A Cracked Door: Schools

Showing posts with label Schools. Show all posts

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Slammed

I was perusing the Kindle store when the title Slammed caught my eye. I saw a documentary last year about poetry slams: people writing poetry and performing them on stage. Mostly kids, putting their feelings, emotions and selves out there. It was so raw. I was in awe.

I downloaded the ebook by Colleen Hoover and started reading. I didn't stop throughout the day, except for the dogs. A brief synopsis: Late teenage Girl's dad dies and mom must uproot Girl and brother from Texas to Michigan. As they are moving in to new home Boy (early 20's) who lives across the street spots girl. The rest you will have to read about.

What I loved about this book is that it isn't pretty - it is life. Down and dirty. Most of us didn't have to learn about the down and dirty part in our late teens/early 20's but the characters in this book did. I have written before that my mom died when I was 21. This book almost stopped me in my tracks but it was so beautifully written I kept going. To use Oprah's phrase I went to the ugly cry place.

I finished the book but it stayed in my head. I looked up the author's name and found that there was a sequel - I love when that happens! (Remember Outlander A?) I downloaded it immediately and started to read A Point of Retreat.

It picks up with the same Boy and Girl and continues on with their lives. As the story progresses other characters are introduced including a neighbor girl, Kiersten, who at 11, in my opinion, has an old soul. She is being bullied by kids at her school and the brothers of the Boy and Girl stick up for her. When she is introduced to slam poetry she decides to write and perform a poem for talent night. With the horrible and sad suicides of teenagers around the globe due to bullying, this resonated.

The one thing you need to know is butterfly is a euphemism for cuss words - any and all.

A slam poem by Kiersten, a character written by Colleen Hoover

"Butterfly.

What a beautiful word.

What a delicate creature.

Delicate like the cruel words

that flow right out of your mouths

and the food that flies right out

of your hands.

Does it make you feel better?

Does it make you feel good?

Does picking on a girl make you

more of a man?

I'm standing up for myself

Like I should have done before.

I'm not putting up with your

butterfly anymore."

"I'd like to extend to others

what others have extended to

me."

"Butterfly you, Mrs Brill." (hands principal a hand made butterfly)

"Butterfly you, Mark.

Butterfly you, Brendan.

Butterfly you, Colby."

"I have something to say to you.

I'm not referring to the bullies

Or the ones they pursue.

I'm referring to those of you

that just stand by.

The ones who don't take up for

those of us that cry.

Those of you who just...turn a

blind eye.

After all it's not you it's

happening to.

You aren't the one being bullied.

And you aren't the one being

rude.

It isn't your hand that's

throwing the food.

But...it is your mouth not

speaking up.

It is your feet not taking a stand.

It is your arm not lending a

hand.

It is your heart

Not giving a damn.

So take up for yourself.

Take up for your friends.

I challenge you to be someone

Who doesn't give in.

Don't give in.

Don't let them win.

In the next paragraph Mrs. Brill is moving to the stage as soon as damn comes out of Kiersten's mouth. SERIOUSLY! Please tell me there aren't principals like Mrs. Brill in charge of our schools.

I loved this book series for so many reasons. I loved it because we, all of us, struggle with our selves at different points in our lives. I know as a teenager I only ever wanted to fit in but as an adult I have come to realize it is our differences that make us unique. Our strengths and weaknesses make us unique.

Right now there are a lot of people converging on London. A lot of people competing, in the spirit of sport. A lot of different people.

Being different is cool.

Be cool.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Always learning

Hillsborough County schools open in 3 weeks. I don't have children but I know this because I provided doors, frames and hardware to two Charter Schools that are almost at the end of the construction process. Most of my work is done except for the occasional phone call from the job superintendent about something that has gone missing. Happens at the end of every project.

Both jobs went smoothly but one ended up being a big learning lesson for me and I wanted to share it in case anyone else runs into this.

I was bidding 4 schools at one time but there were only two floor plan prototypes. All four projects were being built by the same General Contractor, who is one of my favorite companies to work with. I had been part of two other charter school builds the previous year so everything was pretty standard. I was awarded two of the schools and they happened to have different floor plans. Both were being built at the same time so I wanted to make sure I kept all the paperwork and communication separate. I didn't want maple doors showing up at the school that was supposed to get birch!

All the hollow metal frames, wood doors and hardware had been delivered and installed at one of the schools when I had a call from the project manager. They were seeing an potential issue and wanted to see if I could come up with a solution. The issue was that the corridor doors were designed to open almost back to back leaving a small wall between them.

It was impossible to use a wall or floor stop to stop the doors from hitting one another when opened. And lets be honest - kids barrel through classroom doors when they hear the bell. (Is there even a bell anymore?). The architect didn't notice it during the design process, the GC didn't notice it when reviewing the plans and I didn't catch it either. The fix was relatively easy. I supplied stop closer arms for all the classroom doors and this solved the issue.

