School Leaders To Attend National Meeting

— School leaders from across the U.S. will hear about the Fayetteville School District this weekend when the National School Boards Association gathers in Boston for its annual meeting.

AT A GLANCE

National School Boards Association

Founded in 1940, the association represents more than 90,000 local school board members, nearly all of whom are elected. The local officials govern 13,809 local school districts serving the nation's 50 million public school students.

Source: nsba.org.

The School District has been invited to make two presentations, one on implementing sustainability in the learning environment and the other on how the district gained voter approval in an ailing economy to finance a portion of the $95 million expansion and renovation of Fayetteville High School, said Susan Norton, chief information officer for the district.

Dana Smith, the district’s sustainability coordinator, and 18-year-old Wendy Ingram, a senior at Fayetteville High School, will join Jim Halsell, a board member, in presenting “Solving the Green Puzzle: Connecting Instruction and Facilities to Create Sustainable Learning Spaces.”

Halsell said he hopes school districts take home information that can apply to their schools to create sustainable learning environments.

Ingram said her role in the presentation will be to discuss student involvement in a green community.

Fayetteville’s sustainability in schools is centered on increasing energy efficiency, improving indoor air quality, creating schoolyard gardens and habitat areas and reducing waste by increasing recycling.

The district is also pursuing certification in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Happy Hollow Elementary School and silver certification for the new Fayetteville High School. Butterfield Trail Elementary School, which underwent a major renovation two years ago, has received the silver certification.

Susan Heil, school board president, and Steve Percival, a board member, will be joined by John Fuller of DLR Group of Overland Park, Kan., one of the design team members for the high school, to discuss how the district was successful in the millage campaign.

The presentation is entitled “The Time is Now: Building Community Consensus to Finance School Construction in a Down Economy.”

Residents approved a 2.75-mill increase in the property tax rate in September 2010 to pay for a $50 million funding package for the second phase of construction on the high school.

Phase 1 is paid for by low-interest Qualified School Construction Bonds with repayment pledged by $2.5 million in district revenue and budget cuts over the 15-year life of the bonds.

Other board members attending the conference are Tim Hudson, Justin Eichmann and Bryn Bagwell, along with Superintendent Vicki Thomas. The conference begins Friday and concludes Monday.

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