Date & Time: Wednesday, May 1st at 2 p.m.

The Connected School Experience represents a transformative approach to modern K-12 education facilities, where advanced access control platforms serve as the foundation for a seamlessly integrated smart building ecosystem.

In this 30-minute Ed Talk, discover how a connected school environment can enhance safety, streamline operations, and improve the overall learning experience for students and staff.

District leaders who attend this Ed Talk will learn how integrated technologies���starting with modern access control���can create a safer, more efficient, and digitally advanced school.

Key Takeaways:

• System Modernization:油Moving from traditional key systems to a secure, connected access system
• Safety and Well-Being Enhancements:油Improving school safety while creating a positive student experience
• Technology Innovations:油Exploring unified mobile credentials for access, payments, and school services
• Analyzing Effectiveness:油Measuring the impact and benefits of connected school initiatives
• Practical Success Stories:油Real-world examples of successful connected schools
• Data-Driven Improvements:油Using access data to improve resource allocation and student support
• Expense Reductions with Efficiency:油Reducing operational costs through streamlined credential management and automation
• System Integrations:油Integrating access control with student information systems and learning platforms

Speaker

Ron Shaffer, Industry Solutions Leader���Education, SALTO Systems

Sponsored by

The post The Connected School Experience: Modernizing K-12 Ecosystems appeared first on District 91心頭istration.

Date & Time: Wednesday, December 4 at 2 p.m. ET

In the last two decades, facilities departments have begun to leverage data and technology to enhance their operational efficiency, while ensuring safe, comfortable environments for their students, faculty, and staff.

Yet, despite this increased access to more data than ever before, many schools and districts still struggle with translating this information into effective capital planning decisions. Without proper data interpretation solutions, this can result in the misspending of capital funds while the facilities team struggles to manage a massive backlog of aging infrastructure.

In this 30-minute 91心頭 Ed Talk, those in administrative positions will gain helpful advice on turning facilities data into actionable insights.

Attendees will learn:

• How to pinpoint and analyze datasets that will lead to more cost-effective funding
• Proven strategies to prevent capital fund misallocation through data-informed planning
• Best practices for facilities teams to justify their investment needs by leveraging data
• What administrators need to look for when decoding leveraged data from their facilities teams
• Data-backed approaches for facilities teams to build the best learning environments for students

***Attendees will be able to safely download an Asset Investment Planning (AIP) Infographic and a comprehensive guide for capital planning, budgeting, and asset management.

Speaker

Katie Gramajo, CEFP,油Senior Industry Marketing Manager for Education, Brightly Software

Sponsored by

The post Translating the Data: Ensuring Your Capital Planning Funds Are Cost Effective appeared first on District 91心頭istration.

Sensory rooms, however, may have become an afterthought even as districts everywhere redesign the traditional classroom to inspire more hands-on, tech-driven and collaborative learning, notes Joey DiPuma, district coordinator of innovation at Florida’s Flagler Schools. DiPuma and lead behavioral specialist Mindy Morris recently created new sensory spaces at nine of the district’s middle and elementary schools and are hoping to exchange ideas with other educators working on similar projects.

“People don’t realize what they can afford or how to go about doing it, and a lot of times you don’t have to spend a lot of money to do these things,” DiPuma said in a Zoom interview from one of the sensory rooms that resembled a low-key, low-lit and spacious children’s museum.

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“A lot of this, it’s touchy-feely. It’s lightweight. It needs to be wipeable. So you don’t always have to go buy stuff,” he added. “You can create things with kids. Your STEM kids can build stuff.”

Still, Flagler’s Title 1 and ESE departments secured a $450,000 grant to outfit Flagler’s new sensory rooms with interactive touch panels, ball pits, bubble tubes, soft seats and soothing light fixtures, among other equipment. The furniture is crucial for sensory room success and so is getting educators in the right mindset for using the spaces, Morris advises.

