San Lorenzo Unified School District Report

San Lorenzo Unified School District Maintenance, Facilities Planning, Grounds, Warehouse and Graphic Arts Departments Review August 28, 2014 Joel D. Montero Chief Executive Officer Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM August 28, 2014 Fred Brill, Ed.D., Superintendent San Lorenzo Unified School District 15510 Usher Street San Lorenzo, CA 94580 Dear Superintendent Brill: In February 2014, San Lorenzo Unified School District entered into an agreement with the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) for a review of the district’s Maintenance, Facilities Planning, Grounds, Warehouse and Graphic Arts departments. Specifically, the agreement stated that FCMAT would perform the following: 1. Conduct an organizational, staffing and efficiency review of the district’s facilities, maintenance, grounds, warehouse and duplicating services operations. a. The team will review job descriptions for all department positions; evaluate capacity, scheduling, efficiency and functions; and make recommendations for staffing and operational improvements. All recommendations will include estimated savings or costs for any proposed position reductions or additions. This component will include interviews with district and site employees regarding the level of service the department provides. b. The team will evaluate the workflow of each function for the facilities, maintenance, grounds, warehouse and reprographics department and make recommendations for improved efficiency and standard industry practices. This component will include the following: i. Evaluate the district’s comprehensive maintenance and deferred main- tenance plans for all facilities, grounds, and the district’s major facilities systems (HVAC, mechanical, plumbing, electrical and structural). ii. Review the district’s maintenance work order system to ensure that all maintenance and repairs are completed in a timely fashion, and that work order status reports are provided regularly. iii. Review the district’s long-range facilities plan, and provide recommen- dations for staffing, if any. iv. Evaluate the grounds service plans for each site to ensure that the tasks and expectations for grounds employees are clearly outlined and indi- cate a detailed daily and periodic schedule for mowing, maintenance and integrated pest management. This will include an evaluation of the summer and non-school day programs for special projects. v. Review the district’s warehouse operations and make recommenda- tions regarding alternative options such as just-in-time delivery. vi. Evaluate the reprographics department and provide recommendations for improved operational efficiencies. This report contains the study team’s findings and recommendations. We appreciate the opportunity to serve you and we extend our thanks to all the staff of the San Lorenzo Unified School District for their cooperation and assistance during fieldwork. Sincerely, Joel D. Montero Chief Executive Officer Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM i TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of contents Foreword .................................................................................................iii Introduction ............................................................................................1 Executive Summary ..............................................................................3 Organizational Structure ....................................................................7 Findings and Recommendations .....................................................9 Maintenance Operations .............................................................................9 Facilities Planning .........................................................................................15 Grounds ...........................................................................................................17 Graphic Arts and Warehouse Services ..................................................21 Appendices ............................................................................................27 San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict ii Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM iii ABOUT FCMAT About FCMAT FCMAT’s primary mission is to assist California’s local K-14 educational agencies to identify, prevent, and resolve financial and data management challenges. FCMAT provides fiscal and data management assistance, professional development training, product development and other related school business and data services. FCMAT’s fiscal and management assistance services are used not just to help avert fiscal crisis, but to promote sound financial practices and efficient operations. FCMAT’s data management services are used to help local educational agencies (LEAs) meet state reporting responsibilities, improve data quality, and share information. FCMAT may be requested to provide fiscal crisis or management assistance by a school district, charter school, community college, county office of education, the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, or the Legislature. When a request or assignment is received, FCMAT assembles a study team that works closely with the local education agency to define the scope of work, conduct on-site fieldwork and provide a written report with findings and recommendations to help resolve issues, overcome challenges and plan for the future. Studies by Fiscal Year 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 92/93 93/94 94/95 95/96 96/97 97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict seidutS fo rebmuN FCMAT also develops and provides numerous publications, software tools, workshops and professional development opportunities to help local educational agencies operate more effec- tively and fulfill their fiscal oversight and data management responsibilities. The California School Information Services (CSIS) arm of FCMAT assists the California Department of Education with the implementation of the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) and also maintains DataGate, the FCMAT/CSIS software LEAs use for CSIS services. FCMAT was created by Assembly Bill 1200 in 1992 to assist LEAs to meet and sustain their financial obligations. Assembly Bill 107 in 1997 charged FCMAT with responsi- bility for CSIS and its statewide data management work. Assembly Bill 1115 in 1999 codified CSIS’ mission. AB 1200 is also a statewide plan for county offices of education and school districts to work together locally to improve fiscal procedures and accountability standards. Assembly Bill 2756 (2004) provides specific responsibilities to FCMAT with regard to districts that have received emergency state loans. In January 2006, SB 430 (charter schools) and AB 1366 (community colleges) became law and expanded FCMAT’s services to those types of LEAs. iv ABOUT FCMAT Since 1992, FCMAT has been engaged to perform more than 1,000 reviews for LEAs, including school districts, county offices of education, charter schools and community colleges. The Kern County Superintendent of Schools is the administrative agent for FCMAT. The team is led by Joel D. Montero, Chief Executive Officer, with funding derived through appropriations in the state budget and a modest fee schedule for charges to requesting agencies. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 1 INTRODUCTION Introduction Background Located in Alameda County, the San Lorenzo Unified School District has a 5-member elected governing board and serves approximately 12,270 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The district has nine elementary schools, three middle schools, two comprehensive high schools, two alternative high schools, and is the authorizing agency for two charter schools. Approximately 27% of the district’s students are English learners, and 51% are eligible for free and reduced-price meals based on 2012-13 data. In December 2013 the district entered into an agreement with FCMAT to review facilities, maintenance grounds, transportation and custodial operations. Specifically, the study agreement states that FCMAT will complete the following: 1. Conduct an organizational, staffing and efficiency review of the district’s facil- ities, maintenance, grounds, warehouse and duplicating services operations. a. The team will review job descriptions for all department positions; evaluate capacity, scheduling, efficiency and functions; and make recommendations for staffing and operational improvements. All recommendations will include estimated savings or costs for any proposed position reductions or additions. This component will include interviews with district and site employees regarding the level of service the department provides. b. The team will evaluate the workflow of each function for the facilities, maintenance, grounds, warehouse and reprographics department and make