Strehle to retire from LPS with surplus of memories, achievements

December 27, 2024

The inventory of positive words that could describe the impact of Dale Strehle’s career at Lincoln Public Schools could fill the entire LPS Distribution Center.
 
Strehle is retiring as surplus and inventory manager this month after spending more than 24 years at LPS. He has overseen more than 16,000 online auctions, recycled thousands of textbooks and electronic items and created inventory spreadsheets for every LPS building. He and co-worker Erin Heiden have also helped LPS staff find hundreds of objects to reuse in their classrooms.

 
Strehle has met people from across North America in his LPS role. He said helping others through his job has given him both joy and satisfaction.
 
“I’ve had principals come out and they’re just ecstatic,” Strehle said. “They’ll say, ‘I can do a whole classroom with the things out here. You don’t know how much you’re saving me on my budget.’ That, to me, makes me feel great. To be able to provide a service like that, and I know Erin feels the same way, it’s kind of cool. It makes it all worth it.”
 
Ed Keifer is assistant supervisor at the LPS Distribution Center and will replace Strehle as surplus and inventory manager. He said it has been a pleasure working with him for the past eight years.
 
“Dale has such a wealth of knowledge when it comes to surplus and inventory,” Keifer said. “He works with many vendors and LPS departments to tackle so many challenges. From recycling electronics and books, to trash and metal, knowing what is no longer needed or used by the district as surplus is a huge undertaking, and Dale is always up to the challenge.”

LPS Director of Operations Scott Wieskamp also praised Strehle for his work ethic and cooperative attitude.

“Dale’s career exemplifies teamwork,” Wieskamp said. “He has always been supportive and professional at helping our operations team get what they need at the DC. He’s very knowledgeable and efficient, assisting our team’s needs, whether it be acquiring product, materials, etc., or just storage inventory for a period of time.”
 
Strehle became LPS surplus and inventory manager in the fall of 2000. He and former inventory specialist Sue Morgan worked together until her retirement in July 2021, and he and Heiden have been a powerful team since then. Strehle credited both Morgan and Heiden for their daily efforts at the distribution site.
 
“I am probably one of the most fortunate persons in LPS because of the two people that worked with me,” Strehle said. “I say this all the time, and I meant it, it’s because of them that all of this has happened. The work ethic of both of them was just amazing.”

 
One of Strehle’s top responsibilities has been overseeing surplus auctions. He led one in-person auction in both 2001 and 2002, and they were so successful that they became fall and spring events. People purchased everything from couches to computers at the popular sales, which were held until 2013. They generated $591,718.54 in revenue for LPS.
 
Strehle began running online auctions in 2014. Each school can send unused items to the distribution campus throughout the year on surplus trucks. After each surplus truck is unloaded, Strehle and Heiden determine what objects will be recycled, kept or auctioned off. They then attach descriptions and photos of each to-be-auctioned item to the LPS Public Surplus auction page for public viewing and bidding each week.

 
Strehle said he has enjoyed matching people with pieces of history from LPS buildings. He has administered 16,703 online auctions that have received 122,818 bids over the past decade. The digital events have netted $717,472 for LPS. The most popular year was 2017, when Strehle raised $102,321.45 during 1,917 auctions.
 
“To me, it’s amazing,” Strehle said. “We have to sit back and look back at it, since we’re a public institution, all of this was used to help further the education of kids.”
 
Strehle said one of his most rewarding auction experiences involved a group from Guadalajara, Mexico. A man was opening a school for grades K-9 in the city, and he contacted Strehle about purchasing LPS surplus items for the new building. The man and his father, brother and sister drove 23 hours to Lincoln and bought a 32-foot trailer to haul items back.
 
“He sent an email with a video of the opening day of the school, because the items were going to a school,” Strehle said. “It was so cool, because the parents dressed up and everything else, and then they showed the kids coming in. They were so excited.”
 
Hundreds of other surplus items such as chairs, desks and file cabinets are available for LPS staff. Strehle said approximately 300 people have visited the LPS Distribution Center this year to reuse items in their classrooms instead of buying new materials. The redistribution process has saved LPS $1.08 million in purchasing costs from 2016-23.

 
A second critical accomplishment in Strehle’s tenure has been the creation of detailed inventory spreadsheets. He was tasked with cataloging all LPS items in 2004, and he began researching and tracking 120 categories of objects.
 
He and Morgan visited buildings on weekends to count items, and a larger team canvassed LPS sites in the summer. He and LPS staff also created digital archives by videotaping every room when they were there.

 
A third achievement has been the implementation of a large recycling program. Strehle works with book buyers and recycling programs for outdated curriculum and library materials, and he coordinates with a recycling company for electronic items like old computers and televisions. LPS has recycled 192,000 pounds of electronics from 2013-24, and Strehle has sent 777 pallet-sized cardboard containers of books to recycling from 2016-24.
 
Strehle said he will carry a large surplus of positive memories with him as he moves into the retirement phase of life.
 
“That’s probably the biggest thing that I’ve loved about it,” Strehle said. “The interactions with people have been amazing.”

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