Morris, along with help from the sensory equipment suppliers, provides professional development on sensory concepts. She also wrote guidelines, asking teachers to only bring two to three students into the room for 10 to 15 minutes max. Each school has a master schedule for when teachers can take students to the rooms though the spaces can also be used on an as-needed basis.

DiPuma and Morris are constantly assessing the rooms by filming (with each family’s permission) how students interact with the furniture and equipment. “We watch what’s working and what’s not working and the things that are not working we change out,” explains DiPuma, who has presented his ideas at the and ISTE. “We might have some things that look great and they’re all over Pinterest, but if they’re not serving kids, then they gotta go.”

Flagler’s sensory rooms are not meant for de-escalation but for students who need a break. DiPuma and Morris want teachers to bring students to the room on a regular schedule or when kids are beginning to show signs of feeling overwhelmed.

And the rooms are not designed 逮顎壊岳油for students. “We purposely don’t design just for students,” concludes DiPuma, who has presented his ideas at the . “Our designs are more for humans. Because we don’t just want students in here. We also油want stakeholders and community members to benefit from these spaces.”

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Date & Time: Tuesday, June 11th at 2 pm ET

K-12 school districts nationally are facing billions of dollars in deferred maintenance and other costs associated with aging buildings, while energy costs continue to rise, and inflation is putting additional pressure on education budgets.

In this 20-minute 91心頭 Ed Talk, an advisor from the U.S. Department of Energy���s Office of State and Community Energy Programs and an education facilities expert from Trane will discuss how to access and use newly available funding from the federal government to finance much-needed school facilities improvements in any district.

Topics will include:

• Using energy savings performance contracting (ESPC) programs in K-12
• What resources are available through the DOE���s new ESPC Campaign
• How to leverage expanded incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)
• Practical implementation examples from school districts

Presenters

Laura Carpenter, Advisor for Partnerships and Technical Assistance, Office of State and Community Energy Programs, U.S. Department of Energy

Michael Hines, Education Leader, Trane

Sponsored by

The post School Renewal: Accessing New Funding for Facilities and Energy Projects appeared first on District 91心頭istration.

Most leaders are aware that districts in some parts of the country were losing significant numbers of students even before the pandemic turned attendance upside down. A resurgent school choice movement in Republican-controlled states is also drawing students away from public schools as K12 budgets face the so-called “ESSER fiscal cliff” later this year.

Wichita Public Schools in Kansas this week voted to cover ia $42 million budget shortfall by shuttering two middle schools and four elementary schools. The decision to close schools focuses financial resources on fewer buildings, reduces the district’s maintenance backlog and eliminates the need to fill some vacancies, Wichita’s school board said in .

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The closures will also allow the district to maintain mental health support programs and “reasonable class sizes,” fill open positions with certified teachers and maintain family engagement efforts. “No current employee is expected to lose their job in this process,” the board added.

The district has used ESSER funds when enrollment dropped during the height of COVID in 2020 and then did not rebound as the pandemic ebbed.

San Francisco USD in California is preparing for closures as enrollment continues to slide, the district struggles to fill vacant teaching positions and more of its buildings fall into disrepair. “To the create school our children deserve and our families expect, we must have fewer schools than we do now,” Superintendent Matt Wayne says in about the district’s “.”

The district has lost about since 2015, ABC 7 San Francisco reported, but Wayne did not say which or how many schools might close. “We’ve included external equity checks to ensure no community or student group is proportionately affected,” Wayne adds in the video. “Make no mistake, this initiative will affect the entire district. Every school will experience some level of change.”

In just the last half of 2023, Grand Rapids Public Schools in Michigan decided to over the next five years and San Antonio ISD in Texas approved a plan for closing 15% of its buildings.

One of the nation’s largest districts, Broward County Public Schools may add dozens more buildings to the list of five schools it had been preparing to close or consolidate. At a recent school board meeting, one board member contended the district is “,��� WLRN reported.

Smaller districts that have voted so far this winter to close buildings include in North Dakota and in Virginia, according to local reports.

