Case Studies K-12 Education

As the 2020-2021 academic year neared its conclusion at The Peck School, Mike Zulla could give his facilities department and himself more than passing grades. For it had been education as normal as much as practically possible at the prestigious K-8 school in Morristown, New Jersey. Most pupils were on campus from September through June, […]

There’s never a good time for a building to flood. The beginning of a global health pandemic is especially bad, though. In April 2020, this is the situation Lonnie Pilgrim faced when Fort McMurray Composite High School flooded with eight inches of water from a nearby river. As the school division’s director of buildings and […]

Robert Jones feels the impact of his work every day. While a construction crew builds the new Arrowhead Elementary School, students are eagerly watching next door. The school’s principal tells Jones that kids line the playground fence during recess as heavy machinery and people in hardhats dig holes and put up the new structure. Jones, […]

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools across the country shifted to remote and hybrid models of learning. While many districts invested in virtual infrastructure to help ease the transition (Zoom, Microsoft Teams, for example), others opted for a slightly different approach—investing in physical infrastructure in addition to the requisite tech upgrades. Case in […]

Kris Garnhart knows good looks doesn’t always mean lasting value. When installing new windows at a school, for instance, he needs to weigh his options. Does he go with the large floor-to-ceiling panes that designers want? Or does he go with smaller ones in a large grid frame? The second option might not be as […]

When Jim Sheeley was a student at Pulaski Central School District, he never thought about how the buildings were repaired and maintained. Now it’s all he thinks about. As the director of facilities at his alma mater, Sheeley knows the schools more intimately than some. After all, he spent 13 years walking their halls and […]

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 […]