't just the students who got involved. Several parent volunteers worked to cut out hundreds of fabric squares, Race said. Other volunteers surged the edges. Others sorted and tagged them. The napkins were delivered to every student in the school.

TEXAS: Several local school districts were singled out in a new statewide study from the Texas comptroller’s office for their “Smart Practices,” money-saving measures it would like to see emulated by other districts.

McKinney ISD, which received a perfect rating in the study, was recognized for building nine of its campuses using architectural prototypes and using two architectural firms, both of which offer prototype designs, for a savings of $150,000 per building.
Coppell ISD had seven of its practices listed: Partnering with Dallas County Schools on the installation of a fuel storage tank, and buying fuel from Dallas County Schools at a discounted price, saving $14,000 annually. Repurposing an elementary school to avoid building a new high school facility, saving $700,000 annually. Using scheduling and tracking software to increase the productivity of maintenance personnel and eliminate the need for more employees, saving $40,000 annually.Implementing a district wide energy management system; installing energy-efficient equipment and automatic light sensors. Installing energy-saving bulbs, ballasts and timers for the HVAC system, reducing annual electricity use by more than 10 percent. All for a savings of $200,000 annually.

Frisco ISD was highlighted for a combination of energy saving practices: Some schools use geothermal ground-source heat pumps in lieu of conventional HVAC systems. District uses an energy recovery ventilation system to reduce the amount of energy needed to heat or cool incoming air. District uses laminated roofing materials to reduce heat conducted into buildings and has installed motion sensors to turn off lights in unoccupied rooms. A centralized irrigation control system monitors water use. In 2009, the district spent about $770,000 less on electricity and natural gas at schools with geothermal ground-source heat pumps than it would have had conventional HVAC systems been installed in those buildings.

Mesquite ISD had two “Smart Practices: Placing recycling bins in all 1,300 classrooms as well as administrative buildings and athletic stadiums, allowing the district to eliminate half of its waste pickups and saving $57,000 in disposal costs in 2009 and $85,000 in 2010; district expects savings to reach $100,000 in 2011. Using a centrally controlled energy management system for HVAC in 42 of 47 schools. Installing programmable networked thermostats in all portable classrooms. Equipping all lighting with efficient fluorescent bulbs. Replacing natural gas units with electric booster water heaters. In all, the district saved $688,000 annually for the energy management system; $141,000 a year from water heater replacements; plus $369,000 in incentive reimbursements from the local energy provider.

KENTUCKY: Plans for a new McCracken County high school are on their way to Frankfort for state approval. Paducah's A & K Construction won the bid and estimates it will cost a little more than $55,673,000 to build the new school. Because the project is staying local, it translates to hundreds of potential construction jobs at a time when large scale projects are few and far between. For more on what that means for the area, watch the video.

KENTUCKY: The University of Kentucky has hired energy services company Ameresco to undertake a major energy efficiency retrofit over the next year across 61 campus buildings and 5.2 million square feet. As part of the project, the university will do the following, and more: update its lighting technology; replace the heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system; install soar technology.

This is not an insignificant investment: it is being paid for with $25 million in bonds. But Ameresco believes that the changes can help the school save almost $2.4 million annually, which means that even in year one, it will have enough savings to pay the annual debt service for the bonds. The relationship is structured as an energy savings performance contract, which means simply that if the university doesn’t generate the guaranteed utility savings over time, Ameresco is responsible for the difference. The retrofit is supposed to be completed by the end of 2011.

As of early October, for example, the University of Pennsylvania had the distinction of being the top Green Power high-education facility in America, according to the Top 20 College & University ranking compiled by the U.S. Environment Protection Agency Green Power Partnership Program. The University of Pennsylvania uses 201.8 million kilowatt-hours of green power, mostly solar and wind, which is about 48 percent of its total electricity consumption. Green power is defined as clean energy sourced through renewable energy certifications, via on-site generation or through green power from utilities.

Here’s the rest of the top five list (along with the total green power used and its percentage of total energy consumption: No. 2 = Carnegie Mellon University (86.8 million kilowatt-hours, 75 percent. No. 3 = Pennsylvania State University (83.6 million kilowatt-hours, 20 percent). No. 4 = University of Utah (62.9 million kilowatt-hours, 23 percent). No. 5 = University of California, Santa Cruz (55 million kilowatt-hours, 100 percent).

KENTUCKY: The University of Kentucky has hired energy services company Ameresco to undertake a major energy efficiency retrofit over the next year across 61 campus buildings and 5.2 million square feet. As part of the project, the university will do the following, and more: update its lighting technology; replace the heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system; install soar technology.

This is not an insignificant investment: it is being paid for with $25 million in bonds. But Ameresco believes that the changes can help the school save almost $2.4 million annually, which means that even in year one, it will have enough savings to pay the annual debt service for the bonds. The relationship is structured as an energy savings performance contract, which means simply that if the university doesn’t generate the guaranteed utility savings over time, Ameresco is responsible for the difference. The retrofit is supposed to be completed by the end of 2011.

As of early October, for example, the University of Pennsylvania had the distinction of being the top Green Power high-education facility in America, according to the Top 20 College & University ranking compiled by the U.S. Environment Protection Agency Green Power Partnership Program. The University of Pennsylvania uses 201.8 million kilowatt-hours of green power, mostly solar and wind, which is about 48 percent of its total electricity consumption. Green power is defined as clean energy sourced through renewable energy certifications, via on-site generation or through green power from utilities.

Here’s the rest of the top five list (along with the total green power used and its percentage of total energy consumption: No. 2 = Carnegie Mellon University (86.8 million kilowatt-hours, 75 percent. No. 3 = Pennsylvania State University (83.6 million kilowatt-hours, 20 percent). No. 4 = University of Utah (62.9 million kilowatt-hours, 23 percent). No. 5 = University of California, Santa Cruz (55 million kilowatt-hours, 100 percent).

CALIFORNIA: At a time of unprecedented budget cuts and teacher layoffs in California, the Alliance's California Green Schools Program has been saving school districts a significant amount of money on their energy bills by training students to make their schools more energy efficient. During the 2009-2010 school year, Green Schools empowered students at 54 schools in three Southern California districts – Lake Elsinore, Temecula and Murrieta – to become energy efficiency advocates. These student advocates conduct energy assessments and take the message of energy efficiency to their peers, teachers and community. Hundreds of primary and secondary school students saved more than 5.7 million kWh of energy, nearly $1 million in energy costs and more than 2,800 tons of CO2 emissions.

NEW YORK: New York City officials estimate that cleaning up potentially cancer-causing PCBs from hundreds of its schools would cost a staggering $1 billion, and they want more time before taking action. The issue of polychlorinated biphenyls, PCBs, in school buildings has been simmering for two years. The chemicals are found in dated light fixtures and caulk.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency has asked the city to begin replacing all of the suspected lighting fixtures in the school system. But education officials are resisting, saying they need to finish studying the issue and then come up with a plan for addressing the problem.

PCBs were often used in construction and electrical components starting in the 1950s. They were banned in 1978 when the health risks became known. The EPA says PCBs can cause cancer if they build up in the body over long periods of time, and can hurt the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems. The city claims it will cost $1 billion to replace PCB-contaminated lights in roughly 800 schools. Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott argued in a letter last month to the EPA that the city should complete its pilot program of testing on PCBs, and then develop a citywide "PCB management plan." He said in his letter that both EPA and city health officials "agree that there is no immediate health risk to students and staff occupying schools buildings that have PCB containing building materials."

That argument "misses the point,' said Dr. Robert Herrick, senior lecturer at the Harvard School of Public Health. "When you're dealing with anything that has a chronic health effect, you could make the argument it doesn't have an immediate risk. If you smoke a cigarette today, you're not going to die of cancer tomorrow, so it's not an immediate health risk." The city also contends that the primary method of PCB exposure to humans is ingesting it in foods, not inhaling it, as might be the case for children attending school. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called PCB removal a continuing project, one that will take decades as older buildings are updated or replaced.

TEXAS: By a narrow margin, the Brownsville Independent School District Board of Trustees approved $23.4 million in new school construction that will cost district taxpayers just $6.32 million. Under the stimulus act of 2010, BISD was eligible to borrow the money from the federal government and pay it back through Qualified School Construction Bonds. Also, as a property-poor school district, BISD qualifies for Instructional Facilities Allotments — state aid for bond payments — at a rate requiring the district to pay back just 27 percent of the cost and the state to pick up the remaining 73 percent, Larry Jordan of Estrada-Hinojosa, the district’s bond counsel, said.
Trustees were on a tight timeline, with stimulus funds expiring Dec. 31 and the state IFA eligibility expiring on Dec. 15.

WASHINGTON: Six Tacoma schools built between 1911 and 1951 will join Stadium High School, Lincoln High School and Washington Hoyt Elementary School as historic landmarks. Tacoma City Council voted to approve a resolution placing Fern Hill Elementary School built 1911; Central Elementary Administration Building built 1912; Jason Lee Middle School built 1924; Stewart Middle School built 1925; McCarver Elementary School built 1925; and Whitman Elementary School built 1952 on the local register of historic places.

The effort to nominate Tacoma's oldest schools dates back to a report completed in 2006 by a committee formed by Tacoma's Landmark's Preservation Commission. In that report, the committee concluded that 14 school-owned buildings might be eligible for landmark designations. Two years later, Tacoma Public Schools hired an architectural historian and preservation advocate to complete a survey of Tacoma's public school buildings and identify those that are historically significant. When the survey was completed, it showed that of the 55 school buildings owned by the district, 27 date back before 1960, which would make them old enough to at least meet the age requirement for inclusion on the city's register. Many were designed by notable Tacoma architects Frederick Heath, George Gove, E. J. Bresemann, and Roland E. Borhek. The buildings also reflect a variety of architectural styles, including English Gothic, Tudor, and Gothic Revival.

"We feel to the extent that we can in a systematic manner develop an inventory and sensitivity toward those buildings which should receive a deeper analysis with an eye toward preserving them for the long term, we want to do that," Pete Wall, director of planning and construction for the school district, told the Tacoma Daily Index in 2008.

The six schools recommended to council tonight were constructed between 1911 and 1951. Each school building is a unique neighborhood landmark associated with the development of Tacoma, and each reflects a broad patterns of our history through its architecture. These schools are examples of early school design, reflecting rapidly changing social patterns, educational philosophies, and they also serve as high water marks for periods of rapid student population growth. These nominations are the result of a study commissioned by the Tacoma School District to assess this historically significant building stock. The Tacoma School District is one of the largest, if not the largest, steward of historically significant buildings in the city. This is an enormous step forward for preservation in the city. It also reflects a long-term conversation that's been occurring since 2005 between the landmarks commission, Historic Tacoma and the school district, and the landmarks commission has considered schools as a top neighborhood preservation priority since 2005.

TEXAS: The city of Houston and HISD are teaming up through a nationwide program to help make schools more energy efficient.
Last month Mayor Annise Parker and HISD Superintendent Terry Grier participated in the Greening of America's Schools Summit at the Redford Center in Utah to discuss the importance of greening school districts. Through the summit, the city and school district decided they'd share information about green practices through the mayor's director of sustainability, create more common gardens for initiatives such as SPARK parks and convene local superintendents for a local green schools summit.

"The City of Houston and HISD both have many resources that can be of use to one another," said Mayor Parker in a prepared statement. "The City of Houston is committed to applying any available resources to help our schools, especially those that can provide our children with a green, sustainable environment." "We look forward to building on our existing efforts and implementing new sustainability initiatives through this partnership with the City of Houston," said Dr. Grier in a prepared statement. "HISD has many opportunities to showcase how green initiatives can help save energy and costs while providing yet another learning experience for our teachers, students and staff."

The summit was hosted by The Redford Center, which was founded by actor and activist Robert Redford, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability USA. City and school officials from California, Iowa, Utah, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Michigan, South Carolina and North Carolina also participated in the summit. "This meeting was inspirational, but more than that, I am thrilled that the dialogue that began here at Sundance will result in tangible action steps that these mayors and superintendents will be able to take back to their communities," Redford said in a prepared statement. "Our discussions affirmed that the environment and education are inextricably linked and that in order for school districts and communities to become healthier environments where people can thrive and learn, we all need to work together."
Outcomes from the conference will be compiled in a comprehensive report scheduled to come out in early 2011 and be a valuable resource for school districts and city officials nationwide.

MASSACHUSETTS: In case of an emergency, classes in the Central Berkshire Regional School District will be ready to go. The district's School Emergency Planning Council (SEPC) recently completed a yearlong project to fund and assemble emergency "Go-Kits" to put in every classroom and administrative office in the district's six schools as well as St. Agnes School. Council members include school staff and educators; local and state police; fire, emergency management and emergency medical personnel from the seven member towns of the district.

The Go-Kits are small backpacks filled with emergency and administrative supplies in the event students are locked-down in the classroom or need to be evacuated from a school for a prolonged period of time. Some of the items include emergency blankets, drinking water pouches, face masks, writing utensils, flashlights, glow stick lights and emergency plans and forms.
On Thursday night, about 30 members of the SEPC, parents and student volunteers from Dalton Rotary Interact and from the Dalton Police Explorers youth team gathered in the Craneville Elementary School cafeteria to assemble 200 classroom and 14 administrative office kits for distribution over the next week.

VIRGINIA: For more than 10 years leading up to Blacksburg High School's gym roof collapse, school administrators knew of significant structural problems inside the school and, particularly, the gym. Three separate engineers hired by the school district warned director of facilities Dan Berenato that cracks and settling in the building's foundation must be evaluated more closely or permanently fixed, according to engineering reports from 1999 to 2004. One engineer noted the possibility of structural failure in the southwest corner of the gym, the same area where the gym roof first started to fall in February this year.

Berenato and the school district never fixed many of the gym's problems and hired no other engineers after 2004. Berenato, still facilities director, declined to comment for this article. "I can't tell you why," Assistant Superintendent Walt Shannon said. "I didn't make the decisions at the time. Whatever decisions were made at the time, it is what it is." Shannon was the district's director of management services from 2001 to 2004. He now oversees facilities maintenance and regularly speaks to the school board, media and public regarding the damaged high school.

District and county officials are currently working on a funding plan for a new Blacksburg High as part of a $125 million capital spending plan. More than 600 pages of engineers' reports, letters to Berenato and e-mails show the district's knowledge and concern of structural problems in Blacksburg High's gym. Blacksburg building official Cathy Cook first obtained the documents from the school district in May after she filed a Freedom of Information Act request. The Roanoke Times received the papers from the building office in mid-November after filing a FOIA request.

Though the bulk of foundation settlement, cracks and wall movement that the reports note occurred in the southwest corner of the gym building, there's no proof that contributed to a main roof truss buckling and rolling off the building's southwest steel column -- almost directly above the long-time problem areas -- and pulling down the rest of the roof Feb. 13.
Forcon International, which investigated the collapse for the school's insurer, had not known of earlier engineers' reports when it visited the wreckage from March until May, said Henry Moncure, the company's main engineer for Blacksburg High. Moncure said he visited the cracked area in the girls locker room, in the lower level of the gym building's southwest corner, and saw no fresh damage. The roof fell because of weak steel, improper welding and poor support at the plate that joined the column and truss, combined with a heavy blanket of snow on the roof, according to Forcon's reports. Still, further investigation of the cracked areas or formal inspections of fixes made to cracks may have led to inquiry and discovery of the building's many structural deficiencies, engineers and Cook said.

ALASKA: Building Alaska's newest Bush school meant pounding steel pilings 60 feet into the tundra, installing special devices to keep the permafrost frozen, and building a frozen airstrip on a lake. Oh, and don't forget the $25 million for the new Kongiganak school - named after a Yup'ik elder known for his walrus-hunting skills. The price comes to about $166,000 for each of the 150 students in the all-grades school. It's worth every penny, said Daryl Daugaard, site administrator. "Kids need to have a good quality school to work with so they can feel proud," he said.

At 34,000 square feet, the facility more than doubles the size of the old school, which was threatened by flooding. It boasts larger classrooms, upgraded technology and a big library - the first thing students see after entering the building. Learning is easier now, said Daugaard. Four classes that met in the old gym were set off only by partitions. The noise interrupted learning. Now every class has its own room, reducing distractions, he said. Even better, the school might someday be powered partly by wind turbines, reducing electric bills and freeing up educational dollars.

The Ayagina'ar Elitnaurviak school is part of the state's decade-long effort to update rural schools. It followed a judge's 2001 ruling that the state's rural school construction practices were inadequate and discriminatory, since Native students occupy most rural schools. The Kasayulie case that prompted the ruling came after a decade-long dry spell in the 1990s, when the Legislature had stopped providing money to replace rural schools, said Willie Kasayulie, from Akiachak village. The state's spent around half a billion dollars replacing some 20 schools in Western Alaska. It has spent hundreds of millions more upgrading old schools.
The progress continues. In November, Alaska voters approved a bond package that will provide about $125 million to update or replace three village schools in Southwest Alaska. Lawmakers also took a big step early this year, passing a bill that creates a funding stream for rural school construction that's tied to state money spent on urban schools. This latest wave of construction replaces some of the original high schools the state built three decades ago in 126 villages. That effort was forced by the Molly Hootch lawsuit brought by villagers in the 1970s.

IRELAND: A striking number of the projects in A Space for Learning, an exhibition organised by the Irish Architecture Foundation (IAF), focus on the outdoors. There are remarkable gardens, an amphitheatre and a huge dome that turns one school into something like the Eden Project in Cornwall.
A Space for Learning started life when the foundation invited established architects and young graduates to work with transition-year students to come up with different ways of looking at schools. At the beginning of this year 120 architects were paired with 1,500 students in 90 schools across the country. The results of their work have been published in a new book and 10 of the projects appear in the exhibition in the gallery at the National College of Art Design, in Dublin.

NATIONAL: Low building quality negatively affects student achievement, and this effect is exacerbated when students change schools often; both conditions are more often found in low-income districts, according to a new study by Cornell researchers Gary Evans, professor of design and environmental analysis; Min Jun Yoo, M.S. '08; and John Sipple, associate professor of education; and published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology (Vol. 30).

The researchers studied the relation between school building quality and student stability, socio-economic background and scores on standardized achievement tests in 511 public elementary schools in the New York City school system. Prior studies had confirmed a link between building quality and student performance independent of socio-economic status, but most did not address the question of why. One study provided a clue. It indicated that one reason for this relationship was because of absenteeism. Independent of socio-economic status, students in poorer quality buildings were absent more often. Students do not learn as much if they spend less time in school.

Thus, Evans and his colleagues investigated how student mobility might also contribute to the linkage between school building quality and student achievement. "We found that students attending schools with lower building quality and those attending schools with high student mobility had lower test scores," says environmental psychologist Evans.
Furthermore, they found that when these two risk factors were combined, it was particularly damaging to academic achievement. These negative effects on test scores occurred independently of socio-economic and racial composition of the school. Further research at the individual student and teacher levels may shed light on the mechanisms for these synergistic effects.

While it is widely understood that teacher experience, curriculum and school social climate influence children's learning, this study underscores the importance of the physical environment as well. It is the first study to demonstrate the interaction between the condition of school facilities and student mobility. "Our findings highlight a serious issue in American education -- inequality," says Evans. "Although we controlled for socio-economic status and race in our analysis, in reality low-income children are both more likely to change schools and more likely to attend schools with lower quality buildings. We conclude that the school environment contributes to the income-achievement gap and, therefore, warrants greater attention."

NATIONAL: Low building quality negatively affects student achievement, and this effect is exacerbated when students change schools often; both conditions are more often found in low-income districts, according to a new study by Cornell researchers Gary Evans, professor of design and environmental analysis; Min Jun Yoo, M.S. '08; and John Sipple, associate professor of education; and published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology (Vol. 30).

The researchers studied the relation between school building quality and student stability, socio-economic background and scores on standardized achievement tests in 511 public elementary schools in the New York City school system. Prior studies had confirmed a link between building quality and student performance independent of socio-economic status, but most did not address the question of why. One study provided a clue. It indicated that one reason for this relationship was because of absenteeism. Independent of socio-economic status, students in poorer quality buildings were absent more often. Students do not learn as much if they spend less time in school.

Thus, Evans and his colleagues investigated how student mobility might also contribute to the linkage between school building quality and student achievement. "We found that students attending schools with lower building quality and those attending schools with high student mobility had lower test scores," says environmental psychologist Evans.
Furthermore, they found that when these two risk factors were combined, it was particularly damaging to academic achievement. These negative effects on test scores occurred independently of socio-economic and racial composition of the school. Further research at the individual student and teacher levels may shed light on the mechanisms for these synergistic effects.

While it is widely understood that teacher experience, curriculum and school social climate influence children's learning, this study underscores the importance of the physical environment as well. It is the first study to demonstrate the interaction between the condition of school facilities and student mobility. "Our findings highlight a serious issue in American education -- inequality," says Evans. "Although we controlled for socio-economic status and race in our analysis, in reality low-income children are both more likely to change schools and more likely to attend schools with lower quality buildings. We conclude that the school environment contributes to the income-achievement gap and, therefore, warrants greater attention."

WASHINGTON: The Lake Washington School District in suburban Seattle is building a new public school designed to be 47% more energy efficient than targets set under the U.S. Department of Energy’s EnergyStar® program. The Finn Hill Junior High in Kirkland, Washington, uses Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) from Premier Building Systems for a more airtight and well-insulated structure than typical school construction methods.

The school design by Mahlum Architects includes 6-inch-thick SIP walls and 10-inch-thick SIP roof. The SIP panels arrive at the job-site in large, ready-to-install sections, which helps reduce gaps and air leakage in the finished building. Continuous insulation throughout each panel’s height, depth and width further protects against heat loss. The SIP panels will help the school district reduce energy costs, and allow for smaller, more cost-effective mechanical systems. Reducing heating and cooling consumption was critical for the building’s “net-zero energy ready” design, meaning that the potential area for the roof-mounted solar panels is sufficient to power all the school’s needs. The school will open with one of the largest solar panel installations in the state.

The new Finn Hill Junior High is a single-story, approximately 120,000-square-foot building replacing an existing school located on the same site. It is designed to serve 600 students, plus 150 students in an “Environmental Adventure School” located within the building. The school will include space for core academic instruction, special education, fine arts, technology, physical education, library and commons.

In collaboration with the design team, Mahlum Architects designed the school to an energy consumption target of 25 kBTU per square foot per year, compared to an EnergyStar™ Target Finder average energy use of 47.3 kBTU per square foot per year – a 47% improvement. By comparison, older schools in the Seattle area consume upwards of 88 kBTU per square foot per year, making the Finn Hill Junior High approximately 70% more energy efficient than older buildings. The new Finn Hill Junior High complies with the Washington Sustainable Schools Protocol of the State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

MISSOURI: What are the benefits of building "green" schools, and for those unable to afford new, sustainable facilities, what can be done to reduce long-term costs for a minimal investment?
For school districts lucky enough to be in a position to build new facilities, the green or sustainable path provides multiple benefits.

Through incorporation of sustainable features such as increased insulation, high-performance glazing and highly reflective roofing materials, green schools can realize long-term energy savings, which directly affect the bottom line. Lower-flow plumbing fixtures, sustainable rainwater strategies and water-efficient landscaping can decrease a green school's overall water use. Those steps also result in utility bill savings. Green schools also address acoustics, daylighting and access to views of core learning and support spaces, which can positively influence occupant satisfaction.

Unfortunately, not every school district has the luxury of constructing new facilities. But in today's tight economic times, many schools are still looking for ways to save money on their utility bills. When school district administrators see the utility costs from the buildings they operate, they feel the same pain as many homeowners do when they see their utility bills.

Fortunately, there are some basic energy savings changes a school can make with limited resources. One option is to look for ways to reduce the "plug load," which is the energy used by everything plugged into electrical outlets. Turning off lights and computers and unplugging appliances when they are not in use are great ways to decrease energy costs. Another cost-effective way to use less energy is to replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. Using flow-restricting aerators on water faucets saves both energy and water. Schools can also look for ways to reduce the amount of hours the building is in use to enhance energy savings.

CALIFORNIA: The Green California Schools Summit announced its 2010 Leadership Award recipients. The Green California Schools Summit, now in its fourth year, is the state's major conference and trade show focused on building, running and teaching in high performance schools. The Leadership Awards honor individuals, school districts and industry representatives for outstanding accomplishment in school sustainability.

Alan Haskvitz, a teacher at Suzanne Middle School in Walnut, California, will receive a Leadership Award in the category of "Teacher." For the past 30 years, his "Make a Difference" Program has encouraged students to take environmental lessons from the classroom into the community.
The San Bernardino City Unified School District will receive the "Green Building" Award for its steadfast dedication to implementing green building standards. Although it is considered a "hardship district," the district has managed to undertake 53 modernization and 14 new school projects in recent years.
Landscape architecture can provide outdoor learning spaces that connect a school and everyone in it to the natural world. The "Industry" Award will go to Campbell & Campbell Landscape Architects for its role in creating such environments.
Deborah Moore, founder of the Green Schools Initiative, receives the "Pioneer" Award for the significant inroads she has made in promoting green culture within schools, based on the notion that a truly green school is one that considers its building, its operations and its curriculum.
A school district is a community within a community, and when a district embraces sustainability, it becomes a model to be emulated. The Manteca Unified School District will receive the "District" Award for its far-reaching sustainability programs and projects.
When a school district can save almost $900,000 on its energy bills without a capital outlay, it is able to make a significant contribution to its general fund. The Murrieta Valley Unified School District is being honored for doing just that, and much more

OREGON: As the Portland School Board prepares to put the largest local government bond issue in state history before voters -- a $548 million plan to upgrade schools -- plenty of Portland taxpayers are worried they'll face a staggering tax burden. But how big is big? Portland school leaders point out that the additional tax of $2 per $1,000 of assessed property value they're proposing is fairly routine to build and repair schools in the Portland metro area.

The simple explanation for why Portland's school bond would set a record is that Portland Public Schools is the state's most populous school district by far, so its budgets and spending plans are always the state's biggest. The district hasn't put a bond issue on the ballot since 1996, and Portland Public Schools taxpayers paid that off five years ago. But that bond totaled just less than $200 million. This one would surpass the half-billion dollar mark, and district officials are proposing to mostly pay it off in six years. Some wary residents have predicted that will bring crushing 20-percent-plus surges in their annual tax bills.

In fact, according to a detailed analysis by June Tilgner, applications manager for the Multnomah County assessor's office, 98 percent of homeowners in the Portland school district, including all who live within Portland city limits, would see their property tax bill rise an additional 9 percent if voters say yes to the bond measure. For the other 2 percent inside the district but outside city limits, property tax bills would be as much as 15 percent higher because property owners outside Portland pay lower non-school tax rates. Most of the homeowners in that category live in the north end of Lake Oswego or near Patton Road in the Bridlemile neighborhood.

Portland school officials say they need to ask for a very large bond issue because, unlike suburban districts, almost none of Portland's schools are newly built and up-to-date, and most are very old, on average about 65 years. The district last added a school in the late 1990s, to serve the new Forest Heights neighborhood in Northwest Portland, and since has closed more than a half dozen campuses.

In Portland, it was a big deal this fall when classrooms finally got working telephones. District officials paint a picture of leaking roofs, creaky heating systems, inadequate wiring, and classrooms that are too small for big classes but too large for the small-group work such as English as a second language classes or intensive catch-up reading instruction.
Many schools lack earthquake protections and safety features required for all newly built schools. Many don't have big enough gyms or auditoriums or, in some cases, enough bathrooms to accommodate all their students. At Rigler School, it takes four lunch periods to allow every student to eat. Many students who use wheelchairs find themselves unable to get around their schools independently. Under the Portland district's plan, more than half the schools would get new furnaces, for example, because aging boilers are unreliable, expensive to maintain and not attuned with current energy-saving approaches.

NATIONAL: When President Obama first signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, he took much criticism for spending more money—$787 billion more—when the nation was reeling from decades-old debt, a more than 9 percent unemployment rate and a mortgage crisis. But this measure has allowed public school district leaders to invest in cost-effective, energy-efficient facilities projects faster than they would have if they didn’t have the federal funds.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, ARRA offered unprecedented opportunities for state and local governments to reduce energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and create jobs through implementing clean energy programs. At least $33.6 billion has been broken up and allocated to various departments and agencies to dole out to states, which in turn have filtered the money to various school districts to renovate or build new facilities, according to the 21st Century School Fund, a nonprofit organization designed to improve urban public school facilities.

Some of the funds have been allocated for Qualified School Construction Bonds, which allow districts to borrow money at low or zero interest, saving millions of dollars. “The outcome is energy efficiency that will change school facilities and save money down the line,” says Judy Marks, director of the National Clearinghouse of Educational Facilities, which provides information and research on planning, designing, financing, constructing and operating high-performance K12 schools and higher education facilities. “Districts have recognized that one way to cut costs is to make changes in the way facilities operate.” [Includes in-depth views of some of those projects.]

NEW JERSEY: For decades, Newark students have attended school in buildings that are among the oldest, most obsolete and dangerous in New Jersey, if not the nation. Spurred by a ruling in the landmark Abbott v. Burke case, the State of New Jersey in 2002 launched a school construction program to build new or renovate schools in Newark and other urban and middle income communities across the state.

Newark's "long-range facilities plan," as approved by the NJ Department of Education, calls for approximately 40 new school buildings and 30 major addition and renovation projects to alleviate severe overcrowding and other deplorable conditions that directly impact the quality of education available to the city's students.

Since 2003, the State school construction agency — the Schools Development Authority (SDA) — has spent over $100 million to prepare sites and designs to replace many other dilapidated buildings in Newark's plan. Four of these projects, in particular, proceeded with site acquisition and design, and the projects were fully funded in 2008 by the State Legislature. These projects are now "shovel ready," which means the SDA can begin actual construction. In January 2010, however, Governor Christie ordered the SDA to stop work on the four projects, along with more than 45 other projects across the state, even though the Legislature had already provided funding for the projects.

These four projects are urgently needed, and long overdue. The State has already invested millions in site preparation, planning and design to bring them to the "shovel ready" stage. In addition to providing many schoolchildren — and their teachers — with safe and adequate schools, moving forward will generate construction and other jobs for Newark residents and contracts for minority and women-owned firms. And building these schools will have a positive impact on the quality of the surrounding neighborhoods.

Newark students, and the community, have waited far too long for this very basic education reform. We urge all those concerned about the Newark public schools to let Governor Christie know that it's time to build Newark's "shovel ready" new schools.

OREGON: Portland Public Schools wants voters to approve a record $548 million bond issue to upgrade schools, so it's playing up not only how that would help students learn but also how it would help the local economy.
According to a study it commissioned from consulting firm EcoNorthwest, getting taxpayers to fund $548 million in local school construction and renovation would create a net of 2,594 new full- and part-time jobs in metro Portland. And it would raise the area's personal income by $220 million. The study, however, acknowledges that taxpayers will face a very real burden trying to foot the bill.

The owner of an average home would pay about $350 to $400 per year from 2011 to 2017 to pay for all the school improvements. EcoNorthwest economists said that would dampen collective household spending on things other than tax bills by a whopping $600 million. That in turn would cost local workers 4,450 jobs. But the consultants project the school renovations would inject, directly and indirectly, about $945 million of spending in the local economy, creating about 7,050 jobs. The net effect, they say, would be 2,600 additional jobs for the three-county metro area. Those positions would include construction workers, contractors, architects, project developers, sales, jobs, manufacturing jobs and work creating educational technology for classrooms, the report said.

VIRGINIA: The Manassas school system has submitted an application to vie for millions of dollars in construction bonds Virginia is scheduled to distribute, schools officials said. Schools officials have submitted six applications in an effort to secure about $14.9 million of the almost $300 million in qualified school construction bonds still available in Virginia as part of the federal economic stimulus law, said Jennifer Maguire, Manassas schools' finance director. Award allocations are capped at $15 million per school system, and 43 districts have applied for funds, Virginia Department of Education officials said.

The bonds, issued by the Virginia Public School Authority, are zero or near-zero interest. Manassas schools would use them to replace the roofs at Grace E. Metz Middle School and R.C. Haydon and George C. Round elementary schools. Other potential projects include replacing the heating and cooling systems at Metz and Round and replacing Osbourn High School's mechanical system, school officials said. "Interest is a big component of cost; these bonds help make [large projects] more affordable," Maguire said, noting that otherwise the school might have to pay an interest rate of about 4.5 percent. The six projects school officials are seeking qualified bonds for are part of the system's roughly $24 million five-year capital improvement plan approved by the School Board in August, Maguire said. The fate of the projects is uncertain if officials can't secure the qualified bonds, she said.

"State and local funding reductions in recent years have caused us to defer these much needed capital maintenance projects," Superintendent Gail Pope wrote in a letter to Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) . "Allocation of [these bonds] would enable us to sustain the buildings longer and achieve energy savings." Pope also said the projects would provide jobs in the construction industry, which has declined drastically in the Manassas area in recent years.
The bonds are available for school construction, additions and renovations of buildings. Virginia Department of Education officials will rate the 43 applications by a set of criteria and make recommendations to McDonnell, state education officials said, adding that it is unclear when they will go before the governor. Projects that can eliminate overcrowding, reduce the number of schools or replace a facility more than 35 years old will receive more points in the competition for funds, according to the Department of Education's Web site. The governor can also give priority to projects related to health and safety.

Pope said in the letter to the governor that because of increases in enrollment and a decrease in state and local funding, the school system can't consolidate or build schools. Instead, she said, the bonds will help Manassas maintain facilities, enhance energy savings and provide a "safe and comfortable" learning environment for students. This is the third round of qualified school construction bonds that have been awarded in the commonwealth. Maguire said Manassas did not apply for the two prior awards - totaling about $134 million over the past year - because the system didn't have any projects that met the criteria for those awards. Maguire said that if the city receives the bonds, school officials will have 14 to 17 years to repay them. If the schools learn that they have been awarded the bonds by the end of the year, the projects could potentially start by summer, she said.

MASSACHUSETTS: As 1,250 students prepare to enter the new $81.5 million Beverly High School, city officials and educators are looking forward to shedding an academic probation designation that helped spawn the construction of the costliest municipal spending project in the city’s history.

“This shows the world that Beverly is going to move forward even if things are tough," Mayor Bill Scanlon said as he stood underneath a skylight in the new school’s library, a roomy, carpeted area that stretches up two stories, is climate-controlled and bathed in sunlight.
Nearly five years ago, Scanlon stood in a decidedly more political room — the City Council chambers — and explained to councilors that unless they took immediate action and approved the new academic wing, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges would revoke Beverly High School’s accreditation. The private nonprofit accrediting agency had put the school on warning in 2000, and added the probation tag in 2003 after identifying numerous structural problems with the building, including filmy and outdated windows, cluttered classrooms, nonworking electrical conduits, leaks in the roof, and exposed wiring.

The new four-story academic wing took two years to build and is part of a bigger project to replace the old high school, which was constructed in 1965 and built on a rambling slope with more than 10 levels. The new wing was built on a parking lot and connects to a section of the old school, which includes a newly renovated auditorium and a cafeteria and field house that will be fully renovated by March. In the meantime, students will eat in a temporary cafeteria, and when work is completed, the old school will be razed. One of the new school’s most striking features is the amount of light in each room. All classrooms have windows or skylights and at least 35 percent of the facility will be powered by solar energy, allowing the school to be brightly lit even on rainy days.

CALIFORNIA: It's not surprising that the Los Angeles Unified School District would build a preschool next to a new apartment building. What is surprising, however, is that the early education center and the 50-unit apartment complex are both being built on land owned by L.A. Unified in a dense urban neighborhood between Atwater Village and Highland Park. And district officials say they hope teachers will rent units in the new affordable-housing development.

The Glassell Park project is an example of joint use in which two different organizations — sometimes two public agencies, or a public agency and a private developer — combine to build projects that would be difficult and costly to build separately. In the past, developers have built apartment complexes in cooperation with medical clinics, swimming pools, libraries and other public facilities. In Glassell Park, the district is working with Abode Communities of Los Angeles, which began construction this fall on 50 units of affordable apartments on a 1.5-acre site that also includes the early education center. The site formerly served as a parking lot for Glassell Park Elementary School, located across the street.

Between the preschool building and the apartment complex will be a 10,000-square-foot "outdoor learning classroom," which will provide space for young children to play and take classes. During non-school hours, the playground is expected to be open for apartment residents. The Glassell Park project, in fact, is the first effort by the school system to combine education facilities and housing on district-owned land.

The apartments are considered workforce housing — intended for teachers, police officers, nurses and others who earn a median income but find themselves unable to afford housing in many neighborhoods. Although the Glassell Park units are available for all qualifying households, L.A. Unified plans at least three other projects with apartments in which priority will be given to teachers seeking affordable housing, although the homebuilder has the right to rent units to non-teachers if district staffers do not lease all the units.

Funds for building the Early Elementary Center came from voter-approved bond measures, according to a district representative. Although the school district has not contributed funding to the housing project, the district helped finance a $7-million underground garage that will provide parking for the preschool, the apartment complex and the existing Glassell Park Elementary School. To finance the underground garage, the school district raised the money, in part, from charging the apartment builder about $20,000 annually for a 66-year ground lease while collecting the remaining money from state and local sources, said Sam Mistrano, a former senior facilities project manager for the district.

CALIFORNIA: It's not surprising that the Los Angeles Unified School District would build a preschool next to a new apartment building. What is surprising, however, is that the early education center and the 50-unit apartment complex are both being built on land owned by L.A. Unified in a dense urban neighborhood between Atwater Village and Highland Park. And district officials say they hope teachers will rent units in the new affordable-housing development.

The Glassell Park project is an example of joint use in which two different organizations — sometimes two public agencies, or a public agency and a private developer — combine to build projects that would be difficult and costly to build separately. In the past, developers have built apartment complexes in cooperation with medical clinics, swimming pools, libraries and other public facilities. In Glassell Park, the district is working with Abode Communities of Los Angeles, which began construction this fall on 50 units of affordable apartments on a 1.5-acre site that also includes the early education center. The site formerly served as a parking lot for Glassell Park Elementary School, located across the street.

Between the preschool building and the apartment complex will be a 10,000-square-foot "outdoor learning classroom," which will provide space for young children to play and take classes. During non-school hours, the playground is expected to be open for apartment residents. The Glassell Park project, in fact, is the first effort by the school system to combine education facilities and housing on district-owned land.

The apartments are considered workforce housing — intended for teachers, police officers, nurses and others who earn a median income but find themselves unable to afford housing in many neighborhoods. Although the Glassell Park units are available for all qualifying households, L.A. Unified plans at least three other projects with apartments in which priority will be given to teachers seeking affordable housing, although the homebuilder has the right to rent units to non-teachers if district staffers do not lease all the units.

Funds for building the Early Elementary Center came from voter-approved bond measures, according to a district representative. Although the school district has not contributed funding to the housing project, the district helped finance a $7-million underground garage that will provide parking for the preschool, the apartment complex and the existing Glassell Park Elementary School. To finance the underground garage, the school district raised the money, in part, from charging the apartment builder about $20,000 annually for a 66-year ground lease while collecting the remaining money from state and local sources, said Sam Mistrano, a former senior facilities project manager for the district.

MINNESOTA: Park Rapids Schools’ energy efficiency projects are paying dividends. The school board accepted a rebate check of $32,124 from Minnesota Power, recognizing the lights upgrade and high efficiency motors and mechanical equipment installed, and a $15,000 rebate check from Ann Carlon of Minnesota Energy Resources Corp. for the new boilers. The school is undergoing $11.3 million in upgrades that include 19 new air handling units, five of them rooftop units; dehumidifiers; lights; boilers; water heaters; roofing and a pool filtration system. The project is funded through bonding sources, $7.6 million of which were qualified school construction bonds, which are stimulus dollars. The project will carry over to next summer.

NEW JERSEY: From grid positive colleges to green-built classrooms, there are more green schools than ever before. Now, a New Jersey girls’ high school known as Bnos Bais Yaakov will be joining their ranks with a massive rooftop solar array.
When we say massive, we do mean massive. While there’s no word on exactly how many megawatts will be involved, the 25,000 square foot roof of the high school building will soon be home to a solar array expected to save Bnos Bais Yaakov $35,000 on its electric bills on an annual basis. At this rate, the system will pay for itself in three years.

A local company, Arosa Energy, will be handling the installation of this photovoltaic system, purchased by the school with the help of government incentives and solar renewable energy credits (SRECs) it will receive once the system is in operation. Currently, the Garden State’s green initiatives and government funding programs lead the nation for the shortest payback period on solar energy systems, and SRECs in New Jersey are worth twice their value in other states.

CONNECTICUT: The Hartford board of education wants to hear how residents feel about improving the condition of town school buildings. A four-page newsletter with an attached two-page community survey was mailed this week to all town households. Residents are being asked to complete the postage-paid survey and return it by Dec. 10. The 20 questions seek information about length of residency, employment status, number of children in the school system and how informed residents are about conditions in the school buildings and plans for improvements. In a comments box, residents can express their views on what needs to be done to improve school facilities. Responses are anonymous and additional comments are encouraged.

Educators believe that the better informed voters are, the greater the chances that a plan for improvements will pass at referendum. Twice in the past two years residents have decisively rejected school construction referendums, the most recent defeat occurring in June when a $91.9 million plan would have completely remade the landscape of the town elementary schools was shot down. Local taxpayers would have been responsible for $56.8 million of the cost.

School Superintendent Jeffrey A. Villar said the newsletter, planned as the first in a series, is intended to address what he sees as a failure to adequately inform residents about the conditions inside the school buildings. "What I said after the referendum was that I fully maintain that we failed to do a good job in demonstrating the needs of the schools to the community," he said.

The board indicates in the newsletter that it plans to use the responses in the community survey to make possible adjustments in its plans to modernize the buildings. Simply bringing the town's three elementary schools into compliance with existing life safety and handicap accessibility codes would cost $29.4 million, and would not address educational needs such as lack of classroom space and facilities, the newsletter states.
MacDonald said that after the June referendum, board members received a lot of anecdotal evidence about what residents want, or don't want, in the plans to modernize the buildings. The survey responses will provide something concrete to work with. "If we get 10 percent back, we'll be happy,' he said.

NATIONAL: The moment students enter the classroom, the space informs them more than we can imagine about the type of learning the environment will foster and the clear direction the lead learner in the classroom wishes to go.
In many classrooms, the picture is all too familiar: desks in rows, a clear front of the classroom, podium off-center in the front, etc.. Does this image speak to the beliefs we state about 21st Century Learning? Are these spaces best capable of fostering the development of our vision for a well-educated global citizen? Have the spaces been intentionally designed in a way that supports learning and teaching?

Sadly, space design seems to have fallen into "do what we've always done" not what will best serve learning. But today, it is not enough to consider the habits we want and the teaching that will get us there. We must begin to provide the habitats that will support the creation and development of the desired habits.
Developing the habitats that will foster the desired habits starts with an honest view of your current learning spaces against your vision of learning. In other words, what does it mean to be well-educated and how do our spaces support this vision?

Of late, the focus of many educational discussions center on pedagogy, technology, and "21st Century Skills". However, rethinking the spaces that our learners inhabit eight hours a day, five days a week, and over 180 days a year is just as critical. As Sir Ken Robinson stated, "If we are looking for new pedagogical practices, we have to have facilities that will enable those to happen." Thus, it is time to provide the 21st Century Habitats that will foster the desired 21st Century Habits. The question is how will you change the school from a collection of classrooms to a robust multidimensional learning space capable of fostering well-educated, 21st Century citizens? [Includes an 8-step approach to re-thinking spaces.]

VIRGINIA: It's the little things that add up, Kaitlin Steck found when she nominated Waynesboro's school district for the Green Schools Challenge. Those little things — the sum of them — put Waynesboro above 54 other school divisions, garnering them first place in the statewide competition. Efforts include: Recycling, and using recycled materials; A no-idling policy for buses; Use of daylight instead of artificial light in classrooms; A ride sharing and walking policy; A modernization of heating systems.

"It was neat to find out all the things the schools already do," said Steck, department secretary for the office of instruction. "You might not know what is going on when you're sitting in central office." Steck said Berkeley Glenn's solar powered water heating system made Waynesboro stand out. Waynesboro took the top prize from the Virginia School Board Association in the less-than-5,000-student bracket.

NORTH DAKOTA: The board unanimously approved the Planning and Development’s suggestion of moving forward with seven projects that will cost an estimated $7.6 million. All the projects will be funded by One-Time Supplemental and Qualified School Construction Bonds. The projects needed approval so they could have the chance of hopefully being completed before next school year, Lemer said.
He also noted that the district has three years to use all $5 million of the Qualified School Construction Bonds, so there is ample time to finish the remaining projects.

DENMARK: If form followed function in today’s schools, then there would be no need to change the current learning environment. The current model that pervades today’s school design is based on an outdated 19th-century model -- what academics call age-specific grouping, contain and control, didactic instruction, prescribed knowledge, uniformed progression, fixed schedules, and standardized assessment through memorization. In walking into many of today’s schools, you are instantly transported to the familiar experience of the double-loaded corridor, self-contained boxes with minimal daylight, and giant, impersonal lecture halls.

Artists and architects Bosch & Fjord rejected this Victorian thinking in their design of Ordrup School. In their design for the school, Bosch & Fjord translate, in physical terms, how today’s children want to learn and how today’s teachers want to teach. The design team literally moved into the school and took the time to observe, record and analyze the dynamic human interactions and complex relationships of learning.

Inventing a new language to describe this new pattern of learning, Bosh and Fjord galvanized their design concept around three central themes: “peace and absorption,” “discussion and cooperation,” and “security and presence.” With these three central modes of learning, a diversity of education spaces for children unfolded—colorful “hot pods” for group discussion, organically shaped tables for group work and creative play, personalized learning “booths” for reflective work, and playful circular tubes for reading and contemplation. Bosh & Fjord recognized that we all learn very differently, and they transformed Ordrup School based on this conviction. The form of Ordrup School, albeit playful and beautiful, now follows the function. (Includes slideshow)

NATIONAL: Education construction spending, after a small dip in the spring, has returned to the 2009 yearend level. Spending will be down 12.5% for 2010 vs. 2009 because of the rapid decline in spending during 2009. Education construction spending is currently 16% below the cyclical peak level in the spring of 2009. No change is expected through next spring. Then the recent rise in the value of education project starts will set off an 18% rise in spending through the end of 2012, almost back to the 2009 peak level. Education starts increased 29% from 2009 Q2 to 2010 Q3.During the steep decline in total education construction spending, building activity in the largest education markets, public high schools and public higher education, held up much better than construction of K-12 facilities. Construction spending for public higher education dropped only 2.9% over the last five quarters. Spending for public high schools fell only 8.9%.

By contrast, spending dropped 40% for private K-12 schools, 33% for public middle schools, 27% for private higher education and 29% for public elementary schools. Some of the decline in elementary and middle school construction is likely due to lessened enrollment pressure from the exodus of immigrants from overcrowded schools in the Southwest and Southeast. These spending differences reflect recent enrollment trends. The K-12 enrollment bulge has just passed through grade 12, highlighting the need for more high school space. And public colleges have gained market share vs. private colleges as always occurs during a recession.

Differences in funding sources also played a role. Public colleges were able better able to maintain income because much of their income is tuition. Tuition rates rose sharply during this period.

NATIONAL : The 2009 federal economic-stimulus program is supporting hundreds of millions of dollars worth of renewable-energy and energy-efficiency upgrades in school districts around the country.
Those projects are designed to transform and reduce energy consumption in the nation’s schools, through the addition of solar power and other sources of renewable energy, and to cut utility costs through energy efficiency. They’re also meant to build students’ and communities’ understanding of alternative power sources. To that end, teachers and administrators in many districts are incorporating their schools’ new energy features into classroom lessons.

The U.S. Department of Energy is managing many of those projects through stimulus-backed efforts such as the $3 billion State Energy Program, which is devoting about $300 million to schools, as well as through a solar program focused on the nation’s cities, and through block grants for energy efficiency, a significant number of which are devoted to school projects, according to federal officials.

The stimulus aid, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act approved by Congress nearly two years ago, will bring a number of energy benefits to schools and communities, said Gil Sperling, the senior adviser for policy and programs in the office of energy efficiency and renewable energy at the Energy Department. Along with creating jobs and cutting carbon emissions, the projects are intended to increase students’ understanding of energy use and the environmental and financial benefits of reducing power consumption.

The Obama administration also hopes that the federal investment will encourage other districts to consider making their own renewable-energy efforts, to curb pollution and cut costs, Mr. Sperling said. While the savings for individual school systems varies by project, the prospect of receiving federal money that could bring immediate savings on utility bills appeals to districts, particularly given states’ and schools’ struggles to emerge from the recession.

TENNESSEE: John Adams Elementary School has been awarded the 2010 School of the Year for Excellence in Architectural Design by the Tennessee School Boards Association.
Opened in 2009, John Adams Elementary is the first newly constructed city elementary school in a decade. The 500-student school was designed by Barge, Waggoner, Sumner & Cannon and DLR Group, with the architectural concept developed through a collaborative process involving parents, students, teachers and community members. Located in the Rock Springs Community in the Edinburgh subdivision, John Adams Elementary currently has an enrollment of 250 students in grades Pre-K through 5.

The two-story facility includes an open floor plan of classroom “neighborhoods” that can be divided into four separate classes in each grade level. The school features a full-size gymnasium, a multi-level library including a story tower, and a community room for multi-purpose use. John Adams Elementary was designed to be an environmentally friendly school, with a geo-thermal heating and cooling system along with other energy-efficient architectural and design features.

The Tennessee School Boards Association recognizes architectural firms for their excellence in design. School of the year awards are granted in five categories including new school construction of elementary, middle, and high schools, renovation and the People's Choice Award, which is selected by the attendees to the exhibit hall during the annual TSBA convention.

TENNESSEE: John Adams Elementary School has been awarded the 2010 School of the Year for Excellence in Architectural Design by the Tennessee School Boards Association.
Opened in 2009, John Adams Elementary is the first newly constructed city elementary school in a decade. The 500-student school was designed by Barge, Waggoner, Sumner & Cannon and DLR Group, with the architectural concept developed through a collaborative process involving parents, students, teachers and community members. Located in the Rock Springs Community in the Edinburgh subdivision, John Adams Elementary currently has an enrollment of 250 students in grades Pre-K through 5.

The two-story facility includes an open floor plan of classroom “neighborhoods” that can be divided into four separate classes in each grade level. The school features a full-size gymnasium, a multi-level library including a story tower, and a community room for multi-purpose use. John Adams Elementary was designed to be an environmentally friendly school, with a geo-thermal heating and cooling system along with other energy-efficient architectural and design features.

The Tennessee School Boards Association recognizes architectural firms for their excellence in design. School of the year awards are granted in five categories including new school construction of elementary, middle, and high schools, renovation and the People's Choice Award, which is selected by the attendees to the exhibit hall during the annual TSBA convention.

MARYLAND: A 10-member task force will analyze sources of revenue, legislative changes and financing options to pay for an estimated $2.8 billion in construction and improvements that are needed in Baltimore's public schools, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced. "While we don't have a solution to address this shortfall today, one thing is clear — we can't do nothing," said Rawlings-Blake.

Many city schools lack functioning heating and air conditioning, and have windows that do not open and electrical systems that are unable to support computers and other devices, according to a report released in the summer by the American Civil Liberties Union, which called on the city to seek funding solutions for capital projects at schools. City schools CEO Andrés Alonso said that over the past few decades, there has been a "tremendous neglect of the physical infrastructure of our schools."

In Maryland, the state government subsidizes a portion of improvements to school systems and allocates money for improvements and repairs when local governments can demonstrate they are prepared to pay their share. Bebe Verdery, education director for the ACLU of Maryland, said she applauded Rawlings-Blake for "laying out a very bold vision." "She is taking on a project that has been so intractable for so long," said Verdery, who worked on the report released in the summer. "This is the first time I've heard [city officials] acknowledge the scope of the problem."

MARYLAND: Classrooms that "grow" in size as students get older. Vegetable gardens and wind turbines that help teach city children about farming and alternative energy sources. Diverse learning spaces under a single, sweeping roof, intended to foster a sense of community.

These are just a few of the ideas presented by three teams competing to design the East Baltimore Community School, a $40 million, kindergarten-to-eighth-grade facility planned as an anchor for the East Baltimore Development Inc. renewal area.
Expected to open by fall 2014, the 103,000-square-foot building will be a "public contract school" — it will be open to neighborhood students, but its design and construction will not be funded through the city school system's standard procurement process. Money to build the school will come from a variety of sources, including nonprofits such as the Annie E. Casey Foundation, as well as from a previously approved tax-increment financing plan. More than $8.5 million has been raised so far.

East Baltimore Development Inc., a public-private partnership that is redeveloping 88 acres north of the Johns Hopkins Medical Campus as a $1.8 billion mixed-use community, is overseeing the school project. To select an architect, it launched a national competition and chose three teams to work for nine weeks on a design. Each team will receive $25,000, and the winner will be given the first chance to negotiate a contract to design the campus.

MICHIGAN: Taxpayers in the Whitehall school district may save as much as $6 million in interest over the repayment of the 2010 Building and Site bonds approved by voters last May. That savings is a result of the district’s qualification for the Qualified School Construction Bonds (QSCB), a program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Proceeds in the amount of $10,200,000 is the first series of bonds approved by the qualified voters on May 4, in an aggregate amount of not to exceed $11,760,000. The bond proceeds are to be used for the purpose of remodeling, furnishing and refurnishing and equipping and re-equipping school buildings; acquiring, installing and equipping and re-equipping school buildings for technology; constructing, equipping, developing and improving athletic facilities, athletic fields and play fields; preparing, developing and improving sites and paying the costs of issuing the bonds.
“Our bond pricing took place yesterday and our financial consultants have calculated a savings of $6,000,000 over the life of the bond,” says Darlene Dongvillo, superintendent of Whitehall District Schools (WDS). The school board was expected to pass a resolution accepting the series A bond sale on Friday morning. Closing of the sale is expected on Dec. 7.
“Getting our QSCB application approved is definitely something for WDS and the community to celebrate. If there are federal dollars available, then why not send them to our schools in Whitehall? The timing of our bond election last May was perfect to take advantage of this incentive program for our construction projects. This was very competitive and our perseverance and patience paid off. We are looking at a savings for taxpayers of $6,000,000 over the life of the bond. The extension period of the 7 mils that we asked for in May will be significantly reduced as a result of our application being approved.”

MICHIGAN: Three Genesee County school districts have gotten the go-ahead to borrow more than $41 million using low- to no-interest federal bonds, according to the state treasury department. Qualified school construction bonds, which were created in 2009 as part of the federal stimulus package, allow districts to borrow for construction and other capital improvements with no interest or interest rates below 1 percent — a 3 percent savings over similar bonds.

In the most recent allocation announced this month, the Flint, Montrose and Swartz Creek school districts were approved to borrow $15 million, $12.8 million and $13.6 million respectively, said Terry Stanton, treasury spokesman.
The bonds will allow the Flint School District to get a head start on some of the projects planned for the sinking fund approved by voters in August, said school spokesman Bob Campbell. “These funds would be used to accelerate some of the energy efficiency projects that the district has identified,” Campbell said.
The borrowing will triple the $4.7 million officials planned to spend in the first year of the millage on projects like replacing and upgrading aging fixtures, lighting, ceilings, roofs, parking lots and other structures.

MICHIGAN: Taxpayers in the Oakridge and Whitehall school districts will save more than $14.5 million on recently approved bond proposals thanks to a federal economic stimulus program. Both districts qualified for near zero percent interest Qualified School Construction Bonds that will fund most of the school improvements approved by voters this year. In both cases, the savings will allow the districts to slash the number of years on voter-approved extensions of 7-mill tax levies.

Oakridge taxpayers will save an estimated $10.6 million in interest payments on an $8.6 million improvement project that primarily includes a large addition to Oakridge Lower Elementary School. The length of the millage extension needed to pay off the bonds is expected to be cut by more than half, from 12 years to five years.
Whitehall taxpayers will save $6 million in interest on a bond proposal approved by voters in May that will pay for a wide range of improvements, including new computer technology in all classrooms, high school stadium and other athletic improvements, school security systems and other infrastructure improvements. Two years will be shaved off the voter-approved eight-year extension.
“Getting this application approved is definitely something for the school system and the community to celebrate,” said Whitehall District Schools Superintendent Darlene Dongvillo. “My view is that if the federal dollars are available, then why not benefit from those dollars?”
Interest rates on Qualified School Construction Bonds are kept near zero percent because investors who buy them receive federal income tax credits at prescribed tax credit rates in lieu of interest. The bonds are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

OHIO: When East High's gym roof caved in 10 years ago, officials set out on a mission to replace and restore Cleveland's crumbling public schools. Now the crusade is at a crossroads because a district construction campaign is running out of money.
The Ohio School Facilities Commission, which pays two-thirds of expenses it deems justified, wants to shrink the overall cost of the program from $1.5 billion to less than $1.2 billion -- a response to declining enrollment. At the same time, a $335 million bond issue that covers the local share is nearly used up. The Cleveland district estimates it will need more than $200 million to match what the state is willing to fund and to go solo on some projects for which the state won't pay.

Since 2002, Cleveland has built, renovated or started design on 41 schools, work valued at $800 million. But the district has more than 90 schools, and about half now face an uncertain future. District leaders have discussed asking voters to extend their property-tax payments for 20 years. But officials make clear that they have to first think about seeking an operating levy to head off staggering deficits.

