CHPS Operations Report Card Released for Public Review

The CHPS Operations Report Card (ORC), a new online tool that assesses the operations of existing schools, has been released for public review. The 30-day public review period will last from Friday, October 16, 2009 to Monday, November 16, 2009. Materials for public comment can be downloaded here.

The ORC is a new program that will benchmark the current performance of existing schools, provide a report card of results and make suggestions for improvement. The CHPS Operations Report Card program will advance the standard for the maintenance, operation, and improvement of all school buildings – high performance and otherwise.

These assessments will take place in five categories: energy efficiency, thermal comfort, visual comfort, indoor air quality, and acoustics. The ORC is being developed as an interactive online tool. While designed for district-wide deployment over multiple school sites, it will also be useful to single public schools, charter schools and private schools.

The ORC is currently being piloted at nine school locations nationwide, including schools in California’s Los Angeles Unified School District, Santa Monica-Malibu USD, Hollister USD, Yuba City USD, Tahoe-Truckee USD, San Francisco USD, and at Nashua School District in New Hampshire and Situate Public Schools in Rhode Island. Chartwell School, a private school in California, is also participating in the pilot program. These schools have so far tested the occupant survey component of the ORC, and they will continue testing the Report Card and Improvements components at the conclusion of this public review.

It is anticipated that the program will be available for public use in January 2010.

For more information and to download the public comment materials, visit www.chps.net/orc.