Portage Township Schools Maintenance Staff

Written by Don Dean, Maintenance Director

Year after year the Portage Township Schools maintenance department is dedicated to keeping all facilities safe and operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As the Maintenance Director I am extremely proud of the quality of work my staff provides in maintaining 17 facilities for the safety of our children and adults that have had the experience of serving or visiting our school system. The Portage Township Schools maintenance department strives to complete all building and ground repairs within the maintenance department rather than outsourcing. Our current staff consists of 15 people from electrical, plumbing, HVAC, carpentry, small motor repair, general maintenance, interschool mail delivery, office staff and the Assistant Director.

In 2010 the maintenance department completed 2,108 work order requests. This number doesn’t include the number of verbal requests received daily from all 17 facilities that require immediate attention. Our department works 52 weeks a year, and sometimes it is necessary to work above and beyond our eight hours to maintain safe and operational facilities. The maintenance department is responsible for maintaining all lawns, athletic fields and all lawn and playground equipment. We are also in charge of snow removal.

My assistant and I serve as members of the safety committee for the school corporation. This eight person committee meets regularly to perform building inspections in order for the facilities to remain safe and in compliance with state-mandated regulations.

Energy management is a constant concern for the maintenance department. As the Maintenance Director I am responsible for continually finding new ways to conserve energy and reduce costs. We continually monitor energy efficiency for the heating and air conditioning units throughout the school corporation. With energy costs rising and budgets shrinking energy conservation is a concern for our department.

In the summer of 2010 there were several Capital Projects completed throughout the Portage school district. The maintenance staff spread 1,117 cubic yards of playground mulch on eight elementary playgrounds. By keeping the work in house the district saved $18,000. The largest Capital project completed in the summer of 2010 was the demolition of the football field bleachers. The maintenance staff undertook the overwhelming task of demolishing the football field bleachers. This group of employees rose to the challenge and worked sun up to sun down, often times six days a week. Due to the dedication and loyalty of these men and women, this massive task alone saved the school corporation approximately $60,000.

The maintenance staff understands that sometimes their day might not go as originally planned. Emergencies do arise and emergencies and become top priority. All of this hard work requires constant dedication and teamwork from the entire department and could not be possible without the help of the secretary. The entire department depends on her daily.

I can’t begin to capture all the miscellaneous jobs my entire staff completes on a daily basis. Knowing that I have such talented group of individuals makes my job as a director easier and completely confident that tasks will always be completed in a timely manner with safety being the first priority.