fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Submit Your Event
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Send Letter to the Editor
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Our Newsletters
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s UP
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Subscribe to the What’s UP newsletter
  • Opinion
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Log Out
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s UP
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Subscribe to the What’s UP newsletter
  • Opinion
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Log Out
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Summer chores: The seasonal break doesn’t bring time off for all the school staff

by Crispin Kott
June 26, 2018
in Education
0
Trump’s taking back trans kids’ protections won’t change local approach

(Photo by Dion Ogust)

Students in the Saugerties schools celebrate the end of the 2018-19 school year this week. With the beginning of summer vacation, graduation, moving-up ceremonies and no end of parties have been planned. But the district doesn’t take the summer off: There’s plenty of work to be done. 

Though no large-scale capital improvements will take place this summer, the district will be buzzing with activity, starting with routine maintenance projects in all its schools, according to deputy superintendent Lawrence Mautone and business manager Lissa Jilek.

“Obviously, there’s the routine summer maintenance work that has to be completed,” said Jilek. That undertaking requires precision scheduling and heavy lifting. “The floors get stripped and re-waxed, all the furniture gets cleaned, all the rooms get a really thorough cleaning, there’s painting that goes on,” she said. “The halls all get done, the gymnasium floors get refinished.”

The latter activities at the high and junior high campus have to be completed before fall sports teams begin holding their tryouts and practices in mid-August.

Everything remaining in the classrooms is emptied into the halls while cleaning work is being done, and then it’s put right back in again. Jilek credited the district’s head custodian, Mike LaTourette, and his staff for making the process as fluid as possible. “It’s a routine and they know what to do,” she said. “They hit one wing at a time or one floor at a time, and then they basically move on down the hall. Every school, every classroom, every nook and cranny, gets deep-cleaned.”

Most district offices are in constant use during the summer break, but even those rooms aren’t spared a thorough cleaning, with staff being relocated to accommodate LaTourette’s crew. Numerous programs involving students will include the academic summer school in the junior high school, a BOCES-run summer school program at Cahill Elementary, the third-year English as a New Language (ENL) Academy at Cahill, and the introduction of a robotics camp at the high school.  

“We try to be as coordinated as possible,” said Jilek. “The building principal still runs the building.”

Most of the interior cleaning and maintenance in all four elementary schools are completed by mid-August, when there’s a four-day orientation program to give kindergartners a chance to get used to a new routine, said Mautone.

The district’s technology department is also busy during the summer. “[They] swap out computers, rotate out old computers in computer labs,” said Mautone. “They’re working non-stop over the summer as well. All the computers get cleaned, all the projectors get cleaned. We make sure we maintain all that equipment over the summer as well.”

The grass on all district properties has to be mowed. How much rain hits the Catskills impacts the amount of work.

The schools were closed May 15 for a superintendent’s conference day, the same day the polls were open for budget votes and school-board elections.

This year, there’s parking-lot reconstruction going on at Riccardi and Mt. Marion elementary schools. “It’s a significant amount of work at Riccardi,” Jilek said.”It’s not quite as much at Mt. Marion. I believe that’s going to start after the Fourth of July holiday.” A reconstruction project for the Mt. Marion school is due to begin soon. 

Some weather-related work is already under way at the high school because the storm that hit the area in mid-May left a mark. “Part of the pole vault pit got blown away,” said Jilek. “We had some roof damage. We’ve been addressing that with our insurance company. [Those repairs] are under way and ongoing.”

Maintenance work has been identified by the administrators of each school. “Building principals come up with a wish list they have for the summer. We have a very talented maintenance staff, and we can try and accommodate what the principals want completed,” Jilek said. “We’re lucky. We have a lot of facilities, so they’re very flexible. They are able to move from one facility to another.”

Some issues are revealed after the cleaning work is under way, as classrooms are emptied of their furniture. “It’s surprising how a lot of things come up during the summer when we have a chance to investigate and go into rooms that we aren’t ordinarily able to access so readily,” Jilek said.

Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher

Crispin Kott

Crispin Kott was born in Chicago, raised in New York and has called everywhere from San Francisco to Los Angeles to Atlanta home. A music historian and failed drummer, he’s written for numerous print and online publications and has shared with his son Ian and daughter Marguerite a love of reading, writing and record collecting.

 Crispin Kott is the co-author of the Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to New York City (Globe Pequot Press, June 2018), the Little Book of Rock and Roll Wisdom (Lyons Press, October 2018), and the Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to San Francisco and the Bay Area (Globe Pequot Press, May 2021).

Related Posts

End of  an era
Education

End of an era

July 2, 2025
Kingston High graduating class celebrates surviving a rough time
Education

Kingston High graduating class celebrates surviving a rough time

July 4, 2025
Well done, Saugerties grads
Education

Well done, Saugerties grads

July 1, 2025
148 digital natives graduate from New Paltz High School
Education

148 digital natives graduate from New Paltz High School

July 1, 2025
Kingston parents say remote instruction not as effective as in-person
Education

Dissent grows among Kingston residents over program cuts

June 26, 2025
Saugerties High School student secures scholarship for cultural exchange in Morocco
Education

Saugerties High School student secures scholarship for cultural exchange in Morocco

June 25, 2025
Next Post
New signage marks historic New Paltz burial ground

New signage marks historic New Paltz burial ground

Weather

Kingston, NY
72°
Cloudy
5:28 am8:34 pm EDT
Feels like: 72°F
Wind: 1mph E
Humidity: 93%
Pressure: 29.97"Hg
UV index: 0
ThuFriSat
82°F / 68°F
86°F / 68°F
86°F / 68°F
powered by Weather Atlas

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Our Newsletters
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Art
    • Books
    • Kids
    • Lifestyle & Wellness
    • Food & Drink
    • Music
    • Nature
    • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Subscribe to Our Newsletters
    • Hey Kingston
    • New Paltz Times
    • Woodstock Times
    • Week in Review

© 2022 Ulster Publishing