Voters reject $56.1M school building

By KENNETH C. CROWE II, timesunion.com Staff writer
First published in print: Friday, December 12, 2008

BALLSTON SPA — Voters in the Ballston Spa Central School District defeated by a nearly 2—1 margin Thursday a $56.1 million plan to expand the middle school.

The proposition went down 1,644—843, district officials said.

Students in grades six, seven and eight attend classes in the former high school, which was built in the 1950s for 800 students. More than 1,050 use the building now.

"The building is still overcrowded with kids,'' said Stuart Williams, a district spokesman.

The Board of Education will consider what steps should next be taken to deal with the facilities needed at the middle school.

Before the vote, Superintendent Joseph Dragone said the school board went ahead with the proposal despite difficult economic times because the state would cover 79 percent of the cost and taxpayers will pay 21 percent. If the project was approved, the owner of a home valued at $221,000 would see a $120 increase in taxes per year, starting in 2012 until the 15-year bond is paid off.

The campaign to win support from taxpayers for the project also marked the first time the board has turned to a public relations firm for help. In its strategic planned adopted this year, the board voted to spend up to $12,000 on public relations services to help communicate with the public. The board chose Allegory Studios of Saratoga Springs, which works with the board's architect, CSArch Architecture of Albany.

It was Allegory that helped develop the board's slogan, "Build for Tomorrow. Our students, their future."

Jordan-Elbridge voters reject turf, approve repairs

by Catie O'Toole / The Post-Standard
Thursday December 11, 2008, 9:45 PM

JORDAN, NY - Voters in the Jordan-Elbridge school district today approved only one of three propositions in a $27 million capital project.

Many repair projects that needed to be done passed, but voters rejected a proposal to install artificial turf and improve the athletic facilities.

Here is a breakdown of the votes:

Proposition 1: Replace a wastewater treatment system at the high school and construct parking; purchase 3 1/2 acres of land east of the high school to construct an off-site storm water retention basin; additions at the high school and renovations to district's four buildings; and replace existing grandstand bleachers with handicapped-accessible seating and create new concession stands, bathrooms and locker rooms.
Cost: No more than $21.9 million.
Vote: Passed, 720-583.

Proposition 2: Consolidation of playing fields at the high school and construction of new baseball and softball fields, refinish existing practice fields, add lighting to the two tennis courts, and build an athletic field where the existing wastewater treatment plant is located.
Cost: No more than $3,387,000.
Vote: Failed, 679-619.

Proposition 3: An artificial turf field at the existing high school stadium.
Cost: No more than $1.76 million.
Vote: Failed, 767-530.

Since only the first proposition passed, the owner of a home assessed at $100,000 will pay $12 a year with Basic STAR, $18.96 a year without STAR and $27 a year with Senior STAR.

The school district plans to pay for the majority of the project using state building aid, state Excel aid and some money from a capital reserve fund.

"Proposition 1 contains a lot of work that we really need to do," Superintendent Marilyn J. Dominick said. "We're thrilled that the community stood behind us."

School officials said they plan to ask the state to expedite the review process and consider the wastewater treatment plant and the storm water retention basin as urgent so they can begin work in the spring.

Meanwhile, the school board will discuss whether it wants to put the two propositions that failed tonight up for a re-vote, Dominick said.

Staff writer Catie O'Toole is working on a complete story for tomorrow's Post-Standard.

$6M Library Breaks Ground in Pittsburgh

By Brianne Harrison via globest.com

PITTSBURGH-Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh broke ground Friday on its newest library here. The $6 million project will be located at 1210 Federal St. in the North Side area of the city.

Karen Loysen of Pittsburgh-based Loysen + Kreuthmeier Architects designed the new library. Construction bids are currently being accepted, and building is expected to commence after Memorial Day.

The library will take up a 16,500-sf lot that was previously the site of a gas station. It will be built and fitted out to LEEDs Certified standard, with natural lighting and energy-conscious mechanical and electrical systems. Plans for the building feature a dedicated children’s programming area, an outdoor terrace and the Allegheny City Room, which will house historical collections of the neighborhood.

Continue Reading

Austin's Brackenridge Tract: $5.1 million, 350-acre tract on Lady Bird Lake

Austin Business Journal

The University of Texas System Board of Regents has officially hired Cooper Robertson & Partners LLP, a New York city master planning firm, to develop plans for the Brackenridge Tract.

The contract, which could exceed $5.1 million, was signed on April 21 by Cooper and the UT System.

At a special meeting on March 26, the board unanimously voted to select Cooper as its preferred master planner.

The regents want Cooper to create two conceptual master plans for the approximately 350-acre tract on Lady Bird Lake. The UT System hopes to utilize the tract in way that will create funding for academic programs and student services.

Cooper has said it expects to complete the master plans as early as spring 2009.

Cooper, which was founded in 1979, has worked on a number of high-profile projects for clients such as Disney Development Co., Harvard University, MIT and Yale University.

At the March meeting, Cooper said it would recuse itself from developing any future projects on the tract.

