Monitoring Report - Operational Expectations (OE) Policies

Policy: OE-11

Title: Facilities Interpretation and Monitoring Indicators

Status: Active

Adopted: May 28, 2024

(Part 1 of 2 due to length)

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To: School Board, Ferndale School District (WA)   

From: Dr. Kristi Dominguez, Superintendent 

Date: March 26, 2024 

Subject: 2024 Monitoring Report 

Operational Expectations Policy 11 (OE-11)  

Facilities 

Superintendent’s Introduction 

 

Through Policy OE-11, the School Board has provided guidance about how they expect us to care for our most expensive assets: our facilities. We know that our facilities, from buildings to school buses to Golden Eagle Stadium, are more than just structures and buildings. They are the locations where students grow and learn, and where our staff work tirelessly to help those same students reach their potential. This report focuses on how our District keeps our facilities operating smoothly behind the scenes, so students and staff can focus on learning. 

Regarding the remainder of this report, I want to acknowledge that some of our responses to the indicators simply state that evidence of compliance exists, rather than the recitation of the evidence itself, which, if included, would make this report several hundred pages. We stand ready to provide such evidence upon your request.  

Policy 

The Superintendent will assure that physical facilities support the accomplishment of the Board’s Results policies. 

Interpretation 

We understand this policy expresses the value the School Board places on providing educational facilities that facilitate effective education. The Board understands that physical environment affects both teaching and learning, and that school buildings are tools which either enhance or detract from these processes. In other words, education does not occur in a vacuum. The physical environment is part and parcel of the way we teach and learn. Students and staff thrive in orderly, clean, and safe environments. Classrooms that are well ventilated, suitably lighted, and properly maintained enhance learning. Poor air quality, on the other hand, negatively affects alertness and can result in increased student and teacher absences, which can have a corresponding impact on student achievement. In short, both students and staff are more likely to prosper when their environment is conducive to teaching and learning, and when well-designed facilities communicate a powerful message about the importance the District and the community place on education. 

Since school facilities affect the physical, educational, and financial foundation of the entire school organization, the Board expects us to be good stewards of our buildings and grounds, as well as of our students, staff, and programs, making facilities a focus of both our day-to-day operations and our long-range management priorities. We further understand that, to the greatest extent possible, the Board expects us to ensure the design, care, and operation of such facilities align with our District learning goals.  

For the purposes of Policy OE-11, we understand the Board expects us to include school buses as extensions of our physical facilities even though bus care, maintenance, and replacement are also referenced to in Policy OE-7 (Asset Protection). The Board views buses as more than just vehicles to transport children from place to place. As the District’s visual face to the public, buses are students’ bridges to accessing education, an essential cornerstone that afford all children the opportunity to participate in productive learning environments. They are also learning environments themselves. Properly maintained buses convey to the citizenry responsible use of public funds and good stewardship by the District. Ensuring the bus fleet is properly resourced, maintained, and utilized will support the accomplishment of the Board’s Results policies. 

Monitoring indicators 

The Superintendent will develop and execute a facilities plan that establishes priorities for construction, renovation, and maintenance projects and that: 

Assigns highest priority to the correction of unsafe conditions. 

Includes maintenance costs as necessary to enable facilities to reach their intended life cycles. 

Plans for and schedules preventive maintenance. 

Plans for and schedules system replacement when new schools open, schools are renovated, or systems are replaced. 

Discloses assumptions on which the plan is based, including growth patterns and the financial and human impact individual projects will have on other parts of the organization. 

 

Interpretation 

We understand this component communicates the Board’s expectation that we will do the kind of short and long-range planning required for the wise expenditure of public funds.  

 

Specifically, the Board is expressing its belief that facility maintenance and planning is a vital component in the responsible overall management of our District. Effective school facility maintenance can:  

• contribute to an organization’s instructional effectiveness and financial well-being;  

• improve the cleanliness, orderliness, and safety of an organization’s facilities;  

• reduce the operational costs and life-cycle cost of a building;  

• help staff identify facilities priorities proactively rather than reactively;  

• extend the useful life of buildings; and  

• increase energy efficiency, and thereby help the environment.  

