The United School District of Antigo is asking for the support of the Antigo City Council on a school district application to a FEMA grant program used for building natural disaster shelters.

The Antigo City Council at its committee of the whole meeting on Jan. 2 discussed the request from the school district to become a sub-applicant on a potential grant application. The discussion was advanced to the city council’s Jan. 8 regular meeting, and will be discussed again during that meeting.

Jordan Buss, a consultant working with the school district on a grant opportunity, told the city council that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) offers a grant program to help communities nationwide build emergency shelter spaces and help areas reduce risk from natural disasters.

Buss, a longtime school board member from Spencer Wisconsin and owner of JBAD Solutions LLC Consulting firm, said he’s worked with 12 communities in recent years to secure FEMA funding to build natural disaster shelters that can also be used for other spaces, like athletics complexes, gymnasiums and other spaces.

Buss said the grant program is an effort by FEMA to help save local, state and federal funds previously used to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by natural disasters, by creating emergency shelter spaces to mitigate risk.

Heath City Schools recently announced it finished paying off construction bonds that will allow property owners to see a decrease in their tax bills this year.

In a Facebook post, the district said the Licking County Budget Commission approved its request to call the bonds, which can occur prior to their maturity date. The district in the post stated it would pay off the outstanding balance of the bonds and “all debt will be satisfied.” 

“The Heath City School District prides itself on being a great steward of the tax money allocated to us,” Superintendent Trevor Thomas said in a news release. “The payoff is happening earlier than we planned, but with an increase in collections we are able to save taxpayers on future interest payments, and with a decrease in their property tax bill in 2025. It is a win-win.” 

TOPEKA — The Kansas Attorney General’s Office blocked millions in school bond funds to a district in the state’s smallest county based on a rigid interpretation of a 2023 elections law. 

Voters in the Greeley County school district, headquartered in Tribune near the state’s westernmost edge, approved in May a $4.6 million school bond for renovations and new construction, but the Attorney General’s Office refused to approve the funds. 

“I feel like we have ignored a core tenet of our society and our government as a whole,” said John Niehues, the district superintendent. “You know, it’s the will of the people.”

The Attorney General’s Office determines whether any bond issue across the state meets legal standards. The Greeley County schools decision relied on a 2023 elections reform bill. It created a state law requiring county election officials to publish notice of an election three weeks in advance on a county election website, in addition to a traditional newspaper notice. 

However, Greeley County, with a population of about 1,200, doesn’t have a website.

The office found the county clerk’s “non-compliance with the website notification” was equal to a failure to follow the law, said Danedri Herbert, a spokeswoman for the attorney general. 

“This determination is purely one of compliance verification and not a judgment on the merits of or need for the bond in question,” she said. 

SHELBYVILLE — In the coming years, several schools in Shelby County will start to look a bit different, both inside and out. But building a brand new elementary school is not in the picture.
The Shelby County Public Schools Board of Education held a special meeting to discuss the details of renovations to multiple schools in the district. Representatives explained the renovations, how they will be used and how much they will cost.
West Middle School will undergo the most minor renovations. The upgrades and additions include a secure vestibule entrance, a new intercom system, and classroom PA systems.
To create the secure vestibule, the construction team will take part of the current vice principal’s office and remove a window to create the new front door.
After construction, the new smaller office will be given to the school’s resource officer. The current doors will remain and may be used for nighttime activities, sports, or car rider pickup and drop-off per the principal’s discretion. The new front doors will be decked out in security with a new buzzing system, badge reader and secure lock.
“The benefit here is that they will have a visual of who is coming to the front doors, the A phone check-in on the outer door, and an A phone check-in on the inner door,” said SCPS Superintendent Josh Matthews.
 

The potential health hazards that maintenance and engineering managers must address in K-12 schools go far beyond fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Managers also must deal with legionella — the cause of Legionnaire’s disease — and asbestos, which are present in facility systems and materials. Yet another threat that has existed for decades — lead in plumbing systems and components — continues to create challenges for managers and hazards for staff and students. 
 For example, Buffalo Public Schools’ challenge to address lead poisoning of children includes cleaning up contaminated water sources in its facilities.
 

