History

1989

Schoolhouse began distributing furniture and related products to the education market.

The two principals, Hart Sernick and Walter Posusta, had worked together in the early 1970’s, selling school furniture across North America, and felt that the Canadian education market was missing a number of products that could enhance and support the education process. They further believed that the Canadian market deserved a higher level of customer support and after sales service than was generally available at that time.

First Manufacturers

Artcobell

One of North America’s largest manufacturers of classroom furniture.

Mity-Lite

The originator of the first high quality and durable lightweight folding table.

Screenflex Inc

The manufacturer of a unique range of moveable partitions and room dividers.

We are pleased to note that all three companies are still exclusively represented by Schoolhouse Products Inc in Canada.

The next 30 years

Over the succeeding 30 years, Schoolhouse Products added a number of additional manufacturers to the product lines that were distributed in Canada including Bretford Mfg, the largest manufacturer of A/V support furniture; HON, one of the largest manufacturers of office furniture; and Brodart Contract, the leading manufacturer of Learning Commons furniture.

During this time, we found that there were other related institutional-oriented markets, other than education that were underserved – and more importantly, we found that many of the products we originally promoted to the education market had excellent application in the hospitality, recreation, and church market.

Serving Canada

Although Schoolhouse Products Inc began selling its products only in the Ontario market, it quickly realized that the other provinces in Canada were similarly lacking in the necessary range of products – so the company quickly expanded its geographic distribution to these areas.

Today

Today, Schoolhouse Products Inc is one of Canada’s largest distributors of furniture for the education market; recreation market; hospitality market; and churches of all denominations.

Today, Schoolhouse Products Inc is one of Canada’s largest distributors of furniture for the education market – both K-12, as well as university and college; recreation market – both recreation centers and arenas; hospitality market – both hotels as well as conference centers; and churches of all denominations. Despite the rapid growth of the company, we have never forgot our original mandate – sell high quality and durable products at fair prices, and back them with the best after-sales services and long-term warranties.

 

Certifications

Greenguard® Indoor

Greenguard® Environmental Institute (GEI) has established performance based standards to define goods with low chemical and particle emissions for use indoors, primarily building materials, interior furnishings, furniture, cleaning and maintenance products, electronic equipment, and personal care products. The standard establishes certification procedures including test methods, allowable emissions levels, product sample collection and handling, testing type and frequency, and program application processes and acceptance.

LEED® Certification

LEED® is a third party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2000 through a consensus based process, LEED serves as a tool for buildings of all types and sizes. LEED certification offers third party validation of a project’s green features and verifies that the building is operating exactly the way it was designed to.

SCS® Certification

Developed by Scientific Certification Systems (SCS), Indoor Advantage subjects products to the most rigorous indoor air quality standards in the United States. Further, Indoor Advantage tests individual components as well as overall assemblies, and provides detailed analysis of a comprehensive range of chemicals rather than a simple pass/fail for only the most common. This enables us to help our suppliers reduce the environmental impact of their products and processes, too.

Manufacturers we represent that are GreenGuard Certified, LEED Certified or SCS Certified