CORAL SPRINGS, FL – In 2014, voters approved $800 million in a bond referendum for Broward County Public Schools to renovate buildings, purchase equipment, and make other long-needed improvements at campuses.
In Coral Springs, 19 high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools are benefiting from the funds that focus on safety, music and art, athletics, renovation, and technology (SMART), according to school officials.
All school construction in Coral Springs and across the school district is expected to be completed in 2025, if not sooner.
Here’s what Coral Springs High School did or plans to do with $15.9 million from the program.
As one of Coral Springs High School’s most popular educational tracks, the culinary program is known for bringing “real-life experiences” to students interested in going into the food industry, Principal Vivian Suarez said.
And so, the school is reconstructing its culinary “lab” through the Smart program.
“It’ll be a state-of-the-art lab that I can’t wait to see,” said Chef Aruna Lein, who heads up the culinary program which has won many state and regional competitions over the years. “We’re going to be a force to reckon with.”
Expected to be completed as early as next month, the area will have new equipment as well as be set up to look like “the back of the house” in most restaurants and catering halls to “mirror what our students will face when they go out to get jobs,” Lein said.
Added Suarez: “We will continue to raise the bar on this program. I don’t know how much higher we can raise it.”
 

Carly Flandro 01/05/2023
SALMON – A cracked foundation. Collapsing sewer lines. Outdoor food storage. 

These are just a few of the problems at Salmon’s Pioneer Elementary School, which was built about 70 years ago. 

“It is quite atrocious,” said Troy Easterday, the superintendent of Salmon School District. 

Renovating the school could cost as much as $2 million, Easterday estimated. But in a community that has an extraordinary 0-12 record of bond failures since 2006, ballot measures cannot be counted on for major upgrades or a new elementary. 

Salmon is one of many Idaho school districts that has struggled to pass bonds. Nearly half of all bond proposals have failed in the past 23 years. As the Legislature gears up and education committees plan to address school facilities needs, school districts are hoping politicians will come to their aid with a new infrastructure bill and surplus funds earmarked for public school buildings.

From the outside looking in, Eagleville Elementary Charter School might look like any other elementary school. But as an environmental charter school, it has a unique focus.

The school, which was founded in 1849, used to be a traditional elementary school, serving students in first through fifth grades. The current building housing the school was built in 1931.

But since the 2004-05 school year, the school is a tuition-free, public 5K through sixth-grade independent charter school that also includes a foreign language, Spanish, in its curriculum, according to the Mukwonago Area School District.

The school primarily focuses on environmental education and using the outdoors, said principal Colleen Hoyne.

For example, to bring environmental components into a math class one day, Eagleviille’s older students calculated how many plants would be needed for the school's butterfly garden.

Nearly four years after its inception, Bard High School Early College DC has found a new, permanent home in Congress Heights.

Upon their return from winter break earlier this week, nearly 400 students gingerly entered their newly renovated school building. Days later, on Thursday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and several other District officials commemorated this milestone with a ribbon-cutting. 

Once construction of the building, formerly known as the Malcolm X Opportunity Center on Alabama Avenue in Southeast, reaches full completion later this year, it will have nearly three dozen classrooms, rooftop solar panels, a theater and gymnasium, a soccer field, track field and basketball court along with several energy-saving amenities. 

For many students, including Josiah Best, the new building not only represents the fulfillment of a vision, but the end of a tumultuous journey. 

As the Prince George's County school system prepares to build six new schools in three years under a public-private partnership, questions surround who's building the schools and how workers are being compensated.

Lanham-based DC Plumbers Local 5 is one of many trades asking the Prince George’s County Council to hire union on construction projects.

“We’re not advocating so much for the union workers; we’re advocating for workers, period,” said T Smalls, who represents the union.

New majority on the Council is requesting a labor project agreement ensuring a percentage of county workers are hired and that the construction jobs are union.

“Our residents have health care benefits, retirement and things that most people take for granted,” Council member Ed Burroughs said.

The move caused backlash. Almost 50 Black businesses signed a petition saying they're concerned their construction companies tend to be smaller and some don't have union affiliations.

“There's just institutional barriers and challenges of things that have been in place for years and years that minority small businesses, new businesses, have to overcome, and that's what this creates – more of those barriers,” Warren Builds President and CEO Shane Warren said.

