School maintenance crew prepares buildings for return of students, staff

One by one, facilities staff is checking off their to-do list in preparation for the first day of classes Aug. 25.

Each building in the school district has items that need fixing, patching, painting and more before students and staff return for the 2022-23 school year.

"A lot of what we do in the summertime is just get the school ready in general," said Josh Blatchley, facilities director for the district. "We've gone through and carpet cleaned and waxed all the classrooms. That's a process. There's 117,000 square feet, whether it's all carpet or linoleum or tile or what."

Getting the floors cleaned and prepped included resurfacing the high school gym floor. Crews had to sand down the surface, clean it off, pour the surfacing solution over it, then let it dry for a week.

"I'm trying to resurface it every other year," Blatchley said. "In order to make that happen, we have to maintain it throughout the school year. When COVID hit, it kind of threw the schedule off because we didn't have that many people in the gym for a year. We kind of skipped a year and the gym (floor) was getting slippery."

The gym floor will eventually need to be replaced, a project that is included in a list of other needed repairs, rebuilds and replacements totaling $12.9 million. The borough assembly is looking to land a spot on the state's list of school maintenance projects that could potentially pay for 65% of that bill. The assembly is also considering seeking voter approval this October for bonds totaling $4.5 million to cover the rest of the cost.

"Bonds would go toward projects like the elevator, new roofs, the HVAC systems, carpets, windows, siding and ... condition surveys done by professionals," Blatchley said. Those professionals would be able to give better assessments of what work actually is needed and the costs associated with each project, he said.

Blatchley said it would be good to focus on the structure of the buildings first. "After that it would be the HVAC systems. Then we could save some money on heating costs," he said. "If everything is good inside and the building is falling down, it doesn't do you any good. And if everything is good on the outside, then you have some time to address the issues on the inside."

In preparation for the new school year, maintenance workers are also pressure-washing the buildings and sidewalks, cleaning out loose grout and debris caused by winter conditions and ice melt, which is eroding walkways.

"I'm trying to figure out how to preserve the concrete," Blatchley said. "The ice melt (product) is just killing it."

Blatchley said he will apply a waterproofing solution and cement sealer to the walkways to see if that helps them to last longer. The wear and tear from use and weather has caused certain areas to buckle, which can lead to ponding and icing during the winter and can cause further problems, such as tripping and slipping.

A few of the classrooms have been repainted and a few more will get a fresh coat as well, he said. A yearly rotation schedule ensures all the classrooms get new paint, so it doesn't all have to be done at once.

Other fixes include florescent lights that are gradually being phased out in favor of brighter, lower-cost LED lights, upgrades to showerheads in locker rooms, and changing filters in air handling systems.

The elementary school has landings and steps that have become unlevel from settling, so those will be shored up and made safe.

Snow stops on some of the roofs have come off from the heavier snowfall last winter, causing unsafe conditions in the courtyard between the high school and middle school. Blatchley said they will work to install new stops where needed. The flat rooftops need to be checked for holes or areas that could be the site of future leaks.

Blatchley said all the work is on track to be finished before the first day of school, but at the same time, the days can slip by quickly.

"The summer seems like it goes a lot faster than you think," he said. "'Hey, we've got months.' But the cross country team is starting up soon. The teachers are going to get antsy and want to get into their rooms."