If voters approve Measure C, the Sierra Sands Unified School District’s approximately $52.1-million bond measure June 7, the district plans to bring solar power to its schools.

“The district, in its facilities master plan, has been studying the possibility of implementing solar at our school sites to offset our costs,” said Superintendent Dr. Dave Ostash.

He said the district spends approximately $1 million out its general fund for electricity.

“The idea is that it makes sense where we live in a space that has more sunshine than just about anywhere in the country that we ought to harness some of the solar energy we have here to offset our costs and make a long-term investment in ultimately saving the district money and more importantly reinvesting that money in facilities,” Ostash said. “The concept is to utilize the resources the best we can to purchase and implement solar on as many of our campuses as possible.”

He said the district plans to start at Burroughs High School and Murray Middle School, which he said are the district’s biggest users and eventually have solar power at all its schools.

WASHINGTON — It wasn’t only hot outdoors in D.C. Tuesday. Many classrooms in the District were balmy as well.
Numerous DC Public Schools (DCPS) teachers and parents hopped on social media to ask District leaders to fix broken heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) units in their classrooms.
Maya Baum has taught in DCPS for five years. She said her classroom got up to 80 degrees before she and her 22 students were transferred to a smaller, cooler room elsewhere on campus.
“There's no airflow and we're hot and uncomfortable,” she said. “You don't want to do anything when you feel like that.”
The District Department of General Services (DGS) maintains DCPS school buildings.
Baum said the administration and custodial staff routinely reach out to DGS to get HVAC units fixed, but problems persist. She said she cannot understand why this happens every year.
"When we came to our school building after having been out of it for over a year due to a global pandemic, we were told by city leaders that our buildings were ready and had had walkthroughs, and work orders had been completed, and they were ready for students and staff to return,” she said. “We had classrooms with no AC and it was 90 degrees outside. And when it was wintertime, and temperatures were dropping below freezing, we had no heat.”
 

The YS Schools Facilities Committee held its second meeting on Thursday, May 5, and reported on information-gathering work that had been meted out to its members at its first meeting in April.
In the month between meetings, the committee’s contingent of building users, headed by board liaison Dorothée Bouquet, collected results from a questionnaire on facilities conditions that was disseminated amongst district staff. At the same time, the committee’s building experts, led by board liaison Judith Hempfling, assessed several areas of building systems.
Bouquet, who worked with committee members and educators Kineta Sanford and Brian Mayer, reported that an overwhelming majority of district staff — nearly 100% — participated in filling out the questionnaire.
“I’m just giving an overview here, but I want the users to know that I’ve read all of [the questionnaires] and that they’re being shared with the whole group,” Bouquet said.
Among the issues identified by building users, the largest concerns discussed at the meeting were heating, ventilation and air conditioning, or HVAC, systems and air quality; bathrooms; and safety and security.
According to users, the heating and cooling at Mills Lawn, McKinney Middle and YS High schools are unreliable, with students often wearing coats indoors in winter and feeling too warm in spring and summer. The HVAC system, many said, is often loud enough to be disruptive or make it difficult to hear important announcements. Some teachers bring in other heating and cooling devices at their own expense.
 

As enrollment has increased in Cape Henlopen School District, so has a call for equity in the funding of major school construction and renovation projects to house the growing numbers of students.

Since Beacon and Mariner middle schools opened in 2003, district enrollment has grown by more than 2,000 students, with the biggest increases occurring in the last 10 years, according to data provided by Assistant Superintendent Jenny Nauman. 

In 2011, the student population was 4,845. As of Sept. 30, 2021, 6,078 students were enrolled, and as of May 19 enrollment increased to 6,265 students.

Along with this growth has come a burgeoning need for new schools. The Cape district has churned out a school a year for six years for a total construction cost of $212 million, according to data provided by Cape Director of Capital Projects Brian Bassett.