But enrollment and funding were not the chief reasons given this week when Bridgeport Public Schools in Connecticut announced leaders’ intentions to close six buildings. The schools “pose safety risks and drain taxpayers’ funds [and] … have long struggled to meet basic educational standards,” the district said in a statement titled “.”

But how much money do school closures actually油save?

When schools are under-enrolled, closing one of every 15 schools saves a district about 4% of its budget���mostly in labor costs, according to think tank published this week by EdSource. However, just as in some of the closures detailed above, layoffs do not always accompany school closures.

So how do leaders save money when they’re not cutting staff? Attrition, the Edunomic Lab report contends. “Often, the district can move staff from the closing school to fill vacancies emerging in other schools as staff leave on their own (thus avoiding layoffs),” authors Marguerite Roza and Aashish Dhammani write. When a principal retires in one school, the district may move a principal from the closing school over to fill that spot.

“The cost reduction comes from not rehiring to fill those vacancies.”

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Demands on K12 facilities leaders don���t seem to be easing up for 2024. Building managers are still dealing with limited funding and staffing resources but they now have more asks than ever.

The results matter more than many school leaders may realize. analyzed the impact of investments in facilities. The results of this study build on a growing body of evidence that suggests higher-quality school buildings translate to better academic outcomes. According to the researchers, school facility upgrades can close about 10% of the achievement gap between high- and low-wealth school districts, while also increasing property values for the communities that surround the improved facilities.

To drive these better outcomes and help ensure that all students have access to safe, healthy, and equitable learning environments, facilities leaders can consider the following three key moves.

1. Choose the right tools for better efficiency

Leaders in K12 schools are finding opportunities to improve efficiency with new technology tools. Facilities management systems, for example, can provide comprehensive solutions for seamless work order management, preventative maintenance scheduling, and real-time tracking of resources.

One key advantage of these tools is the ability to centralize information, from maintenance schedules to energy consumption. Having a data-unified platform allows facilities managers to make informed decisions. Not only does this enhance operational efficiency but it also contributes to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly approach to managing school facilities.

2. Achieve faster results through collaboration

Another way to enhance efficiency is by taking advantage of the right tools to streamline collaboration, both within your own team as well as with other departments. Cybersecurity safety should no longer be considered simply an IT responsibility, given how integrated facility equipment is in cloud-based work order systems. This collaboration can be especially impactful when the school IT and facilities teams have streamlined methods to work together on reporting and solving issues.

For example, being able to take pictures and record videos out in the field, then add them to a shared platform, will provide greater visibility, along with a better understanding of building issues. Similarly, leaning on technology���including mobile apps���can speed up on-the-go reporting and enables teams to streamline their collaborative work.

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Leaders who use technology to break down data silos and enhance collaboration can create an environment where all departments work together to improve both physical and digital infrastructures. Facilities managers can take advantage of jointly developed strategies to maintain technology infrastructure most efficiently and cost-effectively. The entire school community benefits when collaboration between district and school IT teams is enhanced and streamlined, from improved network connectivity to the integration of smart building technologies.

3. Stay on top of preventative maintenance

In a time of shrinking budgets, rising costs of capital equipment and a shortage of skilled trade labor, K12 facilities management leaders need to stay focused on preventing building problems before they arise. This means keeping to a consistent schedule of inspections and maintenance to prevent the breakdown of equipment. A predefined schedule should be established for essential recurring tasks, such as changing air filters for better air quality, lubricating machinery to prolong usage, and inspecting electrical systems to ensure safety.

The goal for all maintenance is to avoid unexpected breakdowns, extend the lifespan of equipment, and maintain a consistent level of performance. Predictive maintenance, which relies on data and analytics to predict when equipment is likely to fail, can also help anticipate potential issues, with various monitoring tools and sensors collecting real-time data on the condition of equipment. But preventative maintenance is key to achieving the goals of reducing downtime, minimizing unnecessary maintenance costs, and optimizing the learning environment for everyone.