Nearly 400 school districts have participated in the state program since its inception in 1997, but Bill Prenosil, a facilities commission planner who works with Cleveland, did not know of any that have quit early because the local money dissipated. Prenosil said Cleveland can take a break, if necessary, and pick up where it left off when cash flow resumes.

Even if additional building money surfaces, officials may opt to spend a substantial portion of it on demolition of closed schools. The district has more than 30 closed buildings, though a few are used as temporary space while new buildings are under construction.

Cleveland 's state funding was initially based on a forecast that the district would have 72,000 students in 2012, when work was supposed to wrap up. But flight from the city and the sudden rise of charter schools sent enrollment crashing downward, and the program encountered delays. The number of students in kindergarten through 12th grade now stands unofficially at less than 44,000, with state consultants predicting it will fall to 36,234 in 2017-18, the latest target for when construction will end. Before the bottom fell out, the state and district had plans to build or renovate nearly 100 schools. That number was cut to 65 two years ago and now is poised to fall again.

NATIONAL: The topic of sustainable schools was prevalent throughout the GreenBuild convention, from products geared specifically to educational facilities to sessions exploring the complexities of financing and building green schools.

Greenguard hosted a panel discussion about green schools at their colorful exhibition booth on Wednesday with moderator Holley Henderson from H2 Ecodesign, and panelists Henning Bloech of Greenguard, Jennifer Seydel of the Green Charter Schools Network, and Rachel Gutter, director of the new Center for Green Schools at USGBC. Of the 133,000 K-12 schools in the U.S., at least 15,000 have air that the EPA qualifies as “unfit to breathe,” according to a recent report. It’s clear that these three organizations are passionate about building healthier schools and achieving an ambitious goal that “everyone will attend a green school within this generation.”

When asked about research supporting the case of green schools, all three participants were adamant that existing studies prove that sustainable buildings improve the performance of students and teachers, mostly because of better indoor air quality as Bloech pointed out.
About a year ago, Gutter said she would have cited cost (or perceived cost) as a huge obstacle to building green schools because people equated green with luxury. Surprisingly, she no longer feels this way. “I’m proud to say that in many communities we’re over that hurdle,” Gutter said. She went on to state that involving students, teachers, and administrators early in the design process was one of the most important factors of designing successful green schools.

Seydel stressed that healthy schools go beyond building materials and methods. She described four “design essentials:” 1. Integrate the curriculum with an environmental thread. 2. Healthy facility management 3. Sustainable stewardship (land restoration) 4. Encourage community partnerships (“Schools are systems and need partnerships to be healthy.”)

One of the most impressive initiatives the Center for Green Schools has already launched is the fully funded appointment of sustainable coordinators to school districts for three years starting in 2011, with the hope that districts will choose the keep the position after that time period. Hopefully this momentum will continue in the schools and spur a demand for green and healthy schools nationwide.

MISSOURI: EPA Region 7 announced plans to remove and replace soils at 11 schools and 16 child care centers and Head Start facilities in St. Francois County, Mo., because recent testing has confirmed elevated levels of toxic lead in the soil.

EPA ordered further soil testing at the county’s schools and child care facilities as the next phase of its project to remove and replace lead-contaminated soils at Central Middle School in Park Hills. The work at Central Middle School was part of EPA’s cleanup activity at the Big River Mine Tailings/St. Joe Minerals Corp. Superfund Site, located in Missouri’s Old Lead Belt, where lead mining and milling has occurred for more than a century. The 110-square-mile site is composed of six large areas of mine waste, as well as surrounding residential and recreational areas.

“EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment carries a special obligation to take action against environmental threats to the health and development of young children,” EPA Regional Administrator Karl Brooks said. “These removal actions will protect more than 5,300 of St. Francois County’s children from unnecessary and potentially harmful exposures to lead in places where they learn and play.”

Although the effects of lead poisoning are a potential concern for humans of all ages, children less than seven years old and pregnant women are especially at risk. Significant health risks associated with lead poisoning include brain damage, developmental delays, behavioral problems, anemia, liver and kidney damage, hearing loss and hyperactivity.

IOWA: Mason City's school district is receiving a $1.8 million in federal funds to build multipurpose safe room. The Globe Gazette says the funding is from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The announcement was made by U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin. The grant will be used build a safe room as part of a new addition at the John Adams middle and high school complex. The safe room will house all students and staff in case of emergency and will double over as performance space.

CALIFORNIA: The University of San Diego is now one of the greenest college campuses in the nation after the university adapted a new solar energy system. The system is expected to provide 15 percent of the university's energy needs and uses 5,200 solar panels on the roofs of 11 buildings on campus.
Installing that many panels would cost about $6 million, but USD entered into an agreement with AM Solar, who actually owns the system"Not one penny was spent by USD to make this happen," said Len Hering, the university's vice president of Business Services and Administration. Instead, USD rents the roof space to AM Solar and buys power from them.
"We assemble it. We own it," said AM Solar managing partner Joshua Weinstein. "We monitor it, we clean the panels, we keep it running, and all the university does is buy inexpensive solar power from us."

USD is now the 10th largest solar producer of any university in the nation and second largest among private colleges. The university estimates its power bills will be reduced by about $100,000 a year. USD is also addressing energy use through conservation, evaluating the efficiency of systems such as heating and air conditioning, using insulation, and using more energy-saving devices. University officials believe they can reduce energy use by 20 to 25 percent.

CALIFORNIA: The University of San Diego is now one of the greenest college campuses in the nation after the university adapted a new solar energy system. The system is expected to provide 15 percent of the university's energy needs and uses 5,200 solar panels on the roofs of 11 buildings on campus.
Installing that many panels would cost about $6 million, but USD entered into an agreement with AM Solar, who actually owns the system"Not one penny was spent by USD to make this happen," said Len Hering, the university's vice president of Business Services and Administration. Instead, USD rents the roof space to AM Solar and buys power from them.
"We assemble it. We own it," said AM Solar managing partner Joshua Weinstein. "We monitor it, we clean the panels, we keep it running, and all the university does is buy inexpensive solar power from us."

USD is now the 10th largest solar producer of any university in the nation and second largest among private colleges. The university estimates its power bills will be reduced by about $100,000 a year. USD is also addressing energy use through conservation, evaluating the efficiency of systems such as heating and air conditioning, using insulation, and using more energy-saving devices. University officials believe they can reduce energy use by 20 to 25 percent.

NATIONAL: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released draft voluntary guidelines to help communities protect the health of students and staff from environmental threats when selecting new locations for schools.
More than 1,900 new schools serving approximately 1.2 million children and costing more than $13 billion opened in the 2008-2009 school year. Major investments in our children’s schools can be compromised if environmental hazards are not fully understood prior to selecting a school site. The voluntary guidelines also provide tools to help communities ensure that new locations for schools are accessible to the students they are intended to serve.

“EPA is offering tools to local officials and community residents looking to build schools that foster healthy, productive learning environments,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “This guidance will help address the pressing environmental issues that parents, school boards and local residents often consider when making investments in their local schools. By offering guidance on long-term environmental and health concerns, it will also help local communities plan ahead and reduce the risk of costly changes down the road.”

The potential impacts on children’s health and education, as well as the damage to the community when school environmental hazards are later identified, are significant. In some cases, schools have been closed and in other cases have undergone costly remediation.

The new draft voluntary guidelines will give local communities tools to help them consider environmental health issues in establishing school site selection criteria and in conducting effective environmental reviews of potential school sites. The draft guidelines recommend involving the public in the site selection process from the beginning to help ensure community support for these decisions.

EPA developed the draft guidelines in consultation with other federal agencies, states, school districts, community organizations, health care professionals, teachers, as well as environmental justice leaders, and children’s health and environmental groups, among others.

The draft school siting guidelines are being made available for public comment for 90 days. Comments will be accepted until 4 pm EST on February 18, 2011. To view and comment on the draft guidelines: http://epaschoolsiting.icfi.com/

MISSOURI: It opened two years before the Great Depression struck. Over the course of its long life, Franklin Elementary School has survived 14 U.S. presidential administrations, four-plus American wars, the Soviet Union, the Edsel and the "Macarena." The two-story brick building, constructed in 1927 at a cost of $179,611, has served thousands of children. But its days are numbered.

As part of the Cape Girardeau School District's facilities improvement plan, Franklin will be demolished and a new school will be constructed near the existing site, facing Themis Street. Franklin principal Rhonda Dunham, who once walked the echoing halls as an elementary student, has a lifetime of fond memories of the neighborhood school. But she's excited about what a new Franklin will mean for today's generation of learners.
The $10 million project, set to begin in late March and completed by July 2012, at 50,000 square feet will afford much more classroom space than the long-standing building offers. That's critical, Dunham said, for a school experiencing growing enrollment. The plan also calls for the construction of prekindergarten classrooms, something that Dunham is eager to see put in use.

There is a growing body of research that suggests better buildings produce better students. In 2008 testimony before the House of Representatives, California Education Department official Kathleen J. Moore pointed to a University of California at Los Angeles study that found a difference of 5 to 17 percentile points between achievement of students in old, ill-equipped buildings and those students in above-standard buildings.
Moore cited a National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities analysis from 2002 that found "there is a consensus in the research that newer and better school buildings contribute to higher student scores on standardized tests." Studies also indicate that student attitudes and behavior improve when the facility conditions improve and that schools retain more educators, she told lawmakers.

WYOMING: Eight years after the state assumed responsibility for building and maintaining school facilities, the process still needs improvement, according to lawmakers who met in Casper. The Legislature's Select Committee on School Facilities approved two bills for consideration during the general session in January that aim to further define the role of the School Facilities Commission and facilities staff.

The committee was charged tasked with reorganizing the commission and reviewing its process for evaluating facility needs — a response to school district and constituent concerns. School construction is a state, not a local responsibility, according to the Wyoming Supreme Court, and the commission was created in 2002 to take on that responsibility.

Many say the process for building and maintaining school facilities has improved greatly since Ken Daraie was appointed director in 2007. But changes in school project status and the reallocation of funding across projects had not been well communicated or documented, according to a 2009 audit of the commission. A second audit suggested that the commission could be more consistent and transparent with reports.
The first bill approved Tuesday clearly defines a department separate from the commission, which is appointed by the governor. The bill gives the governor the power to appoint the director of the department, who is currently appointed from submissions by commissioners. The bill outlines specific duties for each entity, with the department helping school districts develop facility plans and the commission granting approval. The commission also has to approve each district's facility plan at least once every two years. The second bill aims to revise and clarify how to rank buildings based on need. The committee added air quality, illumination and appropriateness of student environment to the “building condition” criterion. A provision in the bill requires the facilities department to evaluate and possibly modify the prioritization process every four years.

NORTH CAROLINA: Across Buncombe County, schools are installing solar panels, building sustainable playgrounds and upgrading bathrooms. Here’s a rundown of current projects to conserve energy and reduce costs. Grants from Progress Energy and the State Energy Office enabled the Asheville City Schools to commission an energy audit. The study was completed a year ago, and the schools are now implementing some of its suggestions. At present utility rates, such low- or no-cost measures as removing lights from vending machines and turning off unused appliances in summer could save the system up to $259,000 annually, the audit notes. Undertaking all the recommended projects would cut greenhouse-gas emissions by more than 3.2 million pounds per year.

Another State Energy Office grant for $200,000 (matched by $160,000 from Progress Energy) enabled the schools to install more efficient lighting systemwide. This project, including sensors that turn lights on and off when people enter and leave rooms, will be completed this month. Asheville High also boasts a new heating-and-cooling system, new ceilings and about 300 new thermal-paned, low-E windows. Other improvements will enable all the system’s computers and telephones to “sleep” at night and on weekends while still sending out necessary notifications and updates. In addition, each school now has a Green Team made up of teachers, administrators, parents and students who help develop and carry out specific projects. Isaac Dickson Elementary, for example, wants to hire a dishwasher for the cafeteria, calculating that the cost of buying and disposing of plastic foam trays roughly equals a dishwasher’s salary. The plan will also sharply reduce the waste stream.

Students on the Green Teams are also helping write enviro-blurbs for use in school newsletters, websites and weekly TGIF (“Think Green, It's Friday”) announcements. Each principal will soon begin receiving monthly reports on their school’s energy usage to share with their Green Team. Schools coming up with additional ways to cut energy costs may be reimbursed to help them fund still more green projects, Assistant Superintendent Bob McGrattan notes.

Buncombe County, too, is making major strides. The Joe P. Eblen and Charles T. Koontz intermediate schools, now under construction, will be LEED-certified upon completion next year. And Owen Middle School in Swannanoa was one of five schools across the Carolinas to win photovoltaic installations through Progress Energy's SunSense Schools program. The utility partnered with the Carolina Hurricanes’ Kids ’N Community Foundation to provide the 2-kilowatt demonstration system, valued at more than $20,000. Students can monitor the solar panels' real time electricity production online. The county system is also developing a “Green Schools” website that will offer helpful ideas and tips.

Individual students, too, are getting in on the action. Enka High senior Ethan Rice is writing a children’s book about recycling; as part of his research, he’s visited local waste and recycling centers. And Danny Magley created a peace garden at North Buncombe Middle School last year as part of his Eagle Scout credentials. Meanwhile, the Reading, Riding, and Retrofit program has the ambitious goal of comprehensively greening 54 public-school campuses countywide. This is projected to reduce energy use by 40 percent, project coordinator (and former Asheville City Council member) Robin Cape reports. In partnership with the Land-of-Sky Regional Council, the program has been awarded a $495,000 federal Climate Showcase Communities grant to begin implementing these projects

TEXAS: The Dallas school district sold $950.3 million in school construction bonds — the largest for any school district in the state, according to DISD chief financial officer Larry Throm. The bonds were issued as federal Build America Bonds, which provides the district a 35 percent interest subsidy from the government.

By utilizing the Build America Bond program, DISD saved approximately $102 million over the 25-year life of the issue, said Boyd London, managing director at FirstSouthwest, the district's financial advisor. The subsidized interest rate on the bonds is 4.03 percent. "This bid represents the lowest cost of funds to the district for new construction in the last 40 years," London said.

Throm said that the district needed to have such a large sale now because the Build America Bonds program, created under the federal stimulus act, will end on Dec. 31. The bonds sold today are part of a $1.35 billion school construction bond program approved by voters in 2008. Today's sale completes the sale of the 2008 bonds, which will be used to build 14 schools and renovate others.

NATIONAL: When my high school turned green last year, I can't say I jumped up and down with excitement. Sure, it was cool to join in the hot trend of recycling our lunch trash and bringing our own water bottles. And our LEED certified buildings looked much better. Still, to me, the whole green school thing wasn't much more than a politically correct move that could help save the planet in a few decades. I had no clue my green school could also improve my education. But I'm learning: Studies show that a school that's good for the environment is better for academic performance, too!

According to the EPA, a healthy school environment "can improve health, increase students' ability to learn, improve test scores, and improve adult productivity in the school system." Other studies have supported this link between sustainability and learning ability and schools all over have taken action and are seeing results.
In my school, our new green library has sun streaming through the glass windows, which I'm so thankful for. I'm relieved there are no more ugly fluorescent lights to waste energy and highlight a bad acne breakout. But it turns out the daylight is more than just flattering.

And how many students think about the air they breathe? I don't, unless it's unusually stuffy or someone takes off her shoes. In fact, I didn't even realize my school's commitment to eliminate toxic air pollutants until I read about it on my school website. It freaked me out to learn how the air quality in our classrooms can affect our health. The Environmental Protection Agency says that "sick building syndrome" causes all kinds of health problems in school kids, like respiratory infections, headaches, nausea, asthma and fatigue. The connection is subtle but logical: if the air makes kids and teachers sick, they're absent more often and their performance goes down. In fact, one new study by Douglas E. Gordon reveals that improving air quality through environmentally sustainable cleaning technology can decrease absences by over 8% in some cases.

NATIONAL: In the last month, Slate readers have submitted more than 350 entries in our Hive contest to reimagine the American classroom, cast thousands of votes for favored entries, and even did a live classroom-design-brainstorming session in Washington. And now our judges have picked a winner: The Fifth-Grade Exploration Studio, imagined by Greg Stack and Natalia Nesmeainova of NAC Architecture in Seattle. Their classroom embodies the word connection. Students are connected to the earth, to the Internet, to one another, to their teacher—who can see them from anywhere in the room, even though it's a busy space.

At Stack's firm he is the "K-12 Thought Leader," and it's not surprising to learn that he has for years traveled around the country finding out just what educators would like in a classroom. He and Nesmeainova thought of just about everything in their entry: adjustable furniture, a messy art area, video screens large and small, communal areas for classes to share, carefully placed mirrors that allow for eye contact when a student and teacher sit at a computer together.
The winning classroom emphasizes the link between daily education and the outdoors, an idea that may sound fantastical but is becoming a reality at a growing number of American schools.

UTAH: The award-winning actor and director Robert Redford has long used his star power to champion environmental, social, and artistic causes. In 2009, the movie star established the Redford Center, a nonprofit that facilitates “positive social and environmental change through the arts, education, and civil discourse.”
Now, the organization is getting involved in the sustainable schools movement. From November 7 to 9, dozens of educators and civic leaders from around the U.S. gathered at the Sundance Resort for the first Greening of America’s Schools Summit. The event was organized by the Redford Center with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and ICLEI USA – Local Governments for Sustainability. The goal: to have a no-holds-barred conversation about greening schools and to develop tools and action plans. The information collected during the summit will be fed into a report that the USGBC and American Institute of Architects plan to co-publish in January.

The summit—skillfully moderated by Lee Bycel, the Redford Center’s executive director—drew a broad mix people, including 10 mayors, nine school superintendents, and a number of prominent environmentalists (such as Bill McKibben) and educational association leaders (such as Anne Bryant, executive director of the National School Board Association). Other participants included an architect, chef, and teenager who founded Kids vs Global Warming. Redford said the varied guest list reflects the makeup of our country. "America is diverse," he said. "Diversity is one of our greatest attributes."

The summit was one of the first major events to emerge from the USGBC’s new Center for Green Schools, launched in September. The center intends to organize events, collaborate with educational and environmental organizations, and provide resources and fellowships—all in an effort to boost the number of green schools in the U.S. “We have a very ambitious mission: green schools for everyone in this generation,” said Rachel Gutter, the center’s director. “It’s a very lofty goal, but one we think altogether is worthwhile.” On broader level, Gutter wants to cultivate a generation of “sustainabilty natives”—people who become so accustomed to sustainability in their youth that they regard it as the status quo, not the alternative.

Going green is much easier now than in past decades. Redford told attendees that he remembers when people concerned about the environment were “slammed as tree huggers.” Today, environmentalism has become more mainstream, which could bode well for the green school movement. "It feels like to me, in terms of timing, this is the time," he said. "Something is happening

NORTH CAROLINA: Beaufort County school and county leaders hope to begin by the end of the year a study that will forecast the construction needs of the public school system over the next 10 years. The study will take a look at Beaufort County Schools’ existing school buildings and evaluate them with future population trends in mind to determine where those construction needs will be.
“We want to take a look at our buildings ... and demographic trends to determine areas of construction needs,” said Beaufort County Schools Superintendent Don Phipps. “If we do one piece without the other, we haven’t done a good job.”

The study is expected to be conducted by Hite Associates, a Greenville architecture, engineering and technology firm, which will combine its findings with demographic information provided by N.C. State University, according to County Manager Paul Spruill. It will be overseen by a steering committee. That committee comprises members of the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners and the local school board, Spruill said in an interview. The cost of the study is under discussion, he said.

The first step in the study will be to inventory the school system’s existing buildings and evaluate how they are being used today, Hite told the committee. Existing buildings will be evaluated based on their size and adequacy for their student populations as compared to state averages. They will be surveyed for any upgrades needed, energy usage, roofing needs, hazardous materials, site conditions and continued life expectancy, among other factors, Hite said. Using this information, along with the study of population trends for the county, a list of critical needs and improvements will be developed for each school along with drawings of any new construction that is needed to meet those needs, Hite said. The study will include cost estimates of those improvements, he said.

OREGON: For the gardeners at Hallinan Elementary School in Lake Oswego – all 342 of them – this is not a fallow season. In fact, as the fall weather turns cold and rainy, they will have some of their busiest days as they prepare for next spring’s planting.
“This started out as a small project,” said principal Steve Mauritz. “We’ve never had a project at the school that generated as much support from parents and students,” he said. “Every parent wants their child to know where their food comes from.”
As miraculously as the growth of Jack’s magic beanstalk, enthusiasm for the project shot through the school roof. The simple classroom exercise to raise awareness of where foods originate mushroomed into 24 8-foot by 4-foot raised beds enclosed behind deer-deterring six-foot tall fencing. With the help of many parents, some of whom have landscaping and construction skills, a lawn was dug up and replaced with enough garden beds for each classroom to have two to plant as they wish.

Outside the fenced garden are compost bins; composting lunch leftovers will begin soon. This fall a rainwater recapturing system will be constructed and the water used to irrigate the beds. Hallinan is pursuing the “premier” Oregon Green School designation, which very few schools in the state attain.

Mauritz says school food service plans to serve what is produced in the garden as early as May and June. As long as it is processed onsite by school food service, Mary Christianson, food services director, gives the project her blessing. Similar to the Adopt-a-Highway program, families will tend the garden over the summer with the food being shared with food banks and needy patrons.

OREGON: For the gardeners at Hallinan Elementary School in Lake Oswego – all 342 of them – this is not a fallow season. In fact, as the fall weather turns cold and rainy, they will have some of their busiest days as they prepare for next spring’s planting.
“This started out as a small project,” said principal Steve Mauritz. “We’ve never had a project at the school that generated as much support from parents and students,” he said. “Every parent wants their child to know where their food comes from.”
As miraculously as the growth of Jack’s magic beanstalk, enthusiasm for the project shot through the school roof. The simple classroom exercise to raise awareness of where foods originate mushroomed into 24 8-foot by 4-foot raised beds enclosed behind deer-deterring six-foot tall fencing. With the help of many parents, some of whom have landscaping and construction skills, a lawn was dug up and replaced with enough garden beds for each classroom to have two to plant as they wish.

Outside the fenced garden are compost bins; composting lunch leftovers will begin soon. This fall a rainwater recapturing system will be constructed and the water used to irrigate the beds. Hallinan is pursuing the “premier” Oregon Green School designation, which very few schools in the state attain.

Mauritz says school food service plans to serve what is produced in the garden as early as May and June. As long as it is processed onsite by school food service, Mary Christianson, food services director, gives the project her blessing. Similar to the Adopt-a-Highway program, families will tend the garden over the summer with the food being shared with food banks and needy patrons.

NATIONAL: Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., has pledged to be completely carbon-neutral by 2020. Overlooking Monterey Bay on the West Coast, the University of California-Santa Cruz saves an estimated 300,000 on water each year by eliminating trays in its dining halls. And in the Deep South, the University of Georgia, which subsidizes public transportation on campus, now has nearly 30 student organizations related to sustainability.

These schools all make our annual list of America's Greenest Colleges and Universities, and if they're any indication, environmentalism is booming on campuses nationwide. Among the reasons: money. By investing in energy-efficiency measures, schools can save millions of dollars over the long haul. For example, Harvard University, which also makes our list, last year installed energy-efficient lighting in its parking garages. It's expected to save the school an estimated $400,000 per year on its electric bill, according to the Sustainable Endowments Institute (SEI).

In compiling our own list of greenest colleges, we've used the SEI's report card as a starting point, but we've also taken other factors into account. Does the Princeton Review also include a school on its elite Green Honor Roll? Does the Environmental Protection Agency recognize the institution as one of its top collegiate purchasers of green power? Is a school tracking its own efforts at environmental stewardship through a program run by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education? Has it signed on to the Presidents' Climate Commitment to achieve net neutrality in greenhouse gas emissions? Is environmentalism a theme of its academics?

Schools get high marks for energy efficiency and green building standards. Some institutions, including Yale and the University of Minnesota, have their own co-generation power facilities, which produce both heat and electricity. Oberlin College in Ohio and Boston's Northeastern University are among many schools that require all new buildings meet at least LEED silver standards (a level of green certification established by the U.S. Green Building Council). Oberlin has also committed to becoming carbon-neutral by 2025. Two years ago Northeastern replaced nearly 70,000 light bulbs on campus with more energy-efficient options in an effort to save $1.2 million over six years.

NORTH CAROLINA: So what does one do with a closed school? That's what many were wondering after the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board voted to close 10 schools and make dramatic changes at dozens of others in the 2011-12 school year.
In some cases, the answers are well publicized: Waddell High is to be turned into the E.E. Waddell Academy of International Languages, a program formerly housed at Smith. As for the others, a variety of answers apply. Some are proposed for demolition, others for reuse as CMS offices, and a few will be month-balled until a better use presents itself. Still others could be leased and reopened as community centers or charter schools.

CMS staff says they have already gotten nearly a half dozen calls from entities interested in closed schools for such uses, and those proposals will be considered. An example: Davidson is leasing the old Ada Jenkins school site, which it is in turn leasing it to a critical needs charity known as the Ada Jenkins Center. The district is also leasing out two other sites: the old Lakeview Elementary (now LifeSpan) and the old Cherry school (now the Community Charter School).
CMS officials say there are currently no plans to put any of the closed schools up for sale. Should the district change its mind, state law says Mecklenburg County would have right of first refusal on buying the property at a price negotiated by the school board.

NORTH DAKOTA: If all goes as planned, some much-needed West Fargo School District housekeeping can move forward in the near future. The West Fargo School Board unanimously approved the advertisement of bids on $5 million in Qualified School Construction Bonds.
Business Manager Mark Lemer said the Planning and Development Committee identified roughly $5.3 million in projects the funding could be allocated toward. The committee also plans for an additional $5.1 million in projects to be paid for by a one-time supplemental fund.

NEW MEXICO: One Texico Municipal Schools agriculture mechanics class used construction of a new school cafeteria as a learning tool. Ag mechanics instructor Terry Whitener said the project, part of Texico schools’ $6 million school construction program, enabled him to show his carpentry and construction class things he can’t show them in class. “I got to show them how to use machinery to level the ground before pouring concrete and how to place rebar to reinforce it,” he said. “They got to see how to use heavy machinery to move steel beams.” Whitener said seeing the processes in person is better than looking at a photo, reading about them or even watching a video. “It puts it more into a real life perspective,” he said. “Until they experience it for themselves, some might never fully grasp it.”

The cafeteria is one of seven construction projects the district is working towards. An 11,244 square foot cafeteria and pre-kindergarten classroom building and a 5,160 square foot maintenance shop will be finished first, ready for use when the students return from Christmas break. Business Manager Cheryl Whitener said the entire project includes the new building, remodels in the elementary, junior high and high school buildings and the current cafeteria and agriculture mechanics shop.
All of the construction projects are funded by the New Mexico Public School Facilities Authority and money raised by a bond issue passed in the fall of 2008. PSFA will pay 61 percent or $3.2 million, and the bond raised $2.8 million. “The community takes a lot of pride to make sure our facilities are in good condition and a good environment for our students,” Richards said.

NATIONAL: After we invited readers to design a better fifth-grade classroom a month ago, Slate received more than 350 ideas, ranging from the innovative to the utterly fantastical. Voters and judges have winnowed those entries down to 10 finalists, from which we will choose a winner at the end of this week.

. When students are asked to reimagine their learning spaces, they often put classes outdoors, so perhaps it’s not surprising that the top two vote-getters by far are outdoor classrooms—The Integrated Green Rooftop Learning Lab, by Studio G Architects, and The 21st Century Outdoor Classroom, by REAL School Gardens. Nature was an element of the top judges’ picks as well.

A variety of spaces within a room: That was central to many of the Hive entries and to four of the five top judges’ choices. The judges’ highest rankings went to two entries that were somewhat similar: Guided Learning in a Complicated World, by shellyQ (whom I’d guess is a teacher—who else thinks about where teachers and their aides can stash supplies?), and Fifth-Grade Exploration Studio, by architects Greg Stack and Natalia Nesmeianova. Both addressed comfort, provided project space, and, most important, were built around the idea of students not just being addressed by a teacher but working independently and working together.

NATIONAL: "Almost if not every school in this country will have broadband" by 2015, said Jim Shelton, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education, at Slate's "Design a Better Classroom" event, where he sat on a panel with several distinguished education experts. "The contracts are signed, the money is spent."

Shelton mentioned that bit of old news, first unveiled back in March as part of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) National Broadband Plan, as a way to frame break-out sessions designed to encourage participants to share their ideas for redesigning the American classroom. "As we move forward, you have to imagine a different infrastructure," he said. But judging by the reaction in the room, which was filled with more than 100 educators, students and policymakers -- the sort of people you would expect to know this stuff -- and my conversations with attendees during and after the event, the original announcement went largely unnoticed -- or was dismissed as just another pipe dream.

Part of Slate's Hive series, the "Design a Better Classroom" event operated under the assumption that a large, smart and engaged readership knows more than the handful of editors and writers it takes to produce a website, however well regarded that site might be. Some of the ideas proposed were interesting and innovative -- project centers in every classroom, human-centered school design, international videoconferencing -- but most focused around innovation that wouldn't be possible without the National Broadband Plan's goal of bringing 1 Gbit/s Internet service into every library, school and hospital by 2020. (Shelton's five-year projection could prove impossibly ambitious.)

Required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the FCC began work on the Plan back in April 2009 with a series of workshops and public hearings. Thousands of suggestions were made and then boiled down into the Plan as it was presented to Congress. In addition to making 1 Gbit/s broadband available to schools, the Plan calls for connecting all emergency service workers to high-speed service and affordable 100 Mbit/s service for all residences in the country.

But will all of this actually happen as Shelton suggested? Last week, CNET caught up with Blair Levin, the former executive director of the National Broadband Plan who was responsible for creating the final document. Now a fellow at the Aspen Institute, Levin sees the Plan not as a mandate, but as more of a blueprint, a guide.

KANSAS: A folksy personality, a guitar and a few songs help Stan Slaughter spread his message of the importance of being green. It’s an approach the self-styled “eco-troubadour” brought recently to Olathe students at Havencroft and Sunnyside elementary schools as part of the Kansas Green Schools program. Slaughter is the Green School coordinator for the Kansas program that administers grants for schools across the state. It is a partnership of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Kansas Association for Conservation & Education.

The program emphasizes energy conservation, waste reduction and other eco-friendly concepts. It can be tailored to different age groups. Elementary students, for example, are encouraged to do things like ride a bike instead of being driven, bring their own reusable bags to the store or replace inefficient lightbulbs. Slaughter, who has a master’s degree in biology and was a classroom science teacher for many years, is encouraged by the reaction of his audiences. “I’ve been in the environmental field for 40 years and I’m seeing a sea change” in people’s attitudes, he said. Slaughter has spread his message in schools across the country and has visited more than 50 schools in Kansas this year.

SOUTH CAROLINA: One of the biggest architectural accomplishments in Charleston County in the past decade has been the gradual transformation of its public school buildings following several decades of neglect. But only a few people probably criss-cross the county enough to appreciate all the changes. Many of these new schools are rather hidden, tucked away in neighborhoods off the main highways.

The new Oakland Elementary School is a prime example. The new building is better not just because it has far more space (71,000 square feet and room for 600 students, while the old one could house only 400 without mobile classrooms), but also because there was more attention given to its design. The building, designed by Goff D'Antonio and built by Martin Engineering and Cumming-SMG, was placed on the 15-acre site with one main goal in mind: to protect as many large trees as possible. Not all could be saved, partly because the site is low and had to be raised up to four feet for flood protection, but most were. From a distance, the building appears nestled in a forest.

The four classroom wings also were orientated so their windows faced north or south, the preferred directions for capturing natural light (and avoiding stark sunbeams that can pour in during early morning or late afternoon hours). Many classroom ceilings are stair stepped to let in more natural light. Architects Tony Giuliani and Stuart Barber of Goff D'Antonio Associates note that rooms have switches to use less artificial light if enough sunlight pours in. The new facility has about 35 classrooms, plus two computer labs, conference rooms and a large cafeteria and multi-purpose room that can be kept separate or linked together for big events. The design motifs, sailboats and maritime flags in the terrazzo, a front desk shaped like a boat and a lighthouse in the library, reflect the proximity of the Stono River.
Still, the building, which cost a total of about $17.9 million, is not extravagant. Its landscaping is minimal, though hopefully it will improve over time. The materials are nothing fancy, and the enlarged steel and glass entrance is one of the few flourishes designed to catch the eye.

While it's hard to see Oakland now --at least from the street -- apparently many people are taking notice of it and the many other new and improved school buildings. And they must approve of the changes, while recognizing the need to do more. By an almost 2-1 margin, voters approved a 1 percent sales tax increase just six days ago to give the School District money to keep up the good work.

OREGON: Portland school district leaders want voters to approve a $548 million bond measure to completely renovate eight Portland schools and upgrade the other 75, Portland Superintendent Carole Smith announced.
If voters say yes in May, it would represent by far the largest local bond measure ever approved in Oregon. The biggest others to date are a $374 million bond to expand Portland Community College approved by voters in five counties in 2008 and a $242 million schools measure that Salem-Keizer voters approved that same fall.

The eight renovated schools would retain their historic exteriors and distinguishing features but would be stripped back to the studs in some cases and emerge with modernized, reconfigured classrooms and gathering spaces, the latest technology, energy efficient systems and earthquake- and disabilities-compliant features, said Sarah Schoening, the district's director of school modernization.
Other schools would get more limited upgrades: Covered play areas for every elementary school, new science labs for schools with middle school grades and updated classrooms for every high school. All schools would get safety improvements and be made more accessible to people with disabilities.

District leaders propose to pay for the half-billion-plus of school retrofits and upgrades on a nearly pay-as-you-go basis. The owner of an average home would pay about $350 a year, with all property owners charged about $2 per $1,000 of assessed value each year, district officials estimate. Unlike with most bond issues, which are repaid over 15 or 20 years, district leaders say they would finance most of the $548 million with short-term one- and two-year bonds. That would allow them to avoid most interest charges and emerge at the end of the six years with less than $100 million in long-term debt.

UTAH: Solar panels atop schools statewide will soon capture energy from the sun to fuel computers, classrooms and students’ imaginations. Thanks to a $3 million federal stimulus grant given to the Utah Energy Program, solar panels will be installed in every school district in the state, at 73 Utah schools in all. Students will be able to track online how many kilowatt hours of energy their solar photovoltaic arrays generate, and teachers at the schools will receive training to teach students about solar, wind and geothermal technologies.

Officials at Johnson Controls, which is designing and installing the panels as part of the program, estimate that, all together, the panels will remove more than 8,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over 20 years, a figure equivalent to the carbon offset that would be generated by planting 11,000 trees and letting them grow for 10 years. The panels will likely power the equivalent of a few classrooms per school, and are part of a larger effort to decrease the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, keep Americans employed and educate kids, said Gilbert Sperling, a senior adviser at the U.S. Department of Energy.

UTAH: Solar panels atop schools statewide will soon capture energy from the sun to fuel computers, classrooms and students’ imaginations. Thanks to a $3 million federal stimulus grant given to the Utah Energy Program, solar panels will be installed in every school district in the state, at 73 Utah schools in all. Students will be able to track online how many kilowatt hours of energy their solar photovoltaic arrays generate, and teachers at the schools will receive training to teach students about solar, wind and geothermal technologies.

Officials at Johnson Controls, which is designing and installing the panels as part of the program, estimate that, all together, the panels will remove more than 8,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over 20 years, a figure equivalent to the carbon offset that would be generated by planting 11,000 trees and letting them grow for 10 years. The panels will likely power the equivalent of a few classrooms per school, and are part of a larger effort to decrease the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, keep Americans employed and educate kids, said Gilbert Sperling, a senior adviser at the U.S. Department of Energy.

FLORIDA: Turning off the lights and closing classroom doors paid off in a big way for some Miami-Dade schools. Last year, more than 260 schools took part in a district-wide campaign to conserve energy. All together, the schools saved about $6 million and 46 million kilowatt hours.

Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho launched the energy-saving program at the beginning of the 2009-10 school year. Each school was given a target for how much energy they should save. The schools that went above and beyond their goals were allowed to spend three-quarters of the money they saved the school district. School district Sustainability Officer Ana Rijo-Conde said the effort helped schools to become more aware of their consumption habits. It also gave teachers, students and staff members a strong incentive to go green.

UNITED KINGDOM: Pupils have drawn up plans to create their own £500,000 eco-classroom – thought to be the first of its kind in the country. The state-of-the-art room at Accrinton Academy will be powered by its own wind turbine and solar panels and will be constructed in part from recycled Accrington ‘nori’ brick, and insulated with straw.

Four of the youngsters involved – Callum Slinger, 15, Aimee French, Madison Holt and Daniel Rollings, all 13 – were recently invited to a conference in San Jose to talk about the plans with 600 leading architects. At the conference they were given a special award by the Council of Education Facility Planners International recognising their architectural and design achievements. Accrington Academy pupil Kamila Samin, 15, said: "It’s really exciting to get our eco-classroom to this stage. "We’ve worked very hard for nearly two years, and soon we’ll be able to help get our design built." Callum Slinger, 15, said: "We are honoured to have received this award as it proves that children are needed to make school design successful. After all, we are the people who get the benefit out of it." Alison Watson from Class of Your Own, the company that has helped students establish their own company called Roots, said: "The building is a great example of what can be achieved if the construction industry engages and listens to young people. What students at Accrington Academy have achieved should be an example to schools and academies across the country."

Youngsters from the Queens Road West school were first approached by Clitheroe company Class of Your Own to create the classroom 18 months ago. It will be built using a sustainably sourced timber frame and glulam beams to create a flexible, column-free space. The plans were approved by Hyndburn Council’s planning committee earlier this year. The total cost is expected to be between £350,000 and £450,000, with funding coming from several sources including Hyndburn Council which has donated £20,000. From there Roots was formed, which is made up of 30 students aged between 13 and 15.

NATIONAL: Even though the “Great Recession” of 2008-09 is now behind us, McGraw-Hill Construction’s new report, “2010 Special Sector Study: Education Construction in Hard Times,” reveals that it will continue to haunt the halls of schools and colleges across the country for some time to come.
The construction of publicly-funded schools and colleges will continue to be weighed down by mushrooming state and local budget deficits, while the construction of privately-funded schools and colleges will suffer from a slump in alumni donations and the tumultuous movement of the stock market (where endowments are typically invested). Exacerbating this situation, the ongoing crisis in capital markets has broken, or at least impaired, many of the funding mechanisms that have enabled construction to be undertaken.

However, aging school buildings across the country need to be upgraded or replaced, leading to pressure for growth in education construction. The expectations for the education market in the near-term, therefore, are mixed, with greater financial stability in the economy eventually resulting in growth, but that growth will be tempered by lingering impacts from the economic downturn.
Over the past three decades, the level of investment in U.S. education facilities has been impressive. From the low point of 74 million sq ft in 1981 to the most recent peak in 2001, education construction starts rose by 270% to an unprecedented 273 million sq ft. Following this peak, the economic recession in the early 2000s took a toll on education construction, and starts fell 23% over the next three years. Starts then turned the corner, rising to 223 million sq ft by 2008.

In 2009, however, the effects of the painful 2008-09 recession once again brought starts down—this time by 50 million sq ft to 173 million sq ft. This recession was so ruthless that it forced, in one year, a percentage decline (22%) very close to what had occurred over three years in the previous downturn. The 2009 level investment is nevertheless noteworthy, particularly since many types of commercial construction (notably stores, offices, and warehouses) reached historic lows during the year in response to the recession and financial crisis. These declines, in fact, made education construction the largest component of nonresidential construction in 2009—measured in both dollars and square footage. This recession, unfortunately, has been more severe than most, and over the next few years, the financial difficulties currently looming over the nation’s state and local governments will be a large hurdle for education construction.

FLORIDA: Building companies in Florida could face challenges. That’s because of a state law that is limiting home construction based on the available space in schools. It’s called “school concurrency.” It was implemented 4 years ago because of trouble with overcrowded schools in south Florida. “Developers were building and schools were not able to take on the students. So, they felt like the developer had to deal with the cost of building the schools,” Bay District Schools director of Facilities Wayne Elmore said.

The state is imposing the new law that will determine whether or not a builder can put homes in an area based on how full the surrounding schools are. The Bay District is being forced on board too. However, the rules are changing this year in Bay County. 4 years ago, developers could keep building as long there was enough class space to satisfy a new development project, in at least one school in the whole county. Now, Bay County is being divided into 5 districts, based on the number of high schools in the area. The county may be faced with different tough scenarios like giving building permits to a developer in Calla way, but turning a builder in panama city beach away because schools if schools in that district are full. “We will measure that capacity based on the number of school desks available on this side of the bridge,” Panama City Beach director of planning Mel Leonard said.

SOUTH CAROLINA: Few would have been surprised if the proposed 1 percent sales tax hike for Charleston County schools had failed. The county is dense with fiscally conservative voters, and the state and national temperament weren't the ideal backdrop for raising taxes. History wasn't on the school district's side either. The only other time it tried to pass a referendum for school construction, it initially failed and had to be cut in half before voters would approve it. Fifty-four percent supported a $175 million bond referendum in 1998.

This election could not have been more different. Voters sent a clear message, with nearly two out of every three supporting a tax increase that will last six years and bring in an estimated $450 million. It is the largest schools referendum in the district's 40-year history.
"The margin (of support) is stunning," said Robert New, who headed the school board when it last tried to pass a referendum issue. "I don't think anyone predicted that. I thought it would be a real struggle to get it through."
Some, such as New, think the results say two things about voters: They didn't want a property tax increase -- a strong likelihood if the sales tax had failed-- and they have confidence in the district's ability to execute a successful building program.

Four schools have such serious seismic problems that district leaders moved students from those buildings into temporary relocation sites. Officials promised to rebuild those schools by 2013, and they would have tried to raise the necessary money through a property tax increase if the sales tax hadn't passed. The sales tax will cover those four schools, as well as more than a dozen others that are in need of renovation and rebuilding.

The school district has invested roughly $900 million in its buildings during the last decade. Most of that money came from alternative financing, which since has been declared illegal. It used to allow the district to take on debt without taxpayers' approval. When the district pursued its first referendum, its schools were in severe disrepair and the school board had no track record for completing construction projects, New said. Now, the community has seen a successful building program that has been on time and under budget, and it has resulted in improved facilities that are sources of pride, he said.

TEXAS: Voters of the Aquilla Independent School District (AISD) approved a $1.5 million bond election. The bond will pay for the construction of a new gymnasium, locker room facilities and a potential classroom wing. The totals reflected more than a 2-to-1 margin of victory, 276 to 132. The school will utilize Qualified School Construction Bonds (QSCB), a federal program designed to provide tax credits in lieu of tax-exempt interest, to investors in school bonds.

It has been estimated that the QSCB program could save the district over $1 million in interest payments over the life of the bond. The issue is projected to increase the district’s total tax rate from $1.2436 per $100 valuation to $1.3651 per $100 valuation or $.1215. The district purchased 15 acres of land last spring for the expan-sion.

MICHIGAN: Like many former Detroit Public Schools buildings, the old Malcolm X Academy might have sat vacant for many years, slowly rotting away.
Instead, Detroit developer Joel Landy has taken over the building and has the option to buy it. He has been renovating it as a music recording studio and practice space, and says he has lined up some Grammy-winner talent to produce music there.

The prospect of rescuing other vacant school buildings for productive new uses will be the focus of an all-day workshop, called ReUse 101, being sponsored by DPS along with the nonprofit historic architecture group Preservation Wayne a nd private developer Landy, who has taken over two former DPS buildings for redevelopment.

The problem of what to do with Detroit's growing stock of empty school buildings has vexed officials and historic preservationists in recent years. Some older buildings, like the former Cass Tech High School, have been slated for demolition. Others, like the Malcolm X Academy, are finding new life. DPS emergency financial manager Robert Bobb has reorganized the district's real estate operations, putting a full-time staff on the problem of disposing of surplus property. Under this program, the district has sold 11 properties for $4.8 million and leased another seven netting $27,000 annually in rent.
All told, Wasko said, the district has 98 properties for sale now, of which 75 are buildings and 23 are vacant parcels.

NATIONAL: The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has launched a new Center for Green Schools, headquartered at its offices in Washington, D.C., to further its efforts to give access to green schools to all students within a generation. Manufacturing giant United Technologies is financing the center with a multi-year, multimillion-dollar commitment.

The new center builds on USGBC’s Green Schools Campaign, launched in 2007. “We decided it was time to put a real timeline to our goals: green schools for everyone within thisgeneration,” says Rachel Gutter, director of the Center for Green Schools. That ambitious timeline, she continues, means ramping up activism, education, and retrofit efforts. “The Center for Green Schools at USGBC is engaging educators in creating sustainable learning environments for their students and applying solid research to inform leadership—from school boards to college presidents—about the benefits of healthy, high-performing schools,” explains Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chair of USGBC.

It also means launching significant new projects, including the creation of the Center for Green Schools Fellows, which will provide fully funded, full-time sustainability coordinators to school districts for three years starting in 2011. “A district-wide sustainability initiative isn’t going to be successful until you make ‘green’ someone’s job,” says Gutter. She hopes that the funded positions will become permanent in many places as school districts realize the value of the position and begin paying salaries themselves. The Center for Green Schools will be keeping data on the benefits of the position, which could include savings from energy improvements, increased community awareness and involvement, and better health for students and teachers.

Existing efforts will continue. “We’ve got a track record of extremely successful programs,” says Gutter of USGBC’s three-year campaign. The organization’s push for green schools over the past several years has included political efforts, curriculum development, community education, and the continued development of the LEED for Schools rating system. According to Gutter, the campaign has paid off: 80 percent of the largest school districts in the country have committed to building only green schools in the future.

USGBC has focused its work as much on existing schools as new ones, creating the Green Existing Schools Toolkit for school boards and local officials. Central to these efforts has been the Coalition for Green Schools, a group that includes members of architectural and educational industry associations. Gutter says that one of the Center’s first tasks will be to open up the Coalition to broader participation.

WASHINGTON: A statewide referendum authorizing bonds for school energy retrofits has been defeated in Washington. Nearly 57 percent of voters rejected Referendum 52 with 1.37 million votes counted Tuesday. About 2.4 million votes are expected statewide.
"It's disappointing to have lost," said Cynara Lilly, spokeswoman for the Healthy Schools for Washington campaign. "This was conceived with the best of intentions. It was an opportunity to create jobs while making our schools a healthier place. While the measure went down, we saw a fair amount of support." She and other supporters of Referendum 52 said the money was needed to pay for newer pipes, better insulation and other energy upgrades at public schools and colleges across the state. R-52 would have authorized $505 million in bonds to be paid back by extending the temporary sales tax on bottled water set to expire in 2013.

Opponents said the initiative would have saddled the state with too much debt and would not create the number of jobs promised. While there was no apparent organized opposition, the Washington Policy Center and Republican lawmakers have been vocal critics.
Under the measure, public school districts and public higher education institutions would have competed for grants to pay for construction projects, and at least five percent of the total amount would have gone to districts with fewer than 1,000 students.

NEW JERSEY: New Jersey Assembly Democratic leaders said Gov. Chris Christie should have the state Schools Development Authority begin funding school construction programs, claiming that 310 of the agency's employees are sitting idle while making $50 million in salary. Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) and Education Committee Chairman Patrick J. Diegnan (D-Middlesex) said the authority's website details a lack of activity despite the agency having nearly 50 employees earning more than $100,000 annually. Oliver and Diegnan claim more than 50 school projects have stalled.

"This agency should be playing an important role in the future of our state, but has instead become mired in a bureaucratic morass," Oliver said. "Instances like this are why the public is fed up with government, and it's past time for the governor to take quick action to kick-start this agency and get these schools projects moving forward." "It's inexcusable that 310 employees at a cost of more than $50 million tax dollars per year have virtually nothing to do," Diegnan said. "To make matters worse in his recent testimony before the Assembly Education Committee, the authority's director expressed his pride in the performance of the authority under the Christie administration. "A do-nothing government agency wasting tax dollars is nothing to be proud of. We need to get these projects built. The students of our state are entitled to safe school buildings in which to learn."
Michael Drewniak, Christie's press secretary, said the administration is being fiscally responsibly in moving slowly. Oliver said that in April Christie said it was "important for these school projects to move forward with state financial support" and promised his "administration is committed to providing exemplary educational facilities for our students in all school districts across New Jersey." "It's time to back up those words with action," Oliver said. "Otherwise, taxpayer money will continue to be wasted and the future of New Jersey's children — from Phillipsburg to Newark to everywhere else in our state — will be put in jeopardy."

NEW JERSEY: New Jersey Assembly Democratic leaders said Gov. Chris Christie should have the state Schools Development Authority begin funding school construction programs, claiming that 310 of the agency's employees are sitting idle while making $50 million in salary. Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) and Education Committee Chairman Patrick J. Diegnan (D-Middlesex) said the authority's website details a lack of activity despite the agency having nearly 50 employees earning more than $100,000 annually. Oliver and Diegnan claim more than 50 school projects have stalled.

"This agency should be playing an important role in the future of our state, but has instead become mired in a bureaucratic morass," Oliver said. "Instances like this are why the public is fed up with government, and it's past time for the governor to take quick action to kick-start this agency and get these schools projects moving forward." "It's inexcusable that 310 employees at a cost of more than $50 million tax dollars per year have virtually nothing to do," Diegnan said. "To make matters worse in his recent testimony before the Assembly Education Committee, the authority's director expressed his pride in the performance of the authority under the Christie administration. "A do-nothing government agency wasting tax dollars is nothing to be proud of. We need to get these projects built. The students of our state are entitled to safe school buildings in which to learn."
Michael Drewniak, Christie's press secretary, said the administration is being fiscally responsibly in moving slowly. Oliver said that in April Christie said it was "important for these school projects to move forward with state financial support" and promised his "administration is committed to providing exemplary educational facilities for our students in all school districts across New Jersey." "It's time to back up those words with action," Oliver said. "Otherwise, taxpayer money will continue to be wasted and the future of New Jersey's children — from Phillipsburg to Newark to everywhere else in our state — will be put in jeopardy."

CALIFORNIA: While new housing throughout the Coachella Valley struggles during the lingering recession, voter-approved bonds have kept the school construction business bustling. Construction is ongoing at six sites, each employing 20-140 workers on an average day.
New schools are going up in Desert Hot Springs and Rancho Mirage, and Palm Desert High School is being completely rebuilt. These projects are mostly funded through voter- approved bond measures — the $516 million Measure E and $122 million Measure T for Palm Springs Unified and the $450 million Measure K in Desert Sands Unified.

These funds must be spent on the construction projects they were intended for and cannot, for example, fund classroom supplies or teacher salaries.
The economy has both helped and hurt these projects. Construction costs are down about 20 percent but assessed land values are also down, so selling bonds also brought in less money, Arthur said. Both districts are fronting money from bond measures that is supposed to be reimbursed by the state once it sells more bonds.

VIRGINIA: In a memorandum to the board of supervisors dated Oct. 27, Bill Duncanson, county administrator, attempted to make clear a potential funding route for a new high school, and its implication to taxpayers, following a rash of rumors. "I have heard everything from the [Qualified School Construction Bonds] being free money that the County would not have to repay to a proposed tax rate increase of 35 cents on the new assessed values to cover the debt service," Duncanson wrote.
According to Duncanson, QSCB funding is capped at $15 million to be repaid in 14 to 16 years. Richmond County would have to finance the remainder of the project through traditional means. In the memorandum, Duncanson estimated that the county would borrow $8 million at 5 percent interest to cover funds needed in excess of the interest-free construction bond. If supervisors proceed with the proposed plan, $1 million would be added to the county's annual debt service to repay the QSCB over 15 years while $400,000 would be needed per year to repay the conventional financing with interest over the next 30 years.

To afford those payments, a total 16-cent real estate tax increase would be needed for the next 15 years, which would drop to 5 cents to repay the remainder of the 30-year loan, as outlined in Duncanson's memo. Obtaining the interest-free QSCB monies depends on whether the state accepts an application filed by Richmond County.

VIRGINIA: As construction of the new high school continues at a blazing pace Clarke County residents will soon be able to monitor progress 24 hours a day, seven days a week via the internet. The Clarke County School Board approved funding for the purchase of a new “Weather Bug” station that includes a high quality video camera that will beam real-time video from the site to viewers around the globe.

ILLINOIS: As sure as the wind blows in Illinois, there are people in the area putting it to good use. As the mindset shifts to “thinking green,” area municipalities and schools are changing the way they think about power. Among the green alternatives out there are wind turbines, which produce “clean” electricity and, in the long run, revenue.

While the turbines have a financial benefit, they are also educational. Shoemaker said he plans to have students through the facility on field trips. Hinckley-Big Rock Middle School students would not have to go that far to see an operational turbine. The School District recently added one to the middle school campus in Big Rock. The middle school science students have been working on an energy unit, science teacher Matt Olson said. The school already had solar panels on the roof, and now the students have another source of first-hand data. Now, they will compare solar and wind power, to see which one is a better source of energy in this area, Olson said. They will compare their data with other schools in the area doing the same thing, to get a wider understanding. “We’ll be talking about whether it’s feasible in this area to install solar or wind,” he said. The students will also receive a business understanding on the forms of green energy, Olson said. They will begin to see which forms of energy are more profitable. “It’s kind of nice,” he said. “We’re not just teaching about it. We have them here at the school.”

TEXAS: Here's a story with a sense of justice (albeit small) from a case of environmental wrongdoing: Shell Oil was sued two years ago for releasing millions of pounds of chemicals, including benzene and other toxins, from its Deer Park refinery in Texas into the air. It was violating the Clean Air Act—and of the $6 million legal settlement that resulted, $2 million is now helping two Texas schools go solar.
The 700-panel, 145-kilowatt system is currently being installed on the roofs of two schools, one in Pasadena and one in South Houston. School faculty will use the panels to help teach students about renewable energy.

Grace Blasingame, who is on the science faculty at one of the schools, said, "We are installing three different solar technologies (panels) and will be monitoring them separately. Our students will experience a real life science experiment where they can make a hypothesis on which solar panel group will be the most efficient, collect the data, and draw conclusions."
Each school will also get a kiosk where students, along with the public, can monitor the panels' performance through a web-based program. "We have two schools with multiple roof elevations and multiple solar-panel technologies and the added bonus of having a teaching tool for the students," said Patrick Bollinger, project manager at the company installing the panels. "The kids are going to study the energy production that will come out of the inverters."
There's no way to know exactly how much the schools will save in energy costs, but it is expected to be at least $10,000 of their $102,000 annual electricity bill.

NATIONAL: The American Architectural Foundation (AAF) in partnership with KnowledgeWorks has awarded the sixth annual Richard Riley Award to Burton Elementary and Middle School in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Richard Riley Award promotes the idea of schools as centers of community and honors excellence in schools that open their doors to community residents of all ages for educational resources and other services.
AAF will present the award to Burton Elementary and Middle School with a ceremony at the school on Wednesday, November 3, 2010. Educational leaders, elected officials, members of the media, and other community leaders are expected to attend.
The Richard Riley Award honors both design and educational excellence, with an emphasis on innovation. The award was named in honor of former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley, who promoted the idea of schools as centers of community.
"Burton Elementary and Middle School sets a national benchmark for how a community can create a school and campus that is truly at the center of its community," said Ron Bogle, President and CEO of the American Architectural Foundation. "We are very pleased to award Burton Schools with the Richard Riley Award."

Burton Elementary and Middle School, located in the Garfield Park neighborhood of Grand Rapids, hoped to better serve its diverse community by updating and renovating their school building, originally built in 1925. Burton Schools wanted to reinforce the "community schools" model, which provides in-house community, health, and financial services to children and families. Its major innovation was the creation of a "community services wing" within the building in order to provide easy access to social services ranging from a community health and dental center to prevention groups and treatment services. It was important that this wing be located at the front of the facility—accessible even when the school was closed—and that the services be provided in both English and Spanish.
By co-housing the elementary and middle schools in one building, the district experiences ongoing savings in both staff and building resources thanks to shared office and meeting spaces. The success of Burton Elementary and Middle School's renovation is now encouraging other district schools to emulate this model. It has highlighted the importance of community services within a school building as a way to increase accessibility and awareness. By making school facilities more conducive to learning and more accessible, schools are able to provide a community with a rich array of social, civic, recreational, and artistic opportunities.

CALIFORNIA: Most high school students only get to read about DNA. At the Center for Advanced Research and Technology in Clovis, they shake, separate and duplicate these complex molecules in a gleaming new laboratory. The $1.5 million lab, which opened last week, has cutting-edge equipment rarely found in high schools -- including polymerase chain-reaction machines, electrophoresis apparatus and a spectrometer. Only about a dozen California high schools have biomedical programs similar to the one at CART, where students research genetics and diseases.

With the new 2,250- square-foot laboratory, students have more time and space for projects. In the past, they would split their research between a classroom and trying to get lab time in the older, cluttered laboratory. The old laboratory, which is still in use, had a capacity of 24 students, but teachers sometimes would cram in up to 36, Wagnon said. With the new lab, 70 students can work there at one time, she said. With 110 biomedical students, CART teachers are relieved to have the extra space. "They will be in the lab more frequently, doing more hands-on things, which is how a lot of students learn best," teacher Matt Jordan said. With the added space, teachers are setting a goal that 80% of class time be spent in the laboratory.

