Robert Gomes, the school district supervisor of buildings and grounds, in the new playground area at Linden Avenue School. District facilities are getting an upgrade this summer.
The summer has been a busy time for the school district, according to Robert Gomes, the supervisor of buildings and grounds.
At the high school, the gym bleachers are being replaced and in the main office, the carpet is being removed for vinyl composite tiles.
“The carpet was 15-20 years old,” Gomes said. “We clean it, but it had to be replaced.”
The main office, the guidance and principal’s offices will be painted, too.
“We have district colors,” Gomes said. “Those are red and black in the high school. Every building has different colors. The high school’s Home and School is helping out there.”
He said in seven high school classrooms, split AC units are being added.
“That’s a condenser unit on the outside and a ‘cassette’ unit inside. That’s what they call it. It’s a blower on the wall. A few minor holes had to be drilled.
Not much. The pipes had to come into the building. There was no AC, but some other classrooms have it.”
The high school is also replacing its cafeteria AC with a rooftop unit. “That’s a pretty big job,” Gomes said. “Everything is in place. The building control people, that’s an outside group, are coming to start the cafeteria AC.”
There were also two roof restorations on the high school roof. One was over the cafeteria and the other over the main gym hallway.
“They had leaks,” Gomes said. “Everytime we patched it, it started to leak again. The cafeteria roof was about 22 years old. The main gym hallway was about 30.”
For every school, he said all the furniture is put into the hallway, cleaned, the walls are wiped down and the lights are cleaned.
“It’s our summer cleaning,” he said. “And then the floors are scrubbed and waxed. Summer cleaning, even with Covid, it’s not much different. But during the year and the flu season, we step up and clean the touch points: the doorknobs, handrails and pushbars.”
At Ridgewood Elementary, an epoxy floor was installed in the entire basement.
“It was concrete, which had to be painted each year,” he said. “Now, it’s a poured epoxy. You just have to run a floor scrubber on it. Years ago, it was a bucket and a mop. But we have three floor machines in the district.”
The Ridgewood parking lot is being paved as is the recess area — the horseshoe in front of the building.
“They’ll be milled and paved,” Gomes said.
At Linden Avenue School, he said there was a big project.
“We installed a new playground,” he said. “The old one was over 15 years old. Things were breaking. It became a safety thing. Now, it’s all new equipment and different things for kids of different ages to play on and certified playground mulch. A big thing on that project was that the Linden Avenue Home and School helped us out and our business administrator, Barbara Murphy, got a Department of Community Affairs grant. Everything was about $150,000.”
There was also paving at the school — the parking lot and the recess area.
“It’s been a busy summer,” Gomes said.
At Central School, the parking lot, driveways and recess area was also paved.
“All the schools get the deep cleaning,” he said. “We do painting if time permits. We get some done each year.”
There was nothing going on at Forest Avenue this summer except for a deep cleaning. At the administration and board of education offices, deep cleanings, lawns were mowed and a tree was taken down at the high school.
“We make sure no limbs are hanging,” he said. “We do an assessment each year. We have a company come in. There’s no charge and we walk the property.”
Gomes is entering his third year in the district. He has a crew of 17 and one person in maintenance.
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