Lead exposure can have serious health consequences for children, but only a fraction of Georgia schools have signed up for a free testing program. Advocates worry school leaders are worried about the cost and consequences of discovering lead in their water systems, which the state has not provided funding to address. In July 2021, the Georgia Department of Education announced a new initiative to provide free funding and resources for schools across the state to test their drinking water for lead. At its launch, the “Clean Water for Georgia Kids” program, administered by RTI International, a North Carolina nonprofit, aimed to test “up to 800” schools during its first year.
More than a year later, just 96 schools and day cares have enrolled in the program, and 82 have completed testing — a small fraction of Georgia’s more than 2,300 schools and 3,100 day cares. In a meeting on Dec. 8, Georgia’s state Board of Education voted to renew RTI’s contract for the testing program. The Georgia program’s underenrollment stands in stark contrast to the successes of the pilot program on which it was modeled. In North Carolina, from June 2020 to September 2021, RTI International succeeded in testing lead levels at every operating day care in the state. Schools were not included.
 

 Guilford County Schools maintenance crews are doing repairs at over 50 sites during the winter break.
The repairs are in response to the freezing temperatures that were seen in the Triad during the holidays and the impact that it had on GCS facilities.
Crews have currently completed 23 projects since Monday and 44 projects are still pending. Most of the issues are related to pipes, leaks and boilers.
Crews say that the status of each project changes on a daily basis.
Crews have currently completed 23 projects since Monday and 44 projects are still pending. Most of the issues are related to pipes, leaks and boilers.
Crews say that the status of each project changes on a daily basis.
Another local administrator also praised the efforts of the maintenance crews.
 

SAN DIEGO —  Seven new parks are under construction, and 12 more are slated to be built soon as part of San Diego’s campaign to speed the creation of parks across the city by partnering with local school districts.
Building relatively small joint-use parks on public school campuses allows the city to build parks more quickly and cheaply, because the land is essentially free and there is no need for a time-consuming and controversial site search, officials say.

City officials can also target neighborhoods that lack parks, including many older communities and lower-income areas south of Interstate 8. A 2017 survey found nearly a quarter of San Diegans didn’t live within a 10-minute walk of a park.

Four of the 12 parks slated to be built soon are in southeastern San Diego’s low-income Skyline-Paradise Hills neighborhood, two are in City Heights, and one is in Encanto.

The parks already under construction include two each in Clairemont and Mira Mesa and one each in University City, Serra Mesa and Southcrest.

The Hoover school board and city of Hoover in 2023 plan to embark on at least $40 million worth of capital projects, officials said.

The timelines and costs for capital projects are very fluid, so the dollar amount is subject to change and does not include projects for which costs were not yet known.

School projects
The most expensive project the two entities have going this year is a $16.5 million performing arts center the school system is building at Hoover High. The 36,000-square-foot facility is being built right next to the new band room at Hoover High and will seat 940 people in the new auditorium, compared to the current 270-seat theater.

School officials broke ground on the project at the end of September, and Blalock Building Co. expects the job to take 16 to 17 months to complete.

Meanwhile, plans for a 10-classroom addition at Bluff Park Elementary School have been put on hold. Superintendent Dee Fowler said the school has experienced an unexpected decline in enrollment.

The 10-classroom addition remains in the school system’s five-year plan, and money ($4.5 million) is still allocated for it, but “we will continue to gather enrollment data and monitor,” Fowler said.

Another project put on hold is an estimated $2 million worth of upgrades to the bathrooms and concession stands at the on-campus football stadium at Hoover High.

This project had been slated for fiscal 2023 when there was some talk of Hoover High moving its varsity football games away from Hoover Metropolitan Stadium and back on the school campus.

A recent change to Mississippi’s power generation laws, set to take effect in January, will allow over half of the state’s public school districts to start saving money by generating their own solar energy. The new rule, which the Public Service Commission agreed to with the state’s two investor-owned utilities in October, paves the way for school districts to earn credits for generating solar power without actually having to pay for the solar panels. Starting in 2023, any of the 95 public school districts served by Entergy Mississippi or Mississippi Power can enter into what’s called a power purchase agreement, where a third-party contractor foots the bill to add solar panels to the school district’s property. Entergy or Mississippi Power would then buy the generated solar power and credit the district on its energy bill. For funding the new system, the contractor would be eligible for government tax credits.
While the rule change opens a door for widespread renewable energy use in Mississippi, a few of the state’s school districts are already generating solar power, with some seeing new wiggle room in their budgets. “It’s been a very, very big win for the district,” said Mike Papas, director of Auxiliary Services at the Forrest County School District.
 

