December 3, 2025 • 19 mins
For most people, if you need a pencil or a binder, it's a quick trip to the store or an even faster click of a button. But what if you need hundreds of pencils or electronic devices for a classroom? That's where Canyon School District's Purchasing Department comes into play.
“Our department handles anything a school could need,” says Canyons Purchasing Director Nancy Webb. “Whether it’s student furniture, food or pencils, contracts, special education counselors, or even medical insurance.”
Webb says CSD’s purchasing agents are there to help schools and teachers with everything from basic needs to helping to navigate larger purchases. As classrooms update and evolve, some items are upgraded or no longer needed, and the department has come up with a way to ensure they don’t go unused.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by
Canyon School District.
This is a show about what weteach, how we teach, and why we
get up close and personal withsome of the people who make our
schools great.
Students, teachers, principals,parents, and more.
We meet national experts too.
(00:21):
Learning is about makingconnections.
So connect with us.
SPEAKER_03 (00:25):
For most people, if you need a pencil or a binder,
it's a quick trip to the storeor an even faster click of a
button.
But what if you need hundreds ofpencils or electronic devices
for a classroom?
That's where Canyon SchoolDistrict's purchasing department
comes into play.
Welcome to Connect Canyons.
I'm your host, Francis Cook.
Today we're talking about allthings purchasing and surplus,
(00:49):
which doesn't just mean itemsfor internal use, but sometimes
it could mean a nice littleChristmas gift for someone.
So how does it all work?
To answer these questions andmore, I'm joined by Nancy Webb,
Director of Purchasing, andHolly Bishop, Canyon's
purchasing technician.
Ladies, thank you for beinghere.
SPEAKER_01 (01:05):
You're welcome.
Thank you for having us.
SPEAKER_03 (01:08):
Of course.
Let's start with what it is youand your team do.
Because for me, frankly, it'smind-boggling how much your
department handles.
I don't think people reallyrealize the extent that
purchasing is involved inrunning a school district.
Nancy, would you start us offand kind of explain what it is
your department handles?
SPEAKER_02 (01:28):
Basically, anything a school needs, whether it's
student furniture, food,pencils, papers, different
contracts they may need forservices, for counselors,
special ed counselors, or ourmedical insurance, pretty much
everything we are involved in.
Anything that involves acontract, we would help with.
(01:52):
And that everything we purchaseand manage, contracts we manage,
are within State of Utahprocurement code.
SPEAKER_03 (02:00):
So really everything from pencils to building
projects to Chromebooks, youguys handle it.
SPEAKER_02 (02:06):
We do.
Smaller items the schools canpurchase on a P card.
Anything over a certain limit,they have to go through
purchasing.
And we also stock pencils andpens and sharpies in the
warehouse.
Right.
So they should first look in thewarehouse.
If we don't carry it in thewarehouse, then they can
purchase it on a P card.
SPEAKER_03 (02:28):
Which probably makes things a little easier for them
too, right?
They don't have to necessarilydo all these deep dive searches
into finding something thatthey're looking for.
You guys probably already havethose answers for them.
Holly, how about you?
Would you walk us through a dayin your life?
What does a purchasingtechnician do?
SPEAKER_01 (02:47):
I am there as really support for everybody in the
department.
I help the buyers, the seniorbuyers, Nancy, who is the
director.
I uh try to keep all the ducksin a row, like make sure we are
minding contract deadlines,renewal time periods, things
(03:08):
like that, so that we don't havecontracts expire without us
having something else securedfirst.
SPEAKER_03 (03:15):
You're the go-to gal.
She is, definitely.
That's awesome.
And I know you, Nancy, inparticular, have been working on
this new project with artwork,and I'm excited to talk about
that with you.
As a purchasing department,you've begun a new venture when
it comes to items and surplus,things that we maybe have too
many of that we're no longerneeding or aren't being used.
(03:37):
Now Canyon's employees canaccess some of those items first
and foremost to use at work.
Can you talk to us about whatthis surplus project means?
SPEAKER_02 (03:47):
All items in the district, if nobody wants those
items anymore, these items werepurchased with taxpayer dollar.
We are supposed to puteverything on public surplus.
And we have started a lot of theolder buildings that were
rebuilt.
We had a lot of artwork justsitting in storage, not being
(04:09):
looked at.