In my humble opinion this wasn't any one person's fault and hopefully all of us involved learned a lesson that will be applied to future projects. I am glad I was able to come up with a solution that didn't cost a lot in either time or expense.

One thing about this job is I am always learning something new!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Part of my Job

I received an interesting phone call last week from the job superintendent (JS) that was in charge of the Winthrop school project that I provided doors, frames and hardware on last Fall. If you don't remember the blog post here is a refresher. At the time the GC was building two schools concurrently and had given the doors, frames and hardware scope to two different distributors. The JS called me because he was receiving several phone calls from the school I didn't get that the levers on the locks were breaking. Was the same thing happening at Winthrop? No it wasn't. The JS wanted to know why. I asked him to email me the Hardware Schedule from the other school so I could review what type of locksets were supplied. After some investigation the hardware distributor supplied exactly what was specified. I had not however.

When I originally quoted the project I felt the Grade 2 lockset specified were not a good fit for a school application. This is the description from the manufacturer's website: cost-effective performance for entrance doors and interior passages where heavy duty levers may not be required. This keyed lever lock is especially designed for both light/medium commercial and multi-housing applications. Based on my experience a school is exactly where heavy duty locks are required and to be fair the manufacturer specified offered heavy duty locksets. I quoted & submitted a different Grade 2 Lockset with a lifetime warranty and had the free wheeling clutch built into the lever. Pricing didn't come into play either as the locks I submitted were actually less expensive than the locksets specified. I made sure to take a sample of the lock I wanted to supply with me to the first jobsite meeting so the Architect could physically look at it and hold it to better understand why I was requesting this change. He approved the lock and that is what I supplied.

I am not writing this post to bash architects either. I admire architects and wouldn't want to do their jobs. The knowledge they need to know to design a building and meet all the codes is overwhelming to me. In my opinion part of my job as a supplier is to communicate to the GC and/or Architect if I see something on the plans or in the specifications, for my scope, that doesn't make sense. We all have the same goal - to provide a safe building that meets code with good longstanding material that the end user is happy with.

I am disappointed that the other distributor didn't step up. At this point I have provided a quote to change out all the classroom locks at the other school. This will entail extra expense, time and a major inconvenience to the school that could have been avoided.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Winthrop Charter School

I am very particular about which projects I bid. I am an A-Z type of salesperson, meaning I develop the relationships, bid, close, submit, order, tag material, project manage and if pay applications are involved I do the billing. Yes I am very particular about the jobs I bid because I always want to make sure that both myself and the a-fabco team can provide the level of service I demand. 75 door openings or less is my typical comfort zone.

So when one of my favorite customers, Ryan Companies US Inc, called me and asked me to bid a 116 opening I actually paused for a moment. The thought that finally sifted out of the 100's in that 60 second span was this is a really good customer who always performs spectacularly so I said sure! (gulp) There were actually two charter schools. Both very fast track since they wanted to be open for the first day of school August 23rd. I bid both projects and held my breath. a-fabco was awarded the charter school located in Riverview!! I was excited in that nervous, holy cow I hope I do a great job, sort of way. My boss was ecstatic.

The job was very fast track but with great communication from the GC's project managers Brian Smith and Eric Overgard and job superintendent, Jeff Lawler, all material was at the jobsite when requested with only 1 incorrect door. a-fabco was able to get a new door out to the jobsite in a few days. Of course with any construction project there were changes and adds but all were able to be processed in a timely manner. This is why I used the word spectacular in the first paragraph when describing Ryan Companies. They run their projects so incredibly well it is a pleasure to be part of their team.

I received an email from Eric when the project was almost complete and let me say it made my day. "Also, I wanted to let you know that you are by far the best door and hardware supply company I have ever worked with, and I have work with many. Thank you very much for all of your hard work and again, excellent work all the way through this project. I look forward to working with you again in the future." Wow! How awesome on so many levels not the least of which he took the time to write.

Thanks to the entire Ryan Companies team for such a great project. I also want to give a special shout out to Joe Gray with Ryan. Though he wasn't part of this project I wouldn't have been a part of it without him. It was his recommendation that got me in the door. I have done many many projects with him through out the years, with current employment and previous. His level of professionalism, organization and support is outstanding. Joe is truly an exceptional human being.

I will continue to be particular on which jobs I pursue but I feel a lot more comfortable having broken the 100 opening mark.

Below please find a few pictures of Winthrop Charter School. The photographer on noted pictures is Richard Steinmetz. Ryan Companies - Tampa has been using him for 6 years to photograph all of their projects. Richard's contact information is: Tel: 813-935-3293 and email: richardsteinmetz@hotmail.com. Thanks to Jody Byler with Ryan for putting up with my constant requests and getting me these great pictures.