Rick Dusing

Mr. Rick Dusing is the facilities manager at Parker, meaning he is in charge of the buildings and grounds work and the physical upkeep of the entire campus. He is also the head of maintenance and security. Parker is the size of a city block, and maintaining the entire premises is a lot of work. We learned a lot about Mr. Dusing and his work that we never would have known otherwise and are thankful he was able to interview with us. He was friendly, outgoing and had a great sense of humor. We could tell he takes his job seriously and is very good at what he does.

Mr. Dusing did not come to Chicago until later in life. He actually grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. When he was 13, his parents divorced and Mr. Dusing moved in with his dad. When we asked him about his hobbies and what he does in his free time, he said playfully, “Free time? I’m always at work. Even when I am at home, I’m thinking about how I can help the school.” Mr. Dusing’s hobbies were surprisingly unexpected. He is a gourmet chef, loves to cook, and is really good at it. His specialty is mostly gourmet French food. In fact, Mr. Dusing was a guest chef at Le Français in Wheeling and several other noted restaurants. Besides cooking, Mr. Dusing wants to get better at golf, which he enjoys playing. He is always trying to improve at everything he does.

Mr. Dusing has loved working at all the jobs he’s had, and his favorite one is working at Parker. When Mr. Dusing was a kid, he wanted to be a motorcycle cop because that was “the cool thing.” In college, Mr. Dusing majored in biomedical engineering. He worked as a biomedical engineer, where he installed, adjusted, maintained, repaired, and provided technical support for biomedical equipment. He also worked at a hospital, and for ExxonMobil. All these jobs have helped prepare him for the job he has now. As the director of facilities, Mr. Dusing handles all the functions of Parker. Mr. Dusing is accountable for school services we often take for granted such as maintenance, cleaning, security and parking, all to make sure the school is in a suitable condition for everyone. Mr. Dusing’s previous experience working in construction, engineering, and technology has set him up for success with the job he has now.

“Free time? I’m always at work. Even when I am at home, I’m thinking about how I can help the school.”

When we interviewed Mr. Dusing, one of the subjects that he went over was the projects that he has worked on in the past and plans to work on in the future. Some of the biggest issues he has handled have consisted of the burst pipe in the library, redoing the field and playground, the boiler shutting down in the middle of the Polar Vortex, and the big flood in the science room. One of the daily issues that he has to deal with is the air conditioning. This is a big problem because the unit ventilators were installed in the ‘90s and are not being made anymore. When the pipe burst in the library, the team chose to take out some of the unit ventilators and replaced the units in the library with a newer design. They then used the old parts from the library unit ventilators to fix the others around the school. Another issue is that the snow plow tractor is very old, so sometimes when the snow gets really deep it breaks down. Usually, planned construction projects happen in the summer or over school breaks. Most maintenance emergencies occur in the winter. The general budget per year is about $400,000, so whenever Mr. Dusing wants to renovate something or replace something, he always has to keep the budget in mind. In the future Mr. Dusing would like to replace the roof. The reason is that the roofs have a 20 year warranty, and we have gone past that on some of the roofs. Before starting big projects, Mr. Dusing and his team talk to neighbors to let them know that there will be construction and improvements made to our school.

“Whenever we do minor or major remodeling … we always take it [student input] in.”

Even though Mr. Dusing does lots of the work in the building, many people influence what he does. He said many projects he does are based off of student needs. When Mr. Dusing is trying to get students’ ideas, he usually goes to the division heads to coordinate connecting with students. Mr. Dusing says student input is very important. Students have helped design and give ideas for many large projects such as the library renovation. Mr. Dusing said that it would be helpful if students were to do research for projects and come up with ideas they can achieve themselves. Students’ suggestions for improving the school are very important and helpful to Mr. Dusing.

Mr. Dusing was so great to interview, especially with his sense of humor and his persistent mind. He showed us that people behind the scenes at Parker are definitely just as important as the teachers. Even though Mr. Dusing is working behind the scenes, you can still see him all over the school working on some of the biggest projects (like the library) to some of the smallest projects (like fixing the AC). So whenever you see Mr. Dusing in the hall, make sure to give him a big thank you. It was such an honor to interview Mr. Dusing, and we learned so much from him.