We have a lot of desks andstudent chairs and things like
that and in the warehouse instorage.
Some of the schools know andthey'll go over there and look
when they need things andthey're able to pull that for
their use if it's something theyneed.
Not a lot of it has been put onpublic surplus, but we have
started recently putting a lotof stuff on there that was just
(04:32):
sitting in storage.
And then the schools can look ifthey would like to pull
something.
And so they can register and ifthey'd like a piece of artwork
that maybe was at one of theschools that was taken down for
(04:55):
their office, they can pull thatfor their office.
Some of the items when they arepast their useful life, say lawn
mowers or something infacilities, a snowblower or
something like that, iPads.
Once they're past beyond theiruseful life, we would post them
on public surplus for public tobe able to buy.
(05:17):
Employees can buy it, public canbuy it for personal use.
When it's internal, it's stillonly to be pulled for in school
or in district use.
SPEAKER_03 (05:50):
Maybe somebody knows how to fix that lawnmower and
make it work for them.
That's right.
What is that process like foryou going through all of these
items?
SPEAKER_02 (06:00):
A school will determine they have no need of
the item anymore, or they'vereceived some new desks or new
chairs and they don't need themanymore.
They'll fill out a surplus formand send it to the warehouse,
and the warehouse will pickthose items up from them.
And then and it could be a caseof maybe a teacher decides she
(06:23):
wants to go to two studenttables instead of desks.
Yeah.
And so they're just rearrangingtheir classroom and they're
that's very cool.
SPEAKER_03 (06:36):
I I don't think I would realize if I were a
teacher, you know, when we werein school, we all you had was
the singular desk, right?
You were seated by yourself.
You didn't have, you know, yourclosest friend wasn't even
within reach, but now we havelike the group tables.
So if they want to do groupwork, maybe they take those
desks out.
I wouldn't have even thought ofdoing something like that.
You mentioned the artwork,Holly.
(06:57):
I know this has been kind of abig undertaking for you.
Some some of these pieces of arthave really great histories and
they're great pieces.
SPEAKER_01 (07:06):
Yeah, we have a mix of artworks that we have
discovered because, like Nancysaid, we've had buildings that
have come down and the schoolsdon't necessarily want the same
artwork.
Maybe it doesn't appeal to thenew principle or you know, for
whatever reason.
Everyone has different tastes.
Yeah, we end up with thisstockpile of art that in a lot
(07:28):
of cases the artwork has beenhere since the 70s or 60s, or
some of you even before that.
Yeah.
Some of it is student artworkthat, like maybe this student
got a sterling scholarship forit, or the student there used to
be like a superintendent artaward that would happen every
(07:49):
year.
And for those pieces that wonawards, that artwork would stay
at the school.
SPEAKER_03 (07:56):
Yeah.
Be showcased there.
SPEAKER_01 (07:57):
Yeah.
So it's ended up in a stockpilehere at the warehouse.
And we are not art dealers,we're not an art gallery.
This isn't Sotherby's.
Yeah, we're a a public schooldistrict, and we don't have
facilities to properly storeart.
Sure.
So with no schools showinginterest in it, we're just
(08:21):
starting to post it on publicsurplus.
And the process now is first Iwill post it on public surplus,
but it has a seven-day periodright when I release it, that it
is open to only internal CanyonSchool District employees.
SPEAKER_03 (08:39):
A counselor wants to put it up in their school office
or a teacher in the classroom.
SPEAKER_01 (08:44):
So for that first seven days on public surplus,
the public doesn't actually seeit.
Only internal employees can.
SPEAKER_03 (08:50):
Sure.
SPEAKER_01 (08:51):
And they can over the course of that seven days,
if they see it and they decidethey would really like it in
their classroom or their officeat work, they can say, I would
like that, and then itimmediately gets pulled off and
sent to their school or theirdepartment.
SPEAKER_03 (09:05):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:06):
After seven days, it rolls automatically into the
public surplus realm whereeveryone can see it and they can
start bidding on it, and there'sa 10-day period where they can
bid.
SPEAKER_03 (09:19):
And the bidding prices are extremely reasonable,
especially when it comes to,like you said, some of this art
is decades old.
Right.
And just because it's studentart, in my opinion, I know a lot
of people might think, oh, it'sfinger paintings, you know.