recommendations for improved efficiency and standard industry practices. This component will include the following: i. Evaluate the district’s comprehensive maintenance and deferred main- tenance plans for all facilities, grounds, and the district’s major facili- ties systems (HVAC, mechanical, plumbing, electrical and structural). ii. Review the district’s maintenance work order system to ensure that all maintenance and repairs are completed in a timely fashion, and that work order status reports are provided regularly. iii. Review the district’s long-range facilities plan, and provide recommen- dations for staffing, if any. iv. Evaluate the grounds service plans for each site to ensure that the tasks and expectations for grounds employees are clearly outlined and indi- cate a detailed daily and periodic schedule for mowing, maintenance and integrated pest management. This will include an evaluation of the summer and non-school day programs for special projects. San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict 2 INTRODUCTION v. Review the district’s warehouse operations and make recommenda- tions regarding alternative options such as just-in-time delivery. vi. Evaluate the reprographics department and provide recommendations for improved operational efficiencies. Study Team The study team was composed of the following members: Eric D. Smith, MPA Laurie Crowe FCMAT Fiscal Intervention Specialist FCMAT Consultant Templeton, CA Paso Robles, CA Leonel Martinez Brad Palowski* FCMAT Technical Writer Director of Support Services Bakersfield, CA Sanger Unified School District Sanger, CA *As a member of this study team, this consultant was not representing his respective employer but was working solely as an independent contractor for FCMAT. Each team member reviewed the draft report to confirm its accuracy and to achieve consensus on the final recommendations. Study Guidelines FCMAT visited the district on May 27, 28 and 29, 2014 to conduct interviews, collect data and review documents. This report is the result of those activities and is divided into the following sections: I. Executive Summary II. Organizational Structure III. Maintenance IV. Facilities V Grounds VI. Graphic Arts and Warehouse Services VII. Appendices In writing its reports, FCMAT uses the Associated Press Stylebook, a comprehensive guide to usage and accepted style that emphasizes conciseness and clarity. In addition, this guide empha- sizes plain language, discourages the use of jargon and capitalizes relatively few terms. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Executive Summary FCMAT conducted an organizational and staffing review to provide the San Lorenzo Unified School District governing board and district administration with an independent and external review of its Maintenance, Grounds, Facilities Planning, Warehouse and Graphic Arts depart- ments. This review was completed to identify areas of redundancy, improper segregation of duties between departments, and determine appropriate staffing levels based on industry standards. The Maintenance Department’s organizational structure is typical of school districts of similar size. The department has one maintenance and grounds supervisor, who is responsible for 25 direct reports, a span of control that may be too large for one employee to effectively supervise. The district is understaffed in the Maintenance Department compared to districts of similar size (based on the CASBO industry standard of approximately one maintenance worker for each school site). The department has 15 permanent full-time equivalent (FTE) positions, yet main- tains 17 active school sites, four leased sites, and a central kitchen, warehouse and district office. The district should consider hiring two to three maintenance employees, including a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) technician and a painter. During the last several years, many school districts have been required to reduce staff and oper- ating costs because of budget reductions by the state. Maintenance staff have supported these district reductions and attempted to make repairs using limited resources. As a result, mainte- nance staff has made superficial repairs to many pieces of equipment and infrastructure rather than having the district absorb the fiscal impact of replacement or repair. The Maintenance and Grounds departments lack procedure manuals that clearly define and communicate district procedures, standards and expectations. Without written procedures manuals, maintenance staff and the department’s customers will have varying expectations, making it difficult to hold maintenance staff accountable for their performance. Effective written policies, procedures, standards, and expectations will clearly define employee authorizations and expectations, and the standards of care for all facilities, including frequency of services and expected response times for maintenance and grounds service. The district lacks a formalized preventive maintenance plan, but has a preventive maintenance trailer and a 3-person team that completes regularly scheduled tasks on a districtwide scale. Implementation of preventive maintenance plan for additional items such as HVAC and refrig- eration equipment, electrical panels, fire alarm devices, rain gutters, and exhaust fans, should be added to a written schedule so that preventative maintenance tasks are implemented on schedule and quantified. Maintenance and grounds staff use fleet vehicles that are old and in need of regular repair. The frequency of repair requires employees to double up in vehicles on occasion, reducing produc- tivity, or use vehicles that are ill suited for maintenance repairs. An inventory of Maintenance Department vehicles shows they range from three to 36 years in age, with mileage ranging from 28,000 to 193,000 miles. Because the district does not maintain or fund a capital vehicle replace- ment program, the life cycles have been overextended. Additionally, the fuel gauges on some of the grounds trucks do not function. As a result, grounds staff fuel their vehicles more frequently than needed so they will not run out of gas. The district has prepared a facilities handbook with detailed information about each school site, including school site acreage, building square footage, the year each building was constructed and San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Division of the State Architect (DSA) number. The facilities handbook also includes an inventory of furniture and equipment items at each school site. However, the district lacks a facilities master plan. It should develop a plan that uses conservative assumptions, and identifies funding mechanisms to meet the need for new or modernized school facilities. Most of the district’s school facilities are more than 60 years of age, and the need to modernize is demonstrable. The district is staffed with two construction managers, which is adequate if it elects to embark on a new general obligation bond campaign. The construction managers are responsible for all aspects of the facilities program from preparing bid documents to working with attorneys on general and special conditions contained in the bid specifications, compet- itively bidding the projects, and managing the projects through closeout. However, the two construction managers indicate that their biggest problem is not knowing whether they will have sufficient funding to proceed with projects. The Grounds Department is staffed with nine FTEs, is composed of several veteran groundskeepers, and functions well as a team. However, several barriers prevent the department from performing at maximum efficiency. The grounds crew’s equipment, such as blowers, hedgers, tree trimmers and weed whips, are in poor repair, and many tools been cannibalized for parts. There are no spare pieces of any equipment. If small equipment items, such as blowers or weed eaters become inoperable, groundskeepers must borrow them from one another until the item is repaired or replaced. During interviews, grounds staff indicated that many pieces of equipment are not repaired or replaced because of the district’s financial constraints. The district should establish a grounds equipment replacement budget based on the life cycle of grounds equipment, especially the large riding mowers. The district should also stagger the purchases of grounds equipment so that it can budget for equipment replacement over several years, and various pieces of grounds equipment do not reach the end of their life cycles at the same time. The Graphic Arts Department prints materials and forms for the entire district and generates revenue by rendering services for outside organizations. This department designs and prints forms, brochures, certificates, student planners, posters, blueprints, menus, calendars, handbooks, and more. Labor costs are included only in jobs prepared for outside organizations. The industry