The Seattle School District is systematically updating play areas to include modern, fitness-inspired equipment that welcomes all comers, from the finicky adolescent to the student with special needs and even parents catching up after school hours. The concept of play area as community gathering space has long been part of the district's philosophy, explains Gretchen […]
What do you do when your school district grows by 12,000 students in 10 years? In Rutherford County Schools in central Tennessee, the answer is build. One of the fastest growing districts in the nation, Rutherford's enrollment rose from 29,600 in 2003-04 to 41,000 this year. It is now the fifth-largest in the state behind […]
Oak Ridge, a Tennessee city founded by the U.S. government in 1943 as a secret production site for the Manhattan Project, is steeped in technology. It's home to the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Y-12 National Security Complex and a multitude of technology companies. The complex is a manufacturing facility that […]
Navigating turbulent waters of uncertain budgets, district leaders have a great challenge: Answer the growing push for accountability and heightened community expectations in 2015. "The overall trend is that more and more administrators must become professional problem solvers," says David Miceli, superintendent of New Providence School District in New Jersey. "We are going to be […]
Funding cuts since the recession have drained the accounts of rural districts, which cannot rely on a resurgence in property tax revenues as heavily as urban school systems can. Some 9.7 million students are enrolled in rural districts, representing more than 20 percent of all U.S. public school students. And rural enrollment continues to rise, […]