No, this is quality artwork.
You walk through any of ourschools when they have their art
competitions for the classroomsand see some of the pieces that
are hanging up, and I go, I wantthat.
(09:41):
I want to put that in my house.
Yeah.
So it's in my opinion, I thinkit's a very attainable bid
process.
Have you seen, I know we'restill early in this surplus
realm, but have you seen any ofthe bids kind of get a little
exciting yet?
SPEAKER_01 (09:58):
Yes, definitely.
For the first several weeks, theseveral rounds of selling the
art on public surplus, it didn'thave a lot of traction.
I got the impression that theremight be three people who were
looking and seeing the stuff andthen they would get bidding
against each other.
But not a lot of competition, sothe prices weren't very high at
(10:22):
first.
Yeah.
Now they're getting a lot moreeyes on them.
And some of the pieces, and reregardless of whether it's a
professional piece or a studentpiece, some of the pieces are
starting to really garnercompetition among the bidders.
(10:44):
And there was a piece inparticular that I really wanted
for my house.
I can picture it on my wallbehind my house.
Right, you know, right whereyou're gonna put it.
And I could not compete.
Like I I I said I had my upperlimit and I passed that by a
hundred dollars and I lost itstill.
SPEAKER_03 (11:05):
No, you have to set those limits for yourself.
You just keep bidding.
SPEAKER_01 (11:09):
So some of those pieces, like if it's a nice
piece, it's a nice piece, andpeople are gonna want it.
SPEAKER_03 (11:15):
But again, everyone has different tastes, so maybe
there's a piece out there thatjust speaks to one person and
they're gonna get a steal forit.
Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02 (11:23):
And I have to say that Holly has been just amazing
at putting great descriptions onthere.
Yeah.
If there is a slight mark on itor the frame is damaged, she
posts all of that information aswell.
So she's just been wonderful atposting those.
SPEAKER_03 (11:41):
Even just the detail of, you know, this is a rubbing
or this is an acrylic piece or aprint.
It's I think pr in particular,art enthusiasts are gonna be
like, okay, we're not in an artauction, we're not expecting,
you know, Louvre standards here,but you're you've been doing a
great job of getting that asmuch information on those pieces
(12:04):
out as you can.
SPEAKER_01 (12:05):
Yeah, and like I said, like the circumstances
under which the art has beenstored over the past decades has
not been ideal.
So there are scratches onframes, not everything has glass
in front of it.
SPEAKER_03 (12:19):
But easy fixes.
SPEAKER_01 (12:20):
Yeah.
I try to make it clear with thepictures and the description
that these are the problems withit.
SPEAKER_03 (12:27):
Can we give a teaser before this you were telling me
about a piece that you'relooking at now?
Can you share about that one?
SPEAKER_01 (12:35):
There's a piece I just pulled out of the warehouse
earlier this week.
And when I was researching it,trying to figure out, do the
Google Lens research, trying tofigure out what it was, I
discovered it's not the blockprint that I thought it was.
It is a rubbing, a charcoalrubbing, that they were popular
(12:57):
in like 1960.
SPEAKER_03 (12:59):
You take the paper, you put it on a surface that has
some contrast to it, and you rubit with the charcoal, right?
SPEAKER_01 (13:07):
Yeah, can I do that anymore?
It's kind of like I rememberdoing a field trip when I was in
grade school where we went to acemetery and we did grave
rubbing.
Yes.
So same idea.
Yeah.
You're just you're taking acontoured surface and you're
rubbing, you're putting paper ontop of it and then rubbing like
charcoal or some sort of likeeven chalk over it.
(13:28):
In this case, it's three horses.
And when I did the Google lenssearch of it, it showed all
these returns on my search thatwere saying it's from uh a
temple in Taiwan, and these werepopular in 1960.
(13:51):
People would do these charcoalrubbings at the temples.
SPEAKER_03 (13:54):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (13:55):
And they were outlawed by the country because
eventually what they were seeingare these rubbings were
destroying the surface of thestone.
So these are no longer done.
And so here we have this likepiece from about 1960, right
before it was outlawed.
SPEAKER_03 (14:14):
Wow.
SPEAKER_01 (14:15):
That somehow ended up in our collection in the
warehouse.
