Auxiliary Adviser

"Providing Services That Power Education"
Volume 3, Issue 7
April 2003

In This Issue
Blood Drive
Building Needs Through 2008
Improving Services to Schools
Milk Vending Machines
School Cleaning Weeks
Reminder - National School Building Week
New Hire
Training
Mark Your Calendar

Blood Drive - Help Save A Life
The Wake County Public School System and Rex Blood Services are holding a blood drive Wednesday, Apr. 2 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. to help our soldiers. A bloodmobile will be set up near the Operations Building at Rock Quarry Road. Fifty-five employees have signed up, and if at least another eight volunteer to give blood, the school system could potentially save 189 lives. To register for a time slot, please contact Robin Pace, WCPSS safety officer, at 856-8141.

Anyone who is 17 years old or older, in good health and weighs at least 110 pounds is eligible to give. Superintendent Bill McNeal, and cabinet members Walt Sherlin, Don Haydon, Del Burns, and Mike Burriss are just a few of our staff who have already volunteered to donate. Please follow their example and give blood - it's an easy way to help those in need.

Before giving blood, you should get a good night's sleep, drink plenty of fluids, and eat a good breakfast or lunch. During the donation process, you will need to list any medications you are taking, answer some questions about health and lifestyle choices, and receive a mini-physical. After donating, you should sit and enjoy refreshments for at least 10 minutes, leave the arm bandage on for three to five hours, drink plenty of fluids, and avoid lifting heavy objects and strenuous exercise for 24 hours. Most importantly, you should be good to yourself because you just helped save three lives.

Please thank Pace, Buddy McCarty, David King, and Troy Bullard for coordinating the blood drive and encouraging everyone to donate.

Building Needs Through 2008
Wake County Public School System staff discussed student growth and school building needs from July 2004 through June 2008 with the County Commissioners and Board of Education during their monthly joint luncheon, Wednesday, Mar. 19.

The Wake County Planning Department projects WCPSS enrollment - which is already over 104,000 - will reach 160,000 students by 2020. WCPSS continues to add over 3,000 new students each year.

"With this growth comes certain demands, such as quality facilities and an adequate number of classroom seats," said Don Haydon, associate superintendent for auxiliary services. "Research shows that the physical environment affects student learning. "

To determine how many new schools WCPSS could potentially build, the two boards will set a target percentage of students to have in permanent seats (as opposed to mobile classrooms).

WCPSS also developed a list of school building needs based on the county's enrollment projections, a professional architect/engineers' building assessment of 61 existing campuses, and internal assessments from principals, and facilities and maintenance staff. Most of the schools on the list - mainly those built in the 1950s and 1960s - need building systems replacements, which may include heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC), mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.

"Taxpayer support for past building programs allowed the district to make improvements to many of our campuses, and as a result, most of our schools are in pretty good shape," said Mike Burriss, assistant superintendent for facilities. "The consultant's assessment told us we need to continue funding improvements, or in 10 years we'll slide back to having 90% in poor condition."

To prioritize needs at existing campuses, WCPSS examined factors such as health and safety, building condition, site condition, and educational programs. Professional consultants identified the cost of corrective work, which includes capital improvements, deferred maintenance, safety items, Americans with Disabilities (ADA) repairs, site work, and statutory code compliance projects.

The school system and county staff will now determine the PLAN 2004 building program scope and bond program amount, balancing funding between existing buildings system replacements, other facility needs and constructing new schools. A bond referendum is tentatively scheduled for fall 2003.

Improving Service to Schools
Expanding Maintenance Regions
The Maintenance and Operations Department (M&O) is expanding the regional maintenance program, making a lot of principals happy. By grouping campuses into clusters and establishing satellite maintenance locations within existing schools, M&O is able to quicken response times, improve communications with school staff and decrease costs.

"Seeing it in action is even better than I dreamed," said East Wake Middle Principal Clint Johnson. "I can't imagine a better model."

East Wake Middle is one of six schools in the Knightdale cluster, which combined with three other clusters, forms the Eastern Region. An area facility manager and three multi-task employees maintain a cluster of five to eight schools, with four or five clusters forming a region. Each cluster has a base school - in this case, East Wake Middle - where the manager distributes work orders. The idea is to bring the workforce closer to the work - improving services to the schools and cutting down on drive time.

"With the team on site or at one of the other schools in the cluster, there's almost no wait time. It also means I know Ron, Dwayne, Mike, and Wardell by name. I love having them here," said Johnson.

Principals and their staff are not the only ones excited about the initiative - M&O employees rave about it, too. "People in the schools make our guys feel welcome," said Ed Stolzenberg, regional facility manager for the Eastern Region. "In turn, there's a sense of ownership, they take pride in what they are doing and feel good about themselves."

