Patrick recently proposed an increase in spending for public education by more than $2.5 billion over the next four years. The funding would begin with a $550 million increase for next year and would gradually increase each year to an additional $1 billion annually by fiscal 2017, according to the governor.

Public education has been a major factor for Patrick since taking office in 2007. The bill signed in 2010 doubled the number of students able to attend charter schools in districts with the lowest MCAS scores and also gave superintendent’s greater flexibility to turn around persistently low-achieving schools.

Earlier this year Patrick proposed new funding for community colleges, but his latest proposal focuses on expanding early childhood education. Patrick wants to expand day care and preschool programs so that more than 30,000 children can get off waiting lists and into the classroom. The proposal encourages school districts to create pre-kindergarten programs for 4-year-olds by offering districts per-student state aid for them, according to the governor. Currently, the state only gives state aid for 4-year-olds if they require special education.

“Unless we ensure that all children have access to high-quality learning opportunities in their earliest years when learning and achievement gaps begin to form, we will never reach our goals of all students reading proficiently by grade 3,” said Patrick to a group of students, staff, parents, and elected officials. “It is an educational and economic issue to have an achievement gap at all, but to let it languish as long as we have is a moral question.”

Much of the state agrees with Patrick in the sense that a strong education system will help the state and lead to strong, educated members of society, starting in the early years of a child’s educational journey.

“The best prevention program is looking for ways of addressing the needs in our preschool programs,” said Worchester School Committee member John Monfredo to GoLocalWorchester News. “We need full-day preschool programs and need to work with private and public providers to get our children the necessary readiness skills before entering kindergarten.”

With the overwhelming support of placing children in school early, there may be a need for increased building in order to accommodate these students. Although with the current funding formula there has not been specific mentions of how exactly or if exactly that would take place. For now, Massachusetts is focusing on getting more students more access to a better education — the technicalities will come later.

The post Massachusetts Governor Proposes Increased Funding for Education appeared first on School Construction News.

The Maintaining and Operating of Schools Goes Far Beyond Just Cleaning and Construction

School Construction News recently sat down with Ken Wertz, director of maintenance and operations of the Sharon Public Schools District in Massachusetts and president of the Massachusetts Facilities Administrators Associations, a professional organization that serves municipal and public K-12 schools in Massachusetts. The MFAA has provided support, networking and professional development opportunities for more than 39 years and, by sharing knowledge and resources, helps improve the performance and extend the life of public facilities.

Q: With the average U.S. school more than 40 years old, what maintenance and operations challenges are administrators facing?
A: Older school buildings provide unique operational challenges for facilities administrators. Older building systems do not provide the reliability associated with a stable learning environment. Replacement parts for some of the older systems are becoming harder to come by, along with technicians that are no longer familiar with working on some of the older components like steam distribution systems or pneumatic controls. The combination of an outdated building envelope with antiquated control systems makes it extremely difficult to maintain proper indoor air quality and manage energy usage. Another piece of the aging building equation that is often overlooked is the impact it has on technology in the classrooms. Older electrical distribution and low-voltage wiring systems cannot handle the increased demand that newer information technology brings to the table. Having this handicap greatly reduces a school district’s ability to deliver the tools needed for 21st-century learners.

Q: How energy efficient is the average school? Do you have any statistics?
A: The benchmarking research that I do for my work for Sharon Public Schools and as MFAA president is primarily focused in the northeast region of the country. With so many variables that are climate- and geographically driven, it is difficult to put a qualitative average efficiency rating on all the high schools throughout the country. The only agency that has data and evidence for national averages that I completely trust is the EPA’s Energy Star program (www.energystar.gov).

I currently utilize Energy Star’s Portfolio Manager to track all of my building utility usage. Portfolio Manager is a free online resource that allows you to track your building’s energy performance and benchmark it against similar buildings across the country. If a building earns a ranking of 75 or higher, it is eligible for an Energy Star award.

Q: What energy efficient strategies should be implemented in older schools to achieve a cost savings?
A: There are countless upgrades to building systems that can be performed in older schools to help with energy efficiency. I would strongly urge districts to first establish an energy conservation plan. Without first establishing a clear plan and creating a baseline to measure your performance, there is no way of knowing how you are doing. I see districts make this mistake time and time again. Document your starting point and consider where it makes sense to focus your efforts. If you are just starting, then establish a district-wide policy, a plan, regulation document and a best practices guide for all your buildings to follow.

A majority of energy savings can be obtained with no-cost or low-cost initiatives. Changing the culture of the building and how systems and equipment functions are the low-hanging fruit that districts should tackle first. Are timers and adjustments working as they should? Are custodians reducing temperatures and lighting levels during the school vacations? Are boilers running at optimal temperatures based on outdoor temperatures? Simple things that will show up during energy building audits that require little, if any, funding and can save upwards of 10 percent of your utility expenses.

After a district has established its plan, it can then work with utility providers or state governments to see which energy grants are most advantageous to pursue for building system upgrades. Lighting upgrades, pumps and VFD drives, heating controls, boiler upgrades and building envelope improvements are all areas that should be investigated as possible energy upgrades to a building.

Q: For new school construction and renovations, what energy considerations need to be included?
A: There are countless resources for establishing best practices when designing a new or renovated space. Collaborative for High Performance Schools and the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED system, along with EnergyStar.gov, all offer recommended guidelines for constructing a sustainable and energy efficient facility.

Unfortunately, not all communities can afford the additional costs with building a CHPS or LEED facility. In those cases, communities should work closely with their designer to establish which energy conservation pieces are required in their facility in order to maximize efficiencies while still maintaining their project budget.

