Revere has begun construction on its new high school, the largest public school project in Massachusetts, located on the former Wonderland Greyhound Park site.
"Over the next three years we will water the seeds of Revere's future prosperity, because we care to leave this city better than we found it," Mayor Patrick Keefe Jr. said.
The ceremony featured rising sixth and ninth graders who will be among the first freshman and graduating classes.
"I'll be like the first one to actually go there, so it feels exciting," said sixth grader Sophia Leary.
"New people, new opportunities," said sixth grader Alvette Ngawe.
"I'm very excited and I'm very proud to be part of this community," said ninth grader Yasmeen Khamis.
The new building will hold more than 2,400 students, an effort to relieve citywide overcrowding. It will also be environmentally state-of-the-art, featuring geothermal heating and cooling, a micro-forest and 12.8 acres of public open space.
"We're in the middle of wetlands and we want to make sure that we replicate that and we bring the wildlife back to the area," Keefe said.
The project will cost about $493 million, with the Massachusetts School Building Authority helping to support almost half of that cost.
 

A multimillion-dollar effort to cool the state’s school classrooms has fallen well short of its goals due to rushed planning and poor decision-making, the state Office of the Auditor found in a damning report released Tuesday.  

The one-off Cool Classrooms Initiative, launched by then-Gov. David Ige in 2016 and meant to air-condition over 1,000 classrooms by that year’s end, ran over budget and reached only 838 classrooms in 53 schools that the auditors, after significant sleuthing, were able to verify.

And despite spending an average of $125,000 per classroom, some school principals told auditors the units did little to alleviate the heat in rooms where temperatures can reach 100 degrees.

But the schools that ended up with air conditioning were not necessarily even the hottest, according to the Department of Education’s own heat rankings. The department never developed criteria for choosing which classrooms to cool under the program, the audit found.

In the end, the majority of the units were installed in Central and West Oʻahu, while only one school on the North Shore benefited. Only one school on the Big Island was included. 

Emily Pugliese has been a Henry H. Houston parent for eight years, and couldn’t be happier with her children’s education.

At C. W. Henry, J. S. Jenks, Houston, and Emlen — Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy’s public elementary and middle schools — Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) and Home School Associations (HSAs) help run the volunteer library, host fundraising for teaching supplies, plan spring flings, host movie nights, and advocate for state funding in Harrisburg. Parents express admiration for what they say happens inside these buildings: caring, committed teachers and staff, an unrivaled learning experience, and a school serving a crucial community role. But the structures themselves? Falling apart.

“Generally our school experience has been wonderful,” Pugliese said. “The facility stuff is kind of a different story.”

All four school buildings are ranked “unsatisfactory,” among the worst facilities in the district’s 300 schools, according to data under review from the School District of Philadelphia (SDP). Parents described broken plumbing (including a tree growing in a Henry toilet), failing heating and cooling with some rooms boiling and others freezing, peeling paint, past closures at Henry for asbestos remediation, and bathroom doors without locks.

The Bainbridge Island School District is taking advantage of the summer break to retrofit Commodore Options and Ordway Elementary schools, which were identified in a 2021 Department of Natural Resources report as needing seismic safety upgrades.

Construction has reached 50% completion for both schools, said Dane Fenwick, BISD director of facilities operations & capital projects. The work is being completed by Washington-based CDK Construction and its subcontractors for an estimated $2 million. Unlike other capital projects, which typically rely on funds from school levies and bonds, the seismic upgrade projects are primarily funded through a property sale to the BI Metro Park & Recreation District.

Fenwick said changing seismic safety standards can add complexity to retrofitting projects, especially with older schools. Commodore was built in 1948 and Ordway in 1979, with both receiving remodels over the years.

Scissors in hand, Hispanic moms in the Hegewisch neighborhood sneak into their children’s schoolyard and snip herbs from the garden to season food and put a twist in their mole.
The verdolaga, or purslane, is part of a variety of vegetables and plants entrusted to the care of students and teachers at Grissom Elementary School.
“The neighbors are like, ‘Oh my God, do you mind?'” said Esperanza Baeza, a bilingual teacher assistant at the school. She tells the parents, “This is our garden. You take whatever you want.”
A decade ago, Grissom’s schoolyard at 12810 S. Escanaba Ave. was not the vibrant space it now is. The tree-lined streets flanking the property stood in stark contrast to 2 acres of dull concrete where the children would play during recess.
Now, the school has a native plant garden brimming with tall grass, flowers and butterflies, a new swing set and additional playground equipment, a basketball court, a running track circling a soccer field and an outdoor class area.
“This was just asphalt. There was nothing,” Baeza said. “It was a really old little piece of swing. Not even a swing, like a slide. That was it.”
The new spaces are also redesigned to address heavy rains in neighborhoods historically vulnerable to serious flooding, particularly on the South and West sides of the city.
 

