Everywhere you look, there are sure signs of fall: big yellow buses, hi-vis crossing guards and flocks of colorful superhero backpacks. 
September is back-to-school time in many parts of the country, and staff are welcoming students into buildings that have been prepared for a new year. 
But while teachers can create materials and lesson plans to support student success inside the classroom, they can’t control conditions outside schools that also influence learning outcomes. 
Studies show air quality, temperature, and even the presence of trees can affect how well students focus and learn.  
Now, with support from the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund, four elementary schools in Philadelphia — one in South Philadelphia and three in Southwest — will transform their grounds into vibrant green spaces that benefit students, teachers and their communities. 
Reimagining the learning environment
In partnership with the School District of Philadelphia, The Nature Conservancy received a $1 million grant to replace asphalt and concrete schoolyards with shade trees, outdoor classrooms, pollinator gardens and green stormwater infrastructure, like rain gardens. 
The project is one of six this year supported by funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that was directed to the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund for community-driven, green infrastructure projects.  
 

SUNDERLAND — At a special meeting of the Taconic and Green Regional School District Board on Monday, September 9, the Sunderland community firmly rejected the idea of closing their local elementary school – though a reconfiguration of the district appears inevitable.

“The current configuration of educational programming in our five schools is not what's best for teaching and learning,” said Randi Lowe, Superintendent of the Bennington Rutland Supervisory Union (BRSU), of which the Taconic & Green district is a part. “I'm seeing the impact on our students and on our teachers, and I'm saying we really need to look at doing things differently.”

More than a hundred school districts across Pennsylvania are slated to receive $75 million in state funding to improve classroom air quality, install filtered drinking fountains and prevent mold.

State officials announced this week that 109 districts statewide were awarded money through the Department of Education’s Environmental Repairs Grants program.

“This funding will enable schools to repair buildings and provide students and school staff with safe air to breathe, water to drink, and classrooms to learn in,” said Education Secretary Khalid Mumin.

15 school districts, charter schools and career and technical education centers in Allegheny County will receive a combined $10.7 million to make environmental repairs.

MILFORD — The school system needs about $475 million in improvements over the next 20 years, a consultant that assessed its 14 schools has concluded.
The facilities assessment is a piece in a four-prong study that will be used to determine the district's long -range plan for the school buildings and operating infrastructure.While no decisions were made during Monday's meeting, most board members agreed, the information was useful and the work is ongoing.
About 30 members of the public attended the school board meeting at Jonathan Law High School. There were no public comments.  

Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler (D-Philadelphia) took a victory lap Monday under the Capitol rotunda following a ceremonial signing of a bill she championed that will fund solar projects in Pennsylvania schools. 

“A year and a half ago, we were standing here, we had a solar panel in front of the podium,” Fiedler said. “But we did not know we would get to this point today.”

The Solar for Schools legislation provides $25 million in state funding that can cover up to half approved school solar projects. But the real hope is that that money will serve as a bridge allowing approved school districts to access even more funding provided by the federal government through the Inflation Reduction Act. 

In an ideal situation, between state and federal funding, the majority of the initial costs of installing solar panels would be covered. And moreover, the installation of solar panels could greatly reduce electric costs, freeing up money for other educational programs.

But the cost and scope of projects can vary, as well as access to initial funding that some school districts may require. And Fiedler said she expects many school districts to apply for the available funds, which could be drained quickly.

Extreme heat over the Portland metro area prompted several school districts to release their students early or cancel classes completely on Friday due to a lack of air conditioning units.

School officials and environmental groups connect the absence of AC systems to a lack of funding for school modernization. They suggest such investment is needed to avoid heat-related school closures in the future and to better protect students as the climate crisis continues.

On Friday, temperatures continued to climb throughout most parts of the state prompting an excessive heat warning.

The role neighborhood schools once played as the center of community life is dwindling as public schools shutter across America.

Why it matters: School closures have well-documented impacts on academic outcomes, but more recent research shows they also can lower housing values, raise crime rates and diminish the social fabric of a neighborhood.

Yet districts rarely consider their community value when deciding whether buildings should close, experts tell Axios.
The big picture: More than 5,000 public schools closed across the U.S. between 2017 and 2022, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics.

Urban Institute research dating back to 2003 found that closures happened across urban, suburban and rural geographies and socioeconomic statuses.
Threat level: More districts may be forced to close schools after pandemic-era funding, which many institutions used to plug budget holes, expires at the end of this year, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities cautions.

NEW YORK (WABC) -- New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Schools Chancellor David Banks announced on Wednesday that 24 new school buildings are opening this year.

Their announcement comes the day before the start of the 2024-2025 school year for public school students.

