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Archive for March, 2021

Meet Ralph Carp, Executive Director

Meet Ralph Carp, Executive Director

Ralph Carp joined the School District in August of 2019 as Executive Director of Operations. He has worked in facility and equipment maintenance for his entire professional career. His work has been built on jobs in facilities and maintenance, starting with an apprenticeship as a machinist for a printing company. Throughout his career, he has…

Facilities Work

Facilities Work

The Facilities Department was busy during the pandemic, working to support the Maintenance and Capital Departments throughout the shutdown period. Focus was on building cleanliness, ventilation improvements, and modernization of facilities. Tasks were varied, but included coordinating building access, deep cleaning, equipment repair, air balancing, and the installation of air purifiers. Preventative maintenance schedules for…

Maintenance Work

Since returning to work on June 15, 2020 the Maintenance department has completed 22,664 work orders. In support of improving ventilation in our schools, the department has also measured outside air flow in every classroom (pictured above) and provided certified air balancing reports for every school. Also, in that time frame, Facilities and Maintenance has…

Paint and Plaster

Paint and Plaster

The Operations team has completed 25 full stabilization projects since the start of quarantine, and made an additional 8 lead-safe. In full stabilization projects, entire school buildings are painted top to bottom, including every hallway, restroom, common area, classroom, office etc. regardless of whether or not the surfaces tested positive for lead-based paints.  In lead-safe stabilization projects, our painters spot…

Air Purifiers in Schools

Air Purifiers in Schools

Unlike conventional filtration-based air purifiers, these purifiers work immediately and do not require capture or exposure time. They work by rapidly and continuously filling a room with virus-neutralizing particles to instantly break viruses down to their component parts, eliminating them on contact. The technology was originally developed by NASA for use in the International Space…

Meet Vernon Palmer, Interim Assistant Director

Meet Vernon Palmer, Interim Assistant Director

Vernon joined the School District in 1997, and has served in many roles during his tenure. Currently in his role as Interim Assistant Director of Operations, Vernon is tasked with the responsibility of seeing that schools are operating in a manner which promotes cleanliness, safety, productivity and comfort. He works alongside his team of Facilities…

Meet Jeff Scott, Interim Assistant Director

Meet Jeff Scott, Interim Assistant Director

Jeff has served the District for more than two decades, starting  in 2000, when he entered our Building Engineer in training (BET) program. Since then, he has served 10 years as a Foreman in the Maintenance department, six years as a Facilities Training Manager and is currently our Interim Assistant Director of Operations. As Interim…

Meet the Senior Vice President, Wayne Grasela

Meet the Senior Vice President, Wayne Grasela

Wayne joined the School District of Philadelphia in 1987 and has served as the Senior Vice President for the Division for 18 years. In this role, Wayne leads a team of professionals with a broad range of specialties, including registered dietitians, logistics, compliance, operations, mechanics, and training professionals. Through menu planning, food purchasing, food delivery,…

The Leadership Team’s Pandemic Pivots

The Leadership Team’s Pandemic Pivots

Amy Virus (far right), Manager of Administrative and Support Services, quickly shifted her team’s focus to sourcing and planning grab and go meals over the course of a weekend. Lisa Norton (far left), Manager of Operations, took the training department to the next level by introducing virtual training and installing 250 webcams and speakers in…

Grab-and-Go Meal Box Evolution

Grab-and-Go Meal Box Evolution

Last March, Food Service operations transitioned from in school meal service to grab-and-go meal sites over the course of a weekend. The drastic shift was an enormous feat to overcome and required tremendous teamwork behind the scenes. Cold storage in all school kitchens was stocked full of food that couldn’t be used and needed to…