The path to improving facilities management in K12 schools in 2024 lies in choosing the right tools and developing collaborative practices. By leveraging tools that enhance efficiency, breaking down silos between teams, and remaining vigilant about consistent maintenance, facilities leaders can create environments that are not only cost-effective but also energy-efficient and responsive to the ever-evolving needs of education.

Implementing these best practices enables school leaders to move forward to ensure the safety, longevity, and functionality of their facilities, and to contribute to the overall success of K12 education in the years to come.

The post 3 ways to get even more done when managing K12 facilities appeared first on District 91心頭istration.

Moreover, some 31% of schools are currently using at least one portable building while construction or renovations are underway this academic year at one-fifth of all public schools, according to the latest survey data released this week by the National Center for Education Statistics.

���School facilities provide a setting for learning and affect the health and comfort of the school���s students and staff,”油 the Center’s commissioner, Peggy G. Carr, said in a news release.

91心頭���s “Talking Out of School” Podcast is now live! Join the District 91心頭istration editorial team and special guests every Wednesday as they discuss their experiences, strategies and forecasts for K12 education.

The survey then digs deeper into the physical climate of schools and whether conditions in some districts should raise equity concerns. The average age of schools in higher poverty neighborhoods, for example, is 55 years, compared to 48 in more affluent communities.

The numbers are just as tilted when comparing schools where students of color are the large majority (54 years) to buildings where these children represent less than 25% of the population (48 years).

There also are disparities among the resources within schools. The survey found that 89% of schools have dedicated library space but that number fell to 81% in high-poverty neighborhoods and to 80% in districts where students of color are a large majority. As for STEM labs, 64% of more affluent schools have such facilities while only 58% of high-poverty schools provide them.

Finally, when it comes to air quality, nearly four in 10 schools have a staff member who is responsible for monitoring indoor air quality and handling issues and complaints. Vehicle loading and unloading at six in 10 schools takes place at least 25 feet from doors, windows other air intakes. But only 18% of schools have instituted anti-idling measures, such as signs or monitoring during pick-up and drop-off times, the survey found.

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For school districts, these same inflationary pressures have led to an across-the-board increase in expenses���everything from utilities and construction costs to employee salaries, materials and supplies. As a result, budget deficits are looming, and districts are looking for any way to avoid falling further behind when it comes to maintaining facilities.

Among the few levers administrators have in this balancing act is the funding they receive for community use of school facilities.

Did you say, ���funding for community use?���

Yes. As in, having budgetary dollars allocated specifically to offset the expense of non-district organizations using school facilities. Every school district administrator in America is thinking to themselves��� ���Who gets funding for community use?

Within the current way of thinking, the only ���funding��� of community use comes from the fees assessed to the user and collected by the district. Determining those fees and who pays them along with developing and implementing the other policies that govern facility use can be challenging for a school district. Often, it���s a matter of navigating a myriad of political, ethical and financial interests.

While most districts have a range of board-approved rate and fee categories intended to be charged to outside groups for their use of school facilities, these rates often don���t come close to covering the cost of utilities, supplies, maintenance and wear and tear. We asked 30 school districts in Texas and found that over 90% estimate their highest rate category failed to recoup the actual cost of facility use. And thanks to inflation, that gap is widening.

So, if community groups aren���t covering the entire cost of their facility use, exactly who makes up the difference? The answer is the school district. And more specifically, from facilities and maintenance budgets intended to cover the expenses of school use, not community use. ���The money your BA gives you, that���s for Monday thru Friday. It doesn���t cover Saturdays, it doesn���t cover Sundays and it definitely doesn���t cover holidays,��� says Todd Amiet, educational facilities manager at the Freehold Township School District in New Jersey.

Why aren���t community groups covering costs?

Not only are most school districts��� rates set too low to recover costs, but a host of individual exceptions to those rate policies, along with a lack of oversight regarding which groups go into which rate categories, make the problem even worse. Decision-making can be fragmented among school officials, influenced by personal relationships or based on historical arrangements that haven���t been reviewed in years or even decades.

