Dayton Public Schools Carpentry Foreman Gary Hites and Carpentry Journeyman Rodney Frisby are in the process of building wooden cases for Edison Elementary, repairing cabinets for Fairview Elementary, and building wooden piano carts for elementary music classes. In the photo above, they are cutting laminate for the Fairview cabinet repairs. 

DPS carpenters are valued members of the Operations Department and work to build a variety of items for schools, classrooms and offices. A major project over the last few years has been building wooden cases to display artwork from the Skyscrapers Art Project led by internationally renowned artist Willis “Bing” Davis. 

The Skyscrapers project highlights people from the Dayton area who have positively impacted their community. Within the next two years, all schools will have an art display. At that time, the Dayton Public School District will be the first district in the nation to have a contemporary African American art collection as part of each school’s learning environment. 

Through this initiative, students across the district will be positively impacted. This is because they will see displays of people who look like them, who are from their community and who went on to achieve great things. Students will then be inspired and encouraged to have high aspirations for success.