March 1, 2004

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is one of the national sponsoring organizations for School Building Week. It is a week to celebrate our schools, and for mayors to recognize and revitalize these city resources. Mayors can showcase their city's schools or raise the bar for what they should be in our cities.

School Building Week provides mayors an opportunity to address a very critical part of the city's infrastructure. Two primary goals of the week are to bring attention to the current state of the nation's school facilities, and to recognize high performing, healthy, safe and sustainable school facilities, and their connection to learning. School buildings and quality education are critical elements in the Conference's effort to chart a new economic agenda for keeping America's metro economies strong.

The week also provides mayors with an opportunity to visit schools, promote better school building facilities, new construction and modernization projects, and indicate the mayor's concern and interest in public education. A mayor can celebrate the opening of a new or remodeled school, continued use of an historic school building, volunteer efforts of senior citizens in schools, public-private partnerships in schools, and the technological, environmental and healthy school changes in buildings.

Mayors across this country are engaged in the school facilities issue including participating in the planning and funding of new school construction, and the renovation and modernization of schools and other buildings to be used for teaching and learning. The U.S. Conference of Mayors supports and encourages all mayors to write a proclamation for the week and create an event. These activities could include hosting an event at a school you attended in the city, visit schools in your city and survey the facilities, sponsor a poster contest for school children focusing on schools or classrooms for the future, conduct a needs assessment of the city's schools, organize an event at an historic school in the city's system, or organize local architects and preservation groups to mentor students in schools during that week.

Specific information on how you can get involved or ideas for what you can do during that week can be found on its website: http://sbw.cefpi.org or you can contact Barbara Worth at the Council for Education Facility Planners International at either 480-391'0840 or barb@cefpi.org.

Please let U.S.Mayor know what you are doing so we can tell the story of your event. Send all information and photos to Fritz Edelstein at the U.S. Conference of Mayors or fritz@usmayors.org.