Florida K–12 District Partners with Facility Management Systems Provider

Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., recently announced a partnership with facilities management platform Facilitron to incorporate its solutions across the district, according to a news release. Facilitron offers its services to 10,000 K–12 and higher-ed schools across 31 states to provide efficient and cost-effective ways of sharing their buildings and grounds. BCPS is the country’s sixth-largest school district, with 356 campuses and more than 250,000 students, the news release reports.

Facilitron functions like an Airbnb for public spaces. Public schools, universities, and private facility owners can rent out facilities like meeting rooms, theaters, athletic fields, and gyms as event spaces for individuals and community groups. The move has been one way that many public-school districts of all sizes are taking advantage of to relieve budget constraints.

“Historically, pen and paper management of these rental programs has been tedious and inconsistent, with the increased costs associated with facility upkeep, security and staffing taking away from the funding that the schools desperately need for their own programs,” said Jeff Benjamin, Facilitron CEO. “We’re utilizing our technology to transform the way public and private space operators manage and monetize their buildings, and we’re helping foster meaningful change, driving revenue which can go directly back to the classrooms.”

BCPS incorporates hundreds of gyms, cafeterias, fields, and parking lots; as well as 70 auditoriums and 16,000 classrooms, the news release reports. In addition to scheduling and administrative functions, Facilitron can also help event coordinators connect to building systems like HVAC and lighting control in their desired spaces.

“Using valuable data to make its decisions, BCPS is transforming the way it runs its facility rental programs and quickly becoming a model for our country’s safest schools,” said Benjamin. “We’re proud to be working with forward-thinking districts like BCPS across the country, and we’re excited to continue to grow and develop our platform capabilities to help schools and communities successfully share resources.”

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Auburn University Debuts $224M STEM + Agricultural Sciences Complex

    Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., recently opened its new $224-million STEM + Agricultural Sciences Complex, the largest research construction project in the university’s history, according to university news. The facility measures more than 265,000 square feet and brings six departments from the College of Agriculture and College of Sciences and Mathematics together under one roof.

  • UT-San Antonio Begins Residence Hall Renovations

    The University of Texas at San Antonio recently began a $6-million renovation project to one of its residence halls, according to a news release. Originally completed in 1986, Chisolm Hall measures in at 120,860 square feet and is the oldest and largest residence hall on campus.

  • Phoenix High School Completes First Phase of Campus Renovations

    Metro Tech High School, part of the Phoenix Union High School District (PXU) in Phoenix, Ariz., recently announced the completion of the first stage of a campus renovation project, according to a news release. The school reopened a series of public-facing business operations spaces including credit union, daycare, floral, cosmetology, and culinary services. It also includes new CTE learning spaces for the school’s nursing assistant, pharmacy, and sports medicine programs.

  • Amazon Expands Lockers to More Than 500 College, University Campuses

    Amazon recently announced that its Locker Network now totals more than 750 locations at more than 500 college and university campuses around the United States, according to a company news release.