An Eye for Detail

Erica Derrington, manager of the Olathe (Kansas) Public School District's Graphic Communications and Printing Department.

Sixteen years ago, Erica Derrington, then a recent University of Missouri graduate, had no intention of getting into printing, let alone of becoming a manager. But when the art student fell upon an opening for a graphic designer position with the Olathe Unified School District in Olathe, Kan., in 2000, she jumped at the opportunity.

Fast forward to 2016 and Derrington is now the manager of graphic communications for the entire school district, which is made up of 35 elementary schools, nine middle schools and four high schools, with one more on the way. But before starting at Olathe, Erica imagined she would probably get into marketing or advertising.

“I’ll be honest, the first two years of college I was clueless,” she admits, “until I saw some friends working on projects for their design classes and I thought, ‘Well, I want to see what that’s all about.’”

When her cousin’s wife left the position as graphic designer with the school district in 2000, Derrington took the position. In 2004, she became the assistant manager of the graphic communications department, and one year later, she took over as the permanent manager.

And although Derrington manages the print shop, she hasn’t given up on her roots.

“I still design, even though I manage the shop,” she says. “We only have one designer for the whole school district, so some of it trickles over.”

Some of these designs include programs for state music events, logos, letterheads and annual reports. Logos, she explains, are a big part of the design process because every school wants its own identity.

While Derrington’s graphic design background has definitely helped her in her role as manager, she says her biggest challenge has been just that: learning how to be a manager.

“I had to read up and ask a lot of other administrators in our district to find out how to deal with certain situations,” she says. “And the paperwork that goes along with being a manager; I had to get some training on that.”

The other challenge she mentions is something surely all managers can identify with, “Keeping up with technology as it changes,” she says.

To do that, Derrington speaks with other print shop owners, does online research, participates in webinars, attends IPMA conferences and speaks with vendors.

“It’s hard to decipher what would be nice and what would be practical — the challenge is getting the right equipment at the right time,” she says.

Digital Makeover

In June 2015, the shop switched out all of its equipment to new Ricoh digital presses that include EFI Fiery Central software. Derrington is now working with a Ricoh Pro C7110X with a fifth color station, a Pro C5100s and five Pro 8110s, three of which have Plockmatic booklet makers.

She notes that a lot has changed since she started with the school district in 2000. Everything is much more automated, and the shop has been taking online orders through EFI Digital StoreFront for approximately 10 years.

“Working for a school district, you have to think within budget … and the district is growing massively,” she says.

In the future though, Derrington would like to get more into wide-format printing and delve a little deeper into binding — expanding on the stapling, hole-punching and gluing capabilities that the shop already has.

Even though Derrington sees a trend toward more online technology — middle school students recently got tablets in the classroom — she notes that when the shop loses business in one area, it tends to gain business in another.

When asked what managers would be most surprised to know about her, she laughingly asks, “Other than the fact that I’m a Missouri fan living in Kansas?”

What is surprising though is the amount of work that comes into the in-plant. The work is consistent, she says, and there isn’t much downtime. Derrington also explains that since the shop has fired up the new equipment, it’s been printing about 2.5 million impressions per month.

Keeping the Motivation

Derrington, a mother of two, loves to bake — and it’s a good thing that her team loves food.

“I’m not the only one here that bakes, so we’re fortunate; we eat well,” she laughs.

Whether it’s Derrington’s chocolate zucchini bread, a monthly staff meeting, the occasional outing or a breakfast out together, it’s the little things that keep the staff motivated, she says.

“I don’t dread going into work because I know that I am here with other people who work just as hard as I do,” she says.

She explains that she has worked to hire people who are self-motivated and exhibit a strong attention to detail. She doesn’t feel the need to stand over everyone’s shoulders, but at the same time, her staff knows that if they ever need her help, she’s always available. She calls the team, totaling eight full-time employees and one part-time employee, a “rock star team.”

Outside of the Office

When Derrington isn’t in the office, she loves to spend time with her two children — ages seven and one and a half.

“My kids rule my world,” she says.

She also enjoys photography, and uses multiple Canon cameras, and sometimes just her mobile phone, to capture special moments with her family.

Derrington’s husband also works in an educational setting. He’s a middle school English teacher in a different school district, over the border in Missouri. Derrington enjoys the public school environment, and plans to stay with the Olathe Unified School District.

“I truly love our customers. One thing about K through 12: it’s not corporate,” she says. “So, any small thing you do for them — a design tweak, or you caught something on their order that wasn’t right — any attention to detail that was missed … they’re so appreciative.”