Maintenance and cleaning work continues at Mansfield City Schools buildings in preparation for the return of students in just under four weeks.
“There’s a lot to do but we’re on track,” operations manager Bob Booth said Tuesday, as he watched district maintenance worker Fred Horton operating a backhoe at Sherman Elementary School at the point where buses drop off students.
Sherman students begin their day by assembling in the cafeteria. “We’re widening the sidewalk leading to the cafeteria entrance,” Booth added. We’ve got to be careful to work around buried electrical lines. We’ll also repair the cafeteria steps.”
Work has been underway all summer at buildings throughout the district. Major projects include replacement of the gym floor and north side classroom windows at Malabar Intermediate School.
At Springmill STEM Elementary two more classrooms are being prepared for the addition of second grade, increasing the building to a K-2 school. Third grade will be added next year. The district’s pre-kindergarten program will remain at Springmill for 2018-19.
Maintenance staff removed the old playground equipment at the Spanish Immersion School in preparation for parents there installing new equipment this Saturday.
Cleaning and waxing floors are part of the summer agenda at each building, a process that requires moving all furniture into hallways. “We clean the floors first and strip the old wax, depending on the condition of the floors. The hallways are waxed last,” said Mark Ward, maintenance team leader. “We clean the furniture, the light fixtures and the window sills and make any needed repairs to doors and windows.”
A key to setting up classrooms for the return of students on Aug. 23 is determining where teachers will be assigned. “If there are new teachers or teachers reassigned to a different building we will do our best to set up their rooms the way they want,” Ward said. “We’ve been through this a lot of summers — everybody working together getting ready for opening day. We’ll be ready.”
Source, Photo: Mansfield City Schools
