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SCHOOL BUILDING WEEK |
School Building Week 2006 Highlights & Photos
School Building Day, originally a one-day celebration, was established by the Council of Educational Facility Planners International to draw attention to the important role that school buildings play in the education of our children. Now under the aegis of the CEFPI Foundation & Charitable Trust, the annual April event has gathered strength and grown into today's weeklong commemoration. The Foundation has led this nationwide effort with partnerships from 36 organizations, including three federal agencies. The planning of this effort involved nationwide coordination between multiple agencies in achieving a single goal of developing awareness about the condition of school buildings and their significance in the lives of children. School Building Week strengthens the relationship between the facilities' end-users – students, teachers and the community. It also furthers the community's economic vitality. The annual event offers children the opportunity to express their ideas about the space they occupy for most of their waking hours. District of Columbia Public Schools, Montgomery County Public Schools (MD) and Virginia student design competition finalists were honored at a School Building Day Awards ceremony in the nation's capitol on April 21, 2005. The students participated in the School of the Future competition, challenging them to demonstrate how they would renovate their own schools in order to create a better learning environment. Architectural students from Howard University and Ferrum College served as mentors to the students, leading them through a program focused on the impact of good planning and design on the built environment. Together, they explored indoor air quality issues, energy-saving measures such as ENERGY STAR, environmental stewardship and the importance of community involvement, which they incorporated into their imaginative and innovative designs. The competition gave these students an opportunity to think about the learning environment, express their creativity, experience the planning process and demonstrate where they thought they could learn best.
Thomas A. Kube, executive director, CEFPI Foundation & Charitable Trust, welcomed the gathering at the American Federation of Teachers in Washington, DC, followed by Nat LaCour, secretary-treasurer, American Federation of Teachers, who commented on the student projects, applauding them for their great insight and concepts and encouraged them to accept the strong role they can play in shaping the future. Observing the significance of School Building Week, Tom Ellis, vice president, Tandus and chair, CEFPI Foundation & Charitable Trust, inspired the gathering with his words of encouragement to the students – the "believers", who will make the future brighter. Edwin Pinero, federal environmental executive, Office of the Federal Environmental Executive, brought personal greetings and congratulations from President George Bush to the students. He commended the students, mentors and teachers for their visionary efforts and extraordinary dedication in creating the School of the Future projects and urged them to follow and realize their dreams. Applauding the students in his keynote address, Thomas M. Brady, chief business operations officer, District of Columbia Public Schools, remarked that they play a key role in the design process of our schools and the future of our communities. Students can really play a key role in developing community support to build and modernize public schools. Tom Brady indicated that he was very supportive of the student proposed mural for the Sousa Middle School renovation project and would do his best to bring it to the attention of the architects planning the current renovation. He encouraged the students to share their projects with schoolmates and to bring their projects and ideas to school board members. Tom Ellis thanked the jurors for their outstanding job in evaluating the students' projects. Barbara Worth, associate executive director, CEFPI Foundation, commented that it was an astounding experience to see and hear the intuitiveness, creativity and the hope that these clearly under-served and challenged students came up with – they had an amazing presence. Noting the extraordinary experience shared by mentors and students during the design process and the unique qualities of the projects, Judith P. Hoskens, jury chair and senior educational planner, Cuningham Group, remarked, "It was a treat to listen and interact with these bright and engaging young students." Participating students each received beautiful certificates contributed by the AIA Committee on Architecture in Education. Plaques were given to each finalist school and trophies sponsored by School Planning & Management were presented to the winners. A highlight of the awards ceremony was the presentation of large checks to the winning schools. Philip J. McGinnis, vice president, National Association of Realtors presented large facsimiles of the checks to the winning students, whose beaming faces acclaimed the success of this year's event. 2006 School Building Week Student Design Competition Winners
School Building Week Partner Reception, April 20 School Building Week partners, honored guests and 2006 US EPA Children's Health Protection Excellence Award winners enjoyed a stellar evening at the Army & Navy Club in Washington, DC. Excellence Awards were presented at the event to recognize groups or individuals that exemplified invaluable leadership in protecting children from environmental health risks. Outreach, education and intervention projects must have been in place for at least six months. Following welcomes by Thomas A. Kube, executive director, CEFPI; Hugh Skinner, Stantec and president, CEFP; Tom Ellis, vice president, Tandus and chair, CEFPI Foundation & Charitable Trust, Liz Blackburn, Director of Communications, US EPA, gave a brief overview of the awards and congratulated this year's outstanding winners. Ms. Blackburn presented the 2006 Children's Environmental Health Champion award to Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, professor and chair, Department of Community and Preventive Medicine and professor, of pediatrics, Mount Sinai School Of Medicine, New York, NY. Dr. Landrigan's