District Administration - June 2008 - (Page 36)

FACILITIES AND CONSTRUCTION At Pleasanton (Calif.) Uniﬁed School District, Honeywell Building Solutions solar panels cover roofs, expected to save $2.5 million in 20 years. Right, a Tremco roof , which comes with regular inspections and maintenance, at Goose Creek (Texas) Consolidated Independent School District. Choosing certain building elements can produce savings and other beneﬁts. BY ALAN DESSOFF UDGETPRESSED DISTRICT administrators looking for ways to save money are ﬁnding them right before their eyes—in the infrastructure of their school facilities. From carpets, ﬂooring and rooﬁng to playing ﬁelds, HVAC systems and windows and doors, districts are discovering products for core building elements that sometimes cost more initially but pay oﬀ in reduced maintenance and replacement expenses, thereby providing long-term savings whether installed in construction of new buildings or rehabilitations of old ones. Some products oﬀer an additional beneﬁt: they are environmentally friendly, providing education lessons for students and gaining the support of citizens in local communities whose taxes ultimately pay for them. Through February this year, K12 school construction contract awards for additions, alterations and new construction, including vocational schools, totaled nearly $4 billion, according to Cutting Costs cost data provided by McGraw-Hill Construction to the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities at the National Institute of Building Sciences. McGrawHill projects $36.2 billion in K12 construction contracts will be awarded this year. Contracts awarded last year totaled $33.2 billion. Recognizing that the overall costs of operating school systems are likely to increase while budgets remain tight, districts are investing in products and systems when schools are newly built or rehabilitated that they hope will serve their buildings well for many years. “We want to grow into them instead of out of them,” says Joseph Marrone, senior director of administrative services in the Quaker Valley (Pa.) School District, which has renovated its four school buildings for what it anticipates will be the long haul. Some districts also are turning to professional engineering and consulting ﬁrms that can advise them on how to identify improvements their buildings need, how much they will cost, and how to go about ﬁnding and paying for costeﬀective products. “The ultimate goal is to save dollars and cents,” says Michael Kalemkaryan, project engineer at TMAD Taylor & Gaines (TTG) in Pasadena, Calif., which is helping the Los Angeles Uniﬁed School District (LAUSD) and others do that. No Rain Roofs Until about 10 years ago, when it rained in the Texas Gulf Coast area the Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District southeast of Houston had to patch about 600 leaks in the buildings’ roofs, says Ron Loveless, the district’s director of maintenance. Now Goose Creek doesn’t have any leaks. It covered its buildings in rooﬁng from Tremco and uses a new Tremco program that provides regular inspections and maintenance. Most rooﬁng customers don’t care what’s over their heads, they just don’t want it to leak, says David S. Adams, District Administration B 36 June 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - June 2008

District Administration - June 2008
Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Technology Update
Inside the Law
Conversations
Online Edge
Speaking Out
Professional Opinion
Crisis Response
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Cutting Costs from the Inside Out
New Literacies: Entering the Future
Online Videoconferencing
Achievement Today
Transporting Special Needs Students
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
New Products
Problem/Solution
Calendar of Events
Understanding the Times

District Administration - June 2008