Love Creek Elementary opened in 2017 and cost $30 million; H.O. Brittingham Elementary opened in 2018 and cost $32 million, including demolition costs; and Rehoboth Elementary opened in 2019 and cost $33 million.

Already a national leader in energy conservation, Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) is moving forward with planning for a solar energy project that would significantly reduce costs, cut carbon emissions and boost sustainability efforts in the state’s largest city.

The IPS Board of School Commissioners approved an agreement with Carmel-based Sun FundED to develop, finance and operate solar energy systems for the district under the firm’s “Solar-as-a-Service” program. The project would reduce energy costs by an estimated $45 million over the next 30 years.

“Research has consistently shown that solar projects can reduce air pollution and CO2 emissions, and significantly reduce energy costs,” said Dr. Aleesia Johnson, IPS superintendent. “Under this new partnership, IPS will install solar panels at multiple schools and locations across the district, enabling our schools to utilize clean energy while at the same time reducing the district’s carbon footprint.”

If approved and installed as planned, the project would represent the largest solar energy project by an educational institution in Indiana history. The project proposes both roof and land based solar installations at 20 schools, and also includes the ability for the district to adopt renewable energy and sustainability programs for the classroom through SAMI, a digital platform intended to help students understand the financial and technical aspects of solar energy.

Project locations, size and system output will be finalized through the development phase of the project.

Four years after an armed 17-year-old opened fire inside a Texas high school, killing 10, Gov. Greg Abbott tried to tell another shell-shocked community that lost 19 children and two teachers to a teen gunman about his wins in what is now an ongoing effort against mass shootings.
“We consider what we did in 2019 to be one of the most profound legislative sessions not just in Texas but in any state to address school shootings,” Abbott said inside a Uvalde auditorium Wednesday as he sat flanked by state and local officials. “But to be clear, we understand our work is not done, our work must continue.”
Throughout the 60-minute news conference, he and other Republican leaders said a 2019 law allowed districts to “harden” schools from external threats after a deadly shooting inside an art classroom at Santa Fe High School near Houston the year before. After the Uvalde gunman was reportedly able to enter Robb Elementary School through a back door this week, their calls to secure buildings resurfaced yet again.
But a deeper dive into the 2019 law revealed many of its “hardening” elements have fallen short.
Schools didn’t receive enough state money to make the types of physical improvements lawmakers are touting publicly. Few school employees signed up to bring guns to work. And many school districts either don’t have an active shooting plan or produced insufficient ones.
 

The Camas School Board this week approved a six-year capital facilities plan that includes an estimated $210 million worth of school facilities projects the district could need to serve a growing student population over the next six years.

“We’re not obligated to do any of these,” the school district’s director of business services, Jasen McEathron, told school board members on Monday, May 23. “We are talking about likely options we’ll need to address if we’re to deal with capacity issues.”

Camas School District voters passed a $120 million capital facilities bond in 2016 that helped build the district’s newest schools — Lacamas Lake Elementary and Discovery High — and increased building capacity across the elementary, middle and high school levels.

Now, McEathron said, two of the district’s three middle schools — Odyssey and Liberty — are starting to experience “some capacity constraints.”

“At Odyssey, the program is popping, and they’ve been very creative to accommodate students interested in being in that middle school program,” McEathron said. “There is some opportunity to potentially accommodate more students … but we could have two of three middle schools with capacity issues within the next six years.”

Though the district could get away with remodeling and adding portables to accommodate student growth over the next few years, McEathron said Camas “may have to entertain (building) another middle school” if housing development in the area “really takes off” between 2022 and 2028.

The district also may have some capacity issues at Camas’ largest elementary school, Woodburn Elementary, in the next few years, McEathron said.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The recent school shooting in Texas has some Anchorage parents wondering how secure their child’s elementary school is. The news that the shooter was able to access the school through an unlocked door has some wondering how easily that could happen in Anchorage.