The Brackenridge tract is home to student housing, a biological field lab, the city-operated Lions Municipal Golf Course and other commercial and retail tenants. Golfers have launched a campaign to save the golf course. And West Austin residents have expressed concern that development could be disruptive to the neighborhood.

Cooper has said its first order of business is to gather community input.

$7.6M gift to help fund St. Vincent expansion

Pittsburgh Business Times

St. Vincent College said a $7.6 million donation from an alumnus will help fund a $40 million expansion of its science center.

The Latrobe, Pa.-based school said the center will be named The Sis and Herman Dupré Science Complex in recognition of the gift from the couple. An inventor and entrepreneur, Herman Dupré graduated from St. Vincent College in 1953.

The donation also kick-starts a $40 million fundraising campaign to complete the science complex, the school said.

"This is the largest and most exciting project in the 162-year history of St. Vincent College and I am pleased that the Boyer School will find a home in a state-of-the-art facility named in honor of Sis and Herman Dupré," school President Jim Towey said in a statement.

The planned building project will renovate nearly 60,000 square feet of space and add another 45,000 square feet of new construction to the original science center built in 1969.

The Pittsburgh firm of MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni Inc. is handling the design, the school said.

Waters, Walden schools may close; public hearing Wednesday

By LAURA DIAMOND
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/14/08

About 25 people attended a public hearing Tuesday on a plan to close an Atlanta elementary school, but a larger crowd is expected tonight at a meeting about closing a middle school.

Atlanta Public Schools proposed shutting down Waters Elementary and Walden Middle schools at the end of the school year because of declining enrollment after nearby housing projects closed.

The school board is scheduled to vote on the plan in June.

During Tuesday's hearing, Waters parents didn't oppose the proposal. They asked a few questions about transportation and course offerings at their kids' new schools.

The plan would send 149 Waters students to Dobbs Elementary and the remaining 61 children to Humphries Elementary. Both schools have room for more students.

Waters is projected to have 210 students in August, down from the 372 children who attended last school year.

Walden is projected to have 130 students, down from 274 .

The district's proposal would send all the Walden students to King Middle. A hearing on that plan begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the school, 320 Irwin Street NE, Atlanta.

Schools say inflation puts them at risk

To protect jobs, campuses, Texas' funding system needs to be revamped, educators say

By GARY SCHARRER
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN — The school funding system approved by Texas lawmakers two years ago provides no new money to cover rising costs — especially for fuel, utilities and health insurance — and officials warn the plan's tax revenue straightjacket will allow inflation to push some school districts into bankruptcy.

At-risk districts, generally, will find a way to make it for the next school year, but many face horror situations in a few years unless legislators dramatically change the school funding system again, and soon.

Take the Houston-area Spring Branch Independent School District. Its budget projections show the district's current $58 million reserve fund will slide $68 million into the red within four years.

Unless a fix is enacted during next year's legislative session, school districts will be faced with difficult choices, including closing campuses and firing teachers, said Mike Falick, president of the Spring Branch school board.

"It's an untenable system. No business in the world would be able to survive with fuel, health insurance and salary increases and a flat revenue source," Falick said. "It's not sustainable.

Some school districts eventually will face "insolvency, some in a shorter time than others," he said.

Humble Independent School District is about two years away from insolvency, Superintendent Guy Sconzo said. It will cover a $7 million budget deficit this year and a projected $23 million deficit next year by dipping into its $53 million reserve fund.

Humble ISD has cut spending by $17.5 million since 2002, Sconzo said, but is struggling with inflation and enrollment growth. Each new student costs the district about $6,800, but it gets only $4,937 from all sources to educate that student, he said.

"As we reduce more, we get on the road of becoming Minimum ISD. We will be able to comply and meet state laws and regulations, but we can't do anything more than that because we can't afford to," Sconzo said.

State leaders defend the current system but will consider.... Continue Reading

Attendance options under fire

Board will look at choices tonight for realignment in North Syracuse schools.

Monday, May 12, 2008

By Sapna Kollali

Staff writer at syracuse.com

More than 130 Clay parents have signed a petition opposing one of the three final options for realigning North Syracuse's middle schools and adjusting enrollment figures, and many plan to speak out at tonight's school board meeting.

The parents, from the Lawton Valley/Cherry Estates area of Clay, said the realignment committee's top option of sending all fifth- and sixth-graders from the Karl W. Saile Bear Road Elementary School zone to Roxboro Road Middle School in Mattydale rather than Gillette Road Middle School in Cicero "makes no sense." All Smith Road Elementary School fifth- and sixth-graders would go to Gillette.

Previously, children from the Bear Road and Smith Road zones were split between Gillette and Roxboro middle schools.

"It boggles my mind that this is their decision when we live so close to Gillette. . . . For us who live in this area, it would be a real hardship to send our kids all the way to Mattydale, almost to Syracuse," said one parent, Ellen Kotzin, whose children attend second and third grade at Bear Road. "People moved here with the intention of going to specific schools. . . . If they choose this plan, people will find a way to get out of it."

The enrollment at Gillette is nearing capacity, while the enrollment at Roxboro Road is

declining, district officials say. The district is looking to better balance the enrollment between the two buildings and formed a 25-member volunteer committee in January.