Twelve state schools serving students with disabilities will close next year as part of a plan approved Tuesday afternoon by the Missouri State Board of Education. 

There was little discussion Tuesday about the plan to consolidate the Missouri Schools for the Severely Disabled, or MSSD. Board members delved into the plan more thoroughly during a May meeting and a retreat last month.

“The State Board of Education believes this is the first step in providing more opportunities and strengthening education for all students enrolled in Missouri Schools for the Severely Disabled,” Board President Mary Schrag said in a news release. “This decision is not taken lightly but will result in a more efficient program that enriches quality resources provided to students and their families.”

The following schools will be required to close by the end of June 2026: Briarwood in Harrisonville, Citadel in Potosi, College View in Joplin, Crowley Ridge in Dexter, Delmar Cobble in Columbia, Dogwood Hills in Eldon, Gateway/Hubert Wheeler in St. Louis, Lakeview Woods in Lee’s Summit, Lillian Schaper in Bowling Green, Ozark Hills in Salem, Prairie View in Marshall and Rolling Meadow in Higginsville.

At its Aug. 11 meeting, the Asheville City Board of Education approved, 6-1, a $243,950 districtwide facility needs assessment led by McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture (MPSA).

“Our team’s role is to provide guidance on school design trends and construction and interact with your stakeholders to drive the effort,” the report reads.

The process will include gathering information on demographics and local economic development trends, as well as assessing Asheville City Schools’ (ACS) enrollment data, the physical conditions of facilities, teaching methodologies and facility operation information. Listening sessions, community forums, public presentations and feedback from teachers, students and parents are also planned, according to the approved proposal.

In short, “the study will help the board make informed decisions on where to push capital investment,” said ACS Superintendent Maggie Fehrman at the meeting.

EBENSBURG — Central Cambria students will get an extra two days of summer vacation after the school district’s board of directors voted to revise the 2025-26 academic calendar Monday in response to finding mold in the elementary school, pushing the start of the school year from next Thursday to Monday, Aug. 25.
As part of the revised calendar, the teacher in-service day originally scheduled for Nov. 10 will be moved to Aug. 21 and Nov. 10 will be a student day, according to the meeting’s agenda. The final day for students is scheduled for May 28, 2026.
Superintendent Jason Moore said the reason for the delayed start is to give teachers at Cambria Elementary School more time to prepare for the upcoming school year after many supplies and items in their classrooms had to be thrown out due to a mold infestation that was discovered in mid-July.
Time normally spent preparing curriculum will be used to help each teacher determine what items were lost and replace those items, Moore said.
According to Moore, there was severe weather — flash flooding and thunderstorms — in the area on Wednesday, July 16. District officials believe that a power surge shut the school’s ventilation system down on a humid night, which created the environment for mold to grow, he said.
 

A groundbreaking video testimonial from International Leadership of Texas (ILTexas), one of the state's largest K-12 public charter school districts, demonstrates how innovative school air filters can transform educational facility management and deliver massive cost savings. The comprehensive case study, now available through Camfil's Schools & Universities Resource Center, provides crucial insights for school administrators, facility managers, and education decision-makers seeking to optimize HVAC maintenance costs while improving indoor air quality in educational environments.
International Leadership of Texas, a multilingual K-12 charter school network serving students across multiple campuses throughout North, Central, and Southeast Texas, has documented extraordinary operational improvements through strategic air filtration upgrades. The school district's facilities management team reports saving "hundreds of thousands of dollars in man-hours every year" by transitioning from monthly filter changes to extended-life school air filter systems.
"When I first came in here, we were changing filters once a month, sometimes every other month if we could stretch it, but it was killing us in labor, it was killing us in ordering and stocking those filters," explains the district's facilities director in the detailed video testimonial. "So we were looking for any sort of solution that could help us reduce labor, reduce cost, reduce time and effort."
 

