Byron Center — Before her family moved to Byron Center in 2019, Christie Koester knew she wanted to get involved at the school her two children would attend. 

She planted her seeds of interest in Countryside Elementary’s school garden and volunteered her time to maintain it. In a few short years, her involvement blossomed into forming a horticulturist team of third- and fourth-graders to care for the garden. 

Now, Koester’s green thumb and grant-writing capabilities have helped Countryside receive more green, in the form of $1,700 from the Tanger Kids grant program. 

Funds from the “Growing our Garden, Our Kids and the Community” grant will go towards supplies and educational programs for Countryside’s garden, as well as seeds to continue growing garlic, radishes, pumpkins, potatoes, corn, tomatoes and other fruits and veggies. 

GIBSON CITY — While Jeremy Darnell was careful not to violate state election law by expressly advocating for the passage of a 1% sales tax to benefit his school district and others in Ford County, the superintendent of the Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley school district did paint a pretty picture of what a successful referendum in March could mean during his 19-minute talk Thursday to members of the Gibson Area Chamber of Commerce.

For example, Darnell mentioned the new state-of-the-art facilities built by school districts in other counties in East Central Illinois that have already passed a 1% county school facilities tax — the same tax that Ford County voters will be asked to authorize via a March 19 ballot question.

“When you look at small school districts that are very similar to us and you walk in (to their facilities), you can physically see (the difference),” Darnell told the couple of dozen local business leaders in attendance at Thursday’s chamber of commerce meeting at Mark’s on First in Gibson City. “Go to Westville. Go to Tolono Unity. Go to St. Joe. They’re building these complexes that are just ridiculous — because at some point with this money, you run out of places to spend it if you’re already in good (financial) shape.

“That’s one benefit we have: We’re in really good shape. Our facilities are strong. Can we do some other things that are really cool? Yes. … If we run out of ways to spend (the additional sales tax revenue) … and we can start doing some ‘wants’ instead of ‘needs,’ sure we will. Absolutely. It’s better for our kids.”

On Sept. 29, Gabriel Fontes was on his way to teach 10th grade English when he was met with a river of sewage-infested stormwater at an intersection outside his school. Students and staff at Leaders High School in South Brooklyn were forced to wade through waves of knee-high dirty water to make it into the building.

“The water was brackish and things were floating in it,” Fontes recalled. “I didn’t think the conditions were safe so I spent the morning helping students get home.”

A flash flood that day caused 356 schools to experience flooding that required cleanup, according to the Department of Education (DOE). A citywide state of emergency was declared as half of the city’s subway lines shut down and Brooklyn, one of the hardest hit areas, accumulated more than seven inches of rain. 

After an arctic blast plunged Central Texas into dangerous, subfreezing conditions in January, some parents were frustrated to learn of heating and plumbing issues at 39 Austin schools.
Austin Independent School District officials immediately sent employees to fix the problems once they were discovered, according to the district.
Administrators hope the $2.4 billion bond package that voters approved in 2022 will alleviate many of the issues that surfaced at Austin schools last month due to a combination of the subfreezing weather and aged infrastructure.
The arctic blast enveloped the Austin area Jan. 14-17. Most area students returned to class Jan. 16, a day after the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.
Because the roads were largely clear of ice, the Austin district decided students should return, though with a two-hour delay. That decision came as schools across the state reported issues with busted pipes and heating equipment, including more than three dozen campuses in Austin.
The district found weather-related maintenance issues at 39 campuses, said Michael Mann, AISD's executive director of construction management. However, none of the issues was severe, he said.
 

FORT SMITH -- The Fort Smith School District plans to spend almost $23 million in the next six years to update district facilities.

Joseph Velasquez, district construction project manager, told board members Jan. 22 a new, six-year plan has to be submitted to the state every three years.

Superintendent Terry Morawski said the plan needs to be submitted, but the projects don't have to be completed according to the timeline, if at all, if the district changes its mind for some reason.

