The U.S. Department of Education will be running a survey to understand the status of in-person learning at the nation's schools. The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) will oversee the project, dubbed the "NAEP 2021 School Survey." Currently, the agency noted, there isn't enough data to understand the status of school re-opening or how students are learning. The survey is intended to fill that gap.
A Texas school district has refinanced its outstanding bonds, a move that it expects will save nearly $16 million.
A high school next door to Yosemite National Park will be replacing seven portables that have been in use for "decades" with a new 6,000-square-foot, five-classroom building.
A California district has "topped off" its new multi-story, $67 million, 83,000-square-foot STEM school. The Los Alamitos Unified School District has laid the last piece of structural framing at the highest point of the building. The steel beam that was placed included handwritten messages, an American flag and an evergreen tree.
A company that does develops COVID-19 testing management programs for colleges and universities is bringing its services to K-12 schools. CoVerified is working with Mirimus Clinical Labs, which performs saliva pool testing, to launch CoVerifiedPool, a mechanism for testing student populations regularly and affordably.
A school district near Denver, CO where students have returned to in-person instruction has deployed a technology in its classrooms and common areas with the aim of killing viruses in the air and on surfaces. The deployment was funded by a Safe Schools Reopening Grant, a one-time, $15 million program offered through the Colorado Department of Education in conjunction with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Here’s how Midland School District overhauled the media centers and turned them into central activity hubs for the schools.
A $77 million project currently underway will provide affordable housing options for school employees who work for the Alameda school district.
The 14,000-square-foot renovation includes a construction science lab, manufacturing lab, automotive lab, art room, and computer science and robotics lab.
MeTEOR Education, a company that offers turn-key services for space design, announced it is making medical and industrial-grade Continuous Air & Surface Pathogen Reduction (CASPR) technology available for schools. The technology has been used in hospitals and medical centers for some time but it is now available to schools.
Saint Joseph Academy expanded its Makerspace innovation lab to 4,800 square feet, more than four times the size of the former makerspace.
Although you set your initial school maintenance plan during the late summer months, now is a good time to evaluate its effectiveness, find opportunities to refine your processes, and make sure you and your teams are doing all you can to safeguard students and staff if and when they enter your doors in person.
3M’s Commercial Solutions Division launched a new line of products that reduces the labor and product costs associated with routine floor maintenance, according to the company.
COVID-19 has changed and will continue to change every aspect of education in K–12 and higher education for the foreseeable future. We polled our readership to learn of the experiences taking place across the nation and get a glimpse of what's being planned going into the spring 2021 semester and beyond.