SPEAKER_03 (14:19):
And maybe one of the last ever done.
SPEAKER_01 (14:22):
Right.
It's a really neat piece andit's got a nice history.
So I'm eager to see when thathits.
SPEAKER_03 (14:28):
Maybe I shouldn't have had you talk about it.
Because now I'm gonna have tobid against somebody else for
it.
SPEAKER_01 (14:33):
Yeah.
It it's it'll be interesting tosee what happens if that ends up
on public surplus.
SPEAKER_03 (14:39):
So cool.
SPEAKER_01 (14:40):
It's possible that somebody internally will decide,
oh, I need that in my school.
Yeah, you never know.
We'll see what happens.
SPEAKER_03 (14:48):
I know art has been a big focus right now.
It's a a big, again,undertaking, particularly for
you, Holly.
So on behalf of us art lovers,thank you for doing that.
But there's more that filtersthrough this surplus realm,
right?
So what kind of we've talkedabout desks and things.
What other kind of items mightpeople expect to see on it's
(15:10):
it's kind of a rotating basis,right, as things come through?
SPEAKER_02 (15:13):
Yes.
As the schools no longer needthem, or for instance, we've had
a lot of iPads, um, Gen 5 andGen 6 iPads this year, uh, which
was a test initially to see ifthose would sell, and they have
been selling.
I bet.
And just so you know, all ofthis money goes back into the
(15:34):
general fund.
Yeah that's any back to thesurplus.
Any money that's made on thesurplus goes back into the
general fund.
Anything we can recoup and helpsthe public as well because they
do get a nice deal on some ofthis stuff.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (15:50):
What better way to find something that you may have
been looking for, you're willingto maybe put a little work into
or enjoy its history?
But then you're not just payingsome corporation, it's going
right back to the kids in theschools.
That is so cool.
Yes, that's right.
What overall message do you wantpeople to know about purchasing,
(16:11):
about surplus, just about thework that you do?
SPEAKER_02 (16:15):
Purchasing is just a huge undertaking here.
And all of the employees inpurchasing try to get the best
pricing, the best products forthe best price, and in time to
meet uh the school's needs.
And they're a great team andthey're always working hard
(16:39):
making sure that we follow stateprocurement code and contracts
are taken care of.
SPEAKER_01 (16:44):
I think often purchasing is viewed as a like
the no people, like no, youcan't do that.
And we are trying really hard tochange that perception.
Sure.
SPEAKER_02 (16:56):
We are really a service organization and we are
here to help.
We really are.
And with the warehouse, we'vebeen taking on a lot of
additional items.
We're just we're here to helpwith the whole district.
That's what our whole departmentis.
SPEAKER_03 (17:14):
If someone's interested in looking at, you
know, what's available onsurplus, whether that's
internally for teachers or anyemployee really at the school,
or then our community who mightbe interested in the public
surplus, how do they accessthat?
SPEAKER_01 (17:30):
So the general public can access it just by
going to the publicsurplus.comwebsite and you register and
then you can bid and you canhopefully win everything you
ever dreamed of.
For internal surplus, if theCanyon School District employees
want to see what we aresurplusing internally prior to
(17:53):
it going to public surplus, theycan contact the purchasing
department and I will share alink and a code and they will be
able to view internal items.
SPEAKER_03 (18:04):
Kind of that pre-sale of the sale.
Early bird access.
Exactly.
Beautiful.
And we'll of course link to thepublic surplus website on the
podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (18:14):
That'd be great.
SPEAKER_02 (18:15):
Thank you.
With the public surplus, thereare several other, like most of
the state entities and severalother districts that post on
there as well.
So it's not just Canyon's schooldistrict that's on there.
SPEAKER_03 (18:28):
Maybe they have a lawnmower when we don't.
You see teachers working in theclassroom, right?
You see the nutritionspecialists in the lunchroom,
you know, working with our kids.
There's a lot to be seen on theservice level, but there's so
much more that goes on behindthe scenes.
And it's I want to thank youboth for sharing what it is that
(18:49):
you all do and how much the workthat you do impacts our
students.
And then now we can also mayberepurpose some of these things
and give them a second life, youknow, kind of like the island of
misfit toys.
Oh, yeah.
And maybe somebody gets a nicelittle Christmas gift out of it
too.
