Capital Program Update | A2Schools Podcast | Week of April 3, 2023

In this week's podcast, Dr. Swift and Andrew Cluley talk with Bernerd Rice, Assistant Superintendent Capital Programs and Physical Properties and Jason Bing, Director of Capitol Programs.

We discuss the latest on the Ann Arbor Public Schools capital programs, including some of the big projects planned for buildings this summer. We also discuss routine maintenance efforts, and emergency work, such as getting buildings open quickly after the recent power outages. You can learn more about the capital projects funded through the voter approved Bonds and Sinking Fund here.

In AAPS good news we celebrate the Skyline Ethics Bowl team winning a national championship.

Transcript

:05

Andrew Cluley

Welcome to the A2 Schools Podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Cluley, the Director of Communications for the Ann Arbor Public Schools. I'm joined today again, our superintendent, Dr. Swift, thanks for being here.

:16

Jeanice Swift

Good afternoon, Andrew.

:17

Andrew Cluley

And we also have with us Bernard Rice. He's the Assistant Superintendent for Capital Programs and Physical Properties. Thanks for being here, Bernie.

:24

Bernerd Rice

Good afternoon, Andrew. Thank you for having me.

:26

Andrew Cluley

Excellent. And then we also have Jason Bing. He's the Director of Capital Programs.

:30

Jason Bing

Good afternoon. Thanks for having me.

:32

Andrew Cluley

And if you hadn't figured out, but from our guests, we are going to be talking about some of the construction projects and what not that are ongoing and expected, primarily the ones that are expected for the summer months here in the Ann Arbor Public Schools. As we continue work that we're able to do only thanks to voters supporting us and passing the bond program and the sinking fund millage.

:54

Jeanice Swift

You know, Andrew, during the previous decade, decade and a half, our facilities had really fallen behind as a result of, you know, the reduction of funding in the state. And Michigan is one of very few states in the country that does not fund for physical properties. So just what you've said, Andrew, we are so grateful that our community has risen to help us make up that difference through two endeavors, really.

1:26

Jeanice Swift

One, the bond, and secondly, the sinking fund. It's a funny name, but it's one of the mechanisms in the state and we have both of those in place. Together, they're called the capital program, and that's what helps us to do these significant renewal of our infrastructure in our facilities. So, I know that people don't necessarily get excited about this stuff unless it doesn't work, you know, and then we all notice it, like when we had our electrical outage.

2:00

Jeanice Swift

But I'm very excited that our children will grow up in beautiful schools as a result of this investment from our community into our Ann Arbor Public Schools.

2:13

Andrew Cluley

That's right. That's of course, the positive aspect of it. The challenge then is the people behind the scenes that have to actually make it happen. I remember last summer was a very large number of projects that were going on. And Mr. Rice, maybe you can remind us exactly how many we worked on last year and what we're looking at for coming up this summer.

2:34

Bernerd Rice

Thank you, Andrew. Last year we did 35 projects and for the active and upcoming projects, this year we're probably going to do around 40. So that's quite a bit from what we did last year. And we're glutton for punishment this year.

2:48

Jeanice Swift

You know, we're here at the beginning of April and this is the time of year. Now you all think about it all year round, but this is the time of year where we really are focusing in on what are we going to get done during that very narrow window. You know, kids love getting out of school for summer, but it means a completely different thing for you guys because your work goes up to 100 miles an hour as we try to conclude 40 projects. And what is it, about 11 weeks.

3:23

Bernerd Rice

Roughly that.

3:24

Jeanice Swift

Yeah, and you need parts of those weeks for teachers to prepare their classrooms. So that gets that window pretty narrow for you to accomplish a lot of work.

3:36

Jason Bing

Yeah, we've actually relied pretty heavily on our building administrators and our staff to be great partners in preparing for all the logistics that are required with packing up and moving out of buildings so that it allows us to do major mechanical work, major lighting projects, and completing improvements to our classroom environments for our students.

