Area schools busy with summer maintenance

The hallways of local schools are piled high with desks, chairs and trash cans, and the sounds of floor polishing machines and pounding hammers are nearly constant these days.

Within a month, everything will be in place, clean and ready for the start of classes -- all thanks to the hard work of summer cleaning crews.

"They make sure everything is spick-and-span before school starts," said Jackson superintendent Dr. Ron Anderson. "We have a very hard-working group of people, and it's exciting to see the results of their efforts."

Projects that can't be done when school is in session, like air-conditioning maintenance, roofing repairs and construction, are crammed into the few months between the last day of school and the first day.

Classrooms are emptied of furniture so that floors can be cleaned and polished. Walls are painted, tiles are replaced and schools are scrubbed from top to bottom.

"A lot of people think we just kick back and wait for school to start. That's not the case," said Jeff Bollinger, director of operations in the Jackson School District.

"Summer is when we really hit it hard, and those people who do the work and make the district look good are sometimes overlooked," he said.

In Cape Girardeau, a crew of 80 maintenance workers, custodians, teachers and students have tackled the task of mending, painting and cleaning more than 1 million square feet of space in the district's 10 schools in just nine weeks.

"We always load our plate with an extra helping in the summer, but in such short time frame this has been a challenge," said J.B. McClard, Cape Girardeau's facilities coordinator.

An addition to Central Junior High School's cafeteria, intended to cut down on the number of student lunch periods next year, is the biggest project in the Cape Girardeau this year.

Jackson's largest task has been the $180,000 installation of 13 wall and 20 rooftop air-conditioning units at West Lane Elementary.

In recent years, local school districts have focused on having larger projects -- like the installation of air-conditioning units, pouring of concrete and electrical work -- done by regular employees instead of hiring an outside source in an attempt to save money.

It has worked. By hiring employees with special skills, like a background in plumbing, electricity or construction, district officials say they've saved thousands of dollars on some projects.

"In some cases in Jackson, we've been able to do projects that were budgeted at $22,000 for $6,000," Bollinger said. "We're saving big dollars, and I think people are surprised at what we're able to do."

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128