As school-aged children and young adults in the United States and many other countries around the world head back to school, parents, teachers and administrators are increasingly keenly aware of the importance of school facilities in supporting student and staff health and well-being. For many, schools represent a safe haven, the center of the community where children learn, develop and grow. Yet, from outdated infrastructure to climate-change related extreme weather events such as wildfire smoke and heat waves that increase the incidence of indoor air pollution, much of the education sector is struggling to keep up with the requirements of operating and maintaining modern school facilities.

It is widely understood how critical the school years are to supporting academic needs, but students, teachers and staff also need educational facilities that support their physical, mental and emotional health. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, "By the time a student graduates high school, they will have spent more than 15,000 hours in a school building, which is the second longest indoor exposure time after their home…This is a time of critical physiological, social, and emotional growth and development, which is susceptible to many indoor conditions including, indoor air pollution, mold, elevated noise levels, radon, asbestos, inadequate lighting and more." These indoor conditions can not only affect student health, but have a significant impact on learning, too. A recent New York Times article highlighted that "decades of research have suggested that improving air quality also can raise academic performance, increase test scores, bolster attention and memory, and decrease absences due to illness or other factors."

As the D.C. region continues to sweat through a record-breaking late-summer heat wave, some D.C. public school students don’t have air conditioning in their classrooms. It’s a problem the city has been grappling with for decades, but this year, the start of the school term coincided with D.C.’s hottest 4-day stretch on record for September.

“We’ve just been failed on numerous occasions because of what we call bandaid-fix solutions,” says Angela Anderson, president of the parent teacher organization at Whittier Elementary in Ward 4, and parent of 3rd grader at the school. “Every year since I’ve been there, there has been some type of unhealthy HVAC issue.”

Whittier started out the school year last week with four classrooms without fully functioning cooling systems, Anderson says. On Tuesday this week, the PTO raised the alarm about a preschool classroom that “felt like 100 degrees,” according to Anderson. Later that afternoon, the Department of General Services, which is in charge of school maintenance in the District, installed a temporary window unit in the pre-k classroom.

“It helped a little. It kind of felt like hot breath and warm hugs when the teacher and the students came in. But it was better than nothing,” Anderson says.

As a member of the school board in the remote Central Idaho town of Salmon, Josh Tolman worried that an earthquake would turn the elementary and middle schools to rubble. The foundations of the schools were crumbling. The floors buckled. The district canceled school whenever a few inches of snow fell for fear the roofs would cave in.
But Tolman and the school district were in a bind: They couldn’t convince enough voters to support a tax increase that would allow the district to build a new facility. The school board ran six bond elections in seven years. But even though 53% of the community supported the bond in one of their first attempts in 2006, it wasn’t enough. Idaho is one of two states that require two-thirds of voters to support a bond for it to pass.
“Unless an existing school actually falls to the ground and becomes unusable, I don’t perceive them ever passing a bond,” Tolman said in a recent interview.
By 2012, the school board and its superintendent had had enough. They decided to turn to a state program that lets school districts borrow money from the state if they have unsafe facilities and can’t pass a bond or figure out another way to fix them. The loan program had been created after the state Supreme Court ruled that Idaho had failed to comply with its constitutional mandate to provide a “safe environment conducive to learning.”
 

Tempers get short. Test scores suffer. On the worst days, schools close, and students lose days of learning while parents’ schedules are disrupted.
Yorkwood Elementary in Baltimore, before it finally got air conditioning last year, was subject to closure by the district on any day the forecast hit 90 degrees by 10 a.m. And the number of those days has been rising over time.
“I remember one year we literally had seven [closure] days before we were able to have a full week of school because of the heat,” said Tonya Redd, the principal.
July 2023 was the world’s hottest month on record. And America’s schools weren’t built for this. According to a 2021 study by the Center for Climate Integrity, more than 13,700 public schools that did not need cooling systems in 1970 have installed — or will need to install — HVAC systems by 2025,based on the increasing number of very hot days during the school year. Total estimated cost: over $40 billion.
The good news is, there are many design and architectural innovations that can keep students, faculty and staff comfortable, while also creating healthier, greener and even more engaging places to learn. And there’s federal funding to pay for it.
But, installing air conditioners without making other renovations, which is often the cheapest and most expedient option, raises a school’s fossil fuel consumption, ultimately making the problem of climate change worse.
Baltimore is an example of a district that’s had to rapidly upgrade for a changing climate. Six years ago, 75 out of its 140 school buildings, including Yorkwood Elementary, lacked air conditioning.
Now, that number is down to 11, according to Cyndi Smith, the district’s executive director for facilities planning, design and construction. “It has been a big challenge,” she said. “We have the oldest average-age buildings [of every district] in the state, going back to the late 1800s.”  
 