If there's a topic you'd like tohear discussed on the podcast,
(19:09):
send us an email tocommunications at
canyonsdistrict.org.
SPEAKER_00 (19:16):
Thanks for listening to this episode of Connect
Canyons.
Connect with us on Twitter,Facebook, or Instagram at
Canyons District, or on ourwebsite, CanyonsDistrict.org.
Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by
Canyon School District.
This is a show about what weteach, how we teach, and why we
get up close and personal withsome of the people who make our
schools great.
Students, teachers, principals,parents, and more.
We meet national experts too.
(00:21):
Learning is about makingconnections.
So connect with us.
SPEAKER_03 (00:25):
For most people, if you need a pencil or a binder,
it's a quick trip to the storeor an even faster click of a
button.
But what if you need hundreds ofpencils or electronic devices
for a classroom?
That's where Canyon SchoolDistrict's purchasing department
comes into play.
Welcome to Connect Canyons.
I'm your host, Francis Cook.
Today we're talking about allthings purchasing and surplus,
(00:49):
which doesn't just mean itemsfor internal use, but sometimes
it could mean a nice littleChristmas gift for someone.
So how does it all work?
To answer these questions andmore, I'm joined by Nancy Webb,
Director of Purchasing, andHolly Bishop, Canyon's
purchasing technician.
Ladies, thank you for beinghere.
SPEAKER_01 (01:05):
You're welcome.
Thank you for having us.
SPEAKER_03 (01:08):
Of course.
Let's start with what it is youand your team do.
Because for me, frankly, it'smind-boggling how much your
department handles.
I don't think people reallyrealize the extent that
purchasing is involved inrunning a school district.
Nancy, would you start us offand kind of explain what it is
your department handles?
SPEAKER_02 (01:28):
Basically, anything a school needs, whether it's
student furniture, food,pencils, papers, different
contracts they may need forservices, for counselors,
special ed counselors, or ourmedical insurance, pretty much
everything we are involved in.
Anything that involves acontract, we would help with.
(01:52):
And that everything we purchaseand manage, contracts we manage,
are within State of Utahprocurement code.
SPEAKER_03 (02:00):
So really everything from pencils to building
projects to Chromebooks, youguys handle it.
SPEAKER_02 (02:06):
We do.
Smaller items the schools canpurchase on a P card.
Anything over a certain limit,they have to go through
purchasing.
And we also stock pencils andpens and sharpies in the
warehouse.
Right.
So they should first look in thewarehouse.
If we don't carry it in thewarehouse, then they can
purchase it on a P card.
SPEAKER_03 (02:28):
Which probably makes things a little easier for them
too, right?
They don't have to necessarilydo all these deep dive searches
into finding something thatthey're looking for.
You guys probably already havethose answers for them.
Holly, how about you?
Would you walk us through a dayin your life?
What does a purchasingtechnician do?
SPEAKER_01 (02:47):
I am there as really support for everybody in the
department.
I help the buyers, the seniorbuyers, Nancy, who is the
director.
I uh try to keep all the ducksin a row, like make sure we are
minding contract deadlines,renewal time periods, things
(03:08):
like that, so that we don't havecontracts expire without us
having something else securedfirst.
SPEAKER_03 (03:15):
You're the go-to gal.
She is, definitely.
That's awesome.
And I know you, Nancy, inparticular, have been working on
this new project with artwork,and I'm excited to talk about
that with you.
As a purchasing department,you've begun a new venture when
it comes to items and surplus,things that we maybe have too
many of that we're no longerneeding or aren't being used.
(03:37):
Now Canyon's employees canaccess some of those items first
and foremost to use at work.
Can you talk to us about whatthis surplus project means?
SPEAKER_02 (03:47):
All items in the district, if nobody wants those
items anymore, these items werepurchased with taxpayer dollar.
We are supposed to puteverything on public surplus.
And we have started a lot of theolder buildings that were
rebuilt.
We had a lot of artwork justsitting in storage, not being
(04:09):
looked at.
We have a lot of desks andstudent chairs and things like
that and in the warehouse instorage.
Some of the schools know andthey'll go over there and look
when they need things andthey're able to pull that for
their use if it's something theyneed.
Not a lot of it has been put onpublic surplus, but we have
started recently putting a lotof stuff on there that was just
(04:32):
sitting in storage.
