[Ken Wertz, MFAA Exec]

Special waste receptacle current guidance is for the nurses office and custodial carts. Only using if a person is considered to have COVID and not the general population.  This info will be in the DESE back to school guidance. Joe McDonough caught that in initial guidance and I was able to call this as a question needing clarification as first guidance called for one per teacher. My suggestion was if teachers need a back up just in case give each of them a trash liner for their desk and coordinate with custodial staff.

Always something!

Hang in there peeps…

[Ken Wertz, MFAA Exec]

Hi everyone,

Dept of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) will be issuing guidance within the next two weeks, likely sooner, and there should be a section on signage recommendations. I don’t think they will have exact signs for you to print but will more provide examples and framework for districts to put something together that works best for them.

If they don’t we can certainly pool some MFAA experts together and put something out as a template.

Hold tight and take a breath….

Ken

[Ken Wertz, MFAA Exec]

Thanks for this post Jon. You couldn’t be more spot on!

As the red pens come out I’m hearing more and more districts are cutting budgets and as their usual form hit M&O first. This is the absolute opposite of what we should be doing during this time. With the upcoming COVID response for increased air exchanges and cleaning disinfecting requirements we should be adding to our budgets not stripping them further down from their current under funded states.

This is on each and every one of you to defend your budgets using data and forecasting of work loading that is coming down the pipe. This is not the time to go with the flow and just do what we can with what we have. Yes, laying off teachers and teachers aids have always what we have been up against. Honestly, hard to debate if the district is ok with “Good Enough” maintenance practices for another body in a classroom. We tow the company line and do what we can with what we have. This event, and response, make this archaic way of thinking obsolete. If we under-fund our M&O budgets and staffing guess what… you can’t open schools safely in the Fall and meet all the air exchange and cleaning guidelines. Make sense!?

Everyone has to be willing and prepared to fight for your budgets. There is too much at risk and our teams and departments are the key to providing the safest facilities possible for our transition back. We won’t be able to eliminate risk, that is an impossible statement to make and achieve. We can however greatly reduce risk and provide safer and healthier facilities with proper funding and staffing.

Perfect example would be electrostatic sprayers. Two years ago when they came to the market we all asked for funding to purchase them. At a minimum likely one unit per buildings. Most of us heard the same story “those are expensive and we can’t afford them”. Fast forward to March of this year and you heard a different story of funding and why don’t we have them. We have to stop this cycle and the only way this will work is if each and every one of us defends their budgets with data, statistics on best practices, and clear explanations of where the funds are going and why these are critical items.

I know this is easier said than done. I’ve worked for five different Administrations while in Sharon. Some were great while others just didn’t get it. Keep fighting my friends… keep fighting! I’ll keep fighting for us with Superintendents and Dept. of Ed. Together we will get through this!

Thanks again Jon and now I’ll get off my soap box,

Ken

[Ken Wertz, MFAA Exec]

Hi everyone,

Just watched a great youtube put out by NEASC on what International Schools abroad have been doing that have already started opening again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkWQsxLFbng&feature=youtu.be

Great ideas and options that have worked and things they didn’t consider. One of which was closing down water fountains and providing bottled water instead. Not sure yet on how to handle the water filling stations….

You will likely have to file for a waiver from your plumbing inspector, or Board of Health, to shut them down as Jon is right and this is a code violation. Hopefully the DESE working group will have some guidance on this for us in a couple weeks. We are working hard on this and will make sure we include a section on drinking fountains.

Thanks and keep at it everyone,

Ken Wertz

MFAA Exec. Director

[Ken Wertz, MFAA Exec]

I like that your Super is planning and staying positive that you won’t be having box lunches in classrooms vs. cafeteria. Work with you food service manager as food service suppliers seem to have a line on portable sinks. Kittredge was at our EXPO this year and I know they have them and are on the MHEC contract.

Karen Virtue

508-328-2489

kvirtue@kittredgeequipment.com

Good luck,

Ken

[Ken Wertz, MFAA Exec]

How are you all handling this issue?

