Roofing, repainting, floor refurbishing part of summer school maintenance

Merced City School maintenance worker Steve Guzman spreads wood chips evenly over the playground with a rake, at Sheehy Elementary School in Merced on Wednesday (8-6-14). CHRISTOPHERWINTERFELDTcwinterfeldt@mercedsun-star.com

The laundry list of summer tasks to get Merced schools ready for the new school year is still long, but maintenance crews have been steadily whittling it down.

The end result will be worth all the turmoil and work when students return Aug. 18, said Ken Testa, director of facilities for the Merced City School District.

Testa said the 18-member roving maintenance crew is like a football team in the middle of intense double days practice in the hot summer sun right now.

It is challenging but were doing it as a team, Testa said. They know game time is coming. The payoff is when things are clean, mowed, painted and theyre ready.

The districts summer projects list at 20 sites throughout the Merced area includes painting the exterior of Charles Wright Elementary School, reroofing Alicia Reyes Elementary School, resurfacing about 25 ramps leading up to portables at various schools and replacing carpets in 16 classrooms districtwide.

Crews also were installing 85 security screens on classroom windows and adding or updating security motion detectors in most classrooms districtwide.

Fencing around Franklin Elementary School and the Community Day School also is being replaced. The Student and Family Services Center near Clark Preschool also was repainted.

Maintenance crews have installed more than 700 yards of playground fall-safe materials and more than 21 tons of rubber nuggets in playground areas.

They also are completing the installation of Chromebook carts and computers in all third- through eighth-grade classrooms and replacing XP computers at all sites throughout the district, according to Greg Spicer, associate superintendent for administrative services.

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Roofing, repainting, floor refurbishing part of summer school maintenance