Summer Work Common to Complete Upgrade Projects in K-12 Facilitiestest

By Dave Lubach, Associate Editor

February 2016

Managers who successfully secure funding for upgrades to facilities and systems know they have to deliver on the promises made along the way. In many districts, the time for action is summer, the three-month window when students are away and staffs have full access to schools.

“Our biggest challenge isn’t necessarily getting the work done but dealing with the time constraints we have in the public school sector,” says Roger Fritz, the manager of construction management with Frederick County Public Schools. “We have to have these kinds of projects completed over the summer.”

Earlier starting times for school districts also cut into the time staffs have to finish projects, so while students are in class, managers are often planning summer work schedules for employees and lining up contractors for projects.

“We take a lot of our school year designing and planning projects, but there is a great deal of urgency for getting projects done in the summer,” Fritz says. “Many of my project managers wind up working long hours, sometimes even weekends. It’s just part of what we have to do to have the schools ready.”