Planning Guide For Maintaining School Facilities

This Guide is designed for staff at the local school district, where most facility maintenance is planned, managed, and carried out. Chapters: Intro. to School Facilities Maint. Planning; Planning for School Facilities Maint.; Facility Audits: Knowing What You Have; Providing a Safe Environment for Learning; Maintaining School Facilities and Grounds; Effectively Managing Staff and Contractors; and Evaluating Facilities Maint. Efforts. Appendices: Chapter Checklists; Additional Resources; State School Facilities Web Sites; Audit Form Template; Record Layout for a Computerized Work Order System; Model Job Description for a Custodial Worker; Useful Interview Questions; Using Mapping During the Interview Process; and Sample Customer Survey Form.

This book provides a detailed discussion of all of the processes involved in planning a school building. From a discussion on how to organize the local staff to the final evaluation of the building, the separate processes are described in detail.

Presents characteristics of schools and school systems capable of preparing students for a global knowledge/information age.

Nearly half of the nation's school buildings need to be renovated or replaced. This book provides a knowledge base for administrators to plan and manage construction projects, and addresses specific planning tasks including public opinion polling, enrollment projections, financial planning, selecting architects and other professionals, and managing facilities once they are operational. Theodore Kowalski addresses the administrative procedures associated with planning and managing school facilities. As noted at the outset, practitioner interest in school facilities has been growing rapidly in recent years because decades of neglect, poor planning, and cost cutting have created a situation in which large numbers of America's school buildings are in need of major repair or replacement. At the same time, the realization that costs related to repair and replacement have escalated significantly has fueled a new concern among school facility planning and management. Writing for school administrators, superintendents, and board members as well as graudate students in education, Kowalski discusses planning from the perspective of both individual facility projects and more comprehensive district-wide efforts. The responsibilities associated with administering school buildings are also approached from the individual school and district program perspectives. Part One of the book examines historical and contemporary perspectives of school facility planning. A systems perspective is provided for defining the adequacy of school buildings, and the effects of changing demographics, school reform, technology, and obsolescence are detailed. Various planning paradigms and needs assessment are the foci for Part Two. Part Three examines specific tasks related to completing a facility project. They include public opinion polling, securing professional services, and management responsibilities before, during, and after construction. Part Four includes these focused issues: planning elementary schools, planning secondary schools, doing enrollment projections, working with other agencies, choosing between renovation and new construction, financing capital outlay, and maintaining facilities once they become operational.

'The Impact of School Infrastructure on Learning: A Synthesis of the Evidence provides an excellent literature review of the resources that explore the areas of focus for improved student learning, particularly the aspiration for “accessible, well-built, child-centered, synergetic and fully realized learning environments.†? Written in a style which is both clear and accessible, it is a practical reference for senior government officials and professionals involved in the planning and design of educational facilities, as well as for educators and school leaders. --Yuri Belfali, Head of Division, Early Childhood and Schools, OECD Directorate for Education and Skills This is an important and welcome addition to the surprisingly small, evidence base on the impacts of school infrastructure given the capital investment involved. It will provide policy makers, practitioners, and those who are about to commission a new build with an important and comprehensive point of reference. The emphasis on safe and healthy spaces for teaching and learning is particularly welcome. --Harry Daniels, Professor of Education, Department of Education, Oxford University, UK This report offers a useful library of recent research to support the, connection between facility quality and student outcomes. At the same time, it also points to the unmet need for research to provide verifiable and reliable information on this connection. With such evidence, decisionmakers will be better positioned to accurately balance the allocation of limited resources among the multiple competing dimensions of school policy, including the construction and maintenance of the school facility. --David Lever, K-12 Facility Planner, Former Executive Director of the Interagency Committee on School Construction, Maryland Many planners and designers are seeking a succinct body of research defining both the issues surrounding the global planning of facilities as well as the educational outcomes based on the quality of the space provided. The authors have finally brought that body of evidence together in this well-structured report. The case for better educational facilities is clearly defined and resources are succinctly identified to stimulate the dialogue to come. We should all join this conversation to further the process of globally enhancing learning-environment quality! --David Schrader, AIA, Educational Facility Planner and Designer, Former Chairman of the Board of Directors, Association for Learning Environments (A4LE)