The two dozen new school buildings will include 11,010 new seats across the city. It marks the most new K-12 seats opened by the School Construction Authority since 2003.

The new buildings are spread across four boroughs including nine in Brooklyn, eight in the Bronx, one in Manhattan, and six in Queens. They were constructed with green spaces and environmentally friendly materials.

Key features include innovative learning spaces and classrooms equipped with the latest technology, flexible space and furniture and collaborative work spaces.

Students and teachers experience the challenges of climate change firsthand, including struggles with extreme heat exacerbated by poor air quality and ventilation, and more and more missed days due to heatwaves and wildfire smoke. All harm student performance and make it harder to learn.

A newly coalescing coalition of school districts, teachers, and nonprofits see a solution available to all schools, one that can not only alleviate these inconveniences, but also address inequalities and funding shortfalls and upgrade our crumbling schools. Half the nation’s elementary schools are over a half-century old, with near-failing maintenance scores from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Taking advantage of the IRA
By tapping into funding sources and incentives found in the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, schools can defray the costs of all manner of infrastructure investments that can help improve their resiliency and save money. Organizations such as Undaunted K12 are pushing schools to take advantage of the nation’s largest clean energy investment; of the roughly 13,000 districts in the U.S., just a couple dozen have applied so far.

MONROE, La. (KNOE) - The Monroe City School Board is focusing on safety and security with updates to its school campuses.

The school board held its facilities committee meeting at the administration building on Wednesday morning (Sept. 4) to talk about maintenance and facility conditions. Within the next two weeks, the school board will work with architect Brian McGuire of The Architecture Alliance Group to begin security assessments at certain schools.

“The safety assessment - I think that is definitely the right direction... to move for our district, so we can get back those reports to see the direction we need to go and prioritize our needs because as we know, majority of our buildings are 50 plus-year-old buildings,” said superintendent Sam Moore III of Monroe City Schools.

At this time, the pavilions at Martin Luther King Junior High School are out for bid, according to McGuire. Those pavilions will be for the new outdoor learning center. McGuire also said that the steel got delivered Wednesday for crews to begin building the new softball batting cage at Neville High School.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Renew America’s Schools Program, in partnership with the DOE Efficient and Healthy Schools Program, today opened applications for the 2024-2025 Energy Champions Leading the Advancement of Sustainable Schools Program (Energy CLASS). This initiative, aimed at advancing building and energy management in schools around the country, supports the Biden-Harris administration’s broader Action Plan for Building Better School Infrastructure. Through the 2024-2025 Energy CLASS, participating local educational agencies (LEAs) will develop and advance plans, policies, and projects that make critical clean energy and health improvements, thereby promoting building and energy management in school districts across America. 

Each of the 50 participating LEAs will nominate an energy champion who will engage with Energy CLASS resources and trainings, and receive 1:1 expert advice on strategic energy management, project development, funding pathways, and related topics. Leveraging the outcome-based peer-to-peer learning network of Energy CLASS, champions will deepen bandwidth and knowledge for advancing the fiscal and environmental sustainability of their schools.   

In March 2020, as the pandemic struck, St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School (4700 Whitehaven Pkwy NW) faced a dilemma shared by many schools: how to safely educate its 465 students ranging in age from nursery school to grade 8. Assistant Head of Lower School and Director of Sustainability Sam Mason had already been considering building a garden on property near to the school’s athletic field at 8101 Foxhall Rd. NW. The school accelerated the process.

During the summer of 2020, the school community partnered with District landscaping and gardening company Love & Carrots to design and build the fenced-in garden, complete with three outdoor classrooms.

Having the outdoor space was especially valuable for classes and activities during the pandemic when indoor spaces had more restrictions, Mason said. But it continues to serve that role today, encouraging the development of the whole child while reinforcing and broadening learning possibilities in science, art and environmental learning.

In Brooklyn, one of New York City’s five boroughs, a new schoolyard features newly-planted native trees offering shade and bright playground equipment that sits adjacent to a track and turf field. Colorful murals celebrating the diversity of its Boreum Hill neighborhood surround the area. Seniors play chess while toddlers run past. It could easily be mistaken for a public park if it weren't for the school signage on the building next door.

The Pacific School (P.S. 38K) is one of more than 220 New York City public schools to transform its asphalt playground into a vibrant community space over the past two decades thanks to Trust for Public Land’s (TPL’s) Green Community Schoolyards. The program aims to create safe, accessible green places for New Yorkers — particularly those in disadvantaged neighborhoods — to gather close to their homes and connect with nature.

“It’s absolutely beautiful. I love it. It’s incredible, just amazing,” said Trinity Area School District resident Lauren Leeper, standing in the middle of Trinity Intermediate School’s second-floor media center.