MARIETTA, Ga. - A community has pulled together ensure water damaged schools in Cobb County can open on time for students next week.
After pipes ruptured in two Marietta City Schools during the freezing temperatures over Christmas weekend, administrators say they are blown away by the help they are getting to put everything back together.
Faculty and staff are working tirelessly at the Emily Lembeck Early Learning Center in Marietta to clean up and dry out the mess.
"The initial damage was it was raining from the ceiling and the ceiling collapsed in one of the girls' bathrooms," said Kimberly Custance, the director of Marietta Community School.
Two teachers setting up for a drivers’ education class the day after Christmas noticed water pouring in from the ceiling at the center.
"We called maintenance out and they dropped everything, this was the day after Christmas and our maintenance team dropped everything and came out to the school immediately," said Custance.
While crews were there for the initial rupture, another indoor rain shower started in the cafeteria. Soon after, they got word about damage at Sawer Road Elementary School.
 

AMHERST — Communities across Massachusetts, including Amherst, will get more financial support from the state for school building projects they are pursuing, although a reimbursement increase recently approved by state officials fell short of appeals made by the local legislative delegation.

The Massachusetts School Building Authority on Dec. 20 approved an increase in reimbursements to $393 per square foot, up from the $360 per square foot reimbursement rate that was set in June 2021.

The increase will mean more state money for the three-story, 100,000-square-foot, 575-student school being planned for the Fort River School site on South East Street. That K-5 building, which will accommodate students from the aging and outdated Wildwood and Fort River schools, will be subject to a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion override vote in May.

Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed the Schools Impacted by Gross Highways Act (SIGH Act)—which bans constructing schools 500 feet from highways unless there’s special approval—this past Thursday, Dec. 23. The bill was passed by state legislatures earlier in the summer. 

The SIGH Act was drafted by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and co-sponsored by State Sen. Rachel May (D-53) and Assembly Member Latoya Joyner in an attempt to combat long-standing environmentally racist urban design in a state ranked first in schools built within 500 feet of highways. 

“Governor Hochul’s veto of the SIGH Act is an enormous disservice to Black and brown communities who have suffered most from the devastating health and academic impacts of highway pollution,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman in a statement. “We hoped the governor would heed the call of directly impacted students and residents, who have been organizing for years against this kind of systemic racism. 

Washington County, Tennessee Director of Schools, Jerry Boyd, says the gymnasium floor at Daniel Boone High School is possibly destroyed and will likely require a full replacement after a sprinkler pipe burst and flooded parts of the school.

A statement on Friday says almost 90 percent of the gym floor at Daniel Boone was flooded, as well as the majority of the cafeteria floor, and some of the front offices. After inspection, Boyd says the current condition of the gym floor is unsafe, and while a decision is made on repairs or replacement, upcoming basketball home games and other gym events will be relocated.

Full statement below:

At approximately 4:00 pm Christmas Day, a sprinkler pipe in the front hall gym lobby at Daniel Boone High School burst. Our maintenance department responded quickly to the issue. Unfortunately, when the water supply to the area could be shut off, most of the DBHS gym floor (~90%), much of the cafeteria floor, and a section of front offices were flooded. Because the gym floor was most susceptible to damage, clean up in that area occurred immediately. Unfortunately, the current condition of the gym flooring indicates the damage is irreparable. The water on the gym floor has resulted in buckling that has rendered the surface unsafe for use.

PLATTEVILLE, Wisconsin (KWWL) -- On December 26, the Neal Wilkins Early Learning Center in the Platteville School District experienced significant water damage after a pipe burst in the building.
According to a Facebook post from the school district, experts that assessed the building say that the east side of the building, that contains eight classrooms, will be inoperable for the next eight weeks.
It was determined that all school operations will remain in place at the west side of the building.
 

TUSCALOOSA Co., Ala. (WBRC) - Burst pipes from last week’s freezing weather has caused damage to some schools in the Tuscaloosa-area.

The Tuscaloosa County School System has crews working to make sure repairs are made in time for students return to class in January.