NEW JERSEY: Solar panels installed at William Paterson University (WPU) will supply 15 to 20 percent of the institution's energy needs and are expected to save about $4.3 million in energy costs over 15 years. The project, developed through a public-private partnership between WPU, Nautilus Solar Energy LLC, a leading independent solar power provider, and SunDurance Energy, a New Jersey-based solar power company. The project includes numerous panels covering a few parking areas and photovoltaic cells or panels on the roofs of a couple of the university's buildings.
"The solar facility is a dramatic and visible sign of this institution's commitment to the environment, and to clean energy in particular, while at the same time lowering our energy costs significantly," said Kathleen Waldron, president of WPU.

The way it will work is Nautilus Solar financed and will own and operate the facility under a 15 year power purchase agreement and WPU will purchase the "solar" power at a reduced rate cutting out any upfront costs, explained Waldron. The amount saved in energy costs is mapped out over a 15 year period, according to Stephen Bolyai, vice president for administration and finance. An information kiosk will also be located in WPU's Science Building offering up to date numbers on the amount of energy produced via the solar panels and the savings incurred.

The university is no stranger in the attempt to save energy having just received a $1.2 million federal grant to upgrade the controls for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems on campus. Its efforts also include replacing gas powered vehicles on campus with electric cars, recycling paper, plastic, and other such materials, as well as installing occupancy sensors to control lights in its buildings.

CALIFORNIA: The $20-billion school construction program in the nation's second-largest school system was rife with conflicts of interest, but most problems were eliminated after 2006, according to an independent audit released Wednesday.
The long-awaited review was conducted by the office of City Controller Wendy Greuel and was commissioned by the Los Angeles Unified School District after the March indictment of a senior facilities manager. Bassam Raslan had allegedly funneled business from the massive school-building effort to a company he co-owned. The district has relied heavily on contractors to supervise projects, defending the practice as a way to attract high-quality workers while providing flexibility to increase or reduce their numbers as needed.
The audit, which examined records dating to 2002, found 225 instances in which consultant hiring panels included people from the same company as the applicant. Eighty hires were made without using the required panels at all. And auditors identified four people who participated in hiring panels and "stood to receive a direct financial benefit because they selected a [consultant] from a firm in which they had an investment," Greuel wrote in her cover letter for the audit.

NEW JERSEY: The state legislature of New Jersey is currently reviewing A1084, which will make installation of solar panels in new public school buildings mandatory in order for the schools to receive funding for construction of new facilities. The bill states that the State’s Commissioner of Education may not approve an application to construct new school facilities if these do not incorporate solar panels in their design. This is in line with the Educational Facilities Construction and Financing Act. The bill is currently being reviewed by the Assembly Appropriations Committee, which is awaiting technical review by the Legislative Council to confirm whether the law will not violate previously-enacted laws.
New Jersey is currently the second state in the US after California with the most photovoltaic installations. It currently has about 200 Megawatts of installed capacity as of October this year. Meanwhile, New Jersey has one of the biggest budgets in terms of school construction across the country.
The bill notes that the use of solar energy is both beneficial to the budget and to government coffers, in that cost-savings will be realized in the long run, as electricity rates from a mainly fossil-fuel-fed grid continue to rise.

NEW JERSEY: The state legislature of New Jersey is currently reviewing A1084, which will make installation of solar panels in new public school buildings mandatory in order for the schools to receive funding for construction of new facilities. The bill states that the State’s Commissioner of Education may not approve an application to construct new school facilities if these do not incorporate solar panels in their design. This is in line with the Educational Facilities Construction and Financing Act. The bill is currently being reviewed by the Assembly Appropriations Committee, which is awaiting technical review by the Legislative Council to confirm whether the law will not violate previously-enacted laws.
New Jersey is currently the second state in the US after California with the most photovoltaic installations. It currently has about 200 Megawatts of installed capacity as of October this year. Meanwhile, New Jersey has one of the biggest budgets in terms of school construction across the country.
The bill notes that the use of solar energy is both beneficial to the budget and to government coffers, in that cost-savings will be realized in the long run, as electricity rates from a mainly fossil-fuel-fed grid continue to rise.

GEORGIA: The Newton County School System expects to save nearly $10 million in capital funds by replacing older bonds. Newton County Board of Education unanimously approved a recommendation by NCSS Superintendent Gary Mathews to adopt a bond resolution for bonds issued in 1997 and 2010. By doing so, NCSS expects to save $131,000 from the $2.955 million outstanding 1997 bonds due to a reduced interest rate, according to Bryce Holcomb, director of the public finance department at Citigroup, which serves as the bond underwriter for NCSS. He said it also should expect to save $9.7 million for the 2010 bonds to pay for Qualified School Construction Bonds at a zero interest rate, as allowed under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The 2010 bonds are expected to help finance the Newton College & Career Academy in the amount of $13.05 million and a new elementary school for $12 million. NCSS also hoped to get $11 million to help construct a new high school, but it was not awarded the funding since it had received funding previously under the ARRA program. Capital funds generally are used for construction of schools and land acquisition for NCSS, according to Dennis Carpenter, deputy superintendent of NCSS. The bonds are expected to close on Nov. 16.

NATIONAL: Cornell researchers, writing in this month's Atlantic, report that tiny tweaks to cafeteria layouts can make remarkable differences in what kids opt to eat. Current efforts to revamp school nutrition often eliminate access to unhealthy foods entirely, replacing them with more nutritious options. Kids react, however, by skipping school lunch and getting their Twinkie fix elsewhere.

So-called "smart cafeterias" would feature low or no-cost changes in design, food presentation and layout, in an effort to tap "the natural psychology of choice" as youths consider their mealtime options.
"Food isn't nutritious until it is eaten," the team writes. "We improve school lunches by nudging children to make the right choices on their own. That way, when they take the apple instead of the cookie, it was their idea."

Those nudges include apples and oranges in attractive baskets rather than metal bins, salad bars placed strategically close to the cafeteria's checkout, or a mandate to require cash payments -- no debit cards -- for less healthy foods. At one test school in upstate New York, kids ate 300 percent more salads after administrators simply moved the salad bar to a new location. Imposing the changes nationwide could have a major impact: An estimated 30 million American kids and teens partake in the country's National Lunch Program, which offers free or low-cost meals to students.

ILLINOIS: Staggering construction cost estimatesfor the consolidation of Christopher, Zeigler and Royalton High Schools left audience members speechless. Architect Marion Poggas said that 35 acres was required to accommodate 500 students in a new or remodeled school building with sports facilities, staff and student parking, and a road for bus traffic. He also talked about the number of classrooms needed, along with space for labs, food preparation, art, instrumental and vocal music space, physical education, media library, along with space for special needs students. Committee Chair Allan Patton said the state standard specifies that between 200 and 225 square feet must be allotted per student. "Marion said it would take between 100,000 and 120,000 square feet to house the high school students," he said. "That does not include direct student services on the vocational side such as family and consumer science, technical labs for wood, metal, auto and computer-aided drafting. We must have emphasis on computer labs to prepare students for the demands of the future." Patton said. "Marion said a new school would cost $23 million for 100,000 square feet and $28 million for 120,000 square feet," he said. "That's without the cost of the land. "An addition to Zeigler-Royalton High School to add classrooms and to update the building would cost $16 million to add 65,000 square feet or $18.5 million to add 75,000 square feet. The high school would have to be upgraded because the building is 50 years old."

MAINE: How many workers are needed to build the new W.G. Mallett School? How many bricks will be used? How did they get the “blue stuff” to stick to the outside walls? How many machines are being used and what do they do? Heady stuff for a group of 5- to 7-year-olds to be pondering. But with the new 60,000-square-foot Mallett School going up in the backyard of the current 80-year-old school that will eventually be razed to make way for playing fields and a playground, students have a rare opportunity to watch it go up, from excavation to landscaping. It is scheduled to open September 2011.

“We started thinking of all the opportunities this presented, and we wanted to find a way to get kids working together to document the changes,” second-grade teacher Cindy Stevens said. Stevens and kindergarten teacher Stacey Augustine started the New Mallett School Learning Buddy Project and blog last spring when ground was broken for the new building. The project teams up a second-grader in Steven's class with a kindergartner and together they contribute to an interactive website the teachers have created. The classes get together once a week and share the school's 30 laptops. In a recent session, the younger kids were asked to come up with a comment about what they have seen at the worksite. The older kids were teaching them how to log on, what to write and finding the right keys on the keyboard. “For my kids, it is helping them solidify their skills because they are the teachers,” Stevens said.

“I really like working with my buddy, and I like working on the computers,” second-grader Taegen Heath said as she helped her young buddy, Ivy Hutchinson, type in her observations. When it was done, Ivy's blog read: “I see a roof. I see a wall. I see a window.” Another student entry reads: “I have seen the construction men put down the heat on the cement. It must be a hard job for the men. They have to use a bobcat to haul the dirt. When the kids sit on the floor the floor will be warm...I think that is pretty cool.” The classes have also put online photos and videos they have taken of different stages of the work, shot on either short class walks to the site or from a window.
Since April, the site has had about 12,000 hits from as far away as New Zealand and South America. Stevens said 4,000 came in the first week the blog was up. “We couldn't believe it. Where are people hearing about us?” Stevens asked in amazement.

The blog project uses a variety of educational skills. Writing, technology, geography to locate where the hits have come from, and art. Students created their own plans for the classrooms, lobby, gym, lunchroom, bathroom and other areas of the new building after looking at a set of blueprints designed by Stephen Blatt Architects. The kids have also learned the basics of interviewing to prepare for meeting with a few grown-ups involved in the project. Augustine said for kindergartners to be engaged for an hour while they talked with Chuck Pollack, site supervisor for H.E. Callahan Construction, was pretty amazing. Even Pollack said he was impressed. “They had really good questions. I was surprised,” he said. “We told the students we wanted them to ask questions for the other people who cannot be here,” Stevens said.

The classes have been able to use three iPod nanos to take photos and videos and record interviews. The devices were purchased by the Mallett PTA and from a district fund, while Stevens and Augustine bring in their personal equipment so there are enough to go around. “We're really doing this on a shoestring. We want these kids to feel that they don't need a lot of equipment and that they can do this outside of school,” Stevens said. All entries and comments are reviewed by the teachers before they are put online, and students are only identified by their initials. Stevens said teaching kids about Internet safety has been another facet of the project. The popularity of the experiment took the teachers by surprise and is acting as an incentive for the kids. To follow the blog and post comments for students, go to www.mtbluersd.org and click on the link on the home page under the New Mallett School Learning Buddy Project.

NORTH CAROLINA: Ultimately, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels prevailed over rival North Carolina State Wolfpack—as well as trouncing Sears, J.C. Penney and Sheraton. The playing field: a national competition sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency to see which commercial building could trim its energy use the most over 12 months. The EPA reported that ranking first was a dorm at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The strategy at UNC's Morrison Residence Hall wasn't as sexy as a winning three-point shot at the buzzer—but tweaks to its heating and cooling equipment, an expanded solar-powered hot water system, lighting upgrades and persistent coaxing of students to dial down hot water usage in the laundry room helped the dorm cut its energy consumption by almost 36% and shave more than $250,000 off its bills. Similar moves are being implemented campus-wide.
"The big lesson for us is that efforts need to include occupants as well as the maintenance personnel of buildings," says Chris Martin Jr., director of energy management for the university. "Otherwise, eventually the savings will be lost."

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Exeter High School’s new solar panels which generate 100 kilowatt hours of energy are expected to offset 5 percent of the school’s energy needs. The district also installed a microturbine at the Seacoast School of Technology and replaced the building's old oil boilers with high efficiency natural gas boilers. The energy initiatives combined will eventually save the district more than $200,000 per year. The project was a partnership between the school district, Revolution Energy, the Department of Energy, Unitil and the Green Launching Pad. Green Launching Pad is an alternative energy technology commercialization initiative started by Governor John Lynch and the University of New Hampshire last year. This is one of the largest solar projects in the state.

NORTH CAROLINA: State and local politicians tout how federal stimulus money is helping fund renovations at Middlesex Elementary school. Mark Strickland, special assistant for auxiliary services for the school district, said the construction project at Middlesex Elementary is his first experience with a USDA project. According to Strickland, Middlesex Elementary’s previous 7,000-square-foot building built in 1938, was old, dilapidated, and “not accessible at all.” The building will be replaced with an approximately 37,000-square-foot building with 12 classrooms, a couple computer labs and a “brand new kitchen and cafeteria.” U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-2nd District said “I hear every day, somebody said, that the recovery money didn’t create any jobs at all.” “Creating good jobs and addressing the needs of our local schools have been my top priorities in Congress, and I know the importance of quality school buildings to the educational goals we have for our children,” Etheridge said. “There really is no substitute for bricks and mortar when it comes to quality schools.” Victor Vazquez, deputy undersecretary for USDA rural development, said projects like the one taking place at Middlesex Elementary don’t occur without local, state and federal leadership. “This is proof of what the reinvestment act will do,” Vazquez said. “We’re starting to see that job growth and that job expansion.” “We are pleased that USDA was one of the departments that was allowed the opportunity to funnel the resources out into rural communities,” he said. “We’re just brokers of the resources. We get them out into the communities and eventually (they) turn into private sector jobs.

VIRGINIA: Arlington County school officials predict that the system's facilities will be at capacity by 2013, but there are no plans to build new schools to alleviate possible crowding. Instead, officials are trying to maximize buildings' use by increasing class sizes, adjusting transfer policies and using temporary space.
No new schools are planned for the next six years. Renovations to Wakefield High School, due to be complete in 2013, are expected to add only a few hundred seats, officials said.

NEW JERSEY: State lawmakers are questioning why the Christie administration has put most of the 52 state reviewed, authorized and fully funded school construction projects on the 2008 Capital Plan on hold. All work at a construction site in Newark for the Oliver Street School has stopped. The same stoppage has happened at schools in Camden, Phillipsburg, and throughout the state. The new head of the Schools Development Authority (SDA) Marc Larkins stated all of the projects listed in the 2008 capital plan –with the exception of a handful of jobs already underway – will be stalled until his department can review them yet again. [includes video]

ILLINOIS: The Champaign Unit 4 school board hosted a meeting to inform the public about the imminent process of relocating and rebuilding historic Central High School. At this meeting, the board announced the location of seven sites currently being considered for the new school, all on the edge of town.

Why the big push? The most obvious reason is that Central High School’s facilities are substandard and land-locked. Athletic fields and parking are virtually non-existent. Computer labs are makeshift. The marching band practices on a sliver of grass next to a sidewalk. Certainly, a new school would improve facilities for students. But while relocating the school on a large parcel of land at the edge of town is the easiest solution, is it the best? What does research show is in the best interests of students when it comes to school buildings? Is bigger really better? Is further better?

According to Smart Growth America, a coalition of organizations working to improve the planning and building of metro areas, “If a school board decides to close an existing school and to build a new, larger school at the edge of town, this decision can be devastating to the community and without recognizing it, to the school and its students as well. For example, if the new school is built on the edge of town, a significant portion of the student population may no longer be able to walk or bike to school. This causes school transportation costs to increase substantially — not to mention the new costs for roads, water and sewer infrastructure — and students’ ability to participate in extracurricular activities may decline because they are suddenly dependent on the school, their parents or older friends or siblings for transportation.”

And there are other costs as well: when a school closes, neighborhoods lose morale and property values drop (indeed they do!), while the new school location encourages further sprawl. In addition, volunteerism and parent participation at relocated schools actually decrease, as the schools suffer from their self-imposed isolation from the community.

Moreover, researchers are finding that students tend to feel more connected to and perform better in smaller schools that fit more easily into neighborhoods. This is particularly true for students of low-income families and students of color. Indeed, a 2009 UCLA study finds that “at their best, small schools are seen as enhancing strong personal bonds, home and community involvement, improved instructional quality and accountability, and improved teacher working conditions and job satisfaction.” According to Dr. Sharif Shakrani, the Co-director of the Education Policy Center, “Recent studies suggest students in small public high schools perform better academically, have higher attendance rates, feel safer, experience fewer behavior problems and participate more frequently in extracurricular activities.“

ILLINOIS: The Champaign Unit 4 school board hosted a meeting to inform the public about the imminent process of relocating and rebuilding historic Central High School. At this meeting, the board announced the location of seven sites currently being considered for the new school, all on the edge of town.

Why the big push? The most obvious reason is that Central High School’s facilities are substandard and land-locked. Athletic fields and parking are virtually non-existent. Computer labs are makeshift. The marching band practices on a sliver of grass next to a sidewalk. Certainly, a new school would improve facilities for students. But while relocating the school on a large parcel of land at the edge of town is the easiest solution, is it the best? What does research show is in the best interests of students when it comes to school buildings? Is bigger really better? Is further better?

According to Smart Growth America, a coalition of organizations working to improve the planning and building of metro areas, “If a school board decides to close an existing school and to build a new, larger school at the edge of town, this decision can be devastating to the community and without recognizing it, to the school and its students as well. For example, if the new school is built on the edge of town, a significant portion of the student population may no longer be able to walk or bike to school. This causes school transportation costs to increase substantially — not to mention the new costs for roads, water and sewer infrastructure — and students’ ability to participate in extracurricular activities may decline because they are suddenly dependent on the school, their parents or older friends or siblings for transportation.”

And there are other costs as well: when a school closes, neighborhoods lose morale and property values drop (indeed they do!), while the new school location encourages further sprawl. In addition, volunteerism and parent participation at relocated schools actually decrease, as the schools suffer from their self-imposed isolation from the community.

Moreover, researchers are finding that students tend to feel more connected to and perform better in smaller schools that fit more easily into neighborhoods. This is particularly true for students of low-income families and students of color. Indeed, a 2009 UCLA study finds that “at their best, small schools are seen as enhancing strong personal bonds, home and community involvement, improved instructional quality and accountability, and improved teacher working conditions and job satisfaction.” According to Dr. Sharif Shakrani, the Co-director of the Education Policy Center, “Recent studies suggest students in small public high schools perform better academically, have higher attendance rates, feel safer, experience fewer behavior problems and participate more frequently in extracurricular activities.“

MASSACHUSETTS: Boston school officials — under pressure by financial watchdogs to cut operating costs but hesitant to close schools — have not made public the full number of empty classroom seats across the city.
Their most recent tally of 5,758 empty seats counts only the excess capacity in classrooms staffed by teachers, officials said in interviews this week. It does not account for the surplus space that exists in no-longer-used classrooms or those that have been converted into storage and meeting rooms as student enrollment has dropped.

The accounting is more than an academic exercise for a district that recently proposed vacating four buildings at the school year’s end. The more empty seats there are, the more money it could be wasting on unneeded infrastructure as it confronts a potential $60 million shortfall next year, fiscal watchdogs say. The higher the number of empty seats, the more pressure leaders will be under to close more schools — a politically difficult process that riles parents, teachers, and students.
Over the past decade, enrollment has declined by nearly 8,000 students to 55,371 last fall, according to the most recent state tally. Yet during that time, the school district has opened three new large schools and has only vacated four small buildings, potentially leaving it with more square footage than when the decade began.

MICHIGAN: Ask teachers how important the condition of their building is and they’ll say, “A good teacher can teach anywhere.” But dig a little deeper and the responses become more reflective. Educators say that, most of all, a dilapidated school building sends a message to the staff and to the students about the community’s priorities.
Voters living within the Lansing School District will make that determination as they cast ballots through Nov. 2 by voting on a site sinking fund tax proposal. The five-year property tax is expected to yield about $4.18 million per year for construction or repair of school buildings. For a $100,000 home, the 1.5 mill levy would cost about $75 per year.

“It’s not the bricks and mortar that make the teacher,” said Sally Hudgins, who recently retired from Pattengill Middle School and was a Michigan Social Studies Teacher of the Year. At one point in her 31-year career, she arrived to teach but the building was not ready. She was informed her classroom would be in a nearby church sanctuary. “You know what? It didn’t matter,” the 55-year-old said, so long as she had the space, the right tools, the right supplies and the support of parents and administrators. But she was quick to add that the district’s millage is badly needed, particularly to free funds for technology to enhance instruction.

Pattengill Principal Kirk Sulzman concurred. There’s a point when a building’s condition sends a message, he said. Yes, teachers can teach anywhere. But to get them, and to keep them, teachers should be given a workplace where students can learn. Pest control, adequate lighting and heat costs money, he said.

Families also have options today on where they send their children, or school of choice. Parents in mid-Michigan can choose where to send their children to school, so long as there are vacancies. The most common question parents who are school-shopping ask Sulzman is this one: “Is it safe here?” The money from the new fund will be earmarked for sites, buildings and their maintenance. That will allow portions of the school budget being used for maintenance to be freed up for education programs, Sulzman said.

ILLINOIS: Eighteen school districts across Illinois will share more than $270 million in state funding for construction and renovation projects. Gov. Pat Quinn announced which districts will receive the capital funding that was approved last year. The money will help create 3,700 construction jobs statewide, including 1,000 in Chicago, Quinn said.
"If you don't have sound buildings, it's more difficult to learn," Quinn said. "It's important that we make these investments."

The funding will help pay for additions and renovations at existing schools, including some damaged by natural disasters, as well as the construction of new buildings. The state funding combined with local matching dollars will help districts start projects worth more than $525 million, officials said.

LOUISIANA: Hurricane Katrina destroyed schools as well as homes and businesses–and now, five years later, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is helping with the green re-building of the Big Easy by creating an energy efficient blueprint the city’s schools can elect to adopt.
Ironically, some of New Orleans’ oldest schools were among the most energy efficient, as those built 80 to 100 years ago feature large windows oriented for natural ventilation and sunlight. Schools constructed in the last half of a century, though, were not built with efficiency in mind, said Phil Voss, senior project leader for NREL’s effort in New Orleans, in a statement. In a cash-strapped area of the country, that adds up to tens of millions of dollars that could have been spent to improve education.

Among other things, the green blueprint for New Orleans’ 40 new schools and 38 schools facing major renovation will include more natural daylighting (which, according to several studies, actually improves academic performance in the classroom), as well as properly sized heating and cooling systems, and more insulation. As per the Department of Energy’s 2007 memorandum of understanding with the Louisiana Department of Education, they’ll also be at least 30 percent more efficient than code.
While the green blueprint for New Orleans’ new schools are projected to save schools tens of millions of dollars per decade, the designs will also run school districts several million dollars above and beyond what it would cost to build a school merely to code, so whether NoLa’s new schools will go for the green remains to be seen.

OHIO: Ground was officially broken at the Beallsville site for the first of seven school construction projects in the district, a major step for a school system that state officials once determined had the worst facilities out of all 612 of Ohio's school districts. It took years of planning, pleading and ultimately the state's governor and legislators to step in and offer a special, one-time deal to district taxpayers to make the $88 million plan happen.

Ultimately, the Ohio School Facilities Commission determined its one-size-fits-all approach didn't work for the large, rural district and allowed modifications to the size of schools to be constructed, allowing smaller student populations, and a lowering of the local share of the project. In May 2009, residents approved a bond issue and levy that has them paying $33 million of the project over 28 years, a savings of $15 million from the original state offer.

It took consultants, community surveys and those concessions from state government to make a project work, former OSFC executive director Mike Shoemaker, now the director of the Coalition of Rural and Appalachian Schools, said, crediting Ohio. Rep. Jennifer Garrison, D-Marietta, with helping to make it happen. Garrison introduced legislation that ranked schools based on current wealth rather than average wealth, putting the focus on real property value and benefiting the 2,760-student school district.
Garrison said the buildings were also one of the first problems she heard about as a legislator, when a group of district moms showed her Monroe Central High School, which consisted largely of trailers and no gym - the closest was 25 miles away. "The state formula didn't work for this area, and we had to make it work," she said. "Kids' education today is about technology, science labs and math labs."

PENNSYLVANIA: The Carlisle Area School District unveiled a new 1.2 megawatt (MW) solar power array that will help educate as it provides clean renewable energy. Henkels & McCoy, Inc., headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, designed and constructed the solar array using solar panels from industry leader Sharp. The solar installation is expected to produce approximately 1,500,000 kilowatt hours of solar power a year. On an annual basis, the solar energy produced will reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 2,055,000 pounds, the equivalent of eliminating 178 cars from the road per year. Carlisle School District will now be able to meet approximately sixteen percent of its electricity needs with clean, emissions-free solar power.

This project was financed in part by a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Commonwealth Financing Authority. The Project was also funded by the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority using monies from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Additional Funding will be provided to the school district under the ACT 129 renewable energy rebate program.

MICHIGAN: The district has received a $47,283 check from Tower Pinkster Titus Associates, the architecture and engineering firm that designed Linden Grove Middle School, in connection with a federal tax credit that the firm received for its middle-school design. The money will be used for the district’s literacy efforts.

The tax credit is part of the Commercial Building Tax Deduction and the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which was created to encourage energy efficiency in commercial buildings. Linden Grove, which opened in fall 2009, qualified by reducing the building’s lighting, heating and cooling energy by more than 30 percent compared to American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers standards.
Because KPS is a nonprofit and does not pay taxes, it did not qualify for the tax incentive. But Tower Pinkster was able to file for the credit on project of the project, and they turned the money over to the school district.

Among the building’s energy-saving features are: abundant daylighting, allowing for fewer artificial lights and smaller HVAC systems; special outdoor light fixtures designed to decrease light pollution; dual flush toilets and low-flow fixtures; a reflective, white roof, in combination with roof vegetation.

FLORIDA: In 2003, a grand jury blasted the Broward County school system for taking too long to get rid of mold in classrooms and failing to repair leaky roofs and faulty air conditioners. The panel outlined its concerns in a 44-page report, strongly recommending changes the state of Florida needed to make to force school districts to improve indoor-air quality while underscoring that children were especially vulnerable to the potentially harmful effects of mold. Although Broward schools have since spent millions of dollars trying to fix its problems, the more sweeping statewide grand jury recommendations have been largely ignored.
A handful of South Florida lawmakers introduced bills in 2004 that would have required schools to aggressively monitor and address mold problems and even file progress reports with the state. But the legislation never went anywhere. A Senate analyst pointed out that repairs would be expensive and Florida would be setting itself up for lawsuits if it identified its air-quality problems. So, today, there still are no statewide rules in Florida governing how public schools should monitor, detect and handle air-quality problems in one of the hottest, most humid states in the country. And years after the grand jury report, Florida schools continue to battle chronic mold and water-intrusion problems, according to an Orlando Sentinel investigation.

NEW JERSEY: The Schools Development Authority has an annual budget of $52 million dollars, with about 310 employees spread across the upper floors of the bank building and other locations. More notably, it has overseen more than $8 billion in school construction projects since its inception in 2000.
But yesterday the attention was turned to what the agency hasn’t completed. Legislators -- both Democrats and Republicans -- voiced their frustration over mounting complaints about the SDA’s continued hold on 52 projects planned and promised in some of the state’s neediest cities for much of the past decade.
Four schools in Jersey City, five in Newark where the average age is 85 years old, a new high school in Phillipsburg, where now half the students take classes in 31 temporary trailers.

Marc Larkins, the chief operating officer of the SDA, pleaded for patience from the legislators. He explained a process now in its fourth month: reviewing a 2008 capital plan of the 52 school projects for both their priority and appropriateness. A former assistant federal prosecutor, Larkins was appointed by Gov. Chris Christie to clean up the long embattled agency and moved immediately to revisit the capital plan set by former Gov. Jon Corzine and the legislature. He said a draft of that review would be completed in “a couple of weeks” and presentation of a revised plan would be ready early in the new year. He said there would likely be some additions and subtractions. “Some here may not be on the list, and there are others out there not now included that will be included,” he said.

Following Larkins, several districts’ facilities officials testified that to quit any of these projects would be a mistake. The head of the Education Law Center, which led the Abbott v. Burke school equity litigation, said the SDA’s own records show $236 million already spent on these projects. “I don’t know how we could possibly walk away from them now,” he said. “It would be a phenomenal waste of money.”

ILLINOIS: Chicago’s Board of Education, stung by delayed aid from Governor Pat Quinn and a credit-rating downgrade, is paying almost twice as much as comparably rated schools for taxable Qualified School Construction Bonds.
Fitch Ratings lowered its credit score on the board one level last week to A+, fifth-highest, citing delays in state aid payments and future rises in pension and debt-service costs. Standard & Poor’s assigned AA-, fourth-highest, and revised its outlook to negative. Moody’s Investors Service rates the debt Aa2, third-highest.

Yesterday’s $257 million issue of so-called QSCBs, the third-largest sale of the federally subsidized debt, offered 19- year bonds priced to yield 6.32 percent, or 2.5 percentage points above 30-year U.S. Treasuries. That’s about 82 percent more than the 1.37 percentage-point spread the Los Angeles Unified School District paid on its $190 million of the debt in May. Chicago Public Schools, the nation’s third-largest district, is paying the price for the fiscal problems the state and city are having, said Anthony Greco, a trader at Boston- based Breckinridge Capital Advisors, which manages $13.5 billion.
“Illinois as a state is in the news, and it’s not positive news,” Greco said. “Chicago has its own set of problems that mimic the state and it’s making people nervous.” The Board of Education also sold $125 million in Build America Bonds, which carry a 35 percent subsidy. QSCBs are eligible for a 100 percent subsidy on interest costs.

ILLINOIS: Chicago’s Board of Education, stung by delayed aid from Governor Pat Quinn and a credit-rating downgrade, is paying almost twice as much as comparably rated schools for taxable Qualified School Construction Bonds.
Fitch Ratings lowered its credit score on the board one level last week to A+, fifth-highest, citing delays in state aid payments and future rises in pension and debt-service costs. Standard & Poor’s assigned AA-, fourth-highest, and revised its outlook to negative. Moody’s Investors Service rates the debt Aa2, third-highest.

Yesterday’s $257 million issue of so-called QSCBs, the third-largest sale of the federally subsidized debt, offered 19- year bonds priced to yield 6.32 percent, or 2.5 percentage points above 30-year U.S. Treasuries. That’s about 82 percent more than the 1.37 percentage-point spread the Los Angeles Unified School District paid on its $190 million of the debt in May. Chicago Public Schools, the nation’s third-largest district, is paying the price for the fiscal problems the state and city are having, said Anthony Greco, a trader at Boston- based Breckinridge Capital Advisors, which manages $13.5 billion.
“Illinois as a state is in the news, and it’s not positive news,” Greco said. “Chicago has its own set of problems that mimic the state and it’s making people nervous.” The Board of Education also sold $125 million in Build America Bonds, which carry a 35 percent subsidy. QSCBs are eligible for a 100 percent subsidy on interest costs.

NATIONAL: When is a building not a building? When it's a school.
How many times have you walked through your child's school and noticed the quality of light? How about the quality of air or sound in the classroom? Is a school just another type of warehouse boarding our children for six hours a day? When we think of our schools, do we envision an environment that supports academics, stimulates our children and actually enhances learning? If not then WHY NOT?

In 1999 the Heschong Mahone Group published their, now famous, Daylighting in Schools; An investigation into the Relationship Between Daylighting and Human Performance. They found that the amount of natural day light (Daylighting) in a classroom effected the performance of students, the attitude toward their school and the absenteeism rates of the teachers. Maybe not earth shattering if you stop and think of it now, but in August of 1999 this was vindicating for many school planners. Remember, we had come out of a decade where we thought that we could eliminate almost all windows from a classroom and save on energy costs.
According to a research study by the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS): Students in classrooms optimally designed for "daylighting progressed 20% faster on math tests and 26% faster on reading tests in one year than those with the least amount of daylight."

What about air quality, classroom acoustics, furniture ergonomics? And all of this before we even get to new computers or new band uniforms. For the better part of 30 years, I have worked as a school planner, architect, developer, teacher and builder with the conviction that better learning environments can actual effect students in a positive way. A new NBC series called "School Pride" debuts that follows students, teachers, parents and a SWAT team of organizers as they renovate aging and broken public schools. This is a "makeover" show with a difference.

But what if there was a reality TV show that allowed a community to project their desires on to a project that resulted in a grander community asset? Think of that favorite room in your house, the one that has the nicest light, with the most comfortable chair, the warmest, the coolest. Now think of your neighborhood school and picture these same desirable qualities overlaid on those educational spaces. Think of classrooms with quality light, stable and supportive furniture, clean, tempered air and imagine the effect on those students. A theme of "School Pride" is that you can not only affect your environment but you can also affect your attitude about your surroundings. I can't overstate how important this can be.

LOUISIANA: Efforts to reinvent public education in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina have drawn such interest that it’s easy to lose sight of some very concrete changes that will become obvious over time: A generation of brand-new school buildings is rising across the city.
New Orleans is in the early stages of a construction spree to both build and renovate dozens of schools, and recently got news of an eye-popping settlement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, under which the federal government is providing more than $1.8 billion to cover storm-related damages to schools.

While the massive construction initiative and the settlement with FEMA are welcome news in the city, some observers argue that state and local officials have set themselves up for trouble in how the process is moving forward.
We don’t believe there is adequate oversight of what is happening in terms of making decisions on how projects are being prioritized and whether alterations need to be made to the [facilities] plan,” said Tara S. O’Neill, the policy manager at the Scott S. Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives, a think tank based at Tulane University in New Orleans. “And we don’t think there is adequate room for input from stakeholders. ... Individual school leaders feel like they would like to have more of a voice, students and parents would like to have more of a voice.”

IRELAND: The design of some primary schools – especially older buildings – makes it difficult to implement the child-centred curriculum, according to a new study by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). The study is one of the first to examine the effects of school design on teaching and learning in Irish primary schools. The ESRI research says that new school buildings are seen more positively by teachers and pupils than older school types in terms of classroom sizes, accessibility, lighting, heating, ventilation and storage.

But the study also makes a series of recommendations, including: schools should be located on sites which are large enough to allow the use of outdoor space for teaching and learning as well as play and sports and to facilitate future expansion resulting from population growth; schools should be located close to the centre of the community to encourage parental involvement in school life. Parental involvement should be facilitated by providing a space for parents to meet within the school; the potential to move towards an “extended school model”, with early childhood care and education along with local social and community services provided within or close to the school, should be investigated; outdoor space should incorporate a variety of play surfaces and playground equipment along with a school garden and other spaces.

The report says the increased diversity of pupils requires the allocation of more and larger rooms for supplementary teaching activities to support special educational and language needs. Greater attention, it says, should be paid by school management to the fit-out of schools, “providing ergonomic and age-appropriate furniture appropriate to differing pupil needs”. A designated space should also be provided for pupils to eat their lunches outside the classroom

NATIONAL: When people talk about how hard it is to change our public schools, they're usually referring to curriculum reform or employment contracts. But there's another area where change is difficult: design. When a proposed school building doesn't look exactly like what folks think a school should look like, officials freeze.

Many school system leaders are not, by nature, risk takers. Public school systems exist in a highly charged political environment, and decision makers often choose the path of least resistance when making choices about something as highly visible as a new school. But fostering innovative design can bring its own rewards.

MASSACHUSETTS: Paul Murphy calls it a "security blanket." The Manchester Essex Regional Middle and High School assistant principal knows it's not just any blanket — particularly with its $250,000 price tag. But he adds that seems a fair price to insure the safety of students, faculty, and staff. The "security blanket" is the school's $250,000 surveillance camera system, and Murphy says it's worth the cost to help protect the two towns' $49 million investment — the school itself — and the approximately 820 middle and high school students it houses each day.
As Gloucester school and city officials consider matching a $38,000 federal grant to install a number of security cameras in Gloucester High School, Manchester Essex has been utilizing its state-of-the-art monitoring system since the new school opened in September 2009.

The security system includes 64 cameras, installed throughout the building and on the exterior of the building shooting the parking lot to maintain safety there as well. There are no cameras obviously in private areas such as bathrooms and locker rooms, Murphy said. There are also multiple cameras in large areas such as open hallways, the auditorium, and the gym. Not all of the classrooms are equipped with cameras but all entrances are, he added.

CALIFORNIA: The Los Angeles school board voted narrowly to keep intact a budget cut that will eliminate plant managers from hundreds of elementary schools, a move that critics say will result in dirtier and less-safe campuses. Plant managers oversee custodial and maintenance operations and handle a range of school emergencies, including broken tree limbs and water pipes as well as sewer leaks. They secure the campuses and deal with assorted other tasks.

A typical elementary school formerly had a plant manager and two maintenance workers. Under the latest staffing reduction, such a school has one building and grounds worker. A smaller number of plant managers will then oversee the cleaning of three to five schools after school hours. The strategy, in essence, replaces some 240 higher-salaried managers with a larger number of lower-paid workers. This exchange is necessary after two consecutive years of 20% cuts in maintenance budgets if schools are to remain clean, said James Sohn, head of the district's facilities division.
"Principals are very worried," said Judith Perez, president of Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, which represents administrators. "We've been saying this is unwise and dangerous." Parents from seven schools also expressed concern at Tuesday afternoon's board meeting.

NORTH CAROLINA: For many families in north Mecklenburg, The Children’s Schoolhouse in Huntersville has been an important part of children’s lives in recent years. But the current school is only the most recent occupant of a building that traces its history to the original Caldwell Station School before 1895. On Thursday, Oct. 14, friends and families will gather to celebrate that history and the building’s new designation as a historic landmark, as a well-preserved example of early 20th-century school architecture.

The Caldwell Station School – now known as The Children’s Schoolhouse – is the most substantial surviving building at Caldwell Station. The school building and a concrete railroad platform between Huntersville and Cornelius are all that’s left to show that Caldwell Station was a rural commercial and civic center in the 1850s and after. The original Caldwell Station School was established sometime before 1895. The current structure was built to replace it in 1925, and opened in 1925 with 48 students. The new facility featured a floor plan adapted from the famous African-American Rosenwald schools, with two rooms separated by a removable partition. The building had no plumbing or electricity and the classrooms were illuminated by large banks of windows.

NEW JERSEY: New Jersey charter schools now have the opportunity to apply for a share of $30 million in federally subsidized, low-interest bonds to help finance construction of new classrooms, state Acting Education Commissioner Rochell Hendricks announced Wednesday. The projects will be awarded on a competitive basis and charter schools have until Nov. 19 to apply for the funding.

State Economic Development Authority CEO Caren Franzini said her agency will be looking for projects that are ready to build so that the money can have an immediate impact. "This is the first time, to my knowledge, that the state has ever made federal school construction bonds available to help charter schools," Franzini said. "For the most part, we will be looking for projects that are already underway, with other financing in place, and the loans we will be administering will put the finishing touches on projects so they can move rapidly to conclusion."
The $30 million in low-interest bond money is expected to enable charter schools to leverage as much as 10 times the amount in private sector financing.

"For too long, charter schools have been denied equitable resources to finance construction projects needed to grow, expand and serve even more children," Hendricks said. "Other public schools have always been able to borrow money at a low interest rate to help them meet their facilities needs. Today, we begin to level the playing field by providing financial help to charters to help them build and improve facilities."

NEW YORK: At PS 272 in Battery Park City, carbon dioxide sensors adjust air-conditioning based on how many people are in a room; photocells detect sunlight and turn off classroom lights; and solar panels power half the building. For planners and architects, it's a showcase of environmental building practices. "This building surpasses the requirements of state energy code by 26 percent. And I'm pretty confident that at this point, it's the most sustainable building from an energy point of view in New York," said Daniel Heuberger of Dattner Architects. The building, which houses 900 students, was in the works even before the city required schools to be built green. The Battery Park City Authority helped pay for the extra features.

But the ideal of green school construction extends beyond brick and mortar benefits into what's actually happening in the classrooms everyday. Educators say they're using the building as a springboard for science and social studies classes on the environment and urban planning.
The solar panels on the roof, in addition to generating electricity, will also generate a steady stream of data, which can be sent to any computer in the building and which tells you in real time how much power the solar panels are generating, which panels are doing the most work and we hope the teachers will use it for science labs and other educational purposes," Heuberger said. There's also an outdoor science lab, soon to include a weather station.

Next door, the Skyscraper Museum is developing a whole curriculum based on the new school building. "They have a matched set of images of our building being built and the Empire State Building being built. And it's a curriculum that is based on primary resources and the kids are going to be comparing the two images to see about methods of construction, how it's the same and different, and what makes something sustainably built," Ruyter said.

ILLINOIS: Students will get more chances to learn about solar energy, and the Edwardsville School District's energy bill may drop as a result of $447,000 grant to install new solar panels at four additional schools. Superintendent of Schools Ed Hightower said that teachers and staff already are working on improvements to science curriculum to take advantage of the new panels, plus a panel already installed at Edwardsville High School. "This grant will increase Edwardsville school students' exposure to solar energy, providing additional hands-on experience," Hightower said. Becky Beal, the chairwoman of the high school's Science Department, said all of the sciences courses are being updated to include study of renewable energy sources. Hightower said he wants the district to help set the pace statewide in using solar technology and other technology to blend with the science courses. The high school was the first in Southern Illinois to get such a solar panel, he said.

The grant was awarded to the school district through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The funds were administered by IDCEO but came to the state from the federal stimulus bill, said Warren Ribley, director of IDCEO.

ILLINOIS: Students will get more chances to learn about solar energy, and the Edwardsville School District's energy bill may drop as a result of $447,000 grant to install new solar panels at four additional schools. Superintendent of Schools Ed Hightower said that teachers and staff already are working on improvements to science curriculum to take advantage of the new panels, plus a panel already installed at Edwardsville High School. "This grant will increase Edwardsville school students' exposure to solar energy, providing additional hands-on experience," Hightower said. Becky Beal, the chairwoman of the high school's Science Department, said all of the sciences courses are being updated to include study of renewable energy sources. Hightower said he wants the district to help set the pace statewide in using solar technology and other technology to blend with the science courses. The high school was the first in Southern Illinois to get such a solar panel, he said.

The grant was awarded to the school district through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The funds were administered by IDCEO but came to the state from the federal stimulus bill, said Warren Ribley, director of IDCEO.

ALABAMA: Madison City and School officials are ecstatic over the news they just received pertaining to the Qualified School Construction Bonds. The school system will have to repay only $29,902,006, about 83 percent of the loan amount over 17 years. The Madison annual debt service will be $1,759,119. A federal subsidy on the bonds and interest earned on the principal before it is spent is the reason the bond issue will cost only 83 cents on the dollar or per dollar borrowed.

The Public School and College Authority has issued $155 million of the Qualified School Construction Bonds to 16 systems, including Madison and Decatur City schools, which received a $1,050,000 loan. The money was made available to school systems from the federal government stimulus money, said bond attorney Phil Dotts of Huntsville. "Clearly it was the intent of Congress to subsidize new construction of schools," said Dotts. "There was a lot of criticism of the stimulus funds and some people questioned whether the government should have had a hand in this. But the bottom line is that it's done what it's supposed to do." Dotts said the state took competitive bids from several banks and bank groups with Wells Fargo offering the "most advantageous" bid.

For Finley and Fowler, it has been a long year dating back to last fall when they first learned about the Qualified School Construction Bonds. The system and city had to prove it could repay the loan so the City Council passed a half-cent sales tax and qualified for the loan. It was supposed to be interest free, but when the first issuance went to market, it turned out to have a 1.75 percent interest rate. "That was still great money and anyone would have jumped on it," said Fowler. But at the time, the bond market did not have many potential buyers because of the economy so the Congress decided to go another route in hopes of attracting more investors by offering tax credit bonds to receive a direct subsidized payment from the treasury department. When the Madison schools were in the second issuance and ended up with an even better than zero interest rate, having to repay only 83 cents on the dollar.

MONTANA: With failed school mill levies in Lewistown and Billings, the Belgrade School District is in line for a federally sponsored bond that could be used to build a new school, board members said.
The district is eligible to take advantage of a “zero- interest” bond from the federal stimulus program, called Qualified School Construction bonds, school officials said. The 15-year bond would allow officials to place tax revenue in an interest-bearing account to use toward the bond, saving millions in the long run. Trustees want to use the money to build a new K-3 school to deal with overcrowding issues at the grade schools, trustees said.

LOUISIANA: Five years after Katrina flushed water through the failed floodwalls, destroying homes, damaging classrooms and dashing dreams, the opportunity to build green schools that save millions of dollars on energy bills is just within reach for the school districts that serve New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina knocked out dozens of schools along with thousands of homes, and for quite a while the mission was just to keep education alive and the three Rs solvent. But now, with the help of federal disaster dollars, the school district has launched an ambitious goal to build 40 new schools and renovate 38 others that are at least 30 percent more energy efficient than required by code.
The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory helped stitch together a blueprint for what the new and renovated schools should become. Now that the first of the new schools have opened, NREL will monitor some schools to illustrate what works well and what opportunities were missed, helping the districts to push new school design teams toward ever more efficient designs.

New Orleans is humid and often hot, but problems arise at times when temperatures are moderate and humidity remains high. The air that enters the halls and classrooms has to be dried out before it is distributed to the space, compounding the challenge to bring energy efficiency to schools there. Ironically, the New Orleans schools with the best energy profiles are those 80 to 100 years old that have large windows oriented for natural ventilation and sunlight. The ones built in the past half century, though, weren't built with efficiency in mind, said Phil Voss, senior project leader for NREL's effort in New Orleans. "It was pretty clear to us that the designers didn't have experience with energy efficiency," Voss said. "They had experience in keeping buildings cool and lit, but not in doing it efficiently." In a district chronically underfunded, tens of millions of dollars wafted into the air each year to heat and air condition schools with windows in poor condition, oversized cooling systems, and too little insulation.
In 2007, two years after the destructive hurricane, the DOE signed a memorandum of understanding with the Louisiana Department of Education. The aim was to use the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning's Advanced Energy Design Guides so the 40 new schools and the 38 schools facing major renovation would be at least 30 percent more efficient than code. The potential savings are monumental, amounting to some $75,000 per year per school.
In New Orleans, making the schools greener will mean an investment of several million dollars over and above what it would cost to build a school merely to code. But the numbers indicate that the schools will break even on the costs vs. energy savings in just three or four years. With schools built to last 50 to 100 years, the savings after build-out could amount to tens of millions of dollars per decade, decade after decade. Or they will, if the blueprints are followed.

The school district in New Orleans is developing a position for School District Energy Manager and is paying more attention to not only design, but also ongoing building operation, with energy efficiency in mind. "Now, the district is requiring architects to include energy modeling as part of the design process for new schools and major renovations," Voss said. "That's a step in the right direction. We're also meeting with the school district on a regular basis to help them get things corrected on the new buildings and document lessons learned to help ensure design intent follows through in how their buildings perform. An energy manager would be another big step."

CALIFORNIA: Hill Creek School students discovered they had a lot more shade than usual when they started school this year. During the summer, solar panels were installed at the school's lunch and play areas. The Santee School District expects to save about $80,000 in electricity costs annually, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Karl Christensen said. One of the reasons that Hill Creek was selected for the installation is because it is the largest energy consumer of all the schools in the Santee School District, Christensen said. In 2008-09, the school used more than 600,000 kilowatt hours. The second highest energy consumer of the non-modernized schools in the district is Chet F. Harritt School, which used 460,000 kilowatt hours the same year. "We thought this would be a nice pick-me-up for the school," Christensen said.

The project cost $2.2 million, of which about $2.1 million was for construction, Christensen said. It was funded by Clean Renewable Energy Bonds, federal government subsidized tax credit bonds authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Christensen said the bonds will be paid annually throughout a 15-year period using performance-based incentives, energy cost savings and selling renewable energy credits.
The system is expected to produce 400,000 kilowatt hours annually, approximately 74 percent of the school's current need and more than 80 percent of its projected need after modernization. Christensen said the district plans to analyze Hill Creek's energy production and savings to help determine whether solar panels will be installed at other Santee schools.

MARYLAND: Chesapeake College officials say wind, solar and geothermal energy will power a new center on the school's Wye Mills campus. The school plans to build the Center for Learning Energy Education along Route U.S. Route 50, adding to the college's growing environmental and clean energy educational programs.
Mike Kilgus, the school's vice president of administrative services, says the college has a responsibility to be a leader in clean energy education and noted its location near the Chesapeake Bay. Kilgus said the project is expected to cost about $3 million and a wind turbine and solar panels are expected to be in place by next

MICHIGAN: A new wind turbine installed at Kent Career Tech Center is geared toward helping students prepare for Michigan's growing renewable energy sector, said school administrators. The small 2.4 kilowatt turbine, paid for by part of a $100,000 grant from Energy Works Michigan and installed by Bauer Power, was turned on during a press conference at the center.
The grant, awarded to Kent Intermediate School District in June, also paid for roof solar panels at the center, and a solar pavilion at the Kent Education Center. A television connected to the equipment will be placed in a common area so students will be able to use the data in class.

New programs will start next school year to accompany the turbine and solar panels, including one on alternative energy and another on sustainability. The center's existing programs -- including automotive technology, aviation maintenance technology, construction and engineering -- will incorporate the data into their instruction, or place a focus on "green" practices. "We make adjustments here to align the work students do with the work of the future," said Kevin Konarska, the district's superintendent. In the new one-year alternative energy program, students will learn about biofuels, energy efficiency and environmental policy. The new sustainability program will teach students about land use, recycling and resource conservation. The school's construction program is also now partnering with Habitat for Humanity to allow students to learn about energy-efficient housing and put what they learn into practice by rebuilding a home.

TENNESSEE: It took ripping away the red tape,a hefty sum of money and a powerful politician, but this year the decaying, partially vacant school building leased by KIPP Academy is getting a renovation. Highland Heights, the historic East Nashville building that has housed KIPP Academy since 2005, is budgeted to get a $10 million upgrade courtesy of a high-profile champion: Mayor Karl Dean. Dean asked the school district to turn the building over to the city, allowing him to fund upgrades.
KIPP's special treatment is irritating some supporters of traditional public schools who argue that other aging buildings, such as Hume-Fogg High School, have been waiting in line for years for money to modernize.
But Dean says he would like to expand capital support for successful charters, and he hopes KIPP's upgraded building will benefit the gentrifying community and send a message nationally that Nashville is a city willing to aid charter schools with buildings. He joins a small movement of other cities and states trying harder to help charters find a home.

Finding affordable space is a huge barrier for charter schools across the country. No states give charter schools equal access to facilities, said Debbie Veney Robinson, vice president of communications for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. But there are some signals that could change. New York and Denver allow charters to share buildings with traditional public schools. New Orleans allows charters to use school buildings rent-free. Georgia this year passed a law requiring districts to make vacant and unused facilities available to charter schools, also at no charge. California, Colorado and New Mexico are making strides toward giving charters the same access to public school buildings or low-interest loans for construction, Robinson said.

NEW YORK: Alarmed about toxic PCBs in the schools, the city's 13-member congressional delegation called for faster remediation at 700 older schools. The officials are pushing for the replacement of fluorescent light fixtures containing PCBs - a process that could cost $1 billion. The first three schools tested under a pilot study found PCB levels that exceeded federal recommendations, and the city spent $3 million on remediation. PCBs are chemicals that were widely used in construction-related material and lighting components until banned in 1978.

The delegation asked the regional EPA administrator for speedy testing and remediation of the schools. EPA officials then urged the city to develop a plan to phase out PCB-containing lighting resistors, called ballasts. Schools spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz said it would be "irresponsible" to move forward with a citywide plan that might cost $1 billion before the pilot is complete.

NATIONAL: Very little about the American classroom has changed since Laura Ingalls sat in one more than a century ago. In her school, children sat in a rectangular room at rows of desks, a teacher up front. At most American schools, they still do.
Slate wants to change that, and we need your help. Today Slate launches a crowdsourcing project on the 21st-century classroom. In this "Hive," we’re seeking to collect your best ideas for transforming the American school. We’re asking you to describe or even design the classroom for today, a fifth-grade classroom that takes advantage of all that we have learned since Laura Ingalls’ day about teaching, learning, and technology--and what you think we have yet to learn. We will publish all your ideas on Slate; your fellow readers will vote and comment on their favorites; expert judges will select the ideas they like best, and, in about a month, we will pick a winner. That top design may be built as a model classroom in a new charter school. We know from our previous Hive projects that Slate’s millions of readers—some of you architects or educators or designers, most of you amateurs—have amazing ideas, and we’re confident that you’ll come up with exciting new ways to reconceive the most important space for American children. Speaking of children: We encourage you to have them enter ideas too.

Your entries can be shovel-ready or fanciful. All entries must have a written description, and we strongly encourage submitting a sketch or a plan, so fellow readers can help visualize your ideas. Your proposal can emphasize the shape of the room, the furniture in it, the technology available, the materials—whatever you believe will make a real difference for students. You may submit actual designs you have proposed to school boards. (You may even submit an already built classroom you designed, though you must indicate in your submission that it has been built, so voters and judges can take that into account.) We ask that you send us the design for one room only, though that room may represent a comprehensive rethinking of school, which we encourage you to explain. You don’t have to consider budget; you should, however, consider how you think students should be taught and motivated. Effective school design, after all, "isn’t about making pretty," says Ronald Bogle, the president of the American Architectural Foundation, although pretty is welcome. "It’s about the space performing very particular functions."
You can submit your design between now and Wednesday, Oct. 29. You can vote and comment on the ideas below. In early November, our expert judges and readers will choose a dozen finalists, and we’ll select a winner in mid-November.

NATIONAL: Everyone is falling over themselves to green school facilities. For example, the U.S. Green Building Council has launched the Center for Green Schools, continuing its multifaceted National Green Schools Campaign. Schools registered in or certified by the LEED system represent over 200 million square feet of floor area. LEED schools use 30 percent less energy and water on average and reduce operating costs by nearly $100,000 per year. United Technologies is the founding sponsor of the center, which will provide a wide range of tools to school stakeholders in support of the transformation of schools to green.

At the Clinton Global Initiative two weeks ago, the National Wildlife Federation and green schools pioneer Jayni Chase and Serious Materials committed to the Energy Efficient Schools Initiative, a partnership to use science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) curriculum to lower barriers to retrofitting of 500 schools across the country over the next two years. Also on the hardware front, ZETA Communities is bringing its net zero energy precision-built expertise to educational facilities, the first one of which is a 4,000 square foot project for the Davis Waldorf School in California's Central Valley.

Farther south, PsomasFMG and Rosendin Electric have started construction on one of the country's largest school photovoltaic installations, a total of 9.6 MW in carport installations for the Antelope Valley Union High School District that will provide 80 percent of the district's energy needs and also reduce a large urban heat island by shading 4,000 parking spaces. And like the NWF/Serious Materials initiative, the Antelope Valley project will be used as a basis for a green STEM curriculum module.

Maybe this can be incorporated somehow into Second Nature's initiative, Green Campus Builder, which has just published a new online curriculum resource for teaching college students about Sustainable Building.

NATIONAL: Everyone is falling over themselves to green school facilities. For example, the U.S. Green Building Council has launched the Center for Green Schools, continuing its multifaceted National Green Schools Campaign. Schools registered in or certified by the LEED system represent over 200 million square feet of floor area. LEED schools use 30 percent less energy and water on average and reduce operating costs by nearly $100,000 per year. United Technologies is the founding sponsor of the center, which will provide a wide range of tools to school stakeholders in support of the transformation of schools to green.

At the Clinton Global Initiative two weeks ago, the National Wildlife Federation and green schools pioneer Jayni Chase and Serious Materials committed to the Energy Efficient Schools Initiative, a partnership to use science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) curriculum to lower barriers to retrofitting of 500 schools across the country over the next two years. Also on the hardware front, ZETA Communities is bringing its net zero energy precision-built expertise to educational facilities, the first one of which is a 4,000 square foot project for the Davis Waldorf School in California's Central Valley.

Farther south, PsomasFMG and Rosendin Electric have started construction on one of the country's largest school photovoltaic installations, a total of 9.6 MW in carport installations for the Antelope Valley Union High School District that will provide 80 percent of the district's energy needs and also reduce a large urban heat island by shading 4,000 parking spaces. And like the NWF/Serious Materials initiative, the Antelope Valley project will be used as a basis for a green STEM curriculum module.

Maybe this can be incorporated somehow into Second Nature's initiative, Green Campus Builder, which has just published a new online curriculum resource for teaching college students about Sustainable Building.

INTERNATIONAL: The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) begins School Year 2010-2011 with a major facilities renovation and construction initiative that will eventually result in the modernization of 134 schools worldwide.

The initiative starts this October with the beginning of Fiscal Year 2011 and is scheduled to span the next several fiscal years through Fiscal Year 2016. Close collaboration and cooperation between DoDEA, The Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, the Military Services, the Department of Defense Comptroller, and the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment resulted in a plan to address $3.7 billion in Military Construction (MILCON) needs for DoDEA facilities. The multi-year MILCON funding program will bring all 970 DoDEA school facilities to the Department of Defense's (DoD's) acceptable quality standard of Q2 or better. The DoD Quality Rating ("Q-Rating") system is a 4-level system which describes the condition of a DoD facility, to include DoDEA schools. The DoD has set a target of acceptable performance at Q2 and a useful life duration for school facilities of 45 years.

Determination of DoDEA Q-ratings begins with a thorough facility condition assessment conducted by a professionally-trained team. This team collects facts about the facility such as age, systems deterioration, current and projected maintenance costs as well as facility deficiencies that must be corrected to meet current standards for life safety and accessibility. This data collecting is complimented with an eyes-on survey to verify life cycles or to focus on additional elements of the facility. The cost of bringing the facility up to an acceptable condition is weighted against that of replacing the facility. DoDEA facilities are being replaced because it is more cost effective than renovation to correct all the deficiencies. The Q-Rating is simply a comparative value of the cost of deficiencies in relation to the total replacement cost. The Q-rating is assigned depending on where this value falls within the DoD Q-rating scale.