4:03

Andrew Cluley

I know that some of these projects have been even large enough that they're not just getting done in summer is thinking specifically of some of our middle schools, Scarlett Clague and Forsythe, and then some of the work being done at Community High School. What are the status of some of those bigger multiyear projects? Where are they? Are we looking at getting them done this summer or what's going on with those?

4:29

Jason Bing

Yeah. So, we're excited to say that our first three big intermediate projects, which include two middle schools, Tappan and Scarlett and Community High School, they're all wrapping up this spring and into summer. So, we will be out of their way for the first time in a couple of years. So I know that they're very excited about that.

4:52

Jason Bing

But we're also really excited to turn over fully air-conditioned buildings to those teams and those students and then following up with some additional work in the future to maintain, you know, good to exceptional learning environments at each of those schools.

5:10

Bernerd Rice

And a big thing is that both of those buildings that he had mentioned like Tappan and Community is also getting a brand-new elevator. So that is another big, really big project.

5:21

Jeanice Swift

Yes. And you know, I remember back during the campaign, the number one request was for air conditioning. And particularly as Michigan becomes hotter for more days out of the year, I'm so delighted to be able to look back at just such a short period of time. You began back in 2021 and here we are in 2023 and we're looking at being about 90% finished with that climate control in the buildings, which means that, you know, our students learn better when you're between that 68 to 74 degrees, something like that.

6:04

Jeanice Swift

And I'm so delighted and so appreciative. Thank you both for your leadership and for your work to ensure that our students and teachers and staff are able to have a comfortable learning and working environment. That step alone will improve student outcomes. I know it.

6:24

Andrew Cluley

And I got to say that I know that right along with the AC and many of those big projects, there's also been some lighting upgrades which, that may not have been something that people thought about too much. But I know that, you know, when you're in an environment where you've got the lighting set appropriately and appropriately isn't always the same, and the old school classrooms, it was like the lights were on or the lights were off, and that was, those were your choices.

6:50

Andrew Cluley

And I know now that we've got a lot more choices so that for instance, when you know, kids come in after recess and they might be amped up, you can dim the lights just a little bit and bring that sort of calm the students down as you get back into the learning experience. And then later on in the day, maybe you need to get those lights fully back on so that, you know, you can get kids motivated and paying attention better. You can do that as well. And so, I just that's an exciting thing as well.

7:19

Jason Bing

Yeah, the lighting projects have been really exciting because we've been able to provide that user control that you described. So, you can control the light, but you can also increase visual acuity for your students by providing that the appropriate levels of light. And you can reduce our overall operating costs by lowering the overall energy output of those devices.

7:42

Jason Bing

So, we're excited to reduce our electrical loads in some buildings by about 25% and also provide, you know, better quality learning environments for the students.

7:54

Jeanice Swift

I really appreciate you making that point, Jason, because part, one of our cornerstones in this capital program has been our deep commitment to that of this community, to the environment. And I think folks assumed that when we added air conditioning, you know, that we maybe betrayed that value. But you know, an awful lot guys about that, that progress that we've made with our solar installations talk a little bit about that, if you would.

8:24

Jason Bing

Yeah, we will be working on our ninth and 10th solar arrays this summer at Tappan and Scarlett, which is really exciting because it will continue to solidify us as the largest owner and operator of onsite solar generation in the state of Michigan for, for K-12 institutions. So, we will be the largest public school producer in the state of Michigan and right now institutionally in Washtenaw County, we are the largest owner operator, which is also really exciting given our community’s commitment to decarbonization.

9:05

Jeanice Swift

And that will continue over decades because as I understand it, those solar panels really do endure for quite a long time. Yes.

9:13

Jason Bing

Oh, absolutely. With a rated lifespan of 25 years or more, they they're going to give us a lot of power for a lot of years. And that's you know, it becomes even more valuable as, you know, electrical rates increase. And, you know, there's considerations for, you know, extended summer heat streaks and all sorts of opportunities that we can then use that power for resiliency and other efforts within the district.

