Jason Decksheimer

Director of Operations, Campbell River School District

Transportation, construction planning, and snow days. Switching careers from managing facilities for municipalities and into school facilities management might seem like a lateral exchange, but Jason Decksheimer says it’s quite different and it was just what he was looking for.

Decksheimer began his career in the facilities world working for the City of Campbell River in 2007. After working for the City for 16 years, he felt that he was ready to stretch his skills and abilities and take on a new career challenge.

As the new Director of Operations at the Campbell River School District, a role he began in November 2022, he says the two roles in facilities management may run parallel to one another but are quite different than what he had become accustomed to in the municipal government.

“As a Fleet and Facilities Manager for over a decade, I had lots of experience managing a large fleet and equipment portfolio, but that is quite different than running a student transportation system,” he says. “On the facilities side, I was accustomed to dealing with a more diverse building portfolio taking care of recreational facilities, firehalls, police stations, heritage buildings, CRU’s, residential properties, and multi-story office buildings. Whereas the school facilities portfolio is much more consistent. It’s nice to be able to create some across-the-board standards with my new role. ”

The Campbell River School District is located on the east coast of central Vancouver Island extending from Sayward to Oyster River and includes Read, Cortes, and Quadra Islands. It provides education programming to approximately 5,600 students across 13 elementary schools, two middle schools, two secondary schools, and an alternate learning centre.

Since joining the School District in December, Decksheimer says the learning curve has been a steep one. “I’m completely relearning a new regulatory model, transportation system, work culture, and there is a lot to learn around students, teachers, and parents – an entirely new type of audience.”

Assuming full responsibility for the maintenance, transportation, and custodial operations has been a significant undertaking, plus he is also involved with a high-priority project that involves installing childcare centres on seven of the district’s school sites. He was also thrown the additional curve ball that comes when working in daily operations. “In my first week in this position, I had to make the call for two snow days which is a big deal in our district,” he says. “That was my trial by fire in the transportation department.”

It’s been a busy four months for Decksheimer and he says that will continue as he gets up to speed not only on what is happening is the district, but also on the education system as a whole. So far, he says the exchange of information between himself and his colleagues has been reciprocal and welcome.

“There have been many opportunities to bring some best practices from my previous industry, and I’ve had many opportunities to learn new ways of conducting business.” He is eager to share his own expertise