Anchorage School District Maintenance and Operations Director Rob Holland explained that every elementary school in Anchorage is locked and secure during school hours. In other words, the doors are open during drop-off and pick-up times for parents, but once classes start, the doors are locked.

But some schools have an extra layer of security, which Holland called incredibly important for stopping an intruder. Schools that have a security vestibule require visitors to be buzzed in twice, the second time through a door that leads directly into the school office.

“If we can slow down a potential intruder we create response time,” Holland said. “If we can completely lock out an intruder then we are able to prevent whatever nefarious act would have occurred.”

“A new study from Trust for Public Land effectively dispels a common misconception among school administrators about the price tag of transforming asphalt-covered and treeless schoolyards into green schoolyards,” according to a press release from TPL. “The study compared the typical cost of building and maintaining a traditional ‘gray’ or asphalt-covered schoolyard in California to a ‘green’ schoolyard (replacing asphalt with more natural green space and infrastructure) over a 20-year period. While gray schoolyards had a moderately lower initial renovation cost ($2.3 million compared to $2.6 million for green schoolyards), they yielded no benefits over time, with schools continuing to sink money into resealing asphalt.” By contrast, green schoolyards bring close to $600,000 in net benefits. These include higher student attendance and staff retention, better academic performance, and savings on energy costs.

SALT LAKE CITY – Brightly colored student artwork adorns the walls behind a brand-new addition to an elementary school in the Granite School District.

“We have had situations where angry parents try to come on to the campus and get frustrated at the door situation,” said communications director Ben Horsley.

The door situation he’s referring to is a more than $1 million renovation project that created a secure, single entry point vestibule. The update is meant to give officials control over who is entering the building and represents a significant change to the school’s original layout.

“You used to actually have to walk into the building and walk into the front office over here,” Horsley said, pointing down a hallway past the new secure entry point. “And then they would immediately have access to the rest of the building, and that’s not acceptable in the current climate and circumstance.”

CHULA VISTA (KUSI) – Parents and students of Castle Park High School in Chula Vista say the school has been neglected for years.
KUSI’s Sports department has covered this exact issue for many years, but no changes or improvements were made to the school’s facilities.
Now, parents and students have had enough.
They’re calling on the Sweetwater Union High School District to take action, and renovate the deteriorated facilities.
KUSI’s Teresa Sardina obtained photos of the current conditions of various Castle Park facilities, and spoke with concerned residents about their efforts to get the school much needed renovation.
The Sweetwater Union School District provided KUSI’s Teresa Sardina with the following statement regarding the school’s rough condiditon:
Following up, Wednesday on Good Morning San Diego, KUSI’s Jason Austell got reaction from students, parents and Chula Vista mayoral candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar.
Adrian Gomez, a sophomore at Castle Park, and his father, Pedro Gomez, told KUSI’s Jason Austell that the issue has become so bad that it has become an equity issue.
Adrian added he and his classmates are happy to get the attention they deserve, and are prideful to attend Castle Park High School.
 

Long Beach Unified parents, students, and community members gathered at Browning High School to provide suggestions for the district’s Facilities Master Plan at a community forum yesterday.

Through interactive and collaborative activities, around 40 attendees shared their thoughts as a group on what school buildings need to look like and provide to ensure an equitable and adequate education for all student populations. Some common suggestions included more green spaces, transitioning off of fossil fuels, and access to healthier cafeteria food. 

As per LBUSD’s website, the Facilities Master Plan is a “long-term blueprint” that outlines the constantly changing needs of facilities in the district. The plan looks both at how facilities are designed and how they are used and intends to properly align facilities with the district’s overall educational mission.

The update process typically takes over two years, incorporating a needs assessment for every school, community input, and equity analysis. The district is working with the architectural firm Cannon Design to run assessments, gather community feedback and draft the plan that will be submitted to the school board this summer. 

