MERRIMAC, Mass. — Dr. Frederick N. Sweetsir Elementary School temporarily shut down after construction workers discovered potentially hazardous material inside.
Asbestos was found during a renovation of windows as part of the state’s green improvements plan.
“The school was built in the early 1950s and we expected we’d find some asbestos — we just didn’t expect to find it there,” said Bob Sinibaldi, the town’s building inspector.
WASHINGTON — Six teams of middle-school students from across North America and the United Kingdom will travel to the Washington, D.C., to compete in the final leg of the School of the Future Design Competition, the centerpiece of School Building Week from April 23-27.
LOS GATOS, Calif. — Plans for a new elementary school have hit a setback over its proposed location on the San Andreas fault, one of the largest and most active fault lines in the country.
LIDO BEACH, N.Y. — A ceiling that recently collapsed during construction at Long Beach High School in Lido Beach, N.Y., raised questions about the safety of the school under renovations.
The carport overhang ceiling fell to the ground on Good Friday, while construction crews were trying to locate pipes in the ceiling. No one was hurt when the building collapsed, largely because students were on vacation.
The core building was not damaged, but the entire suspended stucco ceiling was removed due to safety concerns.
BOSTON — Bullying has bothered students for generations, but a new device might help document and reduce it.
Boston-based education company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) recently launched a digital program that, on multiple platforms, will allow students to anonymously report concerns or incidents of bullying.
The reporting platform helps school districts and local government agencies manage each case consistently and fairly by using a sophisticated analytics and reporting engine, according to HMH.
NEW YORK — The Princeton Review and the U.S. Green Building Council’s Center for Green Schools released the third annual edition of the nation’s most environmentally responsible “green colleges.”
By Paul R. Schreyer, northeast regional manager for The Gordian Group Inc. Schreyer has 15 years of experience in developing job order contracting systems for schools, universities and other large facility owners, including the New York City Department of Education. He can be reached at [email protected].
ORLANDO — SchenkelShultz Architecture recently won two first-place awards for its design of a high school and an elementary school from the Florida Educational Facilities Planners’ Association at its winter 2012 conference.
SchenkelShultz Architecture, a leading green design firm based in Orlando, Fla., won for its completion of Hernando County School Board’s Weeki Wachee High School in Weeki Wachee, Fla. They also took first place for Lake County Schools’ Sorrento Elementary School in Sorrento, Fla.
LOS ANGELES — Teamwork may flow a little more freely in the two-story, 60,000-square-foot renovation of the University of California Los Angeles’ Charles E. Young Research Library.
DAVIS, Calif. — The University of California at Davis has received a $10 million donation for a new art museum that will cost an estimated total of $30 million.
