School Version 2.0- Maintenance

This week, we will have our annual custodian banquet honoring the men and women that work so hard to keep our schools looking attractive, clean and functioning in an efficient manner.

In previous generations, maintaining a building was a fairly simple proposition. There were a few floors to sweep, and perhaps a pipe to repair, but no major considerations. Fast forward to today, and all buildings have heating and air (controlled by computer nonetheless), miles of electrical wiring, miles of computer wiring, hundreds of yards of plumbing, large paved parking lots and what amounts to a small city arriving and leaving from each facility each day.

Our custodians and plant operations personnel have a daunting job. The average age of our facilities is around fifty years. The maintenance involved in keeping all of our schools open and safe for our children is a daily, almost hourly proposition, and our folks are more than equal to the task. As I travel to each school, I am amazed at how well our facilities look and function, even though some buildings are 70 years old. We realize that the appeal a school has when parents, teachers, stakeholders and students enter a campus can have a real impact on the education and attitudes that take place inside. In order to create this positive environment, it takes custodians who have great pride in their work and are very thorough, and plant operations workers that are capable and creative, finding solutions to problems that are sometimes difficult, seemingly impossible to solve.
I have also observed custodians helping teachers in many different capacities. In our schools the custodians are often the “go to” person whenever a teacher has a special project or has a special need. Our plant operations workers not only maintain very complicated electrical, plumbing, heating and air and computer systems, but are also a general resource for helping schools complete a wide variety of projects including performances, graduation ceremonies and athletic events. My personal experience is that these men and women are not only exceptional at what they do, but exceptional people themselves, caring not only for the buildings in their charge, but for the children inside those buildings as well. In short the men and women who make up our maintenance staff are an invaluable resource that makes daily life at our schools not only possible, but enjoyable. I hope we all, whether we are teachers, administrators, parents or community members take time to realize this and thank them for the very important work they do. They are a vital part of our educational process, and without them our school doors would never open and our school bells would never ring.