COO Chris Potts honored with international award for master planning
Chris Potts, chief operating officer for Upper Arlington Schools, will be honored with a Pinnacle of Achievement Award from the Association of School Business Officials International for the district’s facilities master planning process reflecting the community’s vision for the future of the schools.
The Pinnacle Awards are the highest honors from the international organization for school business professionals and celebrate the work of outstanding individuals whose original solutions maximize resources and enhance student achievement.
“I am honored to accept this award on behalf of our district, community and the monumental team effort that was necessary to ensure our master planning process was truly community driven,” Pott said. “To be recognized nationally for our process is humbling and exciting.”
With direction from the Board of Education and under the leadership of Potts, the district launched a nearly three-year facilities master planning process after a team of community experts identified the physical condition of the district’s school buildings as the greatest threat to its finances. Throughout the process, the district sought to involve as many community members as possible to develop a master plan that truly reflected the community’s vision for the future of its aging school buildings. Over the course of nearly three years, the district recorded more than 8,000 points of contact with community members through volunteer building teams, communitywide meetings, small-group coffee chats, phone surveys and online surveys.
“The result was a community-developed master plan and an overwhelmingly successful $230 million bond request that will rebuild or renovate six buildings and ensure our district can continue to provide the high-quality education our community expects,” Potts said.
Potts is among four school business professionals from across the country honored for this year’s Pinnacle Awards.
“We are very fortunate to have Chris on our team, and I can think of no one more deserving of this award,” said Superintendent Paul Imhoff, Ed.D. “He is extremely dedicated to our school district and the Upper Arlington community. He works tirelessly each day to make sure that our schools are operating efficiently and able to support the needs of our students.
“His amazing level of commitment was clearly on display during the facilities master planning process. The Board of Education requested a community-driven process, and Chris put countless hours into making sure the end product was truly a reflection of our community's expectations for the future of education in Upper Arlington.”
Posted: Thursday, August 2, 2018