Campus Access Only

All rights reserved. This publication is intended for use solely by faculty, students, and staff of University of the Pacific. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, now known or later developed, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author or the publisher.

The rationale behind a small school district superintendent's decision to hire a facilities manager

Author

Felicisimo Capucao Garcera, University of the Pacific

Date of Award

2007

Document Type

Dissertation - Pacific Access Restricted

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Benerd School of Education

First Advisor

Dennis Brennan

First Committee Member

Fred Muskal

Second Committee Member

Louis Wildman

Third Committee Member

Antonio Serna

Abstract

This study investigated the rationale behind a district superintendent's decision to hire a facilities manager to perform the facilities management function. Two main research questions guided this study: (a) If hiring a facilities manager is not an option, how can smaller school district superintendents maximize utilization of resources in facilities management? (b) What is the rationale behind a school district superintendent's decision to hire a facilities manager? In order to achieve this purpose, a qualitative approach was utilized to collect opinions and data from smaller school district superintendents. A group of school administrators, ten school district superintendents and one director of facilities planning participated in the interviews. The interviews conducted were a combination of one-on-one and a focus group interview. Triangulation, both data and methodological, was employed to validate raw interview data. All interviews were video and audio taped to record both spoken and non-verbal responses.

The findings of the study indicate that the facilities management function or the n----- facilities manager position was viable and was growing into an even more important 0-------~ ' ~ function. The need for educating the school board of trustees, the final decision maker in a school district, was clearly expressed by the majority of the superintendents interviewed. The need for more awareness of the facilities management function on the part of the superintendents was also clearly stated. The superintendents recognize the need and the importance of the facilities management function. They also understand the benefits associated with the establishment of a fully integrated facilities management department in the school district. The interview results revealed that for smaller school districts, the school superintendents always think of the facilities manager function to be directly connected only to construction activities, thus, a cyclical need rather than an integral part of a centralized school district operation performing the nine major functional areas of facilities management as outlined by the International Facilities Management Association (IFMA).

Pages

153

Recommended Citation

Garcera, Felicisimo Capucao. (2007). The rationale behind a small school district superintendent's decision to hire a facilities manager. University of the Pacific, Dissertation - Pacific Access Restricted. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/651