The committee, with parents, staff and administrators from both middle schools, created seven possible realignment scenarios and selected three final options.

North Syracuse Superintendent Jerome Melvin said no decision will be made today. Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Steve Carr, who headed the committee, will present more data about the three final options today and the board will likely make a decision later this month, Melvin said.

He said he knows some parents are upset by the options, but he declined to comment on their specific concerns.

Kotzin said parents have a number of concerns with one of the options, which she said is the committee's top choice: a longer bus ride to Roxboro compared to Gillette; pupils traveling in a bus along interstate highways; a longer drive for parents to attend school events and pick up children from extracurricular activities; the speed of implementing a plan for September; buses for both Roxboro and Gillette going through the neighborhood; and the splitting of older and younger siblings who would have otherwise attended the same school.

The committee has stated that the benefits of this option include keeping children who live near Roxboro at that school; keeping all seventh-graders in their current schools; and bringing each building to about 91 percent enrollment capacity, according to information packets given to district parents.

The committee acknowledged in the packets that busing, splitting up siblings and scheduling conflicts for families are concerns. However, the information states only three Bear Road families would have siblings that have to attend different schools.

Sapna Kollali can be reached at skollali@syracuse.com or 470-3257.

Houston has received a $5 million grant from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund

Houston Business Journal - by Monica Perin Reporter

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston has received a $5 million grant from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund to create a trauma research center.

The Center for Transitional Injury Research will be headed by Dr. John Holcomb, a U.S. Army trauma surgeon. The ETF funds will be used to recruit leading scientists and surgeons in trauma care and new medical technologies.

The grant was announced in Houston on Tuesday by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

Besides the ETF grant, an additional $13 million has been committed by UTHSC, Memorial Hermann Hospital System and the University of Texas System Medical Foundation to help establish the new research center.

Holcomb, 48, has headed the Army's Institute of Surgical Research at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio since 2001.

Under Holcomb's leadership Army surgeons have stepped up their use of controversial blood-clotting drugs to treat severe bleeding on the battlefield. Holcomb also led a redesign of the Army's system for transporting wounded soldiers from the battlefield to hospitals.

Injury-induced trauma is the third leading cause of death in the U.S., behind heart disease and cancer, and results in 160,000 deaths nationally and 16,000 in Texas annually, according to the National Trauma Institute.

Good news for Pasadena ISD

Written by Jennifer Radcliffe at blogs.chron.com/schoolzone/.

Pasadena ISD has received a five-year, $950,000 grant from the Teaching American History Program that will be used to train teachers on ways to make history more interesting for students.

"This program will give Pasadena teachers a the resources the need to instill a rich appreciation for American history in their students," said state Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford, who helped secure the grant for Pasadena. "The grant is a great opportunity for our teachers and a chance to foster success in our students."

During the 30-day program, teachers will receive extra help in reaching students who are learning to speak English, officials said. They'll attend seminars by historians of several prestigious institutions, including the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, the LBJ Library and Museum and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Bellaire debate team takes 1st in nation

Written by Ericka Mellon at blogs.chron.com/schoolzone/.

Congrats to the Bellaire High School debate team, which won a premier national debate competition last weekend. The team has made it to the finals four times but had not taken the top spot in the National Public Policy Forum, sponsored by the Bickel & Brewer law firm and New York University.

"We placed second last year," debate coach Russell Rach said in a statement, "but our students were determined to win it all this year, and put in the extra time and effort to get there. I'm extremely proud of the accomplishments of our student debaters."

Provided by HISD William A. Brewer III, partner at Bickel & Brewer and founder of the NPPF; Chris Fan, Chelsea Zhang, Andrew Garbarino, Shanna Chu, coach Russell Rach, Jenny Fan, NYU President John Sexton, Vijay Kasschau, and Satish Vemuri.

Perhaps better than bragging rights in this case, the students won $10,000 scholarships.

Klein and Pasadena voted tops in music education

Written by Jennifer Radcliffe at blogs.chron.com/schoolzone/.

Congratulations to the Klein and Pasadena school districts for landing spots on the coveted National Association of Music Merchants' annual list of "Best Communities for Music Education."

Through surveys of hundreds of educators, parents and community members, winning districts must display a commitment to quality music education programs. They're measured on factors such as funding, enrollment, staffing ratios, music class participation, instructional time and facilities.

The complete list of 100 winners is available here.

"We commend these school districts for their commitment to assuring that music is part of a complete education for children," Mary Luehrsen, executive director of the NAMM Foundation, said in a prepared statement. "Children engaged in music will be the innovation leaders of tomorrow, and there is no better way to build life-long participation in music than with a solid base of music education."

Landing on the list also helps school districts preserve their music programs, despite tremendous budget pressures, she said.

Experts tout the benefits that music instruction has on students' academic performance, behavior and enthusiasm for school. Yet, we constantly hear that fine arts programs are being pushed out of the curriculum in favor of TAKS-tested areas. What's the situation in your district? Are students receiving enough music instruction?