Good news for Wake students and teachers. Schools will be cleaner, more comfortable.
Wake County schools should soon be cleaner and more comfortable for students and school employees.
The Wake County school system is making mid-year budget adjustments that will restore daily vacuuming and sweeping of schools and lead to an adjustment of the thermostat settings. School officials say the changes are possible because they received a funding increase of $45 million from the Wake County Board of Commissioners in June.
“The impact on staff morale will be tremendous,” said Wade Martin, assistant superintendent for school choice, planning and assignment.
Over the years, the school district has reduced cleanings and adjusted temperature settings to save money to help close budget shortfalls.
In 2016, the school district reduced vacuuming and sweeping to twice a week at middle and high schools and every other weekday at elementary schools.
School officials had planned on increasing the cleanings and changing the thermometer settings back when the budget was developed in the spring. But the changes were put on hold because the state budget hadn’t been adopted.
In December, the school board approved a series of budget adjustments, such as the increased cleanings and providing locally funded raises for all district employees.
On Tuesday, the board approved three contracts with private custodial services for additional stripping and waxing of tile floors and carpet cleaning.
Greg Clark, senior director of maintenance and operations, said he hopes to present the board contracts to restore the daily cleanings. That could happen in the next few weeks. Once approved, he said the additional service would begin shortly afterward.
Martin, who was principal of Middle Creek High School until last summer, said his staff cheered last year when he told them the plan was to increase the cleanings.
“When I shared (the news) with the staff, you would have thought they were getting a small bonus,” he said.
People are more likely to keep the schools clean, if they see that they’re cleaner to start with, Martin said.
In terms of temperatures, Clark said some changes have already been made, including raising temperatures to a range of 70 to 73 degrees. Previously, the thermostats were set at 68 degrees to 75 degrees.