  

A sound facilities maintenance plan serves as evidence that school facilities are, and will be, cared for appropriately. Conversely, failure to maintain school facilities adequately can discourage future investment in our public education system. Therefore, the Board expects us to create, implement, and continually update a plan for meeting the challenges of effective facilities maintenance. The Board also expects us to communicate with stakeholders about our plan, including its financial implications. 

 

Such a facilities maintenance plan must include the strategies the District will employ to maintain its facilities proactively. It should reflect the vision and mission of the organization; include an accurate assessment of existing facilities; incorporate the perspectives of various stakeholder groups; focus on preventive measures that ensure capital investments are being managed responsibly; and integrate best practices in planning, implementation, and evaluation. 

 

Assigns highest priority to the correction of unsafe conditions means that, when we become aware of an unsafe condition, we must plan and act as rapidly as possible to address it. Additionally, in our budgeting process, we must prioritize safety needs above all others.  

 

Includes maintenance costs as necessary to enable facilities to reach their intended life cycles means that we need to monitor our facility assets carefully and develop budgets that allow us to maintain their various systems -- including building envelopes, HVAC technology, roofs, and floor covering -- in a way that maximizes the useful lifespan of each facility.  

 

Plans for and schedules preventive maintenance means that we need to develop a regular, systematic plan for caring for each facility and for each system within that facility. Such systems must be maintained or replaced before they fail, become unsightly, or are no longer safe. In short, the Board expects us to allocate appropriate time, personnel, and resources to preventive maintenance to avoid deferred maintenance pitfalls. The consequences of continually deferring maintenance can include extensive long-term costs; reduced equipment efficiency; entire system failure; safety and health risks to occupants; possible fines from regulatory agencies; escalation into larger problems; shorter life cycles; more costly emergency repairs; more downtime; and compounding costs related to inflation.  

 

Plans for and schedules system replacement when new schools open, schools are renovated, or systems are replaced means that the Board wants us to avoid the danger of assuming that new schools, or newly renovated schools, will be maintenance free for a period of time, and therefore will not need to be included on a maintenance schedule. Rather, the Board expects us to place such items as carpets, HVAC systems, and roofs of newly constructed or newly renovated facilities on a replacement schedule so that all upgrades are planned for systematically. 

 

Discloses assumptions on which the plan is based, including growth patterns and the financial and human impact individual projects will have on other parts of the organization means that we need to base our facility plan on sound data regarding realistic revenue projections, accurate enrollment projections, intended lifespans of building systems and material, and the relationship between facilities priorities and all other District priorities. It also means that we need to be transparent in sharing our data, projections, and rationale for the facilities decisions we make with both internal and external stakeholders. 

 

Monitoring Indicator(s)  

We will know we are in compliance with this component when: 

We can show timely correction of conditions that could lead to facility and/or equipment damage or could compromise occupant safety or health. 

To keep track of maintenance issues and the way they are addressed, we use a web-based work order system called HIPPO. Building administrators, administrative assistants, and custodians can enter a request for maintenance through HIPPO, flagging any item that they feel poses a safety or health risk. Each building also has a Safety Committee made up of representative staff members who regularly assess the campus and generate a list of safety concerns that are translated into work orders. For example, Skyline’s safety committee recently asked the maintenance team to apply security film to the building’s first floor windows. 

Work orders entered into the HIPPO system are regularly reviewed by the Director of Maintenance. Regarding those flagged as health and/or safety concerns, he makes triage decisions about the order in which they will be addressed, assigning highest priority to the ones that involve the highest and most imminent safety risk(s). 

The HIPPO system, with its regular review by the Director of Maintenance and Facilities, is designed to identify safety-related maintenance issues and rank them from less urgent to more urgent. But in practice, an urgent need which presents as an emergency situation -- such as a broken pipe, an electrical failure, or a broken window -- is most often communicated to the Director of Maintenance and Facilities through a phone call, which triggers an immediate response. Usually, a work order is generated in HIPPO after-the-fact to document such emergency situations, although this is an area where we can finetune our practice to make sure such work orders are always entered into the system. 

Since our last OE-11 report in 2022, the district has replaced classroom door locks district-wide, which keep students and staff safe in a potential lockdown situation. Maintenance crews have performed a variety of other, smaller security projects as well, such as new fencing at Beach Elementary and creating a fenced-in, secure play area at Mountain View Learning Center. 