1. Is your department (facilities) responsible to furnish, install and maintain hand sanitizers? [HRF] yes we are, as a department, but not in classrooms — only in hallways, office areas, and other common spaces of the schools. If teachers want hand sanitizer, they generally either bring in their own, or the school purchases it from their own line item.
2. Did you purchase dispensers (or get free) and refill with your own staff? [HRF] We get the free dispensers and the custodians in each building are responsible for placing orders for refills with our Facilities clerk.
3. Do you have a vendor (like CINTAS) provide turn-key services (install, maintain and refill)? [HRF] Nope
4. How are you deciding how many you will need? [HRF] Right now I have asked all senior custodians to go through their buildings and get me a list of where they have them installed so we can look at it and work with our Nursing Director on where and if we should install additional stations.
5. How will adding (potentially hundreds) of these impact your custodial staff workload (refills)? [HRF] Good question. Like everyone else, I’m sure, we are generally understaffed if compared to “industry standards.” I don’t anticipate that we will be installing one in every classroom — that will become unmanageable very quickly.

Our other issue is that we have historically (since before I arrived here) only purchased Appeal non-alcoholic hand sanitizer and we get the free dispensers. So now there is the debate about whether to incorporate alcohol-based, and if so, in which buildings — throughout the district, or just in elementary levels. The only exception has been our one “new” school which opened late 2016. That building, for whatever reason, had Purell dispensers installed and uses alcohol-based sanitizer. We have been unsuccessful in trying to get the Appeal bags to fit in the Purell dispensers. Yet another irritation factor of the new school syndrome of putting something completely different in one building and then having a custom situation with just about everything.

I think the assistant superintendent is ok with having alcohol-based sanitizer as long as we still steer away from bleach (we’ve suddenly been getting custodians placing orders for large amounts of straight bleach, which we are denying).

Thanks,

Heather Forgione

Haverhill Public Schools

[Ken Wertz, MFAA Exec]

In Haverhill – We received the email from you that Monday afternoon, and by Wednesday morning, the superintendent had all custodial and maintenance returned to their home buildings full time on their regular shifts. They are providing some flexibility with regard to shifts — if you normally work a day shift but current situations mean you need to work nights due to child care or other obligations (or vice versa), they are allowing it through the end of the “regular” school year. We will attempt to switch everyone to the normal summer schedule of 630 AM to 3 PM after the official close of the school year, but some complications may arise based on COVID conditions and whether people still have elder and child care complexities.

Our first goal has been to make a list of all the odds-and-ends we need to tackle to get the building inspectors and fire department in — they want to get a jump on occupancy inspections since we have empty buildings right now. Alongside that is starting on stripping and waxing cafeterias and deep cleaning bathrooms while we wait on teachers and other staff to collect all the students’ belongings.

Students were instructed to bring home what they would need for 2 weeks, so we still have a lot of stuff in the buildings. Teachers and ESPs are coming in to bag items, label them, and then move them into the freshly waxed cafeterias. Next week parents will be coming to do drive through pick up of the bags. By the end of this week we are hoping to be able to get into classrooms to start cleaning carpets and stripping and waxing those floors.

We have been asked to have all summer cleaning completed by 1 July, which will be daunting given the number of staff in the buildings through the 3rd week of May. We have also been told that custodians will not be allowed to carry over vacation time this year (with superintendent approval, they are usually allowed to carry over up to 5 days into the next fiscal year). I have a good number of staff who still have 2 to 4 weeks of time left to take before 1 July, so that adds to the difficulty.

Our hiring freeze has been lifted long enough to allow us to finally hire a replacement for one of our maintenance mechanics who left in January though, so we are very excited about that! We have been asked to refresh quotes from a number of contractors for everything from fencing to concrete repairs, HVAC preventive maintenance to Central Administration lobby renovations, so I am anticipating a flurry of activity this summer.

Administration is planning for summer school, which would start 6 July; they seem confident that we will have in-house classes in some capacity this summer. So we have a pretty tight schedule for getting summer work done, as opposed to the original thought that we might have some extra time to get those finishing touches and additional projects tackled.

What does everyone else’s schedule look like right now?

