CONTENTS

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

STEVE JACKSON, ASCT, RPA, CEFM

British Columbia

Spring, warm sun, flowers, green grass, birds chirping, declining enrolment, budget cuts, project planning … well, here we are again; we are all working hard to stretch the new funding to accomplish mandatory tasks to keep our buildings safe, clean and in good condition. As always, SPOA facility professionals will do their best with the funding we receive. Thank you to the Ministry of Education for restoring the annual facilities grant for school districts. This funding will once again allow facility professionals to properly maintain our buildings. Life safety system upgrades, energy reduction projects, carbon reduction projects, life cycle replacement projects, modernization and remodeling projects, and risk mitigation projects will once again be occurring on our schools which will ultimately benefit the students of British Columbia. Thanks!

It’s registration time again for our annual conference. I know that each of you know how important it is to network, check out the new innovations from our suppliers and learn and share new concepts with fellow SPOA members. When budgets are tight, it is even more important to take time out of our busy schedules to learn these new ideas, new energy conservation strategies, greening concepts and cost-reduction ideas which you can take back to your school district for implementation. We all know the networking we do with each other at the conference ultimately benefits the operations at each of our respective school districts. Check out the conference program; our conference committee has put together a great conference for you!

Our education committee is continuing to work with the School Plant Officials Society of Alberta. Our committee members are heading to Alberta in May to continue the work on the certification program, CEFM (Certified Educational Facility Manager). As this work between the two provinces evolves, it will continue to highlight the everevolving profession of facility management.

We have been continuing to work on our association’s Long Range Plan. We are focusing on directions that will be sustainable and beneficial to all members of the association. As you know, this year we have also hired an executive director to assist the SPOA Executive with day-to-day activities. We are pleased to report that this new role has been very successful; it complements the great work of our secretary while assisting the Executive to accomplish our goals and objectives.

On behalf of the Executive, we hope everything is going well for you in your school district and we plan to see you in Penticton!

Have a great year!

Cheers, Steve