Historically, DoDEA has budgeted for and has been provided MILCON funds that allowed for the replacement of one school per fiscal year. In addition, the Military Departments plan for and budget for new schools required to support their new or enhanced mission requirements. The Army provided funds to DoDEA for new schools required to support the Residential Communities Initiative (RCI). The Marine Corps also provided funds for new schools on its installations through housing Private-Partner Venture-Funds which are not transferred to DoDEA.

NATIONAL: With the new school year underway, efforts to create green campuses and curricula have gone into overdrive with the emergence of several new programs, projects and resources.
The U.S. Green Building Council launched its Center for Green Schools initiative last week in a ceremony at the recently renovated Stoddert Elementary School in Washington, D.C.
The center is the latest dimension of the USGBC's work toward its goal of "ensuring everyone has the opportunity to attend a green school within this generation." The council's efforts include its Green Schools Program and its partnership with the Earth Day Network in the National Green Schools Campaign.

PENNSYLVANIA: Bethlehem Area School District officials launched a solar panel project estimated to save $1.7 million in energy costs and reduce an amount of pollution equal to that produced by 269 cars a year. Five schools will get the solar panel; they are being partially funded by $1.8 million in grants from the state Department of Community and Economic Development. Panels will be installed facing south to capture the maximum amount of energy from the sun's rays. They will be in grassy fields at Buchanan, Spring Garden and Farmersville elementary schools and on a roof at East Hills Middle School. At Freedom High School, the panels will be erected like a carport over existing parking spaces. Through the entire process, Turner said, students and teachers will be able to study data readings from the panels to track how much sun is absorbed and used.

MICHIGAN: Detroit Public Schools, whose enrollment has plummeted nearly 100,000 since 1997, issued $210 million in Qualified School Construction and Build America bonds.
The district is in its second year of state-ordered emergency financial management. The bonds are backed by the state and an unlimited tax general-obligation pledge. Managers at Siebert Brandford Shank & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are underwriting the deal, rated Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service, third-highest and one level above S&P’s AA- rating.
Detroit’s district is Michigan’s largest. Its deficit for fiscal year 2011 is $363 million in a $1.025 billion budget. Target enrollment this year is 77,314, according to the district, which last week said there were 5,000 fewer in class. Enrollment determines how much financial backing the district, which closed 30 schools at the end of last year, will receive from the state. The 19-year school construction bonds, in which the interest is refunded by the federal government, were priced to yield 6.65 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The 30-year Build America Bonds were priced to yield at 6.85 percent. Build America Bonds, created as part of the $787 billion federal stimulus program to encourage capital spending, are taxable bonds for which the federal government covers 35 percent of the interest cost.

GEORGIA: New financial records show DeKalb County schools have a surplus of $31 million in sales tax money to use for school construction. The school board got a list of $80 million in renovation needs at the district’s 146 schools and centers, board chairman Tom Bowen said. The money can only be used for capital improvements.
The board will make a decision by the end of the year, Bowen said. Possible options for the money include expanding the overcrowded Chamblee High School, renovating the Coralwood Diagnostic Center for special needs’ students and repairing leaky roofs. In August, the board learned that decreased construction costs and better planning on how to allocate the school district’s $513 million Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax funds resulted in a surplus.

WEST VIRGINIA: Spring Mills Primary School, Berkeley County’s first “green” school, is on track to be completed next spring.
School officials are doing everything they possibly can to obtain a gold-level certification in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green-building rating system, but Zepp said they know they can at least obtain enough credits for a silver certification. The highest certification level, platinum, is difficult to achieve, Zepp said. LEED measures include the impact of a building on the surrounding ecosystem, water and energy efficiency, and indoor air quality. “A lot of work went into this green school,” Zepp said. The certification process requires extensive documentation through photography of construction and additional paperwork, Zepp said. The school district will know whether it will receive a gold-level LEED certification next spring, Zepp said.

The green building project was made possible in 2008 when the West Virginia School Building Authority awarded $10 million for the school and later authorized more money so the school could receive LEED certification. The project is the first “green” school backed by the SBA in West Virginia.

NEW YORK: The Urban Assembly New York Harbor School marked its official move to the school’s new location on Governor’s island by signing an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to work together. The college preparatory, public high school committed to a new level of environmental stewardship that will provide students and teachers a range of resources and experiences through EPA. The New York Harbor School’s mission is to use New York City’s unique maritime experience to develop in its students the ethics and skills of stewardship. The agreement is the first of its kind between EPA and a New York City public school.

Highlights of the agreement between the New York Harbor School and EPA include: promotion of sustainability efforts at school facilities through recycling initiatives including paper, bottle, can, electronic waste, and toner and ink cartridge recycling; focus on EPA’s Energy Star program, which offers technical assistance for conducting energy audits, benchmarking energy use and establishing an energy reduction plan; water conservation initiatives such as using WaterSense products, promoting water efficient practices and discouraging the use of plastic water bottles; and incorporation of environmentally friendly landscaping practices, using EPA’s GreenScapes landscaping program as its guide

NATIONAL: The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) are working together on a report that explores how green schools are transforming local communities across America. The report — another in AIA’s research series on local green building policy, called "Local Leaders in Sustainability" — provides a comprehensive research review of the economic and social benefits of green schools; the policy solutions being adopted at the local, state and federal level; and case studies of successful, cost-effective, well-designed green schools.
Schools can be designed to prepare students for a more successful future. In this latest "Local Leaders in Sustainability" report, green school case studies and best practices will be explored in every region of the country, from Cincinnati to Bryant, Alaska, to San Jose, Calif., and Charleston, S.C. Large cities like Chicago and Washington, D.C., are explored as are smaller communities like Hudson, Wisc., and Warren County, Ky. These schools in communities throughout the country exemplify the power of designing green schools and the importance of integrating the lessons of these schools into the student curriculum.

In November, the USGBC in partnership with the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), Local Governments for Sustainability and the Redford Center is holding a Green Schools Summit in Sundance, Utah. The summit, which AIA is sponsoring, will convene mayors and superintendents from 12 cities around America as well as educators and students, environmentalists, entrepreneurs and artists to engage in two days of learning, dialogue and shaping action plans that will address the importance and various challenges of greening America’s schools.
The dialogue and outcomes of the summit will inform the final green schools report and provide the AIA and USGBC with local government input from mayors, superintendents and other experts in attendance, ultimately helping communities continue their impressive work greening America’s schools. A facilitated discussion at the upcoming NLC Congress of Cities on green schools also will provide the AIA and USGBC with the opportunity to discuss the report outcomes with the conference delegates who are and will continue to be the nation’s green schools champions.

VIRGINIA: With costs mounting and the fate of Blacksburg High School undecided, county supervisors have asked residents to brainstorm "creative" funding options. So far, the ideas are thin. Recent ideas -- which residents floated at a marathon public hearing with county supervisors Monday -- include a grass-roots fundraising campaign, receiving donations from people, companies or Virginia Tech, and landing state and federal grants or low-interest loans. Experts say none can be the singular solution. The school system estimated that repairs to the high school would cost between $14.5 million and about $25 million. Building a new high school could cost $57.5 million. The county has about $10 million to $15 million to spend without having to raise property taxes and issue bonds, which most supervisors seem hesitant to do.

The most developed idea at this point came from school board member Joe Ivers, who presented the skeleton of a capital campaign to the board. The campaign could back some construction expenses, but wouldn't pay in full for a new school or schools, if suspended projects elsewhere in the district resume.

Governments have few strategies besides raising taxes and finding bonds or loans. "Nothing's free," Filardo said about public-private partnerships, where businesses and governments share risks and swap responsibilities. "It's a matter of whether or not the government has something it can trade to get something it needs." School systems sometimes leverage local government's trifecta of power: land, zoning and taxes, Filardo said. For instance, the state of Georgia has allowed its counties to choose whether to raise sales taxes and funnel them into school construction, she said. This is an alternative to a property tax increase. And some localities sell land they own, then zone it to maximize property taxes that can fund schools. The county may look to sell the old Blacksburg Middle School within the year. Administrators say they hope the property will be rezoned as mixed use. Town officials have said they would like some of the property to have a civic use. That wouldn't generate any tax revenue. Still, for school systems to get adequate school buildings, local governments and state and federal players must work together, Filardo said. "Where there's a will, there's a way," she said. "It's not going to get figured out just sitting there. If you do it fast and wrong, that's bad." Loans from state or federal agencies are possibilities, but still might require a tax increase. Administrators may pursue a loan from the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development for the Riner projects, but Blacksburg won't meet the loan's population requirement.

OHIO: The timing of Elgin Local Schools' approval of a bond issue for a new school building will shave off seven years' worth of payments for taxpayers, according to a school official and an investment firm.Voters passed a 7.49-mill, 28-year bond issue and a 1-mill continuous improvement levy on Nov. 3 to fund the local portion of a new K-12th grade school building. Through benefits provided by federal stimulus dollars and the help of bond counsel, the district expects to pay off the bonds by 2030 rather than 2037.

Elgin will construct a K-12th grade school on land bought adjacent to the current Elgin High School campus. The Ohio School Facilities Commission will fund about $20 million of the $35.9 million project. Elgin sold bonds to cover the remaining share. Reynolds said because of the timing of the bond issue's passage Elgin qualified for about $11.975 million worth of Qualified School Construction Bonds, a program set up under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Participating bond holders get federal tax credits in lieu of interest, which means it costs less for the bond issuer to borrow money. The district then worked with Marion County to receive about $4.655 million in Recovery Zone Economic Development bonds. Through those and the traditional tax-exempt bond the long term cost of the debt is 1.25 percent, one of the lowest in the state for combined school financing projects. Reynolds said that's a savings of $15 million in interest costs compared to what the district could have borrowed through the traditional tax exempt bond market.

OHIO: The timing of Elgin Local Schools' approval of a bond issue for a new school building will shave off seven years' worth of payments for taxpayers, according to a school official and an investment firm.Voters passed a 7.49-mill, 28-year bond issue and a 1-mill continuous improvement levy on Nov. 3 to fund the local portion of a new K-12th grade school building. Through benefits provided by federal stimulus dollars and the help of bond counsel, the district expects to pay off the bonds by 2030 rather than 2037.

Elgin will construct a K-12th grade school on land bought adjacent to the current Elgin High School campus. The Ohio School Facilities Commission will fund about $20 million of the $35.9 million project. Elgin sold bonds to cover the remaining share. Reynolds said because of the timing of the bond issue's passage Elgin qualified for about $11.975 million worth of Qualified School Construction Bonds, a program set up under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Participating bond holders get federal tax credits in lieu of interest, which means it costs less for the bond issuer to borrow money. The district then worked with Marion County to receive about $4.655 million in Recovery Zone Economic Development bonds. Through those and the traditional tax-exempt bond the long term cost of the debt is 1.25 percent, one of the lowest in the state for combined school financing projects. Reynolds said that's a savings of $15 million in interest costs compared to what the district could have borrowed through the traditional tax exempt bond market.

CALIFORNIA: Governor Schwarzenegger signed legislation that requires new school construction projects to have doors with modern locks that can be locked from the inside. "It protects the safety of students and school staff during lockdowns since they can lock doors in a hurry during an emergency," said Mendoza, D-Norwalk, about A.B. 211. "Our students are now safer from potentially violent incidents on school campuses that are increasing at an alarming rate," he said.

NATIONAL: Stoddert Elementary School, a Washington, D.C., public school, reopened recently after a renovation that added a geothermal heating and cooling system, energy usage displays, information kiosks in three different languages, numerous new windows, a greenhouse made from recycled water bottles and carbon dioxide censors.

Students are assembled in "green teams" and give tours to visitors using a guide put together by the U.S. Green Building Council. The school is attaining gold certification from the council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system, one of 6,500 schools in the country that are registered for certification or already LEED-certified. With this "microcosm" as its backdrop, the USGBC launches its newest program, the Center for Green Schools, with the goal of giving everyone the opportunity to attend a school like Stoddert within this generation. "The education sector is doing more in the way of green building than any other sector, more than health care, more than commercial, more than religious institutions. But we still have a really long way to go," said Rachel Gutter, director of the USGBC's new initiative, before the launch event at Stoddert.

USGBC is hoping to educate and connect the people and groups involved in greening schools, from committee members in the council's chapters throughout the country, to mayors who wield influence to get projects rolling, to the architects and engineers who actually get the work done.
It is also hoping to show teachers how to use the school building as a laboratory for lessons in different subjects, the idea being that students learn sustainability at a young age much like how they usually learn foreign languages.
"We want these students to simply act in a sustainable fashion," Gutter said. "We want them to slip the note under their parents' and roommate's door that says, 'You've exceeded the five-minute shower limit.'"

There are 133,000 K-12 schools and 4,300 colleges and universities in the country, according to Gutter. The USGBC has helped establish more than 1,000 green school committees in its local chapters and is helping college students set up groups to promote the Center for Green Schools' mission on their campuses. The center is also partnering with the USGBC's 50 for 50 Green Schools Caucus Initiative and the Mayors' Alliance for Green Schools.

NATIONAL: Today, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announces its newest initiative, The Center for Green Schools at USGBC. There are nearly 140,000 schools, colleges and universities in the United States; no one has ever counted the buildings, but thousands are barely built to code. The Center for Green Schools is how USGBC is working toward the ambitious goal of ensuring everyone has the opportunity to attend a green school within this generation.
USGBC also announces United Technologies Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!utx/quotes/nls/utx (UTX 71.13, -0.10, -0.14%) as the first Founding Sponsor of the Center for Green Schools at USGBC. Through UTC's multi-year, multimillion-dollar financial commitment, the Center will lead hundreds of schools across the nation to becoming green and more energy efficient and will help build hundreds of LEED registered education projects in the next few years.
The Center is building upon the leadership, partnerships and programming USGBC started through its Green Schools and Green Campus campaigns, by convening conversations with key decision makers, collaborating with leading education and environmental associations and creating tools and resources that help make green schools possible.

Through the Center, USGBC is escalating its work on green schools caucuses in the U.S. Congress and the 50 for 50 Initiative with state legislatures nationwide; the nationwide Mayors' Alliance for Green Schools; and the Coalition for Green Schools, which represents more than 10 million members collectively and comprises organizations such as the National PTA, the National School Boards Association, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. The Center is creating new resources and advocacy tools to support USGBC Student Groups on college campuses and a nationwide network of more than 1,000 Green School Committee professional volunteers and is focused on providing trainings and helpful resources to those who need it most -- K-12 schools serving lower-income families, under-resourced institutions and community colleges.

The Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is how USGBC is making sure every student has the opportunity to attend a green school within this generation. From the kindergartner entering the classroom, to the Ph.D. student performing research in a lab, the Center provides the resources and support to elevate dialogue, accelerate policy and institute innovation toward green schools and campuses. High-performing schools educate high-performing students, and the Center works directly with staff, teachers, faculty, students, administrators, elected officials and communities to drive the transformation of all schools into sustainable places to live, learn, work and play. Visit centerforgreenschools.org for more information.

CALIFORNIA: Assembly Bill 2560 (Brownley), signed by the Governor on Friday, September 24, 2010 is the state legislation that provides the authority to the California Department of Education (CDE) for the 2010 QSCBs. Similar to its predecessor (AB 205 (Brownley), Chapter 11, Statutes of 2010), it authorizes the assignment and distribution of the QSCB Program statewide through the CDE and, for charter schools, the Treasurer’s California School Finance Authority.

The bill provides that a school district or county office of education may apply for these funds if the project is funded by local voter-approved bonds, except for small school districts (with an enrollment of less than 2,500) and county offices of education that can use fnancing other than voter-approved bonds.
CDE is authorized to assign $651,652,000 in QSCBs to LEAs.

WYOMING: National eyes are on small-town Casper. More than $100 million is expected to flow from the state for high school construction projects in the next five years. Architects from around the country want a piece of the pie.
More than 40 representatives of architecture and contracting firms visited Casper on Tuesday to learn more about upcoming school construction projects. They traveled not only from Wyoming, Colorado and Montana, but also from New York, Washington state and Texas.

Natrona County’s high school population will hover around 3,600 students for the next five years and possibly grow to 4,000 students by 2020, according to projections from the state School Facilities Commission. Kelly Walsh and Natrona County high schools will be renovated to house 1,300 students each — about 300 fewer than now.
A new high school campus will be designed to house 1,000 students — 400 from Roosevelt High School and the Transitions credit recovery program and 600 from existing high schools in half-day “advanced professional” programs. A “construction manager at risk” will be hired for Kelly Walsh and Natrona County, and a design-bid-build process will be followed for the new high school campus.
Preliminary timelines call for construction starting in fall 2012 and all projects finished by fall 2016. A new high school has been talked about for years in the district, and now the work is real, said Mark Antrim, associate superintendent of facilities and technology. “There’s definitely a hungry group of designers out there,” Antrim said.
Designers heard about the projects from newspapers and the School Facilities Commission website. They know Wyoming is building, and that the state spent more than $1.4 billion on school capital construction projects in the past 10 years. The School Facilities Commission held information sessions for firms this week in Casper. During each, representatives learned about the district’s rough ideas for the projects and had the opportunity to tour the existing buildings and the site for the new high school campus. They’ll report back to their firms, which will then decide whether to pursue one, all or none of the projects.

United Kingdom: Schools vary from run-down, ratty buildings to concrete-and-glass architectural wonders—but do school designs really affect students? Yes, say an overwhelming amount of UK teachers. A survey conducted by the British Council for School Environments and the Teacher Support Network found that 95.8% of UK teachers agreed that the school environment had an influence on pupil behavior, according to this report.
And not just behavior too, students’ well-being and academic achievement, and the sustainability of the school itself has been found to change upon a design change. The report cites a newly opened and renovated school in the UK city of Bristol as evidence for this; the number of pupils who said bullying was an issue dropped by 23% compared to the school it replaced. Vandalism dropped by 51%, and in general, students felt “safer”.

CALIFORNIA: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed a Senate bill that would have required all schools in California to use the least hazardous pesticides available.
He vetoed SB 1157, authored by state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, because it would have required the Department of Pesticide Regulation to reimburse all local agencies and school districts for costs associated with creating integrated pest management programs. However, Schwarzenegger wrote in response to the bill that he supported voluntary school pest management programs.

NEW YORK: New York City's slumping construction industry is getting a lift building and renovating schools as it struggles to weather the economic downturn. With demand for hotel and condo projects that dominated the industry during the boom years still weak, many construction companies that relied on that work are now jumping into the education market.
During the peak year of 2008, about $31 billion was spent on all construction activity in the city, $4 billion of which was dedicated to public schools and private institutions, Mr. Anderson said. In 2009, education construction accounted for $4.4 billion of the $27 billion in construction activity. So far in 2010, the overall market has shrunk to about $25 billion, with about $5 billon being spent on school construction, Mr. Anderson estimates.

Dwindling government revenues and diminishing private endowments has created uncertainty about future spending in the education market, Mr. Anderson added. "Our fear is that educational construction may not continue at the current level," he said. For now, however, education projects have become a source of stability for New York's construction industry, which was hammered by the recession and continues to struggle. Since New York hit its peak employment in August 2008, the construction industry has lost 15,700 jobs or 11.8% of its work force, according to real-estate service firm Eastern Consolidated.

New York's public-school system continued to be a major source of construction jobs. The School Construction Authority opened 26 new buildings this school year, topping the record of 23 new buildings in the year-earlier period. The city is its second year of a five-year capital-investment plan that calls for increasing capacity for 30,000 students as well as working on renovation projects.

NEW JERSEY: Of all the places to plant a crop of solar panels, proponents suggest that few are better than the roof of a school. Consider its primary physical attribute: all that, often, flat surface - assuming, of course, it is not shaded by a dense tree canopy. And the economic appeal: There's the drop in energy costs that going solar provides, and the opportunity for school districts to make money by selling the power harnessed from the summer sun that's not needed when classrooms are empty and the lights are off.
Working off that premise, New Jersey legislators are pushing a bill that would prohibit the commissioner of education from approving construction of any new school unless plans include solar panels. Bill A1084, which passed the Assembly Education Committee on Sept. 16, would apply to schools built by a school district or by the New Jersey Schools Development Authority.

In Pennsylvania, the Department of Education plans to announce administrative changes to its school-construction policies during a Web conference Friday "that will reduce barriers for school districts when they consider making green and sustainable investments," said Michael Walsh, deputy secretary for administration. Though there is a growing list of states that require new publicly funded buildings to meet certain energy-efficiency standards, solar installers nationally said they were unaware of any state that has mandated incorporating solar panels, as New Jersey has proposed.
In Pennsylvania, Dennis Maloskey, director of sustainable engineering and development at the Governor's Green Government Council, cites a number of reasons why more such mandates do not exist, especially for schools. "Not all sites lend themselves to the successful application of solar technologies," Maloskey said. "Yet virtually every school building can cost-effectively improve its energy-use intensity through conservation and efficiency improvements."

Going solar is a hefty investment for anyone - even more so for schools. As tax-exempt entities, they don't qualify for the 30 percent federal tax credit or any of the available state tax incentives that have induced so many homeowners and businesses to take the leap, said Alex Sarly, a senior project developer for Borrego Solar Systems Inc., of San Diego. But installation companies such as his can qualify for such credits, so they frequently own the school solar systems they install and sell the power to the districts, Sarly said.
Schools in New Jersey are better positioned to pay outright for solar systems, he said, because of the strong private market in the state for renewable-energy credits. That market is less predictable in Pennsylvania, largely because the legislature has not increased mandates for solar in the state's alternative-energy requirements.

WISCONSIN: The Janesville school board has set a goal of reducing energy usage by 5 percent this year. The board thinks this is so important that it has made energy savings one of the measures by which Superintendent Karen Schulte’s performance will be measured. Which means principals will have an energy mandate on their plates as well. The Janesville School District will begin an energy-savings contest, pitting schools against each other, starting Friday, Oct. 1. If the district reaches its goal of a 5 percent reduction this year, the savings would be $133,092, said district CFO Keith Pennington. That’s the yearly cost of salary and benefits for about two teachers, plus change.

A recent energy report showed that the newly expanded and renovated Craig and Parker high schools’ energy costs are lower than they were before the project on a per-square-foot basis, even though the entire buildings are now air conditioned and costs of electricity and gas have risen. Craig and Parker’s costs were $1.28 per square foot last year, compared with $1.62 in 2005-06. Unfortunately, the newest elementary school, Kennedy, costs the most, at $2.01 per square foot. Kennedy is the only fully air-conditioned elementary school, which accounts for some of the cost but not all, said Jerry Tinberg of North American Mechanical. The cheapest elementary school for energy usage is Adams, at 76 cents per square foot. Adams is one of the oldest schools. It has less air-conditioned space than the other schools.

The report recommends replacing outdated steam-heat systems, upgrading old equipment and cutting back on air-conditioning by looking at usage patterns. Making sure the A/C or heat is turned up or down when rooms are not in use is a major conservation measure. A recent district memo requires custodians to turn off window units and set thermostats to 75 degrees when students are not in those rooms. Another way to save is by consolidating small inefficient refrigerators with a larger, centralized, energy-efficient refrigerator. The district also is applying for grants to pay for energy-saving improvements through the state’s Focus on Energy program.

WISCONSIN: The Janesville school board has set a goal of reducing energy usage by 5 percent this year. The board thinks this is so important that it has made energy savings one of the measures by which Superintendent Karen Schulte’s performance will be measured. Which means principals will have an energy mandate on their plates as well. The Janesville School District will begin an energy-savings contest, pitting schools against each other, starting Friday, Oct. 1. If the district reaches its goal of a 5 percent reduction this year, the savings would be $133,092, said district CFO Keith Pennington. That’s the yearly cost of salary and benefits for about two teachers, plus change.

A recent energy report showed that the newly expanded and renovated Craig and Parker high schools’ energy costs are lower than they were before the project on a per-square-foot basis, even though the entire buildings are now air conditioned and costs of electricity and gas have risen. Craig and Parker’s costs were $1.28 per square foot last year, compared with $1.62 in 2005-06. Unfortunately, the newest elementary school, Kennedy, costs the most, at $2.01 per square foot. Kennedy is the only fully air-conditioned elementary school, which accounts for some of the cost but not all, said Jerry Tinberg of North American Mechanical. The cheapest elementary school for energy usage is Adams, at 76 cents per square foot. Adams is one of the oldest schools. It has less air-conditioned space than the other schools.

The report recommends replacing outdated steam-heat systems, upgrading old equipment and cutting back on air-conditioning by looking at usage patterns. Making sure the A/C or heat is turned up or down when rooms are not in use is a major conservation measure. A recent district memo requires custodians to turn off window units and set thermostats to 75 degrees when students are not in those rooms. Another way to save is by consolidating small inefficient refrigerators with a larger, centralized, energy-efficient refrigerator. The district also is applying for grants to pay for energy-saving improvements through the state’s Focus on Energy program.

NORTH CAROLINA: Wake County school board members are facing the daunting prospect of more than $1 billion in new school construction over the next decade. School administrators kicked off planning for the next school construction bond issue by telling board members that at least 33 new schools need to be built by 2020 to keep up with student enrollment. Although administrators avoided giving dollar estimates, it would conservatively cost more than $1 billion to build that many schools based on current construction estimates.
That price tag doesn't include the hundreds of millions of dollars that will also be needed for renovation projects at aging schools. But it does underscore the cost of keeping pace with growth that could add roughly 60,000 students to Wake schools by 2020, creating a need for almost 40,000 classroom seats above the capacity of current schools and those already planned.

WISCONSIN: An upgrade in the School District of Rhinelander’s bond rating will save taxpayers millions of dollars over the lives of a series of bonds sold Monday. Under normal circumstances, all of the district’s $13.7 million in bonds would have been issued at the 1.46 percent rate, however, the remainder of the bonds will be interest-free thanks to America Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, each state receives money that can be allocated to school districts, providing low-interest or no-interest financing to fund repairs of existing school facilities, new equipment, course materials or staff improvement projects. ARRA funds are used to pay the interest on the bonds, which is typically the responsibility of the issuer, in this case, the school district.

Earlier this year, the Department of Public Instruction awarded the district permission to issue $10.415 million in interest-free stimulus bonds, a combination of Qualified Zone Academy Bonds (QZABs) and Qualified School Construction Bonds (QSCBs). The district issued and sold $6.165 million in QSCBs, and $4.25 million in QZABs. Combined, the district will save approximately $7.5 million in interest costs, up from an earlier estimate of approximately $6 million.
“There’s no way this would have happened without the ARRA money,” Erdahl said. The Money raised from the sale of the bonds will fund school construction and improvement projects outlined in the referendum that was approved in February. The $13.7 million project includes improvements at Crescent, Pelican and Central elementary schools, James Williams Middle School and Rhinelander High School.

NEW JERSEY: A state official said he is working on a timetable for resuming school-construction projects put on hold after an agency bungled the handling of millions of dollars several years ago. Marc Larkins, chief executive officer of the Schools Development Authority, said the agency wants to prioritize 52 projects now on hold. The SDA then would pull money from its capital fund to pay for selected short-term repairs in the districts, he said.
Larkins estimated completing a review next month and then talking with Gov. Chris Christie's administration about a plan. The SDA board of directors must also approve a plan, possibly by early next year. Larkins is trying to pull together an agency that, plagued by mismanagement and waste, blew through $8.6 billion in funds, primarily targeted to needy districts, before they paid for all the approved projects. In 2007, then-Gov. Jon S. Corzine abolished what was then called the Schools Construction Corp. and replaced it with the SDA. In July 2008, legislation was enacted authorizing $3.9 billion in additional funds for the SDA -- $2.9 billion for the Abbott district schools, now called SDA district schools, and $1 billion to leverage construction in regular operating districts.
But Larkins said "there is no question" $2.9 billion will fail to cover the SDA district projects on hold, let alone any new ones. He said the agency has $650 million on hand, $860 million in obligations and would like a $100 million pot for immediate repairs, such as roof leaks and boiler replacements.

NORTH CAROLINA: Wake County school board members learned they face needing to build more than $1 billion worth of new schools by 2020 to keep up with growth. School administrators told board members that Wake needs at least 34 new schools by 2020 or risk being 39,500 seats short of what’s needed for all the new students coming. Administrators said they need to begin planning on the next school construction bond referendum, which hasn’t been scheduled yet.
Although growth has slowed because of the recession, Wake is still projected to reach 200,000 students by the end of the decade. Wake has 143,235 students so far this school year, making it the 18th largest school district in the nation and the largest in the state. The last bond issue, a record $970 million request, was approved by voters in 2006. The timing for the next bond issue has been slowed by the recession.
Administrators avoided giving specific dollar figures today but $1 billion would be a conservative figure based on current construction costs. Administrators said eight new high schools, currently costing more than $70 million apiece, are needed. They said six year-round middle schools, currently costing more than $40 million apiece, are also needed. Add in 19 elementary schools that currently cost more than $20 million apiece. The construction costs are likely to rise with inflation ove the course of the decade. Administrators haven’t yet presented which renovation projects will also be needed over the next decade. Those renovations will likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

NEW YORK: A Rochester elementary school is now part of a growing number of groups doing its part to clean our water. It now houses a rain garden. The city is reaching out to a younger generation about an ongoing problem. "These are all the components that are in storm water, grass clippings, leaves, dog poop even soil from erosion that's occurred," said Allison Plute, Stormwater Educator for the City of Rochester. That's just a small list of what goes into our water.
Plute teamed up with officials at George Gibbs Elementary. Kids will learn the importance of keeping water clean through a rain garden. "This is a great way to have an outdoor classroom to explore plants and animals and storm water in action," said Plute.

Built this summer, it's the first rain garden at a Rochester school. This is how the rain garden works. Over the next few years, the roots on the plants will become nearly eight feet long, soaking up water before it runs into the street and becomes polluted. "I think they'll enjoy it even more as it starts to grow and they start to get their hands in dirt so it's exciting...we're a green school so I think this is a green opportunity and just another one of those tools for us to teach our kids," said Jane Drennan, Principal of George Gibbs Elementary.
The amount of rain gardens is expanding. Last year the city started giving $750 grants to people who want one in their yard. So far 11 grants have been given. As for the garden at George Gibbs, officials hope more people will latch onto the idea of having their own. "We've had several calls now from other elementary schools that say we want a rain garden at our school," said Plute.

IOWA: Two dozen Des Moines schools that lost out on renovation money in the past decade will be the first in line to receive $112.5 million the district expects to collect in the next five years for building improvements. Des Moines brought in nearly $290 million in the past 10 years under the local option sales tax and used the money to update 31 elementary, middle and high schools.
District leaders plan to use money collected in the next five years under a statewide 1-cent sales tax, which replaced the local option levy in July, to repair the district's remaining two dozen aging schools. It will also fund a second round of renovations at Central Campus, as well as pay for the expansion of preschool and work to the Prospect building, which houses the transportation office and buses.

A majority of improvements to those buildings will be smaller in scale when compared with the renovations schools received under the local option sales tax. That's largely because the district expects to collect $6.5 million less per year under the statewide levy, said Bill Good, Des Moines chief operations officer. Also, officials plan to stick to the budgets they have set for projects, which wasn't the case for most of the past 10 years, when projected costs would be exceeded by as much as $10 million.
Des Moines spent in the past more than $100,000 on new furniture for schools, constructed large multipurpose rooms and built new playgrounds. Such things are not in the district's plans for the money generated by the statewide sales tax. Schools instead will receive the essentials: new windows and doors, safer drop-off areas for students, updated lighting, improved technology capabilities, air conditioning and upgraded mechanical and electrical systems, according to the district's five-year plan.

ILLINOIS: They may not be part of the curricula, but surveillance cameras, police liaisons and anonymous tip lines increasingly help define the school experience. School districts such as Barrington School District 220 routinely upgrade student safety measures, including the use of surveillance cameras, prevention and support resources, police liaisons and tip lines, officials say.
In the Barrington district, additional cameras have been installed at the schools as well as on buses. New lock systems require visitors to be buzzed into buildings. And last school year, the district began offering a place on its Web site to report bullying — physical, verbal, emotional or over the Internet.

NEW JERSEY: The first lesson Mary Beth Kopacz taught in the art room at John F. Kennedy Elementary School just after its $25,000 makeover was on interior design.
Husband-and-wife team Bob and Cortney Novogratz of Bravo TV’s “9 By Design” spent three days working on the redesign that Kopacz won this summer as the grand prize in the Bounty Make a Clean Difference contest. The makeover may be featured on a future airing of the show. Cortney Novogratz said that before the couple’s design team started work, the art room was filled with hand-me-downs and items that held together by duct tape.
“Now she has the best of everything,” Novogratz said. “I can only imagine how that is going to reflect to the kids in how they appreciate art and what they learn by coming here.”
As part of the makeover, the room was equipped with computers, digital cameras, and a new kiln. The room now has designer furniture and new storage space. Posters of art work that hung on the walls were replaced by real works donated by New York City galleries. A brown medal storage cabinet was refinished and covered in artwork by artist Richard Woods. In another special touch, an orange neon sign with the word “Dream” that the Novogratzes designed for the room was lit and hung above the computer stations.

Kopacz was excited about the new technology and other additions to the room that she could use to teach the children. “It’s opens up a whole different world,” Kopacz said. In addition to computers, the room is equipped with digital cameras and a spotlight from a 1950’s movie set Kopacz can use to teach students about portraits and still life and demonstrate highlights and shadows. “I can teach photography now, we can do videos,” Kopacz said rattling off all the lessons she could teach using the new technology.
Instead of holding up posters of artworks and walking them around the room, Kopacz said she will be able to project them from her computer onto the flat screen television and show the students particular details. “I’ll be able to zoom in,” she said.

John F. Kennedy’s Elementary School is the first in the nation to win the Bounty Make a Clean Difference $25,000 art room make over contest geared toward providing a clean and inspirational learning environment for students. Bounty picked 11 finalists from more than 750 entries based on essays written about the need of the art classroom. The winner was selected based on the number of votes received on Bounty’s Facebook page. In one week, more than 14,000 people voted in the contest. [Includes photographs of the classroom makeover.]

WYOMING: Summit Elementary School, the first new one in Natrona County School District in 25 years, is a novel experiment in applying museum principles to a public school. At a ceremonial ribbon-cutting held Sept. 14, school officials called the 400-student, K-5 school building "an active learning and teaching tool." Lee Skolnick, whose New York firm conceived the school with RB+B Architects Inc., says, "Like a museum, the school created a narrative that allows the building's features to embody their educational philosophy, emphasizing integrated, hands-on and real-world learning."

The result looks as unique as the approach, says Summit Elementary's principal, Dr. Anne LaPlante: "Not only does the design enhance the quality of how students and teachers interact, but it fosters the potential for learning opportunities between and around classroom spaces." A collaborative process involving teachers, parents and students helped develop the design. "It was imperative that the public be involved," says Kelly Eastes, district spokesman. "We wanted Summit to be a place of civic pride."
Inspired by the history of Casper, the school resembles a village, with functions expressed by different shapes, materials and colors. The "Village Center" – a large indoor gathering place — connects to communal classrooms called "Learning Houses" meant to "feel like home." Movable furniture transforms spaces depending on teacher needs. As part of a cross-disciplinary approach to education, art and science are combined in the "Creativity Studio." The school's exterior reflects Casper's high desert landscape, with striated brick and a sloping green metal roof that references the Laramie Mountain Range beyond. A sculptural spire marks the main entrance. The school also showcases renewable energy, with solar panels, a wind turbine and geothermal heating and cooling.

The overall design actively helps student learn – and teachers teach, says Skolnick: "We believe that by finding a compelling narrative through a collaborative design process, we can enrich the lives of students and their communities. This new school tells stories to the students without using words."

PENNSYLVANIA: Rooms for new classes in pre-engineering and robotics. Large art rooms with plenty of storage space. A broadcast studio that is separate from the broadcast classroom. Large office, guidance and health suites. And lockers that are big enough for all the stuff needed by today's high school student. The $12 million renovation and expansion of Mars Area High School addressed all the inadequacies of the 50-year-old high school, said Todd Kolson, high school principal.
"We updated the entire school from the '60s to the 21st century," Mr. Kolson said. "It is a great addition to the high school. Out of this project, we're able to offer some different curriculum offerings," such as robotics.
The project, approved by the school board in January 2008, gutted an original wing of the first floor and added supports for a second floor. The project also upgraded the façade and front hallway, which had become "very outdated," Mr. Kolson said. "The district definitely used the construction to their advantage as far as the infrastructure," Mr. Kolson said. "There is more computer lab space, additional classrooms for expanded technology education, expanded broadcasting capabilities. The teachers have the tools to integrate technology and instruction."

PENNSYLVANIA: Rooms for new classes in pre-engineering and robotics. Large art rooms with plenty of storage space. A broadcast studio that is separate from the broadcast classroom. Large office, guidance and health suites. And lockers that are big enough for all the stuff needed by today's high school student. The $12 million renovation and expansion of Mars Area High School addressed all the inadequacies of the 50-year-old high school, said Todd Kolson, high school principal.
"We updated the entire school from the '60s to the 21st century," Mr. Kolson said. "It is a great addition to the high school. Out of this project, we're able to offer some different curriculum offerings," such as robotics.
The project, approved by the school board in January 2008, gutted an original wing of the first floor and added supports for a second floor. The project also upgraded the façade and front hallway, which had become "very outdated," Mr. Kolson said. "The district definitely used the construction to their advantage as far as the infrastructure," Mr. Kolson said. "There is more computer lab space, additional classrooms for expanded technology education, expanded broadcasting capabilities. The teachers have the tools to integrate technology and instruction."

NEW YORK: State of New York Dormitory Authority, last year’s second-largest issuer of municipal debt, is selling $133.5 million in qualified school construction bonds as a six-month high in overall supply may raise yields.
States and municipalities are set to bring to market about $9.2 billion this week, the most since June 25, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Bond Buyer’s visible-supply index of new municipal offerings for the next 30 days reached $13.2 billion yesterday, the most since March 23. After six weeks of issuance below $7 billion, the jump in supply may push borrowing costs higher, said Evan Rourke, a portfolio manager with Boston-based Eaton Vance Corp., which has about $9 billion under management. “This will be the first real test of the market in some time,” Rourke said. “The market is hungry for bonds, but as supply rises you may have to pay some concessions.”

Today’s deal uses up the remainder of the state’s 2009 allocation of so-called QSCBs. The Dormitory Authority issued about $59 million of the debt in October 2009. As of March, the school-bond subsidy is paid directly to the issuer, as is the case with Build America Bonds. The federal government subsidizes as much as 100 percent of the interest costs on the school debt and a fixed 35 percent on Build Americas.
The changed format will help attract investors, according to Paul Williams, president of the Dormitory Authority. “We believe there will be strong demand for QSCBs,” he said. With the change from a tax-credit format, “the buyer base increases significantly.”

The authority, known by the acronym Dasny, borrows on behalf of the state as well as colleges, hospitals and other nonprofit groups. Dasny issued $7 billion in bonds in 2009, second only to California’s $33 billion, according to Bloomberg data. Proceeds of the sale will fund grants to New York school districts under the state’s Expanding our Children’s Education and Learning program, according to preliminary offering documents. The securities are backed by state personal income tax, so-called PIT bonds, the documents show. School construction bonds received a boost in previous months given diminished supply of municipal debt, Rourke said.

ARIZONA: A New Jersey-based power company will invest $100 million or more in solar projects for Arizona schools, allowing districts to cut their utility bills without paying anything up front for their power systems. NRG Energy Inc., which recently bought the cooling business that uses huge ice makers to chill downtown Phoenix and Tucson buildings, is working with local project-management group Kennedy Partners to finance the school solar systems.

Kennedy Partners is using Arizona-based contractors with expertise in school projects, officials said, and the projects could provide jobs for hundreds of workers, from the initial construction to maintenance, which will be provided for the schools.

NRG can take advantage of tax credits and other incentives for building solar-power arrays, and the schools can get the expensive power systems without coming up with any cash up front. At the end of the deals, the schools will have the option of buying the power systems. Phoenix-based Kennedy Partners is developing the solar projects with the school districts, and has at least a dozen projects ready to move forward, including Payson Unified School District and Arlington Elementary School District, and several others in its pipeline, officials said.
Kennedy Partners is designing most of the projects at schools to provide shade structures for playgrounds and parking lots, rather than place the solar panels on roofs, said Allison Suriano, a principal in the company. The design not only provides a dual use for the panels, but allows Kennedy Partners to design larger arrays than could fit on a roof, generating 80 to 90 percent of the power the schools use, she said. "The other thing our school districts really like is they can see (through the power-purchase deals) what their utility bill is going to be for the entire 20 years," Suriano said. "It is predictable. Having predictability is important for schools. If the rate changes in the middle of a budget year, it can really throw everything into disarray."

CALIFORNIA: Charter schools have long complained of being shut out of space and resources in the Los Angeles school district, even as their popularity has increased. Last year, a parent group and others pushed for a charter group, Alliance for College Ready Public Schools, to run the new $230 million Los Angeles Central High School Number 9, which opened last year. City-schools chief Ramon Cortines objected, and the school stayed a traditional public school.
In May, the charter-schools association, which represents 600 such schools across California, sued the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second-largest, for failing to provide classroom space to charters as required by Proposition 39. That state ballot measure passed in 2000 makes it easier to pass public-school bonds and requires public schools to share space with charter schools.
Last week, pending the outcome of the lawsuit, the group asked a Los Angeles Superior Court judge for a summary judgment that could force the district to find classrooms for every charter school that applies for it.
Los Angeles school officials say they work hard to find charter-school space in a crowded system where more than 50,000 students out of 678,000 attend school on a year-round calendar because of lack of space.

Parker Hudnut, executive director of the Innovation and Charter School division of the city schools, said the district made offers of space to 75% of charter schools who requested it for the 2010 school year. But charter-school advocates say that out of 81 charter schools that applied for space this year, only 45 received offers, and none was compliant under Prop 39, which says charter students are entitled to facilities "reasonably equivalent" to those at public schools. School officials say one reason for the discrepancy is that Prop 39 is not completely clear-cut on a district's obligation to charters. Officials also point to Measure Q—a $7 billion bond initiative passed by Los Angeles County voters in 2008 that sets aside $450 million specifically for charter-school facilities. Charter-school advocates say it is too little, too late. The bonds, which are tied to property value, won't likely be sold until 2015.

ALASKA: Construction on the state's schools has wound down now that kids are occupying the hallways again. Ninety schools across the state saw at least some development during the summer break, whether part of a planning phase, a phase of construction work or the completion of a project, said Kimberly Andrews, a school finance specialist with the state Department of Education and Early Development. The total budget for these projects is more than $428.8 million, though Andrews noted in an e-mail that the dollar figures presented represent the total budget for each of the projects, not the amount that was spent specifically this year.

State appropriations cover the majority of the costs, though a local match is usually required. "All of the projects will have a participating share. It varies between 2 percent for Regional Educational Attendance Areas and 5 percent to 35 percent for municipalities on the grants. Debt projects will have a state reimbursement of 70 percent or 60 percent," Andrews said.
Eleven of these projects are located in Anchorage. The priciest of these is a rehabilitation project at Robert Service High School, which received a $21 million grant in fiscal year 2011. Outside of Alaska's major urban centers, rural schools are seeing a bevy of improvements this year and in the coming years. Chefornak, a village of 475 residents 90 miles south of Bethel, serves about 150 students in its combined elementary and high school campus. The existing 17,571 square-foot building can't properly facilitate each student. "Overcrowding is the main reason that a school makes it on a fundable level on the state capital construction list," said Kate McIntyre, a project manager with the Lower Kuskokwim School District.

ARKANSAS: Governor Beebe says Arkansas will be able to make use of millions of dollars in education aid from the federal government for capital projects. The $91 million bound for Arkansas was part of a package intended to save teachers' jobs. But Beebe had expressed concern that Arkansas would be hamstrung because the state hasn't cut back its own education funding.
"It's created a dilemma, "Beebe says. "So I talked with the Secretary [of Education.] And he's indicated to us that we can use their money for salaries, and our money for capital. In other words, just substitute it - doing in the back door what they said you couldn't do through the front door. Beebe says he was initially uncomfortable with the arrangement, and so got the agreement in writing. He's urging the school districts to use the freed-up funds only for one-time projects like construction, equipment, or summer programs.

MISSOURI: Gov. Jay Nixon toured construction projects at the new Liberty North High School that are being built in part with no-interest bonds awarded by the state. The bonds — called Qualified School Construction Bonds — make up part of an $8 million bond issue that district voters approved in April. Most of the proceeds are being used to build a new field house, finish the auditorium and add space for fine arts and industrial technology.
The district also is using $3.4 million in Build American Bonds, which were created as part of the federal stimulus package. Together, the two bonds will save taxpayers nearly $2.3 million in interest, Nixon said.

He announced earlier this year that more than $162 million in Qualified School Construction Bonds had been awarded to 72 districts. Districts had filed about $700 million in requests, so they had to compete for the bond awards.

NATIONAL: The Bureau of Indian Affairs came in for some heavy criticism here Saturday at a rare oversight field hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee attended by U.S. Sens. Al Franken of Minnesota and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota. White Earth Tribal Chairwoman Erma Vizenor pointed out it was the first such hearing in memory to be held on an Indian reservation. Tribal officials blasted the BIA for being thickly opaque, unresponsive and frustratingly bureaucratic.
But the biggest problem is lack of money for school repairs and replacement, something Congress controls, not the BIA. The BIA is responsible for 183 schools on 63 reservations in 23 states, which serve about 41,000 students.
Dorgan said he has seen Indian schools that have no working fire alarms, or — like the current Circle of Life School — that have been functioning for years in spite of being condemned. “Somebody’s got to be blowing the whistle here and saying something’s not right — do we have to wait until kids die in a fire? The current system puts kids at risk,” Dorgan said. In exchange for Indian lands given up in treaties, the federal government agreed to provide for the health, education and welfare of Indian people “in perpetuity,” Franken said. “We haven’t been keeping our end of the deal.” Things could be worse, and they have been.

About half the problem has been rectified over the past 10 years, testified John Rever, BIA director of facilities, environmental and cultural resources. In the past decade, he said, over $2.5 billion has been provided for construction, repair and maintenance to reduce the number of schools in “poor” condition to 63 — down from 120 schools 10 years ago. But with the recession, the agency’s 2011 budget for school repair and replacement has been reduced to $57 million from $110 million, he said. Since much of that goes into ongoing maintenance, it leaves only about $13 million-$14 million for school repairs and replacement nationwide. BIA-funded school construction projects tend to be expensive. The agency landed $278 million in stimulus funds and spent about $134 million of that on just three new schools in the Southwest. (The rest went to improvements at 58 schools, including 14 major renovation projects, Rever said.) If those building costs went down, more schools could be fixed or replaced.

WASHINGTON: A total of 27 school districts - including Lake Washington School District (LWSD) - have been awarded $27.8 million for various school construction projects, superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn announced Sept. 9. The money, part of $100 million in competitive energy grants provided by the 2010 Legislature, will be used for heating, ventilation, and air condition systems, repair and upgrade of controls, replacement of inefficient lighting and building envelop improvements. Many of the construction projects will be able to begin this fall, providing much needed jobs to all parts of the state.

“This second set of grant awards for school building improvements continues to reach out to all areas of the state, and will result in more than $73 million in construction,” Dorn said. “Relatively simple things, like proper ventilation and adequate lights, can have a positive impact on student learning.” In the first round of grant awards, announced in July, 22 districts were awarded a total of $14.5 million. To qualify for the funds, school districts conducted audits of their school facilities to identify projects that could demonstrate guaranteed energy savings. The state money is being augmented with local “leverage” dollars. School districts receiving these grants have estimated about $3.1 million in utility incentives for these projects.

Of the total $100 million provided by the legislature, OSPI will administer $50 million for K-12 public school districts. The state Department of Commerce will administer the other $50 million for K-12 public school districts and public higher education institutions. OSPI has awarded more than $42 million of the $50 million in rounds one and two. About $7.5 million remains for the third round.

PENNSYLVANIA: It may feel as if the only things Philadelphia built during the construction binge of the last decade were supersized rowhouses and high-rise condos. But the city also produced a bumper crop of a more prosaic, although no less transformational, building type: schools.
This week, two more newbies arrived in freshly starched clothes when the district opened the Willard Elementary School and a new branch of its CAPA brand, the Kensington Creative and Performing Arts High School. The openings bring the district's output since 2001 to nine new high and six elementary schools, as well as several dozen gut renovations and major additions. Even if you don't count the charters, Philadelphia hasn't seen such a frenzy of school building since the 1920s, when the population was at its peak.
You can pretty much boil down the reasons for the building spree to the basics of money and need. Philadelphia entered the 21st century with a battered collection of schools with designs dating to the first years of the 20th century. After the city consented to a state takeover of the school district in 2001, Harrisburg agreed to provide $1.75 billion - yes, billion - to refresh its building stock. The district will exhaust that fund next year with the completion of a new West Philadelphia High School.

Kensington CAPA, or KCAPA as it's known, already shows just how far the district has come in relaxing its rigid ideas about school design. The smallest of the new high schools, it reflects a gentler approach to teaching. You might even say it shows the district has made what educators like to call "measurable progress" in the way it thinks about architecture and learning.
Unlike more progressive districts, Philadelphia never put a high priority on warm and nurturing educational environments. Just the opposite. During the last big construction spurt, in the 1970s, the district produced buildings that resembled sprawling prison compounds. Designs were imposed, rather than discussed. Test scores tumbled in that period, while dropout rates rose. Now, after a decade of soul-searching and reform, comes KCAPA, a diminutive boutique of a high school that is laid out like a shopping mall and feels as cozy as the neighborhood rec center. Instead of department stores, the long, gunmetal-gray structure has a gym and 200-seat auditorium anchoring the main wing. That long span, which faces Front Street, houses the creative spaces, including a dance studio and art studios. A distinctive sawtooth roofline references the factories that once dotted the neighborhood.

SMP-SRK Architects - an alphabetic mash-up of two local firms - oversaw the design. But in an unusual arrangement, the district allowed them to take their marching orders from the local chapter of Youth United for Change, a student group. With the blessing of former schools chief Paul Vallas, the students conducted a listening campaign to solicit ideas from classmates. They asked one of the architects, Vincent Rivera, who grew up nearby, to take them on a tour of schools in New York City. That experience strongly shaped their design values. Not only did they insist on keeping KCAPA small, with a top enrollment of 400, they wanted the design to incorporate the latest in sustainability. KCAPA is the city's first school to rely on geothermal wells for heating and cooling, a system that promises to cut energy costs about 35 percent. SMP Architects, which recently designed a green science building for the elite Germantown Friends School, says KCAPA is on track to receive the highest rating - platinum - from the U.S. Green Building Council.
When Vallas launched the ambitious construction program, he argued that Philadelphia students deserved the same quality of schools that their suburban counterparts enjoyed - low-rise structures surrounded by athletic fields. Many of the projects he launched, such as Parkside's School of the Future, mimic that model. The irony is that KCAPA rejected the suburban form for a more assertively urban design, even though the site is a generous seven acres. Students still get a sports field, albeit one planted with Buffalo grass, which needs no mowing or watering. But the two-story building sits close to the sidewalk and is within spitball range of the Market-Frankford El (not that anyone bothers with spitballs anymore). A few steps from the Berks stop, the site occupies the virtual borderline between fast-gentrifying (and mostly white) Fishtown and still-struggling (and largely minority) Kensington. KCAPA's sawtooth profile will be easily visible from both sides of the tracks, and the hope is that it can lure students from both populations.

NORTH CAROLINA: Fourteen Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools are candidates for closure or consolidation under a list of options presented during a school board workshop. In that same meeting, the district added five more names to a list of schools - now 37 - that are of concern for reasons that include crowding, being under capacity or having low academic achievement. The candidates for closure were derived from that list. Included among the 14 are one pre-kindergarten, eight elementary and five middle schools. Most have a high number of economically disadvantaged students who aren't meeting academic growth expectations.

The district is seeking changes at the 37 schools in hopes of increasing academic growth, while also positioning CMS to better deal with an expected $50 million shortfall in federal money next year. Many of the proposed changes will increase efficiency, and cut costs, they said. District officials have talked for weeks about the possibility they might close some schools, but Thursday marked the first time candidates were singled out and names made public.

NORTH CAROLINA: Fourteen Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools are candidates for closure or consolidation under a list of options presented during a school board workshop. In that same meeting, the district added five more names to a list of schools - now 37 - that are of concern for reasons that include crowding, being under capacity or having low academic achievement. The candidates for closure were derived from that list. Included among the 14 are one pre-kindergarten, eight elementary and five middle schools. Most have a high number of economically disadvantaged students who aren't meeting academic growth expectations.

The district is seeking changes at the 37 schools in hopes of increasing academic growth, while also positioning CMS to better deal with an expected $50 million shortfall in federal money next year. Many of the proposed changes will increase efficiency, and cut costs, they said. District officials have talked for weeks about the possibility they might close some schools, but Thursday marked the first time candidates were singled out and names made public.

NEW JERSEY: Governor Chris Christie announced the approval of more than $1.3 million in grants to pay for infrastructure upgrades at North Jersey schools. The money was made available after the New Jersey Economic Development Authority approved the sale of $500 million in new bonds in April. The state’s Schools Development Authority is now parceling out the proceeds from the bond sale to fund school construction and maintenance projects statewide, officials said. The grants include: $365,345 to the Westwood Regional School District, to replace boilers at Brookside and Jessie F. George elementary schools, and for a new fire alarm system at Ketler Elementary School - the district’s share of the project’s cost is $548,018; $512,902 to Mahwah Public Schools to replace the heating and cooling systems at Mahwah High School and Ramapo Ridge Middle School - the district’s share of the project’s cost is $769,353; $56,953 to the Oakland School district for a new generator at Valley Middle School -the district’s share of the project’s cost is $85,430; $88,150 to the Hawthorne School District for a partial roof replacement at Hawthorne High School -the district’s share of the project’s cost is $132,225; $67,811 to the Prospect Park School District for new security cameras at Prospect Park Elementary School -the district’s share of the project’s cost is $19,513; and $217,500 to the Butler Public Schools for unspecified “technology and security upgrades” at Butler High School, Richard Butler School and Aaron Decker School - the district’s share of the project is $326,250.

INDIANA: Tippecanoe County is planning a 2,500-acre wind farm. Schools and Universities will have the opportunity to invest in Performance Park, a 50-megawatt, 25-turbine wind farm. Construction is to begin in fall 2011. One turbine would cost $3.6 million to install, plus annual maintenance of $30,000 to $40,000. Landowners are paid on a per-turbine basis, and for the number of acres they own in the wind farm boundaries. Schools would have several options to pay for construction, including bond issues. The schools then would reap the profits from the sales of energy produced.

NATIONAL: Stoddert Elementary School in Washington, D.C., is the site of a sparkling new building addition and rehab. Last month, crews were still putting the finishing touches on the landscaping and a new glass wall that blends into a beautiful 1932 brick schoolhouse.
"Architecture can no longer be just sculpture," says Rick Fedrizzi, head of the USGBC, the private nonprofit that runs the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification system known as LEED. Architecture must be about performance, Fedrizzi says, especially in the case of schools. "We have the ability through the bricks and mortar to change the way our kids learn, absorb information, interact with their teacher, and ultimately have the ability for a much more productive life," he says. "It's a moral objective of all of us to make sure that this happens across the board."

In Washington, it's more than an objective — it is the law. All new public buildings must achieve LEED certification. LEED is a force to be reckoned with in the construction world. Fourteen federal departments and agencies, 34 states and more than 200 local governments now encourage or require LEED certification. Some places offer incentives to certify. Others, like Washington, mandate it as a kind of code.
Under LEED, the environmentally conscious features of Stoddert will be tallied up, and the USGBC will award a plaque certifying the school as a green building. Architect Mary Rose Rankin of Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn says the designers paid a lot of attention to the acoustics of this building because noise levels are important for learning. It's one of the LEED requirements. "Wherever possible, we have full height partitions and added acoustic blankets and insulation to really keep [noise from] the outside and from room to room" to a minimum, she says. Indoor air quality is another priority. Rankin says she expects the school's new geothermal heating and cooling system to save a lot of energy. "Our model shows a savings of around 29 to 30 percent over what a comparable baseline building would be of similar size," she says. "That's 30 percent a year. And payback, for instance, for our geothermal system should be around six to eight years." This kind of prediction accompanies every LEED project.

But critics of LEED have long said it doesn't put enough emphasis on saving energy. One of the most assertive is Henry Gifford, a New York apartment building owner turned energy efficiency expert.

Fedrizzi says sustainability is not only about energy use. He says the program takes a holistic approach and will keep getting tougher. But should LEED be written into law? Fedrizzi says he supports mandates for schools and for governments who want to green their own buildings. "We should have green schools in every city and every state across America, without question," he says. "I think what we need is to better understand, when we have these mandates, whether they really serve a purpose. The private sector really benefits more from incentives." Back at the Stoddert school, architect Rankin says the designers do plan to reveal this building's actual energy use to the students. "In the main lobby, we'll have a green touch screen, which the kids in the community can use to actually look and see how much water is being saved, how much energy is being saved, how the building is performing," she says.

WISCONSIN: Poor ventilation systems combined with hot, muggy weather led to a spate of Wisconsin school closings due to mold, according to a school official. “It was a perfect storm of sorts,” Larson said. “We had record high humidity for two weeks and an outdated building from the 1960s.” Mark Lentz, a Sheboygan Falls engineer who works with school districts, said poor ventilation systems can contribute to mold problems if they do not adequately control humidity. “Schools are often problems because they try to cut their summer operating cost by shutting down the air conditioning and often leave it off during periods of maintenance when they are shampooing carpets and washing things down,” Lentz said.

