Maintaining a legacy of excellence

Behind every well-maintained campus and successful renovation is a dedicated team of men and women who invest countless hours and effort during the summer to make it happen. Their dedication contributes to student learning by ensuring schools are fully operational, meticulously kept, and ready for the new school year.

 

David Galvan
Supervisor—Maintenance and Facility Services 

As one of the maintenance supervisors, David Galvan oversees the repairs of campuses before the start of the school year. From mid-April to early May, Galvan and his team identify high-need campuses in the district and assess exactly what those needs are.

“Once we make the assessments, we go in there, we do the necessary repairs so that we make it readily available for the students on the first day of school,” Galvan said. “That might entail replacing flooring, ceilings, ceramic tile, carpet, and painting. It’s basically a wide array of things that we do that makes it more appealing.”

Galvan thinks that an improved and more inviting atmosphere promotes learning among students. 

“I think it helps them, and I think that our department thrives on that—making something that was old look new and more inviting for the students,” he said.

Galvan attended Anson Jones Elementary School and L.V. Stockard Middle School. He began working for the district as a technician in 2013 and later became a supervisor, a position he has held for the past three years.

“Anything positive for the students is good for Dallas ISD,” he said. “And that’s what we want. We want students, when they come to the school, to be ecstatic to learn.”

 

Joshua Fisher
Plumber—Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing

While Joshua Fisher’s job in the maintenance and plumbing team for the southeast area of the district requires a reactive approach during the school year, the summer months for this Seagoville High School graduate are reserved for preventative work, he said. 

“The summertime gives us a lot of time to do preventative maintenance. During the school year, we’re reactive—we have an emergency here, emergency there. But in the summer, we do work to prevent all that reactive work that we do during the school year,” Fisher said.

Fisher added that his department oversees special projects in the summer, particularly construction work.

“We do a lot of special projects that we can’t really do when kids are in school,” Fisher said. “So, a lot of the new builds and remodels that are going on with the campuses, we get to oversee them and check the status of the production. The oversight of those projects really helps us when they are turned over to us, because we understand what’s going on.”

Fisher said that a functional plumbing system ensures a seamless learning experience. Where there is a sewer backup, the bathrooms are closed off and students relocated to another part of the building, disrupting their daily schedule.

“If the plumbing systems are functioning properly, the kids are more comfortable. They can go in there as they need to,” Fisher said. “It just allows for a much more fluid learning experience when all the plumbing systems are operating correctly. The simple things mean a lot.”

 

John Groschke
Supervisor—Grounds and Fields

Like many certified arborists, John Groschke speaks the language of trees. Since joining Dallas ISD in 2020, the Houston native has led the department responsible for beautifying the district’s grounds.

“Our department makes sure all of the grounds, the grass, the trees, and the shrubs are beautiful,” Groschke said. “It’s just one thing that we do to help the kids not worry about anything. If it looks clean, if it looks good, then you feel good. So that’s kind of the idea that we want to portray onto the kids.”

Groschke is particularly interested in trees and what they represent. 

“It’s not just a tree. To me, it’s life, it’s happiness,” he said. “It’s providing oxygen for us, cleaning the air for us, and doing so many things that people don’t understand.”

The trees, he said, can also reveal a lot about a site.

“I like to diagnose trees,” he said. “If there’s something going on with the tree, the tree tells you a whole lot about what has happened to a site.”

More importantly, Groschke hopes to be known as somebody who made the school district more sustainable for generations to come: “If there’s something that I can do to take care of a tree, grass, shrubs and to make it better for generations after me, that’s what I’m going to do,” he said.

 

Jason White
Supervisor—Environmental, Health and Safety 

Jason White has been the supervisor of indoor air quality for Dallas ISD since 2018. He was previously employed by Houston ISD. 

His job is indispensable to prevent the spread of germs: he and his department clean the carpets in the prekindergarten, kindergarten, and special needs classrooms.

“Young kids sit on the mats, lie down, play, and put their hands in their mouths—we want to make sure we clean and disinfect the carpets,” White said. “We also clean the auditorium rugs and the libraries—anything to get the air quality as good as possible for the students and the teachers.”

White noted his team typically cleans an average of 30 rugs per school in the summer, with each rug requiring two-and-a-half hours for a thorough cleaning.

In addition to indoor quality, White said his department is also responsible for flood management and remediation.White said that he would like to be remembered for creating an organized system that is built on consistency and fairness.

“I want to have in place a procedure that gets the job done. I want to be organized and make sure everyone gets treated fairly,” he said. “If people want to remember me for that, then that’s good.”

 

Arthur Harris
Supervisor—Service Center

If you’ve ever wondered who is in charge of deliveries of textbooks, furniture, or other supplies, it’s Arthur Harris.

“As a department, our priorities are textbook drop-offs and pickups,” Harris said. “We also handle the delivery of custodial office supplies and new furniture, and the removal of old or miscellaneous furniture.”

This is only the department’s priority. Harris also oversees the mail service, the setup for districtwide events, auctions, campus cleanouts, and scrap metal recycling, among other duties. 

“Our goal is to make sure that each classroom, each school, is ready for day one,” he said.

Harris is responsible for bulk transportation and the Kiest warehouse. The bulk warehouse is where the district brings in all the auction items, scrap metal and the furniture. Anything that has been salvaged goes to Keist, he said.

Harris also mentioned that his department does 60 deliveries per day, and that this number does not include mail delivery.

“From June to August, we are busy getting out, making sure that we are bringing backpacks to all the schools and picking up furniture and transferring it to different schools,” he said. “We want to make sure that schools have enough furniture for all the children.”

Despite a busy schedule, Harris finds satisfaction in knowing he played a role, however small, in student success.

“I just make sure that I am doing my best in taking care of all the different schools,” he said. “I try to ensure that my team members are displaying Core 4: fast, focused, flexible and friendly.”