1/3/11

To: Dr. Mary Anne Wright and B&G Sub-committee members

Fm: Willard Dellicker
Subject: Custodial Performance Evaluation

On December 7, 2011 the Northwestern and Weisenberg Elementary schools were toured by John
Kennedy, Pete Kijak (Northwestern Janitorial Supply) and myself at 7:00AM and 8:30AM respectively.
asked Pete Kijak to accompany us because of his expertise in custodial services including techniques,
equipment, chemicals and results. He was a valuable resource for me during my tenure at LCT!.

The unannounced tour of each facility was conducted prior to children entering the buildings after the
most recent custodial service to evaluate the cleanliness of the two schools comparing contracted vs. in-
house cleaning services.

After the tours were completed John, Pete and I discussed what we observed about the cleanliness of
the two buildings. The following comments are both broad and specific about the condition of the
buildings.

Weisenberg cleanliness was inferior to Northwestern. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being excellent,

Northwestern was rated at 8 and Weisenberg 3.

Observations at Weisenberg:
• FloQrs in halls and lobbies - excessive black scuff marks especially in the 2nd grade wing. Floors
did not show any evidence of wet or dry mopping as there were dust balls and small pieces of
paper, glitter, and dirt throughout the building although the new two-story wing with terrazzo
floors was in better condition. Floors in lobbies and hallways make the first impression for
visitors and occupants entering a building. The dirty, drab, worn out wax on floors, scuff marks
and litter, detract from the appearance of the entire building.
• Floors in classrooms - same condition as the halls, no evidence of dry or wet mopping, rugs in
classrooms were not vacuumed and were littered with paper snips, glitter, dust balls and dirt.
• One observation between the two schools was that all classrooms at Northwestern had the
student chairs on the desks, at Weisenberg chairs were on the floor. Putting chairs in desks
saves a lot of time for custodians when cleaning floors, it detracts however from their ability to
clean the desk surfaces. What is the practice at the two schools regarding students placing
chairs on desks and surface cleaning of desks?
• Bathrooms - Weisenberg, dried streaks of liqUid under the urinals and toilet bowls indicates that
they are not being cleaned properly. The dried streaks are unsightly, unsanitary and contribute
to stale urine smell in bathrooms. This is either a training or job performance issue.
• Bathroom floors - The tile used in the bathrooms is a poor selection because the majority of the
color is white and the surface of the tile is rough. This tile tends to scrape off dirt from shoes
and imbed it in the coarse grain of the tile. This presents a cleaning challenge that requires

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 power scrubbing of the traffic areas at least weekly. The technique used to clean the floors
appears to be wet mop without adequate rinsing as evident by the dirty residue around the
perimeter of the floors and cove base.
• The paper towel dispensers were stained with water spots, eVidently the surfaces are not
wiped down on a daily basis.
• Library carpet - This brand new carpet appeared to be somewhat vacuumed in the traffic areas
but, the edges at the walls, front counter and book shelves were riddled with dust balls, litter,
scraps of paper, paper clips and dirt. This puts wear and tear on the carpet, grinds in dirt and
detracts from the overall appearance of the room.
• Custodial Equipment - only one power scrubber was seen in a Janitor Closet at Weisenberg
which begs the question whether the custodians have adequate and proper equipment and
supplies on site to do their job.

The Northwestern Elementary School was in better condition and showed more attention to detail in
cleaning the bathrooms and classrooms.
• Floors - Office and classroom floors ~ere vacuumed more effectively. Dust and litter found on
carpets and rugs was not evident at Northwestern.
• Bathroom floors - the tile is the same as Weisenberg and will present the same cleaning
challenges, although there was not the dirty dried ring around the cove as was seen at
Weisenberg.

Recommendations made to John Kennedy at the end of the building tours:

1. Replace the rusty metal trash cans in the bathrooms at Weisenberg - this was accomplished as
of 1/3/11.
2. Remove the paper covering the window between the Weisenberg visitor's waiting room and
office/CR and replace it with mini-blinds for privacy. Same suggestion for a window in the main
office covered with a drab curtain for privacy, mini blinds present a more professional
appearance to the main office.
3. Clean all of the black marks from the halls on a daily basis.
4. Investigate training and techniques to improve the cleaning of Weisenberg bathrooms.
5. Investigate the equipment that is available for contracted custodians to ensure it is adequate.
6. Develop a comprehensive procedure for cleaning whiteboards. Who is responsible: teachers or
custodians? Are teachers using the proper pens, erasures and cleaning fluid to prevent any
damage to the surface of the white boards? Are custodians required to clean boards weekly,
monthly, ever? Develop a plan. Many white boards looks dirty, full of shadows from
inadequate cleaning.
7. Other procedures to delineate areas of responsibility include who empties pencil sharpeners?
Should chairs be placed on desks to facilitate cleaning floors. How often are desk surfaces
cleaned? How often are rugs and carpets vacuumed? How often is trash and recycled material
removed from the classroom?

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On December 14, at 8:00AM, one week after the tour described above, I toured Weisenberg to
see if there was any improvement. The condition of the building was exactly as it was observed
the week before, none of the cleaning issues that were discussed improved. Very
disappointing!

On December 15 I spoke to Carl Learch about the tour and asked him if John discussed what we
found. He said he was told to give me a list of equipment available for the contractors to use.
I've not seen a list yet.

On January 3, I toured Weisenberg again, to see if the cleanliness improved over the holiday
break. I expected the custodians would have made an effort to improve the cleaning in the
building while it was unoccupied. The only change I noticed was that the old rusted trash cans
in the restrooms were replaced with plastic cans as stated in #1 above. The building was as
dirty as it was on December 7th. I was disgusted with what I saw. In addition to previous
conditions described above, teachers showed me food residue from parties in their rooms
before the Christmas break. The food residue was on desk tops and floors. The building was a
mess. I ran into a custodian at Weisenberg who told me that no one worked over the holidays.

After Weisenberg I went directly to Northwestern elementary and the high school to look at
the condition of those buildings. Northwestern elementary appeared to be the same as
observed on December 7th.

I walked through the high school. With renovations finished in November, it was as dirty as the
Weisenberg elementary school! Black scuff marks throughout the halls on the old and new
floors, the main office carpet was littered with paper scraps, the drywall corner at the top of the
new Stair B was chipped (needs protection), Stair A has "Happy Holidays" painted on the
window and the Exit door at the bottom of the stars was propped open with a wooden door
wedge. I was disappointed with the condition of this newly renovated area of the high school.

The investment we just made in our elementary and high schools is deteriorating fast in my
opinion. It is incumbent on us to ensure that our B&G managers are instructed to improve the
custodial maintenance of these buildings. Training, equipment and accountability needs to be
reviewed and improved to preserve the investment in our facilities that is costing us more than
$3.7 million dollars annually. Additionally, we need to re-evaluate the holiday schedule for B&G
personnel so they can take advantage of our unoccupied buildings for required cleaning and
maintenance that can't be done when the buildings are occupied.

I think we have some work to do, to preserve the investment in our facilities, and provide our
teachers and students with a clean and healthy environment.