Up Close With Donna Bell - Director of Facilities and Planning

Being the Director of Facilities and Planning encompasses a lot of duties. Donna Bell has her hands in projects across the district, and one look at her desk proves it. Neatly organized – to her at least – among the piles of folders and rolled-up plans on her desk, is all the information Bell oversees – the information to make the student projections for next year. Those student projections, based on historical information within the county, are shared throughout the district so that representatives of student assignment, financial allotment, human resources, the transportation department and school principals can all make the appropriate accommodations.

That’s not all Bell does. She leads a team effort with Noah Tiluk, the district’s demographer, Barbara Williams, the catch-all office support who keeps the team running on all cylinders, Erik Hoekstra, who lends his contracted services, and another program administrator who is coming on board in mid-June.

Together, they acquire land, comply with North Carolina Department of Transportation requirements, map school boundaries, negotiate with land-owners in road widening projects, communicate project information to the Board of Education and maintain a street database that holds all streets and house numbers within the county.

Though not native to the area, Bell has a history in Guilford County. She began her career here working for the county after attending Penn State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After working in school planning in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Bell returned to Greensboro to raise a family. Two years ago, she joined the facilities department, and her oldest child is preparing to enter pre-kindergarten in the fall.

Bell spends her days figuring out what schools need more seats and what schools may lose seats, but her favorite times are when she actually gets to go out and see the students in those seats. “I don’t get to do it very often,” Bell said, “But when you go into a classroom, some students are shy, and some aren’t, but they all have so much energy. It just keeps you focused.”

Bell’s job is all about the bigger picture. “I just try to get our campuses everything they need so the kids can just focus on being kids. That’s what makes me feel satisfied at the end of the day.”