AFT's launching a new initiative to draw attention to decrept and overcrowded condition of too many of America's public school buildings and urge policymakers to invest in renovating and building new, adequate* public school buildings. Good work, guys and gals! School facilities are an issue near and dear to my heart, and one on which I've written several articles. The Clinton administration put a lot of effort into trying to establish federal help for states and school districts for school construction, but the issue has pretty much disappeared from the public radar since then. So I'm really glad to see the AFT taking up the school construction. I think their recommendation to incorporate a "learning environment index" into NCLB is a little silly, and I think there's more room for innovative thinking about how to help states and school districts pay for buildings than they talk about here, but these are minor quibbles. It's an important issue, so check out what they're doing.
BTW, one of the complaints that seems to come up a lot from the teachers AFT surveyed about problems with their school facilities is the prevalence of rats and mice in many school buildings. Jelly, who's still waiting for her call from NYC, now expands the offer of her services to children and schools throughout our great nation.
*Lindsay: Note spelling.
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