standard is to include the cost of labor for all print jobs. One desktop publisher and two graphic technicians work full-time in the Graphic Services Department. The department relies on two printing presses manufactured in the 1970s and 1980s for most of its tasks. Since both presses are at the end of their life expectancy, the district should consider setting aside funds to replace this equipment before one or both presses fail. The district maintains a fully stocked warehouse for centralized receiving and shipping. The warehouse occupies a large portion of storage space. In addition, carrying costs are high because of the staff employment necessary for stocking, pulling and delivering orders. The warehouse catalog lists items and their actual costs, which does not include a surcharge. In addition, sites and departments are not charged for district forms. A common practice of other districts is to add a surcharge to the cost of warehouse items and charge sites for forms. The industry stand is to charge 4%-6% above actual costs. To reduce costs and improve efficiency, many school districts in California have implemented “just-in-time” inventory systems such as the one available through Office Depot. The requestor enters orders online via Web browser, and items are shipped the next day directly to the request- or’s site. This eliminates the necessity of shipping most classroom and office supply orders to the Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY warehouse. Accordingly, the warehouse staff no longer needs to process and deliver classroom and office supply orders to sites. In addition, inventory-carrying costs are reduced, and sites receive their requested supplies much faster. The district should strongly consider the Office Depot supply and delivery model. The warehouse should continue to stock paper and custodial supplies since these items often can be obtained at far better prices when purchased in bulk. Purchase cards can also reduce transactional costs. A purchase card is a form of credit card issued to individual district employees. Purchase card controls have evolved and improved over the past decade to provide strict and specific restrictions on how, when, where, and what the authorized user can purchase. The use of purchase cards has greatly increased in recent years, with many government organizations now using them to eliminate cumbersome procedures, reduce costs, and lessen workload on staff. Organizations typically use purchase cards to acquire low-value merchandise more efficiently and at a significantly lower transaction cost than traditional methods. Organizations are replacing revolving fund cash and checks with purchase cards and have also started to use the cards in accounts payable to automate payments for routine expenses. This is one of the fastest-growing uses, and it can also generate a small revenue stream for the district. The district can implement a variety of controls for each purchase card such as a single-purchase dollar limit, a monthly limit, and merchant category code restrictions. San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 7 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE Organizational Structure A school district’s organizational structure should establish the framework for leadership and the delegation of specific duties and responsibilities for all staff members. This structure should be managed to maximize resources and reach identified goals and should adapt as the district’s enrollment increases or declines. The district should be staffed according to basic, generally accepted theories of organizational structure and the standards used in other school agencies of similar size and type. The most common theories of organizational structure are span of control, chain of command, and line and staff authority. Span of Control Span of control refers to the number of subordinates reporting directly to a supervisor. While there is no agreed-upon ideal number of subordinates for span of control, it is generally agreed that the span can be larger at lower levels than the higher levels of an organization because subordinates at the lower levels typically perform more routine duties, and therefore can be more effectively supervised, according to Principles of School Business Management by Craig R. Wood, David C. Thompson and Lawrence O. Picus. Chain of Command Chain of command refers to the flow of authority in an organization and is characterized by two significant principles. Unity of command suggests that a subordinate is only accountable to one supervisor, and the scalar principle suggests that authority and responsibility should flow in a direct vertical line from top management to the lowest level. The result is a hierarchical division of labor as described in Principles of School Business Management. Line and Staff Authority Line authority is the relationship between supervisors and subordinates. It refers to the direct line in the chain of command. For example, the assistant superintendent of business services has direct line authority over the director of fiscal services, and the director of fiscal services has direct line authority over the fiscal services department staff. Conversely, staff authority is advisory in nature. Staff personnel do not have the authority to make and implement decisions, but act in support roles to line personnel. The organizational structure of local educational agencies contains both line and staff authority. The purpose of any organizational structure is to help district management make key decisions to facilitate student learning while balancing its financial resources. The organizational design should outline the management process and its specific links to the formal system of communica- tion, authority, and responsibility necessary to achieve the district’s goals and objectives. San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict 8 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 9 MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS Findings and Recommendations Maintenance Operations At the time of fieldwork, the district had recently hired an operations supervisor. The position had been unfilled, with custodians reporting to site administrators. With the hiring of the oper- ations supervisor, the district intends to shift the reporting structure so all custodians report to a centralized location with input from site administrators. While the original scope of the manage- ment study did not include operations, FCMAT strongly recommends changing to a centralized reporting structure for the Custodial Department. By doing this, the district can create a unified standard of cleaning, combine material and equipment purchasing, and apply a consistent level of accountability. During a document review of a hazardous material assessment by the district’s insurance carrier, large discrepancies were identified between the types and quantities of cleaning materials stored at various sites. Once centralized reporting is implemented, the district can expect to achieve savings by limiting the number of cleaning materials used and purchasing limited amounts so funds are not encumbered when material is not needed. Additionally, through a centralized reporting structure, site custodians can help make minor maintenance-related repairs. Some hand tools and basic trainings may need to be provided. The Maintenance Department’s organizational structure is typical of school districts of similar size. The department has one supervisor responsible for the Grounds and Maintenance depart- ments. This supervisor’s span of control is 25 full-time employees (FTE), which may be too large for one person to effectively supervise. Within those direct reports, two maintenance employees are vehicle mechanics whose primary responsibilities are 45-day inspections for the 10 school buses the district operates. The mechanics also maintain the district’s maintenance fleet, which includes 13 vehicles for the Child Nutrition Department, 40 maintenance vehicles, five passenger vehicles, and all the Grounds Department equipment (tractors, chainsaws, mowers, etc.) The two vehicle mechanics spend less than 10 percent of their time completing maintenance work orders. Based on this information, the district should consider having the vehicle mechanics report to the transportation supervisor. They should focus on bus, vehicle, and equipment repairs and not be assigned any maintenance-related work orders. This will allow the Maintenance and Grounds departments to reduce the amount of downtime during vehicle and equipment failures. The director has been in that position for less than 24 months and was hired from the private sector. His formal training is as an architect, but he lacks institutional knowledge of the district and is not familiar with many of the regulations for California school districts. The director should consider becoming involved in professional