And then the schools can look ifthey would like to pull
something.
And so they can register and ifthey'd like a piece of artwork
that maybe was at one of theschools that was taken down for
(04:55):
their office, they can pull thatfor their office.
Some of the items when they arepast their useful life, say lawn
mowers or something infacilities, a snowblower or
something like that, iPads.
Once they're past beyond theiruseful life, we would post them
on public surplus for public tobe able to buy.
(05:17):
Employees can buy it, public canbuy it for personal use.
When it's internal, it's stillonly to be pulled for in school
or in district use.
SPEAKER_03 (05:50):
Maybe somebody knows how to fix that lawnmower and
make it work for them.
That's right.
What is that process like foryou going through all of these
items?
SPEAKER_02 (06:00):
A school will determine they have no need of
the item anymore, or they'vereceived some new desks or new
chairs and they don't need themanymore.
They'll fill out a surplus formand send it to the warehouse,
and the warehouse will pickthose items up from them.
And then and it could be a caseof maybe a teacher decides she
(06:23):
wants to go to two studenttables instead of desks.
Yeah.
And so they're just rearrangingtheir classroom and they're
that's very cool.
SPEAKER_03 (06:36):
I I don't think I would realize if I were a
teacher, you know, when we werein school, we all you had was
the singular desk, right?
You were seated by yourself.
You didn't have, you know, yourclosest friend wasn't even
within reach, but now we havelike the group tables.
So if they want to do groupwork, maybe they take those
desks out.
I wouldn't have even thought ofdoing something like that.
You mentioned the artwork,Holly.
(06:57):
I know this has been kind of abig undertaking for you.
Some some of these pieces of arthave really great histories and
they're great pieces.
SPEAKER_01 (07:06):
Yeah, we have a mix of artworks that we have
discovered because, like Nancysaid, we've had buildings that
have come down and the schoolsdon't necessarily want the same
artwork.
Maybe it doesn't appeal to thenew principle or you know, for
whatever reason.
Everyone has different tastes.
Yeah, we end up with thisstockpile of art that in a lot
(07:28):
of cases the artwork has beenhere since the 70s or 60s, or
some of you even before that.
Yeah.
Some of it is student artworkthat, like maybe this student
got a sterling scholarship forit, or the student there used to
be like a superintendent artaward that would happen every
(07:49):
year.
And for those pieces that wonawards, that artwork would stay
at the school.
SPEAKER_03 (07:56):
Yeah.
Be showcased there.
SPEAKER_01 (07:57):
Yeah.
So it's ended up in a stockpilehere at the warehouse.
And we are not art dealers,we're not an art gallery.
This isn't Sotherby's.
Yeah, we're a a public schooldistrict, and we don't have
facilities to properly storeart.
Sure.
So with no schools showinginterest in it, we're just
(08:21):
starting to post it on publicsurplus.
And the process now is first Iwill post it on public surplus,
but it has a seven-day periodright when I release it, that it
is open to only internal CanyonSchool District employees.
SPEAKER_03 (08:39):
A counselor wants to put it up in their school office
or a teacher in the classroom.
SPEAKER_01 (08:44):
So for that first seven days on public surplus,
the public doesn't actually seeit.
Only internal employees can.
SPEAKER_03 (08:50):
Sure.
SPEAKER_01 (08:51):
And they can over the course of that seven days,
if they see it and they decidethey would really like it in
their classroom or their officeat work, they can say, I would
like that, and then itimmediately gets pulled off and
sent to their school or theirdepartment.
SPEAKER_03 (09:05):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:06):
After seven days, it rolls automatically into the
public surplus realm whereeveryone can see it and they can
start bidding on it, and there'sa 10-day period where they can
bid.
SPEAKER_03 (09:19):
And the bidding prices are extremely reasonable,
especially when it comes to,like you said, some of this art
is decades old.
Right.
And just because it's studentart, in my opinion, I know a lot
of people might think, oh, it'sfinger paintings, you know.
No, this is quality artwork.
You walk through any of ourschools when they have their art
competitions for the classroomsand see some of the pieces that
are hanging up, and I go, I wantthat.
(09:41):
I want to put that in my house.
Yeah.
So it's in my opinion, I thinkit's a very attainable bid
process.