Severe weather is a common sight in central Kansas, with tornados, severe storms and weather warnings springing up throughout late spring and summer.

In Reno County's six public school districts, tornado shelters and storm procedures look slightly different, depending on what works at the school and the facility accommodations at each location.

Storm shelter updates at Reno County school districts
Nickerson/South Hutchinson USD 309 has storm shelters, but the one at the high school needs to be updated. The shelter is currently beneath the concrete bleachers in the old gymnasium.

"It's concrete seating in the old gym, so under there. It's like a concrete vault," said Nickerson superintendent Curtis Nightingale. "It's not ADA accessible, which we're discussing putting into the new bond issue."

JACKSON, MI - Jackson Public Schools has approved a new proposal to bring solar energy systems to three of its elementary schools that will provide more savings to the district.
JPS’ Board of Education approved moving forward with a proposal from CLS Sustainable, Inc., during its meeting on May 17, that would install solar energy systems at Hunt, Dibble and John R. Lewis elementary schools.
Although the school board previously approved a similar 20-year agreement with U.S. Global Energy to conduct the same project scope a year ago, the contract was never executed, Superintendent Jeff Beal said.
CLS Sustainable would provide the same services as U.S. Global Energy under the new agreement, but with more savings to the district, JPS Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Marcus Leon said. The company would own and maintain all the equipment, meaning there is no cost or liability to the district.
The district vetted more solar providers because the company’s long-term energy rates didn’t yield the return on investment the district was looking for, Beal said. U.S. Global Energy’s previous agreement was 9.75 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to CLS Sustainable’s rate of 9.1 cents.
 

MONONA (WKOW) -- The Monona Grove School District made history Saturday as they unveiled the largest solar array to be installed on a K-12 building in Wisconsin to date.

The project will replace the coal-fueled electricity that currently powers the school and will supply about half of the building's electrical needs.

Krishna Elwell, a sophomore at Monona Grove High School who helped the project come to fruition, said he is proud to see his school mark this major change.

"All this started out with an idea, a dream," Elwell said. "Energy is probably one of the most significant ways we can alter the effects of climate change and really create a sense of hope for the next generation, so to have my school doing that and to have the evidence that we can build a future right in front of my eyes--that's just so inspiring to see."

A Monday in May poured sunshine over the playground and backyard of John S. Martinez Sea and Sky STEM Magnet School, where students recently broke ground on a fresh garden. A team of second graders had decided on the perfect spot for three new garden beds under the guidance of Hollie Brandstatter, an outdoor learning specialist from Common Ground.
The goal is to offer a different approach to learning, and playing in the dirt is bringing kids down to earth.
Common Ground is a New Haven environmental education center planting outdoor classrooms across the city and as far as Hamden and Wallingford. Their Schoolyards Program has partnered with over 20 New Haven public schools and led the installation of a number of school gardens, most recently at John S. Martinez. Common Ground outdoor learning specialists typically visit partner schools at least one day per week.
On this day, Brandstatter led a group of pre-Kindergarten and fourth grade students to cultivate the garden beds. Students worked together to transfer soil — enriched with hearty earthworms — with trowels and buckets from a pile outside the school into the new beds.
Schoolyards Program manager Robyn Stewart emphasized the range of skills young kids develop through outdoor learning.
“Kids are interacting in a different context,” Stewart said. “There's more opportunities for both independence, developing independence, but also developing teamwork and collaborative learning.”
Even a simple task like moving soil presents opportunities for personal growth.
 

NORTH BRADDOCK, Penn.—On Wednesday evening, 10th grader Abby Wypych stood in front of Woodland Hills School District’s board and urged them to approve a feasibility study on installing solar panels.

“Woodland Hills has provided me with many opportunities to get involved with climate action, which I’m very passionate about,” she said. “As a student with severe asthma, I’m also very concerned about the poor air quality in our region.”

