Preparing for Student Return a Monumental Task

Getting the school ready for the return of students and faculty is a monumental task which was complicated this year by the district HVAC project and band/choir building addition.  Director of Maintenance at Limestone Community High School, Brandon Bell oversees this annual project. 

This year’s cleanup faced challenges in working around contractors who were also working in the school at the same time. Often clean rooms needed further construction and would need to be recleaned as a result. 

Bell was initially challenged with a lack of resources and manpower.  “We had to be creative in reaching out to community members and staff to see if anyone would volunteer to help,” said Bell. 

Study hall supervisor, Kevin Metzger explained how he worked with several faculty and staff members to dust rooms and perform general cleaning duties on the Saturday before school started.  The following morning, members of a local church came and worked.

Bell has spent most of his working career in District 150, he then moved into management for close to three years in the peoria public schools overseeing 29 schools with 150 employees. While there, he worked to get a building ready to return to school during a building-wide HVAC project.