The HSD is committed to maintaining our community’s investment in Hockinson’s schools. Consistent with the HSD Strategic Plan, instructional and operations staff work together to create a safe, welcoming, and well-maintained environment inside and outside of our schools.
When it comes to facility maintenance, Superintendent Steve Marshall and Operations Supervisor David Wilson share three main philosophies: 1. If you don’t promptly address building damage, students will likely adopt an attitude of “If the condition of the building doesn’t matter to adults, then it doesn’t matter to us either.” This is not the attitude you want to cultivate as it invariably leads to additional building damage. 2. If you don’t stay up on building repairs, you will run the risk of falling behind, getting overwhelmed by the workload or cumulative cost, and falling into the reality of “deferred maintenance.” And 3. Make the most of what we have (also known as “The Hockinson Way”) to maximize our resources.
One way we maximize our resources is by bucking the trend of replacing, rather than repairing, our equipment. Case-in-point: A dryer in the HMS Resource Room. Wilson received a report that the dryer had stopped working and no power was getting to the control panel. That electrical problem, along with the fact that the dryer had since been discontinued, signaled that the district would likely have to come to grips with replacing it. But Wilson did his due diligence and researched the problem on a number of different consumer forums. He purchased a $10 part, which fixed the problem. Wilson’s extra effort saved hundreds of dollars that it would have cost to purchase a new dryer - money that can be allocated to other repairs or equipment issues that can only be resolved through replacement.
Whether it is a part that costs $10 or $1,000, we could not maintain our schools without the support of the Hockinson community; levy dollars are a critical resource that make these improvements possible.
The $10 part The working dryer