We can show a comprehensive schedule of preventative facility maintenance, along with a replacement and/or renovation plan, that includes, at a minimum, roofing, pavement, and flooring. 

We can show a capital renewal plan for major building systems with end-of-life expectancies shorter than the facility life span. We can also show a long-range capital projects/construction plan based on the conditions of our facilities and foreseeable expectations of growth. 

Note: We are reporting on these indicators together because we believe they have very similar results. We recommend combining these indicators in future OE-11 reports. 

At the time of this writing, we are still in the process of developing a comprehensive schedule of preventative facility maintenance, along with a plan for renovations(s) and/or replacement(s) of our facilities, with the assistance of Construction Services Group (CSG). CSG’s consultants are expected to provide us with an update later this spring.  

The creation of a long-range capital projects/construction plan is part of the work we are currently doing with Construction Services Group. We recognize the value of offering stakeholders a long-range plan so they can anticipate future bonds as well as levies. Such long-term planning affords the District the opportunity not only to protect its physical assets, but also to mitigate against significant fluctuations in the tax rate. In other words, it provides predictability for both the District and taxpayers. 

We can show a bus maintenance and replacement schedule that is kept current and synchronized with the District’s evolving student transportation needs. 

Our transportation team and the state keep a detailed depreciation chart for each vehicle in the District’s transportation fleet. This chart shows the age of each of our buses and how much the state pays us for depreciation each year. Once a bus has fully depreciated, the state pays us the yearly depreciation amount, plus sales tax, and all of the accumulated depreciation funds goes into the Transportation Vehicle Fund, whose sole purpose is to pay for replacing school buses. In recent years, we have purchased 11 new buses using this money, but due to supply chain issues with the manufacturer, they have not arrived yet. The linked chart above also shows how many months each bus in our current fleet has to go before it is fully depreciated, and therefore needs to be replaced. 

In December 2023, the Board adopted Resolution No. 19-2023, which petitioned the state to increase our 2023-24 Transportation Vehicle Fund appropriation amount from $2 million to $2.7 million. 

We also perform preventative maintenance on each of our buses to lengthen their lifespans. 

The Superintendent will project life-cycle costs as capital decisions are made.  

Interpretation 

We understand this component expresses the value the Board places on long-range planning. Since all physical assets have a projected lifespan, the Board expects all maintenance plans and schedules to be written in such a way that they inform the budgeting process. In other words, the Board expects us to document when each system will likely need to be replaced so that these replacement costs can be included in the District’s annual budget planning. 

 

Monitoring Indicator(s)  

We will know we are in compliance with this component when: 

We can show evidence that a schedule containing both preventative maintenance and lifecycle replacement of all major systems not only exists but has been fully utilized to inform the annual budget process. 

As mentioned above, this kind of comprehensive schedule has not yet been fully realized in Ferndale. Now that the new high school campus is essentially complete and the old facility -- which has presented the greatest drain on our maintenance budget -- is gone, we can take another step in the right direction. The work we are currently doing with CSG is aimed at making sure we are fully prepared to do so. As mentioned earlier in the report, we are currently working with CSG to complete a preventative facility maintenance schedule. 

We can show a District budget with adequate resources allocated to fund a systematic approach to facilities maintenance and upgrades as well as to address unforeseen safety concerns and other emergencies. 

 

Despite the financial challenges of the past dozen years, on several occasions we have made larger-than-usual allocations to our maintenance budget in an effort to “play catch-up.” We did so in response to a recommendation made by the Facilities Advisory Committee in 2010. We had built up our fund balance (savings account) prior to passing the 2019 Capital Projects Bond so that we would be prepared to make some costly improvements to the old high school facility if it didn’t pass. When the bond did pass, we allocated a portion of our excess fund balance to maintenance projects that had not been included in the bond. 

