One Man to Maintain it All

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By Kylie Moser

This year, FHN only has one man full-time to take care of all maintenance issues within the school as opposed to the two men the school has had previously. That one man is Stan Robertson. Robertson started working at FHN the first of the summer, and, in addition to maintaining North, is the only maintenance worker at Henderson and Early Childhood as well. Despite divided time between two other schools, FHN is top priority.

“I stay here as much as I can because this school is the biggest,” Robertson said.

Robertson works at FHN from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every weekday. He generally hits Henderson a couple times a week and goes to Early Childhood as work orders are put in for his assistance.

Robertson is responsible for many tasks including replacing floor and ceiling tiles, changing light bulbs, hanging pictures, fixing plumbing, assembling desks and chairs and a variety of other repairs. When someone has an issue, they fill out a work order form online, which communicates the issue to Robertson. He will then fix the problem as quickly and efficiently as possible and mark off the task as it is completed. He also takes initiative to record any issues he finds himself in a notepad he keeps with him at all times.

“I carry a notepad with me, if I find something that needs to be done, I write it down,” Robertson said. “Then I create my own work order.”

According to the district, the reduction of maintenance workers at North was not a result of budget cuts.

“The reason for going from two maintenance guys to one [is] we’ve had some new people in the leadership of the maintenance department and I think what has just really happened is some restructuring of duties,” said Mike Janes, the overseer of the maintenance department at FHN.

Despite having less people working full-time in the school, help is always available when it is needed through the new system. If there is an issue that requires more assistance, extra help can be requested through the work-order system.

“With the new system, when we can call ahead if we need extra people, it actually works out well because we would usually have two people here and now if we have a bigger thing we can actually maybe get three or four people here,” Janes said. “I think just restructuring that with needs, you know, probably helps out not just our building, but all the buildings around the district.”

Robertson manages to have repairs completed within about the same amount of time as when two workers were present. Maintaining the entire school is not an easy task, in such a large and aging building.

“These buildings are getting older, so they need more maintaining and more attention.” Robertson said.

Even though Robertson has only begun working FHN this year, he is already known for his hard work and dedication to his job.

“I think it is just so nice to have someone who is kind and always willing to help,” Diane Holmes, a teacher at FHN said.