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Illinois School Board Journal
November/December 2007
Linda Dawson is director of editorial services for IASB and Journal editor.
When you're browsing the exhibit hall at this year's Joint Annual Conference in Chicago, it will be no accident that some of the displays have bouquets of blue and white helium balloons. Those balloons signify that the exhibitor is among a select group of companies that do business with school districts: they're IASB Service Associates.
Service Associates have been part of the Association since the mid-1960s and trace their history to the development of Illinois' health/life safety codes for schools. Our Lady of the Angels' school fire on December 1, 1958, in Chicago — a blaze that took the lives of 92 children and three nuns — was a precursor to developing the codes.
In 1963, the state superintendent issued Circular Series 185, "Building Specifications for Health and Safety in Public Schools," and Circular Series 175, "Efficient and Adequate Standards for the Construction of Schools." The ideas in these circulars later evolved into Part 180 of the Illinois School Code: "Health/Life Safety Code for Public Schools."
With the health/life safety codes in place and knowing that schools would need assurance that the companies they dealt with were reputable and reliable, IASB created a special membership category for private businesses … and Service Associates were born. Eligible firms, based on those who have been doing business with Illinois schools for at least three years, who can provide three references from Illinois school districts and who agree to abide by a Code of Ethics, can be admitted to membership only through a vote by the IASB Board of Directors.
According to Phil Fulton of Michuda Construction, Chicago, current chair of Service Associates, once a completed membership form has been submitted, a membership committee — made up of current Service Associates members — reviews the information and calls the references to determine if, in fact, the firm applying meets the above criteria. The membership committee then submits its findings to the Service Associates executive committee.
"At the meeting," Fulton said, "we discuss what is known about the firm to affirm that they have performed successfully for Illinois schools." The executive committee then votes whether to recommend the firm for membership and those recommended are then presented to the IASB Board of Directors.
"Members of long duration are successful firms, who in their dealings with school districts are helping them look out for the district's best interest, not their personal best interest," said Phil Fadden of Bradley & Bradley of Rockford, a member of the executive committee.
Fadden's architectural and engineering firm has been a member for more than 30 years, he said … or for more years than he has worked with the company, which has been servicing educational clients since they designed their first school in Rockford in 1887.
Exhibiting excellence
One of the most visible Service Associates programs is the Educational Environments Exhibits (EEE) that honors the best in architectural design for new and renovated buildings each year. The EEE awards display is always near the food court in the exhibit hall.
Russell Middleton of Middleton Associates in Normal chairs the Service Associates' EEE program and sees it as a way for school officials and board members "to think outside their own little box" while solving facility challenges. The exhibits give everyone more options to consider than if they hadn't seen what others are doing.
"It definitely contributes to the evolutionary process of building better schools for Illinois," Middleton said, "as it displays what those leading the way are doing."
Middleton remembers sending in an entry for the display in 1973 when the Joint Annual Conference was still housed at the Palmer House. But the exhibits then had a hiatus from the mid-1970s until the late 1980s when Richard Johnson, now principal-in-charge of Richard L. Johnson Associates Inc. in Rockford, suggested that they be revived because of all the educational growth. "It has been going strong ever since," he said.
This year's exhibit of 22 new and remodeled schools earned two awards of distinction, three awards of merit and three honorable mentions.
Having some fun
When you talk about "reliability" and "reputation" followed by a program that rewards outstanding design, you could think Service Associates are a serious bunch of folks. But they like to have fun, too.
For the second year in a row, Service Associates will offer exhibit-goers a chance to win gift cards while getting to know their members better.
Mike Vallosio of Software Technology Inc., who is in charge of the program, said IASB Service Associates Bingo will be "back by popular demand" with rewards of $75 gift cards for at least 30 of those who want to play along.
"To qualify for the gift card drawing," Vallosio said, "an attendee simply needs to have his or her Bingo card signed by each participating Service Associate. Participating vendors can be easily identified by the colorful balloons and signs at their booths."
Completed cards then should be dropped off at the EEE exhibit near the food court. It's just that simple.
What it all means
Because membership in Service Associates is by invitation only, those who become part of the organization already share the vision of quality service and advice for school districts. But membership also means different things to each of the different firms, reflective of their different areas of expertise.
For Johnson's architectural firm, it "provides an opportunity to come in contact with peers and school districts and to assist those districts to design better educational learning environments through exhibiting and dialoging our work."
For Fadden's firm of Bradley & Bradley, "membership means recognition as a company who provides exemplary service to school clients, year in, year out, good times, bad times."
"It's a way our company can help support their organization," said Vallosio of STI. "It's a way of showing we care about their organization and we want to be identified as such a vendor."
"We have come to better appreciate what IASB does and represents regarding improving Illinois schools and the education of our children," Fulton said. "Actively participating on the Service Associates executive committee has also helped me learn the vast resources IASB offers to its members."
"I think it also creates a certain confidence on the part of school administrators that they can be a resource for them when they have questions or can direct them to other Service Associates or districts that may have experienced similar concern," Middleton said. "For us, I think we can benefit because potential clients know we have a focus on K-12 and considerable school experience in Illinois and familiarity with the many of the parameters and mandates under which they must operate."
A list of current Service Associates always appears toward the end of The Illinois School Board Journal. Or for more information about the program, visit the IASB Web site at www.iasb.com/associates/.