Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

The Time Has Come for Us to Say 'Sayonara'

  • By Jerry Enderle
  • 06/01/19

If you are old enough to remember this tune from the ‘50s, you are either retired or about to. (If you remember it from MASH, that’s cheating.) After more than 45 years in the publishing world, and nearly 20 with these magazines, it’s time for me to take another path.

I will miss many of the people I have worked with over the years in the magazines’ various offices, and I will miss working with and for you, our readers. Your dedication to improving our schools and colleges so they better serve the students, teachers, and staffs is important, commendable, and underappreciated. You have been an inspiration, and I thank you.

Who Will Replace You?

Regarding this position, I do not have that answer, but it seems providential that this was part of a discussion I had recently when I attended the NFMT conference—a gathering of the people who maintain and keep our nation’s facilities operating. The question came from Jim Zirbel, the co-director of an organization called FM Pipeline. He is concerned about the future staffing needs for facility/plant managers. His point is that we are not encouraging our students to consider this essential vocation as they prepare for their careers. His solution is a program called Facilithon, which operates through SkillsUSA. We had a short, five-minute conversation, so I cannot vouch for the program, but based on what he had to say and the research I have done, his concern is valid and this solution seems to be a good start. I think it is worth exploring. You can do that at www.fmpipeline.org.

A Final Petition

A common theme of my columns has been the decrepit state of our nation’s school buildings and the fact that they have a direct impact on student learning, student and staff health, and school finances. Currently, there is a bipartisan movement to deal with infrastructure issues. Schools need to be a priority in these discussions. If you are looking for ways to help change that, you can find some suggestions at The 21st Century School Fund’s website, www.21csf.org.

I wish you, and those who come after you, great success. Sayonara.

This article originally appeared in the School Planning & Management June 2019 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • St. Lucie County, Fla., Breaks Ground on New K–8 School

    St. Lucie Public Schools in St. Lucie County, Fla., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new K–8 school, according to a news release. The district partnered with Spiezle Architectural Group, Inc., for the design of the upcoming Ft. Pierce K–8 School, which comprises six buildings covering 215,000 square feet.

  • Wyoming District Breaks Ground on New Elementary School

    Laramie County School District #1 in Cheyenne, Wy., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the upcoming Mountain View Elementary School, according to a news release. The facility has an estimated completion date of summer 2028, and it will have the capacity for 650 students in fifth and sixth grade.

  • Designing the Bridge Between Inclusivity and Independence in K–12 Schools

    Fostering independence is fundamental to learning and development for K–12 students. It offers many proven benefits, such as enhanced confidence, problem-solving, decision-making, and social skills. However, this foundational objective loses its impact if it’s not accessible and adaptable to all students. Inclusivity plays a critical role in cultivating independence and healthy autonomy for students, fostering positive student learning outcomes by uniting pedagogy with the physical learning environment.

  • Spaces4Learning Launches 2026 Facilities and Construction Brief Survey

    Spaces4Learning recently launched the 2026 Facilities and Construction Brief Survey, which collects data on the previous year’s K–12 and higher education construction projects nationwide.