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In the News

Are we making progress? Is it happening fast enough? Are we doing the right thing for our kids? Losing a generation of children while we get our act together cannot be an option.

Alarming Ideas

In today's raw, aggressive world, it seems important to bar a parent with that idea from entering. That's just one of many reasons that schools, today, typically lock all exterior doors and have a hall monitor to greet and question anyone trying

Communicating the Future

Costs have come down and schools are looking at new ways to show their commitment to technology, not only to their students, but to the community as well. What they're finding is that digital signage displays have multiple uses across the school, mak

PTSAs and School Restrooms

Since every school system and school in the country is required to have a wellness policy under a renewed federal law, each district and building can include a "third E" in its Wellness Policy — for Eliminate Properly.

Under New Management

New approaches to AV management and controls have led to increased flexibility with the use of open-source products.

Mending Fences

The biggest obstacle to the Bucknell Lewisburg Community Development efforts was the status quo: A community that was generally comfortable with how it looked and a University that saw no compelling reason to do something different from what it had been d

A Smart Way to Stretch Your Budget

The need for supplies and materials is certainly great, and membership in gifts-in-kind organizations allows schools to obtain a great deal of merchandise for an extremely low administrative cost. Schools can browse catalogs of donated supplies and reques

Risk-Reduction Evaluations

The start of fall for most of our programs is the start of a new budget year and a flurry of life-safety construction projects that we hope to complete before students return from summer vacation. It should also be a time when we look back at the past yea

Disaster Recovery: Lessons Learned

Through creative design decisions to address previous problem areas and well-thought-out strategies to maximize FEMA funding, the University of Texas Medical Branch has emerged from the impact of Hurricane Ike with not only improved functionality, but als

Acoustics and Daylighting

We all know that clean, quiet, safe, comfortable and healthy environments are an important component of successful teaching and learning. But which facility attributes affect academic outcomes the most and in what manner and degree? A growing body of rese

A Summer Washington Update and Comment

There are not many days left on Congress' working calendar to complete legislation and appropriations. The shortened calendar enables members of Congress to attend party conventions and campaign for their re-election, except for those who are retiring. Pl

After the Storm

Recovery is a phase of emergency management that often does not receive proper attention. Yet, like the response phase, the time to make plans is not when the incident occurs, but before. There are necessary elements to a recovery plan that should be deve

Why Do Women Resist STEM Fields?

Getting talented women into male-dominated careers is one struggle, while keeping them is another. The issue is especially apparent in STEM careers, which are extremely important to the global economy. Attracting and retaining more women in STEM careers w

Odyssey of an Organ Factory

An innovative adaptive reuse project transformed an ancient industrial building, the Skinner Organ Company built in 1905, into a 21st-century charter school for fifth and sixth graders at Boston Collegiate Charter School.

Community Colleges

No question… today's community colleges play a vital role in serving both a diverse student body and the community in which they are located, and it's time for us to give credit where credit is due.

Broad Brush. Colorful Strokes.

The Varick Street Incubator is successful, in part, because it stands as an example of how a tight budget does not necessarily limit the ability of a creative team of architects, designers, and administrators to create an impactful and vibrant space. Crea

A Percent for the Arts

Expanding the arts into more areas of university teaching has been a trendy topic in recent years. A recent report by the College Board recommended "placing arts at the core of education" and "integrating arts across the curriculum," i

The First 30 Seconds

Many fatal campus crisis situations involve critical of delays in the implementation of life-saving action steps such as room clear, lockdown, sheltering from severe weather, reverse evacuation, or other critical action steps. Catastrophic plan failure ca

Thinking It Through

After some trial and error, administrators at Great Valley School District, Rio Rancho Public Schools and Forest Grove School District have worked the kinks out of their contracted services and have established successful relationships with their provider

Remote Success

Learning on the college campus moved beyond the lecture hall years ago. Distance learning solutions are the wave of the future, as students and faculty demand more flexibility in learning and teaching. While a successful distance learning plan can bring i

Charter Schools

The Department of Education Report, "Impact of Charter Schools on School Districts," states that half of traditional school districts created new programs in response to charter schools. But while charters do create competition and encourage inn

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