District Parents & Families: The 2024-25 Philly School Experience Survey is now open. Take the Survey
The Operations Division maintains and enhances the buildings that support our students and staff, ensuring safe and healthy environments, providing daily nutritious meals, and coordinating safe, efficient student transportation.
The mission of Capital Programs is to provide a safe, healthy, and welcoming learning environment for every student. We realize this mission by acknowledging that our buildings require ongoing maintenance and identifying and supporting investments in these buildings. Many Capital Projects include environmental components like asbestos abatement or lead paint stabilization.
Design
Design is a team of architects, electrical, mechanical, and structural engineers. We provide architectural and engineering design services to all departments of the School District.
We seek excellence in design and promote energy-efficient, maintainable and resilient facilities. It is our job to ensure our projects meet schedule and budget constraints. We are continuously seeking talented Design Consultants to perform design services for our schools.
Technical Specifications
The Technical Specifications define typical materials and manufacturers acceptable for use in School District of Philadelphia projects and are based on and complement the Design Guidelines.
Access our technical specifications HERE
Construction
The Construction Unit implements the School District’s capital plan for new construction and renovation of existing properties. The team works closely with the Design Unit and contractors to ensure that projects are completed on time and within budget.
Submit Construction Bids HERE
Contracts
Contracts Compliance is responsible for professional service requests for proposals, pre-qualification of prime contractors, estimating, constructability reviews, advertising and distribution of plans and specifications, bid openings and bid evaluations, and approval of Schedules of Value.
We also prepare contract award resolutions, contract documents, and evaluation and resolution of change order requests and construction claims.
Finance
Responsible for developing the Capital Budget based on the current facility assessments and District operations feedback. We also:
Working to create greener schools and maintain healthy and welcoming learning environments for all students and staff.
Priority 1 of Accelerate Philly is to improve the physical, social-emotional and environmental safety for our children and our school leaders. One of the strategic actions for accomplishing this is an examination of, and a plan to improve, our physical learning spaces. That said, with direction from the Board of Education, the School District of Philadelphia has formally begun a facilities planning process to assess and better manage the district’s school buildings.
The Facilities Planning Process Project Team is a group of community leaders from across our city that will play an active role in drafting the facilities plan. These individuals represent a diversity of experiences and collectively have deep knowledge and understanding of our students, families, and community. They will meet monthly throughout this process to synthesize inputs from our public listening sessions and surveys, as well as review a wide range of data, to generate drafts for feedback from the Advisory Groups and the public overall. We thank these individuals for stepping up to serve in this important role and being generous with their time.
The below Advisory Groups comprise a wide range of backgrounds and experiences that represent key stakeholder voices in our schools and communities. They will meet monthly throughout this process to provide feedback, opinions, and experiences to inform the work of the Project Team and Facilities Planning Process. We thank these individuals for stepping up to serve in this important role and being generous with their time.
Take the School Building Stakeholder Feedback Survey to share your thoughts on improving our facilities. Available in 13 languages.
As part of Phase 8 of the Facilities Planning Process, District staff held informational town halls and stakeholder feedback sessions in November–December 2024. All stakeholder groups were also invited to share feedback via a survey.
The Facility Condition Assessment Summary Report provides a summary of the Facility Condition Index (FCI) value of a school facility and select major building systems. The FCI is a numerical representation of conditions organized into five performance tiers.
The Facilities Department handles the day-to-day operations of district schools, including custodial services, field and green space upkeep, and climate-control systems.
The Facilities Usage Department organizes and schedules all requests for use of facilities submitted internally through the District and from outside groups and communities. Staff requirements such as Building Engineers, housekeeping, etc. are identified and scheduled as needed.
At the School District of Philadelphia, the safety and well-being of our students, staff, and visitors are our top priorities. The Office of Fire & Life Safety is dedicated to maintaining a secure environment in all our schools and facilities. Our mission is to protect lives, property, and the educational mission through proactive safety measures, rigorous training programs, and adherence to the highest standards of fire and life safety.
For assistance, contact our Program Coordinator at sstevens2@philasd.org or 215-400-5801.
Fire Safety & Prevention:
Emergency Preparedness:
Life Safety Systems:
Safety Training & Education:
Our programs and services prepare students for a quality education by providing the fuel necessary for learning. The Division of Food Services is proud to contribute to the educational process by providing daily healthy meals to Philadelphia students.
Coordinating the safe and efficient travel of students to and from school every day.