PROVIDENCE – State and city leaders joined Providence Public School District officials on Dec. 20 to formally break ground on the Harry Kizirian Pre-K-8 School building.

The new school will replace the Harry Kizirian Elementary School building constructed in the 1960s, while changing the education model to serve students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, allowing students to easily transition from early childhood learning into the middle school level, school officials said.

The $55.2 million project will be financed in part with $45 million in state funding.

The community around Amidon-Bowen Elementary (401 I St. SW) is still hoping DC Public Schools (DCPS) will come up with a swing space for the school’s upcoming modernization that will work with the needs of the school community.

The bulk of Amidon-Bowen’s students currently walk to school, parents say. They want the swing space to be close to the community.

But DCPS has suggested the former Meyer Elementary School (2501 11th St. NW) serve as the temporary campus for their PreK to Fifth grade students. Meyer’s capus is 3.5 miles away from the Amidon home campus.

“It’s three and a half miles through some of the most congested parts of the city,” Amidon-Bowen parent Sarah Buckley said. Being miles away from her child’s school is especially worrisome given his number of serious food allergies, Buckley told the Hill Rag last year, when she first heard of the plans. 

ELY — Bert Gurr, who represents a wide swath of rural Nevada in the Nevada Assembly, was taken aback by what he observed at Ely’s David E. Norman Elementary and White Pine Middle schools during a visit this month.
The lack of fencing, unguarded exterior doors, stairs that limit access to children with disabilities and faulty heating and cooling systems at both schools are simply unacceptable, he said.
He plans to make rural school conditions a top bipartisan priority when the Nevada Legislature reconvenes in February.
He already has a placeholder for a bill specifically for the White Pine County School District, which includes Ely.
“It’s insane that we subject our kids to that kind of education process,” said Gurr, an Elko Republican. “When I was 5 years old, 6 years old, none of that was available, so that’s what we lived with. But it’s available now, and we shouldn’t be putting our kids through it.”
 

Nikolski’s one-room purple schoolhouse sits on the outskirts of the 30-person village, facing a vast, grassy valley. The western Aleutian village stretches along Umnak Island’s Nikolski Bay on the Bering Sea, with Okmok volcano on the horizon. Students come to school each morning by foot, bicycle or ATV — none of their houses are more than a couple of miles away.

One afternoon last September, the school’s 10 students — from kindergarten through 11th grade — sat listening on sofas as teacher Lynette Hall prepared them for the next day’s lessons. She asked them to take out their planners.

“Because you have homework today,” Hall said.

Some grumbled. A few cheered. These days, that’s a typical end-of-day scene. But for about a decade, it wasn’t.

In 2009, the Nikolski school closed its doors because enrollment had dropped below 10 students — the state's minimum for funding. Many feared that could spell the end of yet another rural Alaska community. When schools close, families often leave.

Mike Hanley is the superintendent of the Aleutian Region School District. He says ensuring there are enough students to keep a school open is always on the radar of small Alaskan districts. Hanley says he focuses on building strong schools for residents to stay or draw family members back to the area.

“The best thing that we can do as a district is to continue to provide a good, positive education and work with families,” Hanley said. “So that the education is not separate from the community, that it's seamless together.”

Supporters of lowering the threshold for passing a school bond measure will try again in the upcoming legislative session in Washington.

According to Education Week, Washington is one of 10 states in the country that require greater than 50% approval to pass school bonds.

Bonds provide funding for capital projects, including the purchase of property for a new school, the construction of buildings, or the modernization of existing schools. Bonds are sold to investors and repaid with interest over time from local property tax collections.

School levies only require a simple majority for passage. In Washington, most levy dollars are spent on staff compensation. 

Bonds require a supermajority – 60% – to pass and require voter turnout of at least 40% of the voters who cast a ballot in the last general election.

Six other states also require 60% approval for school bond measures, while Idaho requires two-thirds approval for passage. 

Because of the higher threshold, many districts have a tough time getting bond measures approved, often putting them before voters multiple times over several years without success.

Democrats have wanted the bond passage threshold dropped to 50%, as many districts can get support from a simple majority of voters, as opposed to the more difficult supermajority threshold.

