The HSD is committed to maintaining our community’s investment in Hockinson’s schools. Instructional and operations staff work together to create a safe, welcoming, and positive learning environment inside and a safe and well-maintained appearance outside our schools. Today’s Facility Friday recounts some of the ups and downs of maintaining the HHS elevator.
Two years ago, leaders at Hockinson High School chose “Elevate” as its school improvement theme. Staff and students have since followed suit, increasing effort and achievement across the school’s academic and athletic programs. Ironically, one critical piece of machinery failed to elevate its performance: The elevator.
To be fair, the HHS elevator gets a lot of use. According to HSD Operations Director Dave Wilson, “many high schools have a second service elevator” that is used for custodial supplies and maintenance equipment. Unfortunately, this high-level of usage was not being countered by an effective maintenance program. The HSD was in a long-term contract with a service provider that the district did not feel was proactive enough with its preventive maintenance or responsive enough whenever there were mechanical issues.
The results were both frustrating and scary. The elevator was frequently out of service, which especially impacted students with disabilities and staff recovering from injuries or surgical procedures, both of whom depended on it to take them to classes on both floors. On two occasions, students and staff were caught inside the elevator carriage when the lift mechanism stopped working!
On top of these issues, the school district was receiving expensive repair estimates. Wilson recalled two examples. “One bid was for $30,000 for a new clutch mechanism. Another was over $20,000 for a new door mechanism,” said Wilson.
Wilson and HHS and district leaders made the decision to find a new repair service. Within a few weeks, both repairs were completed for well under half of the amount quoted by the previous vendor.
The elevator has provided reliable service in the months that followed and, now while it brings students down to earth, it also elevates them as well.
This saga illustrates two critical practices that underlie Hockinson facility maintenance: Competitive bids and preventive maintenance. The first is a state requirement and best practice. The second is a philosophy that is often abandoned when funds run low. However, Wilson and HSD Superintendent Steve Marshall share the belief that if you consistently tend to maintenance needs (and incur expense) on a regular basis, you avoid big ticket repairs and replacement scenarios that are more costly and unpredictable.
We could not keep things in running order without the support of the Hockinson community; levy dollars are a critical resource that enable us to elevate the maintenance level of our facilities.