NATIONAL: Green building now accounts for nearly one-third of new construction in the U.S. That's up from 2 percent in 2005, according to McGraw-Hill Construction, which tracks the industry. The new Ross School of business building at the University of Michigan is full of environmentally friendly technology, among the highlights is a men's room equipped with dual-flush toilets, that use 0.8 gallons of water instead of 1.6 gallons. The sector for green building products: paint, wallpaper, windows, flooring is burgeoning. That sector was practically nonexistent in 1993, when the U.S. Green Building Council got its start. The USGBC created the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, program. The University of Michigan officials decided that the intangibles that come from LEED are worth the investment. The university committed to seek certification on all of its new building projects worth more than $10 million.

MONTANA: In a resounding win for Billings School District 2, voters overwhelmingly approved a pair of federal bonds worth $12 million. Barbara Bryan, Billings School District 2 board chairwoman, said she wasn’t surprised with the results. She believed the voters understood that the bonds were a good deal and that the money was something obviously needed in the district. “The benefit was so clear to the community,” she said.

The interest-free bonds were designated specifically for maintenance and construction projects. SD2 faces $123 million in deferred maintenance. Planned projects include replacing the 70-year-old boiler at Senior High, replacing the roofs at 10 schools and replacing windows at seven schools. Also included were fire alarm system updates at four of the district’s oldest schools. More than half the cost of the bonds will be paid for by federal stimulus dollars and state funds. The projects were chosen specifically to help the district avoid “future catastrophic damage,” maximize utility savings and improve the learning environment for students at all its buildings across the city. The updates to roofs, windows and boilers would save the district $94,435 a year in energy costs.

With the bonds now passed, the federal government will pay the interest on the bonds and the district will pay back the principal. Helping reduce the district’s debt load is a sinking fund that will accompany the bond. A sinking fund works by collecting the monthly payments the district would make on the loans over the 16 years and putting them into an account earning interest. When the debt comes due, the district will pay back the lump sum of what it owes from the sinking fund and then use the interest it has earned to further pay down the loan. Because the district will have paid no interest on the bond money it borrowed, the interest collected from the sinking fund will reduce the money taxpayers pay out of pocket to repay the loan.
In addition, there is a possibility of state assistance to help the district pay back the bond. With the sinking fund and the state help, trustees are hopeful that, of the total $12 million borrowed, the district — and ultimately taxpayers — will have to pay back only about $5.5 million. Based on that $5.5 million, a property owner with a $200,000 home will pay $8.66 a year in taxes for 16 years.

CALIFORNIA: The $75.5-million Carson-Gore Academy of Environmental Sciences will open Sept. 13 for about 675 students. School district officials insist that the Arlington Heights property is clean and safe. And they've pledged to check vapor monitors and groundwater wells to make sure. Construction crews worked at the campus replacing toxic soil with clean fill. They removed dirt from two 3,800-square-foot plots to a depth of 45 feet, space enough to hold a four-story building. The soil had contained more than a dozen underground storage tanks serving light industrial businesses. Additional contamination may have come from the underground tanks of an adjacent gas station. A barrier will stretch 45 feet down from ground level to limit future possible fuel leakage. Like many local campuses, this school also sits above an oil field, but no oil field-related methane has been detected. Groundwater about 45 feet below the surface remains contaminated but also poses no risk, officials said.

Everything's under control after the $4-million cleanup, said John Sterritt, the school system's chief safety officer. "There's no doubt in my mind that the site is safe, and if there are any changes, our monitoring or our existing processes will detect it and we'll react to that," Sterritt said. "We really go out of our way to make sure these properties are safe." New schools now fall under the review of the state Department of Toxic Substances Control.

CALIFORNIA: “This is it. The pantry where the shooting took place is right behind us here.” Paul Schrade, 85, gestured to a library counter and, behind it, a warren of empty rooms and closets. The pantry Mr. Schrade referred to, now vanished, was the passageway in the Ambassador Hotel where Robert F. Kennedy was shot 42 years ago after declaring victory in the state’s Democratic presidential primary. Mr. Schrade, a close aide, was at Kennedy’s side that night and was himself shot in the head in the rush of gunfire, a little remembered footnote to the assassination.

The Ambassador Hotel is now razed, replaced by a sprawling public school complex that will open on Sept. 13, a memorial to Kennedy as well as an ambitious effort by a beleaguered school system to provide classrooms to a community of mostly poor Latino students. Mr. Schrade has been the Kennedy family’s chief representative in a project to which he has more than a little personal connection.

Yet the opening of the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools has become a new strained chapter in a long battle over this historically resonant site. In the 21 years since the hotel went bankrupt, the property has been the stage for a battle pitting historical preservationists against the Kennedy family and a city that is not often keen on embracing its history; a failed attempt by Donald Trump to build the world’s largest building; and now, a corrosive controversy over the almost $600 million cost of the school — it is the most expensive in the nation, local officials say — that is embarrassing Los Angeles school officials and chastening Mr. Schrade. “We are under attack,” he said. “There are 400 hits on Google from people who have carried on this nonsense that it’s the Taj Mahal, the most expensive school in history.”

By any measure, the project stands out as grandly audacious: six pilot schools to serve 4,200 students from kindergarten through 12th grade, built on 24 landscaped acres in the densely settled Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles. There is a 12-foot-deep swimming pool and a faculty lounge that replicates the Ambassador’s sleek Art Deco coffee shop, down to the soft, curved orange banquettes. The auditorium, in its detail, lighting and use of color, is a jaw-dropping tribute to the Cocoanut Grove nightclub that was in the center of the Ambassador complex.

Mr. Schrade was a regional director of the United Auto Workers who broke with his union to work for Kennedy, and is two heads away from him in photos that show Kennedy giving his victory speech. As he gave a tour of the library under a bristling summer sun the other day — a tall figure, sharp and passionate — he recounted in detail the moment when he thought he had touched a live electric wire as he fell to the ground in a pool of blood.
Most of all, though, he seems unsettled by the storm that has greeted what he had hoped would be the end of a story that began here in 1968.
“This is a wonderful tribute to him,” he said. “This is what he wanted. He saw that kids were suffering as a result of poor education, poor schools and low income, and wanted to do something about it.”

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Some men get buildings named after them; others, streets. Ron Hillyer is getting a hallway. Such tributes are often reserved for the dead or the famous. Hillyer is neither. He is a former D.C. school custodian, a man whose job involved scrubbing waste off a playground at one school and discarding the burnt bottle caps of drug users at another.
Yet when Hillyer retired this year, ending a 32-year career with the system, Janney Elementary School realized that it was losing more than just the man who kept the terrazzo tiles clean. It was losing its talent show emcee, its guide for the Halloween walk through the building's scary underbelly, its mock Civil War soldier who, with little prodding, would show up dressed in full uniform, ready to talk about the roles that African Americans played during the war.

VIRGINIA: Loudoun County's 79 public schools, among them two new high schools and the county's first modern two-story elementary school, will open their doors to students Tuesday, Sept. 7.
Tuscarora High School in Leesburg will open as the largest high school ever constructed in the county, with space for 1,800 students, exceeding the previous high school design by approximately 200 seats.
In Purcellville, the opening of Woodgrove High School will mark the end of more than a decade of wrangling between the town, School Board and county supervisors over the location of the school. It will be the first new high school to open in western Loudoun in 48 years.
In the South Riding area, Buffalo Trail Elementary School will feature the first modern two-story design for elementary schools in the county.

VIRGINIA: Loudoun County's 79 public schools, among them two new high schools and the county's first modern two-story elementary school, will open their doors to students Tuesday, Sept. 7.
Tuscarora High School in Leesburg will open as the largest high school ever constructed in the county, with space for 1,800 students, exceeding the previous high school design by approximately 200 seats.
In Purcellville, the opening of Woodgrove High School will mark the end of more than a decade of wrangling between the town, School Board and county supervisors over the location of the school. It will be the first new high school to open in western Loudoun in 48 years.
In the South Riding area, Buffalo Trail Elementary School will feature the first modern two-story design for elementary schools in the county.

WEST VIRGINIA: The decision to keep the swings has gone back and forth. Now, Cabell County Schools along with the West Virginia Department of Education's Office discovered that section 205 of the West Virginia Board of Education Policy 6200 states that swings are required at elementary schools with Kindergarten programs.
The biggest issue ahead of Cabell County Schools now is the surface. The surface must extend and least double the amount of feet on both sides of the swing, and the mulch must be nine inches deep. Superintendent Bill Smith says "you may think you put them in at the beginning of the school year and when a rain comes, 8.5 inches is not 9 inches. That's how specific it gets when it gets into legal issues."
Smith will meet with State Senator Evan Jenkins to discuss what can be done to limit lawsuits in the future if children are injured as a result of the swing sets.

NATIONAL: Elite business schools in the U.S. are constructing bigger and more elaborate campuses to attract applicants and professors and climb higher in magazine rankings, says Matthew Spiegel, a Yale professor of finance. New buildings mean more office space for faculty and more classrooms for profitable executive education programs. Larger schools can also enroll more students, who pay up to $80,000 annually in tuition and room and board. Ronald G. Ehrenberg, an economist at Cornell University says "Graduates of business and law schools are often the wealthiest alumni. It is easy to raise the funds to build buildings from donors to those schools." To finance its new complex, for instance, Stanford Graduate School of Business secured $105 million, the largest gift in its history, from Philip Knight, the alumnus who heads athletic shoemaker Nike.

The building boom for top management schools was triggered in 2002, when the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School dedicated its $140 million Jon M. Huntsman Hall in Philadelphia. The University of Chicago Booth School of Business began using its $125 million Charles M. Harper Center in 2004. University of Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of Business opened a new, $145 million building in January 2009. Harvard Business School’s 40-acre riverfront campus has a chapel, a health club, and its own art collection. To catch up, Yale will erect a $180 million structure designed by Lord Norman Foster. This year the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management will open new facilities in Cambridge. Stanford's B-school also will expand into a new building next year. It's a self-reinforcing pattern: Better buildings enhance student satisfaction, and that can spur future alumni giving, making management schools even richer and better able to build even more-impressive campuses, says Robert J. Dolan, dean of the University of Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of Business.

KENTUCKY: Richardsville Elementary School is one step closer to becoming the first net-zero school in the nation. The 77,000-square-foot, $12.6 million building will produce more energy than it consumes. It will use geothermal piping to eliminate the need for furnaces and boilers. The walls are heavily insulated with concrete that gives the school triple the insulation of other buildings. The floors are stained and polished to reduces the effort required to buff and clean the surfaces and energy-efficient bamboo was used to create the gym flooring. One of the biggest boons to the school’s net-zero status is the solar panels. The $2.4 million solar panel project, which was partly funded through a state grant, will help the school use 75 percent less energy than other schools. About 2,000 solar panels will be installed on the school roof, and 700 more panels will be placed on the school’s parking structure.

The project will not only benefit the school; the Tennessee Valley Authority will purchase unused solar energy from the school - at about 22 cents per kilowatt hour - and use it to energize surrounding homes and businesses. On a sunny day, the panels can create about 2,500 kilowatt hours of energy, and it probably can energize about 50 homes in the area, according to Brad Morton of Morton Solar and Wind.

In addition to cutting utility costs and bringing the school system to the forefront of green technology, the solar panels serve as a teaching tool to students. One hallway features an exposed solar panel, where students can see how much energy the panels are producing. “I think it helps with utility costs, but I think the most beneficial (aspect) is teaching the kids to be environmentally friendly,” Superintendent Tim Murley said.

WEST VIRGINIA: A state lawmaker is asking Cabell County Schools Superintendent William Smith to suspend the removal of swing sets from all elementary school playgrounds until he can bring involved parties to the table. Swings are scheduled to be removed from the 17 schools that have them by late December because of recent lawsuits and costs associated with meeting national standards for playground safety.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission sets playground safety guidelines. The current guidelines for swings require a protective layer of sand, pea gravel, wood mulch, wood chips or recycled rubber that equals twice the height of the swing in each direction. That means if a swing is 7 feet long, a layer of ground material is required 14 feet in front and 14 feet in the back. The safety standards also call for a depth of at least 9 inches.
Cabell County uses wood mulch on its playgrounds, but it is biodegradable and washes away when it rains, said Tim Stewart, safety manager for Cabell County Schools. That makes it difficult to comply with national safety standards, he said. The only other viable alternative is recycled rubber, but it has raised toxicity questions among parents across the country and is more expensive than wood mulch, Stewart said. He estimates it would cost about $8,000 to cover the ground around each of the 36 swing sets. That's a total of $288,000, a cost that would have to be repeated at least every seven years, he said.

MARYLAND: Summer may be over, but students at Sidwell Friends Lower School in Bethesda will be still playing, and learning, using the power of the sun. The school teamed with Common Cents Solar to install 120 solar panels on the roof of the gymnasium funded entirely by $5,000 "solar bonds" bought by 25 shareholders, mainly parents and community members.
The bond program creates a new approach to financing large-scale solar installations by taking the burden of cost away from the school, said Kirk Renaud, general manger of Common Cents Solar, a Bethesda nonprofit co-op that promotes solar initiatives through community collaboration and education.

Solar installations help save money for private and public schools. The system will cover half of the gym's energy needs and save the school $4,000 annually in electricity costs, Renaud said. Sidwell Friends had an electric bill of about $450,000 last school year for all campuses. Solar panels save the Montgomery County Public School system about $30,000 annually because unused electricity generated by rooftop panels receives a credit from Pepco that is taken off the bill. In fiscal 2010, the school system spent about $27 million to power its more than 200 buildings, spokesman Dana Tofig said in an email.

Eight Montgomery County Public Schools have rooftop solar panel systems that are used to save money and create clean energy, said Sean Gallagher, assistant director in the school system's department of facilities management. Schools pay to use solar electricity generated by panels installed by SunEdison solar company, which is based out of Beltsville. Solar panels are installed based on the size and age of the building's roof, Gallagher said.
About 500 solar panels will be installed on the roof of the upgraded Carderock Springs Elementary School in Bethesda this fall, Gallagher said. Not all modernized schools are able to get solar panels because stormwater management laws may require a vegetated roof to be installed instead. Additionally, eight other county schools have one or two solar panels on their roof paid for by grants or fundraising efforts, and are used primarily to demonstrate the technology to students, Gallagher said.

The $200,000 system at Sidwell Friends was purchased by a group of shareholders who will make their money back over a 10-year period using funds the school would normally pay to Pepco in their electric bill, said Michael Saxenian, assistant head of Sidwell Friends School, a private school with campuses in Bethesda and Washington, D.C. "We're very excited not just for the potential to reduce our environmental footprint but also to demonstrate a model that might help others do the same," Saxenian said. The shareholders should make a 3 percent return on their investment, Renaud said. Several people bought more then one bond, and the solar panels should be operational next week.

Solar panels provide a tangible way to teach the concept of harnessing energy to young children, said Sidwell Friends science teacher Sam Francis. Students at the Lower School will be able to view the energy production of their solar panels using monitors installed inside the school, and Francis plans to incorporate it into the science curriculum. In addition to the economic and environmental gains, the solar installation is also a way to bringing the community together to make a difference, said Ketch Ryan, sewing teacher at Sidwell Friends Lower School and co-founder of Common Cents Solar, who spearheaded the collaboration.

NEW YORK: About 17,000 thousand students will walk into brand new classrooms next week, and city officials say it is the most new space the School Construction Authority has ever opened in a single year since it was created in 1988. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said he could not be happier. "There are colleagues of mine, they don't see 30 buildings in the course of a lifetime, and we are seeing that basically this year in New York City," said Klein.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the construction at the new Mott Haven Educational Campus. It is the largest single project funded by the city's $13 billion school capital plan. The building covers nine acres of land, cost $250 million and will house 2,300 students in five different schools. Bloomberg said it is the largest public school project in modern memory. "Before we began construction here, this site, which had at one time been used as a commuter rail yard, had been vacant for close to 50 years," said Bloomberg. "So this striking new campus really symbolizes the revival of the South Bronx." The school includes a state-of-the-art, 600-seat performing arts center and a regulation-size football field includes lighting and scoreboard facilities.

Although Mott Haven is the largest, it's hardly the only new building this year. Other major sites include Eagle Academy High School in the Bronx, PS/IS 276 in Manhattan, Cypress Hills Community School in Brooklyn, the New York Harbor School on Governors Island, and the Metropolitan Educational Campus, Gateways to Health Sciences Secondary School in Queens. Construction at the Bronx campus was delayed over concerns that the site had high levels of toxins, and the city spent tens of thousands of dollars to address the problem. Officials and community groups came together to say the campus is safe and almost ready for classes to be begin.

Despite all the new seats, though, schools are still overcrowded in many neighborhoods. A report by the Independent Budget Office last month found half of high school students attended overcrowded schools last year. That is down 15 percent, thanks to the capital plan construction, but is still an ongoing problem.

MICHIGAN: The Flint school district will apply for a Qualified School Construction Bond worth $15 million after the board of education authorized the move. The funds would be repaid over three years using revenues from the sinking fund millage that voters approved last month. The bonds have spending restrictions similar to sinking funds, limiting usage to building and site repairs and improvements.
District Chief Financial Officer Andrea Derricks said Qualified School Construction Bonds, which are subsidized by federal stimulus funds, were distributed during the last school year. Some districts didn't spend all the money they were allocated before a July 30 deadline, resulting in about $90 million in remaining funds, according to Derricks. "They're considering reopening that process and reallocating that $90 million," Derricks said. She said the bond would allow more immediate usage of sinking fund money the district is set to receive in the coming years. "We would get $15 million within six months to hit the buildings hard and fast," she said. Derricks said the first expenditures would go toward energy efficiency improvements that would save the district more money.

NEW JERSEY: For school districts at the Jersey Shore, "It's the economy" is a reminder that needed repairs are neglected, or that projects that could provide future savings — a hedge against further economic downturns — go undone. And while Gov. Chris Christie's March announcement of a reduction in state aid for many school districts certainly hasn't helped matters — forcing school districts to make hard choices — those districts say state aid cuts have little influence on how their construction projects are progressing.
"There's no correlation," said Allison Erwin, Jackson schools spokeswoman. "It's the defeated budget which has an impact on which projects get done." Joseph F. Passiment Jr., Monmouth County's school business administrator, said the state aid cuts have nothing to do with school construction. "Any aid a district would receive for school construction would be in the form of debt-service aid," Passiment said.

This month, the Tinton Falls school district will submit to voters a proposal to issue about $4.77 million in bonds, part of an about $8.87 million project to renovate three schools and the administration building, the work of which will include roof, heating, ventilation and air conditioning as well as electrical and mechanical repairs. Otherwise, Passiment said, no other Monmouth school district is planning for a school construction project or has postponed a school construction project. The last time school construction projects were on the ballot in Monmouth County was in September 2009, when voters in both Atlantic Highlands and Marlboro passed public questions on installing solar panels at an elementary school and on constructing an addition to Defino Central Elementary School, respectively.
Installing solar panels, as well as making roof repairs and other associated work at Jackson Memorial High School. Cost of the project, according to a district newsletter, would have been about $7.04 million, to be offset by about $1.58 million in solar rebates and $3.74 million in state funding. This measure was defeated 2,854 to 2,294.
Improving security at all 10 district schools, as well as making technology and facility upgrades at Jackson Memorial. The project cost would have been about $11.93 million, offset by $4.77 million in anticipated debt-service aid. This was defeated, 3,033 to 2,041.
Installing air conditioning at Jackson Memorial, the last school for the work. The project cost was projected at $6.70 million, offset by $2.68 million in anticipated debt-service aid. This was defeated, 2,992 to 2,148.

MASSACHUSETTS: Students were first to cross the threshold this morning as the ribbon was cut to the new $197.5 million Newton North High School, the most expensive public school in Massachusetts history.
The building opens after a decade of controversy and soaring costs, as the project evolved from a $40 million renovation into an entirely new school featuring two theaters, two gymnasiums, vocational facilities, and an Olympic-sized swimming pool. To critics, it became a symbol of spending excess and the need to overhaul the way public schools are built.

Price thanked architects, builders, town employees, and both mayors for making the new school a reality. "I hope you take great pride in this project," Price told the crowd. Referring to the criticism the project received, Warren said that "one choice was for us to quietly sulk into this building ... but instead we publicly celebrate the opening of this building." "We are fortunate in a time of national crisis to give our children a world class education," he said. The new school "is a critical tool in that effort." The duty of the community now, he said, is to "get the most out of this building."

An analysis by the Globe in 2008 found that costs were driven up by several factors: buried demolition debris that made excavating the site difficult, design and management complications, hazardous materials, additional square footage for the cafeteria and kitchen, rising steel prices, and the cost of tearing down the old football stadium.

Nine months after leaving office, Cohen remains stalwartly behind the new high school, which he says will bolster property values and Newton’s reputation for academic excellence. It has been frequently overlooked, Cohen said, that Newton North’s new indoor pool, vocational facilities, outdoor fields and running tracks, and kitchen facilities will be used by the entire city, not just a small group of students.

MASSACHUSETTS: [Video] It's not exactly your average back-to-school story in Newton, Massachusetts this week. Newton North High School, at $200 million, it is the most expensive school in the state. The new school features an art complex and athletic wing, with a swimming pool and climbing wall. The state contributed about $40 million to the project.

MASSACHUSETTS: [Video] It's not exactly your average back-to-school story in Newton, Massachusetts this week. Newton North High School, at $200 million, it is the most expensive school in the state. The new school features an art complex and athletic wing, with a swimming pool and climbing wall. The state contributed about $40 million to the project.

COLORADO: This fall, the future is bright at several Denver Public Schools thanks to new solar energy panels. Five schools within the district started the year with fully functioning solar panels installed on the buildings, and by May, 11 more schools will be solar powered. It's all thanks to a public-private-partnership between Denver Public Schools, Boulder-based Namaste Solar, Denver-based Oak Leaf Energy Partners and MP2 Capital, all of which helped secure more than $3 million worth of grants from Xcel Energy and $2.5 million worth of federal funding for the solar panels.

The solar panels are expected to save DPS $1.1 million over the life of the program and according to MP2's CEO Mark Lerdal, the savings are immediate. "Denver Public Schools had savings on day one," Lerdal said. "They don't pay anything. They payed less for their electricity the second that we turned the project on. So for Denver Public Schools, it's a win right away."

Students at the solar powered schools are also benefiting. Namaste Solar is working with Denver Public Schools to create a curriculum that incorporates the science and economics of solar energy and will bring the curriculum into the classroom through individual monitoring systems that track energy output at each school.

MARYLAND: The long-awaited first day of school arrived Monday as some students started the year in new state-of-the-art buildings like West Towson in Baltimore County. The city opened its first new school building since 1998, Violetville Elementary in Southwest Baltimore. City and state leaders will celebrate the new building with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. And students and parents marked on Monday the rebirth of the old Walbrook High School campus in West Baltimore and renovations to Hammond elementary and middle schools in Howard County.

Built to relieve the severe crowding at Towson-area elementary schools, the $22 million West Towson is modern, full of light and airy with a two-story atrium, wireless access and state-of-the-art technology in all the classrooms. There's even a roof garden to reduce storm-water runoff and keep the kindergarten rooms below cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, as well as low-flow plumbing fixtures that will reduce water usage by 40 percent in the 451-seat school.

PENNSYLVANIA: Taxpayers in the Millcreek Township School District made an investment in the environment four years ago. The investment is beginning to pay off. Overall energy consumption and energy costs at Millcreek's James S. Wilson Middle School are down significantly since the district invested $2 million in environmentally friendly "green" improvements during a $25.3 million renovation and expansion of the school in 2007.
New geothermal heating and cooling, rooftop wells that catch and use rainwater, rooftop and tubular solar panels that help light the school and other environmental improvements: They all saved an estimated $50,000 in total energy costs at J.S. Wilson in 2009, the first full year the renovated school was open, compared with the last full year before renovations in 2006. "The building is actually outperforming what we expected," said Chris Coughlin, lead architect for the J.S. Wilson project. "We were very conservative with the numbers beforehand. It's exceeding those numbers and exceeding our expectations."
The school, and others in the Millcreek School District, opened for the 2010-11 academic year Wednesday. The first day of classes at J.S. Wilson included a reminder to the school's 592 students to protect taxpayers' investment in their school. "It took a lot of time and effort to make this building happen. Now we've got to take care of it," Principal John Cavanagh said.

J.S. Wilson's greatest savings has been in natural gas. Gas costs for the school were down 92 percent in 2009, to $8,445, from $102,145 in 2006. Geothermal heating is responsible for the savings, said Brad Dunn, the school district's maintenance supervisor. In a geothermal system, the earth heats or cools water flowing through underground pipes. A heat exchanger uses heat from the water to warm the building and chilled water to cool it. J.S. Wilson powers up its traditional boiler only on very cold days. The hybrid geothermal and conventional heating system saved the district the cost of drilling another 100-plus geothermal wells, said Coughlin, of Erie-based Hallgren, Restifo, Loop and Coughlin. "We originally designed the system with 214 to 220 wells but rebid it as a hybrid system that uses 107 wells and uses the boiler to pick up the heating on the coldest days," Coughlin said.
Water savings, like gas savings, have also been significant, by district estimates. J.S. Wilson has saved about 220,000 gallons of water, and $27,196 on water bills, since the renovated school reopened in March 2008. Rainwater collected in the rooftop wells flushes school toilets and urinals. The school still buys drinking water and water for use in the school cafeteria.

Taking all of the energy costs into consideration, including lower gas bills and water bills and higher electric bills, J.S. Wilson is saving the Millcreek School District about $50,000 a year, according to an Erie Times-News analysis of district records. Even with higher electric costs, overall energy and financial savings at the green school are significant, said Guy McUmber, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's sustainability coordinator for the northwest region. McUmber is also past chairman of the Northwest Pennsylvania Branch of the Green Building Alliance, a nonprofit organization that promotes the benefits of green construction. "The building uses less energy overall than it previously used. And the decline in energy usage is significant," McUmber said. "We have so few green buildings in this region. The school is a great model for northwestern and even western Pennsylvania."

LOUISIANA: The transformation of New Orleans public schools has been one of the brightest and most consequential developments post-Katrina. That’s why the Obama administration’s decision to fully pay for a citywide school construction plan is a momentous step for our recovery.
The total $1.8 billion in FEMA funds approved for school construction makes the award one of the largest recovery grants since the storm. The grant includes $700 million for school construction that FEMA committed last year and an additional $1.1 billion that had been in doubt until this week.
The total equals the projected cost of a citywide master plan the Recovery School District and the Orleans Parish School Board approved in 2008. That means education officials should have enough money to provide every school — charter and traditional — a new building or a substantially renovated one.
Just as important, FEMA agreed to lump the schools’ extensive Katrina damage into one large project. That will allow new schools to be built wherever needed, without being restricted to rebuilding pre-Katrina structures.

LOUISIANA: Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina destroyed schools throughout New Orleans. Since then, the state and city have worked together to make the city’s schools a model for school reform. New Orleans schools have made remarkable progress. They have been an inspiration to those of us who are working to provide a world-class education to all of America’s children.
Despite the progress, New Orleans still has a lot of work to do. More than 100 school buildings were devastated by the floods of Katrina. The city still needs to replace, rebuild and rehabilitate buildings that were destroyed by the floods. Working together, state and city leaders have produced a master plan to will rebuild and renovate its schools.
Today, I joined Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano in announcing more than $1.8 billion in federal funds to support the rebuilding of New Orleans’ schools. This money will support the city in building the excellent learning environments that the children of New Orleans deserve.
In addition, the Department of Education continues to support schools throughout the Gulf Coast that suffered damage from Katrina and other hurricanes. Our staff is preparing to award $12 million in grants from the Gulf Coast Recovery Initiative. These grants will help districts replace instructional materials, renovate and repair schools buildings, and support afterschool and other initiatives to provide extended learning.
Over the past five years, the Department has provided nearly $2 billion for schools in the Gulf Coast region. The money helped schools re-open immediately after the hurricanes and supported schools that enrolled students displaced by the hurricanes. It also provided the $7 million to Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, and Mississippi to pay for mental health assessments for students, substitute teachers, and emergency transportation, and other needs shortly after the hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast.
Five years later, New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast are still recovering. President Obama and I are committed to doing our part to provide the students there with the world-class education they deserve.

PENNSYLVANIA: When School District of Lancaster pupils return to classes at three elementary schools next week, they may be wondering: Who's gonna water the roof? That's because three of the schools — Lafayette, Wharton and Ross — installed "green" roofs this summer on new additions. The vegetated roofs, which are designed to reduce rainwater runoff and conserve energy, are the first ever installed at public schools in Lancaster County, said Mary Gattis-Schell of the county planning commission. Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster Mennonite School and a few local businesses have installed the roofs in recent years, but SDL is the first public school system to try out the green technology on a large scale, she said.

The roofs were funded with a portion of a $479,000 "energy harvesting" grant the planning commission received from the state Department of Environmental Protection. SDL received $118,710 for its two vegetated roofs at Lafayette and Wharton, each of which total 10,000 square feet. The district also received a $30,000 grant from the Lancaster Foundation for Educational Excellence for the 2,500-square-foot vegetated roof at Ross. The grants offset the higher cost — about $7 per square foot, or a total of $157,500 at the three schools — of the roofs, said Greg Collins, SDL's coordinator of capital projects.

A vegetated roof also weighs more than a conventional roof and requires beefed-up structural supports to handle up to 50 pounds per square foot of extra weight when wet. But green roofs can last up to twice as long as a conventional design, Gattis-Schell said, and they have multiple environmental benefits. Their extra insulating properties cut heating and cooling costs and reduce the "heat island" effect, the buildup of heat from idling vehicles, pavement and the flat black roofs common to urban areas. The vegetation also greatly reduces stormwater runoff and filters pollutants from the water that does end up in the sewage system.
SDL's green roofs will serve an educational purpose as well, Collins said. Science teachers plan to integrate them into the curriculum as environmental science learning laboratories.

What are the downsides? The roofs require some initial weeding and will need to be watered during droughts lasting more than four weeks. But that's about it for maintenance. The roofs are planted with sedum, a hardy plant that, like a residential lawn, goes dormant in the winter and rebounds in the spring. It also doesn't grow higher than a couple of inches, so there's no need for high-rise lawn mowing.

MISSOURI: A project to install air conditioning at Jarrett Middle School received a gubernatorial inspection. Gov. Jay Nixon visited the middle school on the second day of classes to see the progress -- cool air is expected to be blowing into classrooms by the spring -- and tout the value of no-interest bonds. "These bonds are enabling school districts like Springfield to finance construction projects less expensively, while bondholders receive full return on their investment," Nixon said in prepared remarks. "And these projects are creating real jobs right here in the community, and helping to save energy as well."

Early this year, 72 Missouri districts received more than $162 million in interest-free federal bonds from the state, made possible through the federal Recovery Act. The Qualified School Construction Bonds help school districts pay financing costs connected with projects paid for through voter-approved bonds. Districts had to compete for the help and Springfield was awarded a sizable chunk in part because voters had approved a $50 million bond issue -- to pay for air conditioning, construction, improvements and technology projects -- in November.
The assistance will help Springfield save $5.5 million in interest over the life of the bond. "It helped us quite a bit," said Superintendent Norm Ridder. Ridder points out that by leveraging the federal Recovery Act funds, the district was able to request the bond issue without increasing taxes.

LOUISIANA: The federal government will award $1.8 billion to New Orleans schools damaged by Hurricane Katrina, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana, said. A provision in an appropriations bill authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide a lump-sum payment for K-12 schools damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. "The provision also reduced penalties for insufficient flood insurance and alternate projects, which yielded more than $500 million in savings for Louisiana schools," Landrieu's office said in a statement.

New Orleans schools are still rebounding five years after Katrina struck. The money gives "local leaders the ability to rebuild New Orleans' school system in a comprehensive and strategic manner, instead of using a uncoordinated and piecemeal approach," Landrieu's statement said. The Orleans Parish School Board and the Recovery School District are reducing the number of campuses from 127 to 87.

NATIONAL: Since first lady Michelle Obama planted a garden at the White House in the spring of 2009 and invited schoolchildren to help tend and harvest the produce, more school gardens have been sprouting up across the country.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it will award $1 million in grants for eligible high-poverty schools to start community gardens. The goal: to teach students about gardening and nutrition and to provide fresh produce for school meals. Some of the harvest may also be given to students' families, as well as to local food banks and senior-center nutrition programs.

Improving nutrition in schools is part of the first lady's Let's Move! initiative to fight childhood obesity. School gardens "give kids exposure to where food comes from and encourages them to try foods they might not otherwise try," says Kevin Concannon, USDA undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services. They give teachers an opportunity to talk about soil, water, sun, health and science, and the gardens can be used for math and art programs, he says. Estimates suggest that about 15% to 20% of schools across the country have gardens, says Mike Metallo, president of the National Gardening Association, a non-profit group that provides gardeners and teachers with information and resources.

OKLAHOMA: Some schools are pulling equipment off the playground as authorities try to determine if a 9-year-old Oklahoma girl died because of something that happened while she played on a teeter-totter-like structure. The girl was playing with several children at an elementary school playground on equipment known as the X-Wave, which has plastic hinges and moves up and down. She died after falling off and hitting her head on the turf.

What caused her death is still being investigated, and officials are considering that it may have been natural causes. But several schools around Oklahoma say the episode is enough to make them rethink having the set and other similar equipment in their schoolyards. Officials in at least six school districts - Moore, Edmond, Oklahoma City, Putnam City, Deer Creek and Norman - have either already removed the structures or prohibited children from playing on them.

Xccent Inc. is the private Minnesota company that makes the colorful X-Wave, the similar X-Wave2 and other playground equipment. Company officials have refused to discuss how their product functions on a playground or how many have been sold to schools across the country until authorities give an official cause of Alyssa's death.
Susan Hudson, education director for the National Program for Playground Safety, said her group had not heard of any other complaints about the X-Wave model. She said the group would not comment further until more information was available because of the questions about how the injury occurred.

OKLAHOMA: Some schools are pulling equipment off the playground as authorities try to determine if a 9-year-old Oklahoma girl died because of something that happened while she played on a teeter-totter-like structure. The girl was playing with several children at an elementary school playground on equipment known as the X-Wave, which has plastic hinges and moves up and down. She died after falling off and hitting her head on the turf.

What caused her death is still being investigated, and officials are considering that it may have been natural causes. But several schools around Oklahoma say the episode is enough to make them rethink having the set and other similar equipment in their schoolyards. Officials in at least six school districts - Moore, Edmond, Oklahoma City, Putnam City, Deer Creek and Norman - have either already removed the structures or prohibited children from playing on them.

Xccent Inc. is the private Minnesota company that makes the colorful X-Wave, the similar X-Wave2 and other playground equipment. Company officials have refused to discuss how their product functions on a playground or how many have been sold to schools across the country until authorities give an official cause of Alyssa's death.
Susan Hudson, education director for the National Program for Playground Safety, said her group had not heard of any other complaints about the X-Wave model. She said the group would not comment further until more information was available because of the questions about how the injury occurred.

NEW MEXICO: The one-year old Ruidoso Middle School will move forward with generating some of the facility's electricity from the sun. The school district board approved establishing a budget to accommodate grant funding for the project. Earlier this summer the New Mexico Public Education Department (PED) announced the middle school would receive $300,000 to purchase and install a 50-kilowatt photovoltaic solar energy system. The Ruidoso district was one of 15 around the state to receive a grant made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Before tapping into the funding, the district must first submit building plans and a request for school related construction with the state's Public School Facilities Authority and PED.

There is an educational component of the renewable energy system for students and teachers, involving installation to monitoring the energy and cost savings.
Governor Bill Richardson had said the state wanted the 15 projects to inspire students to pursue education and jobs in the state's green economy.

FLORIDA: Walking down the elementary wing at Hillel School, you might see children perched on stools with Macbooks, curled up on cushions with books, balancing on exercise balls or making a mess in a studio. Not only is that OK with teachers at the private Jewish school, it's encouraged. Thanks to donations and fundraisers, the second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms were overhauled during the summer to break students and teachers out of isolation and encourage them to work together or separately in hallways, common areas and labs. The result shakes up the traditional elementary school model where students disappear into classrooms and never interact with their peers or other teachers. It's an innovative design based on research about how students learn.

The windows are bigger, and glass doors leading outside show off Hillel's playground and shady trees. Glass doors also link the classrooms to the hallway, allowing light into what had been a dim corridor and letting teachers keep an eye on students working at laptop stations in the hall. The old computer lab is gone. In its place is the "Mercaz" – Hebrew for "center" – where laptops and iPads dot desks and book carousels fill the corners. A new exit to the library takes children out under a pergola and eventually will have patio furniture where they can read or use the wireless connection to browse the Internet. One wall in the Mercaz has an interactive Smart Board; another has a projector and screen, both of which can be hooked to computers so teachers can project lessons from their computers onto the wall. A spare classroom will become a video conferencing space, where Wasser hopes her students will be able to talk in real time with schools around the world.

The changes came about through a Hillel parent whose background merges design and school reform. Architect Prakash Nair co-founded Fielding Nair International, which bases its school plans on educational research. Its projects span five continents. Nair donated his time and designs to Hillel, and Hillel raised money for the construction and furnishings. The bill came to less than $200,000, Wasser said.

The structural changes offer the possibility of shaking up how teachers teach and students learn, Nair said. Some classrooms have partitions teachers can open if they want to teach two classes together. They can also go to the Mercaz for joint lessons or to two studios in the back, which offer a room for art and other hands-on projects, along with a math and science lab. Almost all of the furniture and storage carts are wheeled or lightweight enough to move, Wasser said. So teachers can take what they need, and students can arrange themselves to work individually, in small groups or large classes.

NATIONAL: He has been in the White House 18 months, but President Obama already has seven U.S. schools named after him, far more than his predecessor George W. Bush and a designation that educators say bucks the trend.
Early U.S. presidents remain the most popular choice for school names, with George Washington leading the pack. John F. Kennedy is one of the most popular modern-day presidents when it comes to school names. Institutions honoring both President Kennedy and his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, span from coast to coast. The name for the most expensive school in the nation, the $578 million Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Los Angeles, was adopted with little objection. The new school is the site of the old Ambassador Hotel, where the senator and presidential contender was killed in 1968.

Overall, the trend in school names is moving away from people and presidents to natural elements. A 2007 study by Greene and the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research found that the number of U.S. schools named after a president had declined to fewer than 5 percent and a majority of school districts did not have a single school named after a president. In the past two decades, a public school in Arizona was almost 50 times more likely to be named after natural elements such as a mesa or a cactus than after a president, the study found. One of the reasons for the trend is that schools want to avoid the controversy that comes with adopting the names of presidents.

Some states and cities are also more restrictive than others when it comes to naming conventions. Arkansas law prohibits naming of any institution or monument while the person is alive. New Orleans doesn't allow schools to be named after U.S. leaders who had owned slaves, which has essentially barred Washington from that city.

CALIFORNIA: The Los Angeles Unified School District is nearing completion of a new $578 million public school campus on the site it cleared by razing the storied Ambassador Hotel, where Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968. When it opens, the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools will be the most expensive public school in the U.S. — and one of the most controversial of the nation's so-called "Taj Mahal" schools.

What does $578 million buy you? The 24-acre RFK campus will include seven different schools that will serve 4,260 K-12 students. It also features a sizable park, a state-of-the-art swimming pool, underground parking, "talking" benches that recall the site's historical significance, and a marble memorial to Kennedy. The buildings will include restored or recreated sections of the 1921 hotel and the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, where artists like Frank Sinatra sang for Hollywood royalty.

What was preserved? A wall of the Cocoanut Grove, and the coffee shop, originally designed by noted architect Paul Williams and now used as a teachers' lounge. The auditorium is a recreation of the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, and the library is a modified replica of the Ambassador's ballroom.

Who's paying for the school? The school district (thus taxpayers), through a $20 billion construction bond approved by voters.

Why has it cost so much? The original $400 million estimate was thwarted by a 2006-07 spike in raw building materials, the school district says, and it had to pay $9 million in legal battles with preservationists who wanted the Ambassador kept intact and with Donald Trump, who wanted to build the world's tallest skyscraper on the site. Another $15 million went into historical preservation, and $33 million was needed to install a methane mitigation system.

ILLINOIS: This is the last year that starting a new school year means returning to deteriorating school buildings for Belle Valley School District 119 students. "We are just trying to take the existing buildings and make do for this year, because we know what's coming next year," said Superintendent Louis Obernuefemann. Next year, the new school year will mean a new school building that will be the first in the state to include the highest level of "green," or environmentally friendly, features.

"It's incorporated into every aspect about the construction of the building," Obernuefemann said of the features. He said District 119 is aiming for gold status Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certification with the new building construction. The U.S. Green Building Council developed the certification system to provide a framework for taking a green approach to designing, constructing, operating and maintaining buildings of all types of buildings.
In efforts to qualify for the LEED program's gold status, the highest rank possible, Belle Valley's new campus will include three storm-water retention ponds that will collect rainwater, alleviate flooding in the area and be used for students' environmental studies; dual-flushing toilets that will conserve water; and energy-efficient equipment that will make the building 20 percent more efficient and reduce utility costs. Also, at least 10 percent of the building materials are recycled, at least 50 percent of the construction debris will be recycled instead of dumped in a landfill and construction crews are using materials that were purchased locally.

Obernuefemann said the new school will allow the district to provide its students with an even better educational experience. "It's going to give us the room and the facilities and the equipment we need to give them (students) an exceptional adventure," he said. "I already have the faculty that can do it. All I need is the building."

CALIFORNIA: Next month's opening of the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools will be auspicious for a reason other than its both storied and infamous history as the former Ambassador Hotel, where the Democratic presidential contender was assassinated in 1968. With an eye-popping price tag of $578 million, it will mark the inauguration of the nation's most expensive public school ever. The K-12 complex [that includes seven schools] to house 4,200 students has raised eyebrows across the country as the creme de la creme of "Taj Mahal" schools, $100 million-plus campuses boasting both architectural panache and deluxe amenities.
The RFK complex follows on the heels of two other LA schools among the nation's costliest – the $377 million Edward R. Roybal Learning Center, which opened in 2008, and the $232 million Visual and Performing Arts High School that debuted in 2009.

Construction costs at LA Unified are the second-highest in the nation – something the district blames on skyrocketing material and land prices, rigorous seismic codes and unionized labor. James Sohn, the district's chief facilities executive, said the megaschools were built when global raw material shortages caused costs to skyrocket to an average of $600 per square foot in 2006 and 2007 – triple the price from 2002. Costs have since eased to $350 per square foot. On top of that, each project had its own cost drivers.

After buildings were demolished at the site of the 2,400-student Roybal school, contaminated soil, a methane gas field and an earthquake fault were discovered. A gas mitigation system cost $17 million. Over 20 years, the project grew to encompass a dance studio with cushioned maple floors, a modern kitchen with a restaurant-quality pizza oven, a 10-acre park and teacher planning rooms between classrooms. The 1,700-student arts school was designed as a landmark, with a stainless steel, postmodernistic tower encircled by a rollercoaster-like swirl, while the RFK site involved 15 years of litigation with historic preservationists and Donald Trump, who wanted to build the world's tallest building there. The wrangling cost $9 million. Methane mitigation cost $33 million and the district paid another $15 million preserving historic features, including a wall of the famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub and turning the Paul Williams-designed coffee shop into a faculty lounge.
Sohn said LA Unified has reached the end of its Taj Mahal building spree. "These are definitely the exceptions," he said. "We don't anticipate schools costing hundreds of millions of dollars in the future."

TEXAS: Many Dallas students will return to class to more modern surroundings, cooler buildings and much improved restrooms. Nearly one-third of the schools in Dallas ISD have been under construction this summer, part of a first phase of improvements in the district's $1.35 billion bond program. Officials expect most of the work to be completed by the start of school, but they said some projects could carry through to November, as scheduled.
"When you're doing extensive work in 79 schools, you're going to have a couple to a few of them that are going to be close," said DISD spokesman Jon Dahlander. He added that the district doesn't expect the ongoing work to require moving students to alternative locations.

Several other area school districts, including Frisco and Highland Park, also have undergone major construction projects this summer. Highland Park ISD still has work left to finish, but officials there said the projects should not cause any disruption at campuses.
Construction projects in DISD this summer include new air-conditioning units, several dining room expansions, refurbished restrooms and technology upgrades at all the schools.
DISD's total $1.35 billion bond package includes three phases that are expected to be wrapped up by the summer of 2013. The package includes renovations at most existing campuses, 12 additions, and 14 new and replacement schools.

CALIFORNIA: Construction crews are working to complete two renovation projects before classes at Charter Oak High School begin at the end of the month. Courtesy of $2.9 million in federal stimulus funds, the district this summer began upgrading the campus' main quad and installing artificial turf and track for its stadium. In addition, the district is replacing bleachers and installing energy efficient lights in the gym. The project will be completed after the start of the school year, Jouen said.
Charter Oak Unified applied for the Qualified School Construction Bond in November, he said. The money funded the full cost of the projects, he said. The bonds are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and are reserved for schools with "shovel-ready" projects.

At Charter Oak High School, the funding allowed the district to update areas of the campus that hadn't been modernized since it was built nearly 60 years ago, he said. In addition to the new turf field and track, district officials sought to make the quad a more inviting atmosphere for students to gather. The quad will have new sidewalks and planters that also serve as seating areas, he said. The main entrance to the school was also re-designed, he said.

OHIO: A major renovation project at Beachwood High School just got a little less expensive for taxpayers, district officials say. A combination of federal stimulus incentives and the successful sale of $30 million in low-interest bonds will save Beachwood residents $11.4 million in construction and financing costs for the high-school facility improvement plan, the district announced.
stimulus incentives and bond sale combine to reduce the three-year renovation plan’s price tag from an original estimate of $50.6 million to $39.1 million. Beachwood voters approved the bond issue this past spring at a 2.5-mill rate. The payback period on the bonds will now be shortened from 30 years to 24 years, with the tax rate likely shrinking to between 2.2 and 2.3 mills, district treasurer Michele Mills told the CJN.

Voters approved the May bond issue by more than a 2-to-1 margin for renovation of the 54-year-old high school. Nearly three-quarters of the restoration addresses classroom conditions, technology, and infrastructure, including a new heating and cooling system, a library with two adjoining computer labs, and other upgrades.
While district leaders were hesitant to ask residents to fund the project in difficult economic times, the needs of the facility coincided with low interest rates, which meant lower bids for construction contracts and less expense for the school system, notes Mills. Holding off on the plans also meant possibly missing out on federal stimulus money. “We aggressively pursued funds to save the taxpayers money,” says Mills. “A savings of $11 million is nothing to sneeze at.”

KANSAS: School starts for nearly 300 students in Greensburg, Kan. It's remarkable there's a school there at all. Three years ago, a tornado with winds topping 200 miles an hour tore through Greensburg, destroying much of the small southwest Kansas town. But now a new countywide school is ready for students.
With its new interactive technology, including smart boards, wireless capability and natural lighting, the school is a welcome site to students and teachers alike.

High school freshman Mariah Charlton says she's glad to be out of the trailers and likes the new school. "The outside classroom and, like, the big windows ... not having to turn on the lights ... I think that will be cool, and just how they are building the school to be a LEED Platinum Green, and I'm excited for that," Charlton says.
The school is both sustainable and efficient to operate. "We have natural light that floods most of the spaces, [in] a lot of the classrooms, gymnasiums, offices, you don't have to turn a light switch on during the day, so that's a feature that helps us. ... We have our own wind generation. We have a wind generator — [a] 50-kilowatt tower — that supplies a portion of our electricity." And there's a recycling center, durable cabinets made out of wheat straw, plus hall lockers built from recycled plastic, something ninth-grader Charlton can't wait to get her hands on.

KANSAS: School starts for nearly 300 students in Greensburg, Kan. It's remarkable there's a school there at all. Three years ago, a tornado with winds topping 200 miles an hour tore through Greensburg, destroying much of the small southwest Kansas town. But now a new countywide school is ready for students.
With its new interactive technology, including smart boards, wireless capability and natural lighting, the school is a welcome site to students and teachers alike.

High school freshman Mariah Charlton says she's glad to be out of the trailers and likes the new school. "The outside classroom and, like, the big windows ... not having to turn on the lights ... I think that will be cool, and just how they are building the school to be a LEED Platinum Green, and I'm excited for that," Charlton says.
The school is both sustainable and efficient to operate. "We have natural light that floods most of the spaces, [in] a lot of the classrooms, gymnasiums, offices, you don't have to turn a light switch on during the day, so that's a feature that helps us. ... We have our own wind generation. We have a wind generator — [a] 50-kilowatt tower — that supplies a portion of our electricity." And there's a recycling center, durable cabinets made out of wheat straw, plus hall lockers built from recycled plastic, something ninth-grader Charlton can't wait to get her hands on.

MICHIGAN: Holland Public Schools is finished selling and underwriting $73 million of bonds and is now interviewing contractors for rehab, expansion and building projects. Holland voters approved a tax increase in May to support several school projects; it took 60 days to sell and underwrite the bonds. The total interest rate for the bonds is less than 4 percent, said Tom Page, Holland Public School’s spokesman.

The school system will save $2.5 million from its good Standard & Poors rating, $2.9 million from Build America Bonds and $3.3 million from qualified school construction bonds. “We’re very pleased that the bond costs are going to be kept to a minimum,” Page said.
The board reviewed a prospective construction schedule, which shows much of the design work happening in 2010-11, with the bulk of construction in 2012-13. Page said some construction will begin in the spring.
The board expects to award construction contracts Sept. 20. The major contracts include about $40 million in renovations to Holland High School, as well as multi-million dollar projects for four middle schools, the Van Raalte Tech Center and New Tech Academy high school.

NEW YORK: Elevated levels of toxic chemical compounds were found in the first three New York City public school buildings tested in a pilot study meant to assess the risks posed by PCBs, according to preliminary results. Officials of the city’s Department of Education said the study at first focused on cracked caulk, but that air sampling also pointed at a lighting ballast, a regulating device in fluorescent lights made with oil containing PCBs. Workers have been removing caulk and replacing light fixtures at those three schools to get them ready for students.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency, which is overseeing the pilot study, said that initial results found that the three schools tested this summer had PCB levels above federal health benchmarks. Mary Mears, an E.P.A. spokeswoman, said the agency was awaiting final results, but that the preliminary findings did not show PCBs levels high enough for “immediate cause for alarm.”

PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are a class of highly toxic chemical compounds that were widely used in construction materials and electrical products in many buildings from the 1950s until they were phased out starting in 1978. With long-term exposure, they can cause cancer and affect the immune and reproductive systems.
Last year, the E.P.A. began a program to inform school administrators and building managers about the potential risks of PCBs in caulk and ways to minimize exposure. The agency also struck an agreement with New York City requiring school officials to conduct a pilot study in five schools to come up for a plan for cleanups and reduced exposure.

ARKANSAS: The Rogers School District is using $100,000 in stimulus money to upgrade its buildings' lighting to make the schools more energy efficient. The district and the staff from Clear Energy have been on a mission to save his district money one light at a time. "What we did was took those out and installed this reflector," said Clear Energy's Stan Green. Green's crew installed more than 3,000 reflectors in light fixtures throughout Rogers High School, reducing the number of lights needed from four to two per fixture to produce the same amount of light."They're installing sensors.
They went outside to our parking lots and installed compact fluorescents where we had HID fixtures in the parking lots," said Dan Caley, Rogers School District's "energy czar." Clear Energy also installed the same light reflectors in the school's gym.
Caley said the district paid $320,000 for theupgrades. Caley said at an annual savings of $85,000 per year, the upgrades will pay for themselves in three and a half years.

MONTANA: Available to the district if voters approve is $12 million in two federal, interest-free bonds. And the pressure is on — more than half the cost of the bonds will be paid for by federal stimulus dollars and state funds. If voters don’t approve the bonds, the money will become available to another school district in Montana.
The bond money is designated specifically for maintenance and construction projects, and the district has plenty. SD2 faces $123 million in deferred maintenance. District officials are eager to secure the money because the $12 million in bonds would only cost SD2 $5.5 million. “This is a deal that we cannot pass up,” Trustee Joel Guthals said.

The projects proposed by the district — projects SD2 will be locked into by law if the bonds pass — include replacing the 70-year-old boiler at Senior High, replacing the roofs at 10 schools and replacing windows at seven schools. Also included is fire alarm system updates at four of the district oldest schools. The projects were chosen specifically to help the district avoid “future catastrophic damage,” maximize utility savings and improve the learning environment for students at all its buildings across the city. The updates to roofs, windows and boilers would save the district $94,435 a year in energy costs. Officials see the energy savings and the bonds’ price tag as one of the main selling points. Under the program, the federal government would pay the interest on the bond and the district would pay back the principal.

NATIONAL: From the east to the west coast, colleges and universities are either adding or expanding their solar power portfolios, helping them to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. A few of the latest additions include Cal State San Bernardino and the University of Delaware.
Cal State San Bernardino is adding a ground-mounted solar farm designed to meet more of the university’s energy demands, which should be operational by the end of August, reports The Sun. The fixed-axis, ground-mounted system, which will be installed by SunEdison on 3.5 acres of land, is expected to generate 750 kilowatts of electrical power. The school says the site will complement the installation of roof-mounted solar panels, which were completed this month on top of the university’s college of education building. The two projects, combined with existing solar panels on the roof of the physical education building and the roof of the health and physical education complex, will generate 28.8 percent of the 4,500 kilowatts of electricity that the university requires during its peak hours of daytime energy usage.

The panels are installed and owned by third-party investors and the university pays for the electricity generated by the photovoltaic system. Tony Simpson, senior director of facilities services told The Sun the cost per kilowatt hour is currently less than purchasing the power from the local utility company. The university says it has reduced 502.2 metric tons of greenhouse gases since the solar panel system on the physical education buildings has been activated.
Along with cost savings, Cal State San Bernardino has reduced its overall carbon footprint by 15 percent, which translates into a reduction of nearly 2,000 metric tons of carbon-dioxide emissions on campus. Cal State San Bernardino also has plans to install two wind turbines on campus, reports The Sun. One is currently under construction next to the observatory and the other will be installed near the university east parking structure. The turbines are expected to be functional later this summer.

On the other side of the country, the University of Delaware (UD) plans to install multiple solar arrays to support the university’s sustainable energy efforts. The university’s initial solar array will include more than 2000 panels to yield an 850-kilowatt solar electric system. Once completed, the solar system is expected to generate approximately 1035 kilowatt hours of electricity each year and cut carbon-dioxide emissions by 1,810,000 pounds annually. The array will be installed by Standard Solar and jointly developed, owned and operated with its joint venture partner Perpetual Energy Systems (PES).The solar system will be funded in part from its 2009 senior class gift, which was earmarked for solar initiatives on campus. The university’s research in solar energy has resulted in the development of 10 new technologies, eight of which are now patented, and 60 percent of these solar innovations have been licensed, all to U.S. companies.
The solar panels will be installed over three buildings throughout the school’s main campus in Newark. According to the university, the largest array of solar panels, which is planned for the Delaware Field House, will be the largest single rooftop installation in the state of Delaware.

The state of Hawaii also is seeing an uptick in solar projects, including six community colleges that are planning on installing solar panels. In April, The Ivy League, led by the University of Pennsylvania, topped the Environmental Protection Agency’s College and University Green Power Challenge that recognizes collegiate athletic conferences with the highest combined green power purchases in the nation.

PENNSYLVANIA: Lebanon School District and its taxpayers stand to save millions of dollars in the next two decades by taking advantage of a federal stimulus loan program to finance a portion of the renovations at the high school.
Brad Remig, a financial consultant for Public Financial Management Inc. of Harrisburg, explained the benefits of borrowing $15 million from the State Public School Building Authority Qualified School Construction Bond Financing Program to school directors Monday night. The board authorized Remig to move forward with the financing, although it will still have to give final approval when all the details are worked out with the state later this year.
The terms of the financing are as complex as the name of the program, Remig explained. But when boiled to down to its essence, the district will be able to borrow the money for less than 1 percent interest. By contrast, when the district borrowed the first $9 million for the project last year, it was at an interest rate of almost 4 percent. Nationwide, $22 billion in school construction bond financing was made available to the states through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Last month, Gov. Ed Rendell announced that 46 school districts across the state will receive more than $600 million in federal stimulus money to help pay for 101 construction projects. The state plans to do one single bond issue, which will save each district the cost of paying for bond counsel and underwriting. Each district will pay just a small portion of the one-time cost for the bond work.

Lebanon was eligible to receive a maximum of $15 million to put toward the $39 million renovation of the high school, which will begin in earnest after the construction contract is awarded in October. The timing couldn't have been better for the district, said bond counsel Paul Lundeen of Rhoades and Sinon. "Your project is ideal because you are pretty much ready to go," he said.

NATIONAL: One way to measure environmentalism on college campuses is to size up their efforts to cut energy use or to recycle garbage. In rankings just released, the Sierra Club’s Sierra Magazine anoints Green Mountain College in Vermont, which gets heat and electricity by burning locally sourced wood chips and methane from cow manure, as the nation’s greenest college.