Specifically, we have used general fund dollars in recent years to complete a number of significant facilities improvement projects. Here are a few examples: 

• Flooring replacement and abatement at Central Elementary School 

• Fire system replacement/update at Custer Elementary School 

• An abatement project in Vista Middle School’s commons, band room, and choir room 

• Carpet replacement in Skyline Elementary School classrooms 

 

Even though the new high school facility has opened and the old building has been torn down, we do not intend to cut our District maintenance budget. Rather, our plan is to divert all the money we have been using to maintain a facility in which so many systems had outlived their useful life to other buildings. In this way, the 2019 Bond served all District schools, not just the high school. It also ensures that the District budget will include adequate resources for a systematic approach to facilities maintenance as well as unforeseen safety concerns and other emergencies. 

The Superintendent will assure that facilities are safe, clean, and properly maintained.  

Interpretation 

We understand this component expresses the Board’s expectation that the safety of children, staff, and the public is our top priority, taking precedence over all competing needs for time and resources. To this end, the Board expects: (1) any aspect of our facilities that pose recognizable threat of harm to be corrected as soon as possible; (2) all facilities, including buses, to be kept appropriately clean to meet community and industry standards for health, hygiene, and appearance; and (3) all facilities, including buses, to be maintained and technologically upgraded according to a systematic plan that reduces the need for deferred maintenance and prolongs useful life. 

Monitoring Indicator(s)  

We will know we are in compliance with this component when: 

We can show evidence that all custodial, maintenance, and transportation staff have been properly trained in District policy and standards for safety, hygiene, and cleaning. 

 

The District currently employs 28 custodians and seven maintenance staffers (three of whom are grounds positions) to maintain 740,568 square feet of facilities and 220 acres of grounds. District facilities consist of 12 student attendance campuses, a maintenance and transportation campus, a communications center, a warehouse, a fieldhouse, a stadium, and a district office. 

Our custodial staff have a checklist of tasks they must complete when cleaning a classroom or office, and a separate checklist for cleaning bathrooms. These lists were created by the district’s head custodians and Director of Maintenance and Facilities Jamie Plenkovich. 

The District currently employs 35 bus drivers, two router/dispatchers, and two mechanics to operate and maintain its fleet of buses. We also have 10 substitute bus drivers. All bus drivers complete a required licensure course prior to their being hired to drive for the District. They received state-mandated training each summer as well as on an as-needed basis throughout the year. 

Like all District employees, custodians, maintenance personnel, bus drivers and other members of the Maintenance and Transportation staff also complete a series of online trainings annually on such general topics as student allergies, concussions, bullying, and sexual harassment. In addition, the negotiated agreement between the District and SEIU (custodians and maintenance personnel) provides opportunities for SEIU members to pursue other trainings of their choosing.  

We can show results of inspections of our buildings and grounds by the Director of Maintenance showing 90% meet established standards for safety, cleanliness, and maintenance. 

While the Director of Maintenance and Facilities does not personally conduct regular inspections, he ensures that his staff reports back to him so that he is able to constantly monitor and keep a broad view of our facilities. If needed, he will work side-by-side with his staff to ensure a deeper inspection. 

• Safety Committees at each school regularly check their campuses for issues, which are then translated into work orders. Furthermore, they have processes in place by which other staff members can report concerns to the Committee at any time. 

• The Health Department inspects all District kitchens on a regular basis. 

• To keep them up to state standards, custodians at each school conduct weekly inspections of playgrounds and playground equipment. 

 

A full list of required inspections and maintenance projects from summer 2023 can be found at this link, as an example of the breadth of facilities check-ups. 

This is a monitoring indicator that we believe could use revisions to better align with the preventative maintenance protocols that the Board has requested. 

  

We can show evidence that work orders coded as “safety issues” have been responded to within 24 hours. 

 

As stated in indicator 1.1 -- In response to the call for timeliness, we do not agree that every work order coded as a “safety issue” deserves a 24-hour response. For example, Central Elementary’s safety committee put in a work order for new fencing around the playfields and coded it as a safety issue. The existing fencing had served the school for years. While new fencing might be safer and therefore a good idea, this request did not call for dropping everything else to respond to it. Several of our schools had asked over the years to have security improvements made to their entrances for safety reasons. While we agreed with them in concept, we did not have funds to build secure entrance vestibules at every school until we passed the 2019 Bond. These kinds of safety issues are not addressed within 24 hours.  