organizations such as the Coalition of Adequate School Housing (CASH) and the California School Business Official Association (CASBO). Organizations such as these allow for networking and collaboration of current industry best practices. The district is understaffed in the Maintenance Department compared to districts of similar size (based on the CASBO industry standard of approximately one maintenance worker for each school site). The department has 15 permanent FTE positions, yet maintains 17 active school sites, four leased sites, and a central kitchen, warehouse and district office. The department utilizes general maintenance workers and trade-specific personnel. While management-level job San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict 10 MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS descriptions have been updated in the last two years, the remaining job descriptions have not been updated since January 1990. Job descriptions should be updated every two to three years to ensure they accurately reflect current laws. The district should update all the maintenance, grounds, and custodial job descriptions and consider hiring two to three additional maintenance employees to manage the workload. Field interviews and work-order information determined that graffiti removal consumes a large portion of the current painters normal duties, causing routine maintenance to be neglected. Additionally, the district operates an extensive energy management system that is monitored, operated, and scheduled by one heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) technician. The district should consider hiring an additional painter and HVAC technician. During the last several years, many school districts have been required to reduce staff and operating costs because of budget reductions. Interviews determined that all the maintenance employees have supported these reductions and attempted to make repairs on limited budgets, resulting in superficial fixes for the equipment. Because of this mindset, many of the infrastruc- ture items have lacked proper maintenance and repair. A review of documents found that the district’s 5-year deferred maintenance plan was incomplete and a districtwide master plan had not been completed. Based on this information, the Maintenance Department is not aware of the district’s true capital repair needs. The Maintenance Department lacks procedure manuals that clearly define and communicate district procedures, standards and expectations. Without these manuals, maintenance staff and the department’s customers will have varying expectations, making it difficult to hold maintenance staff accountable for their performance. Effective written policies, procedures, standards, and expectations clearly define employee authori- zations and expectations and the standards of care for all facilities, including frequency of services and expected response times for maintenance service. They also align with the employees’ rights and accountability standards; the Personnel Department is the best resource for helping ensure this align- ment. The best practice is to develop and maintain a manual of these documents for staff to reference; effective manuals of this type include at least the following topics. • Use of district vehicles • Use of district tools and equipment • Key control and reporting • New employee and substitute orientation • Acceptable employee conduct • Employee discipline • Employee evaluations • Dress code/uniforms (if applicable) • Work-order assignment • Inventory management and control • Maintenance response time • Work-order communication processes Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 11 MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS • Communication protocols between staff members • Preventive maintenance items and schedules Purchasing authority Once such a manual is established, the best practice is to review and revise it regularly as needed to ensure that it meets district needs and aligns with the collective-bargaining agreement and legally required changes. The manual should also serve as a basis for staff accountability and evaluations. During FCMAT’s fieldwork and interviews with staff, a common criticism was that the crew lacked initiative and was ineffective at communicating with school offices on the status of their work. The district should require the maintenance crew to check in with school office staff before starting repairs and to be in constant communication with school office staff regarding repair status. Training A review of training records found that one safety training was provided yearly and included only four safety topics. Critical trainings for asbestos management and lead paint disturbance have not been completed. Additionally, the district could not provide asbestos management plans upon request. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires that a local educational agency (LEA) under the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) appoint a designated person for asbestos-related activities, including the implementation of a plan for managing asbestos-containing building materials in school buildings and compliance with federal asbestos regulations. The district should provide training and identify a designated person responsible for compliance with AHERA and all local Air Board regulations. The EPA requires employees who conduct renovation, repair or painting activities in pre-1978 child-occupied facilities to become lead-safe certified. Firms hired by the school district to perform this type of work must also be lead-safe certified. The district should provide training based on the EPA’S lead renovation, repair and painting rule. Building codes, governmental regulations, and industry practices regularly change. The trades- persons in the Maintenance Department have not received continuing education that would allow them to stay current with their respective areas of specialty. The district should utilize local vendors, community colleges, and various online trainings and webinars to ensure maintenance personnel have up-to-date knowledge and skills. Work Orders The department’s delivery of services is accomplished through multiple electronic work-order systems (SchoolDude and Escape) and a paper system. A change in work-order systems was recently made in the attempt to increase data to track work-order status, progress, and comple- tion rates. During field interviews, neither work-order system could provide a summary of completed work orders, the average number days to complete a work order, or the average work order cost. This may be the result of inexperience with the new system and/or a lack of function- ality with the old system. Additionally, the paperwork-order systems used by the two comprehen- sive high schools were not monitored for status, completion, or average cost. While the district wants to become more efficient, it is impossible to measure efficiency with three work-order systems. It should consider consolidating to one work-order system. In choosing a system, factors such as reporting capabilities, interconnectivity to existing accounting software, and the ability to generate time cards should be taken into account. San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict 12 MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS Preventive Maintenance Although the district does not have a formalized preventive maintenance plan, it has a preven- tive-maintenance trailer and 3-person team that completes regularly scheduled tasks on a districtwide scale. The tasks include important items such as changing the filters of the HVAC equipment, checking playground equipment, and inspecting roofs. While these items are important, the preventive-maintenance team also completes tasks as a result of special requests from the office managers and teachers. These can range from installing locks on cabinets to hanging pictures. These types of tasks provide customer service; however, they lack long-term benefits for critical components of building infrastructure. Implementation of preventive maintenance plan for additional items such as HVAC and refrig- eration equipment, electrical panels, fire alarm devices, rain gutters, and exhaust fans should be added to a written schedule. The director of operations should develop this schedule and establish maintenance priorities to effectively utilize maintenance funding and materials. The district should also consider the costs of preventive maintenance versus predictive maintenance. Predictive maintenance relies on sensory inspection, quantitative inspection, and condition monitoring technologies. This type of maintenance requires additional training for personnel and costly diagnostic equipment. The district should determine whether it can save more money by investing in predictive maintenance or if the additional savings will be less than the investment in