Auxiliary Adviser"Providing Services That Power Education" |
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| Volume 2, Issue 8 |
May 2002
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In This Issue
Four-Day Workweek
Employee of the Month
Custodial Notes
Silver Lining
Mark Your Calendar
Safety Minute
NEED-ed Recognitions
No One Quite Like You
Secret to Our Success
Training Schedule
Four-Day Workweek
Bill McNeal, Superintendent
We will be implementing a "modified" four-day workweek this summer on an optional basis for all schools and central departments, except year-round schools and summer programs. The six weeks included in the modified four-day workweek plan are Monday, June 10, through Friday, July 19.
Flexibility will be given to departments and schools to determine the essential workforce needed to continue uninterrupted service. The central offices will be open for business as usual: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Therefore, each department will need to ensure that adequate staff is available to handle calls and emergency situations.
To maximize our energy savings and to provide visitors and workers accurate scheduling information, we request that principals send written information to Susan Harrison, senior projects administrator, at the Rock Quarry Road facility, as to whether your facility will be open on any or all Fridays during this modified four-day workweek period. (The Friday dates are: June 14, June 21, June 28, July 5, July 12, and July 19.)
Employees who work ten-hour days and who request vacation leave for one or more days during the four-day workweeks will be charged time at the rate of 1.25 days per day taken. If an employee has need of sick leave, time will also be charged at 1.25 days per day taken. Employees who prefer to work four eight-hour days may take the fifth day as vacation as approved by their supervisor. With the permission of their supervisor, employees also could work five eight-hour days as they normally do.
Have a great summer!
The Board of Education named Clayton Johnson, Green Hope High's custodial supervisor, Employee of the Month at its Apr. 16 meeting.
Johnson faced the huge task three years ago of cleaning a new school, recently vacated by workmen, and carried out his job with remarkable attention to detail. He is a vital part of the glue that holds the school together. He is incredibly organized and manages to take care of the needs of the physical plant and help the staff, too. He is a kind and hardworking individual. He helps everyone and always does it with a smile. He never complains and handles his position with dignity. His job is never ending, yet he always displays a smile and is truly a man of patience. Three years have passed since the school opened, and Johnson continues to care for the school, the facility and the people in it, with attention, care, and good humor.
Custodial Notes
Aaron Springs, Jr., Custodial Services Administrator
SAFETY ALERT
If you use Shine Up and Oil Base Dust Mop Treatment, please
remember the following:
1) Shine Up cannot and will not be used on tile floors. If
you put it on the floor, you cannot stand up. Please label
all containers when taking the solution out of the initial
jugs. If you happen to use this product on the floor, you
will have to hard scrub the floor to take it off.
2) Oil Base Dust Mop Treatment is not for wooden gym floors.
Do not spray a dust mop and put it down on the floor.
FIRE EXTINGUISHERS
All fire extinguishers need to be checked and signed-off monthly
(including the ones in the mechanical rooms and other out-of-the
way areas). Fire extinguishers can be checked at any time
during the month. In larger locations, set up a chart showing
when and where you have checked extinguishers and sign-off
on the chart. Remember, this counts as one point on your school
inspection.
CLEANING SCHEDULE
Every school should clean and monitor bathrooms three times
a day. The same schedule should apply to hallways and stair
landings - suggested times are: 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. and
1:30 p.m. Bathrooms should be thoroughly cleaned and left
to air dry at night. Even if you fill soap and paper dispensers
during the evening, you still need to check them during the
day.
NEW CHEMICALS
Foaming down bathrooms and shower stalls with the portable
units and following up with a disinfectant cleaner will eliminate
most bathroom odors. Units should be used at least once a
week in gang bathrooms. NOTE: Just because the disinfectant
does not have a strong perfume scent, does not mean it is
not working.
WAREHOUSE ORDERS
All custodial warehouse orders must be in Aaron Springs' office
by May 24, 2002. No orders will be processed after this date.
The Wake Education Partnership campaign results are in. WCPSS raised $52,000 - surpassing its own goal.
A School-Parent Challenge Awards Committee determined school and central office department winners of the gold, silver and bronze awards for raising the most money. Child Nutrition Services was a silver award winner and will receive a barbecue for 50 people.
Congratulations!
May 12
Mother's Day
May 27
Memorial Day Holiday
May 29
Last day of school (traditional calendar)
Safety
Minute
Doug Burd, Facilities Safety Officer
MSDS stands for Material Safety Data Sheet. All of our maintenance, construction and child nutrition people should know the term MSDS. More importantly, you should know where MSDS sheets are for the materials you use. Suppliers have sheets for every item they ship.
According to OSHA standards, MSDS sheets are to be readily available. There should be a set of MSDS sheets for the items used at each work site. Maintenance trucks should have a MSDS sheet for materials on board.
Please forward this information on to each crew. MSDS will also be discussed later this year in our safety toolbox talks. Please e-mail me at dburd@wcpss.net if you have any questions.
The National Energy Education Development Project (NEED) named Lockhart and Knightdale elementary schools as co-recipients of the 2002 National Elementary Level Schools of the Year, and Fox Road Elementary as the 2002 National Rookie School of the Year for Energy Achievement. The schools were selected based on their study of energy resources and conservation efforts through the EnergySavers® program.