On the other hand, we are comfortable attesting to the fact that emergency maintenance issues, especially when they relate to safety, are addressed within 24 hours, although we don’t currently have an easy way to pull together documentation to show this. 

In summary, I recommend the elimination of this indicator in its current form from future OE-11 monitoring reports. The important aspect of it is covered in Indicator 1.1.  

We can show evidence that boiler systems have been inspected annually and repaired or replaced as needed. 

 

We can attest that all our boilers have been inspected every year by a state-authorized inspector. These inspectors leave their initials and the date of their inspection on the boiler to document that they have completed the required assessments. They also provide the District with report(s) on needed repairs and/or replacements, and the District addresses their recommendations to the greatest extent possible. When the new FHS campus was built, it included a brand-new boiler system.  

Following boiler inspections, the state Department of Labor and Industries mails us certificates that we are required to post on each pressure vessel. This means each of our boilers, hot water tanks, and expansion tanks has a state-issued certificate taped on. Because state inspectors did not find any deficiencies that needed addressing in their previous inspection, we did not receive any additional paperwork other than those certificates. If you wish to see those certificates for yourself, Kris Newberry can make arrangements. 

We can show evidence that HVAC systems have been maintained and serviced regularly.  

 

One of our maintenance personnel is assigned solely to servicing and maintaining our HVAC systems. They keep their own preventative maintenance schedule. This, along with other preventative maintenance work, is not incorporated into the HIPPO work order system yet. Our maintenance team is working towards including that. 

The $4 million set aside for Critical Maintenance in the 2019 Bond package included HVAC upgrades and new controls for nearly every school in the District. This entailed:  

 

• New HVAC Controls at nine schools: This project called for the removal and replacement of the electronic/computer controls of the heating and ventilation equipment at five District facilities. Not only were the electronic/computer controls updated, but all nine facilities included in this project now have a computer platform that allows them to be remotely controlled within one common program.  

 

• Direct Digital Controls at four schools: Three of the four of these facilities previously had old pneumatic controls for their heating and ventilation equipment. The old controls were replaced with Direct Digital Controls. 

 

These two bond-funded projects were huge wins for the District. Now that the new high school campus is complete, almost all of our District’s heating and ventilation systems are controlled by a standard computer program, making ongoing management and maintenance much easier as well as reducing overall energy costs. Consequently, we feel very good about where we are with our HVAC systems. 

We have grounds crew logs showing regular mowing, trimming, and seasonal maintenance have occurred. 

Standard grounds maintenance includes mowing, trimming, fertilizing, controlling weeds, aerating, maintaining beds, taking care of parking lots, striping athletic fields, monitoring and repairing irrigation systems, removing ice and snow, maintaining and repairing grounds equipment, and addressing other related requests. Like our other maintenance specialists, the members of the grounds crew keep their own schedules and work records. Although they do not log the information into the HIPPO system, they could provide it if asked.  

We can show evidence of a regular schedule of inspections and safety tests of such aspects of District facilities as playgrounds and water quality.  

As stated in Indicator 3.2, custodians at each school conduct weekly inspections of playgrounds and playground equipment.  

Since water quality in schools has been a high-profile concern for several years, we recommend Indicator 3.7 should focus only on this aspect of our safety and maintenance efforts. In the recent past, we tested the water biannually for lead at multiple spots in every school building in order to detect any problems early and replace plumbing as necessary. We put this protocol in place several years ago when the lead in school water supplies was dominating both local and national news. As a result, we went above and beyond in performing preventative maintenance so lead wouldn’t be a concern in our school water. Outside of state-required tests, we have not continued additional voluntary testing because we believe we have addressed any potential issues. 

We can show evidence that snow removal has been adequately addressed before the start of any impacted school day. 

Our practice is to take a cautious approach to weather-related safety issues. Sometimes, this has meant we have called for a two-hour delayed opening to the student school day when local roads appear safe to travel. Our decisions take into account the conditions of walking routes and parking lots. When the City workers plow roads, they often push the accumulated snow onto sidewalks, making them inaccessible and creating unsafe conditions for walkers. City staff do not plow our parking lots. An extra two hours in the morning gives parents and students an opportunity to make the trek to school when it is light out. They also give District personnel time to address icy parking lots and entryways. 