Leeper, accompanied by her sons, Ryan, a third-grader, and Henry, a second-grader, was among the hundreds of parents, students and residents who turned out Thursday when the school district – which celebrates its 100th anniversary this school year – welcomed the public to tour the 106,658-square-foot intermediate school at a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house.

On Tuesday, the first day of school, about 600 fourth- and fifth-graders will walk into the state-of-the-art, three-story building, and launch Trinity Intermediate School’s inaugural academic year.

The open house capped off three years of planning and construction. The school board voted in 2021 to move forward with construction of the new school, in response to a rapidly growing student population in the district.

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — Students of a Freehold Township elementary school will be temporarily relocated to other buildings in the district after mold was discovered in their building.

The Laura Donovan Elementary School may be closed for months as remediation takes place, district officials said this week.

"Our plan will provide safe, stable class space and ample time to provide a clean Donovan building," school board President Michael Amoroso wrote Thursday in a letter to the school community. "The timeframe is still unknown exactly but the estimation is that we are off-site for a few months at most."

School officials said the source of the mold remains under investigation by engineers and district consultants. Custodial staff discovered the mold earlier this summer and reported it to administrators, they said.

The Virgin Islands Board of Education (VIBE) participated in the recent Opening of Schools Tour, during which it had the opportunity to visit various educational facilities and engage with school leaders and teachers. The board remains dedicated to ensuring that every student in its community has access to a safe and conducive learning environment.

During the tour, the board, through its School Plants and Facilities Committee, identified several critical areas of need within USVI schools, particularly regarding maintenance and infrastructure. The board recognizes that these challenges, including ongoing issues related to the heat in classrooms, require immediate attention to ensure students and educators can focus on what truly matters — teaching and learning.

STATEWIDE (WGME) --As students in Maine head back to the classroom, many are returning to buildings that are decades old, with some over a half-century or more.

Many of these aging schools were built long before modern code standards and the Americans with Disabilities Act were established, leading to significant challenges with both their maintenance and the quality of the learning environment they can provide.

Old and Outdated
At Sebago Elementary School, the situation is urgent. The school is 144 years old.

While the original section, built in 1880, is now used as offices and storage, even the newer additions on the building are decades old. Superintendent Steve Connolly, now in his second year, is already seeing growing problems with the building's age.

"We have some life, health, safety compliance issues that we need to deal with," Connolly said. "And not in another decade or so."

MADISON, Wis. — The Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) held a grand reopening Friday, celebrating extensive renovations at all four of its high schools.
The renovations were made possible by a referendum voters passed in 2020. 
At East High School, the city’s oldest high school, the changes were much needed, especially for band director Rob Cunningham.
“It was a much smaller room, more in the center of this music wing, and very sort of low ceilings, sort of claustrophobic, and just kind of outdated,” Cunningham said when describing the old space.
Now he has a brand-new space with high ceilings and picture windows. He said it’ll make a big difference for students this year.
“We’re competitive with our space, with anybody around,” Cunningham said. “I think when you're in a space like this, it's beautiful, you have sunlight, and the sound is better. It just makes it more enjoyable to make music here.”
Voters approved the 2020 referendum which allocated a total of $350 million over two questions for operational expenses and several capital projects.
 

As the city of Rock Valley recovers from recent severe flooding, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced the opening of a temporary school facility for the Rock Valley Community School District.

Rock Valley students will return to the school classrooms Thursday, Sept. 5, with some middle school classes hosted in the new temporary building. The 7,000-square-foot facility will have six classrooms, bathrooms, offices and a common area for use by 150 students in the Rock Valley district, according to a news release by the governor’s office. The modular school was built by Hegg Construction in under seven weeks, at a cost of $2 million.

Joined by Rock Valley Community School District (RVCSD) and Rock Valley Christian School officials, Reynolds spoke in front of the new temporary building at a news conference Thursday. The governor reflected on her previous visit to Rock Valley in June when the public school building was “an island that was completely surrounded by water.”

“Following the flood, it really did seem unlikely that we could start on time or bring some students back to school,” Reynolds said. “But if I know one thing about this community, where there is a will, there is a way.”

Richmond Public Schools is getting a $15.3 million federal grant for HVAC upgrades, a crucial step in the district’s efforts to improve energy efficiency and reduce costs among its aging facilities. The funding, part of a broader initiative to enhance school infrastructure, will target 22 RPS buildings, addressing long-standing issues in a school system where the average facility is 62 years old.

In a press conference and infrastructure tour at John Marshall High School last Thursday morning, Superintendent Jason Kamras shared the school division’s plan for building improvements.

“We want to rebuild John Marshall and the rest of the schools that need it,” Kamras said. “We are in the work of fixing things up as best as we can with the resources that we have.”

The federal grant, which was announced by U.S. Sens.