Laguna Beach Unified Grounds Crew Preps for the Opening Day of School

Submitted by the Laguna Beach Unified School District:

When the school year winds down in June and students begin to anticipate the leisure days of summer, the Laguna Beach Unified School District’s Facilities, Grounds and Construction Department begin their busiest time of the year.

LBUSD Facilities, Grounds and Construction Director Ted Doughty, Jr., remarks, “Summer can be a busy time of the year for maintenance and custodial staff and we also ramp up our contracted repair activities. Annual procedures include deep cleaning, safety inspections, and building maintenance as well as any construction or renovations required at school facilities or grounds. Every possible effort is made to maintain our facilities when students are not present so as to avoid disruption of instructional programs.”

Some of the school site projects this summer included:

-- Irrigation repairs and improvements at all four school sites which will provide for water savings and an opportunity to take advantage of the Laguna Beach County Water District’s rebates.

-- Top dressing applied to all athletic fields to promote healthier lawns and safer and more even playing surface. Refinished the Thurston Middle School gymnasium floor.

Mr. Doughty continued, “While preventative maintenance (PM) is an important and year-round aspect of building care, we increase PM activities during the summer. For example, we address every heating and air conditioning unit, boilers and electrical components.

All these activities ensure that we continue to meet the District’s strategic goal to provide ‘Safe, attractive, clean and well-equipped learning environments for each student’. The LBUSD staff is dedicated to achieving and maintaining that

goal. As the health and safety of students are our top priorities, the maintenance and operations staff takes pride in providing clean, well-maintained schools.”