Have you seen, I know we'restill early in this surplus
realm, but have you seen any ofthe bids kind of get a little
exciting yet?
SPEAKER_01 (09:58):
Yes, definitely.
For the first several weeks, theseveral rounds of selling the
art on public surplus, it didn'thave a lot of traction.
I got the impression that theremight be three people who were
looking and seeing the stuff andthen they would get bidding
against each other.
But not a lot of competition, sothe prices weren't very high at
(10:22):
first.
Yeah.
Now they're getting a lot moreeyes on them.
And some of the pieces, and reregardless of whether it's a
professional piece or a studentpiece, some of the pieces are
starting to really garnercompetition among the bidders.
(10:44):
And there was a piece inparticular that I really wanted
for my house.
I can picture it on my wallbehind my house.
Right, you know, right whereyou're gonna put it.
And I could not compete.
Like I I I said I had my upperlimit and I passed that by a
hundred dollars and I lost itstill.
SPEAKER_03 (11:05):
No, you have to set those limits for yourself.
You just keep bidding.
SPEAKER_01 (11:09):
So some of those pieces, like if it's a nice
piece, it's a nice piece, andpeople are gonna want it.
SPEAKER_03 (11:15):
But again, everyone has different tastes, so maybe
there's a piece out there thatjust speaks to one person and
they're gonna get a steal forit.
Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02 (11:23):
And I have to say that Holly has been just amazing
at putting great descriptions onthere.
Yeah.
If there is a slight mark on itor the frame is damaged, she
posts all of that information aswell.
So she's just been wonderful atposting those.
SPEAKER_03 (11:41):
Even just the detail of, you know, this is a rubbing
or this is an acrylic piece or aprint.
It's I think pr in particular,art enthusiasts are gonna be
like, okay, we're not in an artauction, we're not expecting,
you know, Louvre standards here,but you're you've been doing a
great job of getting that asmuch information on those pieces
(12:04):
out as you can.
SPEAKER_01 (12:05):
Yeah, and like I said, like the circumstances
under which the art has beenstored over the past decades has
not been ideal.
So there are scratches onframes, not everything has glass
in front of it.
SPEAKER_03 (12:19):
But easy fixes.
SPEAKER_01 (12:20):
Yeah.
I try to make it clear with thepictures and the description
that these are the problems withit.
SPEAKER_03 (12:27):
Can we give a teaser before this you were telling me
about a piece that you'relooking at now?
Can you share about that one?
SPEAKER_01 (12:35):
There's a piece I just pulled out of the warehouse
earlier this week.
And when I was researching it,trying to figure out, do the
Google Lens research, trying tofigure out what it was, I
discovered it's not the blockprint that I thought it was.
It is a rubbing, a charcoalrubbing, that they were popular
(12:57):
in like 1960.
SPEAKER_03 (12:59):
You take the paper, you put it on a surface that has
some contrast to it, and you rubit with the charcoal, right?
SPEAKER_01 (13:07):
Yeah, can I do that anymore?
It's kind of like I rememberdoing a field trip when I was in
grade school where we went to acemetery and we did grave
rubbing.
Yes.
So same idea.
Yeah.
You're just you're taking acontoured surface and you're
rubbing, you're putting paper ontop of it and then rubbing like
charcoal or some sort of likeeven chalk over it.
(13:28):
In this case, it's three horses.
And when I did the Google lenssearch of it, it showed all
these returns on my search thatwere saying it's from uh a
temple in Taiwan, and these werepopular in 1960.
(13:51):
People would do these charcoalrubbings at the temples.
SPEAKER_03 (13:54):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (13:55):
And they were outlawed by the country because
eventually what they were seeingare these rubbings were
destroying the surface of thestone.
So these are no longer done.
And so here we have this likepiece from about 1960, right
before it was outlawed.
SPEAKER_03 (14:14):
Wow.
SPEAKER_01 (14:15):
That somehow ended up in our collection in the
warehouse.
SPEAKER_03 (14:19):
And maybe one of the last ever done.
SPEAKER_01 (14:22):
Right.
It's a really neat piece andit's got a nice history.
So I'm eager to see when thathits.
SPEAKER_03 (14:28):
Maybe I shouldn't have had you talk about it.
Because now I'm gonna have tobid against somebody else for
it.