9:45

Andrew Cluley

So, we've been talking a lot about the sort of these big projects that we're working on and have been working on and are going to continue working on this summer. But I know that at the same time, some of that more routine maintenance needs to take place as well. Can you guys talk about some of some of those types of projects, what type of things we might be seeing if we're driving around one of our schools this summer is when we see people out working?

10:09

Bernerd Rice

This year, every year we have a plan to do resurfacing. It's called seal coating our parking lots, which prolongs the life of them. So, we've been doing that for the past five years since I've been here. And I remember Dr. Swift telling me when I first came here is what do you do about the roofs?

10:28

Bernerd Rice

It was the first thing she asked me because I was tired of getting calls and say the roofs leaking. So we've been doing some of those projects like Tappan and Scarlett. Well, before the solar goes, they were going to be replacing roofs. So we've been doing, you know, constant maintenance of everything. And big thing is we all know air quality.

10:45

Bernerd Rice

We're replacing filters three times a year. So, we've been doing those maintenance routine routinely stuff and again, water quality, we’ve been changing filters doing all that for that. And every you know, every spigot has as a filter on it. And it's like 17 or 1800 filters a year that we do during the summer. So we're at it's routine maintenance stuff that we do.

11:07

Jeanice Swift

It's so exciting that that vision of healthy school campuses, we really are achieving that vision in step by step. It would not be possible without the support of our community for such large investments, but needed investments so that our buildings are healthy and environmentally sustainable. It's just such a great day. And I'm so grateful for your work in getting that accomplished and our community’s support in providing the funds and the resources to make it happen.

11:43

Bernerd Rice

And that's a very good point. I mean, the environmental alignment that we've been working with and our team has been working with teaching and learning and other staff members, we have a vision, we have the environment, we have educational program, and we just make that all into a learning eco system. So that's excellent for the kids of Ann Arbor.

12:03

Dr. Jeanice K. Swift

It is.

12:05

Andrew Cluley

And I just got to thank the facilities team because obviously we've been talking about sort of the long-term vision, the short term, you know, we got to get the maintenance done. But on top of all of that, you guys also have to respond to the emergencies. And obviously everyone in the community knows about the power outages that we struggled through last month.

12:28

Andrew Cluley

And you guys had, you know, more than half the buildings were without power for I don't know whether you want to consider it a short period of time or a long period of time. When you don't have power, a pretty short period of time seems pretty long pretty quickly. But anyways, over half of our buildings didn't have power for, I would say a while and you guys were on it and able to make it so that as soon as we got that power back and could do it, we had the kids back in there. So, I just want to thank you guys for that work.

12:59

Jeanice Swift

I'm want to lean in on that gratitude, Mr. Cluley, because I know they were working, reporting to me around the clock. And when we got power back late on a Sunday evening, they had all the systems brought back online for kids to report to school right away the next morning. And that doesn't happen by accident. That happens because people believe that our role is to support children and first and that facilities and healthy school buildings and powered up school buildings are essential to our students being able to be in school and learn on every day possible.

13:41

Jeanice Swift

Now, I don't want to say it, but I understand tornados are coming so yeah, I hope you guys are ready for that part as well. Yes?

13:49

Bernerd Rice

Yes.

13:51

Jason Bing

You know, I'd just like to give a shout to the physical properties team and the IT technology team here in this district. They are really unparalleled and just tremendous. And that's how you get through those power outages, is having the kind of team that we have here in place.

14:11

Andrew Cluley

It is always interesting to see who I hear from first. When a building is out of power, whether the physical team gets out first or whether IT gets out first, because it seems like you both are just on it and almost like it's a competition.

