Pilot Program Helps Build Better Schools

A Pilot Strategic Partnering Program Helps the State of California and the San Diego School District Work Together to Streamline the School Construction Process

Livermore, California-4/1/03-How do you best use the $25.6 billion dollars worth of school bond funding approved for California schools? According to the authors of a recent white paper outlining the experience of San Diego City Schools, its certainly not by doing things the traditional way.

The white paper, A Process for Building Better Schools by Building Better Relationships, reports how a pilot program based on Strategic Partnering helped the San Diego City School District keep their school construction programs on-track. The pilot program was initiated in the SDCS in early 2002 when it first brought together the key leaders at the state (Division of the State Architect) and school district levels. The ensuing partnering process significantly improved communication and allowed creative problem solving of many issues that currently plague school construction projects, not only in California but across the nation.

The idea to try partnering in San Diego was timely since California school construction is expected to grow dramatically over the next five to seven years. California State Architect Steve Castellanos felt strongly that the Division of the State Architect must become partners with the school districts it serves. In addition, he was looking for the DSA to become more effective as its workload increased (it had doubled from the previous year). At the same time, San Diego City Schools Chief Operating Officer Lou Smith, who is responsible for the $1.5 billion school construction program in San Diego, recognized the process for building new facilities could be significantly improved-saving time, money and frustration all along the way. Together they saw an opportunity to work together to overhaul the current process, in part by redefining roles and responsibilities.

Castellanos called in Sue Dyer, a pioneer in partnering, to create a pilot Strategic Partnering program specific to school construction issues. Acting as the facilitator and identifying objectives, she brought together key participants of DSA and SDCS. The strategic partnering process allowed the individual participants to rethink their roles and evolve into 'team members committed to working together. Stategic partnering is more than just a nice thing to do; it allows for productive change and that makes economic sense," says Dyer.

The pilot program stressed inter-agency communication and cooperation. As a result, it uncovered several ways to increase efficiency in the review process. This will allow improved productivity as workloads increase for both the DSA and SDCS. The goal is to ultimately streamline the entire review process. Smith reported in the white paper that bin time (the time plans sit in a bin at the DSA waiting for review) has already been reduced and that overall review times have gone from a high of 41 weeks down to 11 weeks.

The pilot partnering program identified the need-and the techniques-that would allow a shift from addressing each project individually to using a program approach. Specific problems addressed included re-certification procedures for portable classrooms that were approved at an original site but had been moved; review of ADA requirements early in the process rather than at the end; and the need for more class-one inspectors.

Both Castellanos and Smith are highly pleased with the results to date. We are committed to using the SDCS program as a pilot program to find innovative ways to meet the changing needs of school construction programs," says Castellanos. Indeed, the pilot program findings and methods for issue resolution can be used to streamline all future school construction projects.

The white paper was written by Stephan Castellanos; Lou Smith; and OrgMetrics President Sue Dyer. For a single review copy of the white paper, fax your request on letterhead to (925) 449-0945. Additional copies of the report are $17.00. For more information on partnering, go to www.partneringinstitute.com or contact OrgMetrics at (925) 449-8300 or by email at SueDyer@Orgmet.com.

# # #