ASBO International member Jo Ann Armstrong, CSBO/CSRM, who serves as the chief financial and operations officer of Belvidere Community Unit School District (CUSD) 100 in Illinois, sits on NCSI’s advisory committee. “It was a great honor to be considered qualified for this role,” says Armstrong. “It’s so exciting to see what is facing other schools and to be on the edge of what impacts school infrastructure.” She supports the Center’s work by providing insights from the field and offering strategic guidance to shape NCSI’s priorities.
With buildings ranging from 17 to 127 years old at Belvidere CUSD 100, funding for aging facilities has been a chief concern and challenge for Armstrong. To address the needs of the district’s facilities, she convened a facility and long-range planning committee and executed a 10-year staged needs assessment in her district. “We looked at every square inch and made a staged plan, so now it’s no longer like ‘Whack-a-Mole.”
It was a great honor to be considered qualified for this role,” says Armstrong. “It’s so exciting to see what is facing other schools and to be on the edge of what impacts school infrastructure.
Armstrong is joined by a dozen other facility, operations, and energy leaders who serve on the advisory committee from state and local education agencies across the country. Together, their diverse public sector perspectives and voices guide NCSI’s work.
School business leaders can visit https://school-infrastructure.org/ to explore a wide range of materials related to safe, healthy, efficient, and inspiring public school infrastructure, share input on future content hosted by the Center, and sign up for a mailing list to stay informed about new resources.
The website hosts a growing array of technical assistance, research, guides, and tools that can inform and empower state and local leaders working to improve educational facilities nationwide. Content is searchable by several topic areas:
- School Facilities and Student Learning – how facilities shape the learning environment.
- Elements of Stewardship – the six factors that define effective facilities systems at every level.
- School Facilities and Health – how facilities affect students’ health and readiness to learn.
- Facilities Master Planning – how implementing a long-term vision helps align people and resources.
- School Facilities and Extreme Weather – the challenges of extreme weather and ways schools can adapt.
- Federal Support for Facilities – how federal resources can boost state and local systems.
NCSI is actively expanding its suite of technical assistance offerings, training opportunities, data tools, and other digital resources. Share your ideas to guide NCSI’s focus and sign up for their newsletter, or connect with Jo Ann Armstrong on ASBO’s Global School Business Network!