Summer KISD maintenance projects complete

KISD employees, Josh Burton, Dino Pacuku and Mike Northcutt work on tinal touches of the new classroom at KIlgore Heights. It's been a busy summer for Kilgore Independent School District's maintenance department, with fresh paint, buffed floors and air conditioning inspections, but crews have also been hard at work creating a new kidfriendly space at Kilgore Heights Elementary.

Mike Brown, director of maintenance, said with the increased need for classrooms at Heights, the physical education room had to be turned into a regular classroom.

"This left a need for an activity area," said Brown. "In the rear of the school, there was a covered play area, and this facility would now be the new physical education classroom."

Brown said it was projected to cost approximately $40,000 to complete the project.

"As of Wednesday, new insulated walls and insulated roof had been installed," said Brown. "This part of the project was contracted to Jimmy Arp, and two 7-1/2-ton air conditioning/heating units were then purchased from Morrison Supply to be installed by KISD maintenance."

Brown said the 3,500-square-foot facility was also built with an office for the teacher and a storage unit on the inside so equipment can be taken in and put out without going outside.

"The classroom will be ready for operation by the start of school," said Brown. "The only thing left to do is decide what type of flooring to use."

In other summer projects, Brown said a great deal of painting had to be done on all the campuses, floors had to be cleaned and buffed, all air conditioning units had to be inspected, with new filters installed, and all toilets had to be checked.

Brown said 16 maintenance workers are busy during the summer, compared to 35 custodians and 14 maintenance woerks under Brown's charge during the regular school year.

"It has been a really productive summer. Each campus is looking good and there will be no construction going on at the start of this year," said Brown. "I have two regular custodians on each campus that work days. The rest of the custodians come in at approximately noon, and these custodians work during the evening hours at each classroom getting the rooms, restrooms and hallways ready for the next school day."