The state has agreed to fund several new facilities to take the place of some of Newark’s oldest school buildings — but the deal still leaves out 20 schools that need to be replaced, district officials say.

Through the state’s Schools Development Authority, New Jersey will pay to replace 13 school buildings built before 1920, said Superintendent Roger León during June’s board meeting.

But leaders of Newark Public Schools have identified 33 schools that need replacing and dozens more that need renovations. The state identified Newark’s need to replace its aging buildings but more funding is needed to move forward with the plans, according to Edye Maier, the SDA’s director of communications.

HARRISBURG, July 11 — Today, the Pennsylvania House gave final approval to Solar for Schools (HB1032), introduced by state Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, D-Phila. With prior passage in the Senate, this bill now moves to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk to be signed into law.

HB1032 will create a grant program to help school districts across Pennsylvania fund and install solar panels on school grounds. By generating their own energy, districts can save millions of dollars over the life of a solar project — while creating good-paying jobs and bringing career training opportunities to their schools. It is the first initiative of its kind to be passed in Pennsylvania.

Fiedler calls the passage of this bill “a groundbreaking victory for energy, education and environmental policy in Pennsylvania.”

“When we wrote Solar for Schools, we set out to create a piece of legislation that would unite labor and environmental groups to build the future we all want for our kids,” Fiedler said. “Since then, we’ve not only won Solar — we’ve created something so much bigger. We now have proof that environmental and labor leaders, Democrats and Republicans, can work together to usher Pennsylvania into the 21st Century and ensure we are a nationwide leader in the energy of the future. I’m incredibly proud of Solar for Schools, and so excited for the communities that will soon benefit from all that this program has to offer. But it’s truly just the beginning!”

BOSCOBEL, Wis. (WXOW) - After a failed referendum in 2017, the Boscobel Area School District broke ground on a $21.5 million school back in May.
Thursday, members of the district’s board of education toured the construction of the addition to the rear of the current high school.
“It’s a lot of hard work from a lot of different people,” Nate Copsey, Director of Facilities and Grounds said. “From administration to school board to the community. Just a lot of hands in. We all worked toward a common goal and kind of got there.”
The high school, which was built in the 1950’s, currently houses 6th through 12th grades. The addition of the referendum will bring grades 4 and 5 to the new part of the building.
“It really creates a new modern learning environment. We’re a little outdated in some of our areas so we’re excited to see some changes. We’ve always tackled and had problems with gym space,” Copsey said. “So to accommodate a lot more practices and things like that it just gives us a lot more opportunities going forward.”
 

Albemarle County is expecting an increase in its student population over the next few years, but it doesn’t have enough space for them. The solution? More schools.

Albemarle County Public Schools is constructing its 16th elementary school, the first new elementary school in the county in 20 years, near the southern end of the county.

The new elementary school will open for the 2026-2027 school year, wrote Matt Wertman, interim director of building services at ACPS, in an email to Charlottesville Tomorrow. The new elementary school is within walking distance of Mountain View Elementary School, off of Galaxie Farm Lane.

There's zero doubt the Columbus City Schools district needs to close some of its 113 buildings, not to mention to figure out how to dispose of other closed schools wasting $400,000 of taxpayer money annually.

The multi-million dollar question is whether the proposal submitted June 25 by the Superintendent's Community Facilities Task Force is the proper plan or needs adjustments for Ohio's largest district of 46,000 students, down from 110,173 during the 1971-72 school year.

The task force originally proposed closing up to 20 school buildings under nine different recommended scenarios.

But in a final report, it recommended closing six elementary schools, two middle schools, a high school and the downtown administrative building. The task force also recommended the district modify the age groups served by four schools. None of the changes would begin before the fall of 2025.

Construction for a new multi-purpose room at Parkside Montessori in the San Mateo-Foster City School District has neighbors worried over damage to their homes and quality of life due to drilling and noise pollution. 

With her house right behind the construction site, Farz Yountchi said she and her direct neighbors have noticed cracks in their walls and driveways. Doors are shifting, she said, and her house is “shaking all day, non stop.” 

The K-8 school is going through a few upgrades, including replacing the air conditioning system to existing buildings and installing solar shade structures. The facilities upgrade project also includes replacing the blacktop landscaping, converting existing grass to turf, reconfiguring the parking lot and the construction of a new multi-purpose room. 

UPDATE: (7 p.m. July 8, 2024) – Logan County Schools Superintendent Jeff Huffman says Logan Middle School is still safe for students and staff to be in despite structural issues with the foundation. He also says they hope for the structural work to be finished before the school year starts on August 19.

“There has been zero safety threat. That is something we just wanted to confirm was one of the reasons we brought in the structural engineers when we did,” Huffman said. “I have no reason to believe that this will not be a successful construction activity.”

