Executive Summary
When Franklin High School found themselves facing budget constraints during their renovation project, they turned to an innovative solution: Frame Frog. This case study examines how Frame Frog’s door frame system was installed on 110 classroom doors across the school, helping the district balance immediate budget limitations with long-term security goals, demonstrating the value of forward-thinking infrastructure in educational facilities.
The Challenge: Security Needs Meet Budget Reality
For Franklin High School, security was a concern. As Bob, one of the project stakeholders, explained: “Security was very important to them. So they wanted access controls on every door in the building and for them to not be able to afford it up front was disheartening to them. They didn’t want to eliminate it all together.”
The project team faced a difficult situation. The school renovation was significantly over budget, as Bob noted, “a million plus dollars over budget.” This substantial overrun—representing a significant percentage of the total project cost—meant tough decisions needed to be made about which elements to keep and which to defer. Complete elimination of the security features wasn’t acceptable to the school district, but full implementation of the security system, estimated at over a million dollars, wasn’t financially feasible at the time of construction.
The Solution: Infrastructure Now, Technology Later
Frame Frog offered a middle path. The system allowed the school to install the necessary infrastructure for future security upgrades without committing to the full cost upfront. As Ron, one of Frame Frog ‘s creators, explained: “We basically put Frame Frog on 110 openings. Only 40 of them actually had electrified hardware on it. The other seventy were all for future.”
This approach provided several advantages. It allowed the project to move forward within budget constraints while ensuring future security upgrades would be feasible without extensive retrofitting. Bob highlighted this benefit: “So they could do that down the road and they could use their operating money every year to do an operating project, PI project, permanent improvement project in the summers and add that at some point down the road.”
The financial structure of school funding made this approach particularly appealing. “They had a certain bucket of money to build the project, but they had half a million dollars a year that they could spend on improvements,” Bob explained. “So to spend money the following summer to add this back in wasn’t a big issue for them.” This annual improvement fund provided a predictable source of capital for completing the security implementation over time, rather than trying to fund the entire million-dollar-plus system upfront.
Frame Frog as a Budget Management Tool
One of the most interesting aspects of the Franklin High School project was how Frame Frog transitioned from being viewed as merely a technological solution to becoming a strategic budget management tool. When asked if Frame Frog could serve this purpose, Bob confirmed: “I think in some allocations, yes, I think it could be.”
He elaborated on this concept: “Especially when there’s several buckets of money in play where they have to spend a certain amount of dollars year to year on permanent improvements. But maybe the original project is coming out of a capital campaign for just that. So you get the capital campaign to build the building and build the project, and then you use the permanent improvement fund money year to year to make upgrades.” This strategic approach to funding and implementation yielded an unexpected benefit.
Implementation Challenges and Lessons Learned
While the overall concept proved successful, the implementation wasn’t without challenges. There were indications of some coordination issues during installation, particularly regarding masonry openings and coordination with hardware suppliers. The project faced additional complications common during the COVID-19 period, including severe supply chain disruptions that affected HVAC equipment delivery times—with some components delayed up to 65 weeks instead of the expected 30-32 weeks.
These challenges highlighted the importance of education and clear communication. As Bob noted: “I think the education side to the owner letting them understand the values of it” is critical.
One specific area for improvement involved the electrical installation, where traditional methods required multiple drops per door opening. As Ron noted: “The electrician has a drop from above ceiling to each device on a frame. So if there’s three, well, they don’t have the problem is they only have two drops on a frame right now. That’s in their scope.” These drops represent significant costs, with Ron estimating: “those drops are not cheap. I mean, you know, certainly minimum probably $75 a drop, maybe 100, a 125.” The Frame Frog system could reduce these requirements: “with Frame Frog you only need one [drop],” representing potential savings on electrical installation costs.
The project also highlighted the importance of incorporating Frame Frog from the beginning of a project rather than trying to add it later. Early integration helps prevent Frame Frog from being viewed as an add-on or extra cost. As Bob noted, once included in the initial planning, “It’s just like anything else. It’s like if they want to use LVT or they want to use Drazzo versus the Citadel LVT, it’s all baked in the beginning, not an added cost later.”
Conclusion: A Strategy for Future-Ready Schools
The Franklin High School project demonstrates how innovative infrastructure solutions like Frame Frog can help educational institutions balance immediate budget constraints with long-term security goals. By enabling phased implementation of security technology, Frame Frog provided a pathway for the district to eventually achieve comprehensive security coverage without breaking the budget.
As educational facilities continue to face evolving security challenges alongside persistent budget limitations, solutions that allow for strategic phasing of implementations will become increasingly valuable. Frame Frog’s ability to serve as both a technological solution and a budget management tool makes it particularly well-suited to the complex funding and implementation realities of school construction projects.
By providing this capability, Frame Frog helped transform a potentially disappointing compromise into a strategic plan for future enhancement. The solution ultimately proved its value in this substantial school project with 110 Frame Frog installations, creating a blueprint for how educational facilities can balance security needs with budget constraints while planning for the future.
