News
Florida School District's Building
Department Earns Accreditation
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| Tom Hogarth (right), Building Department Director for the Palm Beach County School District, accepts a recognition plaque from IAS President Chuck Ramani. |
The Building Department of the Palm Beach County School District in Florida has become the first school district in the United States to earn national Building Department Accreditation by the International Accreditation Service. IAS accreditation verifies that the district's building department is professionally qualified to provide a high standard of public safety.
Joseph Moore, chief operating officer for the Palm Beach County School District, commented, "This accreditation signifies the district's commitment to excellence in operations as well as academics."
With 37 employees, including nine plan reviewers and 19 inspectors, the school district building department conducts plan reviews, issues permits and performs inspections to ensure that school construction, renovation and maintenance work is conducted in accordance with state-mandated building and fire safety codes.
In August 2007, the IAS Building Department Accreditation on-site evaluation team conducted a full evaluation of the district's building department. The 13 categories of accreditation criteria used to assess the department included evaluations of basic jurisdictional information, department staff, permitting, budget, construction codes, plan reviews, professional credentials/licenses, inspections, certificates of occupancy, on-site evaluations, annual reports, re-evaluation, and complaints/appeals.
Throughout the process, IAS evaluators carefully assessed critical elements of the building department, including customer service, code interpretation and enforcement, and fiscal strength. This team of four IAS-trained evaluators, including practicing building officials, assessed the building department's expertise and its compliance with the IAS Accreditation Criteria for Building Departments/Code Enforcement Agencies (AC251). The team also visited construction sites to appraise the district's inspection process.
Joseph Sanches, chief of facilities management for the district, added, "Accreditation is an excellent vehicle to demonstrate to school district administrators, contractors, designers and the public that the building department business model and procedures are in accordance with the highest national standards of code enforcement."
Tom Hogarth, building department director for the Palm Beach County School District, concluded, "The general public probably knows the Palm Beach County School District is actively constructing many new schools and replacing older schools. They might not realize that the school district has its own building department that functions much like a municipal building department. This accreditation is especially satisfying since we are able to raise public awareness while demonstrating that we meet the highest national standards set by the International Accreditation Service."