CHPS Maintenance and Operations Manual Released

For immediate release
Please contact: Ariel Dekovic, 415-970-6604, ariel@chps.net

September 1, 2006 (San Francisco) – In response to requests from school communities, the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) has released Maintenance and Operations, its fourth volume in the CHPS Best Practices Manual series.

First published in 2001, the CHPS Best Practices Manual for a High Performance Schools set the standard for high performance school design in California. The series includes a Planning Guide to help schools begin the high performance design process (Volume I), the Design Manual (Volume II) to help designers choose and implement high performance technologies and strategies in their designs, and a set of criteria (Volume III) that provide baseline requirements for schools to follow to become official CHPS high performance schools. Currently, almost 2 million K-12 students and more than 50,000 higher education students in California alone have or will soon experience the health, productivity, resource efficiency, and energy efficiency benefits of a CHPS high performance school. Eleven school districts across the state have adopted district resolutions to require that all new schools work with the CHPS program.

Volume IV, Maintenance and Operations, picks up where Volumes I–III leaves off: after the design is finished and the school is constructed, commissioned and operational. Without proper maintenance and operations techniques, the benefits of high performance design can be lost. Volume IV provides guidance for maintenance and operations staff, teachers, and administrators, giving strategies for avoiding improper use of building systems and poor maintenance practices that can greatly diminish the benefits of a high performance school. This volume was funded by CA ratepayers under the auspices of the CA Public Utilities Commission. Additional support was provided by the National Clearing House for Educational Facilities, and Pacific Gas & Electric Company.

Volume IV includes information on the following topics:

• Facilities Management
• Equipment Procurement
• Building Envelope
• Electrical Systems and Lighting
• HVAC Systems and Mechanical Equipment
• Recycling and Waste Management
• Cleaning Practices and Products
• Landscaping
• Snow Removal and Ice Management

In addition to the release of Volume IV, CHPS also has planned free training for maintenance and operations staff, including face-to-face trainings across the state and live Webcast trainings specifically for groundskeepers, custodians, and maintenance staff. To find out more about CHPS trainings or to register, to go http://www.chps.net/events.

Organized in 2000, CHPS is a non-profit organization that works to raise the standard of school building design. Board members include representatives from a broad range of California government, private industry, and nonprofit organizations including the Division of the State Architect, Southern California Edison, the California Energy Commission, Southern California Gas Company, the California Integrated Waste Management Board, San Diego Gas & Electric, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, the California Department of Education, and the Office of Public School Construction.