For example, on the Nov. 5 ballot, Issaquah voters were asked to approve a $642.3 million School Modernization and Construction Bond. About 50.08% of voters approved the measure, short of the 60% required for passage.

Students in Harrison County may be on holiday break, but many school employees are still hard at work ensuring the buildings remain operational and prepared for the return of staff and students.

According to Harrison County Superintendent of Schools Dora Stutler, maintenance crews and head custodians continue their duties throughout the break.

"They use this time to get caught up on jobs they normally can't do when students and teachers are there," Stutler said. "Plus, they monitor the heating during the breaks."

Stutler explained that maintenance crews and custodians regularly inspect the buildings to ensure everything is in good condition.

More than 1.5 million children are studying in dilapidated school buildings, a Guardian investigation has found, with years of underinvestment leaving England’s public infrastructure in a crumbling state.

A study of public sector building conditions, including hospitals, schools and courts, has found thousands are in need of urgent repair, with conditions so bad in many that they are endangering the lives of those who visit and work in them.

One school in Cumbria had to be evacuated because inspectors found the floor could collapse at any moment. At a hospital in Sutton, the Guardian found masking tape holding windows in place and mud seeping through the floor.

The investigation combines data from multiple government departments for the first time, and has prompted calls for ministers to spend hundreds of millions of pounds more to carry out immediate improvements.

Haverhill’s Silver Hill School was recently invited into the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s accelerated repair program as the first step toward replacing the school’s aging roof.

The state agency’s board of directors invited the school, built in 1993, into the program more than three years after the School Committee first tried for financial assistance for the project. School Committee member Richard J. Rosa confirmed the school system expects the program to cover approximately 76% of the still-to-be-determined total cost of the project. In Rosa’s words, taking advantage of the state’s repair program is “a fiscally responsible step to ensure our schools remain safe, efficient, and conducive to teaching and learning.”

“With the Silver Hill roof beyond its expected lifespan, our partnership with the MSBA allows us to make necessary upgrades while leveraging state funding to ease the burden on Haverhill taxpayers. We have to continually commit to maximizing opportunities like these—whether the Accelerated Repair Program or grants—to benefit our students and community,” he added.

Today’s teachers and students aren’t tethered to a wall by technology. Nor do they embrace a traditional, one-sided classroom. New pedagogies and learning styles — i.e., visual, kinetic, contemplative and collaborative — are shaping not only the way teachers teach, but the way we design the spaces in which education flourishes. The freedom and challenge of creating forward-thinking and effective school design involves understanding and incorporating a range of teaching styles and priorities into each reenvisioned classroom. Of course, administrators must also navigate the funding hurdles of building or renovating these spaces. As pedagogies, technologies and funding requirements evolve, here’s what’s trending in the K-12 school design landscape for 2025 and beyond. 

Flexible, Resilient Spaces 
Every corner, wall and inch of today’s classroom has the potential to be functional. Designing four-sided classrooms that allow for collaborative projects as well as individualized learning (in all its forms) requires flexibility. In terms of today’s layout, that may mean creating breakout spaces for quiet moments where students can read and focus while retaining visible connectivity for teachers to observe what’s happening in those areas. Another option to shape learning spaces differently involves clustering classrooms (while still meeting square-footage requirements) and dividing that larger space into both contemplative and collective learning environments. 

Schools face many costs in educating students, but energy bills are some of the largest expenses.

Now, a new state grant program that aims to save schools money through solar energy is open for applications.

Solar power has grown rapidly over the last decade as the price of solar panels has fallen. But even though electricity from solar is one of the cheapest forms of energy over the life of the panels, the upfront cost of a private array can be a deterrent.

The Solar for Schools grant program, funded by $25 million in state money, will cover up to half the project cost of installing solar for grant winners. It’s open to public school districts, intermediate units, charter schools, and community colleges. Applications are due Jan. 31, 2025.

Schools may also take advantage of federal tax credits for using renewable energy through elective or “direct” pay, and get money from the IRS for qualifying projects.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), through the Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP), is thrilled to announce that applications are now open for the 2025 Renew America's Schools Prize. This initiative will invest an anticipated $90 million in school districts around the country engaging in strategic partnerships to build capacity and implement energy upgrades in their schools. 