Some items that would be considered during these discussions are condensing boilers, DDC (direct digital control) heating controls, occupancy sensor for both lighting and heating/cooling, low E glazing, high efficiency transformers, LED lighting, increased insulation, reflective roofing materials, photo voltaic arrays, geothermal heating, wind farms, low-flow plumbing fixtures and lighting controls, to name just a few.

Q: What preventative maintenance strategies must be practiced as a whole in school districts across the country?
A: Preventative maintenance (PM) work is, unfortunately, oftentimes put on the back burner in public facilities. With the current state of doing more with less, it is difficult to keep a maintenance team and school district focused on the importance of PM work. District administration and school boards should be educated on the merits of PM work. It would be very difficult to have a well-developed PM system without support and buy-in from the top-level school administration. This is why many schools, businesses and well-known establishments have been investing in reliability centered maintenance schemes to ensure all maintenance is carried out at the right stage.

All schools do perform some level of PM work. Regulated and mandated life safety inspections, sprinkler, fire detection, elevators, fume hoods, fire extinguisher, emergency lighting and generators is all work required to be performed by legislation and codes, and all of which falls under the umbrella of preventative maintenance. This could be considered tier I.

Tier II would be filter changes, belt changes, lubrications, boiler tune-ups, damper adjustments and floor refinishing. All of these are not mandated, but clearly are critical tasks that have to be performed in order to avoid equipment failure and air quality issues in a facility.
In all of these cases, PM work should be tracked using a work-order management system. There are several companies that provide this service to public schools. Some are software options, while most have shifted to a Web-based platform. The system should allow for reporting functions and integrate with the department’s normal work-order management system to provide ease of use for the maintenance team.

Q: Finally, what are the most important preventive maintenance items that schools should implement?
A: Life safety and all code or governmental mandates must be performed. These items would include elevator inspections, sprinkler inspections, fire detection inspections, fume hood inspections, fire extinguisher inspections, integrated pest management, asbestos AHERA inspections, Radon testing and playground inspections … There is absolutely no way that these items can ever be deferred.
A great framework for starting an energy conservation plan can be found at: www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=guidelines.guidelines_index

The post Q&A: Maintenance and Operations, 21st-Century Style appeared first on School Construction News.

The rebate will offset the purchase of energy efficient equipment as part of the schools recently completed $92 million multi-phase renovation project, and Cambridge will re-invest the savings into other sustainable renovations around the city.

CRLS was designed to achieve LEED Gold certification with its extensive sustainable designs and green building features. The 400,000-square-foot school happens to be the largest energy user in Cambridge, as well as the only high school. While 1,800 students attend the school it is also used to house community and public events, including evenings and weekends.

The energy-saving design and new equipment will lower CRLSs annual energy use by more than 1.3 million kilowatt hours of electricity and nearly 44,000 therms of natural gas, said Richard Rossi, deputy city manager for the City of Cambridge. In addition to the rebate from NStar, these upgrades are expected to lower the schools utility bills by more than $335,000 per year. It is not only schools that have to look into saving money on electricity, households and businesses do to. A big concern for people may be how much they are paying for gas and electricity bills. If this is the case, you may want to look into a site like Simply Switch, can offer you an unbiased view of what gas and electricity deals are out there to help you save money.

In order to achieve such high-energy savings the upgrades to the school included a photovoltaic rooftop panel array; high efficiency lighting; more effective use of daylight to reduce artifical lighting levels; innovative air handling systems to improve indoor air quality and further reduce energy use; and efficient boilers, pumps and motors to reduce the amount of energy needed to heat the school and provide hot water.

Widely known for its innovative approaches to teaching and learning, the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School is again leading the way as a model for modernization and sustainability, said Chin Lin, AIA LEED AP, senior associate at HMFH Architects. Working closely with CRLS staff, the City of Cambridge, and NStar, we were able to maximize opportunities for energy efficiency within the building structure, on the site, and in relation to the schools operations.

The post Massive Rebate for Energy Efficient Design in Massachusetts appeared first on School Construction News.

The $12.5 million, 27,500-square-foot facility will serve as police headquarters and includes a new dispatch center, crime evidence lab and an emergency operation center. The station allows for staff growth from 68 to 80 over the next ten years and also provides the department with the space and capacity for more programs, including the Citizens Police Academy, Rape Aggression Defense and active threats training.

“This new center for public safety is a model for other schools,” said Henry Thomas of the university’s Building Authority and Board of Trustees. “It gives students, faculty and members of the community peace of mind that any situation can be handled safely and securely.”

The building received the 2011 Excellence in Construction Award by the Associated Builders and Contractors and will be the first LEED-certified facility on the campus. The station uses 43 percent less energy and 40 percent less water than a standard building and at least 90 percent of construction waste was diverted from landfills to recycling centers, according to officials.

The facility’s construction also utilized materials with at least 20 percent recycled content and regional materials manufactured within 500 miles of the site. Half the wood products are FSC-certified and paints, adhesives, and sealants are low VOC products. Lighting and HVAC systems use occupancy sensors for efficiency and air quality.

A “green” kiosk in the lobby of the station provides visitors with educational information about the building’s green features and will exhibit live data regarding the building’s energy consumption.

Equipped with enhanced day-to-day radio interoperability with police departments from surrounding areas, the facility is also designed to work with the Federal Emergency Agency, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and the Massachusetts State Police.

The police station is one of 20 projects overseen by the University of Massachusetts Building Authority that are under way throughout the five University of Massachusetts’ campuses.

The post New UMass Amherst Police Station Renews Campus Safety Goals appeared first on School Construction News.

Construction began in November, and the facility is expect to open for its first residents 10 months later in this fall.

The post Housing Project Unscathed by Winter appeared first on School Construction News.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Harvard Business School will start construction of two new projects in the Boston neighborhood of Allston after putting development plans on hold during the recession.

The post Harvard Business School Starts Up Construction appeared first on School Construction News.