14:26

Dr. Jeanice K. Swift

You know I don't think, Andrew, that people necessarily realize how important electricity is to the safety systems of the building. And I think a long time ago, being in school, you know, we would think to ourselves, well, you can be in school without power, you know, no big deal. But in this day and age, our phone systems, our fire suppression, all of those safety systems really do operate as a result of connectivity and power. Is that is that right?

14:59

Bernerd Rice

It is right, yes. And it's a major one is heat. I mean, we do not in our buildings want to go period a long time without heat based on the temperature. And we could have broken pipes and stuff like that. And we just can't have that. And Andrew made a valid point, and so did Jason that it's not so much a competition as it is that we're working side by side as a team.

15:22

Bernerd Rice

And I think that's very important and we've over the years have developed that team and I think that's so important for this district.

15:30

Jeanice Swift

It really is. There was a time when we weren't able to say that was true, and I'm so grateful for your work and your leadership. And I used to plan my days around the weather knowing that if it was a hard heavy rain, we'd be dealing with a dozen leaks. Easy. And I'm proud to say thanks to the support of our community and the hard work of you all in your teams.

15:57

Jeanice Swift

We may still have a leak here and there, but nothing at the level that we used to have.

16:02

Andrew Cluley

That's and that's good news, that we have a good team on hand. And that brings us to the good news segment here on the A2 Schools Podcast. And we're celebrating a national championship. Last weekend, Skyline High School's ethics team claimed the 2023 National High School Ethics Bowl Championship. The team is called the Philosophical Zombies, and it's made up of Skyline sophomores Catherine van Lent,

16:30

Andrew Cluley

Kathryn Plotner, Skyline Junior Shami Ruwende and freshman Ethan Schultz. And they're coached by Skyline science teacher Gabe Rettaliata. I mean, and congratulations. They're the first team from Michigan to win the national championships in the Ethics Bowl. And they defeated Regis High School from Manhattan in the finals. It was all taking place last weekend in Chapel Hill.

16:56

Andrew Cluley

So while many kids were out celebrating spring break, they were working hard, claiming a national championship.

17:02

Dr. Jeanice K. Swift

Well, congratulations to the Skyline Ethics Bowl team. That's a, you know, first time I've heard of us achieving that level, that distinction. Congratulations.

17:15

Andrew Cluley

I believe that Skyline, Skyline won the state championship to qualify and I believe Huron and Pioneer have both won the state championship in the past as well. But this is the first time any school from Michigan has won the national championship. So, congratulations to the team and coach Rettaliata.

17:34

Jeanice Swift

Very exciting.

17:36

Andrew Cluley

Well, and I want to say thank you very much to Jason Bing for coming in and joining us for the conversation today.

17:43

Jason Bing

Thank you very much.

17:44

Andrew Cluley

And Mr. Rice, thank you for coming in and talking about the work that we got coming up over the summer as well.

17:51

Bernerd Rice

And thank you, Andrew.

17:52

Andrew Cluley

And Dr. Swift, always great to hear from you as well.

17:55

Jeanice Swift

It's great to be here Andrew. And so, for our parents or students or community members out there who may be curious when they drive by that project and want to know more about what's going on with our bond with our capital program, bond and sinking fund, they can go to the bond website. I'll let Jason say what that is.

18:17

Dr. Jeanice K. Swift

Well, go to the bond website and you can see all of the detailed information and see what our tax dollars in the community are supporting in terms of renewed infrastructure in the Ann Arbor Public Schools. Jason, where do they find that?

18:32

Jason Bing

They can find it at www.a2schoolsbond.org and we'll have all the project details and some updates events schedules and all sorts of fun stuff.

18:45

Dr. Jeanice K. Swift

That's great.

18:46

Andrew Cluley

Thank you and thank you for listening to this week's edition of the A2 Schools podcast. As always, if you have any questions about the Ann Arbor Public Schools, the first place to go is our website a2schools.org. And if there's a topic you'd like us to discuss on a future edition of the podcast, please email me at Communications@a2schools.org. Thanks again for listening to this week's edition of the A2 Schools podcast.