predictive techniques. Replacement Plan During fieldwork, all tradespersons possessed the needed tools and equipment to perform their daily duties. However, the vehicles used by the maintenance staff were old and in need of regular repair. The frequency of repair required employees to double up in a vehicle on occasion, reducing productivity, or use vehicles ill suited for maintenance-related repairs. An inventory of the Maintenance Department vehicles shows these units range from three to 36 years in age, with mileage ranging from 28,000 to 193,000 miles. Because the district does not maintain or fund a capital vehicle replacement program, the life cycles have been overextended. The United States General Services Administration recommends the replacement of nondiesel medium-sized trucks at 12 years of age or an odometer reading of 100,000 miles, or 10 years of age or an odometer reading of 150,000 miles for diesel trucks. When a fleet vehicle is placed in service beyond its life expectancy, it requires increased maintenance, adversely affecting service levels. The district should implement and fund a vehicle replacement plan. Once the this plan is funded, the district should stagger the purchase of maintenance fleet vehicles so that they do not all reach the end of their life expectancy at the same time. Recommendations The district should: 1. Provide professional development opportunities for the director of mainte- nance and operations and tradespersons, including the following: a. Join professional organizations such as CASBO and CASH. b. Utilize regional training seminars provided by vendors and the local community college. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 13 MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS c. Provide training in use of the district’s current energy management soft- ware. d. Provide training on AHERA and RRP Rules. 2. Extend the current preventive-maintenance schedule, and consider limiting or eliminating the special-request list. 3. Update all the maintenance, grounds, and custodial job descriptions. 4. Consolidate the work-monitoring process to one work-order system and eliminate the use of paper work orders. 5. Develop a multiyear plan to replace maintenance fleet vehicles, and fund that program accordingly. 6. Stagger the purchase of maintenance fleet vehicles so that vehicles do not reach the end of their life expectancy at the same time. 7. Hire two to three maintenance employees, including the following: a. A painter b. An HVAC person 8. Complete a districtwide master plan with input from curriculum, instruction, and facilities staff members. 9. Develop and implement written procedures, standards and expectations for the Maintenance Department staff. 10. Require the maintenance crew to check in with school office staff before starting repairs and maintain constant communication with school office staff regarding repair status. San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict 14 MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 15 FACILITIES PLANNING Facilities Planning The district passed an $83 million general obligation bond in November 2008 for the following purposes: • Upgrade and improve middle and high school science labs • Upgrade electrical systems and improve student access to classroom computers and technology • Replace fire safety doors and to provide for other safety improvements • Upgrade security systems to improve school campuses and protect students • Resurface playgrounds and athletic fields • Redesign and improve student drop-off areas to improve traffic and student safety and to replace older portable classrooms with permanent classrooms However, the projects were carried out without an overarching facilities master plan. Most of the district’s school facilities are more than 60 years old, and the need to modernize is demonstrable. The district has prepared a facilities handbook with detailed information about each school site, including school site acreage, building square footage, the year each building was constructed and DSA number. The facilities handbook also includes an inventory of furniture and equipment items at each school site. However, the district lacks a facilities master plan. It should develop a plan that uses conservative assumptions, and identifies funding mechanisms to meet the need for new or modernized school facilities. The new plan should consider the continued volatility of the housing market using a low and high range of projected development. It should recalculate the classroom loading standards considering the changes in the state’s class-size reduction program as well as bargaining unit agreements. The plan’s assumptions should also discuss the status and likelihood of future state facilities funding given the governor’s negative outlook on the future of the state funding program. A facilities master plan should also incorporate discussions of more recent issues such as any new facility needs based on the Common Core State Standards curriculum programming, new energy conservation and efficiency goals, and technology needs. A more detailed review and analysis of the modernization needs of existing facilities, including the required upgrades for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), should also be incorporated. The plan should project facilities needs using updated residential development plans from the city, board and community priorities, and educational programming. This should be accom- plished through a new process that involves a committee of those affected and the community and that prioritizes recommendations for facilities goals, needs and future projects and submits them to the governing board. It is important for the basic infrastructure of existing facilities to be brought to equitable standards for modern schools. Any modernization projects should include a scope of work that at a minimum consists of the requirements of the DSA, including fire/life safety, seismic safety, and accessibility. The district should also move toward standardizing all aspects of its facilities program. The district uses four separate architectural firms, and each firm is allowed to specify building components instead of using a district standard. This results in maintenance staff having to stock and maintain several types of door hardware, locks, light fixtures and flooring materials. Building components should be standardized across the district, and all of its archi- San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict 16 FACILITIES PLANNING tectural firms should be required to include the standards in their bid specifications for future projects. The district’s two construction managers are managing the completion of construction projects and the DSA closeout process of several projects funding through the district’s most recent general obligation bond. With two construction managers, the district is adequately staffed if it initiates a new general obligation bond campaign. The construction managers are responsible for all aspects of the facilities program from preparing bid documents to working with attorneys on general and special conditions contained within the bid specifications, competitively bidding the projects and managing them through close out. The construction managers indicate that their biggest problem is not knowing whether they will have sufficient funding to proceed with projects. Recommendations The district should: 1. Initiate a new long-range facilities master plan process, including a committee of those affected and community input. 2. Quantify the costs of the needs identified in the facilities master plan. 3. Develop a long-term funding strategy for the needs included in the plan. 4. Regularly update the plan based on projected enrollment and educational programming. 5. Establish regular meetings between the assistant superintendent for business, director of facilities and operations and the construction managers to review the status of project funding. 6. Standardize building components across the district and require its archi- tectural firms to include the standards in their bid specifications for future projects. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 17 GROUNDS Grounds Success in grounds management depends on well-trained personnel with skills in a variety of areas. Like other maintenance and operations functions, staffing for grounds-related services tends to vary among school districts throughout the state. The most common factors affecting staffing levels for grounds crews at individual schools include the following: • The school size in acreage • The number and types of outdoor spaces to be maintained • The type and extent of natural and hardscape features • The extent to which grounds crews perform unrelated tasks As of May 2014, the district Grounds Department was staffed with nine FTEs. The department is comprised of several veteran groundskeepers and functions well as a team. However, several problems prevent the department from performing at maximum efficiency. The grounds crew’s equipment, such as blowers, hedgers, tree trimmers and weed whips, were in poor repair, and many tools had been cannibalized for parts. There are no spare pieces of any equipment. If small equipment items, such as blowers or weed eaters become inoperable, groundskeepers must borrow those items from one another until the item is repaired or replaced. During interviews, grounds staff indicated that many pieces of equipment are not repaired or replaced because of district financial constraints. The district should establish a grounds-equip- ment replacement budget based on the life cycle of grounds equipment, especially the large riding mowers. The district should also stagger the purchases of grounds equipment so that it can budget for equipment replacement over several years, and various pieces of grounds equipment do not reach the end of their life cycles at the same time. Similarly, several fleet vehicles used by the grounds staff were old and in need of regular repair. The frequency of repair required employees to double up in vehicles on occasion, reducing productivity, or use vehicles ill suited for grounds maintenance related repairs. An inventory of the Grounds Department vehicles shows they are from three to 36 years old, with mileage ranging from 28,000 to 193,000 miles. Moreover, interviews with grounds staff indicate that the fuel gauges on some of the Grounds Department’s trucks do not function. As a result, grounds staff fuel their vehicles more frequently than needed so they will not run out of gas. As mentioned earlier, the district does not maintain or fund a capital vehicle replace- ment program, so life cycles have been overextended. The United States General Services Administration recommends the replacement of medium-sized nondiesel trucks at 12 years of age or an odometer reading of 100,000 miles, and at 10 years of age or an odometer reading of 150,000 miles for diesel trucks. When a fleet vehicle is placed in service beyond its life expec- tancy, it requires increased vehicle maintenance, adversely affecting service levels. The district should implement and fund a vehicle-replacement plan. Once the plan is funded, the district should stagger the purchase of maintenance fleet vehicles so that they do not all reach the end of their life expectancy at the same time. Lastly, the Grounds Department lacks manuals that clearly define and communicate district procedures, standards and expectations. Without written procedures manuals, grounds staff and the department’s customers will have varying expectations, making it difficult to hold mainte- nance staff accountable for their performance. San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict 18 GROUNDS Effective written policies, procedures, standards, and expectations clearly define employee authori- zations and expectations, and the standards of care for all facilities including frequency of services and expected response times for maintenance service. They also align with the employees’ rights and accountability standards; the Personnel Department is the best resource for helping ensure this align- ment. It is a best practice to develop and maintain a manual of these documents for staff to reference; effective manuals of this type include at least the following topics. • Use of district vehicles • Use of district tools and equipment • Key control and reporting • New employee and substitute orientation • Acceptable employee conduct • Employee discipline • Employee evaluations • Dress code/uniforms (if applicable) • Work order assignment • Inventory management and control • Maintenance response time • Work order communication processes • Communication protocols between staff members • Preventive maintenance items and schedules • Purchasing authority Once a manual is established, the best practice is to review and revise it regularly as needed to ensure it meets district needs and aligns with the collective bargaining agreement and legally required changes. The manual should also serve as a basis for staff accountability and evaluations. CASBO does not have a formula for grounds maintenance staffing; however, the Florida Department of Education has performed extensive research in this area and included its findings in a document entitled “Maintenance and Operations Administrative Guidelines for School Districts and Community Colleges.” Among other things, the document establishes a formula for the staffing of school district grounds maintenance personnel. This formula is based on two types of grounds personnel: those who perform general grounds functions such as mowing, gardening, and trimming, and those who care for athletic fields or other specialized open space areas. In many school districts, general grounds functions are performed by school custodians while large open areas and athletic fields are maintained by district grounds crews. The recommended formula for determining the number of specialized groundskeepers and athletic field groundskeepers is the total acreage of the school facility divided by 40, plus 1 FTE groundskeeper, plus 1 FTE groundskeeper per 500,000 square feet of athletic fields. For this calculation, the district’s four general maintenance workers assigned to grounds were counted as grounds staff members. For the purposes of FCMAT’s calculations, the acreage or playfield square footage for the district’s three leased school sites was not included. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 19 GROUNDS FCMAT obtained from the district precise measurements of the amount of grounds allocated to playfields at each school site in square feet. By applying the Florida Department of Education formula, FCMAT calculates that the district should have at least 16.0 FTEs to be adequately staffed. The calculation is as follows: Grounds Staffing Formula District Totals Divisor Grounds Staffing - FTE 231.63 acres 40 5.79 4,642, 165 s.f. 500,000 9.28 ---- --- 1.0 Groundskeepers needed 16.0 District groundskeepers 9.0 Shortfall/Surplus 7 *Numbers have been rounded. Recommendations The district should: 1. Establish a grounds equipment replacement budget based on the life cycle of grounds equipment, especially the large riding mowers. 2. Stagger the purchases of grounds equipment so that it can budget for equip- ment replacement over several years, and various pieces of grounds equipment do not reach the end of their life cycles at the same time 3. Establish a vehicle-replacement budget based on age and odometer reading of fleet vehicles. 4. Stagger the purchases fleet vehicles so that the district can budget for replace- ment over several years, and fleet vehicles do not reach the end of their life cycles at the same time. 5. Consider adopting the Florida Department of Education grounds mainte- nance staffing formula as a general guideline for adding or reducing grounds maintenance personnel. 6. Develop and implement written procedures, standards and expectations for the Grounds Department staff. 7. Consider adding up to 7 FTE positions in grounds when funding is avail- able. San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict 20 GROUNDS Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 21 GRAPHIC ARTS AND WAREHOUSE SERVICES Graphic Arts and Warehouse Services The district operates its graphics and warehouse services at 15510 Usher Street. However, the two departments are housed in different buildings at this site. Graphic Arts Department The Graphic Arts Department prints materials and forms for the entire district and generates revenue by rendering services for outside organizations. This department designs and prints forms, brochures, certificates, student planners, posters, blueprints, menus, calendars, hand- books, and more. Labor costs are included only in jobs prepared for outside organizations but is not charged for jobs in the district. The industry standard is to charge the actual cost of labor. Additionally, graphic arts staff insert payroll checks into envelopes, exposing them to potentially confidential information. This task should be reassigned to the Payroll Department. One desktop publisher and two graphic technicians work full-time in the department. The department relies on two printing presses manufactured in the 1970s and 1980s for the most printing tasks. Since both presses are at the end of their life expectancy, the district should consider setting aside funds to replace this equipment before one or both presses fail. To generate a printing job, the requestor completes a graphic art services department request form. It is then delivered in person, sent through interoffice mail or emailed to the graphics department. Completed requests go to accounting monthly for funds to be transferred for inside jobs. Accounting invoices outside jobs. The Accounting Department generates graphic arts requests through ESCAPE, but it would be more efficient if the requestor could enter these requests into ESCAPE or SchoolDude programs. In addition to services provided by the graphic services department, all departments and school sites have copiers on-site for printing and copying needs. The district employees interviewed indicated that they appreciate receiving superior quality, low prices, and rapid job turnarounds. Recommendations The district should: 1. Consider having payroll staff insert checks into envelopes. Another option is to recommend that the county office of education implement pressure-sealed self-mailing checks. 