Velasquez said projects remaining in the 2023-24 school year include underground roof drainage at Peak Innovation Center for $250,000; an art space at Peak for $800,000; roof and HVAC replacement at Kimmons Middle School for $3 million; roof replacement at Southside High School for $2.8 million; and roof replacement at Chaffin Middle School for $1.7 million.

He said a lot of the planned roof projects will be covered by insurance funding due to hail damage, which is where the cost estimates originate. Velasquez said more definitive prices will be available when the contractors are hired.

In testimony provided to the state legislature’s Education Committee in recent weeks, the Department of Administrative Services has outlined eligible school building projects in Connecticut, including Priority List Projects in Bristol, Danbury, Hartford, Newington, Stamford and Waterford.  The committee meeting was held in advance of the start of the legislative session, which begins on Wednesday, February 7.

DAS Commissioner Michelle Gilman noted that “projects for three high schools, three elementary schools, two middle schools, two magnet schools, and one Pre-K school. Five are renovation projects, three are categorized as “Extension/Alteration” projects, two are new school projects, and one is categorized as the purchase of a facility.”

Gilman explained that the “proposed Priority List includes an estimated total project cost of $583,320,021. If the legislature and Governor approve, the State’s maximum grant amount for these projects would be $470,235,824. In addition, there are two requests for reauthorization with an estimated project costs of $41,086,326 and a potential grant change of $39,032,010, along with a request for forgiveness of the unpaid balance of a grant due to the State for $202,538.”

The V.I. Department of Education on Friday made public its ongoing efforts in a series of maintenance repairs and improvement projects across public schools in the St. Croix District.
These initiatives, which follow several student-led protests in September of last year, aim to enhance the learning environments by addressing the many deficiencies of the educational structures.
The projects, managed by the district's Operations, Facilities, and Maintenance Divisions, cover a wide range of improvements, according to D.O.E. — from essential maintenance to significant infrastructure upgrades.
 

Close or keep open a community school? Pay millions or just thousands for repairs and renovations to keep schools going. Trust one consultant more than another, or yet a third analysis?

Those are some of the questions Regional School Unit 16 directors and residents have faced over the past 16 months after the furnace cracked at Minot Consolidated School in September 2022.

The problem ultimately prompted a broader look at not just the district’s three elementary schools in Poland, Mechanic Falls and Minot, but at the entire educational system, including facilities and goals, by citizens and educators alike.

But most dear to the hearts of many was a proposal to close Minot’s school in the immediate aftermath of the boiler break and to consolidate students in the two remaining schools as a long-term cost-saving solution. The plan would have caused the district to reconfigure its elementary education structure in the three towns.

Meanwhile, estimates to fix and perform necessary upgrades to the elementary schools ranged from thousands of dollars to millions, depending on the expert.

SULTAN — On a rainy day at Sultan Elementary School, the hot lunches turned cold.

Those meals were prepared in a tiny kitchen next to the gym. With no cafeteria seating, children at the school of nearly 700 students walked trays back to their classrooms to eat there. In the other half of the gym, separated by a curtain, a P.E. class went on, with about 15 kids shouting and giggling.

The only heat in the gym came from knee-high space heaters.

It was loud, crowded and cold.

Lunchtime is a window into a myriad of problems students deal with daily in the crowded school, where bathrooms are housed in trailers outdoors and whole grades attend class in 18 portables.

Sultan School District leaders believe a nearly $80 million bond measure on the ballot this month would solve problems in this school and others in the district. It will increase property taxes, making it a tough sell to some residents.

