The Facilities Audit Workbook, a useful tool used by Suffolk University, is described. It explains how to periodically assess physical plant quality, establish maintenance priorities, and develop programs to overcome deterioration. It can also help pinpoint the kind of data needed for fund raising. (MLW)

Describes how the outdated language lab at Houston Baptist University was renovated and updated. Discusses the university's language internship program which grew out of the renovation. (EKN)

A Kansas school district uses computers, an energy management consultant, retrofitting, and school cleaning scheduling to reduce energy use. Documented results of energy use were part of successful applications by nine school administrators for retrofitting grants. (MLF)

A facilities audit first helps establish priorities--which buildings have the greatest need based on the severity of their physical and functional problems. Second, it helps to forecast capital improvement funding needs for the next several years. (Author/MLF)

Excerpts from speeches at a conference on the prospects of coal for public schools discuss the costs, availability, and technology of using coal. (Author/MLF)

An overall project manager should be assigned by the physical plant to oversee minor remodeling and/or construction projects requested by other departments. (Author/MLF)

Comments from superintendents and other administrators across the country about their compliance with the Section 504 mandate that all educational programs be accessible to the handicapped. (Author/MLF)

A classroom management system has been developed at West Virginia University that permits entire buildings to be closed for renovation without disrupting instruction. (Author/MLF)

Confronted with old, inadequate, and overcrowded schools, Randolph County, West Virginia, turned a problem into a challenge and constructed five new elementary schools (and renovated nine other schools) in just one and one-half year's construction time. (Author)

Rogers Elementary School in Stamford, Connecticut, was well past its prime, but renovation brought it up to par with the new schools of the district. (Author)

Examines the options available to colleges and universities needing to modernize their science facilities, many of which were built in the late 1950s and the 1960s. Looks at science building designs common to that era and the nature of modernization problems, and considers four possible courses of action: minor renovations; extensive renovations;…

Presents a detailed list of awards for elementary and secondary school facility designs across the United States. Awardees include entire new facilities, additions, new construction, renovations, and projects in progress. Each entry contains name and location of the school, design architects, and a description of the facility. (GR)

Increasingly, colleges and universities are charging students a separate fee for campus computing facilities and using the income for improvements. Critics feel the costs should be included in tuition, but supporters feel the fees highlight the costs of advancing technology and may reduce misuse. Most fees are pegged to semester or credit hours.…

After a bond issue failure, community and business partnerships helped a Kentucky school district overcome serious facility deficiencies and dramatically improve its curriculum. (MLF)