WILSON COUNTY Tenn. (WKRN) — As Wilson County’s population has risen over the past decade, so has the need for more classrooms.

“This is my sixth year here, and it seems like we’re rolling off a new school seemingly every year,” Bart Barker, Public Information Officer for Wilson County Schools, told News 2.

Wilson County rebuilt two schools — West Wilson Middle School and Stoner Creek Elementary — which were hit by a tornado in 2020. After that, the county built LaGuardo Elementary, which just had its first ever day of school on August 1. Next up will be Central Pike Elementary, which is still under construction.

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — An audit has revealed significant delays in the El Paso Independent School District's (EPISD) maintenance department, with many repair projects taking weeks longer than the district's two-week goal.
The audit, which examined work order efficiency, cost-tracking, and operational effectiveness, found that out of 22,113 work orders from 2023 to 2024, 14,185 failed to meet the district's deadline.
On average, 64% of these orders took about 6.3 weeks, or 44 days, to complete.
Dr. Jack Loveridge, EPISD Board Vice President and Chairman of the Audit Committee, emphasized the importance of meeting the two-week standard.
"It is just that they need to meet that standard. They need to make sure that two weeks is the threshold," Loveridge said.
 

As students prepare to return to class, Utah is working to strengthen how schools respond to emergencies, from natural disasters to violence on campus.

The state is revising its Emergency Preparedness Planning Guide, a document provided by the state that can be used by school districts across Utah to help keep students and staff safe.

The last update came in 2021, but officials said recent legislation and shifting best practices mean it's time for another overhaul.

“It really helps schools think through before, during and after, so it helps them prepare for any natural disaster or human-caused events,” said Ashley Pistello, a school safety specialist with the Utah State Board of Education.

Loranger Memorial School in Old Orchard Beach has ranked number three on the Maine Department of Education’s Major Capital School Construction Program.
The Major School Construction Program provides state funding to approved school systems for reconstruction or major reconstruction projects. The last two funding cycles were in 2018 and 2011.
Applications are reviewed by a facilities team established by the Maine Department of Education, said Teboe. The team completes a site visit to all schools that apply, she said. Schools are ranked based on a “needs-based” rating system that is detailed in Maine State Board of Education Chapter 61, Section 3, said Teboe.
The team reviewed 95 applications, and Loranger Memorial School ranked third in priority.
 

Upgrades to newer, high-efficiency heating, ventilation and air conditioning technology aren’t in the cards for the Wake County Public School System, where a $200 million maintenance backlog has plagued the schools.
Frustrated students have been pushing the school district for new HVAC technology — highlighting the district's many troubles with HVAC systems –- as a part of a larger push for a "Green New Deal" for schools that they believe will be cheaper in the long run for the district’s financially troubled maintenance department.
School district leaders have met with the students, but have told WRAL News they are wary of making the investment. Heat pumps, for example, cost more on the front end than traditional boiler and chiller technology and would require a building retrofit in existing schools, but they would drastically reduce energy costs over time, eventually making them cheaper.
Last school year, dozens of schools in Wake County called off at least one day of classes because of HVAC issues. Students say that oftentimes, even when school doesn’t get canceled, the extreme heat or extreme cold inside their classrooms makes it difficult to focus on lessons and tests.
 

UCAMA, N.C. — Wilson County is two weeks away from the start of another school year.
This fall semester brings renewed hope for a smoother start to the year compared to this time last year.
On Aug. 8, 2024, an EF-3 tornado tore through the small town of Lucama, located about 45 minutes away from Raleigh. 
A middle school damaged by the tornado is currently in the process of being rebuilt.
Community members said it's been a spectrum of emotions. 
Wilson County Schools Superintendent Ben Williams confirmed some sixth- and seventh-graders will start the school year in trailers. These are the same trailers they moved into during the last school year.
It's been a process as they work to get every student back under one roof and for the community as a whole to recover. 
Around the corner a few streets over from the school is where Jessi Kyle’s family home used to be.
“It was right behind this tree,” Kyle said.
Kyle walked through her property.
“We moved in with my husband’s mother for a while,” she said.
A year ago, it was hit by the same tornado that affected parts of the community.
At this time last year, neighbors helped neighbors clean their yard.
She said much of the interior ceiling collapsed. A day after the natural disaster, her husband John Kyle talked about living through it.
“Scary. A lot of scary. The kids were really scared,” John Kyle said. 
 

