A repaired sewer line at Druid Hills High. A new electronic marquee at Towers High. A lot of fresh paint.
These are symbols of change in the DeKalb County School District, which is working to fix maintenance needs at its campuses. A big part of that is changing the mindset to address issues quickly and efficiently, interim Chief Operations Officer Richard Boyd told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Schools would be complacent,” Boyd said about the previous status quo in DeKalb. “They would settle for, ‘This is the best I’m going to get, so I’m not going to ask for more.’”
This year, he and his team are trying to change that.
When students at Druid Hills High published a video in the spring highlighting problems like electrical issues and water damage at the aging campus, it was a catalyst for the state’s third-largest district to evaluate what other facilities problems existed in its schools.
The state intervened with a list of required updates and made the school board commit to major renovations at the campus. State School Superintendent Richard Woods at the time threatened to withhold funding for projects districtwide if DeKalb didn’t address the “egregious” conditions at Druid Hills. The district spent the summer addressing more than 100 maintenance needs at Druid Hills High — and at other schools.
Maintenance staff conducted walk-throughs at every campus. They identified needs ranging from roof leaks to new paint jobs, and new emergency signage to malfunctioning heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Credit: Jenni Girtman
DeKalb officials said they addressed 2,700 maintenance needs at campuses between May and August. The ones at Druid Hills High accounted for just 4% of all the work that was done, district staff said on a recent tour of Druid Hills High and Towers High for reporters.
The work was done as the district tries to fill more than 100 vacancies in facilities, for jobs like plumbers and HVAC technicians. About half of the department’s jobs are vacant, said Bobby Moncrief, the district’s director of facilities.
The work is ongoing, and with it come behind-the-scenes changes in the district. Interim Superintendent Vasanne Tinsley and state adviser Tanzy Kilcrease meet weekly with facilities staff to talk about what progress has been made and what needs remain. They do more frequent inspections of campuses. When a work order comes in, staff is now trying to respond within a day and be at the school site within two days — even quicker for emergency needs. And, Boyd said, they’re setting the expectation that staff be proactive rather than reactive.
“We’re not there yet,” Moncrief said, “but we’ll get there.”