LOGAN COUNTY, WV (WOWK) – The West Virginia Department of Education says nearly $3 million may be needed to fix the foundation of Logan Middle School, and they’re looking for answers as to why the foundation needs to be fixed in the first place.

During a meeting of the West Virginia Board of Education Monday, the board mentioned that the school is only around 27 years old, and should not be sinking. Logan County School officials say they’re working on a structural stabilization project due to the settlement of the fitters.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Hundreds of new school seats will be available to Staten Island over the next few years, as New York City works to tackle overcrowding in school buildings, a growing student population, and a new law that would reduce class sizes.
New schools are being constructed throughout the borough, while other seats may be acquired by leasing or buying and renovating space. Additionally, charter schools are also expanding opportunities for more seats.
The city School Construction Authority (SCA) 2020-2024 Capital Program includes more than $539 million in funding for 11 buildings, adding 4,989 seats on Staten Island.
Here’s a look at the new school seats expected for the borough.
 

MEDINA, N.D. — Work will begin on the first new construction at the Medina Public School in the next weeks after a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday, July 3.

Damon Bosche, superintendent of Medina school, said the project will add four classrooms and four breakout rooms at the southwest corner of the existing building. Planned construction costs are $3 million.

Bosche said the addition is in response to an increasing enrollment at the district. The school currently has about 200 students in prekindergarten through the 12th grade. This compares to about 150 students in the same grades five years ago.

Some of the increased enrollment comes from open enrollment students from outside the Medina Public School District. About 40% of the students are from outside the district.

“It is a good thing,” said Rory Hoffmann, president of the Medina School Board, of the project. “We needed it, we are busting at the seams. I wish we could have done more.”

DENISON, Texas (KTEN) — At Denison's Frontier Village and Museum, the restoration of what is believed to be Texas' oldest standing schoolhouse is nearing its final stages.

The Holder family, among the earliest settlers in Grayson County, is believed to have constructed the historic building back in 1855. But Its true origin as a one-room schoolhouse dating back to 1830 have come to light in a recent study, further solidifying its status as the oldest surviving educational structure in the Lone Star State.

"Due to research that we've done, we found that it's more possible that it was purchased in 1855, but built in 1830 as a one-room schoolhouse," said Frontier Village executive director Aaron Thornhill. "That would make this the oldest standing schoolhouse in the State of Texas."

Proposition 2 is a bond measure that would allow the state to borrow $10 billion to help fund repairs and upgrades at thousands of public elementary, middle and high schools and community colleges across California.

The money from the last successful school bond, which passed in 2016, has long since been spent, and the state’s school repair fund is expected to be depleted by January. There is a wait list of districts hoping the new bond will pass so that $3.4 billion can be given for already approved projects to repair hazardous mold, leaky roofs, and septic systems, as well as to build classrooms, modernize science labs and replace aging buildings.

Voters rejected the last school bond in March 2020, a $15-billion proposal that got only 47% of the vote. This time around, after months of closed-door debates, the governor and legislators have lowered the price tag; they hope voters will be in more of a spending mood come November. A simple majority is needed to approve the bond.

Protecting school children from climate change was the main focus of a two day a consultation in Fiji this week.
Facilitated by Save the Children and UNESCO, stakeholders from around the region came together to discuss the way forward for addressing climate resilience in education systems.
Regional 'Safe Schools' lead John Lilo said Pacific school children are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of natural disasters.
Over the past decade, he has noticed an increased number of these disruptions to the education sector and says it has emphasized the crucial need for climate adaptation in schools.
"The Pacific is one of the vulnerable regions in the in the world, tropical cyclones [are] one of the most common hazards"
"In 2020, tropical cyclone Harold wreaked havoc across the Pacific, causing significant damages to schools, affecting 1000s of students, disrupting their learning."
 

An estimated 35 Scottish schools - either recently completed or under construction - are aiming to meet the international Passivhaus standard for energy efficiency, which can cut a building’s heating energy use by up to 80 percent. Designing this way also delivers exceptional levels of interior comfort, wellbeing and durability.

As the country aims for net zero, a proposed ‘Scottish Passivhaus equivalent’ policy for new build housing will be consulted on this summer – and there’s a lot to be learned from the education sector.

This quiet revolution in the way schools are built largely came about when The Scottish Futures Trust set clear funding criteria to ensure new schools are energy efficient, not just on completion but throughout their lifespan.

Almost overnight, designing to Passivhaus standards became the go-to way for councils to secure funding, because it delivers what it says on the tin – it ensures a school’s actual energy use is extremely close to the amount predicted by models. As architects of four Scottish Passivhaus schools – one complete, the other three in progress - we are certainly witnessing a rapid transformation of the Scottish school building sector.