EAST WENATCHEE — On Jan. 16, it was 58 degrees in Amelia Lehman’s classroom at Cascade Elementary School.
Lehman, who teaches fourth grade, said her students were bundled up in their winter coats as they sat in class. That week, it was too cold outside for Eastmont students to go outside for recess as a bitter cold froze North Central Washington. For kids at Cascade and Kenroy schools, they'd need to go outside anyway if they were going to the library or cafeteria.
Students and teachers at Lee and Rock Island Elementary Schools are familiar with heating and cooling issues. They’re also familiar with security concerns and maintenance problems.
Cascade, Kenroy, Lee and Rock Island are all named in a $117.1 million school construction bond that Eastmont modeled from the community input they gathered after a similar bond failed in 2022.
This bond aims to modernize Cascade, Kenroy and Lee, and construct a single point of entry and replace the roof and HVAC systems at Rock Island. The bond would also upgrade safety and security at all the other schools around the district.
In an attempt to learn more about the building conditions that would be addressed by the bond, NCWLIFE was granted access to all four schools over a several hour period and was given tours of each school.
Throughout the day, NCWLIFE learned about how the buildings are posing challenges to the students and staff inside.
 

SMITHFIELD – Classrooms with outdated furniture, windows and sills, asbestos floors, outdated restrooms and more issues were discussed during a tour of the Smithfield High School and Gallagher Middle School. The tour was meant to show town officials and the budget committee the problems that deferred maintenance causes.

Members of the School Committee, Town Council and department heads from the town and school district met Monday night to tour to identify things that need to get fixed in the next two to three years.

Both schools are plagued with similar issues, such as the need for modern furniture, new windows, and renovations to the intensive special education classrooms. School Committee Chairperson Richard Iannitelli said restrooms in each school are also a top priority.

Lawmakers say they want to get back in the business of school construction aid. But how they’ll pay for it, how generously they’ll subsidize it, and what kinds of conditions they’ll attach to it remain very much in the air.

A report delivered to lawmakers this week by a task force created to study the matter suggests one strategy that is sure to prompt debate in Montpelier — an approach that would see construction aid used, at least in some circumstances, as an incentive to consolidate schools.

“The cost to replace all 384 school buildings is simply beyond our state's resources,” Jill Briggs Campbell, the director of operations for the Agency of Education, told lawmakers in the House’s education and tax-writing committees Thursday. “We're never going to be able to replace in-kind.”

School districts have been on their own to pass and finance construction bonds since 2007, when Vermont suspended its state school construction aid program. But in recent years, it’s become increasingly clear that the state’s aging campuses require major investments — soon.

Northside Elementary School was the final stop as Warren County Schools concluded its series of community meetings for discussion about a proposed consolidated elementary school last week. A number of parents and community members asked about whether the current elementary schools would be preserved to maintain part of local history.

Warren County Schools is considering renovation and construction work at the former Warren New Tech High School building as the site for a consolidated school serving all of the county’s elementary students. The existing building would serve as the center of the new school.

To provide more information to the community and to hear local concerns, the school system conducted information meetings at each of the three elementary schools. During meetings at Vaughan and Mariam Boyd elementary schools, common questions have involved whether new construction is the best resolution, and whether the existing elementary school buildings would be preserved. Again at Northside, audiences members voices concerns about preserving local history.

School buildings that experience natural disasters are now eligible for federal funding to install solar panels and other energy-efficient systems when they rebuild, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Tuesday.

Through the FEMA Public Assistance program, the federal government commits to covering 75 percent of the cost of rebuilding schools and other public institutions like hospitals following floods, tornadoes, and other storms.

With the new policy, schools can now include in their reimbursement requests the cost of solar panels, geothermal heat pumps, and other modern systems designed to improve sustainability.

Schools can take advantage of this funding opportunity for any disaster declared after Aug. 16, 2022, the agency said in a press release.

The goals of the policy, according to the agency, include offering incentives for schools to help with the nationwide effort to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Schools and other facilities that install energy-producing systems can stay open and even provide power to surrounding communities in the event of an electrical outage, said Tish Tablan, senior program director at Generation180, an advocacy nonprofit that promotes clean energy adoption.

