August 4, 1999
Custodians scrub schools from top to bottom
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
The beginning of August is a time of the year when even the locker rooms smell fresh.
Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the custodial staffs throughout the district, the end of summer finds each desk, each chair, each classroom shining like brand new. When school ends in June, the 82 custodians swing into high gear and give every nook and cranny of each of the 22 school buildings a thorough cleaning from top to bottom.
And that includes powerhosing down the walls of the locker room showers.
"People typically think we are off in the summer, but summer is when we get most of our work done," said Lanny Haven, building manager for Traverse City West High School and four elementary schools. "All the rest of the year is maintaining. Ground-in dirt is what we do in the summer."
Plus painting, maintenance and all the other tasks that build up during the school year but cannot be handled because school is in session and daily tasks need to get done. Plus moving classrooms around, moving computers around and giving the walls a fresh coat of paint.
Haven and his staff of ten go through each room at West High School, one by one, over the summer. Posting a checklist on each door, they work their way through the 17 cleaning tasks to give the room a top-to-bottom cleaning. Each room is completely emptied before cleaning and then each item is thoroughly cleaned before it is returned to the room. Lights, ceilings, windows and even the wastebasket receive a thorough scrubbing.
The staff also strips the finish off of uncarpeted floors around the building and then cleans and rewaxes the floors to a high shine. Carpeted floors are scrubbed. Each locker is opened, scrubbed and sanitized and then given a new combination.
The same regimen goes in every room on at each of the 18 elementary, two junior high and two high schools throughout the district.
"August is a nutso month," Haven said. "There's some overtime offered when push comes to shove and the month winds down. We plan summer all year long and tweak it constantly."
All of the cleaning in each school is scheduled around special events and catering needs during the summer. For example, the record number of bands that marched in the National Cherry Festival parades were housed at schools and the cleaning and maintenance was worked in around them. Add to the mix the facts that some schools also offer summer enrichment programs to students and that summer is the only time the members of the custodial staff are allowed to take vacations and you have a scheduling challenge, to say the least.
Larger maintenance tasks such as plumbing, rewiring, heating and cooling maintenance or tilework are done by 25 staff maintenance people who also work for the school system. Another task is computer maintenance and software upgrades. Each computer in each classroom will be taken apart and thoroughly vacuumed. Afterward, new software will be loaded on.
As the clock ticks down toward the end of the summer, coaches and teachers are eager to get into the building. The last two weeks before school starts find the buildings a beehive of activity as everyone works to get the last bit done.
"We're on the downhill glide toward the start of the school year and we're already getting requests to get into the buildings," said Rod Lowes, director of maintenance for Traverse City Area Public Schools. "So much of our work has to be rotated with everything else going on."