Public School moving in the Sacramento Valley: Murdock's crew at work

Education, Civic & Community

Public School Moving Across the Sacramento Valley

Classroom moves by wing over the summer, with the purchase order settled in spring and district asset tags left exactly where they are.

(530) 354-8089

Licensed & InsuredUSDOT 3421940 · MC 1416634
Locally OperatedChico + Yuba City
Sacramento ValleyChico · Yuba City · Sacramento

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Planning a Public School Move

A public school move is a purchasing problem in spring and a volume problem in summer. The district business office usually needs a written scope, a supplier setup and a purchase order before a date can be booked, and with a July 1 to June 30 fiscal year, a July job may be charged to one year's budget or the next. That conversation belongs in March or April, not June.

The volume comes from the classrooms. A single wing holds several rooms' worth of identical student chairs and desks. Teachers normally pack their own rooms before the last day of school and mark each box with the destination room; our crew then moves the wing in order, with chairs and desks counted by room so the count on arrival matches the count that left.

A lot of this work follows modernization projects: a wing emptied into portables for construction, then moved back when the builders finish. We keep the same room numbers on both legs, so custodial staff can check each classroom against one list.

Who usually signs off: District facilities director or school principal, with the business office authorizing the purchase order
Timing that works: Paperwork in March or April; the move itself between the last day of school and teachers' return in August, around summer school, cleaning and construction.

What typically moves

Student desks and stacking chairs by classroomCounted per room at pickup and again at drop-off, so each classroom receives what it sent.
Teacher desks, file cabinets and rolling chairsCan travel locked if the teacher prefers; keys go to the site office, never in the drawers.
Classroom bookcases and leveled-reader binsBins keep the order the teacher set, taped shut and marked with room and shelf.
Portable-classroom cubbies and storage cabinetsTagged with the portable number as well as the room, since portables are the easiest place to misdeliver.
Art-room drying racks and supply shelvingRacks travel empty and upright; the kiln stays with district maintenance.
Library tables and loaded book cartsCarts can roll loaded if the librarian wants shelf order kept; tables follow the library floor plan.
Front-office counter and attendance desksThe office goes first on the new side so the site can open for staff.

Access and scheduling

Summer on a campus is busy. Custodial deep cleaning, flooring and paint crews, summer school and meal programs all use the same gates and hallways, so the site administrator and district maintenance usually set a calendar by wing. We ask for that calendar and move one wing at a time, leaving the rooms summer programs still need until last.

Gates, service drives and parking lots decide where the truck stands. Many campuses have one service gate and a single route wide enough for carts, and a campus of portables needs its own route to each row. July heat on blacktop is hard on crews pushing chair carts, so days start early. If flooring in a receiving wing runs late, that wing's loads are staged in the gym or multipurpose room the site picks. Our insurance certificate, made out to the district, can go in with the purchase order paperwork.

Protection and handling

District equipment carries asset tags, and those tags are how the district tracks what it owns. We leave every tag in place and flag any tagged item that turns up in the wrong room, so the site can sort it out before the load leaves. Items a school wants gone generally need district approval as surplus first; we keep them off the move until the district says where they go.

Student chairs are stacked on dollies by room, desks move with their book boxes emptied, and teacher desks and file cabinets may ride locked, keys going to the site office. Bookcases, reading-corner rugs and art-room drying racks are wrapped. Projectors, interactive displays and student device carts stay with the district technology department. Front-office desktops are cartoned and set out at their new stations on request.

Who does what

Some of this job belongs to other trades. The written plan names each one.

Purchase order, supplier setup and budget year: The district business office issues and approves them; we supply the written scope and any insurance documents it asks for.
Interactive displays, projectors, student device carts and network: The district technology department removes, holds and reinstalls them.
Wall-mounted cabinets, kilns, fixed whiteboards and anything wired: District maintenance, its electrician or the modernization contractor.

Not part of our work

Deciding what is surplus or disposing of district property.
Packing classroom contents teachers have not released or labeled.

Around Chico, Yuba City and Sacramento

Districts in the Valley range from large Sacramento-area systems to small rural districts around Colusa, Willows and Gridley that run a single campus. In Chico, Yuba City, Marysville, Oroville and Roseville, many schools mix permanent wings with rows of portables, which means more cart routes and more room-number checks per campus.

The crew that shows up

Murdock’s movers working the loading ramp of an open box truck

The Murdock’s crew lined up behind the truck on an orchard road in Butte County

Murdock’s crew rolling a shrink-wrapped piece on dollies through a building lobby

Public School Moving FAQs

Another question? Call (530) 354-8089.

Our fiscal year ends June 30. Which budget year does a July move come out of?

That is the business office's call, and it is the reason to start in spring. Some districts want the purchase order issued before June 30 against the current year; others hold it until July, when the next budget opens. We can send the written scope early so either path works and the move date does not wait on paperwork.

Can one classroom wing move while summer school uses another?

Yes, and that is the usual plan. The site administrator tells us which wing is in use and when it frees up; we move the empty wings first and leave the summer-school rooms for last. Truck and cart routes stay clear of the rooms and doors students are using.

Our teachers pack their own rooms. What should their labels say?

The destination room number, large, on two sides of every box, plus the teacher's name. Anything that should be opened first, such as the first week's materials, gets a second mark. Chairs and desks need no labels; we count them by room at pickup and recount at the new door.

A wing is going into portables for modernization and coming back later. How do you track it?

We use the same room numbers for both legs. On the way out, each classroom's contents go to its assigned portable; on the way back, the list simply runs in reverse. Custodians can tick off each room on both trips, and tagged items stay easy to trace.

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Tell us both addresses, the building rules you know about, and the dates you cannot move. We will send back a written plan and estimate.

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