The magazine based its list on responses to an 11-page questionnaire sent to 900 colleges and universities. (It said that 162 institutions responded.) The survey, the magazine’s fourth, found that some colleges have integrated environmental studies across the curriculum. Others have installed composting toilets and solar panels, and some, like Green Mountain College, aim to become carbon neutral.
More information about the survey and sustainability efforts on campuses is at www.sierraclub.org/coolschools

NORTH CAROLINA: Students returning to Asheville High School will see some major changes to the 91-year-old building. There's a new heating and cooling system allowing rooms to be regulated individually, along with new ceilings making the building more energy efficient. About 300 windows were replaced, allowing teachers to bring fresh air and sunlight into classrooms. New energy efficient lights will help cut down on power bills.
Asheville City Schools spend nearly $1 million a year in utilities at its 10 schools, with the city high school accounting for about 35 percent of that. A $6 million renovation project that includes the improvements made this summer could save the high school thousands of dollars in energy costs. “We are really protecting the legacy of the building but also bringing it into the 21st century,” said Allen Johnson, superintendent of Asheville City Schools. “I think we have a responsibility to the children and the community to evaluate all opportunities.”

Energy efficiency improvements like the one at Asheville High are taking place across the city and county, from installing solar panels to building sustainable playgrounds to upgrading bathrooms. Evergreen Community Charter School is focused on creating a green campus. Buncombe County's two new intermediate schools will be LEED certified when they are completed next year.

In times of budget shortfalls, finding money to make improvements can be difficult. But a nearly $500,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will help Asheville City, Buncombe County and local charter schools implement even further reductions. The EPA Climate Showcase Communities Grant is one of 25 projects funded across the nation to demonstrate innovative community-based projects that can achieve greenhouse gas reductions. With the grant, project leaders hope to save 1,120 tons of greenhouse gas emissions and $500,000 in utility costs over two years with retrofits to school buildings, including upgrading heating and cooling systems and replacing light bulbs.
An energy audit of the Asheville City Schools system found more than 60 low- or no-cost projects that could save the school system more than $65,000 and save more than 880,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. The school system has already installed switches designed to turn off phones and computers at night and further steps, like turning off the lights in vending machines could save the schools $135 a year per machine. Investments of about $500,000 for all the recommended projects, including larger capital projects, could save the school system more than $250,000 a year.

KANSAS: A new $50 million dollar LEED Platinum high school is opening in Kiowa County, Kansas. The town was "wiped from the map three years ago" by a tornado. "Many families moved away" after the tornado, but town leaders say that the new school will help increase enrollment, now at about 900 students, "down from the pre-tornado 1,400." The facility has motion-detecting lights that come on only when a room is in use. "Exterior walls are windows, reducing the amount of light needed during the day." In addition, "geothermal systems will allow the school to use the heat of the Earth, to heat in the winter and cool in the summer," and "a wind turbine near the football field will provide energy." With the new features, "the school expects to save 40 percent or more in utility costs."

COLORADO: Denver's first new school building in four years is a sparkling showcase of the latest in technology, environmental sensibilities and creative architecture. The district officially cut the ribbon on the $43 million Evie Garrett Dennis Campus in Green Valley Ranch. The campus opens for classes next week and will be home to two new schools this year: SOAR charter elementary and the second campus for the Denver School of Science and Technology charter school for sixth- through 12th graders. The campus' namesake was the district's superintendent from 1990 to 1994.

"One of our biggest goals was to think about its design," said Kelly Leid, operations director for Denver Public Schools. "What does a 21st-century school look like?"
Every classroom has an interactive whiteboard, touch-screen TVs are scattered throughout the four main buildings, computer network jacks and Wi-Fi capabilities create a virtual campus, and even Wii game consoles are set up in an exercise room. The 35-acre campus was designed with four separate buildings to mimic a small college setting, including a student union and new regional sports complex. "We wanted to separate the buildings to emphasize that the outdoor environment is as important as indoor," Leid said. "Learning doesn't just happen in a classroom anymore."

Stained-glass pieces by Denver artist Lynn Heitler are displayed throughout the campus, as are inspirational sayings from Ghandi. A model rocket that will be used as a time capsule dangles from the ceiling in the student union. And a tower in the entryway will carry the name of every DSST high school graduate.
The Evie Dennis campus buildings are powered by solar panels, heated and cooled through an underground geothermal system and designed to take advantage of the natural daylight. Two of the four buildings are expected to be zero-energy facilities. The campus was funded through the $454 million bond — the largest school construction bond in state history — approved by voters in November 2008. The project was completed ahead of schedule and about $6 million under budget, allowing the district to add another school building to the complex. Vista Academy will be the district's second multiple-pathways center and is expected to be completed next year.

Superintendent Tom Boasberg said the district has logged $70 million in savings in the bond program because the sluggish economy has reduced construction costs. Overall, the district's projects are about a year ahead of schedule, Boasberg said. The savings is allowing DPS to move forward with building a third school in Stapleton, adding a preschool center in Montbello, purchasing the former Lutheran High School and making additions to classrooms around the district, he said.

COLORADO: Denver's first new school building in four years is a sparkling showcase of the latest in technology, environmental sensibilities and creative architecture. The district officially cut the ribbon on the $43 million Evie Garrett Dennis Campus in Green Valley Ranch. The campus opens for classes next week and will be home to two new schools this year: SOAR charter elementary and the second campus for the Denver School of Science and Technology charter school for sixth- through 12th graders. The campus' namesake was the district's superintendent from 1990 to 1994.

"One of our biggest goals was to think about its design," said Kelly Leid, operations director for Denver Public Schools. "What does a 21st-century school look like?"
Every classroom has an interactive whiteboard, touch-screen TVs are scattered throughout the four main buildings, computer network jacks and Wi-Fi capabilities create a virtual campus, and even Wii game consoles are set up in an exercise room. The 35-acre campus was designed with four separate buildings to mimic a small college setting, including a student union and new regional sports complex. "We wanted to separate the buildings to emphasize that the outdoor environment is as important as indoor," Leid said. "Learning doesn't just happen in a classroom anymore."

Stained-glass pieces by Denver artist Lynn Heitler are displayed throughout the campus, as are inspirational sayings from Ghandi. A model rocket that will be used as a time capsule dangles from the ceiling in the student union. And a tower in the entryway will carry the name of every DSST high school graduate.
The Evie Dennis campus buildings are powered by solar panels, heated and cooled through an underground geothermal system and designed to take advantage of the natural daylight. Two of the four buildings are expected to be zero-energy facilities. The campus was funded through the $454 million bond — the largest school construction bond in state history — approved by voters in November 2008. The project was completed ahead of schedule and about $6 million under budget, allowing the district to add another school building to the complex. Vista Academy will be the district's second multiple-pathways center and is expected to be completed next year.

Superintendent Tom Boasberg said the district has logged $70 million in savings in the bond program because the sluggish economy has reduced construction costs. Overall, the district's projects are about a year ahead of schedule, Boasberg said. The savings is allowing DPS to move forward with building a third school in Stapleton, adding a preschool center in Montbello, purchasing the former Lutheran High School and making additions to classrooms around the district, he said.

KENTUCKY: Crossroads and Roby elementary schools in Bullitt County are identical, except for their price tag. Bullitt County Public Schools paid $12.5 million to build Roby more than a year ago, but spent nearly a million dollars less for Crossroads, and the district has the depressed economy to thank.
“It’s a perfect example of what a difference a year and a lot more competition can make,” said Tom Rogers, the district’s project manager for new school construction. Ten companies bid on the Roby project, compared to a record 23 bidders for Crossroads, which helped lower the price, Rogers said.

And Bullitt isn’t the only district reaping the benefits. Across Kentucky, Indiana and the nation, the bad economy has been good for school construction projects, with lower costs resulting from more competition, lower prices for materials like steel and drywall and better bond rates.
The recession all but halted other construction, which has helped draw more competitive bids for school work, said Judy Marks, director of the National Clearinghouse for Education Facilities. “The material suppliers couldn’t charge as much as they had been and firms that had been designing and building hospitals, houses and commercial buildings were looking for work,” she said. “Even though school construction is down somewhat, it’s less down than other sectors, so all of a sudden everyone wants to compete for those jobs.”

Jefferson County Public Schools typically sees five to six bidders on school construction projects, but on most projects last year officials saw up to 14 bidders, said Mike Mulheirn, executive director of transportation and facilities. Examples of the way Jefferson County has benefited include Slaughter Elementary, where the district had estimated it would cost $4.1 million to build a new media center, install an elevator and improve the heating and air conditioning systems. The price after competitive bidding was $3.54 million, Mulheirn said. A similar project at Crosby Middle School cost $4.93 million, instead of the estimated $5.45 million, Mulheirn said. “Last year was just exceptional with us coming in under budget by 20 to 25 percent on some projects,” he said. “It really has been an ideal time to build.”

In addition to lower building costs, school districts are taking advantage of lower interest rates and new bonding options that didn’t exist before the federal stimulus legislation, Marks said. Nationally, about $22 billion was set aside for “Qualified School Construction Bonds” that allowed school districts to finance building projects without having to pay back interest, she said. Some schools also are using “Build America Bonds,” which are low-interest and don’t have the $22 billion cap, she said.

Jefferson County secured $55 million in Qualified School Construction Bonds, Mulheirn said. “On a typical bond of that amount, the district would have had to pay an a dditional $30 million back in interest,” he said. “That money has allowed us to take care of things that would have really been pushed off the list because there’s so much we need to do in terms of facilities.” For example, projects like a new gym and auditorium for Valley High School wouldn’t have happened for a long time if not for the savings, Mulheirn said.

INTERNATIONAL: A program to improve Defense Department schools and ensure 21st century learning environments for military children is set to begin in October, department officials said. The Department of Defense Education Activity will address some $3.7 billion in construction and renovation needs worldwide over the next five years. “We’re ecstatic to have the resources we need to improve the conditions of our school facilities,” Russ Roberts, chief logistician for the activity, said. “It’s important for us that we can continue to deliver the quality education our military children deserve.” Of the department’s 191 schools, 134 are considered below standard, he noted.
Improvements will include new heating and air systems, plumbing, ventilation, electrical and structural repairs. Some schools will be replaced entirely, with new facilities constructed in their place, he said. “We have a responsibility to create and maintain safe and secure education facilities to keep up with the education requirements,” Roberts said. “The goal is to be good stewards of our facilities and keep them maintained to environments our students can learn.”

According to a statement released by the activity yesterday, 70 percent of activity’s schools are below the Defense Department’s quality standard. The standards which the schools are held were established in 2005, which has made it difficult for the officials to barter for needed funds, Roberts added. “It was kind of an empty threat,” he said, referring to requests to improve facilities. “There was no standard to put up against what we felt we needed. As soon as [the Defense Department] put that [standard] out, then it was pretty easy to see where we set in.” Most schools were deemed too old to meet department standards, Roberts said, which is why so many schools have such low quality ratings. “Most of our schools were built in the 1970s or before, and cannot hold the technologies,” he said.

Kevin Kelly, the activity’s associate director for finance and business operations, said it’s simply more cost-effective to replace the entire school, rather than try to modernize the existing facilities. “We have schools that were built in the 1950s and ’60s that weren’t even built to be schools,” Kelly said. “A lot of our schools have one electrical outlet in each room, and we can’t put computers in the classrooms, because we’re overloading our electrical systems.”

Also, the department is going “green” with its schools. Some of the newer schools, mainly overseas, Roberts said, have green roofs. This has made heating and electrical systems much more efficient, he added. All of the newly constructed schools will have similar plans, he said. “Our whole design process and standards have focused on begin green and more ecology friendly,” he said.

Despite the positive impact and benefits the program may have, Roberts said improving department schools does not stop when the program ends. The activity will continue to manage a school replacement and upgrade program, he added. “We have 191 schools, [and] we’re taking care of about 134 of these,” he said. “Some of our schools, we can get to an acceptable rating with just some major construction. But at some point, even those schools will need to be replaced.” But in the end, it’s about ensuring the children receive a quality education, he added. “It’s all about the children,” he said. “Their parents sacrifice so much for our nation, and we owe their children a quality education.”

TENNESSEE: The Dyer County School System will receive $5.734 million to replace an old building and portable classrooms at Newbern Elementary School. The school system is one of 15 selected statewide during the second round of Qualified School Construction Bonds. The loan program is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The county can build both the Fifth Consolidated and Newbern Elementary schools for about one-third the costs, thanks to the Qualified School Construction Bonds, Hedge said. Normally, the county must share school construction funds equally with the Dyersburg city school system. Because the city could apply for its own loan through the recovery program, Dyersburg city schools will not receive a portion of the county's funding.
Hedge said it would cost the county close to $50 million to build the two schools and provide the city schools with a matching sum. With the recovery act funding, the costs shrivel to about $14 million.

KENTUCKY: When driving past Bristow Elementary School, it's difficult to notice a difference. The old school still sits near the road, blocking a new, state-of-the-art building from view. But students and faculty are adjusting to changes as they settle into the new school. The 81,000-square-foot building opened to students more than a week ago, offering more room, better technology and new amenities.
The $12.8 million building is designed to be net-zero -- producing more clean energy than it uses. School officials are waiting for a grant to install solar panels in the building, which will make it net-zero. Warren County Public Schools received $1.5 million in stimulus funds to install solar panels at Richardsville Elementary School, which is slated to be the nation's first net-zero school.

Bristow Elementary already is layered with solar tubes and ceiling prisms, which help naturally energize the building with sunlight. It also has geothermal piping, which uses water to heat and cool the building, eliminating the need for boilers and furnaces. It's a big step up from the former building. The oldest section of that school was built in the 1940s. It's a one-story building that lacked certain technological capabilities and was cramped.
"This is night and day," Principal Kim Wolfram said. "I feel like that (old school) was a cave and this is a grand hotel." The old building will be demolished -- that building sits on top of the new school's future parking lot, Wolfram said.

INTERNATIONAL: After decades of neglected and deferred maintenance, more than three-quarters of all Defense Department schools are considered to be in poor or failing condition, according to records released by the Department of Defense Education Activity.
The majority of the department’s 191 schools worldwide have aged beyond repair and many others require significant upgrades, prompting the Pentagon to issue an urgent call to Congress for $3.7 billion for repairs and replacements over the next five years, officials announced. In all, 78 percent of schools for Defense Department dependents were rated as unacceptable, according to the results of a DODEA study. But in the current budget making its way through Congress, school officials are seeking only about 10 percent of the construction funds they will ultimately need, meaning only seven schools are likely to be replaced and two others will be repaired in the next fiscal year.

Many schools are deteriorating from the inside and local districts are left to cover the underlying problems with routine maintenance such as painting and the addition of buildings and temporary space, according to DODEA documents and recent interviews with officials. “Our facilities, the majority of them are over 45 years old and … the life expectancy of a school is 45 years,” said Russ Roberts, chief of logistics for DODEA. “So, that contributes a lot to the conditions, just the age alone.”

The agency said it is hoping for an unprecedented $3.7 billion funding windfall from Congress over the next five years to modernize 134 schools in the United States and overseas that suffer from deteriorating roofs, plumbing, electrical wiring, and heating and cooling systems. Many of the school facilities were built during the Cold War — some as long ago as the 1930s and 1940s — and would be more expensive to repair than replace, according to the agency surveys from 2008 and 2009.

DODEA officials have said that the widespread maintenance problems do not constitute a safety risk to students and teachers. Buildings adhere to federal and international building codes and are inspected twice a year, the agency said.
The first installment of redevelopment funding could come this fall in the National Defense Authorization Act, which will soon be finalized by Congress. In May, the House approved $345 million for school construction efforts in its version of the budget bill. The Senate version, expected to be voted on next month, contains $439 million.

GEORGIA: Richmond County Schools are rolling out some new technology to help keep your kids safe. Starting next week, some Richmond County school safety officers will be able to see the district's surveillance cameras using a smart phone. Several Sprint Android phones have been programmed to dial into school cameras, providing an "on the go" look at most middle and high schools.
The phones are helpful during the day, but the biggest advantage comes after hours or during a break-in, where they use the phones to help police track exactly where the criminal might be hiding. The phones will be distributed to school safety supervisors. Other officers will be able to dial up cameras from laptops in their patrol cars.
Because each school has almost 50 cameras, Maintenance and Facilities Senior Director Benton Starks it's almost impossible to keep them all dialed up at once, even with smart phones. They are working on more developments that would allow each phone to give a notification - like a text message or an email - every time something unusual shows up on a surveillance camera.

FLORIDA: Don't expect to see many new schoolhouses built from brick and mortar this year. Instead, when it comes to new schools, the Miami-Dade district is transforming existing spaces into technology-rich, innovative classrooms. The new offerings launching this month include: A state-of-the-art magnet school for biomedical sciences in the old Homestead Hospital building; a technology-driven high school for advanced and virtual studies housed in the School Board administration complex in downtown Miami; anew school for overage middle school students; two new schools-within-schools specifically for children with autism spectrum disorders; a new high school for international studies housed in a Coral Gables office building. The district is also opening a biotechnology and forensics magnet program at Miami Norland Senior High.
By contrast, five new facilities launched last year. There will be only one new physical building this year: a replacement school for Carol City Senior High.

The creation of a new medical magnet school in Homestead is part of an effort to bring top academic programs to the outer reaches of the county, Carvalho said. Students throughout Miami-Dade will be able to apply for admission. If accepted, they will take advanced course work in physical therapy, pharmaceutical services and biomedical studies. MAST at Homestead will be housed in the 100,000-square-foot building that was once Homestead Hospital. The school district purchased the facility for $7.4 million in 2007. It has since stood vacant because of cuts to education funding. Carvalho expects to invest another $8 million into rehabilitating the building -- an expense that has already been approved in the district's capital construction budget.

IDAHO: It's a bright idea for Idaho schools. The state is ready to dole out the dough if your school is ready to harness the sun. It's a program called "Solar Panels for Schools," and up to a dozen in the state could get them all expenses paid. "Solar does add value, and solar's adding value to our economy here in the state of Idaho," said Paul Kjellander, administrator for the Office of Energy Resources. "We're looking at getting into every school district in the state to actually perform more energy efficiency." Solar power, once the wave of the future, is being looked at as the primary source of energy for a few state schools.

The O.E.R. is ready to hand out $2.75 million in federal stimulus money, which would fund anywhere from six to 12 projects at schools around the state. "This is in tandem to a project that we've already launched with the support of Governor Otter, for the Energy Efficiency K-12 project, which we're fully moving forward with today," said Kjellander. Each of the state's six regions would get a fair share. "We can now go in, install some solar projects in those efficient buildings, and see what we can do to maximize the benefits for those schools," said Kjellander. Kjellander said the latest move would make these schools part of the power grid. "Those schools may even be able to see some form of a revenue stream to offset some of their energy costs," said Kjellander. "Every kilowatt of energy that we don't have to spend money on as taxpayers is a dollar of taxpayer money that we save forever."
To qualify, schools must already be energy efficient and must be positioned to maximize solar energy.

COLORADO: Renewable Social Benefit Funds, an alternative energy company dedicated to bringing solar power to hospitals, schools and low-income housing, will work with Jefferson County Public Schools to provide 30 local schools with clean, renewable solar power.
A combination of incentives from federal and state programs, as well as from Xcel Energy, will help the county meet Colorado solar and renewable energy standards, which require that 30 percent of the state's electricity come from renewable sources within 10 years.

The program will hopefully save the county's public schools around $1 million in energy costs and will provide a compelling educational opportunity to teach students about the benefits of renewable energy. RBS Funds will work with Colorado solar installer Golden Power Partners, Los Angeles, California solar installer Martifer Solar and Tecta America Colorado to build the systems.

SCOTLAND: Edinburgh City Council has adopted a curriculum-led planning approach, with a focus on the provision of external learning places, in its plans for a new school. The aim is to build the design around Scotland's new Curriculum for Excellence and to create special learning spaces focused on a several different subjects.

A briefing design document for James Gillespie's High School has highlighted the importance of outdoor space. It states: "External learning opportunities are critical to the success of James Gillespie's aims and the school is keen to see a strong narrative on how the external learning landscape will contribute to the design solution." The intention is to use areas outside for specific learning purposes through the creation of amphitheatres, horticultural spaces and outdoor terraces. The design document shows plans that incorporate habitat areas, nature trails, cycle trails and a reed-bed filtering system to improve the site's eco-footprint.

City council education leader Marilyne MacLaren said: "With this project, we are rewriting the rule book in terms of school design in Scotland. "While the budget is the same as that of a school built from a standard template, Gillespie's will be developed imaginatively around the principles of the Curriculum for Excellence."

SCOTLAND: Edinburgh City Council has adopted a curriculum-led planning approach, with a focus on the provision of external learning places, in its plans for a new school. The aim is to build the design around Scotland's new Curriculum for Excellence and to create special learning spaces focused on a several different subjects.

A briefing design document for James Gillespie's High School has highlighted the importance of outdoor space. It states: "External learning opportunities are critical to the success of James Gillespie's aims and the school is keen to see a strong narrative on how the external learning landscape will contribute to the design solution." The intention is to use areas outside for specific learning purposes through the creation of amphitheatres, horticultural spaces and outdoor terraces. The design document shows plans that incorporate habitat areas, nature trails, cycle trails and a reed-bed filtering system to improve the site's eco-footprint.

City council education leader Marilyne MacLaren said: "With this project, we are rewriting the rule book in terms of school design in Scotland. "While the budget is the same as that of a school built from a standard template, Gillespie's will be developed imaginatively around the principles of the Curriculum for Excellence."

CALIFORNIA: Things are moving fast with the school district's facilities upgrade project. The good news is financial mavens affiliated with Caldwell Flores Winters have, in effect, secured an additional $12 million for the building project due to quick movement in plugging in the 2009 Qualified School Construction Bond grant. According to CFW Vice President Greg Kato, "The cost to the district of borrowing the $18.2 million has to be paid back, in principal plus interest. But as a result of the Qualified School Construction Bond, in essence the federal government paid $12 million of the interest. In other words, $12 million of that QSCB was an interest payment paid by the federal government. As a result, the district was able to get more money today, and get more projects done sooner."
Planners have already laid out timelines for the project's $18 million Phase One. Surprisingly, some of the major portions of the project are now slated to begin construction on July 1, 2011, with completion scheduled for August 15, 2012.

The bad news is the two-story science building slated for construction at Willits High School will contain "modular" elements. "Some components of the science building will be built in a factory," said CFW Program Executive Scott Gaudineer. "It will be a permanent building, no question. But doing it this way takes off about a year from the construction time." Kato elaborated on the technology involved. "Instead of a wall being framed in and built on-site, what happens is that wall gets built in a factory and put in place on a concrete foundation. Doing it that way creates cost savings and also reduces the construction time." And CFW is now saying the refurbishing aspect of the project will be left up to the district.

TEXAS: Schools all over Texas have inspected stadium lighting poles manufactured by Whitco Co. LLP of Fort Worth after 11 confirmed incidents occurred involving the 70-ft or taller defective The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission first advised school officials and municipalities in August 2009 to inspect the Whitco poles and on July 6, 2010, issued a recall to repair notice for the 2,500 poles produced by the company, which entered bankruptcy in 2006.

As the commission learned about the existence of more affected poles, Alex Filipo, spokesperson for the CPSC, says the agency came out with the second warning to say, “Hey, we really mean it.” The poles can fracture or crack, particularly at the base, and fall over, posing the risk of serious injury or death to patrons or bystanders from being hit or crushed, the CPSC says. The poles range in weight from 1 ton to 4 tons and range in height from 70 ft to 135 ft. The CPSC warns that the extent of pole damage cannot be determined by simply looking at it and needs an immediate evaluation by a qualified professional—an engineer or a Level II non-destructive testing technician. Non-destructive techniques such as magnetic particle inspection, dye penetrant or ultrasonic inspection techniques are recommended. The agency also suggests a design and stress assessment.
CPSC is urging facility owners to get a full inspection, including the lighting attached to and around the poles, Fillip says. “That extra step is really important. There have been some close calls. We don’t want people to die.” Most of the incidents occurred in Texas, where the poles were installed at about 150 locations from 2000 to 2006. The poles also were installed at 600 other locations, such as parks, sports centers, seaside industrial ports and Army bases, around the United States. The CPSC is not aware of any injuries.

LOUISIANA: The Recovery School District has released a plan for where each of its nearly 70 schools will be located as it moves forward with a massive slate of construction and renovation projects. The challenges of rebuilding the New Orleans public school system after Hurricane Katrina are reflected in the school facilities themselves, many of which were damaged by the storm and levee breaches and were in poor condition to begin with.
As charter organizations took over existing schools and new schools sprang up from scratch, school leaders have struggled to find locations for their fledgling operations. Five years after the storm, many students are beginning the school year in modular buildings or in aging buildings that desperately need renovation. Some schools are in makeshift facilities far from the neighborhoods where they would like to be. At the same time, the student population of about 38,000 is a little more than half of the pre-storm total, so many school buildings -- including some now occupied by students -- will eventually be retired from active use.

The list of long-term building assignments is an attempt by the district to bring some predictability to a process that some have complained is opaque and arbitrary. For the first time, the district sets out criteria for how the assignments are made: whether a school is operating out of modular buildings, what grades the school serves, where its students live, the school's preferences and input from the community.

FLORIDA: The historic Southside School went from a jewel to a derelict in half a century. Now it's on its way back. City plans for the school include renovating it into an arts center and a nest of administrative offices. And maybe a home for the Tarpon River Civic Association.

The building, built in 1922, sits like a petunia in the onion patch at the intersection of Southwest Seventh Street and Andrews Avenue just across the street from an abandoned Coca-Cola bottling plant. It holds a substantial chunk of local history, which is on city officials' minds now. A product of the Roaring 20s, the school bloomed when Fort Lauderdale did. Then the city expanded in another direction and the building languished. The county school district cast about for ways to keep the building going. It was a school for the handicapped for a time, then an office building. The county gave up on it in the 90s.
The city purchased the school from the county in 2004 and began restoring it. Last year, city commissioners applied for — and received — a $50,000 state preservation grant to assist with the restoration, which the city matched. Now the building's two stories, designed in an older mission style, gleams with fresh yellow paint and artful brown trim. Freshly-tended grass surrounds the building; so does an eight-foot fence.

NEW JERSEY: No new wings are being built onto Millburn's public schools this summer, but the buildings are still abuzz with projects in students' absence. The Door and Hardware Replacement Project, which will eventually be completed at all township schools, is now under way at Millburn Middle School. The estimated cost of the project, being undertaken by Allmark Door Company of Springfield, is $124,145.

At the last Board of Education meeting, Door and Hardware Replacement was added as part of the Board of Education's Long Range Facility Plan. Director of Buildings and Grounds John Van Teeckelenburgh explained that the project is part of the district's security plan. "It's a priority for the superintendent and a priority for security," he said. "We're adding intruder locks," said Van Teeckelenburgh. The new locks all open and close with one key, and the new doors can be opened and locked from the inside and outside. The locks are helpful in keeping out intruders, reducing panic and preventing teachers from being locked out of their classrooms.

CALIFORNIA: The State Allocation Board announced that it has set aside $408 million for shovel-ready school construction projects across California. Green-lighted under accelerated funding rules approved by the SAB in May, these state matching funds will help pay for 78 school construction projects within 42 school districts and are expected to create more than 7,000 new jobs, SAB officials said in a press release.

The pilot program was created to give priority order to $408 million in available Proposition 1D funds, approved by California voters in 2006, to school projects that are ready to begin. In order to qualify, participating school districts certified that, within 90 days of receiving an apportionment, they would have local matching funds, usually 50 percent of the total project cost, in hand -- and at least half of their construction contracts in place.
School districts in financial straits were also able to compete for the priority-ordered funding to purchase sites or begin design work.
If a district fails to begin construction within 90 days, the state will not release funds for the project and the district will be required to move to the back of the line behind other districts that are awaiting state funding. If that occurred, it may cause the affected district to potentially wait months or years to receive funding from the state, noted Bryant, who oversees a policy-level board for programs administered by the Office of Public School Construction, which provides the staff and support for state financing of school facilities.

Funds for these projects are provided by bonds authorized under Propositions 1D, 47 and 55. The SAB is also responsible for determining the distribution of voter-approved school construction bonds, as well as the administration of the School Facility Program, the State Relocatable Classroom Program and the Deferred Maintenance Program.

VIRGINIA: Of the 160 or so construction workers bustling about the grounds of John Adams elementary school, only 12 were concerned with what could turn out to be the future of school construction in Alexandria. The West End school is the site of Alexandria City Public Schools’ first foray into permanent modular construction. At once less invasive and far quicker than conventional building, the technique can add much-needed space to the city’s crowding schools in a matter of weeks.

The technique was presented to the School Board last fall as one of several options to accommodate for the recent enrollment increases that are expected to continue. In a matter of months, permanent modular construction has gone from idea to implementation at John Adams and at James K. Polk elementary school. Polk is getting a new prefabricated gymnasium.

That the John Adams addition required only a dozen workers belies the audacity of the concept. Shipped from Ephrata, Pa., to Alexandria in 18 sections —12 feet wide and about 26,000 pounds — on the back of flatbeds, the modular rooms were then hoisted over the existing school and set into place by a 350-ton crane. The on-site construction was done at a record-setting pace for ACPS, Conrath said. The bulk of the John Adams project, part of the school’s $1.1 million effort to add space for the coming year, was completed in less than a week. Concrete foundations went in on July 24, the modular pieces arrived three days later and were all in place by last Friday. What remains is peripheral work to sync the new classroom space with the original school structure; because the portable pieces went into the school’s two courtyards, existing walls of windows were taken out to connect to the new rooms.

While the price is comparable to traditional building methods, the modular construction does offer similar “green” benefits and can be built to the LEED standards mandated in the city’s Eco-City initiative, according to Don Engle, general manager of NRB builders, the Pennsylvania company tasked with making the John Adams modules. And despite the seemingly hasty construction process — the Alexandria project began in April — the new additions are built to last. Their concrete-and-steel construction is a far cry from the makeshift classrooms — more accurately called trailers — that have dominated the modular construction industry until recently.

LOUISIANA: The new L.B. Landry High School in Algiers was beautiful. But most important, it was back. More than 1,000 educators, elected officials, alumni, students and residents celebrated the school's reopening in a dedication ceremony. The crowd was standing-room-only in the auditorium, with some relegated to watching the festivities on a video screen in the gymnasium across the hall.

While alumni recognized the traditions of old, many in attendance said the $54 million behemoth represents a fresh start for the school that had been labeled as "academically unacceptable" by the state before the storm. They warned that the school will not be a success without strong parental involvement and community support. "This big and beautiful building would be nothing without all of you, all of us, the community," said student Jia Rovaris.
The 210,000-square-foot facility is environmentally friendly with its solar panels and ability to recycle rainwater to irrigate the plants and lawn. It boasts two gyms, a 650-seat auditorium, a school clinic, six science labs as well as media and vocational-technology centers.

NATIONAL: What makes a college sustainable? Does it need scores of rooftop solar panels and LEED-certified buildings or will a PETA-approved cafeteria menu suffice? The Princeton Review waded into that debate by releasing its 2011 Green Rating Honor Roll. Out of 703 schools that submitted environmental information, the Review gave just 18 schools spots on the list. The lucky recipients, which include Yale, Harvard, Northeastern, University of California, Berkeley, and West Virginia University, have three qualities in common: an overall commitment to environmental issues, a sustainability-minded curriculum, and students that are dedicated to all things green.

Beyond those basics, the programs on the list vary widely. Arizona State University at Tempe has the School of Sustainability, the first transdisciplinary sustainability degree program in the U.S. Harvard has 62 building projects working towards LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, along with a 55% recycling rate. Meanwhile the University of Maine provides free bikes for faculty, staff, and student use.

The Princeton Review's honor roll is far from the last word on college sustainability. Organizations such as the Sierra Club and GreenReportCard have also chimed in. Some of the ratings overlap--Evergreen State College, UC Berkeley and College of the Atlantic pop up on both the Princeton Review and the Sierra Club's lists--but many others do not.

NATIONAL: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's funding announcement of $1.2 billion for broadband infrastructure projects through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

"Knowledge should have no boundaries and with broadband, educational opportunities can be available when, where and how students need them," Duncan said. "USDA's Recovery Act investment to connect communities, schools and homes with a broadband link to the Internet will create jobs today, while leveling the playing field for education in rural America.
"These investments will fund projects to improve connections to rural communities and Native American tribal lands, bringing broadband to more than 1,900 schools, serving 550,000 students, and many of the students' homes," Duncan added. "These projects will include more than 300 schools currently in unserved areas, providing the opportunity for a high-speed connection to 82,000 students for the first time."

NATIONAL: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's funding announcement of $1.2 billion for broadband infrastructure projects through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

"Knowledge should have no boundaries and with broadband, educational opportunities can be available when, where and how students need them," Duncan said. "USDA's Recovery Act investment to connect communities, schools and homes with a broadband link to the Internet will create jobs today, while leveling the playing field for education in rural America.
"These investments will fund projects to improve connections to rural communities and Native American tribal lands, bringing broadband to more than 1,900 schools, serving 550,000 students, and many of the students' homes," Duncan added. "These projects will include more than 300 schools currently in unserved areas, providing the opportunity for a high-speed connection to 82,000 students for the first time."

MAINE: School and city officials have questions about a $6.9 million school renovation plan that could save nearly $450,000 in annual utility costs and pay for itself in about 15 years. The proposal comes from Ameresco, a Massachusetts-based consulting firm that recently completed an energy audit of all city-owned buildings. Ameresco has offered to oversee $12.8 million in renovations to city and school buildings that it claims would save nearly $1 million in annual energy costs and pay off the initial investment in about 13 years.

The proposed school renovations range from a $15,000 heating-control project at Presumpscot Elementary School that would save $8,800 per year and pay for itself in less than two years; to a $623,000 roof-replacement project at Lyseth Elementary School that would save $2,690 per year and which Ameresco says would pay for itself in about 232 years. Jaimey Caron, chairman of the School Committee’s facilities subcommittee, said he wants to know how projects were included in the proposal and whether this is the best way to make capital improvements in Portland schools. “Some projects included in this proposal don’t have a clear payback period,” Caron said. “While some projects appear to be more viable investments, there are some that you cannot justify solely on the basis of energy savings.”
The city plans to borrow money for the renovations and pay off the 15-year loan with annual energy savings. Even after making annual loan payments, the city would net an additional savings of about $252,000 each year, according to an Ameresco report.
Portland now spends about $8 million a year to heat and light its city and school buildings. The bulk of savings would be generated by converting heating systems from oil to natural gas, installing energy-efficient lights and centralized controls for lighting, heating and refrigeration systems. Other proposed improvements include water conservation measures, solar water heaters and a solar photovoltaic system that would generate electricity at Portland Arts and Technology High School.

OHIO: It should come as no surprise that the Ohio School Facilities Commission is recommending a smaller empire for the Cleveland schools, which have been losing youngsters. Cleveland's Bond Accountability Commission, led by Jim Darr, has been sounding that alarm for a few years now.
With enrollment shriveling to fewer than 50,000 students already, and a projection that it could slide to barely 35,000 by 2017, there's no need for the more than 90 schools currently in the system, according to a draft proposal by Bill Prenosil, a school facilities commission planner. The district's transformation plan, which is to go into effect next month, slashed 15 buildings this year. Prenosil wants still more on the chopping block, to bring the district to just 63 buildings.

Not all of the state commission's ideas make perfect sense. For instance, the state includes the former Margaret Spellacy Junior High on its closure list although it was recently renovated to accommodate the all-male Ginn Academy. Closing it now would be a waste of money and work. The district administration, which is to present its own plan this fall, should heed most of what Prenosil's suggests, though. The district should leave itself a little extra capacity, in case of an eventual rebound, but not much. It can't afford to maintain buildings it doesn't need. Indeed, if the school system hopes to encourage voters to approve new taxes for operations and a bond for construction projects, it will make the sort of hard, smart choices that will shore up its case.
And it must make those choices openly, including the public in its deliberations through meetings and forums at which parents and taxpayers can have a say. No one should doubt, though, that more closings lie ahead. It is impossible to refute the heart of the state's objective analysis: Fewer youngsters mean fewer schools.

TENNESSEE: The three R's of education stand for reading, writing and 'rithmetic, but at many elementary, middle and high schools in the Mid-South one might find students equally concerned about reducing, reusing and recycling. While student environmental clubs have been popular since the 1990s, students and administrators who are thinking about going green this year have one very specific issue in mind: saving energy. "Kids are more aware of what they do and how it affects our world, and they are real good leaders," said John Smith, director of facilities services for Shelby County Schools. "The environmental clubs have been around for quite a while, but the formal programs are just now catching up with what the kids have already been doing." Specifically, Smith was referring to the Green Schools Program, a two-year pilot program offered by the nonprofit Alliance for Saving Energy in partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority and Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division.
Four county schools and four city schools are taking part in the program, now entering its second year, in which teams of students, teachers, administrators and custodial staff work together to audit the schools' energy use and make plans for reducing it.

WISCONSIN: It’s the president’s great green hope. Barack Obama, determined to decrease the nation’s reliance on foreign fuels while increasing job creation for the millions of unemployed Americans, this year invested more than $80 billion in the next generation of renewable resources. In early July, the president announced another $2 billion for the construction of two solar power plants, emphasizing his support of “jobs and industries of the future.”

Whether the investments in sustainability pay off in long-term job creation remains to be seen, but schools across the country aren’t waiting to find out. Colleges and universities are expanding their environmental offerings, racing to keep up with the increased popularity of the sustainable market and preparing to churn out students equipped for jobs with a green hue. To catalog the growing focus on green education and environmental commitment, the Princeton Review and the U.S. Green Building Council this year released their first Guide to Green Colleges, a roundup of their picks for the nation’s most environmentally responsible campuses.

But how do this year’s picks translate to the construction industry? Wisconsin Builder took a closer look at the seven Wisconsin schools chosen — Lawrence University, Marquette University, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Northland College, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, UW-Oshkosh and UW-Stevens Point — in addition to UW-Madison, which was not included on the list, to see how these institutions are shaping the next generation of construction industry workers.

VERMONT: The Burlington School Board is considering a policy that would clarify the use of surveillance cameras in the school district, including details of who can see the tapes and how long they would be kept. Many cameras have been installed in the schools without the policy.

Numerous school districts across Vermont have surveillance cameras on entrances and in parking lots. A statement of purpose accompanying the proposed Burlington policy says video surveillance “will act as a deterrent to a wide variety of misconduct, assist in law enforcement on school property, aid in student management, and protect property.” Under the policy, access to the video recordings would be granted to the superintendent, his or her designee and police, among others. Monitors or screens that display the video would be located in “secure areas,” and the recordings would not be actively monitored. Recordings would be retained for at least 30 days. No surveillance cameras would be installed in bathrooms or locker rooms, according to the policy, and signs would be posted at the entrance of buildings notifying the public that cameras are in place.

WASHINGTON: With more than 1000 earthquakes every year in Washington, Department of Natural Resources geologists and other state agencies believe it’s time we asked, are all of our schools safe enough? DNR geologists completed field testing this month for the School Seismic Safety Pilot Project, which will assess the seismic vulnerability of schools in the Walla Walla and Aberdeen Districts.

Earthquake vulnerability is based on both a building’s structure, and the types of rock and soil beneath its foundation. In an earthquake, soil type influences how much shaking occurs at the surface. Without looking underground, the picture of seismic risks posed on schools is incomplete. The reality is that two structurally-identical buildings could face very different risks depending on their locations. Seismic engineers and building officials also have a role to play in this pilot project. After geologists look at the potential for ground shaking at each site, engineers and building officials will estimate how fragile each building is by inspecting schools to note conditions and irregularities.

Computer hazard software will use these data to simulate earthquakes for each school site. These simulations will estimate how much damage buildings might sustain at different levels of ground shaking. The hope is that this pilot project will lead to a statewide assessment for all Washington public schools, which would prioritize schools based on seismic “risk.”
This effort is being coordinated through the Washington State Seismic Safety Committee and the Washington State Emergency Management Division. Assessing the safety of school buildings has been a priority of the Seismic Safety Committee for many years, according to Dave Norman, (DNR) co-chair of the committee. Funding for the pilot project has been provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

NEW JERSEY: Add nearly 200 more school districts to the list of those receiving state school construction funds, as the administration of Gov. Chris Christie continued to roll out construction and repair money following a halt to the program earlier this year.
But New Jersey’s urban districts still face a wait of at least several more months, with an administration spokesman saying it will likely be end of October before a review of district needs is completed.

The Governor announced that $270 million in additional funds will be made available to 177 districts for 740 separate maintenance and construction projects. Another $16 million was provided to six vocational districts. All the projects will need to go through final reviews to secure the state funding, which will account for up to 40 percent of the total cost. This was the third round of new projects getting the go-ahead since Christie resumed school construction funding in May with a $500 million infusion of new borrowing.
Christie had essentially halted projects in January, saying in his first months of office that he wanted to review the operations of the Schools Development Authority and its checkered history of waste and mismanagement. The Governor pitched much of the latest round in economic development terms. He said the projects would provide 6,000 new construction jobs, and the vocational projects specifically would help in job training.
But the pace has been slower in urban districts, for which the school construction program was first created in 2000 by order of the state Supreme Court. These districts receive 100 percent of their construction funding through the state, with the state overseeing the entire project as well, and their progress has come in fits and starts. SDA executive director Marc Larkins said this spring that he first wanted to review the existing capital plan for the 30 qualifying urban districts, completed in 2008, to ensure all the projects were still needed. He said in early June that it would take four months. Agency spokesman Larry Hanover said that it will now be the end of October before that review is completed. Advocates for the urban districts reacted with frustration and some anger at the timeline, saying it seems to creep longer and longer while projects first proposed nearly a decade ago continue to wait.

PENNSYLVANIA: In an effort to save money and energy, Paoli’s Delaware Valley Friends School (DVFS) joined forces with four other local independent schools to pursue grants through the Philadelphia Area Independent School Business Officer Association (PAISBOA) to have solar panels installed. July 7 it was announced that their efforts paid off.
DVFS was one of only five Pennsylvania independent schools to be approved for a grant to install solar panels at their facilities. The grant was awarded through Pennsylvania’s Solar Energy Program, which provides financial help to help promote the use of alternative energy in the state. The grant money, in the amount of $124,740, will be used by Blue Renewable Energy LLC to buy and install a rooftop solar photovoltaic system at DVFS.
The benefits of such a project are financial, environmental and educational.

OREGON: At a time of funding crises and recession, school districts have been putting extra focus on grant writing to sustain programs and to pay for building projects. In the past two years, through in-kind donations and grant awards, the district has raised $600,000 to $700,000 for a variety of projects.

In the last three months, the district used an interest-free loan through the federal Qualified Zone Academy Bond (QZAB) program to fund an outdoor classroom at Stayton Middle School; facilities for a new teen parent program; an ADA-accessible bathroom at Stayton High School off the football field; new libraries at Stayton Elementary School and Mari-Linn School; and resurfacing of the Stayton High School track. The district was able to leverage that bond money to get grants through other foundations, Hack said. Grants and donations through Lowe's Foundation, Roth's Foundation and Slayden Construction also funded the outdoor classroom at Stayton Middle School. Grants through True Value Foundation and Lowe's Foundation funded the elementary school libraries. The Stayton High School Booster Club awarded the district with $20,000 for resurfacing the track. The district was awarded $5,000 with the Community 101 program through the Oregon Community Foundation for Stayton High School; $1,000 of that money goes to the school, and $4,000 goes to the community. High school students serve as grant reviewers. The district has also been ramping up partnerships with businesses and organizations in the community like Friends of the Family, Santiam Family YMCA, Stayton Cooperative Telephone Company (SCTC) and Slayden Construction.

TEXAS: With less than a month before school starts, a charter school with an emphasis on media arts and civics education now needs a new place to teach its students. School officials last spring spent $100,000 in renovations on its downtown campus, the entire fifth floor of an office building. It's a sprawling glass-walled space with desks and computers positioned so that students get views of the Capitol a block away.
But the 303 Office Condominiums Owners Association, which has control over how the building is operated, has filed for an injunction to keep iSchool from opening.In court filings, the association said housing a school there could cause insurance rates to go up and will be a nuisance to other businesses in the building. To date, there have been no insurance premium increases attributable to the school, according to court documents.

Campus director Michael Lopez said Responsive Education chose the location because of its proximity to the Capitol. Students would get an up-close look at how government works, and school officials would have easy access to state officials to establish government and other internships. The curriculum calls for students to focus on project-based learning and to be involved in service projects, such as identifying a problem or issue in their communities and working with an organization to tackle those issues.

State funds help traditional public schools build and pay for facilities, but charter schools get no such aid and lack the taxing authority of public school districts. Last week, the State Board of Education voted to dedicate $100 million of the Permanent School Fund, created in 1876 as a public school endowment, to developing and leasing buildings for charter schools.

TEXAS: With less than a month before school starts, a charter school with an emphasis on media arts and civics education now needs a new place to teach its students. School officials last spring spent $100,000 in renovations on its downtown campus, the entire fifth floor of an office building. It's a sprawling glass-walled space with desks and computers positioned so that students get views of the Capitol a block away.
But the 303 Office Condominiums Owners Association, which has control over how the building is operated, has filed for an injunction to keep iSchool from opening.In court filings, the association said housing a school there could cause insurance rates to go up and will be a nuisance to other businesses in the building. To date, there have been no insurance premium increases attributable to the school, according to court documents.

Campus director Michael Lopez said Responsive Education chose the location because of its proximity to the Capitol. Students would get an up-close look at how government works, and school officials would have easy access to state officials to establish government and other internships. The curriculum calls for students to focus on project-based learning and to be involved in service projects, such as identifying a problem or issue in their communities and working with an organization to tackle those issues.

State funds help traditional public schools build and pay for facilities, but charter schools get no such aid and lack the taxing authority of public school districts. Last week, the State Board of Education voted to dedicate $100 million of the Permanent School Fund, created in 1876 as a public school endowment, to developing and leasing buildings for charter schools.

WISCONSIN: Members of the Watertown Unified School District Board of Education clapped and cheered after the approval to borrow the final funds of the referendum project. The applause came when board members learned the district will see a $4.5 million savings in interest. “The final amount the district will have borrowed is $20,856,000,” Doug Linse, district business services director, said. “That is $4.5 million less than what was projected at the start of the referendum.”
Linse said the savings is due to favorable interest rates and the advantage of receiving $2 million in Qualified School Construction Bonds, which are federal dollars borrowed to the district at zero interest. The two resolutions approved included $1 million in Qualified School Construction Bonds at zero interest and another at $529,000 in general obligation notes.

ARKANSAS: Alumni of the elementary and high schools once housed in Peabody Hall are watching with interest as the University of Arkansas spends about $8.5 million to restore the structure. Peabody Hall was finished in 1913, the first building on the campus built with private money, a $40,000 gift from the George Peabody Fund. It was built as a new home for the College of Education. An elementary school was established on the bottom floor of the three-story brick structure, a high school called University High School on the second floor and professors offices and college classrooms on the third floor. The schools were intended as training sites for young teachers. Student teaching in public schools wasn’t an option at the time. It wasn’t unusual to have six, seven or even eight student-teachers in the classrooms with the regular teachers, all of whom were college professors, Duell and Johnson said. The schools closed in the 1960s. The high school shut down in 1962, followed by elementary school, or training school as it was called by some, in 1966.

At least one room will be furnished with historical furniture. And, Peabody Perks, a popular coffee shop, will again open in the building. The restoration will attempt to return Peabody Hall closer to its original appearance. Some 180 windows will be replaced. Once completed in August 2011, the curriculum and instruction department will move back in.

Overbey said Peabody is one of two buildings being restored under the campus preservation master plan. The other is Davis Hall on the corner of Garland Avenue and Maple Street. “Peabody will be a very handsome building when it’s finished,” Overbey said. An elevator will be installed, and other details to make it accessible will be incorporated. The building is registered to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver certification when completed. It is a third-party verification process for environmentally conscious construction. The building has undergone some changes over the years, but the original footprint of the building remains the same, Overbey said.

MICHIGAN: Detroit Public Schools officials hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking for about $60 million in renovation work set to start this summer at Western International, Henry Ford and Denby high schools. The schools will be upgraded by fall 2011 to modernize classrooms, enhance security and install new technology to benefit nearly 4,000 total students. The work is part of the $500.5 million Proposal S bond program that voters approved in November to renovate or rebuild 18 schools.

Robert Bobb, the district's emergency financial manager, outlined the improvements at the schools, such as sustainable technology labs, security fencing and new exercise facilities for student and community use -- services often described in top-performing school districts, he said. Under Proposal S, the school district has a rigorous time frame to build seven schools and renovate 11 others by September 2012 to comply with guidelines for federal stimulus-funded bond projects. So far 10 construction projects for $180 million have been announced this summer.

MASSACHUSETTS: Take Boston Latin School, and pack on top of its building a weather station, a greenhouse, two outdoor classrooms, a cafeteria, and a garden. Then add solar panels, wind turbines, and the outdoor elevator. It’s a 70,000-square-foot, $6.2 million green roof dreamed up by Boston Latin students, and it’s becoming a reality.
“It started out as a simple request for how the school can reduce its carbon footprint," said Gail Sullivan, the architect who has been working with the students free of charge. “But then the students said yes, yes, and yes to all the different features."

Unfazed by the hefty price tag, students from the school’s Youth Climate Action Network have been raising money and applying for grants over the past year to make their green wonderland a reality, piece by piece. A 28-solar panel array and 350 trays of sedum, a flowering succulent plant, have been installed on the school’s roof. Up next are the outdoor classrooms and elevator, a $2.7 million project to be completed in fall 2011, according to Sullivan, who works for Studio G Architects. Sullivan said she expects to finish the project in five years, but said the timeframe depends on when the students can raise the money.

Last week, students in the Youth Climate Action Network were helping 30 Boston area teachers, 15 from Boston Latin, to develop a middle school and high school sustainability curriculum to be piloted this fall at their school. Eventually, classes will be held on the roof. Students can measure the wind velocity from the rooftop turbines or test how much energy the solar panels generate. English and art classes can find inspiration from the rooftop orchard and garden. Other schools can plan a field trip to the top of Boston Latin, which has grades 7 to 12. The possibilities are endless, students say.

Led by eighth-grade US history teacher Cate Arnold, the network launched a campaign in 2007 for sustainability education across the state. The students hope to see the project completed when they graduate. While several schools in the state have installed green roofs — two in Boston public schools — Arnold said that from talking with other educators and school officials, Boston Latin’s green venture appears to be the most complex, student-driven project with a heavy emphasis on integrating sustainability education.

CALIFORNIA: Low-interest university bond funding, high demand for construction at down market prices, easy term financing, and cash reserves are enabling UC San Diego to construct six more buildings, promising it a new, modernized skyline. The school's $568 million worth of construction under way includes four student apartment complexes, adding 2,600 beds to the campus as it tries to meet a pent-up demand for more student housing. Meanwhile, a cardiovascular center and medical education/telemedicine center are also being built. The last of the projects will be finished by mid-2011.

It's a revved up economic engine for the region, providing an estimated 5,500 on-site construction jobs in the next year or so to a San Diego industry that has lost 26,000 jobs during the last three years. While the timing has worked well, yielding low construction costs because of tough times in that sector, Cunningham says there was no intentional timing involved. "I'd love to tell you we saw the market shift," he said. "A lot of good luck came to us. We're looking at the lowest costs in well over a decade." That has enabled the university to add value into its new buildings, such as certified, environmentally friendly features promising LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, gold and possibly platinum ratings.

MASSACHUSETTS: At the University of Massachusetts Medical School, excavation has begun on one of the largest building projects in New England. The $400 million science center is expected to create hundreds of construction jobs, attract millions of dollars in federal research money, and provide another catalyst to the state’s vital health science industry.
The science center is just one of several projects the UMass system is undertaking across its five campuses, and another sign of its growing impact on regional economies. Underpinned by rising enrollments, burgeoning research grants, and an increasingly entrepreneurial culture, UMass is doing what few other institutions or businesses are these days: building, buying, and expanding.

Over the past year, UMass Lowell has bought a failing downtown hotel, taken over a city arena, and begun construction of a $70 million emerging technologies center, its first new academic building in 35 years. UMass Boston recently snapped up the struggling Bayside Exposition Center at a bargain price, and in the coming year, will see construction begin on two new buildings at its Dorchester Bay campus. At its flagship Amherst campus, UMass has completed more than $300 million in construction projects over the past two years, and has $375 million more in construction underway.

This building boom comes as major projects from other organizations have been delayed or canceled, including Harvard University’s Allston expansion, the Filene’s redevelopment in downtown Boston, and Columbus Center in the South End. Needless to say, UMass is providing relief to a construction industry only beginning to recover from a recession that destroyed one in four of its jobs.

TEXAS: The State Board of Education adopted a plan to dedicate millions of public school endowment dollars to finance charter school facilities. The proposal, which is contingent on a legal opinion from the Texas attorney general or action by the Legislature, is to invest $100 million of the $23 billion Permanent School Fund into developing and leasing Texas charter school facilities.
The Permanent School Fund is an endowment created in 1876 to benefit Texas public schools.

The board's investment adviser, Rhett Humphreys, said estimating the risk for a charter school investment is "very tricky business" because there is no performance history for such an investment. The NEPC analysis put the expected return at 4.75 percent with a high risk level.

GEORGIA: Carrollton High School’s gym and restrooms are a step closer to renovations following the school board’s unanimous approval of the Qualified School Construction Bond (QSCB) Projects resolution. During a special meeting, the board entered into an agreement with the Carrollton Redevelopment Authority to be the financial agent for the school system’s $8 million bond projects. The money will be used for two projects, building a sixth-grade wing at Carrollton Middle School and to renovate the gymnasium and restrooms at the high school.
“This is not the typical way to do construction,” said Superintendent Dr. Kent Edwards.
There are typically two ways for school systems to get money for construction projects, the most common of which is to use special purpose local option sales tax funds, approved by voters. The second manner is through bonds, sold to investors.

Steve Spofford, chief operating officer for Carrollton City Schools, said the QSCBs are no-interest bonds loaned to states through the American Recovery Reinvestment Act, part of the federal stimulus program. The school system can decide when to start repayment of the loans and put the money into a fund that cannot be touched until the full amount is paid. The interest the account earns is placed in the account toward repayment of the loan, thereby helping to lower the total cost to be repaid, he said. Because it is a federal program, the construction projects must be bid out based on Davis-Bacon Act guidelines, which can increase the cost of labor and the total cost of construction, he said. The possible increase, however, has been factored into the projects. Construction of a two-story sixth-grade building will cost about $5.5 million, and renovations to the high school gym and restrooms are expected to cost $2.5 million.

CALIFORNIA: California public school districts are spending too much annually to replace or repair hundreds of school roofs by employing a practice that restricts cost-saving competitive bidding and makes taxpayers pay up to double what they otherwise would spend, an investigation has found. Statewide, the practice costs school districts $30 million to $125 million extra each year, taxpayer money that shouldn't be wasted at any time, but especially not in the middle of a recession, said California legislators who are investigating the practice.

In San Francisco, for example, the district will spend $60,000 more than it perhaps should this summer on a new elementary school roof because the bidding process limited competition by specifying a precise kind of roof sold by a particular manufacturer. While that job is locked in place, the district over the last couple of years has amended its procedures to include more open bidding processes. Another roofing project this summer that was bid under the new system is costing the district about half as much. But the kind of noncompetitive bidding that led to the expensive roof in San Francisco is in play at school districts across the Bay Area and state. It is the product of aggressive marketing techniques by roofing manufacturers, a tendency of districts to stick with manufacturers hired by previous administrations and a convenient reliance by district officials on the manufacturers to write project specifications, the legislative inquiry found.
State law requires competitive bidding in public projects, including schools, but there's little enforcement, industry experts said. State law allows public agencies to specify a particular brand name product, but also must include an "or equal" clause that allows alternative manufacturers to be considered. The noncompetitive bids get around that clause by listing product requirements that are so specific that no other manufacturer could qualify.

COLORADO: The lessons at the Cherry Creek School District’s Institute of Science and Technology will begin before any student reaches their classroom.
Prime numbers will steer the design and layout of a plaza on the lawn, and the mathematical Fibonacci sequence will be a guiding design principal for the windows on the building located between Overland High School and Prairie Middle School in Aurora. The 58,000-square-foot school is set to include an “energy dashboard,” a visible meter that will allow students to track the building’s power consumption. A column at the school’s main entrance will be in the double helix shape of a DNA strand, and the ceiling will bear the celestial star patterns of the night sky.
It’s all part of the district’s push to stretch instruction in STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — beyond the classroom. It’s also part of a bid to make the subjects more accessible to a broader range of students.

“There’s a lot of technology here — it requires learning about science, technology, engineering and math,” said Todd VandenBurg, project architect for the district’s $14-million school set to open in a little more than a year. “It’s a practical application of the curriculum.” It’s a bold approach, one that Cherry Creek officials say could represent a new direction in offering specialized and accessible instruction. Funded through the bond issue approved by voters in 2008, the IST will offer engineering, health sciences, technical communications, computer science and mathematics courses for students from Overland and Prairie. Elementary students from Prairie feeder schools will also have access to specialized STEM instruction.
“We’re providing STEM to all the 4,000-plus students on this campus,” VandenBurg said. “These are spaces where small groups or large groups of students can get together. We’ve designed formal and informal classrooms in this building.”
The school’s distinctive curved walls are slowly taking a solid shape at the dusty construction site tucked neatly between Overland and Prairie, and district officials are already looking at the IST’s larger impact in the district, the city and the state. “It’s our first dedicated STEM building in our district. It’s really going to set the tone for how we approach learning and a lot of the curricular components,” said Richard Charles, director of STEM for CCSD. “It’s going to be pretty important for us to get this right, because STEM is not going to go away ... We’re hoping to be able to help in providing a solution to the nation is facing around science and technology.”

