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<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cI can call a craftsman over the phone and say, \u2018can you advise me on a step.\u2019 Half the time, they can advise me by saying \u2018try this\u2019 and it will work,\u201d according to Payne, who was a full-time craftsman with maintenance services for 10 years before becoming a building manger.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis position is very unique because before there was always a disconnect. You\u2019re either maintenance services or you\u2019re school staff.\u00a0I\u2019m in the middle now. I\u2019m technically a maintenance service employee, but I also feel like I\u2019m part of the school,\u201d Payne added. \u201cIt all kind of ties everything together. There is a lot of teamwork on both ends.\u201d<\/p>\n
That teamwork is also evident not just between a school and maintenance services, but also amongst neighboring building managers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m out, we have other building managers who come over and check my building \u2013 and I\u2019ve done the same for other people. If that building manger is going to be out, I\u2019ll be popping in and out. They have my contact information. They call me if they have issues and vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n
Building managers also help each other out with larger jobs.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter what it is, even big jobs like tile installation that other building managers plan, they will recruit us and we will help. It\u2019s huge teamwork,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Payne also knows that maintenance services has their back through training.<\/p>\n
Every building manager begins with full-day training where they learn about automation controls, work order writing, daily routines, computer work and communication with school administrators and other staff members. In addition, since many of them might have worked in specific trades, they shadow other building managers with similar school assignments. All of this training takes anywhere from seven to 10 days.<\/p>\n
But they\u2019re not quite on their own yet.<\/p>\n
Maintenance services then introduces them to their assigned building administrator, supervisor and others to review roles and responsibilities. After the new building manager gets settled into their assigned school, the craftsman of each trade stops by to walk the building with them.<\/p>\n
And after that, maintenance staff continues to be only a phone call away.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s tons of resources. A lot of times, if I need help, they can tell me over the phone,\u201d he adds. \u201cOr, other times, they\u2019ll say they can give me a hand with it and it\u2019s a good way I can learn it. The amount of resources is excellent and the rapport with everybody \u2013 it\u2019s like you\u2019re on a team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Newton Elementary School second-grade teacher Teresa Abdulbaaqee says the school is lucky to have a building manager because it has a positive impact on instruction.<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cHe\u2019s professional. He walks around with a smile all the time and he is often on top of things before we can even finish telling him,\u201d she enthusiastically shared. \u201cHe goes from room to room to make sure our classrooms are how they need to be and that the climate in the building is comfortable so we can be our best for our students. It really is a big part of academic achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Look for more building managers as the Office of Maintenance Services works to expand the program into all schools before the summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Darren Payne arrives at Newton Elementary School at 6:30 each morning. He begins his day by pulling up his computer to check that the school\u2019s heating and air conditioning are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":9543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainable-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9538"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9545,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9538\/revisions\/9545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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