SPEAKER_01 (14:33):
Yeah.
It it's it'll be interesting tosee what happens if that ends up
on public surplus.
SPEAKER_03 (14:39):
So cool.
SPEAKER_01 (14:40):
It's possible that somebody internally will decide,
oh, I need that in my school.
Yeah, you never know.
We'll see what happens.
SPEAKER_03 (14:48):
I know art has been a big focus right now.
It's a a big, again,undertaking, particularly for
you, Holly.
So on behalf of us art lovers,thank you for doing that.
But there's more that filtersthrough this surplus realm,
right?
So what kind of we've talkedabout desks and things.
What other kind of items mightpeople expect to see on it's
(15:10):
it's kind of a rotating basis,right, as things come through?
SPEAKER_02 (15:13):
Yes.
As the schools no longer needthem, or for instance, we've had
a lot of iPads, um, Gen 5 andGen 6 iPads this year, uh, which
was a test initially to see ifthose would sell, and they have
been selling.
I bet.
And just so you know, all ofthis money goes back into the
(15:34):
general fund.
Yeah that's any back to thesurplus.
Any money that's made on thesurplus goes back into the
general fund.
Anything we can recoup and helpsthe public as well because they
do get a nice deal on some ofthis stuff.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (15:50):
What better way to find something that you may have
been looking for, you're willingto maybe put a little work into
or enjoy its history?
But then you're not just payingsome corporation, it's going
right back to the kids in theschools.
That is so cool.
Yes, that's right.
What overall message do you wantpeople to know about purchasing,
(16:11):
about surplus, just about thework that you do?
SPEAKER_02 (16:15):
Purchasing is just a huge undertaking here.
And all of the employees inpurchasing try to get the best
pricing, the best products forthe best price, and in time to
meet uh the school's needs.
And they're a great team andthey're always working hard
(16:39):
making sure that we follow stateprocurement code and contracts
are taken care of.
SPEAKER_01 (16:44):
I think often purchasing is viewed as a like
the no people, like no, youcan't do that.
And we are trying really hard tochange that perception.
Sure.
SPEAKER_02 (16:56):
We are really a service organization and we are
here to help.
We really are.
And with the warehouse, we'vebeen taking on a lot of
additional items.
We're just we're here to helpwith the whole district.
That's what our whole departmentis.
SPEAKER_03 (17:14):
If someone's interested in looking at, you
know, what's available onsurplus, whether that's
internally for teachers or anyemployee really at the school,
or then our community who mightbe interested in the public
surplus, how do they accessthat?
SPEAKER_01 (17:30):
So the general public can access it just by
going to the publicsurplus.comwebsite and you register and
then you can bid and you canhopefully win everything you
ever dreamed of.
For internal surplus, if theCanyon School District employees
want to see what we aresurplusing internally prior to
(17:53):
it going to public surplus, theycan contact the purchasing
department and I will share alink and a code and they will be
able to view internal items.
SPEAKER_03 (18:04):
Kind of that pre-sale of the sale.
Early bird access.
Exactly.
Beautiful.
And we'll of course link to thepublic surplus website on the
podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (18:14):
That'd be great.
SPEAKER_02 (18:15):
Thank you.
With the public surplus, thereare several other, like most of
the state entities and severalother districts that post on
there as well.
So it's not just Canyon's schooldistrict that's on there.
SPEAKER_03 (18:28):
Maybe they have a lawnmower when we don't.
You see teachers working in theclassroom, right?
You see the nutritionspecialists in the lunchroom,
you know, working with our kids.
There's a lot to be seen on theservice level, but there's so
much more that goes on behindthe scenes.
And it's I want to thank youboth for sharing what it is that
(18:49):
you all do and how much the workthat you do impacts our
students.
And then now we can also mayberepurpose some of these things
and give them a second life, youknow, kind of like the island of
misfit toys.
Oh, yeah.
And maybe somebody gets a nicelittle Christmas gift out of it
too.
If there's a topic you'd like tohear discussed on the podcast,
(19:09):
send us an email tocommunications at
canyonsdistrict.org.
SPEAKER_00 (19:16):
Thanks for listening to this episode of Connect
Canyons.
Connect with us on Twitter,Facebook, or Instagram at
Canyons District, or on ourwebsite, CanyonsDistrict.org.
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