Page 27 - School Planning & Management, July/August 2019

FACILITIES \{ LEARNING SPACES \}
Why Deferring Maintenance Now Will Cost You Later
Expert Perspective
By JedDeGroote,DirectorofClientServices,DudeSolutions
TAKE A MINUTE TO IMAGINE your go-to happy place, that place where you feel at peace. Now try to list what makes it your happy place. Somewhere on that list, you’ll likely include physical aspects that provide you with comfort there: color, temperature, safety, availability of certain items, etc. That’s because your environment plays a significant role in the way you feel. Your environment is more than simply the place you are; the atmosphere you occupy affects you on a biological level, sending signals to your body and mind that influence your health in a variety of ways.
In addressing the role this plays out in schools, consider how much time students spend in their school environment. Out of
the 120 hours in a Monday to Friday week, roughly 35 of them
are spent inside a school facility. That’s over a quarter of their time during the week under the influence of facility conditions, certainly enough to require educational leaders to closely examine the kind of atmosphere they’re providing to students in their care.
Where should you look to see how well your institution is providing for the comfort and security of your students?
Check your deferred maintenance backlog.
To you or your maintenance department, that old HVAC system might just be an expense in next year’s budget; that cracked class- room window might just be something you haven’t gotten around to yet, and that squeaky hallway door might just be a nuisance you’ll get someone to work on after more important things are taken care of. To a student, however, that old HVAC system could be what’s causing their allergies due to poor air quality. That cracked window is what’s making them cold in their math class. That squeaky door is what’s distracting them during a lesson or test. Deferred maintenance isn’t just an issue for your maintenance department; it affects the ecosystem of your entire organization.
JULY/AUGUST 2019 / SCHOOL PLANNING & MANAGEMENT 27
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