COLORADO: The lessons at the Cherry Creek School District’s Institute of Science and Technology will begin before any student reaches their classroom.
Prime numbers will steer the design and layout of a plaza on the lawn, and the mathematical Fibonacci sequence will be a guiding design principal for the windows on the building located between Overland High School and Prairie Middle School in Aurora. The 58,000-square-foot school is set to include an “energy dashboard,” a visible meter that will allow students to track the building’s power consumption. A column at the school’s main entrance will be in the double helix shape of a DNA strand, and the ceiling will bear the celestial star patterns of the night sky.
It’s all part of the district’s push to stretch instruction in STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — beyond the classroom. It’s also part of a bid to make the subjects more accessible to a broader range of students.

“There’s a lot of technology here — it requires learning about science, technology, engineering and math,” said Todd VandenBurg, project architect for the district’s $14-million school set to open in a little more than a year. “It’s a practical application of the curriculum.” It’s a bold approach, one that Cherry Creek officials say could represent a new direction in offering specialized and accessible instruction. Funded through the bond issue approved by voters in 2008, the IST will offer engineering, health sciences, technical communications, computer science and mathematics courses for students from Overland and Prairie. Elementary students from Prairie feeder schools will also have access to specialized STEM instruction.
“We’re providing STEM to all the 4,000-plus students on this campus,” VandenBurg said. “These are spaces where small groups or large groups of students can get together. We’ve designed formal and informal classrooms in this building.”
The school’s distinctive curved walls are slowly taking a solid shape at the dusty construction site tucked neatly between Overland and Prairie, and district officials are already looking at the IST’s larger impact in the district, the city and the state. “It’s our first dedicated STEM building in our district. It’s really going to set the tone for how we approach learning and a lot of the curricular components,” said Richard Charles, director of STEM for CCSD. “It’s going to be pretty important for us to get this right, because STEM is not going to go away ... We’re hoping to be able to help in providing a solution to the nation is facing around science and technology.”

MICHIGAN: Bricks from the old Cass Tech, Finney, Mackenzie, Mumford and Chadsey high schools -- all slated for demolition -- will be preserved and restored for sale to the public to raise money for the Public Schools Foundation, Detroit Public Schools officials said.
“We think this is an important program to honor the legacy and history of these schools, while also acknowledging that students deserve facilities that support 21st Century learning and aiding schools by providing needed funding for supplemental programs,” said Chacona Johnson, foundation president and CEO. “We hope the alumni and the dedicated faculty and staff who taught and provided services in these buildings will participate in this fundraising effort.”
Two entry arches and other items from Cass Tech also will be preserved, officials said.

WASHINGTON: The bonds have passed, the architect is selected and a committee is formed to provide critical input on the needs and culture of the school. Who is on the committee? Most of the time it’s composed exclusively of adults. Occasionally you will find an enlightened school that includes a student or two on the committee, but their participation is often marginal at best. Why is it that we are creating schools whose primary purpose is to engage and stimulate kids, but we spend so little time actually engaging them while we are creating their learning environments?
Admittedly the adults on these committees are extremely knowledgeable and committed, but can they really represent the perspective of a 5-year-old on her first day of school? For the past 20 years I have been exploring that question and searching for ways that kids’ voices can influence the design of their school.

Here are some of the things I’ve learned over the years: Renovations are absolutely the best projects to engage kids: They know their school intimately and have a personal relationship with it daily. They can tell you what works, what doesn’t, what’s cool and what sucks. Start with playgrounds: If you are having difficulty deciding where to start, playgrounds are the slow pitch. Kids need very little prompting when you ask them to draw their dream playground. Believe me, they have ideas! Make activities age appropriate: Ramp up the intellectual content for older kids, you’ll be amazed at the insight and sophistication of their ideas. Get pictures: Encourage all students, even the older ones, to draw and color for you. Let them know that it’s not important that the drawings are pretty. I often show some of my rough sketches to illustrate messy work. My favorite incredulous comment was, “Someone paid you to draw that?” Make it optional: Not all schools and all teachers have the time and interest. Don’t press too hard, you can get their input in many other ways. Be entertaining: This may be the hardest part for us naturally dull architects but there is nothing that deflates the ego faster than to have a second-grade class lose interest. A microphone is a great prop when soliciting comments — you can pretend you are Oprah! Interpret creatively: Be open and flexible in your thinking. You have to believe there is a message or theme in there somewhere!

OHIO: A plan for completing the Cleveland schools' state-funded construction program calls for the district to scrap many more schools than it builds or renovates. The proposal, drafted by Ohio School Facilities Commission planner Bill Prenosil, is a "work in progress," according to district building official Gary Sautter, and would be subject to approval by the school board.
But the plan illustrates the tough choices Cleveland school officials face as they adjust the construction program to fit declining enrollment and shrinking piles of state and local tax money.

Even after closing 16 buildings in June, the district operates more than 90 schools. Prenosil's plan calls for reducing the number of new and renovated schools to 63, well below the 111 envisioned when work began in 2002. Prenosil based the building count on a forecast that Cleveland will have 35,059 students in 2017, when the final projects should be winding down. The original plan projected that enrollment would bottom out at 72,450 by the time the construction program was completed, but the total is already less than 50,000.

The state pays two-thirds of most Cleveland school construction expenses, but the bottom line will be based on how many students are served. According to Prenosil's calculations, the cost of work jointly funded by the state and district will in the end total less than $1.2 billion, a decrease of almost $348 million.
Cleveland can keep as many buildings as it chooses, paying for replacement or repairs with its own money. But that would be difficult; the district doesn't even have enough to pay its share for all the construction, renovation and demolition the state is willing to help fund. In 2008, the school board responded to decreased enrollment with a plan that called for 76 new and renovated buildings. But the board also left a number of other buildings in limbo, referring to them as "maintain only." The school board recently voted to borrow $55 million, the last of $335 million in debt voters approved for construction in 2001. Officials have discussed asking voters to extend payments on the bond issue, but financial distress might force them to first seek a property-tax increase for operating expenses.

If officials follow Prenosil's plan, they would still have more than 40 projects to complete after the local tax money runs out. The projects, mostly demolition, are estimated to cost nearly $200 million. Sautter expects to present a finished construction plan to the school board in late summer or early fall. Even that document could be changed before the program wraps up, with state funding cut deeper if enrollment falls more than expected. The money could increase if enrollment stabilizes.

NATIONAL: Okay class, your assignment for the summer recess is to read as much as possible about why and how we as adults can and should act to make school buildings greener — and why this isn’t just a great thing for operational efficiency, it’s a great thing to teach “Generation G.” Before you start protesting that this just isn’t a priority given all the other things the public education system needs, consider that addressing basic things like energy efficiency or climate control doesn’t just help schools save money it helps promote an environment that is more conducive to learning. Seriously, how much can a child be expected to focus on the lesson plan if he or she is about to pass out from heat or poor air circulation? If we have any hope of moving to year-round schedules in the future, we can’t expect kids to sit in stifling classrooms.

The U.S. Green Building Council estimates that attention to green details in schools — notably through energy efficiency and water consumption habits — can save the average school $100,000 annually. That’s the equivalent of being able to hire two new teachers or invest in approximately 200 computers. If every new school construction project or retrofit took green concerns into account moving forward, the impact of energy efficiency alone could save $20 billion over the next decade.
The challenge, of course, is that school buildings are different from commercial buildings and the best practices for applying something like the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program to schools are still evolving when it comes to school architectures and buildings.

NEVADA: Solar power used to be thought of in the same way as organic produce: healthy but pricey. Costs, however, have dropped because the recession has depressed demand while there is a growing supply of photovoltaic panels, which convert solar radiation into electricity. As a result, the startup costs associated with solar power are now so affordable that even the cash-strapped Clark County School District is going on a summer spending spree.

The district plans to invest $4 million in rooftop solar panels for as many as 20 schools. The photovoltaic systems could provide about 25 percent of the schools' power and save the district $190,000 a year for the next 20 years, based on current energy prices, said Paul Gerner, associate superintendent of facilities.
Officials are not counting on energy savings to pay for the investment in startup costs, but they do expect a return on the investment in solar energy because of NV Energy's rebate program and other government incentives. The school district has to pay for the startup costs, but it will receive $1.44 million in federal stimulus funding once the first five schools are outfitted as solar farms. In addition, the district will receive $1.2 million for the same five schools in the form of one-time rebate checks from NV Energy, the local utility. The district will receive additional rebate checks as more schools are completed. The goal is to finish the project by November. The school district could get as much as $5 million in rebate checks if all 20 schools hook up the solar power systems, which would be more than enough to cover the initial investment and any financing and design costs.

Tom Axtell, general manager of Vegas PBS, looks at school rooftops as an energy asset, much like a river or a ray of sunshine. Because many district schools share the same design, there would be economies of scale in planting solar farms on school rooftops across the Las Vegas Valley. "You have a single property owner that has large expanses of flat roofs, that all have the same exact designs because you have cookie-cutter schools. It really allows for the efficiency in the planning and the installation of solar farms," Axtell said. "You do it for one high school, there's probably 10 others that have the same footprint. So you don't have the same expense of engineering."

NORTH DAKOTA: About $1 million in construction projects at Jamestown Public Schools will be wrapping by Aug. 13, said Bob Toso, superintendent. The funds came from stimulus dollars. The bulk of the work is being done at Gussner Elementary, where six classrooms in the northwest corner of the building will be enclosed, Toso said. Other projects like new windows at Roosevelt Elementary and new doors at Washington and Lincoln schools will save the district money by increasing energy efficiency, he said. Baffle pads were also installed at Jamestown High School to improve the sound system in the pool area.
Gussner also had a hole in a water main. Instead of replacing the pipe for around $20,000, a plumber was able to install a sleeve for between $2,000 and $3,000, he said. The money came from the general building fund. “It’s kind of been a mess up there,” Toso said of the lawn at Gussner. He said he expects the dirt to be leveled and seeding to begin soon. All projects will be completed before school starts.

ILLINOIS: Even though Illinois continues to face a major budget crisis, local universities and school districts keep on building. Plans in the pipeline include a new high school in Mascoutah, renovations in the Columbia School District and $18 million in new projects on its Edwardsville campus.
With so much planned and money so tight, it begs the questions: Why do officials keep building? And why can't they move money around to cover costs in other areas instead of laying off workers? The reason, school officials say, is that districts and universities operate using several funding streams, only one of which is for construction. The rest are for day-to-day operations, transportation, bond payments and other expenses. There's just one catch: The funds are locked in and can't be switched. Major school construction projects, for example, are usually paid through bonds that are paid off over time and are less impacted by yearly budgets issues. The result is that hard times in one area may have little to no effect in another.

That can become troublesome at a time like this, when the state owes local school systems millions of dollars. Many times, the money is for operations, which means construction projects are left untouched. For example, the state owes the entire SIU system - which includes campuses in Edwardsville, Carbondale, Springfield and Alton - about $84 million. Because of that, there have been concerns about SIU's payroll since December. But that does not directly affect the construction projects, which include a $920,000 renovation of locker rooms at SIUE's Vadalabene Center; a $14.3 million Art and Design Building expansion; and $2.8 million to replace windows in the Peck Building.

The Mascoutah School District is currently building a new $38 million high school, which voters approved in November 2008 and will be finished in fall 2011. The Columbia School District is completing work renovating the district's original school building, creating Eagleview Elementary School. Most of the $6 million cost is being paid for through a restructuring of bonds issued in 2003 to build the district's new middle school following a fire at what was the new elementary school. That project is expected to be completed by the start of school in August.

CALIFORNIA: When you're dueling with mogul Donald Trump over real estate, you'd better prepare to empty your wallet. That helps explain the $578-million price tag on Los Angeles Unified's most recent school construction project.
District officials spent 20 years battling Trump, conservationists and neighborhood groups to build a school complex on the site of the famed Ambassador Hotel. A school construction project that began with a $50-million outlay became one of the most ambitious in the country, with three campuses on the site. But that's nothing new for L.A. Unified. When it comes to building schools at least, the district is tenacious.

A few miles away stands the $400-million Roybal Learning Center, built to relieve overcrowding at nearby Belmont. Roybal was also a 20-year project. Many districts would have given up, but L.A. Unified was undeterred by discoveries of an earthquake fault, methane gas and toxic soil beneath its site. Remedying those problems made Roybal the most expensive public high school in the nation, and it was six blocks from the nation's second-most expensive school.
Second place goes to L.A. Unified's $232-million arts high school downtown. It doesn't have a formal name or a final enrollment plan, and it's on its second principal in two years. But it does have floor-to-ceiling windows, an outdoor atrium and three dance studios with sprung maple flooring.

Three "world-class" campuses in one struggling school system. If only the district would be so dogged about staffing them with world class teachers. Don't get me wrong. I think it's great that inner-city students are finally getting new buildings. I spent years as an education reporter watching aging campuses decay, as children were bused to far-flung neighborhoods or crammed in on year-round schedules.
It's hard to focus on learning when loose ceiling tiles dangle above your head or you can't hear the teacher over a portable fan's din. These new campuses send a message, with their spacious art studios and high-tech labs: Your education matters. You are worth the best.
But a building doesn't drive academic progress. New campuses are sprouting like weeds in parts of Los Angeles where student test scores are still stuck in the mud. It's no secret that the most important factor in student success is an excellent teacher. And research shows that exceptional teachers are especially important for low-income students since poverty can undermine educational efforts.
Maybe all these shiny new buildings will attract teachers, what with their underground parking, lesson-preparation centers and lunchrooms with stone ovens for making pizza. After all, studies of new teachers who leave the profession suggest that they do so almost as much because of inadequate facilities as because of large class sizes.

TEXAS: Cibolo Green Elementary, in the North East Independent School District, is one of the first green schools in San Antonio. Built by Satterfield and Pontikes to meet LEED Silver standards, Cibolo Green features recycled building materials and energy-saving lighting throughout the school.
Built on a steeply graded site, the new school also features learning centers throughout the facility and viewing windows into the mechanical rooms and infrastructure, allowing students to see such building components as steel columns, insulation, piping and wiring. It also has an emphasis on multiple colors and natural light in the atrium, common areas and classrooms.

MASSACHUSETTS: Under growing pressure from state officials, small public school systems across Massachusetts are discussing potential mergers, defying the state’s staunch tradition of local schools and hometown identity in a quest for greater financial stability. For the first time in nearly a decade, several towns recently joined ranks to create new regional districts, linking Ayer and Shirley, Berkley and Somerset, and three vocational schools north of Boston. From a host of small Berkshire towns to Chatham and Harwich on Cape Cod, another three dozen districts are considering teaming up with their neighbors or expanding existing unions. Even Hull and Cohasset, Thanksgiving Day rivals with a decided class divide, are courting.

But many towns are deeply conflicted over the idea, uneasy with the prospect of relinquishing local control, particularly on tax and budget issues, and fond of their schools the way they are. Many parents blanch at the idea of sending their children out of town for school, while older residents feel nostalgia for their alma maters.

Governor Deval Patrick’s administration has pushed small districts to consolidate or regionalize over the past two years, believing that larger districts are decidedly more cost-efficient. More than one-third of the state’s school districts have fewer than 1,500 students, and sharing costs could save tens of millions while offering students a wider range of classes and programs, educators say.

Some districts are looking into regionalization on their own accord, hoping it will provide long-term stability. But most are bending to pressure from the state, which since 2008 has more generously reimbursed districts that merge for school construction and renovation costs, like a dowry for an arranged marriage.

MASSACHUSETTS: Under growing pressure from state officials, small public school systems across Massachusetts are discussing potential mergers, defying the state’s staunch tradition of local schools and hometown identity in a quest for greater financial stability. For the first time in nearly a decade, several towns recently joined ranks to create new regional districts, linking Ayer and Shirley, Berkley and Somerset, and three vocational schools north of Boston. From a host of small Berkshire towns to Chatham and Harwich on Cape Cod, another three dozen districts are considering teaming up with their neighbors or expanding existing unions. Even Hull and Cohasset, Thanksgiving Day rivals with a decided class divide, are courting.

But many towns are deeply conflicted over the idea, uneasy with the prospect of relinquishing local control, particularly on tax and budget issues, and fond of their schools the way they are. Many parents blanch at the idea of sending their children out of town for school, while older residents feel nostalgia for their alma maters.

Governor Deval Patrick’s administration has pushed small districts to consolidate or regionalize over the past two years, believing that larger districts are decidedly more cost-efficient. More than one-third of the state’s school districts have fewer than 1,500 students, and sharing costs could save tens of millions while offering students a wider range of classes and programs, educators say.

Some districts are looking into regionalization on their own accord, hoping it will provide long-term stability. But most are bending to pressure from the state, which since 2008 has more generously reimbursed districts that merge for school construction and renovation costs, like a dowry for an arranged marriage.

CALIFORNIA: Along one edge of the old Ambassador Hotel site, where the Los Angeles Unified School District has been building a controversial collection of schools, there is a new park dedicated to the life and work of Robert F. Kennedy. Created by artists May Sun and Richard Wyatt and running parallel to Wilshire Boulevard, the park includes a series of quotations from Kennedy, who was shot and killed inside the hotel on a June night in 1968, and a few others.
Among the lines by Kennedy is one that seems tailor-made to address the controversy that has followed the LAUSD's attempts, adamantly opposed by the Los Angeles Conservancy and other preservationists, to knock down Myron Hunt's 1921 hotel complex and replace it with a new campus costing more than $578 million, a streamlined but conservative piece of work by Pasadena firm Gonzalez Goodale Architects.

[The conversation with the Conservancy] led to a solution that was tone-deaf architecturally: After failing to reach any common ground with the Conservancy, the district directed Gonzalez Goodale, in designing a new high school building, to match as closely as possible the size and shape of the old hotel. Other elements of the historic campus, which included contributions from Paul R. Williams and Gordon Kaufmann in addition to Hunt, have been re-created in ersatz fashion, including the old Cocoanut Grove nightclub, which has been reborn as a kitschy auditorium.

L.A. and its cultural guardians, in other words, had the decisiveness neither to save the original hotel complex as a school nor to make a clean break with the past by building an ensemble of entirely new buildings. Instead the LAUSD settled on an architectural path — confused, expensive and a little macabre all at the same time.

For all the constraints the firm had to work with, certain elements of the Gonzalez Goodale design, collectively known as the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools, show initiative and strength. Among them is the decision to flatten much of the site's rolling topography and knit the schools into the street grid of the surrounding blocks.
Given that the campus is really a collection of neighborhood schools that most students will reach on foot, that change makes a good deal of sense. It is also an implicit recognition of how this part of Los Angeles has changed since the hotel's heyday. No longer a glamorous and essentially suburban outpost removed from the life of the city, the school site now sits in the middle of a diverse, crowded mid-Wilshire residential district whose families had been sending their children on long bus rides to other LAUSD schools.

As a mediating presence between past and future, the Gonzalez Goodale design manages well enough, and a collection of public art woven into the campus effectively engages the hotel's complex history without having to mimic its architectural forms. The new construction, for the most part, is confidently contemporary and free of ornament, if also decidedly risk-averse. The dominant formal gesture is a series of oversized entryways wrapped in zinc.

KENTUCKY: The Bowling Green and Warren County schools systems have upgraded their ability to keep parents informed with a system that can do mass distributions of e-mails, phone calls and text messages and also target smaller groups within the schools. Both districts have contracted with Alert Now, a notification system that allows a school system to send up to 2 million messages every hour. The Warren County school system put the Web-based service in place last year, but only purchased the emergency notification portion, with only a handful of administrators given access. Hendricks said the notification was only used once and that was a test. There was no way to determine how effective it was.
For Bowling Green Independent, the system replaces the One Call system, which had been used only within the high school. The new system expands to e-mails and phones and, in the case of emergencies, text messages to all schools in the district. Principals and other representatives from the schools will be trained on the system this week.

Alert Now allows users to customize the system, to reach parents in the entire district, individual schools, or specific groups - such as parents with children in a specific grade level, extracurricular activity or on a particular bus route. If the system reaches a busy number or no one answers, it will attempt to call back within a three-minute time span. Because it is Web-based, notifications can be made from anywhere with Internet access.

County schools were prompted to make the upgrade at least in part by a parent survey that showed a need for better communication, especially among parents of middle and high schools students. Nine Western Kentucky University students from a marketing class, approached the school system about doing a market research project. The study - which focused on safety, technology, the district’s website, quality of education, quality of teachers and communication - was done in March. “We felt like there was a need, but we wanted to support that with the survey on parent perception,” Hendricks said. “You cannot enhance communications enough, and this system will let parents feel like they are the local experts at their child’s school.” There were 16 of the 18 schools represented in the findings. Under the area of communication, results showed 41 percent of parents were satisfied with communication between them and the schools and 30 percent were very satisfied. However, that perception differed by grade level.

LOUISIANA: Caddo Parish hasn't seen a new public school since the mid-1980s, and many of the district's aging buildings need repairs — including replacing outdated library equipment and worn sewage systems. Cracked exterior walls, inadequate space for school clinics and buildings that don't meet the Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility guidelines were among the issues addressed in a 5,165-page report detailing the physical conditions, educational adequacy and technological needs of 79 schools and sites.
Houston-based Parsons Commercial Technology Group began the 5-month, $1 million study last year as part of the district's Vision 2020 plan to reshape schools. The plan includes results from a recent community survey and a review of national best practices. Recommendations, based on these findings, will be made to the board July 27. Schools Superintendent Gerald Dawkins said the community will have a say in the matter, and it may be several months before the plan is finalized.

The average age of Caddo schools is 17 years beyond the national average and 22 years beyond the southeast region of the country, according to the report. And there are significant deficiencies in storage and fixed equipment in administrative, science, kindergarten, computer labs, performing arts, arts, music, physical education and remedial spaces. Clinics are almost non-existent and do not meet guidelines, and many schools have temporary buildings.

The total estimated cost to raise the conditions of all schools to a good rating is between $548 million and $803 million. Identifying immediate and long-term projects are under way now. The district will look at all funding options, including bond issue, private and public partnerships, grants and joint agreements. "I think it will be some of the most intense conversations that we've had because schools are at the heart and root of local communities and neighborhoods," Dakwins said.

CALIFORNIA: What's more valuable in a high school: Talking benches or teachers? Art installations and marble memorial walls? Or a few trees so it's actually cool enough for kids to play outside? A state-of-the-art swimming pool or functioning science labs? The sensible answers are pretty obvious, right? Not to the Los Angeles Unified School District, which chose to spend $572 million to build elaborate - no, lavish - schools out of the former Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard. Artificial turf soccer fields, historic replica spaces and public art sculptures helped push the per-student cost of the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools to $135,000, nearly 40 percent higher than the average school built in the central Los Angeles area over the past two years. When the completed campus opens this fall, students will be met by a shocking incongruity. They'll enter the most expensive school ever built by the LAUSD and find fewer teachers, older textbooks, larger classes and a shorter school year.
Yes, school construction is paid from one pot of voter-approved bond funds and school operations are paid from another pot of state budgeted funding, so the district isn't laying off teachers to pay for the expensive school. But, the district is still playing with precious taxpayer dollars. LAUSD has sought bond after bond to pay for school construction, even as enrollment was decreasing, and for big-ticket items, such as the RFK schools and the $230 million performing arts schools downtown. Meanwhile, older schools could use some rehab.

There's nothing wrong with spending money to build nice schools. These facilities become homes away from home for children from the time they enter kindergarten at age 5 until they graduate at 18. Having a bright, clean, inspired environment helps instill a sense of pride and enthusiasm in their school and, by extension, their education. Who wants to spend eight hours a day in a dump?
There is also value in historic preservation. Los Angeles has a sad track record of demolishing landmarks, and the school district has done an admirable job of recreating elements of the Ambassador Hotel, which was a center of historic Hollywood nightlife and was the site of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination in 1968. The fight over historic preservation unfortunately added to the expense of the school.

But somehow good intentions spun out of control. Nobody questioned how much is too much to spend on a school construction project. And nobody seemed to recall that previous LAUSD board members had pledged to find private funds to pay for the pricey additions of a park, soccer fields (for which groups will have to pay fees to use), art installations and the aforementioned talking benches that commemorate the historical significance of the Ambassador Hotel.
Worse, district leaders don't seem particularly bothered by this outlandish price tag. Their comments seem to imply that building lavish, expensive schools in traditionally underserved communities makes up for decades of neglect. It does not. Nor do swanky amenities provide what students so desperately need: Quality teachers, smaller classes and high expectations, to name a few.

CALIFORNIA: The first-ever Gen7 modular classrooms will be delivered to the Bolsa Knolls Middle School in Salinas, Calif. These new, eco-friendly Gen7 schoolrooms for sixth- and seventh-graders feature a high amount of recycled and recyclable materials, low- and zero-VOC interiors, and learning-enhancing acoustical design. Eco-friendly insulation within the classroom's walls and roof serve as sound insulation and minimize heat/cooling loss. Innovative smart lighting with natural daylight harvesting and energy-efficient mechanical and electrical systems ensure that each classroom is highly energy-efficient, exceeding California Title 24 Energy Code by more than 30 percent.

In approximately two months, AMS custom-built six Gen7 modular classrooms, designed to meet and exceed the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) criteria for learning environments that are healthy, comfortable, resource-efficient and easy to maintain. These will be the nation's first modular classrooms to receive CHPS verification for a new school on an existing campus.
Why green schools? Sarich added, "Not only do green schools enjoy 20 percent higher test scores, fewer absences, lower healthcare costs and higher teacher retention, these eco-friendly, low-maintenance classrooms save money for the school districts -- both in installation costs and energy savings -- up to $100,000 per year in direct cost savings and long-term savings of more than 30 percent." The six Gen7 classrooms at Bolsa Knolls are the first of a two-phase project. Eight additional Gen7 buildings and a boys and girls restroom facility are scheduled for delivery on the new campus late fall 2010 and will be ready for use when the students return from winter break.

HAITI: In an effort to inspire learning through a real-world situation, students from around the world have been challenged to create innovative and sustainable designs for small single-room schools that can be constructed across Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Natural disasters have increased the need for successful and thoughtful design of temporary shelters, and over the past five years, these have grown from a niche design element to a necessary aspect of the architecture profession. Needs range from transitional housing and intensive community planning sessions in the American Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina or the need for entirely new villages built following the tsunami in Thailand, The earthquake in Haiti on 12 January 2010 has yet again put the spotlight on temporary shelters and good, quickly built structures to accommodate thousands of homeless families and replace collapsed schools in Port-au-Prince.

Numerous organisations and individuals have invested time and effort to develop infrastructure for the nearly 600 000 homeless in Port-au-Prince. However, without social areas such as community centers, schools and libraries, the city of Port-au-Prince will struggle to bring displaced individuals back to the city center. It has been estimated that of the 4 616 schools surveyed in Port-au-Prince, 80% are damaged and approximately 431 teachers and 4 000 students were killed. An additional 250 000 schoolchildren are now displaced.

Autodesk and the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) both strive to provide architecture students the skills and tools needed to succeed in their chosen profession. In an effort to inspire learning through a real-world situation, AIAS and Autodesk have challenged students from around the world to create innovative and sustainable designs for small single-room schools that can be constructed across Port-au-Prince, Haiti, with limited materials and minimal construction experience. Using the Autodesk building information modeling (BIM) portfolio, students were invited to submit their designs for review from peers and juried professionals.
Submissions have just been reviewed by peers in a People’s Choice category as well as by a prominent group of judges in the Juried category. The winners and the winning designs from each category are as follows: People’s Choice: Elana Willey, San Joaquin Delta College: “Ji Lekol, the Little Haitian School that Juice Built.” Juried: Ian Siegel, New Jersey Institute of Technology: “Aluminum Disaster Relief Schoolhouse.”

CALIFORNIA: It isn’t collecting swatches and paint chips yet, but the San Diego school district is preparing for an innovative interior design of the charter school that will occupy two floors of the long-awaited downtown library. After committing $20 million to lease space in the library, the San Diego school board voted Tuesday to spend another $10 million to design and outfit the urban campus. A charter high school will occupy the sixth and seventh floors of the library, 71,800 square feet of learning space with killer views of San Diego Bay, the San Diego-Coronado Bridge and Petco Park.
Construction is set to begin on the library this month. The San Diego Unified School District is already thinking about how to design this nontraditional campus to take full advantage of its venue. But any firm decisions probably will come after a charter contract is awarded, said Jim Watts, San Diego Unified’s planning director. “This is clearly going to be a unique school by any district standards,” Watts said. “We certainly want it to be a really excellent design.”

Most school design projects are routinely sent out by administrators to preapproved architecture firms the district has contracted with, similar to law firms that are put on retainer. But because of the buzz surrounding this school, a special process may be established to attract top firms and creative designs. School trustee Katherine Nakamura, who has been a vocal advocate of the library charter, is hopeful the school will have a “wow factor,” a design that reflects its urban venue and innovative academic focus. “There is a flood of possibilities,” she said. “This will not look like every other school.”

Charters are publicly funded and independently operated schools that often infuse a theme into the day-to-day academics. The district will use $10 million in redevelopment funds from the Centre City Development Corporation to design the school interior, including architect fees, furniture and equipment. Of that money, $200,000 to $500,000 will be spent to make custom changes to the construction of the space, such as duct work to accommodate science labs, a staircase to connect the two floors, and an elevator stop and door from the underground parking garage. San Diego Unified receives about $5 million annually in redevelopment funds for capital improvement projects at schools in and around the city’s downtown core. In April, the school board approved a 40-year, $20 million lease to take over the sixth and seventh floors of the library. The investment revived the languishing library project that was virtually dead and desperate for funding. The library is set to open in July 2013, but it’s unclear when the charter school would open its doors to students.

WISCONSIN: New windows and upgrades to heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment this summer should help lower energy costs at Onalaska High School, Superintendent John Burnett said. The $500,000 project is being funded through no-interest Qualified School Construction Bonds the district received in August 2009. The high school is almost 50 years old, with several additions. “We looked for items that lent themselves to being funded over longer periods of time — energy saving-type projects,” Burnett said. The district also learned in June it is eligible to borrow an additional $1 million in the no-interest bonds.

CALIFORNIA: Schools in San Diego County are taking advantage of the sunny weather to save money, become energy efficient and spark students’ interest in science. In the San Dieguito Union High School District (SDUHSD), located in the Encinitas area, two schools—Canyon Crest Academy and La Costa Canyon High Schools—are installing solar energysystems to generate about 70 percent of each school’s energy usage. The solar panel project is expected to save more than $10 million in energy costs over 15 years. And since the solar panels generate energy without producing greenhouse gases, the district will reduce its carbon footprint by 2,200 metric tons.
With a $25-million budget from the district, the project is expected to cost about $12 million. The district will use school construction bonds, federal subsidies and $4 million in grants from the California Solar Initiative to fund the project. The rest will be offset to San Diego Gas and Electric.

The project consists of installing 4,000 three-by-five foot solar panels at each school site. The two-megawatt panels, which absorb and convert the sun’s rays to electricity, are placed on top of shade structures in the parking lots of the two school sites. SDUHSD chose shade structures based on results from neighboring districts like Poway Unified School District, which had security problems with panels mounted on the ground, and other districts that also had security issues with mounted panels on roofs.

With the district’s help, Canyon Crest Academy student government is raising funds for a JumboTron LED display that will show statistics and updates on the project and its progress as well as interesting facts about solar energy. Funds will also come from the California Solar Initiative grants, since the project will be part of the solar facility. As a site of green innovation, Addleman says, the project provides educational opportunities to students who will get a chance to be part of the construction planning. So far, the projects have generated interest from both students and teachers.

Neighboring San Diego Unified School District’s (SDUSD) solar panel project started in 2000 and spans across 30 sites. Instead of being placed on shade structures, the five-megawatt panels are placed on top of roofs. The estimated savings of the project are about $37 million in roof replacement, maintenance and electricity costs over 20 years. Currently, the project in its third phase and is considered the largest school district photovoltaic installation project in the country.

VIRGINIA: A local construction industry still hungry for work continues to add up to big savings for Fairfax County Public Schools. Renovation projects that were, a couple of years ago, slated to begin in fiscal years 2015 and 2016 could begin as soon as fiscal 2013, Chief Operating Officer Dean Tistadt told the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
"We're getting 13 to 14 bids on every project we do now," he said, leading to lower average costs and freeing up funds for additional work.

In 2007, it cost as much as $172 million to renovate an elementary school, while bids for similar projects coming in this year were around $120 million -- up slightly from the $110 million average cost last year. With the savings, there now are 11 school addition and renovation projects in the design phase and nine other projects are proposed to move up in the renovation queue.

VIRGINIA: A local construction industry still hungry for work continues to add up to big savings for Fairfax County Public Schools. Renovation projects that were, a couple of years ago, slated to begin in fiscal years 2015 and 2016 could begin as soon as fiscal 2013, Chief Operating Officer Dean Tistadt told the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
"We're getting 13 to 14 bids on every project we do now," he said, leading to lower average costs and freeing up funds for additional work.

In 2007, it cost as much as $172 million to renovate an elementary school, while bids for similar projects coming in this year were around $120 million -- up slightly from the $110 million average cost last year. With the savings, there now are 11 school addition and renovation projects in the design phase and nine other projects are proposed to move up in the renovation queue.

NORTH CAROLINA: Catawba County commissioners thought the means of funding school projects was in place until Finance Director Rodney Miller offered a potential money-saving alternative. It's a federal program that pays state and local governments for a portion of interest payments on construction costs. Commissioners have already approved a new Newton-Conover middle school and renovations at Arndt Middle School, Hickory High School and Catawba Valley Community College. The board is prepared to spend up to $32 million for the work.

Monday night, commissioners examined ways to pay for the projects. The county has been saving for school capital expenses, first setting aside 2 cents of the 53-cent property tax rate, and then adding another 2 cents over the past several years. Commissioners, with Miller and the finance department doing the preparation, expected to use the money they set aside, lottery receipts, and Qualified School Construction Bonds. The QSCBs are part of the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The purpose of those bonds is to sell them at zero interest. However, according to the county, transactions involving QSCBs in other counties have been financed at 2 percent interest. County officials were prepared to try selling the bonds at zero interest that would have saved $4 million over the 15-year life of the loan. The county also was ready to fund the rest of the expenses at 4 to 4.5 percent interest.

Monday, Miller told the commissioners about Build America Bonds. "We would borrow against our credit rating, which is double-A," he said, "instead of using traditional collateral." "The federal reimbursement could mean a less expensive loan."
According to the Internal Revenue Service, the Build America program "authorizes state and local governments to issue Build America Bonds as taxable bonds in 2009 and 2010 to finance any capital expenditures for which they otherwise could issue tax-exempt governmental bonds. "State and local governments receive a direct federal subsidy payment for a portion of their borrowing costs on Build America Bonds equal to 35 percent of the total coupon interest paid to investors," the IRS Web site states.

Miller wants to plot all possible combinations of financing to produce the least cost to the county for the school projects. Commissioners approved his request, giving him and County Manager Tom Lundy the authority to use Build America bonds if they prove to be a viable option. Reassessing the means of funding the projects will not delay construction or renovation. Whatever financing plan emerges must be approved by the Local Government Commission, a state agency that evaluates large expenditures by county and municipal governments to ensure affordability.

NEW JERSEY: A statewide nonprofit group has filed a lawsuit to compel two New Jersey agencies to adopt rules that would potentially allow the Jersey City school district and other urban school districts in the state to plan, design and construct needed school construction projects in their communities. The action, brought in the state Superior Court’s Appellate Division by the Newark-based Education Law Center (ELC), looks to force the state Department of Education (DOE) and Schools Development Authority (SDA) to set into motion a long-promised process that would allow some of the 31 urban school districts governed by the SDA to directly plan and construct their own projects while being supervised by the agency.

Initially, all school construction projects in the SDA districts could only be managed by the SDA, but in 2007 the legislature amended the law in an effort to both cut costs and increase the level of local involvement in the school construction process. Under the amendment, the DOE was required to establish rules that would determine if a district generally had the capacity to undertake the construction projects, and the SDA was required to establish rules that would determine if a district had the capacity to undertake specific approved projects.

But despite a deadline of August 6, 2008 to adopt the rules, there has been little action from either agency, according to ELC. Meanwhile, the SDA’s new executive director Marc Larkins is reviewing the agency’s 2008 capital plan, which covers 52 projects in urban districts, including several projects — like the much-needed School 20 improvements — in Jersey City. The EDC’s suit asks the court to impose a strict timetable for publishing and adopting the required rules.
“After careful deliberation, the legislature decided to allow capable districts to manage school projects in their own communities and, at the same time, reduce costly state bureaucracy,” ELC executive director David Sciarra says in a statement. “The DOE and SDA are flouting the will of the Legislature by not putting this process in place.”

NEW YORK: Wake County school board members will have to decide whether the best way to spend $59 million in school construction savings is on building two elementary schools. Administrators have recommended using the $59 million to build two new elementary schools that could open in 2013. Administrators have identified three sites.

"We've got the money and we're dealing with potential crowding," said Joe Desormeaux, Wake's assistant superintendent for facilities. He said the $59 million was accumulated from projects coming in under budget from the district's ongoing $1.056 billion construction program. Although the national recession has delayed some projects, the school system has completed most of the work funded by a record $970 million school construction bond issue approved by voters in 2006. Despite budget cuts resulting in layoffs and some classes being eliminated, the construction savings can only be used for other capital projects such as building and renovating schools and buying land. Staff looked at where crowding was the greatest and where the school system could quickly begin building. At a cost of $25 million per elementary school, the savings covered the cost of two schools.

NEW YORK: The Department of Education and the city teachers’ union announced a solution to a math equation that had been plaguing them since this spring: how to fit 16 new and expanding schools into space occupied by 19 existing schools. Those 19 schools had been slated to close because of poor performance, but a successful lawsuit from the United Federation of Teachers and the N.A.A.C.P. last March gave them a reprieve, at least for another year. The problem was that the city had already promised space in the closing schools’ buildings to the new schools, which were left in a kind of limbo.

Under the terms of the agreement, 9 of the 16 schools will open in the promised locations, alongside some of the saved schools. In exchange, the union pledged to not sue the city for placing new schools in the closing schools’ buildings, a matter that was left undecided in the lawsuit that could have been challenged.

Five of the schools found new locations, including the Manhattan Academy for Arts & Language, which will lease space at the union’s headquarters in downtown Manhattan. The city will pay for the space, but “at below market rent,” said Michael Mulgrew, the union president.

The city has repeatedly vowed it would try again next year to close all 19 schools that were saved by the lawsuit, by repeating the process required to close them, which two courts found was not in compliance with the law governing mayoral control of the city schools.

PENNSYLVANIA: A University of Pennsylvania project designed to turn a set of aging tennis courts into an urban park called Shoemaker Green has been selected as a pilot for the nation’s first rating system for green landscape design, construction and maintenance.
The Sustainable Sites Initiative will pilot more than 150 projects in the United States, Canada, Iceland and Spain to evaluate its new rating system for sustainable landscapes, anticipated to be analogous to the US Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building ratings. The Initiative is a partnership of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the United States Botanic Garden.

Shoemaker Green was chosen as a pilot project based on its numerous environmentally friendly elements. Plans by Andropogon Associates, a Philadelphia-based landscape architecture design firm, call for green space to replace the paved tennis courts that now lie in a 3.75-acre site off 33rd Street surrounded by the Palestra, Franklin Field and the David Rittenhouse Laboratories. The site is classified as a grey field—previously urbanized land—where storm water drainage is a major issue. This project, while creating a new open space for the campus, will also improve water quality, minimize runoff, restore biomass to the site and increase local biodiversity with habitat planting and use of living soils. By replacing paved surfaces with landscaping, it will also reduce the urban heat island effect.
The proposed design demonstrates the Penn’s commitment to sustainable site management as one of the goals of its Climate Action Plan (Almanac September 29, 2009). It establishes the framework for introducing sustainable practices into Penn’s campus and tying these practices into the living and learning environment. Shoemaker Green, as one of the campus’s open spaces, will provide a key link between the University’s core and Penn Park.

The Sustainable Sites Initiative plans to use feedback from the pilot phase of these selected projects to revise its final rating system and reference guide by early 2013. The US Green Building Council, a stakeholder in the Initiative, anticipates incorporating the guidelines and performance benchmarks into future iterations of its LEED Green Building Rating System.

COLORADO: The University of Colorado's law school has solar panels on its roof and an electric-car-charging station where a donor to the school can be spotted juicing up his Tesla electric sports car. A recently made-over dorm -- Andrews Hall -- just got news that it received a "gold" rating for its features like low-flowing shower heads and smart sensors that suspend heating and cooling systems when windows are open. And, come the holiday season, students can buy earrings crafted from recycled beer caps at a green-themed expo in the student center.
From a college recruiting perspective, green is gold. "I appreciate CU's environmental outreach," said CU student Rena Goldstein. "Many of my friends and family members recommended this school as one of the country's leading eco-friendly hot spots." She said she's been impressed with the dual-flush toilets around campus that save water and the amount of recycling receptacles on the campus.

An increasing number of students say they want a college that has a good report card when it comes to environmental issues. The Princeton Review in 2009 found that 68 percent of students, and 59 percent of their parents, value having information about a college's commitment to the environment -- which is a 4 percent increase from the previous year.
There are now a hodgepodge of publications and organizations interested in scoring universities for their environmental efforts, but they have wildly varying criteria. Dave Newport, director of the Environmental Center at CU -- a campus that was rated the No. 1 green school by Sierra Magazine -- expects that the "Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System" will emerge as the uniform standard in coming years. Newport said CU has made a name for itself as a green school: The university launched the nation's first student-led environmental center in 1970, and in 1976 became the first in the country with a student-led recycling program.

In its College Sustainability Report Card, the Sustainable Endowments Institute reports found that 69 percent of colleges and universities are weaving messages about sustainability into student orientations, according to Rob Foley, senior research fellow. That compares to 27 percent of schools that gave the green pitch at orientations last year.

At CU, barbecues for new students attending orientation are zero-waste and students are given reusable black-and-gold bags. Last year, the school -- using a grant for sustainability projects -- installed four filtered water stations outside of its "grab-and-go" food outlets, complementing similar stations in the residence halls. Sales of water bottles at the food shops declined by 15 percent, said CU dining director Amy Beckstrom. Dining services also gave more than 200,000 gallons of fryer grease to a local biodiesel company last year to be turned into fuel. And, more than 200 tons of food waste last year was diverted from the landfill and instead composted, Beckstrom said. CU student Kate Sandler said that she's wowed by environmental efforts at CU, chiefly the number of students she sees voluntarily plucking recyclable items out of trash bins or encouraging their peers to recycle. She thinks sustainability efforts need to be the standard at schools. "When looking for colleges, most students focus on majors and cost and things like that," Sandler said. "Greenness isn't usually broadcast as much. But going here really brings the eco-friendly issue to the front of what people think and care about."

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Now that summer has arrived in earnest, Washington, DC’s School Without Walls Senior High School (“Walls”) has become unusually quiet. This 440-student public school just enjoyed its first year back at its newly-modernized and expanded campus, giving me a chance to reflect on how well this learning community has settled back into its home.
The renewed facilities – a combination of a 19th century school house and a 21st century addition – have had a dramatic impact on learning. Test scores and applications to enroll in the school have both risen dramatically. The fourteen juniors who enrolled in the first full year of the Early College Program are taking dual credit courses at the neighboring George Washington University toward an associate’s degree.

In a roundtable conducted by the American Architectural Foundation, teachers remarked that the building greatly enhanced communication among the faculty. New distance learning technologies have further enhanced collaboration with students attending schools in Ghana and Nigeria, and the facilities have enhanced the sense of pride among the Walls community.

Walls provides tangible evidence that if you can look past the daily experience of the current problems beleaguering many of our older school buildings and truly assess their potential, many are capable of meeting contemporary educational needs with the proper investment. And when considered within a broader context of educational and societal goals, they may even exceed the performance of a new “green field” school.

NATIONAL: The “greening” of U.S. colleges and universities is presenting opportunities for engineering and construction firms.
Increasing numbers of schools that for decades have depended on coal-fired plants for steam and electricity are working to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions by shifting to natural gas and biomass, says Kim Teplitzky, coal campaign coordinator for the Sierra Student Coalition, an adjunct of the Sierra Club. About 60 colleges and universities currently burn coal, she said, but several already are planning to switch to other, cleaner fuels. For example, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in May announced that it plans to phase out coal of its co-generation plant by 2020.

Ball State University, Muncie, Ind., started a $70-million, five- to 10-year plan to swap four existing coal-fired boilers for a geothermal system. The University of Wisconsin in Madison this summer will begin a $250-million conversion of its Charter Street steam and powerplant to natural gas and biomass from coal. The UW project—which includes two new gas-fired boilers, another fueled by wood, agricultural waste and other biomass, and a 22-MW steam generator—grew out of a 2007 plan by Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D) to phase out coal at all state-owned institutions, says Troy Runge, director of the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative.
Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group, Lynchburg, Va., says it recently won a contract to design and supply a new biomass-fired, bubbling fluidized bed boiler for the University of Missouri. The 150,000-lb-per-hour boiler in 2012 will replace an older coal-fired boiler of similar output, says Karlan Seville, university spokeswoman.

MARYLAND: School construction is one of the biggest responsibilities of state government, along with other major capital projects such as highways, roads and bridges. Over the last four years, Maryland has poured more than $250 million annually into school construction and renovation projects that have both enhanced the educational opportunities for its students and produced thousands of jobs for its residents. Gov. Martin O'Malley's pledge last week to continue funding school building projects at the same level over the next four years if he is re-elected in November signals he understands the importance of such efforts as an investment in Maryland's future.

No one doubts that the key to a quality education is a good teacher in every classroom. But classrooms and the buildings that house them also play a vital role in creating an environment in which students can learn. Studies have consistently shown that up-to-date science and computer labs, well-lighted and well-equipped classrooms, libraries, media centers and athletic facilities all have a measurable positive impact on student learning, attendance and graduation rates. At the same time, the lack of such facilities has just the opposite effect: students who attend classes in crumbling, ill-equipped buildings, with inadequate heating, cooling and ventilation, soon get the message of how little society values their education.

Mr. O'Malley suggests that the $1 billion commitment he is making to school construction and renovation will generate more than 9,000 jobs. Job creation is a short-term benefit that his proposal shares with other large capital projects, and in an economic downturn like the present one every one of those jobs is sorely needed. But the long-term benefits of improving existing school buildings and creating new ones are even greater because Maryland's future depends on a well-educated workforce capable of meeting the challenges of the 21st century. For that the state will not only need dedicated, highly motivated teachers and principals, but also modern, well-equipped facilities that inspire children to excel.

CALIFORNIA: Three years before a fire ravaged San Jose's Trace Elementary this week, the school underwent a major remodel to upgrade classrooms and expand space. But the $3 million renovation didn't include a safety feature that fire officials have long sought California to require in classrooms: automatic fire sprinklers.
And when the school is rebuilt this summer, school officials probably won't include sprinklers this time either. That's because state codes that require fire sprinklers in new schools — and starting Jan. 1, in new homes — for the most part don't apply to existing schools or even to brand-new buildings on old campuses. And unless the state requires sprinklers, insurance companies won't cover the cost to install them — even when rebuilding a burned-down school like Trace. "We had Gardner, we had Pioneer and now Trace," said literacy coach Therese Beaver, who lost 14 years of work in Monday's fire, and recalled recent fires at San Jose Unified schools. "There seems to be a history here. I just hope maybe they would look at the number and maybe determine that it would be worth it to put in sprinklers."

That California mandates sprinklers in schools at all is the result of a vigorous campaign by firefighters after 60 children narrowly escaped their burning classrooms in 1997 at Green Oaks Academy in East Palo Alto. The lobbying helped produce the Green Oaks Family Academy Elementary School Fire Protection Act, enacted in 2002.

But ironically, Green Oaks itself, a K-4 school in the Ravenswood City School District, was rebuilt without sprinklers after the near-tragic 1997 fire and subsequent blazes in 2001 and 2003. Its namesake law exempted Green Oaks as a "modernization." San Jose's Gardner elementary was rebuilt after a 2003 fire without classroom sprinklers. The lack of a broader law frustrates officials of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District who responded to the Green Oaks fires and note that if a student walking out of his classroom hadn't noticed smoke and flames — the 1997 fire had disabled the alarm system — dozens of children might have perished. "We came as close as we can to losing 60 kids," said Menlo Park Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman. "How much closer do you have to get?"
Three more far-reaching bills were vetoed by ex-Gov. Pete Wilson and by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The education lobby opposed the bills because they would add to the cost of construction, Schapelhouman said. Competing with the demand for new computers, classrooms and cafeterias, fire sprinklers don't rise high on educators' wish lists. And opponents point out that there has never been a fatal daytime classroom fire in California. "In an ideal world, if I had millions of dollars, we would absolutely" install sprinklers, said Veronica Grijalva Lewis, president of the San Jose Unified school board.

The process of determining when schools needs sprinklers isn't an exact science. Districts remodeling schools must submit plans to the Division of the State Architect, which ensures that the plans meet code. Sometimes the results are surprising. About five years ago, the Oak Grove School District in San Jose sent in remodeling plans for identical schools — Sakamoto and Del Roble — and was told that it needed to add sprinklers at one school but not the other. "Now they are insisting we put fire sprinklers in both schools," said Assistant Superintendent Chris Jew. This summer, the district is installing those sprinklers, which have added $2 million to the cost of each 38,000-square-foot pod, Jew said. Oak Grove is paying for them with bond money. But Sakamoto school parent Danielle Contreras said she felt fortunate. "I would love to see sprinklers in all the schools, for a safety measure," she said. "You'd think it would be more cost effective than to rebuild."

CALIFORNIA: Three years before a fire ravaged San Jose's Trace Elementary this week, the school underwent a major remodel to upgrade classrooms and expand space. But the $3 million renovation didn't include a safety feature that fire officials have long sought California to require in classrooms: automatic fire sprinklers.
And when the school is rebuilt this summer, school officials probably won't include sprinklers this time either. That's because state codes that require fire sprinklers in new schools — and starting Jan. 1, in new homes — for the most part don't apply to existing schools or even to brand-new buildings on old campuses. And unless the state requires sprinklers, insurance companies won't cover the cost to install them — even when rebuilding a burned-down school like Trace. "We had Gardner, we had Pioneer and now Trace," said literacy coach Therese Beaver, who lost 14 years of work in Monday's fire, and recalled recent fires at San Jose Unified schools. "There seems to be a history here. I just hope maybe they would look at the number and maybe determine that it would be worth it to put in sprinklers."

That California mandates sprinklers in schools at all is the result of a vigorous campaign by firefighters after 60 children narrowly escaped their burning classrooms in 1997 at Green Oaks Academy in East Palo Alto. The lobbying helped produce the Green Oaks Family Academy Elementary School Fire Protection Act, enacted in 2002.

But ironically, Green Oaks itself, a K-4 school in the Ravenswood City School District, was rebuilt without sprinklers after the near-tragic 1997 fire and subsequent blazes in 2001 and 2003. Its namesake law exempted Green Oaks as a "modernization." San Jose's Gardner elementary was rebuilt after a 2003 fire without classroom sprinklers. The lack of a broader law frustrates officials of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District who responded to the Green Oaks fires and note that if a student walking out of his classroom hadn't noticed smoke and flames — the 1997 fire had disabled the alarm system — dozens of children might have perished. "We came as close as we can to losing 60 kids," said Menlo Park Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman. "How much closer do you have to get?"
Three more far-reaching bills were vetoed by ex-Gov. Pete Wilson and by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The education lobby opposed the bills because they would add to the cost of construction, Schapelhouman said. Competing with the demand for new computers, classrooms and cafeterias, fire sprinklers don't rise high on educators' wish lists. And opponents point out that there has never been a fatal daytime classroom fire in California. "In an ideal world, if I had millions of dollars, we would absolutely" install sprinklers, said Veronica Grijalva Lewis, president of the San Jose Unified school board.

The process of determining when schools needs sprinklers isn't an exact science. Districts remodeling schools must submit plans to the Division of the State Architect, which ensures that the plans meet code. Sometimes the results are surprising. About five years ago, the Oak Grove School District in San Jose sent in remodeling plans for identical schools — Sakamoto and Del Roble — and was told that it needed to add sprinklers at one school but not the other. "Now they are insisting we put fire sprinklers in both schools," said Assistant Superintendent Chris Jew. This summer, the district is installing those sprinklers, which have added $2 million to the cost of each 38,000-square-foot pod, Jew said. Oak Grove is paying for them with bond money. But Sakamoto school parent Danielle Contreras said she felt fortunate. "I would love to see sprinklers in all the schools, for a safety measure," she said. "You'd think it would be more cost effective than to rebuild."

NEBRASKA: The Omaha Public Schools is ready to show that Kermit the Frog was wrong: With commitment, it is easy being green — and it's saving money. The district's relatively new Green Schools Initiative already is paying off. Eight of the district's newest or recently remodeled schools have been recognized as Energy Stars. Running an Energy Star school costs about 40 cents less per square foot than a building with average efficiency. That means those eight OPS schools save the district a total of more than $300,000 a year in utility costs.
“The more efficient a building is, the more cost-effective it is to run,” said Craig Moody of the local stainability consulting firm Verdis Group. “This initiative is very much financially driven. Our goal is to make our schools as efficient as possible.”

OPS has had some green building standards for the last 10 years, said buildings and grounds director Mark Warneke. In all OPS buildings built or remodeled in the last decade, the restrooms have automatic lights, toilets and faucets. The buildings also have heat pumps that allow for individual classroom climate control. Those standards helped make the Energy Star schools as efficient as they are. Twenty OPS buildings use geothermal heating and cooling systems and many — including the Energy Star schools — have a building-wide energy management system, in which a computer monitors and controls everything from temperature to lighting and indoor air quality, room by room. The Green Schools Initiative will build on current district standards. The goal: Increase energy efficiency to save money and shrink the district's environmental impact.

Administrators and school board members say they want OPS to lead by example with environmentally friendly practices. And education — for staff, students and the community — will be a major component of the effort. When finished, Moody said, the district's green plan is likely to include everything from establishing public gardens to standardizing ways to cut carbon use in buildings and vehicles. When finished, the Green Schools Initiative plan will outline equipment efficiency options so the district is armed with information when everyday upgrades are necessary. For example, the district will know the cost and energy benefits if it decided to repair or replace a boiler or add a skylight when a roof is replaced. And it will try to spread the best programs under way at individual schools around the district, such as recycling and reducing food waste. “There's a real desire for this to be a leading-edge program nationally,” Moody said. “We're doing some really fun stuff.”

VIRGINIA: The Fairfax School Board voted to shut down Clifton Elementary School, following months of intense resistance from residents seeking to save the town's only school and a community centerpiece. Board members cited the outsize cost of renovating one of the county's smallest public schools, particularly during an economic downturn.

Clifton Elementary has stellar test results but a faded brick facade. It is not attached to a public water supply, and its wells have tested positive for contaminants. Officials said the cost of upgrading the 58-year-old building on the hilly 14-acre property would be about $11 million, roughly the same as building a larger school elsewhere. At the same time, they project Clifton's enrollment to dip below 300 by 2015, down from 369 this year.
Parents in the tiny picturesque town and its pastoral environs said the school is an integral part of their community and a crucial gathering place for families. In an emotional rally and at a hearing, many said they would rather make do with a pared-down renovation than have no school at all.
Some Clifton neighbors are seeking a historic designation for the 1950s-era building, which would make it eligible for federal and state grants to offset rehabilitation costs. A few agencies, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation, wrote letters to the School Board to support restoring the neighborhood school.

COLORADO: Paint jobs, vacuuming in offices and stairwell cleaning at the University of Colorado's Boulder campus will be less frequent because of budget cuts that have reduced the school's custodial staff. Last year, amid budget cuts, the university told employees they needed to take out their own trash. The elimination of the school's office trash pick-up service is saving the campus about $122,000 a year, according to CU officials.
Beginning this month, CU custodians will scale back vacuuming service from once a week to every other week and only clean stairwells two times a week, instead of three times. Painting will be "significantly reduced," according to the school's Facilities Management. Together, the newest reduction in custodial services will save CU about $202,000 a year, according to CU spokeswoman Malinda Miller-Huey. The university, in its latest round of budget cuts, eliminated six vacant positions that were responsible for office vacuuming services, stairwell cleaning and painting.

"When identifying budget reductions, Facilities Management's overall objective is to minimize the impact to the campus's core mission of instruction, research and public service," John Morris, director of Facilities Management, said in an e-mail to building proctors. "Also of great importance is ensuring that there are no impacts to the health and safety of the campus community."

CALIFORNIA: Mayors in three South Bay cities are joining a green schools coalition. Cheryl Cox of Chula Vista, Ron Morrison of National City and Jim Janney of Imperial Beach announced their participation in the Mayors’ Alliance for Green Schools at Chula Vista High School. The alliance is a coalition of 46 mayors nationwide who will work with the U.S. Green Building Council to promote the building of environmentally sustainable buildings at public schools and to encourage green renovations in South Bay campuses.
Wednesday’s event was held in front of the construction site for Chula Vista High School’s new creative arts multipurpose building — a $9 million LEED Gold structure approved by South County voters as part of Proposition O in November 2006. Speakers praised the 25,729-square-foot building as setting the standard for future projects. The building includes a 700-seat theater, large dance studios and rooms for choir, mariachi and band. The music rooms feature acoustic panels made from recycled materials. The hardwood flooring in the dance rooms is made of lumber cut in sustainable forests. Construction is scheduled to be complete in the first quarter of 2011. Though obtaining a LEED Gold certification is quite a challenge, some of the extras, like the carbon dioxide sensors in the green classrooms, impressed visitors. If levels are too high, air conditioning units will automatically circulate more fresh air in the room.