This spring, as a heat wave hovered over the region, Pittsburgh Public students were forced out of the classroom. Temperatures in the unairconditioned buildings were expected to reach unsafe levels, causing administrators to enact the district’s extreme heat policy.

That policy has been used several times in recent years as temperatures reach near record highs and sweltering heat waves last for days, caused in part by increased greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere that effectively trap heat, leading to rising temperatures across the globe.

The toll of climate change continues to grow through increased natural disasters such as fires, hurricanes and floods, not only impacting communities but also school children.

Districts across the country are now working to change that.

The Trinidad School District #1 has a problem: Fisher’s Peak Elementary needs heavy-duty renovations, including costly roof repairs and upgrades to its HVAC system, but a proposal for a project to complete these fixes was passed over by the state in the latest round of BEST grant applications. 

At the June 27 meeting of the TSD1 school board, Willdan’s Mike Enzler presented the board with a possible solution: energy savings financing of the project.

Enzler began his presentation outlining the school district’s other options. It could wait until next year to reapply for a BEST grant to renovate the elementary school, but again, there would be no guarantee the district would be selected. The district could also attempt to pass a bond or secure other lending, but both of these approaches would take time–and given that the school’s HVAC issues could impact air quality for students, time is of the essence. 

AMHERST — A municipal advertisement is seeking bids from general contractors interested in constructing the planned $97.5 million, net-zero energy elementary school building next to the existing Fort River Elementary School at 70 South East St.

On Wednesday, the advertisement for bids was published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, and bid forms and contract documents were posted online for the 105,750-square-foot building where 575 students in kindergarten through grade 5 will be taught beginning in the fall of 2026. Electronic bids are due by Aug. 14 at 2 p.m., with an optional prebid conference and site visit set for July 17 at 9 a.m. 

The advertisement states that $78 million is the estimated cost of construction for the building designs, completed by DiNisco Design of Boston. The total cost for the project includes so-called soft costs, such as equipment and furnishings.

Extreme temperatures affect every member of the school community, from food service workers preparing lunch in poorly ventilated kitchens, bus drivers driving students home without air conditioning, school groundskeepers doing campus maintenance, and students testing on hot days. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration published a proposed rule that aims to protect workers from excessive heat in the workplace, including public schools in in states with OSHA-approved State plans. 

Currently, there is no federal OSHA heat standard. The proposal has the potential to create significant change, especially for educators working in buildings without proper ventilation and air conditioning.  

Few school districts have mandated temperature maximums. “The absence of standards …means we are allowing kids to sit in 95-degree classrooms leaving students unable to concentrate on learning due to high heat and humidity levels,” Connecticut Education Association President Kate Dias told NEA. 

Under the rule, OSHA would require covered employers to create a plan to evaluate and control heat hazards in the workplace with the goal of reducing the number of occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. This regulation applies to workplaces which fall under OSHA’s jurisdiction, including public schools in OSHA-approved State Plans, general industry, construction, maritime, and agriculture sectors.   

A $100 million bond approved on April 4, 2023, gave District 7 officials a chance to facilitate some much-needed upgrades around the school district.
At the District 7 Board of Education retreat on June 13, board members and superintendent Dr. Patrick Shelton discussed the new estimates on projects and how much is estimated to be spent on the renovation at Lincoln Middle School and other Phase 1 projects.
According to estimates made public at the meeting on June 13, District 7 is slated to spend $108 million on the complete Lincoln renovation and other projects during the first of two phases of updates around the school district.
 

MONTGOMERY, Texas -- Entry-resistant safety glass will be installed at Montgomery ISD buildings after the district's board of trustees unanimously approved the $533,598 purchase on June 25.
The specifics
About 21,000 square feet of safety glass for exterior windows will be purchased, Brad Mansfield, MISD's chief facilities & operations officer, said on June 25. The glass is not bulletproof or bullet-resistant, but it is designed to slow the entry of someone trying to break into the building, he said.
"You can't put enough rounds through (the safety glass) to where you can just shoot the glass out. ... It's still going to be three (to) six minutes of hacking away at one window to get in," Superintendent Mark Ruffin said.

Efforts to rightsize the Guam Department of Education in light of a decreased student population and to maximize resources continue, with the superintendent eyeing the upcoming school year to begin implementation.

GDOE Superintendent Kenneth Erik Swanson reported to the Guam Education Board last week that the department continues to evaluate the island’s 41 public school facilities to make recommendations on the path forward.

“An internal (kindergarten through 12th grade) team followed the plan to determine recommendations to the superintendent that would possibly combine campuses to utilize school facilities more fully. Stakeholder input continues to be gathered while the team analyzes data gathered to date. Online survey data are just now available to me for assessment,” Swanson said.