Facilities & Operations

Keeping our schools safe, clean and updated is integral to keeping students, staff and families safe and thriving in our school communities. And whether that’s about cleaning and disinfecting spaces, building new outdoor play spaces or working with community partners to support their needs, the objectives we set are all about how we deliver on our strategic goals to deliver on, improve and deepen our connection to our broader community.

DISTRICT GOAL: Be unwavering in our commitment to improve student success

Objectives Key Results
To ensure students learn/teachers teach in clean and healthy buildings The importance of keeping our schools clean and ensuring proper disinfection is more important now than ever given school districts are delivering instruction during a pandemic. This objective has risen in priority during the current school year. By ensuring clean and healthy school buildings, the facilities department is assisting to ensure that we are doing what we can to improve student success by allowing staff and students to return to safe buildings.

Action being taken in the current year include:

    • Adding additional custodial staff to bring day time custodians to keep up with the Health and Safety Protocols
    • Custodial and Maintenance on-going training on COVID-19 Health and Safety procedures
    • Procurement of equipment and supplies to keep schools safe
    • Identifying projects that are eligible for COVID-19 funding (outdoor play spaces, handwashing stations, sensor taps)
    • Placing signage, markers and sanitizing stations around our facilities.
    • Assessing ventilation within schools and made adjustments where necessary.
    • Carrying out COVID-19 medical accommodation requests (installation of plexi glass barriers etc) so staff can continue to work in the classroom.

Ongoing work by the facilities department includes assessing and completing upgrades of critical systems within buildings (roofing, lighting, fire suppression, intrusion and HVAC) by utilizing Annual Facility Grant funding or School Enhancement Funding grant. These continuous evaluations also ensure the ongoing safety and integrity of the buildings.

DISTRICT GOAL: To Implement the District’s long range facilities plan

Objectives Key Results
To ensure students will be able to learn in right-sized facilities that are in reasonable proximity to their homes Please refer to “Capital Projects” for additional discussion (major capital projects).

Part of our annual capital funding request (called the 5-year capital plan) are also requests for minor capital projects such as School Enhancement Program, Building Envelope Program, Carbon Neutral Capital Program and Playground Equipment Program.  These funding allocations also contribute to allowing the district to address aspects of the long range facilities plan.

For short-term interim measures, the facilities team assist in installing modular classrooms/portables to accommodate growing enrolment at sites until major capital projects are awarded.
Reduce district greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint Of a particular focus in the current upcoming 5-year capital plan will be request under different envelopes of funding that provide upgrades to support our climate action initiative.
To ensure students will have equitable, inclusive, barrier-free access to physical indoor and outdoor learning environments As we strive to ensure to have inclusive practices within schools, the facilities department works to reflect our beliefs, values and goals for inclusion in our buildings.

Key results will include:

    • Assessing all our sites compared to the “Building Access Handbook” to determine how to improve accessibility inside the school and on school play yards in consultation with school principal and PAC.
    • Request funding annually under the playground equipment program which funds universally accessible playgrounds.

DISTRICT GOAL: Staff are supported and encouraged to find purpose and meaning in their work and reach their full potential

Objectives Key Results
To ensure staff are engaged in purpose, and have access to safe, healthy working environments See objective above on “To ensure students learn/teachers teach in clean and healthy buildings” which addresses the commitment to safe and healthy working environments.

To ensure staff are being provided appropriate direction and guidance, we are committed to:

    • Providing relevant professional development guided by management with input from employees
    • Clear communication through staff meetings, Health and Safety meetings and through informal conversations to provide clarity and guidance
    • Creation of a custodial handbook to create consistency and host training for custodians regarding content
To ensure staff will receive support and the right tools to do the job In order to have our staff reach their full potential, it is critical that they continue to be provided with the right tools – whether it be actual trade tools or training – to carry out their work.

The key results and actions being taken include:

    • Certify/train employees for career advancement which also helps to reduce costs to the district by bringing in in-house expertise
    • Ensure new employees are trained to operate software necessary to do their work
    • Ensure that staffing levels are adequate for our work load given the upcoming projects and work order work load

DISTRICT GOAL: Meaningful relationships with community partners to support our students and families

Objectives Key Results
To ensure we utilize community partnerships to support students and families As a good community partner, the District’s actions to support this objective include:

    • Support City of New Westminster and Parks and Recreation in community based events by allowing the use of our sites
    • Analyze the cost of operating rental spaces and adjust rental rates within appropriate administrative procedure
    • Review rental hours and schools use of space afterschool to ensure the community is able to benefit from more spaces to lead active physical and social lives.
To ensure families will have opportunities to engage with operations to develop trusting relationships The key results and actions related to this objective where the facilities department can have great insight and feedback is for the selection and installation of playgrounds. The facilities department will update the Guidelines for Playground Equipment Installations to distribute to schools and PAC, in order for there to be a clear and concise method of how PAC can use their funds to install playgrounds. The facilities team will commit to meeting with PACs at their request to discuss options available.