Mary Spruill, NEED program director, said the scores between Lockhart and Knightdale were so close that the judges refused to give one school the award over the other -- hence the co-recipient status. This is the fifth year that students in the EnergySavers® program have been recognized nationally by NEED for their achievements.
Winners from all over the country, including delegations from our own award winning schools, will be invited to attend the National Youth Awards Program in Washington, D.C., June 21 - 24.
NEED panelists judge entrants based on scrapbooks showing what projects they have done throughout the year to promote energy education. Awards are typically given to the winner and runner-up in the elementary, junior and senior levels. Rookie awards are given at each level for schools in their first year of the NEED program.
Visit http://www.need.org/ to learn more about NEED.
There has been a recent roundup of identity-theft suspects across the nation. Between 500,000 and 700,000 identities are stolen each year (McDonald, Thomasi. "Identity-theft sweep nabs 2 in NC." News & Observer 3 May 2002: B1).
"Identity theft always occurs out of opportunity," said Corey
Duber, WCPSS director of security. Duber shared the following
tips:
*Don't give out your credit card number where others can see
it or hear you,
*Shred sales and credit card receipts instead of just throwing
them in the trash, and
*Use something foreign to your personal life for "secret pass
codes" on the Internet (as opposed to a child's name, birth
date, address, etc.).
The Auxiliary Services Division is taking a couple precautions in regards to training records. Organizational Development shreds sign-in sheets from training classes after the information is logged into the division database. In addition, the training database requests only the last four digits of employees' social security numbers.
An energy manager from the Robertson County school system in Cedar Hill, Tennessee visited Wake County schools Apr. 10-13 to learn what makes our Energy Management and EnergySavers® team successful. WCPSS Energy Management Tech Phil Mobley and Energy Educator Jeri Preddy explained the district's money-saving practices and shared several recommendations with visiting Eddie Mitchell.
The Robertson County system is a stark contrast to the rapidly expanding WCPSS. Robertson has just over 10,000 students, 18 schools, and about 100 trailers. The last time that district built a new school was in 1980. WCPSS, on the other hand, has 101,397 students and is growing by about 3,500 to 4,000 students a year, consists of 122 schools and about 560 instructional mobile units. This fall, WCPSS will open three new schools and will open another 13 by 2004.
Mitchell was especially interested in WCPSS' energy management control system that allows the department to control and monitor temperature in all but two of our 122 schools. The control center also allows the department to place school equipment in setback mode while buildings are vacated - at night and while students are on breaks. This process saves the system energy and labor costs because otherwise it would have dedicated personnel on site to control the equipment.
Preddy filled Mitchell in on the energy awareness and conservation piece of the EnergySavers® training program. As part of the Organizational Development Department's training program, fellow Energy Educator Christina Larkins and Preddy train WCPSS employees on how to implement conservation programs, provide students energy-saving tools and send out EnergySavers® kits to help schools spread public awareness.
The kits include information for cafeteria employees, administration and custodians. Cafeteria employees receive tips on how to use kitchen equipment efficiently. Administration receives information on holding meetings in cost-effective areas, turning appliances and lights on and off and basic tips. Each year the energy educators meet with custodians because they have the best understanding of how schools operate - making their role in energy conservation extremely important.
Our energy educators also research new energy-saving technology and curriculums, visit schools, perform walk-through audits of buildings, and hold workshops.
Energy management also assists the conservation effort by teaching WCPSS employees how their HVAC systems operate, how to utilize their overrides to save energy and how to operate their facility in an energy-efficient manner.
The Energy Management Department and EnergySavers® staff
recommended numerous ways for Mitchell's district to cut energy
costs, including:
· Purchase an energy management control system,
· Train teachers and students on conservation,
· Retrofit lighting,
· Ask the electric company consultant to perform a base analysis
of the rate structures,
· Utilize a utility database to verify billing, verify meters
and pinpoint idle meters,
· Install automatic timers to turn on/off the lights, and
· Buy digital thermometers for the schools.
Customer Service Training
May 22
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Training Center, Rock Quarry Road
Designing Your Excel Spreadsheet (two three-hour classes)
May 28
8:30 - 11:30 a.m.
OR
12:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Training Center, Rock Quarry Road
Customer Service Training
May 29
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Training Center, Rock Quarry Road
Continuous Improvement (Baldrige)
June 10, 11
8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Webster Center
Continuous Improvement (Baldrige)
June 13, 14
8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Webster Center
Continuous Improvement (Baldrige)
June 25, 26
8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Webster Center
Any auxiliary services employee may request a copy of his training record. Please contact Judy Cox (jscox@wcpss.net or 664-5728) and give your name, work site and phone number where you may be reached during the day.
Visit http://www2.wcpss.net/Departments/OrganizationalDevelopment/orgdev3.htm for a complete list of training opportunities.
Stay Informed
Subscribe to the Auxiliary Adviser and stay informed of important issues and events in the Auxiliary Services Division. To subscribe, e-mail kwood@wcpss.net, with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. The newsletter will be e-mailed to you on a monthly basis.
If you do not wish to subscribe, you can also find the Adviser on the Tao bulletin board for auxiliary services. If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact Kristin Wood at 856-8036.
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 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) Support recommendations of the joint county/school system
strategies report.