Wypych and her co-presenter Lauren Palamara, a youth educator for the climate advocacy nonprofit Communitopia, reminded the board that thanks to student advocacy, Woodland Hills became the first school district in Pennsylvania to pass a climate resolution in 2020. With a goal of having net-zero emissions by 2050, the district has helped educators create climate change lessons for their classrooms, established a climate-friendly food and gardening program, improved recycling and energy efficiency in school buildings, and students hosted the region’s first youth climate action summit. In 2021, the district won a national “Best of Green Schools Award” from the U.S. Green Building Council.

“How do we continue to champion this phenomenal work?” Palamara asked. “Imagine our next news headlines if Woodland Hills takes steps toward becoming a regional leader in solar power.”

WILSON — School administrators and students gathered to “Flip the Switch” as they celebrated their newly active solar array on Tuesday morning at Rivercrest High School in Wilson.
The school made its switch to solar only a week after the Riverside School District flipped its switch with the help of Entegrity, as well, on last Tuesday at the East Elementary School in Caraway.
According to a press release from Entegrity, Rivercrest School District has been key in the growth of the communities it serves as it provides quality education to 1,220 students and employment for 125 teachers.
Seeking to catalyze innovation in Northeast Arkansas, the district signed a Solar Services Agreement with Entegrity Energy Partners to build a 1.33 MW DC solar array on land adjacent to the campus and this new solar array will allow the school to save over $98,000 a year on utility and energy costs, totaling more than $3 million in lifetime savings.
Rivercrest Supt. Mike Cox said that Rivercrest School District wants to continue to be an institution that provides the best environment for students to learn and grow.
 

KIMT News 3 - In 2021, the Minnesota legislative session developed a plan for solar energy in schools.
Now - the Minnesota Department of Commerce Solar for Schools Program is on track to award nearly $8 million dollars for up to 80 school across the state.
The state is awarding these grants based on the financial need of the school districts.
Around 70 percent of all rural schools in Minnesota fall below the state average for operating referendum dollars.
Schools with the most need can get up to 95 percent of system costs covered, which is up to $114,000.
Once the schools are accepted, they have one year to finish the installation process - which, has been a little but of a challenge.
"Another thing we're dealing with right now is supply chain issues," said MN Dept. of Commerce Jack Kluempke. "We've heard about supply chain issues throughout all the economic sectors that we deal with - Solar's no different. And that's why we put in one of those metrics that they have to have at least ordered the material by a certain date to make sure we get it within a year."
Solar energy helps reduce electric bills, creates local jobs, and is a homegrown power source for more local economic security.
A requirement for schools to apply to this program - is that they have to include solar energy into their curriculum. This creates more learning opportunities about solar jobs for students.
 

Congressional Democrats are looking to invest $130 billion in the nation’s crumbling schools, partly by reviving a type of debt financing killed by tax reform during the Trump administration.
The Rebuild America’s Schools Act, which went to committee markup Wednesday, would establish a $100 billion grant program and authorize $30 billion of school infrastructure tax credit bonds, both aimed at high-poverty schools around the country where shabby infrastructure poses a health risk to students and staff.
The bill, introduced by Virginia Democrat Bobby Scott, marks a renewed push to pass school infrastructure funding through a gridlocked Congress after a similar measure folded into President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act failed. Democrats argue schools desperately need repair, and federal Covid-19 stimulus should be used for emergency purposes, not long overdue projects.
The somewhat obscure securities would likely be embraced by investors in the $4 trillion muni market, and schools would get a new tool for borrowing. “Issuers like having flexibility, and this is a structure that has had a long history in the market,” said Jamie Iselin, head of muni fixed income for Neuberger Berman. “There is typically an investor for every type of security.”
The debt portion of the proposed bill would reauthorize tax credit bonds, or TCBs, for school construction purposes after former President Donald Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated them. Unlike tax exempt muni-bonds, which exclude interest from federal taxes, TCBs give a credit or payment to the issuer or investor.