2. Include labor costs on in-house jobs as well as those from outside organiza- tions. 3. Set aside funds for graphic services equipment replacement. 4. Implement online graphic arts job requests through ESCAPE or SchoolDude so all sites can save time and increase efficiency. Warehouse The study team visited the district’s warehouse, which was exceptionally neat and well organized. The warehouse acts as a central receiving location for the entire district. Additionally, this facility is used as a warehouse for child nutrition services. San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict 22 GRAPHIC ARTS AND WAREHOUSE SERVICES The district maintains a fully stocked warehouse for centralized receiving and shipping. The ware- house occupies a large portion of storage space. In addition, carrying costs are high because of the number of staff members necessary for stocking, pulling and delivering orders. The warehouse is responsible for the fixed asset inventory. Warehouse staff also store, deliver and set up table and chairs for all district sites, which is an efficient use of property. Staffing for the department consists of a warehouse supervisor and five full-time warehouse workers. Staff work from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. except for the mail person, who works from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. During the summer, staff work longer days and do not work on Fridays. Two warehouse workers are funded by and dedicated to child nutrition services. The stores catalog lists items and their actual costs, which does not include a surcharge. In addition, sites and departments are not charged for district forms. A common practice of other districts is to add a surcharge to the cost of warehouse items and charge sites for forms. The industry standard is to charge 4% to 6% above actual costs. Sites place orders directly online through ESCAPE by completing a stores requisition. Orders are then approved by Purchasing, which sends the hard copy to the warehouse so the order can be filled. Once the order is filled and delivered, the original hard copy is sent back to Purchasing, which charges the requisitioner through ESCAPE. The director of child nutrition indicated an interest in having the child nutrition service ware- house workers be supervised directly by the Child Nutrition Department. In the past, these employees reported directly to the director of child nutrition. Food deliveries arrive at the warehouse as early as 5:30 a.m., and warehouse workers start at 6:30 a.m. In addition, all warehouse employees take their lunch at the same time, which causes prob- lems if Child Nutrition needs warehouse items while all the employees are gone. Staggering the warehouse workers’ hours would alleviate these issues and be a more efficient use of staff. During the summer, Child Nutrition would benefit from additional help with deliveries to contract sites. The department also needs access to the warehouse on Fridays. As shown in the tabke on the following page, FCMAT compared the district’s warehouse staffing with that of other districts that use just-in-time purchasing. Purchasing staff were included since they play a substantial role in placing and approving orders, approve all warehouse orders, and enter them into the general ledger once they are pulled. If San Lorenzo Unified transitioned to just-in-time purchasing, it may be able to reduce the number of purchasing staff by one. The district stores inventory was $220,476 on June 30, 2013, yet the year-end adjustment was ($14,543), a substantial difference. This can be attributed to the following factors: • Purchasing approves the order. • Purchasing prints a hard copy of the order and sends it to the warehouse. • The warehouse fills the order. • The warehouse sends the hard copy back to Purchasing. • Purchasing enters the information from the hard copy into the general ledger. This makes it difficult to hold anyone accountable for errors and determine whether any purchase orders are lost. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 23 GRAPHIC ARTS AND WAREHOUSE SERVICES Warehouse & Purchasing Staffing Comparison to Similar-Size Districts Using Office Depot Just-In-Time Delivery San Lorenzo Pleasanton Oak Grove Yuba City USD Lompoc USD USD USD USD 2012-13 Enrollment* 12,270 14,932 13,298 11,372 9,811 Number of Schools** 17 15 17 19 16 Warehouse Hours** 6:30 - 2:30 Warehouse Lead Warehouse/ Warehouse Warehouse/Delivery Warehouse Dept 1 Office Specialist II Supervisor Buyer Person Driver Warehouse Delivery Warehouse 2 Warehouse Worker Warehouse Person - Driver Person Warehouse Delivery Warehouse Delivery/ 3 Warehouse Worker - - Driver Courier Person 4 Warehouse Worker - - - - Coordinator- Supervisor- Director of Student Director of Purchasing, Purchasing, Purchasing & Stores Purchasing Dept 1 Nutrition & Purchasing Warehouse & Warehouse & Mgr Purchasing/Warehouse Graphics Publications Purchasing Purchasing 2 Account Specialist - Buyer Employee Employee Purchasing Purchasing 3 Employee Office Assistant - Purchasing Technician Employee @ .53 FTE # of Employees 6.53 6 4 5 4 * Enrollment Information taken from CA Dept of Ed Data Reporting Office ** Information taken from district’s website Recommendations The district should: 1. Revise the stores catalog to include actual costs plus a surcharge of 4% to 6% on all items. 2. Consider having the sites order forms directly from the Graphics Arts Department to eliminate the handling and storage space needed in the ware- house for forms. The Graphics Arts Department should bill the sites for the actual cost of printing forms. 3. Implement a process that will allow store requisitions to be approved by Accounting and forwarded directly to the warehouse through ESCAPE. Once the warehouse fills an order, a warehouse employee should complete the requisition in ESCAPE. This will decrease the cost of employee time and eliminate the loss of accounting information. 4. Consider having Child Nutrition warehouse workers supervised directly by Child Nutrition. Hours and lunchtimes could be staggered, and days worked could be scheduled to better support Child Nutrition. 5. Assign the Purchasing Department to approve purchase orders and send them to the warehouse electronically. The warehouse would pull the orders and enter them into the general ledger. San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict 24 GRAPHIC ARTS AND WAREHOUSE SERVICES Deliveries Monday through Friday, two different employees make mail and warehouse deliveries at different times. Consolidating these functions could greatly increase efficiency and cost-effective usage of the district employees. The warehouse workers also deliver board packets to board members’ personal residences before board meetings. Recommendations The district should: 1. Consider grouping mail and warehouse deliveries for efficiency and potential cost savings. 2. Consider sending board member packets electronically or installing a mailbox at the district office for board members to pick up packets at their convenience. “Just-In-Time” Delivery To reduce costs and improve efficiency, many school districts in California have implemented “just-in-time” inventory systems such as the one available through Office Depot. The requestor enters orders via Web browser, and items are shipped directly to the requestor’s site the next day. This eliminates the necessity of shipping most classroom and office supply orders to the ware- house. Accordingly, warehouse staff no longer needs to process and deliver classroom and office supply orders to sites. In addition, inventory-carrying costs are reduced, and sites receive their requested supplies much faster. The district should strongly consider the Office Depot supply and delivery model. The warehouse should continue to stock paper and custodial supplies, since these items often can be obtained at far better prices when purchased in bulk. Recommendations The district should: 1. Implement just-in-time inventory systems such as the one available through Office Depot. 