“Studies show students learn better; they’re less likely to fall asleep when there is the correct amount of fresh air in a room,” Jaime Ortiz, the district’s program manager, said. “I think that’s about the coolest aspect of all the high technology we’re implementing in every room.” Also scoring high are the eno boards in every classroom. Eno boards are like typical white boards that can be marked by teachers with a dry-erase pen, but anything written on the board is automatically stored electronically in a computer. The boards are made from recyclables. The building also has solar panels.

MASSACHUSETTS: The University of Massachusetts Amherst has less than two months to remove toxic PCBs from one of its residence complexes, but officials said they are confident the work will be complete before students return.
The Southwest Residential Area, where the polychlorinated biphenyls are located, houses 5,500 students in five high-rises and 11 low-rises during the academic year, which begins Sept. 7. It was erected in 1966, when PCBs were an ordinary part of the construction process because they were not flammable, had high boiling points, and were chemically stable, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s website. PCBs were banned in 1979 but remain in some old buildings. Now considered an environmental and health foe, PCBs are believed to harm the immune and reproductive systems, among others. Studies have linked them to cancer, according to the EPA.

People who have been in the area in the past 40-odd years can rest easy, however, according to Kim Tisa, the EPA’s PCB coordinator for the region. Tisa said humans can come into contact with PCBs in three ways: touch, hand-to-mouth, or inhalation. Because PCBs were mostly in the caulking of the concourse of the UMass complex, not the rooms, the likelihood of PCBs making their way into students’ systems is slim, she said. Tisa said PCBs are not volatile like gas, but they do tend to “migrate’’ to items surrounding them such as the concrete and granite touching the caulking. Blaguszewski said soil has been tested and contaminated granite will be removed and cleaned off-site.

ILLINOIS: What do you get when you cross a school funding crisis with a clean-energy initiative? Officials with three suburban school districts hope the answer lies in a downstate wind farm that could save them $2 million in a year in electric bills. And we think they are on to something.
It's natural for tension to accompany new ideas that have such public impact, but we have been impressed with the way Carpentersville-based Community Unit District 300, Keeneyville Elementary District 20 and Prospect Heights District 23 have brought about their plan to build a 19.5-megawatt wind farm in Stark County, 140 miles southwest of Chicago. The electricity generated will offset energy bills, perhaps leaving money that can fill gaps caused by the state budget mess. Put in perspective, a wind farm that size could provide electricity for about 5,000 homes annually. Three years in the making, the proposal had to be reworked again and again as school officials sought a financial model that would comply with state laws and protect taxpayers from losses.

The breakthrough came in legislation sponsored by state Rep. Fred Crespo, a Democrat from Hoffman Estates. It allows school districts to form consortiums that can issue bonds and opens the way for schools to fund renewable energy projects. Now the school districts can proceed. They plan to use a federal grant, tax credits and cash from the sale of the electricity to pay off private investors and bond holders.

In the coming weeks each district will vote on formalizing the consortium. We urge officials to forge ahead on what appears to be a promising effort. Risks are inherent in any new venture, and any savings from this project wouldn't be realized right away. But with Illinois still far from financial solvency, longer-term solutions make good policy for schools.
The legislation was designed to push this particular project along, but it's certainly not limited to the school trio. School officials throughout the suburbs should be watching closely. This experiment is one way we'll begin to determine whether these forms of renewable energy and intergovernmental cooperation are solid options for the future.

ENGLAND: Michael Gove risks self-inflicted injury after cancelling the Labour government's £55bn Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme and suspending projects in 715 schools. For Gove might just find attainment levels slip and pupil behaviour gets worse.
Last year the government's favourite auditor, KPMG, published a report on the effects of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) – a key component of many BSF programmes – on educational outcomes. The headline findings were that the rate of improvement in student attainment was 44% higher in PFI schools than in conventional schools and that unauthorised absences were decreasing in PFI schools and increasing in conventional ones.
The KPMG report backs up a 2002 study in the US conducted by the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities. Its report, Do School Facilities Affect Academic Outcomes?, found that spatial configurations, noise, heat, cold, light and air quality obviously bear on students' and teachers' ability to perform. This can be achieved within the limits of existing knowledge, technology and materials; it just requires adequate funding, competent design, construction and maintenance.

Chris Husbands, dean of faculty at the Institute of Education, is rather more reluctant to make a direct causal link between new school buildings and student performance. "The available research is variable and often of poor quality," he said. "We do know that bad school buildings impact negatively on learning: what we don't know is just how much good buildings improve the quality of learning. "However, it's not difficult to hypothesise that the quality of the school environment must have an impact on student achievement. Back in the 60s and 70s, most school buildings were of a higher standard than the homes of their students. This sent a clear message about the importance society placed on education. "By the 80s many school buildings were a great deal worse than the homes of their students – something the Labour government tried to put right when it came to power in 1997. It would be disastrous to return to the levels of capital funding of the 80s and 1970s." Husbands also points out that, though research also suggests a good teacher can offset an unsatisfactory classroom with good pedagogy, there's been no studies done on the average teachers who make up the vast majority. "Again, it's not hard to imagine that an average teacher is going to be less effective taking a lesson in a classroom that's no longer fit for purpose than in one that's modern and fit for purpose. At the very least, you have to say Gove is taking a gamble on student attainment."

ARIZONA: Kelty said the district lowered its energy use by more than 1 million kwhs between June 2008 and May 2009, saving roughly $70,000 in energy cost over the previous year. It did this by completing an energy audit; developing an energy management policy; installing basic energy-management equipment at three campuses that did not already have them; changing from single-campus, dial-up systems to a districtwide, Web-based system of control; upgrading the energy management software on some campuses; and creating control zones for gyms, administrative areas, music rooms and other areas.

Between June 2009 and May 2010 the district reduced its energy usage by 3.4 million kwhs, saving $222,200, even with rising energy rates. It did this with equipment upgrades: replacing classroom units and piping at Casa Grande Middle School; replacing the evaporative coolers on the CGMS auditorium with energy-efficient air-conditioning units; retrofitting 40-watt magnetic ballast lighting with 32-watt electronic ballasts and bulbs; installing energy management control upgrades at the rest of the campuses; installing variable-speed drives on all large motors districtwide and on the air-conditioning units at Desert Willow and Evergreen schools; and installing a pulse meter at Saguaro School to help regulate demand usage. It will be a pilot for possible installations at all the schools. “It has the potential to save a lot of money,” Kelty said.
The district also changed to large-team summer cleaning to shut down multiple campuses when not being cleaned, saving $40,000 last summer. It established after-hours settings in zones for evening cleaning and is refining a large-team approach for daily cleaning.

Kelty said that during this two-year period, the district added square footage and energy use at the transportation and administration buildings and the gymnasiums at Cholla and Cottonwood schools and still saved “considerable amounts of energy.” “Our EPA Energy Star average rating has increased from 12 to 41 on a scale of 1 to 100. Seven of our buildings are now at or exceed the national average of 50 for schools.” Board President John J. Klein Jr. said energy savings will free up more money for academics.

KENTUCKY: With 92-degree heat pushing up electrical demand, officials from Kentucky school districts met in Lexington to start working on ways to help their schools cut energy costs. The session opened three days of orientation and training for 35 newly hired school energy managers who will be charged with helping up to 130 Kentucky public school districts use energy more efficiently, and incorporate energy conservation into student curriculums. The effort could reach more than 1,000 schools, officials said.

The energy managers — most of whom are starting work this week — were hired with federal economic stimulus dollars funneled through the Kentucky School Boards Association and the Kentucky Department of Energy Development and Independence. Some of the managers will work for individual districts, but most will work with multiple districts. Officials hope school districts will continue the effort after the initial $2.5 million in federal funds runs out in two years.

John Davies, state deputy commissioner of energy development and independence, said the program will allow Kentucky to manage school energy use on a comprehensive basis for the first time. The need is critical, Davies said. He noted that Kentucky schools paid about $183 million to transport, heat, cool and provide lighting for students in 2008, about $93 million more than in 2000. Overall, he said, the state's schools now spend about $272 per student, per year on energy needs.

NATIONAL: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a nationwide recall of stadium lighting poles manufactured by Whitco Co. LLP, the Fort Worth company that designed and sold about a dozen of the giant towers that have crashed without warning during the past three years.
Most of the accidents occurred at public schools in Texas; two, in Hays County and in Round Rock, were in Central Texas.

The federal agency's recall follows the American-Statesman's reporting last year linking the now-bankrupt Whitco to defective poles across the country. In addition to the poles that have toppled, nearly 100 more were found to have developed potentially dangerous cracks at their bases, most only a few years after their installation.

No one has been hurt because of the faulty towers, although there have been several close calls. In March 2009, when a 125-foot pole at the Hays school district's Bob Shelton Stadium toppled and slammed onto a high school gymnasium, about 60 people were in the stadium at the time, waiting to watch a soccer game. The Whitco pole that fell a month later at a playing field in Uniontown, Pa., crushed bleachers and crashed across a field that, if it were not for bad weather, would have been bustling with school children.

The product safety commission's announcement follows a warning it issued in August, recommending that owners of stadiums with Whitco poles should have them checked for cracks. Tuesday's recall, for poles 70 feet and taller made by Whitco, states that "consumers should immediately stop using recalled products until they are inspected and repaired. "The poles can fracture or crack and fall over, posing a risk of serious injury or death to patrons and bystanders from being hit or crushed." In a news release, the agency estimated the recall would involve more than 2,500 poles. Many Texas school districts have already checked their athletic field light towers and, where necessary, removed or added support to their Whitco poles.
Whitco's poles have toppled in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Mississippi and South Dakota. A few fell at minor league baseball stadiums. But many of the defective structures were located along playing fields at Texas high schools.

Because Whitco is defunct, the school districts and other stadium owners have had to bear the cost of replacing and repairing the one- to four-ton towers themselves. Hays County spent nearly $700,000 replacing its light poles and repairing damage from the fallen tower. The Carroll school district in Southlake, outside of Dallas, spent nearly $300,000 inspecting and replacing its four Whitco poles.
Forensic reports delving into the cause of the poles' failures have reached different conclusions. While several have cited rapid vibrations caused by winds, others have blamed design or welding flaws.

NATIONAL: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a nationwide recall of stadium lighting poles manufactured by Whitco Co. LLP, the Fort Worth company that designed and sold about a dozen of the giant towers that have crashed without warning during the past three years.
Most of the accidents occurred at public schools in Texas; two, in Hays County and in Round Rock, were in Central Texas.

The federal agency's recall follows the American-Statesman's reporting last year linking the now-bankrupt Whitco to defective poles across the country. In addition to the poles that have toppled, nearly 100 more were found to have developed potentially dangerous cracks at their bases, most only a few years after their installation.

No one has been hurt because of the faulty towers, although there have been several close calls. In March 2009, when a 125-foot pole at the Hays school district's Bob Shelton Stadium toppled and slammed onto a high school gymnasium, about 60 people were in the stadium at the time, waiting to watch a soccer game. The Whitco pole that fell a month later at a playing field in Uniontown, Pa., crushed bleachers and crashed across a field that, if it were not for bad weather, would have been bustling with school children.

The product safety commission's announcement follows a warning it issued in August, recommending that owners of stadiums with Whitco poles should have them checked for cracks. Tuesday's recall, for poles 70 feet and taller made by Whitco, states that "consumers should immediately stop using recalled products until they are inspected and repaired. "The poles can fracture or crack and fall over, posing a risk of serious injury or death to patrons and bystanders from being hit or crushed." In a news release, the agency estimated the recall would involve more than 2,500 poles. Many Texas school districts have already checked their athletic field light towers and, where necessary, removed or added support to their Whitco poles.
Whitco's poles have toppled in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Mississippi and South Dakota. A few fell at minor league baseball stadiums. But many of the defective structures were located along playing fields at Texas high schools.

Because Whitco is defunct, the school districts and other stadium owners have had to bear the cost of replacing and repairing the one- to four-ton towers themselves. Hays County spent nearly $700,000 replacing its light poles and repairing damage from the fallen tower. The Carroll school district in Southlake, outside of Dallas, spent nearly $300,000 inspecting and replacing its four Whitco poles.
Forensic reports delving into the cause of the poles' failures have reached different conclusions. While several have cited rapid vibrations caused by winds, others have blamed design or welding flaws.

MICHIGAN: Nearly 90 Detroit Public Schools buildings are nominated for the National Register of Historic Places, an honorary designation that can lead to tax credits for redevelopers but may do little to prevent the demolition of some of the vacant structures. The effort to preserve the schools was led by Detroit's Historic Designation Advisory Board, whose planners spent $33,000 and more than a year surveying all the city's schools built before 1960 and cataloging their histories.

The state Historic Review Board approved 88 of the schools for the national register and will submit the nomination to the federal government as soon as this week. Federal officials are expected to finalize the designation this summer. The designation comes as nearly 150 Detroit Public Schools have closed since 2003, the result of thousands of students leaving the district each year. Some of the nominated schools are ones that are to close this year, such as Cooley High, built in 1927, and Hanstein Elementary, built in 1918.
Janese Chapman, a city planner who is part of the effort, hopes the designation will spark greater appreciation of the buildings and their potential uses. Instead of demolishing the community anchors, Chapman hopes the conversation will turn to: "How can we repurpose them?"

ENGLAND: Hundreds of school building projects are being scrapped as England's national school redevelopment scheme is axed by the government. Education Secretary Michael Gove said 719 school revamps already signed up to the scheme would not now go ahead. A further 123 academy schemes are to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. His department has been reviewing Labour's Building Schools for the Future scheme since the election. It concluded that all local authority schemes that have not reached financial close would not go ahead, saving "billions" of pounds. This means 706 schools in the existing BSF programme which have reached financial close will continue, but officials will see how savings can be made within them. Another 14 projects in local authorities further down the BSF priority list would be considered to see if a small number of revamps could be brought forward.

Some 180 schools have been rebuilt or revamped since the programme was introduced by Labour in 2004. And building is about to start in 231 schools. But 1,100 schools have already signed up to the scheme, investing time, energy and money into drawing up plans for redevelopment, but have not reached financial close. Originally all of England's 3,500 schools were to be revamped by 2023. The plan was to replace out-dated buildings with facilities that suit modern education.

MICHIGAN: The idea that students learn at a desk in a classroom is hard to break. American children have learned that way for centuries, since the days of one-room schoolhouses. Some educators today believe the practice is antiquated. What would happen, they wonder, if students left the school building to apply their knowledge in the real world?
Administrators in Traverse City Area Public Schools plan to install a community garden this summer at Traverse Heights Elementary with the hope it will do that. Ideally, it would generate fresh ingredients for school meals and serve a curriculum that weaves throughout students' subjects. "It's a complementary relationship," school board member Gary Appel said. "The garden is strengthened by the classroom knowledge."

Creating school gardens goes beyond a traditional field trip. It borders on immersion, with students involved in planting and cultivating. Rotary Charities of Traverse City awarded the district a one-year grant worth $5,000 to develop its plans. Students attending a Traverse Heights summer camp likely will help with the setup. Additionally, administrators met with the North Traverse Heights Neighborhood Association to discuss the possibility of providing garden plots for residents. At least 30 percent of the 450 residences in the neighborhood are rentals, said Larry Gerschbacher, the association's president. "This would give them the opportunity to have a garden," he said. "Everyone said it's a good idea."

District administrators in May outlined a three-phase plan when applying for the Rotary grant. The first phase, to start this summer, involves preparing the site. A school curriculum would be developed in the fall or winter. And efforts to include neighbors in the project will be ongoing. Rotary has supported other school gardens, including one at Concord Montessori and Community School near Alba in Antrim County. It is about the length of a football field and roughly 70 feet wide, school Director Steve Overton said. In TCAPS, vegetables could be sold or used in school meals to add fresh produce to students' diets, said Kristen Misiak, food service director. Organizers haven't decided what to plant, since students are on vacation during much of the growing season.

But the academic benefits are what Appel is most eager to see. He thinks a garden can help students understand ecology, the water cycle and the scientific method while incorporating Michigan's grade-level content standards.

MISSOURI: After coping with recent state school aid cuts that forced a 2011 school employee salary freeze and other budget reductions, the North Callaway R-1 School District finally got some good news from the state. North Callaway Superintendent Bryan Thomsen said he has been informed by the state that the district qualifies for interest-free bonds to pay the entire cost of the district's $2.5 million school maintenance bond issue, which was approved last Nov. 3. The bonds will be used to pay for new air conditioning in all elementary and high school buildings in the district as well as numerous other maintenance projects.

Last month Thomsen said North Callaway had received authority to issue $1.12 million in interest-free Qualified School Construction Bonds. Then Thomsen learned the state also had approved the remaining $1.38 million of the $2.5 million bond issue in another interest-free plan known as the Qualified Zone Academy Bond (QZAB) program. Both bonding plans allow school districts to apply for an allotment of bonds on which the federal government pays for all or nearly all of the interest.
Thomsen said North Callaway is eligible for the QZAB program because it has more than 35 percent of its students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals. The QZAB program also requires qualifying districts to provide a 10 percent match from a business or non-profit partner to prepare students for college or the workforce. Thomsen said North Callaway was able to meet this federal qualification by placing a value of at least $138,000 in contributions and services provided to the district by the North Callaway Booster Club.

ENGLAND: British Gas unveiled an unprecedented 15 million pounds Sterling investment in solar technology for the nation's schools. The company will donate and install solar panels - worth between 20,000 and 40,000 pounds per school - in up to 750 schools. Each school will be able to generate its own free, green electricity, cutting as much as 20% off its annual electricity bill.

The energy produced by the panels is anticipated to create around 1.3m pounds per year for the next 25 years. This will be reinvested in installing solar panels on yet more schools. This means that, in the next five years alone, British Gas could install free solar panels on a total of 1,100 schools. The panels will also help the selected schools to meet their carbon reduction targets, reducing emissions by up to 1,400 tonnes per year, equivalent to taking almost 400 cars off the road.
The schools receiving solar panels will receive a British Gas smart meter, offering real time information so pupils can see the difference their solar panels are making. Specially created Generation Green lesson plans will help teachers engage their pupils in learning about renewable energy, and schools will be able to track their performance against others and share tips and advice via a specially designed website.

Based on a formula created by the University of Bath's Centre for Research in Education and the Environment to measure the impact that teachers can have beyond the classroom, up to 1.8 million parents and family members could learn about renewable energy as a result of the initiative.

CALIFORNIA: While most schools sit like dormant ghost towns during the summer, a few are breaking up the asphalt, planting seeds that will be sprouting edible gardens come September.
It may seem counterintuitive to start new programs in this economic climate. Summer school was canceled at many campuses this year, the $1.7-million California Instructional School Garden Program grant to the Los Angeles Unified School District has expired, and the budget crisis has left countless teachers unemployed. But this groundswell, largely sparked by parent and community interest -- and perhaps some inspiration from Michelle Obama's White House garden -- is finding support in all the right places.

Ben Ford, chef-owner of Ford's Filling Station, and Akasha Richmond, chef-owner of Akasha, both restaurants in Culver City, spearheaded the recent work day at Farragut where parents, grandparents, children, chefs and politicians worked to lay the ground for a green space for students.
The organizers at Farragut hope they'll soon be able to tap Alice Waters for an Edible Schoolyard (ESY) certification, which will bring not only publicity but a seasoned veteran's perspective. Waters' ESY program is known for her implementation of seed-to-table gardens within the Berkeley school district, and has recently gone national, helping schools throughout the country execute curriculum-based gardens and locally sourced school lunch programs.

This summer, the Garden School Foundation, led by master gardener Nat Zappia, hopes to change that. On the first garden cleanup day, dozens of community members, former students from Food From the Hood, teachers and volunteers from Starbucks showed up to re-till soil, planting the seed for the soon-to-be student gardeners returning in the fall.
Bill Vanderberg, dean of students at Crenshaw High, plans to use the garden as a vehicle for learning within the newly created Smaller Learning Communities (SLCs). He hopes the Business SLC will be able to model off the Garden School Foundation's 24th Street School garden, where the fifth-grade children have struck a deal with Pitfire Pizza Co. to trade their herbs for pizza.

It appears that Angelenos from all walks of life are interested in lending a hand to advance the school garden movement, regardless of tough times. The Environmental Media Assn. and Yes to Carrots have partnered with LAUSD to sponsor 10 new school garden projects, one of which will be at Saturn Elementary in L.A.. Actor Jake Gyllenhaal will be their mentor, and architect Rogerio Carvalheiro, who worked on the Getty Villa and Union Station, will work pro bono on the design. Once completed this fall, they hope to add a "scratch kitchen," where children will prepare the food they grow.

CONNECTICUT: Public and private schools across the state that have children in eighth grade or lower will no longer be able to use pesticides on their lawns or playing fields, in accordance with a state law that took effect July 1. The law, passed this winter by the General Assembly, expanded the prohibition of pesticides on school grounds to the playing fields. It says, "No person shall apply a lawn care pesticide on the grounds of any public or private preschool or public or private school with students in grade eight or lower." The law would allow pesticide use to eliminate an immediate threat to human health.

Bethel schools took steps three years ago to eliminate pesticides. "We made the switch a number of years ago," Superintendent of Schools Gary Chesley said. "It's a big deal. You don't want to introduce poisons to the children. We follow the regulations to the letter, and we have a company we respect doing our work." The park and recreation departments in Danbury and Brookfield maintain the grounds of their schools and have been updated about the new policy. Newtown Superintendent Janet Robinson said her district has been free of pesticides for about three years. "We knew it was inevitable," she said. "The law requires us to keep a list of students whose parents must be notified if you use a pesticide, and it alerted us to a future ban of pesticides. We've been paying attention."

Nancy Alderman, president of the advocacy group Environment and Human Health, said the bill prohibited pesticides on school grounds, but it's taken years to make it effective on school playing fields. "It's important that the park and recreation departments that take care of the fields, and for PTAs that monitor what goes on in schools, to know about the law,' she said. "This is ground-breaking legislation."

NEW YORK: Getting back to the garden and to the roots of natural beauty and bounty is the mission of “Nature’s Classroom at P.S. 102,” a one-school-year-old gardening project that brings learning and fun to students at the “grassroots” level. “Transforming the school garden into ‘Nature’s Garden at P.S. 102,’ a name chosen by a school-wide vote, has been a highlight of the school year,” said Parent Coordinator Margaret Sheri. The garden project started last September with 15 parents and developed through weekly parent meetings. The fenced-in garden is on the 72nd Street block between Ridge Boulevard and Third Avenue on the east side of P.S.102. There is a flagpole in the garden’s center and school play yard behind the garden. “The children really love their time in the garden, and it’s exciting to see them take ownership of it,” Sheri said. “Almost all of them have a memory of planting a bulb, seed or earth-box, passing around a sprig of mint leaf to smell, reading the unusual names of cactus plants, letting butterflies go, or finding a favorite garden spot to read.”

The project is affiliated with the Green Thumb and Green Bridge programs and became a certified nature sanctuary through the National Wildlife Foundation. It is funded in part by a Parents As Arts Partners (PAAP) grant from the nonprofit Center for Arts Education, achieved with the help of art teachers from the Socrates Sculpture Park Annex in Astoria. “Our third graders are growing edible vegetables in ‘earth-boxes’ thanks to ‘The Growing Connections’ program of the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization, which gives the garden international flavor and support,” said Sheri.

During the past year there were not only fundraising events, she said, but also outdoor readings, walk-through garden observations, an Earth Day celebration, and the planting of 450 bulbs by third graders last fall. The garden includes herb, native plant, butterfly and cactus gardens, as well as nature-inspired artwork by third graders that adorns the garden gate. Future plans, Sheri said, include planting vegetables and joining the School To Café program, now awaiting application approval, that would bring wholesome edible vegetables to the school’s cafeteria lunches.

MASSACHUSETTS: A town committee is proposing the sale of two vacant school buildings because they have been unable to identify a suitable public use for the historic structures. Earlier this month, the town's capital outlay committee recommended the sale of the Ella F. Hoxie School on Williston Road and the Coady School on Cotuit Road, said chairwoman Mary Jane Mastrangelo. Both schools have been in Bourne for around 100 years. "We just haven't identified a municipal purpose," Mastrangelo said. The committee believes the town won't benefit from keeping the buildings if they don't have a specific purpose, she said. The Hoxie School has been vacant since fall. The Waldorf School of Cape Cod, which had operated out of the Coady School building, has not renewed its lease for next year, she said.
"It costs money to keep these vacant buildings open," Mastrangelo said, noting that the town paid to heat the Hoxie School over the winter even though it wasn't used.

The schools are residentially zoned, meaning businesses couldn't use the properties without a zoning law change. But they could be used by nonprofit agencies or possibly for affordable housing, she said. Jack MacDonald, a member of the town's historical and community preservation committees, said the schools' histories make them worth keeping. "They've got beautiful craftsmanship, they've got a history, and they're unique," he said. MacDonald said both schools are eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, and the Coady School nomination has already been submitted.

MICHIGAN: Since a shooting incident a year ago, Detroit police have been working to mitigate the violence that has extended from the streets into school hallways. And while officials say in-school violence is decreasing, some students and parents say the safety changes haven't been enough. "I feel safe at school," said Emmanuel Gannaway, who will be a senior at Cody High School. "But we do need more security."

That need may be partially met this year. The district plans to invest $41.7 million in upgraded security equipment, including new surveillance cameras and alarm systems at schools. Each high school will get 100 cameras placed in stairwells, hallways, parking lots, entrances and other parts of the school, the district said. K-8 schools will get 32 cameras each and elementary schools, 24 cameras. Enhanced surveillance is a tactic to keep outsiders from entering the school to start trouble, said Detroit Public Schools Police Chief Roderick Grimes.
The alarm systems, he said, will send a signal to officers when a door is breached. "That will give us somewhere to start the investigations on who got into our buildings unauthorized," Grimes said.
The district also has increased the number of metal detectors at school entrances, and Detroit police boosted patrols in some school neighborhoods.
Improving school safety is an issue for districts across the nation. Chicago recently unveiled a plan to spend $25 million in federal funds on school safety programs.

MICHIGAN: Since a shooting incident a year ago, Detroit police have been working to mitigate the violence that has extended from the streets into school hallways. And while officials say in-school violence is decreasing, some students and parents say the safety changes haven't been enough. "I feel safe at school," said Emmanuel Gannaway, who will be a senior at Cody High School. "But we do need more security."

That need may be partially met this year. The district plans to invest $41.7 million in upgraded security equipment, including new surveillance cameras and alarm systems at schools. Each high school will get 100 cameras placed in stairwells, hallways, parking lots, entrances and other parts of the school, the district said. K-8 schools will get 32 cameras each and elementary schools, 24 cameras. Enhanced surveillance is a tactic to keep outsiders from entering the school to start trouble, said Detroit Public Schools Police Chief Roderick Grimes.
The alarm systems, he said, will send a signal to officers when a door is breached. "That will give us somewhere to start the investigations on who got into our buildings unauthorized," Grimes said.
The district also has increased the number of metal detectors at school entrances, and Detroit police boosted patrols in some school neighborhoods.
Improving school safety is an issue for districts across the nation. Chicago recently unveiled a plan to spend $25 million in federal funds on school safety programs.

WISCONSIN: Bonds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act could save Rhinelander taxpayers 6-million dollars. The Department of Public Instruction recently awarded the Rhinelander School District permission to issue 10.4 million dollars in interest-free or low-interest bonds. These are a combination of Qualified School Construction Bonds and Qualified Zone Academy Bonds, both provided under the ARRA. The bonds will help fund the 13.7 million dollar school district project voters approved in and April referendum. That project includes facility improvements at several schools throughout the district.
Superintendent Roger Erdahl says this with less and less support coming in from the state government, qualifying for these bonds will be a huge relief for the district and taxpayers.

NORTH CAROLINA: One local restaurant is experiencing a significant increase in food sales due to the advent of a major construction project a half-mile down the street. Four years ago, the owner of Hoppin House Grille at 1005 West Mount Drive never thought such a large influx of customers would be at her business’ doorstep with money in hand. But that’s what owner Beth Winstead encountering regularly due to the new Rocky Mount High School going up at Old Mill and Bethlehem roads. “We haven’t really advertised,” said Winstead. “Most of the (construction workers) up the road heard about it through word-of-mouth.” Winstead said that because of the increased sales and the expectation of more sales once students are in closer proximity, the restaurant is looking to install a drive-thru at its only side window.

WISCONSIN: Three local school districts will get almost $4 million in interest-free loans created as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Elkhorn, Parkview and Sharon school districts were awarded Qualified School Construction Bond Program loans, according to a news release from Gov. Jim Doyle’s office. The program makes loan money available for school renovation or new construction. The federal government pays all the interest costs from the loans. The Department of Public Instruction administers the loans. In Wisconsin, 56 school districts were approved for $120.5 million in loans.

Districts will borrow the money to repair roofs, add classroom space, do remodeling, pay the interest of a construction loan for a new school, and do security and energy upgrades. Nine other districts earned $23.4 million through a similar program. The Qualified Zone Academy Bond program provides money to districts where 35 percent or more of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Unity Elementary School is braced to make history -- as home to the first school ever closed by the state for life-threatening building violations. Two members of the state Board of Education will tour the school ahead of a vote next month on whether to shutter the 55-year-old school. The 120 students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade would likely be transported to Claremont, about 10 miles away, if the school is closed.

The school has remained open for two years on conditional approval by the state to allow time to correct fire code violations that include "dead end" corridors with no exits, a lack of fire-resistant partitions and classrooms that do not have two exits. Local officials estimate the cost to make the repairs is more than the $5.9 million needed to build a new school. Several state school board members, at their June 9 meeting, expressed outrage that residents twice soundly defeated proposals to build a new school, with one calling it "deplorable." Board members made it clear they were ready to close the school.

The one-story school house built on a slab has numerous doors posted as "Not an Exit." Two classrooms can be accessed only by walking through another classroom. The nurse's office has no heat or running water. A small cafeteria doubles as a gymnasium. A quaint kitchen looks like it belongs in a hunting camp, not a school. "It's a tired old building that was built on the cheap, added onto on the cheap and now they're paying the costs," Baldwin said. "This is an opportunity for this town to rally and support a new school. It really is the most prudent solution."

WASHINGTON: It took years to pass the bond to replace Eisenhower High School. Now, School District leaders are drafting plans and looking to better the entire community in the process. What does a 114-million dollar school bond get you? A new high school, some remodeling and possibly an economic boost.
"When our community steps up and supports levies or bond that's a really strong signal and when we can tout that as a result of that two new schools. That's definitely a signal we're moving in the right direction," said Dave McFadden, New Vision.

Since the bond passed with a majority approval, the school district has been busy creating plans for the new Eisenhower High School. "We've had a lot of public comment periods and in addition we have a Web site that allows any member of the public to comment and I think at last count we had over 30 thousand hits on that Web site," said Dr. Elaine Beraza, superintendent, Yakima School District. Dr. Beraza said the old school is 225 thousand square feet, the new school will be larger at 320 thousand square feet. Ike's athletic space will double and the school will feature modern technology. "And we're really looking for something the public looks at with pride, but doesn't feel as if their money was wasted so we're look for really strong infrastructure," said Beraza.
"You know one of the first questions we ever get from a company is just what's the quality and quantity of your local labor force, well that's wholly dependent or mostly dependent on the quality of our local schools," said McFadden.

NATIONAL: Three years have passed since students at Redmond High School near Seattle set out to measure their school's carbon footprint. They looked at the school's electricity and water consumption, how much waste it produces and where it goes, how students and teachers travel to school - and at every other school activity that generates greenhouse gas emissions. Today, the school in the northwestern United States is saving some $30,000 in annual electricity costs, compared with power costs three years earlier. Waste costs have dropped by $10,000. Carbon dioxide emissions, meanwhile, are down by 200,000 pounds annually. That means Redmond High has beaten the goals set by the Kyoto Protocol, the international climate treaty. Not bad for a school with 1,400 students. So how did they do it?
"We're educating the kids that climate change has some pretty simple solutions," explained Mike Town, Redmond High's environmental science teacher, who pioneered the now-national Cool School Challenge ( http://coolschoolchallenge.org/index.aspx ) initiative, a call for students and schools to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. If they turn off the lights in a classroom for one hour they save the school district 4 cents in electricity costs," Town said. "But when you show them that they also save half a pound of carbon dioxide, then it means a lot more to them. The actions that the students perform have a carbon consequence and that's what we're trying to teach them."

Redmond High is part of a rapidly growing green school movement that is marshalling hundreds of schools and thousands of teachers across the United States to press for better environmental practices and instruction during school hours. Earth Day Network, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental group, is playing an important role in this effort through its Green Schools ( http://earthday.net/greenschools ) initiative. Green Schools offers grants and education curriculums to schools that want to go green, along with practical assistance for projects such as garden design and construction and implementing recycling programs. Earth Day Network, with the Clinton Foundation and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), launched Green Schools in 2007. Since then, 300 schools have been certified as "green" in accordance with USGBC's stringent LEED standards for energy-efficiency (LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). More than 1,700 schools are in line to be certified.
Building what Earth Day Network calls a "green generation" of children who grow up to be environmentally conscious citizens "takes a long time, and we're still in the early stages," said Sean Miller, the group's director of education. "That's why we've defined this generational change to take 25 to 40 years. Within that time frame, we're looking to see a complete transformation of school building standards as well as our school curriculum."

NEW YORK: New York’s highest court handed Columbia University a major victory for its $6.3 billion plan to build a satellite campus in Harlem, ruling that the state could seize private property for the project. In a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling that prohibited the state from using eminent domain to take property in the 17-acre expansion zone west of Broadway, known as Manhattanville, without the owners’ consent. The ruling held that the courts must give deference to the state’s determination that the area was “blighted” and that condemnation on behalf of a university served a public purpose, two ways that the project could qualify for eminent domain under state law.

COLORADO: On Election Day in 2008, voters agreed to let their property taxes go up in exchange for the largest renovation project in the history of the Mile High City. "You can't underestimate the responsibility we feel for the trust they place in us to actually agree to tax themselves," David Suppes, chief operating officer for Denver Public Schools, said. In 2008, voters approved a $454 million bond issue for work at every single school building in the district. It is the largest bond issue passed in Colorado's history.
Neighboring districts Aurora and Cherry Creek also had their respective ballot initiatives approved. The three districts combined create school construction projects totaling $873 million over a five-year period. "This summer alone, we've got about 200 projects," Suppes said.

Out of the 200 projects in the works, almost all of them have to be completed in the time from when students leave for summer vacation to when they return in the fall. "We have approximately 45 working days," Katheryn Zeeb, construction project manager for DPS, said. "Efficiency and organization are the two keywords." Zeeb says the construction needs are saving and creating jobs in the Denver area. "We've got crews that are willing to work every day that we've got good weather," Zeeb said.

Suppes says the combined school construction projects around Colorado are providing a major boost to the local economy. "I've seen it estimated at for every dollar that we spend on a bond program, it could create $5 worth of spending in the city," Suppes said.

With all the school construction in progress, some may wonder how the school district can spend all this money while cutting programs and eliminating jobs at the same time. By law, bond money can only be used for capital expenses and construction costs. He says the district will likely spend up to $70 million less than the initial projected expenses. DPS also plans on finishing all the construction within four years instead of five.

WISCONSIN: The Green Bay Area Public School District expects to save more than $3 million in interest on bonds through a pair of federal programs. School leaders said of the $16.7 million voters approved in an April referendum, $16,571,000 will be interest-free. The district was allowed to borrow $8,521,000 in federal Qualified Zone Academy Bonds (QZAB) and $8,050,000 in Qualified School Construction Bonds (QSCB) at zero percent interest. Combined, the two bonds are expected to save $3.3 million in interest.

To qualify for the QZAB program, districts must have 35 percent of more of their students eligible for free or reduced-price school meals under the National School Lunch Program. The Green Bay Area Public School District is at 54 percent. The QCSB program is open to all school districts, regardless of size or poverty levels. Top priority went to school districts that have passed a referendum or have a board-approved resolution to issue non-referendum debt, school leaders said.

NEW YORK: They were known as dropout factories: big high schools in poor neighborhoods where only a quarter to a third of students graduated. New York City under Mayor Michael Bloomberg has systematically shut down large, failing high schools and replaced them with small schools, many pegged to themes like the fashion industry or the business of sports.
A new study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - which has invested more than $150 million in New York City schools - suggests that the small schools have succeeded in boosting graduation rates for the city's most academically challenged students.

Proponents say small schools can provide one-on-one support to struggling students, and the specialized programs are supposed to improve students' motivation by enticing them to apply to schools that match their interests. "This shows the strategy is working," said New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, who since 2002 has shuttered more than 20 large high schools with as many as 4,000 students each and replaced them with 216 small schools with names like the Academy of Health Careers or the Law, Government and Community Service Magnet High School.
The study by the education think tank MDRC examined students at 105 of the new high schools with 550 students or fewer. It found that by the end of their first year of high school, 58.5 percent of students at the so-called "small schools of choice" were on track to graduate in four years, compared with 48.5 percent of the students at other schools. By the fourth year, the small schools had an overall graduation rate of 68.7 percent compared with 61.9 percent for the control group. Both numbers were much higher than the graduation rates at the closed schools.

NEW YORK: They were known as dropout factories: big high schools in poor neighborhoods where only a quarter to a third of students graduated. New York City under Mayor Michael Bloomberg has systematically shut down large, failing high schools and replaced them with small schools, many pegged to themes like the fashion industry or the business of sports.
A new study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - which has invested more than $150 million in New York City schools - suggests that the small schools have succeeded in boosting graduation rates for the city's most academically challenged students.

Proponents say small schools can provide one-on-one support to struggling students, and the specialized programs are supposed to improve students' motivation by enticing them to apply to schools that match their interests. "This shows the strategy is working," said New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, who since 2002 has shuttered more than 20 large high schools with as many as 4,000 students each and replaced them with 216 small schools with names like the Academy of Health Careers or the Law, Government and Community Service Magnet High School.
The study by the education think tank MDRC examined students at 105 of the new high schools with 550 students or fewer. It found that by the end of their first year of high school, 58.5 percent of students at the so-called "small schools of choice" were on track to graduate in four years, compared with 48.5 percent of the students at other schools. By the fourth year, the small schools had an overall graduation rate of 68.7 percent compared with 61.9 percent for the control group. Both numbers were much higher than the graduation rates at the closed schools.

NATIONAL: Hearing the term “high performance schools”, one might construe it in a purely academic sense, given news headlines about Race to the Top funding and other results-oriented legislation that focuses on student and teacher performance. For the AEC community, “high performance schools” carries a much different meaning: literally building an improved learning environment through carefully planned design and construction. The idea is sustainability with an aim not only to conserve energy and expense, but to facilitate a better academic environment through design and structural innovations that affect lighting, air temperature, humidity, noise levels, and other factors that can affect a school’s learning environment.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has delineated several characteristics of a high performance school, including the “usual suspects” in a “green building”: possessing good indoor air quality; thermally, visually and acoustically comfortable; energy efficient; material efficient; water efficient; built on an environmentally responsive site that conserves existing natural areas, minimizing water runoff and controlling erosion. Other notable characteristics are listed that seem specific to a public learning environment, including the building itself serving as a teaching tool, where the sustainable components of the structure can serve as a lesson on energy conservation; use as a community resource; and on an aesthetic note, the school being architecturally stimulating, creating a visual highlight for the community.

A misconception is that high performance schools cost more to build. This is not the case — the key is to plan early and thoroughly, taking an integrated systems approach to the building’s design. A variety of factors must be considered: the size of the school, its location and the climate, all of which contribute to specific needs for HVAC, lighting, building envelope, water systems and energy supply. A site-specific, tailored plan is necessary. Additionally, the cost of high performance schools is most accurately looked at with long-term operating and maintenance costs in mind, using life cycle costing as an estimating methodology.

ALASKA: Alaska will employ a grant program to build and repair rural schools after Gov. Sean Parnell signed the plan into law. The program will steady an often-inconsistent flow of school-construction dollars going to rural, unincorporated communities, linking that spending to the amount promised to organized boroughs and cities. Proponents had cited, as justification, court cases that found Alaska has failed to give villages and rural communities “adequate or equitable funding” for school construction. “This is a significant step forward for education,” Parnell told an audience.

The measure also extends in perpetuity the state’s promise to cover 70 percent of school construction debt in Fairbanks, Anchorage and other municipalities’ school districts. The Legislature had previously had to renew the promise every few years.
Funding for rural grants will be calculated by formula: For every dollar the state spends to help repay bond-funded school construction in organized areas it will also make money available for rural grants. The result this year would have meant over 3 cents in grant funding per Rural Education Attendance Area student for every dollar of outstanding bond debt.

The bill, pushed hard by Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel and co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, also includes a clause that will force the state to build schools to high energy-efficiency standards. The House’s Finance Committee added the clause during debate in April, which Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage, said improved a “groundbreaking” bill that improves equity in funding for education in urban and rural areas.

INDIANA: Gov. Mitch Daniels took aim at public school districts, urging state legislators to pass a law requiring the districts to transfer their empty buildings to charter schools seeking property. Daniels said public school districts are standing in the path of new charter schools by refusing to sell them unused buildings.
Forcing charter schools to use tax dollars to buy or build new schools when old ones already paid for by taxpayers sit empty is a waste of money, he said. "People say they should sell them," Daniels said in remarks at a charter school conference. "Sell them? . . . They should give them away. The public already paid for them."

Representatives of Gary Community Schools and Indianapolis Public Schools denied they're discriminating against charters or trying to block them. IPS is using nearly all of the facilities it has, spokeswoman Kim L. Hooper said, and it offers charter schools a fair chance to buy them when schools are sold. The argument made by Daniels and charter school proponents just doesn't hold up, Hooper said. "They make it sound like just because a school district closes a school, it should automatically be given to a charter school, which I think is ridiculous."

TEXAS: The Monarch School, a national leader in special education programs for children with autism / Asperger's Syndrome, ADHD and other neurological differences, is celebrating the A+ earned recently by its new Chrysalis green building. The environmentally cutting-edge, 100% green powered building is the first LEED (R) Gold certified and 'Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR(R)' certified special education school in the United States.

Monarch's Executive Board President David Matthiesen said, "We wanted to build green but we thought LEED and ENERGY STAR would cause exorbitant costs. Ultimately, we took a fact-based leap of faith, and learned firsthand that building green is economical, practical, meaningful and relevant to students, particularly ours with autism / Asperger's, attention deficit and hyperactivity, and other neurological disorders."

Shelly Pottorf, the project's lead architect with Jackson & Ryan said, "Being in a sustainable environment provides a significant advantage to the development of children with special education needs, like Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs), the prevalence of which has soared from 1 in 1000 (1990) to 1 in 100 children (2010). The Monarch School's results suggest that learning and playing on a green campus in sustainable classrooms would reasonably benefit all children, families and even faculty." Pottorf added, "Daylighting, outdoor views and better air quality – possibly the most critical green building strategies for healthy buildings – have been shown to improve students' health, attendance, test scores and overall productivity.

The new special education facility is also serving Monarch as a teaching tool about sustainability and the environment. Green Building Services' Senior Consultant Amanda Tullos said, "Monarch's gung ho, green students are the ones earning the school an A+ for going green. They've even interviewed Mayor Annise Parker about her plans for greening Houston." Science teacher Richard Klein added, "Monarch's curriculum integrates sustainability and clean tech with science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET) and other disciplines via several hands-on activities that teach leadership, entrepreneurship, neighborly respect and hospitality, as well as resource conservation for the great outdoors."

NEW YORK: It's hard to imagine a vegetable garden on a slab of concrete in a New York City public school, but it's a sight a Warwick dairy farmer helped make possible. The American Dairy Association donated 300 cubic yards of composted manure from Tunis Sweetman's Warwick dairy farm to PS 295 in Brooklyn and about 40 other city schools for their gardens.
PS 295, an elementary school, got the first batch of the composted manure, a nutrient-rich fertilizer. Students filled the raised beds inside the courtyard with the fertilizer, and met with Sweetman and a week-old dairy calf. "It was a very inspirational experience," Sweetman said. "These students were thrilled to put their hands in the soil."
Fertilizer deliveries will be made to the other schools this month. They all participate in the Garden to School Cafe initiative, which allows schools and their students to create their own gardens and use the produce in school lunches. PS 295 started its first garden three years ago, said school librarian and program coordinator Susan Weseen. The courtyard garden is the third and largest. All 400 students can use it. Students will plant produce next week. Weseen, some students and parents will keep up the garden during the summer, with a large harvest event planned for the fall. Sweetman said the garden is giving city children a chance to learn about agriculture they otherwise wouldn't have.

NEW YORK: East Side Middle School, on 91st Street between First and Second Avenues, is the first new public school building on the Upper East Side in nearly 50 years. By all accounts, it is a welcome upgrade from the school’s old home on East 78th Street. “Now, if I spread my arms out, I don’t touch both sides of the hallway,” said Gilliam Madans, 13, a seventh grader. Upper East Side campuses are overcrowded, with many students on waiting lists to attend schools in their own neighborhoods.
The 80,000-square-foot building, also known as Middle School 114, has room for 190 more students. It includes space for a special education program, and should help remedy overcrowding, school officials say. It also has a full-size gym.

The building was made possible through the city’s Educational Construction Fund, a partnership between the city and private developers who build and pay for the school. In return, the developers are allowed to build on part of the land, said Jamie Smarr, the fund’s executive director.
In this case, the developers, the DeMatteis Organization and the Mattone Group, added a residential and retail building with more than 120 apartments. The city leased the land for 75 years to the developers, whose annual payments offset the $45 million construction cost.

“This would be a great building if we had to pay for it, but for free, it’s off the charts,” Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Partnerships that combined schools and development boomed in the 1970s, but slowed and eventually came to a halt. East Side Middle School is the first privately financed public school building in New York City since 1980, Mr. Smarr said. He plans to use such partnerships to build schools in other overcrowded areas. Ground has already been broken on East 57th Street for two public schools and more than 100,000 square feet of retail space and about 350 apartments.

MAINE: The land behind Sag Harbor Elementary School, which currently hosts a storage container and tennis courts, will soon take on a new face thanks to a group of Sag Harbor parents and British designer Sam Panton of the environmentally friendly landscape architecture firm, Terra Design.
Their plan? The Sag Harbor “Eco-Walk,” an educational outdoor walkway that is designed to connect Sag Harbor Elementary School to Pierson High School, and aims to teach children the benefits of having an “edible backyard.”

When completed, the proposed Eco-Walk, which will rely on the Sag Harbor community for both labor and funding, will provide schoolchildren the opportunity to cultivate their own food and beautify their surroundings, while simultaneously creating a greater sense of community within the whole of Sag Harbor. And indeed, what could be a more symbolic example of community-building than joining Sag Harbor’s two public schools? The group’s committee is hoping to have a pathway extend directly from Sag Harbor Elementary School across Jermain Avenue to Pierson High School, and is working with other parties to ensure the walkway is paved and efforts are made to slow traffic and make both schools more accessible to pedestrians. The students in Sag Harbor Elementary School and Pierson High School will collaborate to plant, grow, harvest, and compost the project’s yield, creating what Sag Harbor Elementary School science teacher Kryn Olson refers to as “a full cycle” of both agriculture and community.
In an effort to expedite the process and drive home the theme of community building, the Eco-Walk, with an estimated budget of $100,000, will be created with “community labor, and most importantly, solely with community money.” Most of the materials, including trees and the solar panels for the classroom, have been donated by supporters of the project, and hopes are high for continued donations from local designers and small business owners.

WISCONSIN: Governor Jim Doyle and State Superintendent Tony Evers announced that 65 school districts will benefit from two programs that pay interest costs on bonds used to fund construction, renovation, and improvement projects in schools. To qualify for bonding authority, school districts submitted proposals to build, rehabilitate, or repair school facilities and obtain equipment for those facilities.
Created in 1977 and expanded with funds from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the Qualified Zone Academy Bond program will provide $23.4 million in bonding authority to nine Wisconsin public school districts. To qualify for this bond program, districts must have 35 percent or more of their students eligible for free or reduced-price school meals under the National School Lunch Program.

Another 56 districts have been approved for $120.5 million in Qualified School Construction Bonds. This tax-credit bond program was created as part of ARRA for all school districts, regardless of size or poverty levels. Bonds can be issued for school renovation or new construction. As with the Qualified Zone Academy Bond program, the federal government will reimburse 100 percent of interest costs associated with Qualified School Construction Bonds.

The Department of Public Instruction set priorities for an external panel of reviewers to evaluate Qualified School Construction Bonds proposals. Top priority went to school districts that have passed a referendum or have a board-approved resolution to issue non-referendum debt. Reviewers also considered proposals with projects for science, technology, engineering, and math; early childhood and 4-year-old kindergarten; Green and Healthy Schools; or Safe and Healthful Schools.

CALIFORNIA: Sometime in the last century, the design for public school campuses became set in stone in Southern California - or, more accurately, set in concrete: Unremarkable but functional school buildings surrounded by acres and acres of hard top used for parking, for large gatherings, for lunch time and for recreation. That model might have made sense 50 or 30 years ago, but the concrete fields that became the staple of 20th century schools are no longer considered ideal learning environments. And in the high temperatures of the San Fernando Valley, the blacktop yards are about as desirable as sun-scorched mall parking lots.
The parents and community members of Calvert Elementary decided these "seas of concrete" at their school had to go. They got together, raised half a million dollars and created a project called Calvert Green, in which organized volunteers replaced the concrete with grass, shrubs, flower beds and eventually an edible garden.
Officials at the Los Angeles Unified School District ought to be commended for stepping back and allowing the gardenifacation of Calvert. But we'd like to challenge the district to do more than just step out of the way when it comes to its 21st century campuses.

The school district has the perfect opportunity to innovate a new model for urban schools that employs native foliage and green spaces into design for educational, aesthetic and environmental reasons. Still in the middle of a construction spree, the district could lead the way for the next generation of schools, particularly those in more urbanized areas that already have a severe dearth of green spaces. Forget the blacktop - that is so 20th century. Instead, school and facilities officials ought to look to Calvert as inspiration for a LAUSD Green program.

LAUSD Green would ideally be an interactive program, with students participating in maintaining their school's gardens as part of their education and recreation activities. LAUSD Green would make sure every campus had vegetable gardens - if not for producing actual food for the cafeteria, then for teaching students about good nutrition, how food grows, basic biology of life as well as the rich agricultural history of both the country and the San Fernando Valley.

MISSOURI: During the weeks before the April election in which voters passed Columbia schools’ $120 million bond issue, administrators bragged about how a slow construction market would help the district get lower bids for its projects. So far, their hypothesis appears correct.
The winning bid for site excavation and site utilities for the district’s third high school was at least 30 percent under what the district had planned on spending. District administrators said the market is proving to be as weak to contractors and as favorable to buyers as expected.
If the trend continues, they said, the district could spend millions of dollars less than it had planned on spending, leaving cash available for other projects.

More than 77 percent of voters supported the district’s $120 million bond issue, one of the largest bond issues proposed by a school district in the history of the state. The district plans to build a $75 million high school among its other projects planned. The district has the $120 million to spend, plus $18 million left from a 2007 bond issue.

MISSOURI: During the weeks before the April election in which voters passed Columbia schools’ $120 million bond issue, administrators bragged about how a slow construction market would help the district get lower bids for its projects. So far, their hypothesis appears correct.
The winning bid for site excavation and site utilities for the district’s third high school was at least 30 percent under what the district had planned on spending. District administrators said the market is proving to be as weak to contractors and as favorable to buyers as expected.
If the trend continues, they said, the district could spend millions of dollars less than it had planned on spending, leaving cash available for other projects.

More than 77 percent of voters supported the district’s $120 million bond issue, one of the largest bond issues proposed by a school district in the history of the state. The district plans to build a $75 million high school among its other projects planned. The district has the $120 million to spend, plus $18 million left from a 2007 bond issue.

NEW JERSEY: New murals in Ringwood have been catching the attention of passers-by. The murals, attached to the Robert Erskine and Peter Cooper schools, depict images from the borough's Ramapough Mountain Indian community. They were created to bring attention to the rich culture that the Native American community offers to the area and its schools.
The murals provide the backdrop for native gardens that have been established at both schools. Faculty, students and parents have planted crops such as corn, blueberries, squash and wheat in these gardens to undergo the same tending and harvesting rituals that Native American communities experienced centuries ago.

INDIANA: At the end of 2009, as it became increasingly clear schools would need to do more with less, area districts began looking for ways to cut back on energy costs. To accomplish the cuts effectively, several area districts partnered with Energy Education Inc. A Texas-based company, EEI works intensively with organizations to help them reduce their energy consumption. It's too early to know the total savings the partnerships will yield, but officials are encouraged by the results so far.

Elkhart's energy conservation program began last fall, and a key move for the district was hiring Ted Foland as its energy education specialist. Foland spends most of his time in Elkhart's buildings at all hours looking for ways to reduce energy consumption and avoid waste. To measure the cost savings Foland uses a computer program called EnergyCAP. The software, which does not come from EEI, analyzes the utility cost information for the district. For Elkhart, that amounts to readings from more than 170 meters for electric, gas and water/sewage use. The software then calculates the district's energy savings compared with the baseline year. ECAP also takes external factors such as weather into consideration.
From January through March of this year Elkhart saved $223,767, or 18.8 percent, compared with those three months in 2009. "We're encouraged by the numbers we see here," Foland said. There's still more work to do before Elkhart will know its full savings potential. Foland will spend the remainder of the year finding the balance between keeping buildings comfortable for students and teachers and operating efficiently. He'd like to see the district reach and maintain a 20 percent energy savings.

EEI has played an active role in helping the district find ways to cut energy costs. Foland meets with energy management people at least once a week for several hours and consults with workers with experience in areas like electric and boiler operations. Elkhart pays EEI monthly and performance fees, and if the district's savings goals are met this year they will ultimately pay EEI $500,000. Hasler he thinks the district will save more than enough to cover the EEI expenses, as well as Foland's position and the one-time cost of the ECAP software, which is just under $12,000. Hasler said Elkhart is obligated to pay EEI for four years but believes the district will still net energy savings during that time. After that Elkhart will continue to consult with the company free of charge and will only be responsible for the cost of Foland's position. Energy savings generated by the district will most likely benefit the capital projects fund which pays for the majority of Elkhart's utility costs, Hasler said.

MASSACHUSETTS: Massachusetts sold $151 million of Qualified School Construction Bonds at a yield almost half a percentage point below more popular Build America Bonds. The Massachusetts School Building Authority’s debt, rated third-highest by the three major credit companies, was priced to yield 5.47 percent, or 44 basis points below the average yield for Build Americas, according to a Wells Fargo index. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point. In April, Los Angeles schools sold similar obligations at 8 basis points below the benchmark.
The school issue, the third-largest of such securities this year, was encouraged by the popularity of Build America Bonds, said Evan Rourke, a portfolio manager with Boston-based Eaton Vance Corp. Both of the taxable securities were created under the U.S. economic stimulus last year. “BABs helped pave the way” for qualified school bonds, said Rourke, who helps oversee $8.3 billion in municipal holdings. “They evolved into a product everyone understands and created a strong buyer base.” Build Americas, with issuance totaling $111 billion, are the fastest-growing part of the $2.8 trillion municipal market.

The Massachusetts offering boosted year-to-date issuance of so-called QSCBs to $1.9 billion, compared with $2.7 billion in all of 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Issuers from Nevada to Ohio plan to sell an additional $160.4 million of the school bonds this week.
The federal government subsidizes as much as 100 percent of the interest costs on the school debt and a fixed 35 percent on Build Americas. Since March, the school bond subsidy, formerly offered to investors as a tax credit on interest paid, is paid directly to the issuer, as is the case with Build America Bonds.

The building authority, created in 2004 by the third- wealthiest state per capita, can fund as much as $500 million in new construction and repair projects annually through a dedicated portion of the state sales tax, according to Fitch Ratings. Underwriters led by Barclays Plc marketed the securities.

NATIONAL: IDEO and Steelcase have just announced what might be a revolution in classroom design, a school desk that seamlessly adapts to whatever happens in class.
If you've spent any time in a schoolroom in the last 15 years, you're familiar with the high pitched whine of metal scraping against linoleum, as students rearrange their chairs and desks to whatever activity is going on. It seems like a minor annoyance, but it's a serious design problem: School furniture was largely designed 50 years ago for static, face-forward teaching. It isn't suited to the myriad forms of teaching that take place in the modern classroom.
Contrast that with the Node chair, which was designed by IDEO and produced by Steelcase, a Michigan-based furniture company. The details betray a remarkable thoughtfulness: The seat is a generously sized bucket, so that students can shift around and adapt their posture to whatever's going on; the seat also swivels, so that students can, for example, swing around to look at other students making class presentations; and a rolling base allows the chair to move quickly between lecture-based seating and group activities.

In group activities, the proportions are such that the chairs and integrated desktops combine into something like a conference table: And finally, there's storage underneath the seat--but off the ground--for backpacks, while the armrests themselves have a subtle flair that allows them to become strong, convenient hooks:

NATIONAL: Fourteen buildings across the county will compete head to head in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s first national energy efficiency contest. While trimming kilowatt hours off is their bottom lines, the business will also save money and help fight climate change. Nearly 200 applicants were received for the EPA’s National Building Competitio