August Finance and Operations: facilities

 F&O met on August 15 and reported out at the meeting on the 18th, but I'm still getting questions on things connected, in particular, to the Facilities report, so I'm going to write up my notes here from that. The agenda is here and the presentation we received at that meeting I've shared over here.

First up, please note: like many other sectors, the Facilities department is running short-staff (and there are openings!); as of the 15th, there were 28 custodial vacancies. As Mr. Bedard noted: Realize how this works, incidentally: we don't leave schools entirely uncovered, so this necessarily means shifts happen across the system to ensure every building gets coverage. That does mean, though, that some places don't have all they need as a result. 
The summer work to get schools ready for back to school has been going on, and the field prep for athletics is also ongoing.
ON THIS AND EVERYTHING ELSE: supply chains supply chains supply chains...we can only get things as quickly as we can get them. That matters a lot whether we are cleaning or fixing or replacing things, so please be patient.

Regarding the environmental management of the district: water sampling for testing of lead and copper was competed in the spring, and fixtures are being turned on and off and signage is being updated. Watch for further communication updating that. 
Quarterly PCB inspections are scheduled for Doherty and Burncoat; the asbestos three year inspection are ongoing. 

The $150,000 water bottle filling grant (!) was accepted at the August 18 meeting. That state grant provides for bottle filling stations (under very particular parameters) at the following places: 

If your school isn't on here, either it's among the newer schools that may already have them OR it didn't fit the parameters of the grant. We are doing some planning for additional such stations, though, through federal funding.
We have only now received the funding for this: please note that these now have to go through procurement and planning and installation (don't look for them next week; they're not there yet!).

Please join me in being unsettled by the lack of boiler in this space 

(note there is one next to it)

There are boiler replacement projects at Belmont, Chandler Magnet, City View, and Goddard; a boiler replacement is in the planning stages at Vernon Hill. Note that most of our boiler replacements in recent years have been at least partly funded through MSBA (through the accelerated repair program), but we can't always wait to go through the process (boilers are a necessary thing). With fifty buildings (most of which have more than one boiler) that have had underfunded facilities needs for decades now, there's a significant amount of need. 

The BIG project this summer is the Worcester Arts Magnet roof (which is an MSBA Accelerated repair project): 

My photo of the new WAMS roof going in.

The roof will be done this summer; the ADA upgrades (triggered by the cost of the roof) will be done next summer.

There are new hot water heaters going in at Burncoat High and Middle Schools (that's abbreviated DHM for domestic hot water, which is a thing that I learned for this meeting). 

Also at Burncoat High: bleachers in the gym! The bleachers were just going to be pull-out bleachers, but the company has told us that they, given the weight at the size, need to be motorized for safety. Those then are needing some more planning before replacement. 
Also at Burncoat High: the new window blinds are being produced!

GENERAL BURNCOAT STATEMENT: Please note that two things are true at Burncoat:

1. It continues to be next one being voted by the Worcester School Committee and Worcester City Council for major renovation or repair. Eleven years ago, we opened new North; last year, we opened a new South; new Doherty is under construction. We have had a very strong relationship with the Mass School Building Authority, where we have--unusually!--been able to have two major projects going at the same time. With South now open, fingers crossed on getting Burncoat in.
2. Burncoat High is undergoing its every-ten-year NEASC reaccreditation. As part of that process, the reaccreditation committee has come back with a report on the facilities, with their concerns. That's in the process of being reviewed and sent out for further study. Even as we plan to replace the building, it's obviously still being used as a school, and so those two things need to be held in balance. 

Claremont locker repairs are being scheduled.
The Elm Park gym floor is being torn up (may be completely up now!) before the layers of waterproofing and other underfloor prep happen before the new one can go in. This is going to take some time
Greendale Head Start has a new parking lot.
The walk-in refrigerator at Norrback is in the engineering stage.
The fire alarms are being replaced at West Tatnuck (it won't be done before school starts, but the old ones weren't taken out yet, so the school has them).

Grafton Street's cafeteria ceiling work will be done before school starts. 

A word on elevators: the Vernon Hill freight elevator was raised at the meeting, but I have been asked about others; we do have several elevators where the issue is beyond waiting for a part (which has been a thing, certainly), and is into questions of replacement (which is very expensive). Thus some of those are much longer term discussions. 

Finally, watch for updates in the future (probably our next F&O meeting on September 8) on the Honeywell and Nault Siemens review of our HVAC systems for upgrades through ESSER funding. Because that is a capital expense, it had to be reviewed and approved by DESE. 

As always, if you have questions, comment or get in touch!