key to facilities planning and successful bond issues is involving public. Taxpayers are unlikely to support superintendent's plan but will certainly vote for their own plan. Success means ensuring fiscally uncluttered pathway, retaining an architect, and working with demographer. Appointing broad-based community task force of about 30 members,…

With a new round of school construction on the horizon, planners must consider such energy conservation measures as placing energy consumption limitations in design specifications, retaining experienced engineers, using staff expertise, considering boilers offering fuel options, seeking outside assistance, resisting use of existing plans, and…

After the first year, new superintendents should take care to avoid the "sophomore jinx" by communicating effectively with the board president every week and with board members before meetings. Public engagement is also an integral part of a superintendent's job. (MLF)

When your board must close schools, do as the Minneapolis School Board did: research, analyze, and develop alternatives; involve the community (including the local government); and when you make your decision to dispose of a site, act decisively. Case histories illustrate creative uses for surplus schools. (TE)

Four bits of precautionary advice are offered for boards in the process of closing schools: work with, not against, the local government; research property deeds carefully; choose judiciously whether to lease or sell; and avoid conflicts of interest. (TE)

A firm that has designed many preschool and elementary school projects identifies three factors that are vital to successful design for young children: protection, interaction, and scale. Accompanying drawings of three projects illustrate these design principles. (MLF)

Too many school/business partnerships focus on narrow, highly visible issues (like dropouts) without substantially improving schools' academic and vocational programs. Schools and community employers (including government agencies) should cooperate to reshape the total school program through planning, curriculum revision, staff development,…

Most school board members and superintendents want to leave a lasting legacy to their district. To do this, they need to acknowledge that large-scale change is complex and takes time and that the system will outlast them. Board members can give their communities the gifts of vision, process, and competence. (MLF)

Using the strategy of "divide and conquer" can lead to victory at the polls. The ballot can include two freestanding questions, either or both of which can pass or fail independently, or it can be designed in such a way that approval of question two is contingent on question one passing. (MLF)