As the School District of La Crosse looks to reduce the number of K-5 elementary school buildings, Hintgen Elementary School is listed as a lower maintenance option.
Hintgen parents see it differently. A Hintgen parent who identified herself as Vanessa during a Nov. 27 virtual meeting of the La Crosse School Board said Hintgen is a school with motivated teachers and staff who work to create a positive learning atmosphere. She said the school has achieved a student attendance rate over 94%.
“Hintgen has been a model school in the district,” she said.
If the board follows the recommendation of its Facilities Advisory Committee, Hintgen and North Woods International elementary schools will close at the end of the 2023-24 school year. The committee paired north- and south-side schools and recommended closing those two buildings instead of Emerson and Spence.
Committee members determined that Emerson and Spence were more geographically centered and offered lower transportation costs. Several options in the district’s new Long-Range Facility Plan 2050 also target Hintgen for closure either next year or sometime before 2028.
 

Nearly 50 Memphis-Shelby County public schools would receive new investments for their physical buildings or their academic programming under an ambitious plan that district leaders are developing in an effort to improve learning experiences for children.

Another 21 school buildings could close under the plan, district documents show, meaning their students would have to go to school elsewhere.

In all, nearly half of the district’s buildings, and their communities, could be affected if the district follows through on the plan.

The facility plan is described in general terms in draft documents and maps compiled by Memphis-Shelby County Schools that Chalkbeat obtained through open-records requests. Chalkbeat used further research to identify the specific schools targeted for new investments or closure. (To learn more about how Chalkbeat reported this, see below.)

Participation in school gardens is linked to healthier eating habits throughout child development, according to a study led by a Milken Institute School of Public Health doctoral candidate released earlier this month.

Christine St. Pierre authored a study in collaboration with FoodPrints that found students who participated in school garden programs noticed increased enthusiasm surrounding healthier food options at home and a desire for “fresh food options” at school. St. Pierre said the study’s finding that school gardens garner interest toward more nutritious dietary habits in children demonstrates a need for hands-on nutrition education embedded into the school day.

“This study is a little bit unique in that it is one of the first to be able to look at what is the impact of these programs over time, like you can study while they’re happening in schools and see what students say,” St. Pierre said.

The study featured focus groups made up of 39 elementary school students and 39 elementary school alumni, ranging from middle school to college, who previously participated in the school garden programs. St. Pierre said researchers used “semi-structured” question guides and follow-up questions based on the participant’s original answers. They then organized students’ answers into themes: immediate, beyond the classroom and sustained, St. Pierre said.

NEW PHILADELPHIA ‒ Residents offered their input on whether the New Philadelphia City Schools District should build new buildings and where they should be located at a recent facility planning meeting.
The district is in the midst of developing a facilities master plan to address the issues surrounding its aging schools.
"I do agree that we need new buildings for our students. I have four kids in elementary, so I'm very vested in seeing them under one roof. Actually, that's my first concern," said Erin Neff, who attended the session.
Her husband is Ricky Neff, principal of Welty Middle School. She said her family is vested in having state-of-the-art facilities and safe locations for their children to attend.
 

The Virginia Senate on Monday passed a bill authorizing local governments to increase their local sales tax to fund school construction projects if voters approve the hike in a referendum.
The proposal received support from the Senate during the past two sessions, but it faltered both times in the House, which was then controlled by Republicans. This year, Democrats have control of both chambers of the legislature, fueling lawmakers’ hopes it will reach Gov. Glenn Youngkin for approval. 
On Monday, party members cast the decision as a nonpartisan goal. 
“I think it’s important to recognize that kids, when they go to school, don’t go to Democrat schools or Republican schools. This is something that all the reports indicate impact every single one of our areas,” said Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince William.
 

The Guam Department of Education is developing a master plan for how to make its facilities accessible to all, according to an education official.

Assistant Superintendent Tom Babauta of the Special Education Division told The Guam Daily Post that many of the facilities were built before compliance under the Americans with Disabilities Act became law. As part of the department’s refurbishment of all schools, he said, the department also is addressing the ADA compliance challenges.

“It’s been difficult because we do have some facility challenges, such as the ramps. And even (for) things such as door knobs, there are certain requirements. The department in general is looking at each of the facilities and how they are going to be coming into compliance with all of that. There are certain things that need to happen in regard to the building itself because of our inspection. As they are tackling that, they are also looking at ADA compliance and trying to develop a master plan of how they are going to tackle that,” Babauta said.