Carroll County Schools Maintenance Director Dwayne Smith enlightened the district ambassadors this week with information about the responsibilities and work ethic of his department.
Smith has been a staple in Carroll County Schools for more than 20 years, taking the job of director in 2006. He’s made several changes during his tenure, but maintains the goal of keeping students and staff safe and comfortable.
He and his staff of four address all maintenance issues for six schools and multiple athletic fields.
“Every classroom is equivalent to a home,” he explained to the ambassadors. That is particularly true when dealing with HVAC equipment. Numerous upgrades have been made throughout the district, including energy efficiency measures that have saved the district a significant amount of money and installation of air quality equipment to provide cleaner air within the buildings.
A daily task for the maintenance department is inspecting all panic hardware on exterior doors at each school. Smith said he and his crew wait and listen for doors to latch whenever they leave a building and, if they don’t hear the click, they stop and immediately begin working on the door.
Smith emphasized keeping exterior and classroom doors in good working order is an essential part of keeping students and staff safe. Every classroom door locks automatically upon closing. Recently, the locks in each building have been changed so that each teacher has a key that will open all of the doors in that school building.
Ultimately, the district’s goal is to have badge readers outside of each classroom door so keys are no longer necessary. A new doorknob and lock costs about $300 each while badge readers would be in the neighborhood of $1,800-$2,000 per door.
The maintenance department also designed the secure entries at Cartmell and the middle school which funnel visitors directly into the office. “You have no choice but to go to the office,” Smith said.
The men have also worked this summer to trim trees and shrubs for better camera access and, in some cases, have completely removed shrubbery from schools.
The group also spends a fair amount of time on upkeep at the football/soccer field. The turf surface is regularly swept with a rake, brushed and a magnet run over the field to collect any loose objects. They also use a combination of Downy fabric softener and water on the surface to reduce static cling. All of these maintenance pieces are on a regular schedule, according to Smith. He estimated the field should last at least another 10 years.
“That’s a very small staff to do a lot of work,” said Ambassador Linda Davis.
Ambassador Torrie Hewitt agreed, noting she could see the need for one maintenance person per building.
Smith said he has a policy that every maintenance issue is to be addressed within 24 hours. “We’ll either look at it and fix it, or we will order parts and you will know when it will be fixed,” he said.
Mark Willhoite, Chief Operations Officer and Director of Pupil Personnel, praised Smith and his team. “His group does a great job to fix things in a timely manner.” As an example, Willhoite asked the ambassadors to look at the ceiling in the classroom where they met. “When do you see a ceiling tile without a stain in any building or restaurant you go into? They do a great job,” Willhoite said.
“We all appreciate how great our schools look, but we had no idea what it takes to keep it that way,” Davis said after hearing Smith’s presentation.