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December 2007  
Getting to Know
Drew Rowlands, Director of Physical Plant Operations
Drew Rowlands The 07-08 school year marked the arrival of Drew Rowlands, the new director of Physical Plant Operation (formerly Maintenance & Operations). Rowlands oversees Custodial Services, Landscape Services, Maintenance Services and Support Services. These departments plan, organize, control and direct all the maintenance and operational functions for the district’s 200-plus facilities.

He came to San Diego Unified from the private sector where he managed an engineering consulting firm’s San Diego office. He spent 20 years as a civil engineer for the U.S. Navy, maintaining, managing and building naval installations. He lives in Carlsbad with his wife, Kim, and 12 year-old twins.

Staff Bulletin recently sat down with Drew to get to know him better.

What attracted you to San Diego Unified?
It was a good opportunity. I liked the idea of managing a large plant. And, at the expense of sounding cliché, it’s very fulfilling to have such an important purpose—educating children.”

How does your team impact teaching and students?
When we solve a problem for a school principal, or when we repair something in a classroom, that behind-the-scenes work allows teachers to continue teaching and students to continue learning.

What are some of the challenges of such a large district?
We have a large workforce working multiple shifts while spread across an extensive geographic area. Communication and coordination with our workforce and our customers is a challenge. We need to consistently provide the best level of service possible. In the ‘facility business,’ there is never enough funding to do everything we want to do. We need to make informed decisions and do the best with the resources we have. We have a lot of dedicated, hard-working, experienced people. It’s great to see them work together to solve problems.

How do you see your role as PPO Director?
I’m here to help others to do their jobs by giving them the resources they need; be it personnel, funding, training, etc. My immediate priority is to oversee the PPO reorganization process that started in February 2007. We’re also working on continuous improvement in all PPO processes and coordinated customer support.

What are you doing when you’re not at work?
I like to spend time outdoors, bicycling, and coaching youth soccer. I’m pretty easy-going and like to have fun.