Brief History of the ISBGA:
In 1988 four gentlemen from different parts of the state of Iowa felt that they were missing out on an organization in the state that dealt with buildings and grounds maintenance as it related to educational institutes. So Mr. Bill Good who was the director of facilities at Davenport IA reached out to Mel McKern Council Bluffs IA, Dave Dvorak Cedar Rapids IA, and Jim Haring from Clinton IA. A meeting was arranged in Clinton IA to discuss the concept. From that meeting the Iowa Schools Buildings and Grounds Association (ISBGA) was born. The group decided to concentrate on the following items:
  • Create an organization for school buildings and grounds supervisors to collaborate on common issues related to school problems and concerns.
  • Use collaboration to help spell out B&G supervisors review best practices in other districts to optimize resources for the tax payers.
  • Bring in experts to share different perspectives on processes and services.
The first officers of the group included:
  • President Bill Good, Davenport Iowa
  • Vice President Mel McKern, Council Bluffs Iowa
  • Treasure Dave Dvorak, Cedar Rapids Iowa
  • James Haring, Clinton Iowa
  • Robert Thomas, Cedar Rapids Iowa
  • John Dungan, Newton Iowa
Since that first meeting, the ISBGA has grown to well over 100 members. Presently, the group is led by Raymond Rowe, a retired facility manager from the Sioux City Community Schools District. The group meets quarterly and one of those meetings is the summer conference which is one of the premier educational conferences In the state of Iowa for personnel involved in the buildings and grounds of facilities the organization in the past 30 years has put on asbestos training, vendor shows, security training, cleaning seminars, boiler maintenance, HVAC maintenance, landscaping and many other related subjects at little or no cost to the individual school district. The organization is very proud to say it’s keeping up on all the new available technology to get the word out how important this organization is to school district in the state of Iowa whether it’s new website ISBGA.org, Facebook and Twitter. We look forward to being around another 30 years as we move into the future.​