Buildings & Grounds Yearly Report I. The goal of the Buildings & Grounds Department is to provide clean, safe, healthful, well maintained facilities to house educational programs and activities of the Neosho School District. Our goals for the department is supported by the following objectives: A. To employ qualified individuals and provide ongoing training on products and procedures to achieve the expectations of the Neosho School District. ● New employees to the department are fingerprinted for a background check and references are checked. ● After employment, all new staff members are provided training on products and procedures to meet departmental and district expectations and goals. B. The safety of students and staff is the number one priority of the Buildings & Grounds Department. ● District level Emergency Plan & Procedure Guidelines have been developed by the director and approved yearly by the Neosho School Board. A copy of this document has been provided to each building administrator and emergency services. ● In the event of an emergency there are five safety teams trained in each building. The teams are security, family reunification, mental health, first aid and CERT (community emergency response teams). Newton County Emergency Management is utilized in training these teams along with our district resource officer. ● Each attendance center has a building level safety committee that meets on a regular basis with the building principal. Safety reports from the committee are forwarded to the Director of Buildings & Grounds. This report is reviewed and any safety concerns reported are immediately addressed. All staff has the ability to submit an emergency safety work order on School Dude and those work orders take the department's top priority. ● The director, building principals, building safety committees, and maintenance personnel inspect all buildings and playgrounds on a regular basis to make certain that all campuses are providing clean, safe, and well maintained facilities. ● The director inspects all campuses with the Neosho Fire Department Building Inspector yearly. ● The district insurance carrier, M.U.S.I.C., and the Director of Buildings & Grounds conduct a physical hazard survey every other year districtwide. This inspection/assessment is a great opportunity to evaluate everything that the department is doing correct in the district for safety and also areas for improvement. ● Pressure vessels districtwide are inspected every other year to ensure safe operation. ● Department personnel receives asbestos awareness training. ● Fire suppression systems and fire extinguishers are inspected yearly C. The Buildings & Grounds Department strives to improve the appearance of all properties owned by the Neosho School District. ● The district grounds crew is responsible for maintaining the grounds throughout the district by pruning trees and shrubs, mowing, weed eating, snow removal and many other daily tasks at all campuses of the district.
● The department is staffed with thirty three custodians who clean and maintain over a half million square feet of facilities on a daily basis; five grounds men who clean, groom and maintain over two hundred acres of district property and attendance centers. The department also has one journeyman electrician, one master plumber, and a certified HVAC technician that maintains the district. ● The department is continuously looking for ways to increase efficiencies. The continued and expanded use of IPADS to the grounds and maintenance staff has been a great improvement to the department efficiency for work orders. We are currently working with the building custodians and educating them on the use of email for better department communications. We have also begun developing departmental leadership training to allow our talented and skilled professionals to collaborate and better serve the district and not have to be micromanaged. ● The department strives to be environmentally friendly and continue the green initiative using sustainable cleaning products and recycled materials when available. This initiative will align our district to meet Missouri recommendations for Senate Bill 1181. II. The Buildings & Grounds Department is a support department of the school district. The department has a day and evening shift and is always available to assist in projects and activities of the district and community. ● This current fiscal year to date, the Buildings & Grounds Department has closed over 1,911 work orders. In addition the Buildings & Grounds Department has closed close to 400 special event setups/activities in the district, this is in addition to the day to day operations, this does not include the countless things we do without a work order while in the buildings that are just good customer service. III. The Buildings & Grounds staff does a commendable job in supporting the department and district goals, while there have been many changes this year, we feel that department is both stronger and more responsive . This department appreciates the support received from the school board, superintendents, administrators, students, and patrons of this great community. This department will continue to strive to meet the expectations of all. ** Moving forward: Obviously there has been significant changes in the past 10 days and many more to come over the coming months. We are working very hard to get ready for summer projects, though that list has and is changing daily. With the relocation of Goodman school staff and students, we are assessing our department's staffing needs to see that we are using our team members effectively. I can say that the transition has been exhausting, but would not have been possible without a great crew in the department. Dave Allen has done an amazing job this year with custodial departments at all buildings and for the first time in a long time there is consistency and continuity there as well as universal customer service and synchronicity. Jim Friend has done a nice job heading up our grounds areas with Chris Myers, Kelly Markle, and Evert Staib. Nathan McAlister has become a flexible part of the grounds team. Nathan is the go to person for all of our district event setups and does light carpentry. Dustin Wolgamott, Will Bridges, and Joel Easton, have been invaluable and have not missed a beat, Tara Twitchell has also been a tremendous asset to help keep all things operating and working efficiently. Each of them provides their personal expertise to the tasks at hand we are going to be in great shape for the coming year. I have been honored and blessed with such a good working and fluid team that has allowed me and the district to be successful and I feel confident that we are continuing to improve each day and there has been tremendous leadership growth throughout each person’s role.