WBRC contacted five West Alabama school systems and asked if they had any damage from last weekend’s deep freeze. The Tuscaloosa County School System reported damage from frozen pipes from at least six schools according to spokesperson Terri Brewer. Brewer said they consider most of the damage minor. Brewer said the worst damage happened at Buhl Elementary School in Coker. The school system shared pictures some of the damage. Burst pipes left water leaks in several classrooms.

“Some water on the floor and what not. We had some ceiling tiles come out. We have our maintenance crews working to get the situation resolved before school starts,” Brewer told WBRC.

Public schools across Northwest Indiana are building — and building a lot.
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been poured into new facilities for local students. Here's an overview of capital improvement projects at some of the biggest districts across the Region:
Crown Point Community School Corp.
In 2020, the School Board approved a slate of capital improvement projects. By the time those projects are complete, every school in the district will have seen some sort of renovation or addition.
At Crown Point High School, the district is adding 25 new classrooms and five science labs. It's upgrading the visual and performing art facilities, robotics lab and career and technical center. It's also updating the school's media center, widening hallways, expanding the cafeteria and adding more physical education space. Those upgrades, which will cost a total of $55 million, are expected to be complete by the end of 2024.
The biggest project CPCSC is taking on is the creation of a new $78 million building for Taft Middle School in Winfield. Construction on that building kicked off in mid-August 2021 and is expected to be ready for students by the 2023-24 school year.
 

Seven schools in Stokes County have less than 20 years before reaching the end of their 80-year lifespan, according to a Facility Condition Assessment (FCA) performed by Peterson/Gordon Architects.

The architects were scheduled to present the findings and answer questions at the latest school board meeting in December but requested to reschedule to the first of the year.

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Jared Jones explained to the board the FCA was ordered by the county and conducted to assess the current condition of each of the Stokes County Schools buildings. It was provided to help determine whether to maintain, repair, or replace each of the represented school facilities.

Issues raised in the assessment were the level of unused capacity at most schools, overall trend of decreasing enrollment numbers and schools with higher enrollment numbers.

“We’ve talked about this as a potential funding issue and also mentioned the level of unused capacity at some of our schools,” Dr. Jones said. “I think it’s important to take away here that our elementary and high schools are operating at approximately 50% capacity. Some are higher and some are lower but as an average our elementary and high schools are operating at 50%, where our middle schools are operating at approximately 60% capacity. Obviously, this configuration can be costly to maintain and as noted in the study, as staffing and energy costs increase overtime the need to reduce the number of schools may surface.”

It’s mid-November and Parr Elementary School in Arvada is lacking its typical upbeat atmosphere.
“You walk into these buildings, and you can feel it—there’s this air of sad,” said Kaylie Weese, a mother to four kids in the school and president of the parent-teacher association. 
On Nov. 10, Jeffco Public Schools announced that Parr and 15 other elementary schools would close and consolidate with other district schools. The decision came after a pair of elementary schools were abruptly shuttered over the previous two years. 
Weese knew that Parr Elementary might be on the chopping block before the district released its list of recommended closures in August. She has seen staff pulling extra duty — taking on breakfast and lunch duty or covering for teachers who are out. One of her daughters is in a combined kindergarten-first grade classroom. Her second grader is in a classroom with 25 kids; she regularly tells her mom that she has trouble learning because it’s too loud. (The school’s target class size for grades K-3 is 18-24 students; the Colorado public primary school average was estimated at 22.8 in the National Center for Education Statistics’ most recent data).
“I understand that they had to make a hard decision. I understand it’s not really good for anybody,” Weese said. “I see why [the school closure] is necessary because I see my kids struggling with it.” 
 

OSKALOOSA — Oskaloosa Community Schools has launched a five-year facilities plan and vision as the district prepares to update their buildings and amenities.

The vision of the plan is to maintain, create, and imagine facilities that are safe, inviting, and attract current and future students and families to the Oskaloosa Community Schools.

The plan includes large strategic projects to be implemented over the next five years. The major areas of facilities growth include updates at the middle school, such as improving the cafeteria and kitchen facilities, improving front door access for safety and security, and updating classrooms for sound control and safety. The district will also explore improved wellness facilities for students, families, and staff, while also updating and replacing HVAC systems at the middle and high school.

Additionally, the district plans to address drainage issues at the baseball facility, increase capacity for spectators at the high school wrestling room and address firewalls, replace and renew playground facilities at the elementary school, and update parking lot lighting and signage at all campuses.