Arguably the problem is that the mindset, even for school boards and administrators, is focused on the hardship of the cost to the user rather than the cost to the school district. The result is that each exception, each well-intentioned decision to waive fees or assign a group to a discounted rate category, adds to the overall expense borne by the district each and every time a facility is used. As the idiom goes, it���s a ���death by a thousand cuts.���

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This problem might be seen in a completely different way if there were greater transparency and a reframing of the way that community use ���funding��� is viewed. Because the fact is that any time a school district allows a non-district organization to access school facilities, if the entire cost of providing that access isn’t borne by the user then the school district is funding the difference. In a manner of speaking, the school district is contributing funds directly to the user group by covering a portion of their expense.

Supporting community programs

The idea that school districts would want to fund community use makes perfect sense. There has long been support for programs that are either school-affiliated, provide for school-age children, or in some way align with the vision and mission of the district. Think of organizations like PTA or Cub Scouts. Districts provide support for these programs by contributing all of part of the cost of their use of district facilities���in essence, funding these organizations.

But most districts, dare I say no district, keeps a running tally of how much expense it bears on behalf of the many organizations using their facilities.
According to “,” a white paper published by the 21st Century School Fund and the Center for Cities & Schools, districts should do just that.

To adequately fund community use, according to the paper, districts must know the cost of providing school buildings and grounds and ���maintain accurate records on the terms of use and lease agreements, the spaces used, the fees paid, and the programs and services provided.��� Furthermore, it recommends that this information ���should be stored and made accessible to the public.���

Imagine a records request or school board budget meeting featuring a list of organizations who utilized school buildings and grounds showing not how much money the groups paid the school district, but how much money the school district contributed to each individual organization in support. This amount could be easily calculated by showing the total utilization (in hours) of school facilities by an organization, the actual cost of that use, and the amount that organization paid to cover those costs. The difference in dollars would equal how much money in public funds was contributed to that organization by the district.

With this level of transparency, it will likely be difficult for a district to justify or reconcile the inevitable inequity of why certain groups received priority over others and why certain groups merited different levels of financial support.

According to Amiet, ���You get all your numbers together and you put that in front of them (the school board) so they can see it on a screen, then the dollars mean something completely different.���

The post Funding the community’s use of school facilities: A fresh perspective appeared first on District 91心頭istration.

At the time, I had just come from a district that had renovated its media center and it was a real game-changer. Using elements like soft and flexible seating, the media center was transformed into a space that engaged the whole school community.

I wanted to see that same enthusiasm and support infused into Megan Cope Elementary���s media center, but achieving that goal would take some work. Here are the four top indicators that told us it was time to make the leap:

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1. The current space is dull, uninviting, and uninspiring. We wanted to make our media center a happy, inviting place, but it was very, very sterile. ���It’s this big room that reminded me of a hospital waiting room,��� said Moore. ���It was really difficult for me with our limited funding to make it very friendly.��� She had put up a Lego wall and tried to make a few other updates, but at the end of the day the media center just really needed a makeover.

2. There���s no opportunity to ���extend��� learning outside of the classroom. We also wanted a learning space that could serve as an ���extension��� of our classrooms, and with a particular focus on literacy. Improving our student���s reading abilities and literacy skills has been one of our main pushes over the last few years because our data indicated we really needed to have literacy at the forefront. What better place than the library?

3. The lack of space is constrictive. We wanted the kids to come in for library time, pick up a book and get excited about reading in a warm, cozy space���things that were definitely lacking with our current setup. We also wanted to use the media center as a space for parent engagement and parent meetings���and for staff to come in and get their work done. Teachers would also be using the facility for weekly staff and leadership team meetings.

