During an average winter, the four-man Grounds Department goes through 1,200 bags of ice melter and 400 tons of road salt.Any time it snows an inch or more, the four-man Grounds Department works from midnight to 6 a.m., clearing and salting nearly nine miles of sidewalk, plowing 33 acres of parking lots and four miles of entrance roads. “These guys really take the job seriously,” said Doug Bacon, director of facilities, “because of the requirement to keep the grounds and facilities safe for our students. They’re really concerned about somebody slipping and sliding on a sidewalk, or being unsafe in a vehicle in a parking lot.”
After the snow is removed and the salt applied, the equipment must be washed and repaired as needed. “We do all of our own repair work, and when we’re plowing all night long, something inevitably breaks,” he said. “We’re always maintaining, repairing, keeping the equipment going.” Bacon said when he came to the district five years ago, he had to implement some significant cost-saving changes, which means they now do a lot with a little. One of the men does the entire district’s locksmithing and, if something has to be moved, these guys do it. “People need to understand we are working round-the-clock typically if there’s a snowstorm, but there are only four guys,” he said. “So we’re doing the best we can to get things done by six in the morning for everyone. “It’s typical for us to be up a good part of the night before a storm trying to understand and predict whether it’s going to affect us and how we’ll plan our strategies,” Bacon says.
Part of Bacon’s responsibility is to drive some of the back roads and then report back to superintendent Scot Graden with the road conditions, as well as a report on whether they’re prepared to open the buildings in the morning. Graden then compiles all that data and makes his decision as to whether or not to cancel school.
And the work doesn’t end when the snow stops falling.
Soon enough, the men will need to have the athletic fields in perfect condition for the spring sports. And when school ends for the summer? There are still 400 acres of lawn to mow in addition to other maintenance work, which keeps the team busy year-round. “They spend a lot of time making things good for our students,” said Bacon of his crew. “They’re just an awesome group of guys. They go above and beyond, and I never hear them complain.”
(Pictured l-r, Dave Robison, Rick Spicer, Brian Cuff and Jim Sodt)