2. Continue to stock paper and custodial supplies in the warehouse since these items often can be obtained at far better prices when purchased in bulk. Purchase Cards Although the district does not use purchase cards, other LEAs have found them to be beneficial if properly managed. A purchase card is a form of credit card issued to individual district employees. Purchase card controls have evolved and improved over the past decade to provide strict and specific restrictions on how, when, where, and what the authorized user can purchase. Use of purchase cards has seen a dramatic rise in recent years, with many government organizations now utilizing them to elim- inate cumbersome procedures, reduce costs and lessen workload on staff. Organizations typically use purchase cards to acquire low-value merchandise to more efficiently and at a significantly lower transaction cost than traditional methods. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 25 GRAPHIC ARTS AND WAREHOUSE SERVICES Organizations are replacing revolving fund cash and checks with purchase cards and have also started to use the cards in accounts payable to automate payments for routine expenses. This is one of the fastest-growing uses of purchase cards, which can also generate a small revenue stream to the district. Employees who are issued purchase cards are expected to follow the organization’s policies and procedures (a sample is available online at http://pps-pajaro-ca.schoolloop.com/file/1309101 242669/1309101273880/7330313020667668552.pdf) on their use, which includes review and approval of transactions according to a set schedule. The district can implement a variety of controls for each purchase card, such as a single-purchase dollar limit, a monthly limit, and merchant category code restrictions. Some of the benefits of decentralizing small and urgent purchase transactions include: • Purchase and receipt of goods are faster. • There are fewer reimbursement claims. • Internet purchases and orders cane be made from vendors that do not accept purchase orders. • The use of blanket purchase orders is reduced. • Technology is better utilized to analyze spending and vendor activity, and compliance with school district policies and regulations is improved. • Lower dollar-amount purchase orders are eliminated. The industry standard has determined that the cost of issuing a single purchase order is $60 to $75. As a precaution, the Accounting Department should regularly review staff cardholders’ purchase card activity. Audit reviews should also be conducted by accounts payable staff when processing monthly statements for payment. The California Department of General Services created the Cal-Card program in 1992 to streamline the process used to make small purchases. Under this program, employees are issued credit cards to make work-related purchases. Use of the purchasing cards reduces the volume of purchase requisition and expense claim processing, and streamlines the accounts payable process by batching small individual purchases into a single monthly statement for payment. The purchase card program should be implemented over the course of two years, and should be piloted during the first year by a specific department or select group of employees. This will enable the business office to phase in the development of new policies and procedures to accom- modate the new program. Recommendations The district should: 1. Implement the Visa Cal-Card Program. Pilot it with one or two sites and purchasing staff for the first year. 2. Use purchasing cards to eliminate the excessive amount of purchases orders being issued for less than $100. San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict 26 GRAPHIC ARTS AND WAREHOUSE SERVICES Fixed Assets District board policy recognizes that assets with a useful life of more than one year and initial cost of $5,000 or more are considered capital assets. Board Policy (BP) 3400 delegates the super- intendent or designee to determine the estimated useful life of each capital asset and calculate and report the estimated loss of value or depreciation during each accounting period for all capital assets. Administrative Regulation (AR) 3440 states that to provide for the proper control and conserva- tion of district property, the superintendent or designee will maintain an inventory of equipment in accordance with law for the following: 1. All items currently valued in excess of $500 (Education Code 35168) 2. All items purchased with federal funds that have a useful life of more than one year with an acquisition cost per unit of $5,000 or more. All fixed assets that come through the warehouse with a value of $200 or greater or can easily be stolen are entered into the districts’ financial software, ESCAPE inventory program by a ware- house worker. Recommendation The district should: 1. Follow Administrative Regulation (AR) 3440 and enter only assets with a value of $500 or greater into the ESCAPE inventory program. Assets with a value less than $500 that need to be identified as district property could only be engraved or tagged with a district name tag. Job Descriptions Department job descriptions should be updated every two years, yet some warehouse job descrip- tions have not been updated since 1990. The warehouse manager’s job description does not align with the education requirement or essential duties per the American with Disabilities Act. Recommendation The district should: 1. Review job descriptions, update as required, and establish requirements that fit the current duties. Review requirements of similar positions in other districts, educational and experience requirements, and the hierarchy. Make adjustments as necessary. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 2277 APPENDDRICAEFST Appendices A: Florida Department of Education Grounds Staffing Guidelines B: Study Agreement San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict 2288 DARPPAEFNTDICES Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 2299 APPENDDRICAEFST Appendix A - Florida Departement of Education Grounds Staffing Guidelines Florida Center for Community Design + Research 75 San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict noitacudE fo tnemtrapeD adirolF 5.7 Maintenance and Operations Administrative Guidelines for School Districts and Community Colleges Staffi ng and Workload Formulas for Grounds Departments Like other maintenance and operations functions, personnel staffi ng for grounds-related services tends to vary among school districts and community colleges throughout the state. The most common factors affecting staffi ng levels for grounds crews at individual school campuses include the following: (cid:127) School or community college campus size in acreage (cid:127) Number and types of outdoor spaces to be maintained (cid:127) Type and extent of natural and “hardscape” features (cid:127) Extent to which grounds crews perform other unrelated tasks Florida School and Community College Grounds Staffi ng Formula The formula for determining staff levels for grounds maintenance should be based on two types of grounds personnel – those who perform general grounds functions such as mowing, gardening, and trimming, and those who care for athletic fi elds or other specialized open space features. In many school districts, general grounds functions are performed by school custodians, while maintenance of large open areas and athletic fi elds 3300 DARPPAEFNTDICES are maintained by district grounds crews. At some smaller school districts and community colleges it is more typical for a single crew to provide all required grounds services for the entire facility. The following formula is recommended for determining the number of specialized grounds keepers and athletic fi eld grounds keepers for educational facilities. Total acreage of school facility Divided by 40 Plus 1 FTE grounds keeper Plus 1 FTE grounds keeper per 500,000 square feet athletic fi elds Equals Total number of grounds personnel Figure 5.10: Grounds Staffi ng Formula. For the purposes of applying this formula, an athletic fi eld is any area used for interscholastic competition such as football fi elds, baseball fi elds, basketball courts, soccer fi elds, practice and game fi elds, and open acreage. Example: Determine the number of grounds staff required for a high school that is situated on 25 acres of land (including all building footprints) and has approximately 850,000 square feet of athletic fi elds. 25 acres ÷ 40 .63 grounds keepers 840,000 square feet of athletic fi elds/open acreage ÷ 500,000 square feet (grounds keeper ratio) 1.7 grounds keepers + 1.0 (from formula) Total grounds staff: 3.33 grounds keepers 76 Florida Center for Community Design + Research Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 3311 APPENDDRICAEFST Appendix B - Study Agreement San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict 3322 DARPPAEFNTDICES Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 3333 APPENDDRICAEFST San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict 3344 DARPPAEFNTDICES Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 3355 APPENDDRICAEFST San Lorenzo Unified SchooL diStrict