Case Studies K-12 Education

Usually when a school gets new lockers, it’s not that exciting. Students at Fort Wayne Community Schools, however, are ecstatic about theirs. That’s because they’re involved in the locker renovations, along with a host of other school upgrades, from design to completion. Darren Hess, director of facilities for the Indiana school district, and his team […]

Feminine, but with a fierce side. This is how Jessie Patrick describes herself. A diminutive and lithe ballerina by avocation and a school district’s construction director by vocation, her high heels just might be heard clicking on a concrete foundation. Or even on a roof. “I’ve heard I’m a lot more involved in being on-site […]

On any given day, you might find Zeke Lyles answering a 1 a.m. emergency call about a collapsing roof in a faculty building with as much excitement as a kid on Christmas. “I get energized when emergency calls come in—at least once I know everyone is safe,” says Lyles, the director of facilities and safety […]

When David Miranda said he planned to visit every school in the Long Beach Unified School District within a year, he was told it was impossible. As the executive director of facilities, development and planning, he wanted to understand each school’s issues and opportunities. In his previous roles in school facilities, he always visited each […]

Faulty heating and cooling systems making students shiver or swelter—not to mention dimly-lit classrooms—are not only uncomfortable, but also may result in lower scores on standardized tests, says Dr. John Bailey of the National School Plant Management Association. He should know. Bailey studied classroom environments as part of his doctoral dissertation and found mean scaled […]

When an organization is in the midst of a major renovation project, it usually doesn’t expect the new guy on staff to make a suggestion that impacts the bigger picture. But that’s exactly what Karl Ingoldsby did—and his idea is paying off in more ways than one. When he was hired as the facilities director […]

With his father working as a diesel mechanic for a railroad in Massachusetts, Harry Takesian has always wanted to work with tools. While attending Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School in Haverhill, Massachusetts, Takesian enrolled in a summer program designed to give students even more hands-on experience with machinery and equipment. It was then Takesian […]

There’s an old saying that everything is bigger in Texas. It applies to ranches, farms, monuments, stadiums and airports. And a proposed $1 billion construction bonds for a north Texas school district. The Northwest Independent School District, located in the northwest portion of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, did what it could to ensure the passage […]

On one hand, 2020 was about keeping up with day-to-day developments; on the other, planning for an uncertain future. Director of Facilities Josh Schaffer and his crew at the City of St. Charles School District in Missouri started planning for the worst—then hustled to make the best out of a tough situation. “About the time […]

He didn’t have to go to college or vocational school. Instead, John Scalisi has harnessed the many opportunities to grow on the job since he was 18. The early stint with Nassau County Parks and Recreation’s electronic department taught him many of the basics that decades later he’d apply in his present capacity as director […]