work has focused for many years on environmental health threats to children. He was a founder of the National Center for Environmental Health at CDC and advised the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in developing their national agenda for children's environmental health. Dr. Landrigan was instrumental in establishing the EPA's Office of Children's Health Protection. The CEFPI Foundation & Charitable Trust and CEFPI presented the School Building Week 2006 Award of Distinction to Bob Axelrad, senior policy advisor, Indoor Environments Division, US EPA and Bill Jones, children's environmental health, education and schools coordinator, US EPA Southern California Field Office in appreciation for their development of the Healthy Schools Environment Assessment Tool (Healthy SEAT). On January 13, 2006, EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson announced the release of a new tool to help schools identify and prevent health, safety and environmental problems before they arise, building on the agency's voluntary school indoor air quality program. The HealthySEAT is a free software tool that school districts can customize to assess potential issues such as mold, asbestos and lead paint, then evaluate and manage information on conditions at each school. Tom Kelly, director, US EPA Indoor Environments Division, had the honor of presenting the first EPA Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Model of Sustained Excellence Award to CEFPI member Dave Hill, director of facilities and operations, Blue Valley School District #229, Overland Park, KS. The district, a winner in 2003 of EPA's Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools National Excellence Award, has shown tremendous leadership in its enthusiasm to explore innovative solutions to create exceptional indoor learning environments. Blue Valley has made IAQ management an integral component of its Strategic Plan, prioritizing target goals and institutional supports. Their success began with a scholarship from CEFPI to attend EPA's Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools National Symposium and continues today through their active mentorship program providing leadership, education and positive impacts to school districts located in America's Heartland.
Johnson Controls graciously sponsored the evening.
Healthy Schools Day, April 17 and April 24 Schools across the country participated in the School Building Week Walking School Bus. Coordinated by the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center of the University of North Carolina, the Walking School Bus brought parents, teachers, children and community leaders together to focus on the importance of physical activity and community participation, while improving the air quality and saving fuel.
Historic Schools Day, April 18
Senior Citizens in Schools Day, April 19
Schools as Centers of Community Day, April 20
School Building Week Events Across the Nation Additionally, the Washington Chapter held their annual spring All-day Bus Tour of School Facilities to celebrate School Building Week. This year's tour featured four new school facilities that demonstrate top quality planning and design. Each of these schools provided creative solutions that support their students' educational needs. Schools on the tour included Nathan Hale High School, Seattle Public Schools; Northshore Performing Arts Center, Northshore School District; Juanita Elementary School, Lake Washington School District; and, Franklin Elementary School, Lake Washington, School District. In observation of School Building Week, the Ohio School Facilities Commission, the state agency charged with providing quality school facilities throughout Ohio, hosted students involved in the DREAM SCHOOL 2006 program and participated in other School Building Day activities. DREAM SCHOOL 2006 is a student design competition, sponsored by the Ohio School Facilities Commission that encourages students in districts participating in OSFC sponsored programs to think about their educational environments and devise creative ways to improve them. This year's competition included high school students in 28 districts funded through state fiscal year 2006 appropriations and ten districts scheduled to receive funds in fiscal year 2007. A total of 38 districts were invited to participate. The goals of the competition included: 1) to encourage students to be more aware of their learning environment and its effect on their learning; 2) to encourage students and the greater community to be involved in the school rebuilding program in their district; and, 3) to provide a career exploration activity for high school students to expose them to the fields of architecture, educational planning, education, and construction management. Six high school students were recognized at the Commission's April 20th meeting for their participation in the agency's DREAM SCHOOL 2006 competition:
Joshua Spencer, 12th grade (Lakeside High School, Ashtabula Area City School District)
OSFC Executive Director Richard Hickman told Commissioners that he was impressed with the students, and the quality of the projects submitted. "It is really apparent that these students thought long and hard about what they consider important in these new buildings. Their vision is quite an inspiration to those of us who work at the Commission." For the third year in a row, the CEFPI-Ohio Chapter participated in School Building Day activities. On April 28th, over 50 volunteers, including staff from Columbus Public Schools, spent the day with students at Hamilton Elementary School, a Columbus Public School. Volunteers were busy providing labor as they landscaped the front entrance to the school and helped children plant flowers in small pots to take home. Volunteers also made presentations to the students regarding career opportunities in architecture, construction, landscape design and educational planning. In addition to providing volunteers, several CEFPI member organizations sponsored the event through monetary contributions, supplies, and materials. Our volunteer organizations and individual and corporate sponsors include:
Barton/Malow Company A big thank you to EDGE Landscape Design for providing the landscape plan and Buckeye Resources for donating the mulch. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