Hyattsville Elementary School, just off Route 1 in Maryland, is over 100 years old.
Finally, a groundbreaking ceremony was held to build its replacement.
“If one could hear and see the history within these walls, we would hear about first friendships,” Principal Richard McKee said.
“We would hear teachers talk about that light that they saw in a child’s eye when they got that concept.”
As old as the school is, getting to this point was a struggle.
In 2023, the public-private financing agreement between the county, its construction partners and the state nearly got derailed amid fighting on the school board over requirements to use union labor.
Last year, the Prince George’s County Council struggled to get the votes to pass the plan amid concerns by some legislators that only one of the eight new schools being built in this next phase was going to be south of Route 50.
The new schools are far more energy efficient, with high tech thermal systems, and include features like rooftop gardens and windows much bigger than most schools, in order to maximize natural light. And the hope is that the new school, set to open in about three years, will last just as long as the one its replacing.
 

MT. CHARLESTON (KTNV) — We're just one week away from the first day of school, and for students and families on Mount Charleston, that day will hit a little different.
After two years of battling back and forth with the district on whether or not to close Earl B. Lundy Elementary School, locals who live there never gave up their fight to repair the damage and reopen it.
Monday, Aug. 11, is when students will return to campus for the school year for the first time since 2023. Parents tell Channel 13, they can't wait.
“We’re really excited, honestly, we can’t wait for this new school year to begin," said Josh Bowers, whose son will attend Lundy Elementary this year.
Bowers' son hasn't been back to Lundy Elementary since it closed in 2023.
“Darren’s really excited to go back to school. I know a lot of his friends are. It’s going to be really a good year, I’m hoping," said Bowers.
For the last two years, Lundy students were rezoned to Indian Springs Elementary, about 45 minutes away. But because of the long bus rides, most of the students ended up changing their school assignments to be able to go to schools a bit closer to home, like in the Skye Canyon area.
This came after Hurricane Hilary tore through Mount Charleston in 2023, leaving a trail of devastation and Lundy in its path.
 

A state panel Monday approved $30 million in distributions from a school facilities loan fund, which lawmakers this year made easier to access after it sat largely dormant for nearly two decades. 

Five districts likely will receive loans from the Public School Facilities Cooperative Fund. But two of these districts will first have to ask voters for bonds before they receive the money, thanks to a provision in House Bill 338 that added an extra hurdle to qualifying. 

The Legislature this year unanimously approved HB 338, which was designed to remove barriers that had deterred districts from applying for the program since it was created in 2006. Previously, districts had to submit to state supervision for the duration of a construction project. Now that’s only required for projects exceeding $5 million. 

The bill also increased the fund from $25.5 million to $50.5 million. 

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) paused previously approved construction at two Silver Spring schools because of “rising project costs” beyond what the district had budgeted – a result of improper planning in years past, according to June community letters and MCPS staff.  

In June, MCPS paused plans for additions to Silver Spring International Middle School (SSIMS) and Highland View Elementary School after the district didn’t take into account infrastructure challenges when originally planning the projects, MCPS Chief Operations Officer Adnan Mamoon said during a June 24 school board meeting.  

That means plans for additional space at SSIMS are on hold even as work continues on a new gym addition while construction of an addition set to begin this coming winter at Highland View is not moving forward. 

The changes are the latest setbacks for the schools, which have experienced several construction delays over the years. SSIMS Parent Teacher Student Association President Megan DiNicola said the pause, and other issues SSIMS and surrounding schools have been facing, raises questions about how MCPS addresses building concerns at differing schools in the county.  

 The Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS) has released the seventh edition of its Safety and Security Guidelines for K-12 Schools, which offer “the most comprehensive information available on nationwide leading practices specifically for securing school facilities, from subject matter experts across the education, public safety and industry sectors,” according to the alliance announcement.

The seventh-edition release – including updates to the Safety and Security Guidelines and the School Safety and Security Checklist – improves on previous versions of the PASS guidance to make it more comprehensive, easier to use and more reflective of K-12 schools’ evolving security needs and challenges.