Another benefit of the regional program is that the employees become familiar with the equipment at these schools and are able to perform preventive maintenance. "Taking care of your equipment saves money down the road. We're doing simple jobs that will extend the life of the equipment," said Stolzenberg.

In 1998, M&O piloted the regional maintenance program in the southern part of Wake County. Because of that success and the great response from school leaders, WCPSS created the Eastern Region during the summer of 2002. M&O is currently staffing two new regions in the north and west, which should be in place by summer 2003. The final, central region is scheduled to open the following summer.

Wake Schools Receive Milk Vending Machines
Continuing to offer additional healthy, good-tasting choices, the Wake County Public School System's Child Nutrition Department (CNS) added a milk vending machine at Southeast Raleigh High School. Students and staff will be able to use the machine - funded by a cardiovascular health grant the Department of Health and Human Services received - beginning Monday, Apr. 7. A machine has also been ordered for Broughton High School and depending on sales and future funding, CNS hopes to add milk machines at other Wake high schools.

The milk vending machines contain single-serve plastic pints of fat-free chocolate and low-fat strawberry milk, as well as 8-ounce containers of low-fat yogurt and yogurt-based smoothies.

A recent milk industry study found milk vending machines have the potential to increase consumption by at least one additional gallon per student during the school year. "We want to make it easy for students to choose healthy foods and drinks," said Susan Thompson, WCPSS nutrition and training supervisor. "Hopefully, by offering students more choices the milk vending machines will be a big hit."

The possible increase in milk consumption is good news for students. According to the USDA, teens drink only one glass of milk a day, when they should be drinking four, 8-ounce glasses of milk to meet calcium requirements.

Money from the sales - a bottle of milk costs $1.25 - will go back to the CNS operating budget. The self-supporting department also has its own vending machines in middle and high schools that contain only non-carbonated beverages, such as 100% juice, fruit drinks, sports drinks, and water.

School Cleaning Weeks
Mike Burriss, assistant superintendent for facilities, asks schools to set aside some time from mid-April to mid-May for "School Cleaning Weeks." This endeavor coincides with Governor Mike Easley's "Litter Sweep Weeks" and the N.C. Department of Transportation's annual roadside cleanup.

"Just as you clean out your homes to get rid of clutter, we need to clean out our schools," said Burriss. Please set aside some time to ensure electrical and mechanical rooms, classrooms and storage closets are free of clutter; help make our schools a clean, safe, healthy environment.

Please throw trash into the appropriate dumpsters, contact the Purchasing Department (856-8081) regarding surplus, and place bulky items (no appliances) at the loading docks. Next, submit a work order through MAXIMO for trash pick-up.

If you have any questions, please contact Gary Haithcock at 856-8010.

Reminder - National School Building Week
National School Building Week is Apr. 7 - 11. This is a great opportunity to highlight the Wake County Public School System's innovative facilities and emphasize the important connection between healthy, inviting school buildings and student achievement.

Across the nation, people will recognize the value of well planned, high performing, healthy schools that foster student achievement and well-being and provide centers of community. As the building blocks of communities throughout the world and the keystone of our future, schools should be sustainable, healthy spaces for lifelong learning.

Please share your school building week plans with Kristin Wood (856-8036 or kwood@wcpss.net). To learn more, visit www.cefpi.com.

New Hire
Ken Mangum was named the regional facilities manager of the Southern Maintenance Region. Mangum was previously the area facilities manager for the Garner High Cluster, which is one of five clusters within the region.

Mark Your Calendar
National Recycling Month

Keep America Beautiful Month

WCPSS Blood Drive
Apr. 2
10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Bloodmobile at Rock Quarry

National School Building Week
Apr. 7 - 11

Holidays
Apr. 17, 18

School Cleaning Weeks
Mid-April to mid-May

Earth Day
Apr. 22

Secretaries Day
Apr. 23

Stay Informed
The Auxiliary Adviser is e-mailed to subscribers in the school system; and posted on the intranet, Internet, and Auxiliary Services Tao bulletin board. A hard copy of the Adviser is also posted on bulletin boards in the Maintenance and Facilities Buildings, placed in each maintenance shop's box, and one is sent to the head custodian and child nutrition staff at each school.

To have the newsletter e-mailed to you directly, simply send an e-mail with "subscribe" in the subject line, to kwood@wcpss.net.

Auxiliary Services Division
Vision
Providing Services That Power Education

Mission Statement
Provide quality facilities and support services to ensure safe, healthy, inviting and optimal learning environments.

Goals
1) Recruit, develop and retain a qualified and high quality workforce.
2) Provide and maintain quality facilities and support services that result in a safe and healthy learning environment.
3) Effectively communicate successes, challenges and needs.