California school maintenance ramps up for summer

June 11, 2017 at 5:14 a.m. | Updated June 9, 2017 at 5:15 p.m.

In the foreground of the photo, from left, are maintenance workers Cliff Sampson, Spencer Kimball, Rhett Kiesling, Turner Myers and Nathan Pickering. At the desk are retiring librarian Leslie Williams and the new librarian, Jill Kirksey. The rectangular marks where the shelving rested on the floor for about 40 years requires special care and extra work.
In the foreground of the photo, from left, are maintenance workers Cliff Sampson, Spencer Kimball, Rhett Kiesling, Turner Myers and Nathan Pickering. At the desk are retiring librarian Leslie Williams and the new librarian, Jill Kirksey. The rectangular marks where the shelving rested on the floor for about 40 years requires special care and extra work.

The California school crews have increased their maintenance work. Upkeep and maintenance are constantly needed at the Owen Street and West Buchanan Street campuses, whether students are present or not. The work is ramped up during the summer months, when more extensive work can be done.

With the number of students and staff using the school through the year, especially during the regular school year, all of the school buildings need work, although some need more than others. This year, as summer school is being conducted, the maintenance work can be done at the middle school facility, as well as parts of both the high school and elementary school facilities.

An example of this is the work being done at the Elementary School Library. A lot of effort goes into just removing everything so that the maintenance work can be done. Removing the shelving was particularly time consuming. First the books had to be removed. Then, the shelving had to be removed. This was more difficult than one might expect, since the shelving had reportedly not been moved since it was installed about 40 years ago.

The shelving removal was necessary for the crews to do a really good job of upgrading the library facility. A major part of the work was stripping, refinishing and re-waxing the floors, which turned out to be in better condition than would ordinarily be expected.

Thanks to the hard work of the school staff, the library, as well as the rest of the school, will be clean and polished for the incoming students at the start of the school year in August.