In short, we can attest that we take safety conditions created by snow and ice very seriously, and we do everything in our power to mitigate them. 

We can show results from the State Patrol’s inspection of school buses that are sufficient to avoid negatively impacting the operation of the District’s Transportation Department.  

We attest that the State Patrol inspections have occurred annually, and our fleet of buses passes them. The most recent inspection report can be found at this link. Even though we did pass the inspection, the State Patrol had several areas in which we can improve. We appreciate and ask for this feedback, so the bar of excellence and safety can be raised higher. 

The Superintendent will consistently administer facilities use guidelines delineating: 

1. Permitted uses. 

2. The applicable fee structure. 

3. Clear user expectations, including behavior, cleanup, security, insurance, and damage repair. 

4. Consequences and enforcement procedures for public users who fail to follow the established rules. 

 

Interpretation 

We understand this component reflects the Board’s belief that public schools are owned by the taxpayers who paid for them and operated for the community. Therefore, the public must be welcomed to use school District facilities when such use is not in conflict with school operations.  

Permitted uses means that, although the Board wants our buildings to be open for use by community groups, they are clear that District-sponsored activities must always retain first priority. District facilities must be dedicated to their primary purpose, which is education. Beyond this, the Board expects us to provide fair and consistently administered procedures spelling out the conditions under which the facilities may be used. 

Applicable fee structure refers to the fact that the public is expected to reimburse the District for using school facilities to ensure funds intended for education are not used for other purposes. For instance, when facilities are utilized outside of regular school hours, and/or when the District incurs extra costs, the using organizations must be charged to recoup those costs. For rental rate purposes, organizations seeking the use of District facilities have been divided into three categories: (1) school-related or child-related groups or other government agencies whose main purpose is to promote the welfare of students or to provide members of the community access to government programs or opportunities for civic participation; (2) nonprofit groups and organizations who want to use District facilities for lectures, promotional activities, rallies, entertainment, college courses, or other activities for which public halls or commercial facilities generally are rented or owned; and (3) commercial enterprises who represent profit-making organizations and/or business-related ventures. The District’s rental rates reflect these three types of use.  

Clear user expectations, including behavior, cleanup, security, insurance, and damage repair refers to the Board’s expectation that the Superintendent will establish procedures for the use of District facilities, including rental rates, supervisory and security expectations, accident and liability insurance requirements, and any other applicable rules and restrictions.  

Consequences and enforcement procedures for public users who fail to follow the established rules refers to the Board’s expectation that the Superintendent will ensure users who violate established rules or procedures will fully reimburse the District for any costs incurred to correct the violation and/or will be prohibited from further use of District facilities.  

Authorization by the District for an activity, group, or organization to use school facilities will not be considered endorsement or approval. The District reserves the right to deny or cancel any application for use when such use, in the sole opinion of the District, is determined to be detrimental to the District’s best interests. 

Monitoring Indicator(s)  

We will know we are in compliance with this component when: 

We can show information on the facility rental process is easily accessible to and understandable by members of the community. 

A page on the District website directs anyone interested in using one of the District’s facilities to call the Administrative Assistant at that particular facility, or for general inquiries about building use/rental to call the Receptionist at the District Office. Information about who to contact regarding facility use can be accessed on our website. The specific guidelines and procedures for renting District facilities are available at each building.  

We can show inquiries about facilities rentals are answered within 72 hours. 

We do not currently have a centralized method for tracking the information called for by this indicator. We worry that creating a new protocol to track this – which is difficult to prove -- may divert our staff’s time and attention from other tasks. If the Board wants our school staff to start keeping track of how quickly they answer facilities rental questions, they will do so. Otherwise, we ask the Board’s permission to revise this monitoring indicator. 

We can attest that we have not received any formal complaints about facilities rentals during the past five years. 

We can show the public has been allowed to utilize District facilities, as specified in administrative policy, when such facilities are not being used for educational purposes.  

The administrative policy that describes how the public can utilize District facilities is 4260, part of the Community Relations suite of policies. 

Each building currently maintains its own building-use calendar and records. The administrative staff at Ferndale High School, which is our most-used facility, has put in place an electronic system to keep track of their building rentals.