(KTTS News) — Crews were busy this summer making upgrades to buildings at Ozark Junior High School and East Elementary.
Press Release
If you drove by Ozark Junior High or East Elementary schools this summer, you may have noticed some large dumpsters outside and construction workers onsite. Both buildings underwent major upgrades: East got a roof replacement while OJH revamped its main gym.
“In the last five years, we’ve replaced the roof at North Elementary, Middle School, the Ozark Innovation Center, sections at OHS and now East Elementary,” Assistant Superintendent of Operations Dr. Curtis Chesick said. “It was nice to work within our operating budget to fix three large portions of OHS last year and finish up a complete replacement at East this summer.”
The East roof replacement cost about $350,000. Chesick said the District completes a roof study every few years, and the most recent study indicated that all of the building roofs were in good shape with the exception of East and South. There are also sections of OHS that need repaired. Chesick said the District plans to continue to address the needs at OHS with a goal to replace the roof at South in the summer of 2024.
A lot of memories have been made in the OJH main gym over the last 60 years, which is why many passersby were curious what was happening when they noticed floorboards being thrown out. This summer, the original floor, which was installed in 1964, was replaced, and the gym received a total refresh from the paint on the ceiling and walls, all the way down to the trim and baseboards.
With school back in session and those projects complete, the Operations Department is now working to convert lighting fixtures across the District to LED, which will save the District money in the long run.
“We’ve hired an energy savings company and are going to retrofit everything in the District LED, adding solar to South and West elementaries,” Chesick said. “South will become near energy neutral.”
The energy savings across the District will then help pay for the replacement of the 20-year-old HVAC system at Ozark High School. The District has had issues with the system since its initial installation, and this summer, the Board of Education voted to begin the process of replacing it. Because of the size and complexity of the system, it will take 10 months for the new unit to be manufactured. It is scheduled to be installed after school is out next summer.
Summer 2023 Team Ozark
The Operations Department also came together this summer to close out work orders across the District. Available custodians and maintenance employees spent two days at every building — except for the OIC and Tiger Paw since they were recently remodeled — working as a team to divide and conquer.
“It’s really good for our department to come together as one group,” Director of Custodial Services Dennis Faught said. “We get to know each other better and we get to work in other buildings where people don’t know each other. It helps us to gain a better perspective of what everyone does. Plus, we can hit a building in two days doing things that would normally take people two weeks to do.”
Mark Faught, director of maintenance, said the days allowed his department to not only come together as a team, but accomplish tasks that have been on the back burner.
“We got a lot of stuff done, and some things had been on the list for a very long time,” he said. “One of the big wins for us was putting shot rock down at West Elementary and the softball fields. That will help our work in the future. It’s very economical when we all show up together and work as a team.”
Dennis Faught likened the time to when teachers have PLC days during the school year.
“It helps us to be more efficient, but it really does more for morale than anything,” he said. “If you work at an elementary building, there is one custodian for the day and two in the evenings, so you feel pretty alienated. These days gave us a chance to all come together as one team and see the fruits of our labors.”