For the first time in its 146-year history, the Sumner Elementary School in Roslindale will begin the school year with air conditioning. The addition has already made a difference to teachers, many of whom are busy preparing and decorating their classrooms for Boston Public Schools' opening day on Thursday.
"In the past I would have to bring so much water because it would be so hot and humid without the air conditioner," said Meghan Welch, the school's principal.
The Sumner school building is one dozens of city buildings that BPS officials have been working to retrofit with window air conditioning units over the last two years, according to a back-to-school memo released last Wednesday.
The Sumner school building received classroom units in June. And as the first day of school nears, Welch is glad that students will be able to learn in a more comfortable setting, especially since temperatures in Boston can remain hot and sticky in early fall and can soar by late spring.
BPS is in the last stage of a $7 million effort boosted by COVID relief funding to cool classrooms in some of its oldest buildings. The project is part of a larger plan called the Green New Deal for Boston Public Schools, aimed at improving the quality and sustainability of school facilities.
 

Temperatures forecasted to hit a high of 91 degrees on Tuesday will shut down all schools in the Southfield Public Schools district and will prompt an early dismissal for all Detroit public schools.

The Pontiac School District also decided to make Tuesday a half day for students.

Southfield expects to resume classes on Wednesday, when the high temperature is expected to be a slightly cooler 88 degrees.

Detroit will release students at all schools three hours early Tuesday, according to a district announcement. Southfield and Detroit are a week into the school year, after starting Aug. 28.

Heat is not a new threat to public schools. Many in Michigan do not have air-conditioning or have antiquated HVAC systems that can't handle high temperatures at the beginning and end of the school year.

IDAHO FALLS — The path to building a new elementary school in Idaho Falls School District 91 has hit a major roadblock. It doesn’t appear the Idaho State Tax Commission is going to certify a voter-approved 10-year $3.3 million-per-year plant facilities levy.
Without certification, the school district cannot collect the $33 million in property taxes to build the elementary school. This is despite the measure winning a supermajority vote during May’s election.
At the heart of the issue is whether the school district can have multiple plant facility levies. The district says it can, and the state says it can’t.
As a result, the school district is taking the state to court.
Background on the issue
For the past several years, District 91 has been trying unsuccessfully to pass large general school bonds to fund renovation and build new schools to accommodate growth.
The latest large-scale attempt in November was a $250 million bond to build a new high school, two new elementary schools and do various renovations. It failed to receive the supermajority vote required to pass.
So, the district and its school board opted to take an unconventional approach. They asked voters for a plant facility levy for the construction of a single new elementary school through a lease-purchasing agreement. The vote for a plant facility levy only required a simple 55% percent majority to pass, as opposed to the 66.6% supermajority requirement for a general school bond.
 

In April, asbestos closed Mitchell Elementary School in Southwest Philadelphia, forcing students to learn virtually for weeks, then crowd into a small space at another school for months to finish out their term.
And though officials promised a reopening for the 2023-24 school year, some worried that the 1915 building needed so much work that repairs might not be finished by Tuesday, students’ first day of school.
On Thursday Philadelphia School District facilities area manager Stephen Manna, who has been leading a team working day and night to get the school in shape, proclaimed: Bring on the students. Mitchell will be ready.
“It’s basically a safe, clean learning environment with brand-new lights, brand-new ceiling tiles,” Manna said.
Some Mitchell staff, however, said they felt unprepared to start the school year. While district officials invited news cameras to tour Mitchell’s first floor, where the hallway was clear and shining and classrooms were mostly ready, the school’s second and third floors were still in disarray.
By midmorning Friday, the second floor, third floor, and basement still had desks, chairs, boxes, and assorted teaching materials stacked and pushed against walls in hallways. Shaw MacQueen, a Mitchell teacher, said that “everyone’s at their wits’ end,” and the staff asked for more time to get the school ready for students, but was denied.
 