The prize focuses on improving air quality, reducing energy use and costs, and lowering emissions across school facilities, with a special emphasis on disadvantaged and/or rural local educational agencies (LEAs). This funding is available for various energy improvements, including HVAC systems, building envelope enhancements, lighting upgrades, renewable energy technologies, alternative energy-fueled vehicles, infrastructure, and more.  

During Phase 1 of the 2025 Renew America's Schools Prize, teams will identify a portfolio of eligible school facilities demonstrating both need and eligibility for energy improvements. Up to 14 Phase 1 Winners will earn a cash prize of $300,000 for successfully building teams and submitting compelling applications identifying need. DOE will down-select to identify winners who may move on to Phases 2 and 3, wherein they will enter and execute Cooperative Agreements with DOE. Awards made in Phases 2 and 3 will vary by portfolio size but could range from $7.5 million to $15 million. 

Navigating the fallout from a natural disaster like a wildfire or hurricane is a complex process for school district leaders—especially if it’s their first experience attempting to secure federal financial assistance for recovery efforts.

And as climate change increasingly causes more severe natural disasters and emergencies like large wildfires, extreme heat and cold, and intense storms, more districts may need to seek funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, in the years to come to pay for facility repairs, debris removal, or temporary classroom facilities.

Leaders from three districts who have navigated the aftermath of natural disasters shared their top tips for other district leaders to remember in a similar situation during a Dec. 9 webinar hosted by AASA, The School Superintendents Association.

METHUEN, Mass. — On Saturday, Methuen Superintendent of Schools Brandi Kwong wrote an update to families regarding mice issues around the towns schools.
Since September, the schools have had ongoing informal and formal inspections from the city regarding areas of concerns within each school. The inspections found an alarming amount of mice in the Donald P. Timony school, Marsh Grammar school, Tenney Grammar school, and Methuen High.
“I mean I don’t really want mice in my school,” said Yandel Martinez, a 6th grade student.
METHUEN, Mass. — On Saturday, Methuen Superintendent of Schools Brandi Kwong wrote an update to families regarding mice issues around the towns schools.
Since September, the schools have had ongoing informal and formal inspections from the city regarding areas of concerns within each school. The inspections found an alarming amount of mice in the Donald P. Timony school, Marsh Grammar school, Tenney Grammar school, and Methuen High.
“I mean I don’t really want mice in my school,” said Yandel Martinez, a 6th grade student.
 

CHARLESTON, W.Va.— The School Building Authority will be making much needed funding decisions Tuesday morning.

The SBA has $54 million of NEEDs funding to give out, however 30 counties have requested funds that total $250 million. Five of those counties need funding in order to build a new school.

In November, the SBA saw presentations from 28 different counties on what specific funding they needed and what their plans were for the funds.

Kanawha County was among the counties that requested money to build a new school after they voted to close four elementary schools in October. They want to build a new elementary school that would fit the students of Belle, Malden, Midland Trail and Mary Ingles. The county currently has $40 million and are requesting $20 million from the SBA.

Another county that has requested money to build a new school is Putnam County. They want to build a new Hurricane Middle School because the current building is old. They were able to pass a bond in the November election in order to get $40 million in funds, they are asking the SBA for $25 million.

Department of Defense Education Activity has opened an annex to its middle school at Naval Base Guam to accommodate the growing student population. The annex at William C. McCool Elementary Middle School debuted Thursday with a formal ceremony, according to a Facebook post by the base that day. Seventh- and eighth-grade classrooms will move to the annex during the summer break in time for the 2025-26 school year, the post said. “We are thrilled to open this space for our upper middle school students at McCool,” Lois Rapp, DODEA Pacific director for student excellence, said in a DODEA news release Dec. 3. The annex was previously a dental facility. With the renovations it has additional classrooms, a science lab area and flexible learning spaces, according to the release. Neither the Navy’s post nor DODEA’s release listed a cost for the renovation. A contact for the Navy-funded project was awarded in July 2022, and the work was completed in October, Department of Defense Education Activity-Pacific spokeswoman Miranda Ferguson said by email Wednesday. The annex was designed to support an additional 120 students. “Enrollment at McCool Elementary Middle School has remained relatively steady for the past five years; however, the student population is projected to increase,” she wrote.