The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Schools getting polished for Tuesday start
Workers have scrubbed, waxed and disinfected nine buildings
By Sue G. Collins, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: August 28, 2008
Sorry kids, school starts in just a few days. That is the bad news.
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The good news is that Saline schools are more ready than ever for the doors to open after the district's grounds and building staff worked all summer to prepare for Tuesday.
Doug Bacon manages the staff of 40 that handles building maintenance throughout the school year and summer. Since the start of summer vacation in June, workers have scrubbed, disinfected, stripped, waxed, washed and worked to ready the district's nine buildings, some 3 million square feet of classrooms, offices, gymnasia, libraries and cafeterias.
"We have an amazing crew who gives great attention to detail," Bacon said. "Every school has received an extra heavy-duty cleaning."
All the non-carpeted flooring of the buildings have been stripped and waxed.
Hundreds of light bulbs have been changed, including the bulbs lighting from the two-story pool ceiling at the high school. "Now, that's impressive to watch," Bacon said.
"There's a lot of pride with our staff -- about 70 percent are Saline graduates," he said.
Each of the desks and chairs has been wiped clean with a cloth and disinfectant. The carpeting in classrooms, like the kindergarten rooms at Houghton Elementary School where young students spend so much time on the floor, has been cleaned with an extractor and carpet shampooer.
At the high school, Bacon said the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system has been tweaked to fine tune the temperature controls for better economy.
At Saline Middle School, a new kitchen and laundry room has been installed for special education program students. The stone planter at outside the auditorium entrance has been removed.
The tresses stretching across the gym ceiling at Heritage School have been dusted and cleaned.
At Harvest Elementary, Bacon has negotiated with architects and contractors to improve the anti-freeze charged system and add heating units in the attic space above the media center to cut drafts and help prevent pipes from bursting.
Woodland Meadows Elementary School, Bacon said, is absolutely, "sparkling -- as are all the buildings.
"I had one longtime teacher tell me she had never seen her classroom so clean. She said she could walk right in and start teaching. That's rewarding," Bacon said.
The Saline School District includes 600 acres of land, 275 of which need mowing when the snow melts. That means, outside the classrooms Bacon's staff sharpens 60 lawnmower blades before attacking the grass.
The district's biggest project this summer has been at Pleasant Ridge Elementary, where a new parking lot, bus loop and drop off route is under construction. New driveways should be ready for buses and vehicles when school starts.
"We've stayed on budget, even though there have been some extensive undercuts and drainage surprises," Bacon said.
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