The Massachusetts School Building Authority has given the green light for facility upgrades in four Holyoke public schools as part of the state’s Accelerated Repair Projects.

The initiative aims to improve learning environments in schools while making strides in energy efficiency and achieving cost savings.

State Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg recently announced the approval of these projects. “The Accelerated Repair Program allows us to make critical repairs to more schools in less time,” she said. “By improving the learning environment for our children, the Program also makes schools more energy efficient and generates significant cost savings.”

The MSBA’s recent allocation covers up to $25,897,256 for Accelerated Repair Projects. The MSBA reimburses school districts up to 80% of the cost for improvement or complete construction projects.

Holyoke schools have been designated a substantial portion of the latest amount, primarily targeting structurally, functionally, and educationally buildings needing specific repairs or replacements.

CHEYENNE — The Wyoming School Facilities Commission announced during a special meeting Wednesday the proposed replacement of a Cheyenne elementary school as part of the $95 million the Legislature set aside for school construction this year.
Laramie County School District 1, under the design and construction portion of the state’s budget, flags on three capacities and three conditions, with two of the conditions being “very high,” according to Jerry Vincent, director of the State Construction Department. Three Laramie County elementary schools have the highest capacity need in the state, with Arp Elementary School in the lead, according to the SCD report
Capacity need refers to the number of students which can be legally contained in a classroom, and condition refers to the safety and functioning space of the physical building.
Andy Knapp, executive director of facilities and planning for LCSD1, said the state would not specifically name what the project funds are for, and there are “several schools in need of condition remedies” in the district.
“I would anticipate we would be making some sort of plan to deal with Arp,” said Knapp, who confirmed the south Cheyenne elementary school was one of the top priorities.
 

Steel beams have been erected for the new Miller Middle School building, according to Durango School District 9-R Chief Operations Officer Christopher Coleman.

In January, the middle school began constructing a 60,000 square-foot three story building east of the existing school building where the football field used to be. The project will cost $45 million.

The Cuningham Group, in collaboration with Reynolds Ash + Associates, helped design the new building and the renovations to the existing school.

The plan also called for keeping a more modern portion of the building, which was added in 2004. That part is located on the school’s east wing. An elevated bridge will connect the buildings.

“It is exciting to see the structure taking shape, and other work is progressing in the background including site utilities and renovations,” Coleman said.

Nick Gibb, the long-serving Conservative schools minister, is right that safety is the most important consideration when deciding whether to close school buildings deemed to be dangerous. The public is all too familiar, post-Grenfell, with the horrific consequences that can follow from ignoring warnings that buildings are structurally unsound. But the announcement that more than 100 schools in England will not reopen next week, due to the possibility of concrete ceilings falling in, is enormously troubling. Not only will this last-minute decision disrupt thousands of children’s education, with knock-on effects on parents and carers, it also points to the extent of the harm caused by the Conservatives’ refusal to invest in the nation’s schooling.

A new facilities master plan is near ready for adoption by San Carlos School District officials who on Thursday reviewed a draft of the document, which calls out more than $400 million worth of campus improvements.

The district’s facilities master plan, a 206-page document, was drafted in collaboration with the public and is meant to outline both needed and desired improvements the district could pursue over the next 10 years.

More than $400 million worth of improvements across the district’s nine campuses are identified in the document from installing new heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and new fire alarm systems to major modernization projects.

LONDON — More than 100 schools across England were ordered to close buildings because they were constructed using unsafe concrete, the Department for Education said in a statement Thursday afternoon, a few days before the start of a new school year for most students.

The affected buildings contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, a lightweight concrete material known as RAAC, (pronounced Rack), that was used between the 1950s and mid-1990s and has been determined to be prone to failures and crumbling.

In all, 104 schools were ordered to close buildings. The concerns about the concrete have been known for years, and schools had been told to prepare for the possibility that evacuations would be necessary at some point. Some 156 schools were confirmed to have used the lightweight material in their buildings, but 52 have put in safety measures to mitigate the risks.

The government said it would work with local authorities on “individual solutions” for the affected schools. That could mean using other buildings for classes, sharing space with other schools or, in some cases, erecting temporary buildings. Online classes are a last resort, the government said.

England’s education secretary, Gillian Keegan, said the government was trying to be vigilant for the safety of students and staff.