4. It���s just not conducive to 21st-century learning. An aging, tired media center that doesn���t have power outlets doesn���t support the needs of today���s elementary school students or teachers. Our new space is equipped with an ample number of power stations that students can use to power their Chromebooks and teachers use to charge their computers. All of the furniture and bookshelves are wheeled, which means teachers can move them around to accommodate the immediate learning environment. I especially like the space���s amphitheater seating and leveled benches.

Step-by-step media center facelift

As a starting point, we came up with ways to maximize the current media center space and make it more inviting and engaging for both students and teachers. We started talking about what we could do to spice this library up and also spoke with the assistant superintendent of educational services about potential funding for the project.

Working with , we came up with a great concept for our new media center. Having this company as our partner played an important role in the project���s success, particularly when it came to the planning stages and picking out flexible and sustainable furniture, cabinets, and fixtures.

We also asked students to share what they love about the new space in a type of ���before and after��� format. We listened to what they love and what features of this new library make them feel excited about being here. Having that buy-in, getting everybody involved and then getting the support from individuals who can help fund the project are some of the important steps we took to make this project a success.

The post 4 signs that your school needs a media center upgrade appeared first on District 91心頭istration.

“Even cafeteria refrigerators are now on the network���to monitor the temperature,” says Cunning, who cites this development to illustrate why tech leadership teams have to be extensively involved throughout the design process for new school construction.

Tech leaders also have to be front and center when districts put together bond proposals to raise funds, particularly when it comes to technology replacement cycles, adds Tim Klan, administrator of information and instructional technology at Livonia Public Schools in Michigan. His district last passed a bond for technology in 2014 and is now in the process of bringing another proposal to the community’s voters.

“You need not just a long-term plan for bond dollars, but for facilities and equipment in general and how you’re going to continue to support the purchases after bond dollars are gone,” Klan says.

Hot topics for tech leadership

When it comes to replacing edtech, Klan says, consider the Chromebook. The ultra-popular laptops last about four years while districts often wait seven to 10 years to put a bond proposal on the local ballot. That’s why Livonia has a 10-year technology plan that details how long every piece of equipment will last. During budgeting season, this helps everyone stay on top of what will need to be replaced and the new purchases the district will need to make.

The exercise doesn’t necessarily identify the funding for future expenses but it does help tech leaders spread costs out over different fiscal periods. “School districts, we���re not known for spending lavishly. We tend to use equipment to its bitter end,” Klan continues.

Another bond essential is building trust, which Klan says he believes Livonia has established in spending the proceeds from the 2014 package. A pleasant surprise has been some of the systems installed back then have lasted longer than expected. The district’s communications department also shares with the public the innovative ways Livonia’s students and teachers are using technology.

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“When you have a good track record, the community knows they can trust you when you���re saying, ‘This is what we���re doing,'” he says.

Tech leaders are building new schools

Cunning and the IT team have been intimately involved from day one as Pflugerville ISD’s architects designed its next new elementary school, which is set to open in the fall. Cunning has tried to review every iteration of the blueprints with an eye toward standardization that will allow teachers to go anywhere in the building and know how to use and every other piece of technology.

Designing spaces that can be used flexibly is another priority. “We always have to think five years ahead for where technology is heading,” Cunning points out. “If architects design a room that’s going to be a closet, it will probably be somebody���s office in two years so we make sure there’s ventilation and AC in so it can be converted. Financially, it’s better to do all that up front.”

And of course, a school can never have enough Wi-Fi. These days, it’s critical for tech teams to guide architects in maximizing outdoor Wi-Fi capacity. There also needs to be space for cameras���and the all-important network connection points���in more places; for special education and security, in particular, Cunning explains.

Plus, no detail is small. In one of Pflugerville’s construction projects, there was an issue with the conduits being too small to accommodate HDMI cables. “You have to look at the drawings,” she concludes. “The architects want to build schools, make them pretty and come in at budget. We���re trying to build schools for the next five years. Cutting costs winds up costing more to fix in the long run.”

The post Tech leadership in 2023-24: Funding and facilities are top priorities appeared first on District 91心頭istration.