Just south of the Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational High School in Wakefield sits 30 acres of pristine, untouched forest, home to wetlands and diverse species.

But that forest is now facing destruction as the school’s building committee prepares to cut down trees and blast a portion of the hillside to make way for a new school building to replace the old one, which is outdated and in need of repairs.

The Save the Forest and Build the Voke coalition, made up of residents and environmentalists, is calling for the committee to change the site location for the school, also known as Northeast Metro Tech or “the Voke,” and to build on already-developed land instead of moving into the forest.

JEROME COUNTY, Idaho — Shoshone School District voters failed to offer the necessary supermajority support needed to pass an $8.2 million bond intended to build a new facility and remodel existing buildings.
The school district crosses over Lincoln County borders and into an adjacent Jerome County neighborhood. Both counties offered the election on their ballots for those who qualify; however, it came out to a mostly one-sided result.
"Yeah, it's up to the Lincoln County voters," Jerome County Clerk Cy Lootens said. "We [mailed out] two ballots, but I think there are a couple other houses. So, those people just aren't registered."
The number of qualifying voters for the Shoshone School District bond election is so small, the county decided to make it a mail-in precinct. It is legal to do so with permission from the Secretary of State given the number of registered voters in the last general election is less than 140, according to Idaho Code, 34-308.
 

POLSON - Students are back roaming the halls this week in Polson schools with classes officially back in session.
The school district is looking to build off momentum from last spring after passing two bonds at the elementary and high school levels.
“There’s a ton of energy and excitement to start the year for lots of reasons, and one of those factors is that we passed our bonds in the spring," said Polson High School Principal Andy Fors.
Polson voters backed their school district in a big way last spring approving two bonds, providing $40 million in funding to drastically improve outdated school buildings.
“We feel the support of our community, and that’s a huge thing to know that we have people here that believe in what we’re doing and want to help us create a better environment for our students," Fors told MTN News "It goes a long ways to know that we have that community support."
 

Lincoln Public Schools hosted a webinar Tuesday night to allow community members the chance to ask questions and voice their opinions on proposed boundary changes for Kooser and Campbell elementary schools.
The Lincoln Board of Education's Planning Committee proposed the changes in an attempt to decrease enrollment at Kooser and increase it at Campbell, which has seen drops in attendance in the past 10 years. The new boundary would assign Campbell the area from Folkways Boulevard to Interstate 80, and 14th to 27th streets, which was previously part of Kooser's zone.
Only three people were in attendance at the virtual meeting, questioning if other neighborhoods were considered for the proposal and what happens to students when they hit middle school.
The committee looked at three other north Lincoln neighborhoods within Kooser's boundary before deciding on the proposed area, said Liz Standish, associate superintendent for business affairs at LPS.
The committee chose this area because it believed it would provide a good balance of families to avoid shifting too many students to Campbell, Standish said.
One parent also asked about middle school boundary lines and how students can avoid being split up from their classmates.
Campbell students are assigned to either Dawes or Goodrich middle schools, and all of the proposed area is included within the Dawes attendance zone. 
It's common across all of Lincoln for elementary schools to be split among middle schools, Standish said. There are currently no proposed changes to middle school boundaries.
 

CANTON, New York (WWNY) - Canton Central will be a secured school even as a $38 million construction project continues into the new school year.

This September, the campus will not only have students and buses, but construction equipment and crews as well.

According to Scott Sanderson, the district’s operations director, the school will be as secure as other years.

Security cameras and key-fob accessible doors will be working too to prevent any non-school related personnel from walking the halls.

“School’s security is always in the forefront of our mind. A locked door saves lives. Every door on the perimeter of our district, the doors are always locked. People have badges to get in and out of the school building. The doors will continue to be locked whether we have a project going on with contractors in or out of the building,” he said.

RED BANK, Tenn. — Red Bank parents and community members have told us in the past that they are upset with some of the school facilities recommendations put together by Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp and his task force.

They say merging schools isn't a step in the right direction.

Alpine Crest Elementary is one of 3 Hamilton County elementary schools that a task force recommended be consolidated into one big school at Dupont Elementary, according to a report released earlier this month.

But these plans aren't set in stone, and Alpine Crest Elementary parents hope Wednesday night to move the needle back in their favor.