[Ken Wertz, MFAA Exec]

Right now Haverhill has been bouncing a lot of ideas around but nothing is sticking yet. At the moment, all “uniformed” employees — meaning anyone who has a required uniform and is therefore provided with a clothing allowance (food services, custodial, maintenance for example) — are being provided with up to 5 homemade fabric masks, but no disposable masks for use. I made some just as an unofficial effort of my own some weeks ago, and have offered 2 to each maintenance and custodial employee. A local woman has volunteered to make a couple hundred for the district and these will be distributed as they are available. The superintendent is trying to enlist volunteers among the staff to sew additional masks for uniformed staff members, as she feels that folks like transportation workers and ESPs are “sitting around and getting paid” so it would be a useful task for them. The idea is that — they get a clothing allowance to purchase their pants, shirts, shoes, hats, etc. We would provide 5 masks, which would become part of their uniform, and would be washed at home every week like the rest of their uniform.

Lots of discussions about how to realistically bring students back in the Fall — the reality is that trying to get kindergarten and lower elementary students to wear masks, or special needs or high school students/ alternative school students, is going to be tricky and spotty at best. As an urban area with pockets of poverty and low income, the concern also includes whether some families will be able to provide their students with their own clean masks every day and what to do if they cannot.

So many moving parts…

Heather Forgione

Haverhill Public Schools

[Ken Wertz, MFAA Exec]

Here is what the MA Division of Fire Safety had to say:

• acrylic sheeting ( common company Plexiglass) falls between both Fire Code and Building Code
• in general both sprinkled and non-sprinkled buildings have ranges inherent to either design to accommodate plastics (Ie: chairs, printers, etc.) the sneeze guards would fall under that and should be ok
• recommend you talk with both your Building Inspector and Fire Department to discuss before installing
• stockpiling of acrylic sheeting to make your own you should be cautious of location and make sure design is suitable
• likewise, they have concerns of future stockpiling of hand sanitizer and make sure those are being stored appropriately

So, check with your building and fire departments, you should be ok with Code and if you have push back from either let us know and we can try to help.

Stay safe,

Ken

[Ken Wertz, MFAA Exec]

Hi everyone,

I would urge all of you to check with your local fire officials to make sure they are on board with whatever solution you plan on providing. With all the plexiglass going up, shows that fire code on this item may have some provisional acceptance. I have an email in to the State Fire Marshal’s office for us to get a clearer direction on what their office it thinking. I’ll update you all with a response.

As an aside, I know for a fact that Suburban is installing these types or guards in all state buildings throughout the Commonwealth without any issue.

Take care,

Ken

[Ken Wertz, MFAA Exec]

I know that Hillyard has some coming in. You need to buy them in boxes of 2,000 for $1,500 per case. Call J.P. Mayo for more info. They aren’t gouging on the pricing and just trying to help people out.

J.P.Mayo : cell- 508-612-7827

[Ken Wertz, MFAA Exec]

Yes. Here is the email again. It clearly says effective 4/24/2020

Dozois, Mary (DLS) via mass.gov	Mon, Apr 27, 10:14 AM (3 days ago)
to Mary, me, Lin

UPDATED INFORMATION FOR SCHOOLS FROM DEPARTMENT OF LABOR STANDARDS

 

Effective 4/24/2020

 

In light of the extended school closures, DLS is lifting the restrictions related to work being done in schools, providing that COVID-19 protection measures are taken.

 

Follow the four basic COVID-19 rules:

• Maintain 6 feet of separation between people.
• Require face coverings be worn at all times.
• Require sick employees be sent home and/or instructed to stay home until cleared by a healthcare provider.
• Conduct frequent cleaning of the work area.

 

Municipalities may conduct cleaning and maintenance projects not directly related to the COVID-19 response.  Examples of activity may include floor stripping and maintenance typically conducted during summer vacation, painting projects, locker cleaning, repair of windows and doors, etc.  There is no list of approved/unapproved activity.  The School Superintendent and Facility Manager should evaluate the planned activity to ensure that the four basic COVID-19 precautions can be followed. COVID-19 precautions should be consistent with guidelines from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and CDC.

 

 

 

Mary Dozois  CIH CSP

Program Supervisor, Workplace Safety & Health Program for Public Employees

MA Department of Labor Standards

72 School Street, Taunton, MA 02780

617-626-5987  mary.dozois@mass.gov  and  http://www.mass.gov/dols/wshp

 

This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, or distribution is strictly prohibited and may be the subject of legal action. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. Thank you.

[Ken Wertz, MFAA Exec]

Good point Mike. Right now it seems too soon to really know what things will be looking like come September. I’ll push my way into those conversations and make sure we are in the loop.

I’ve heard everything from two shifts of kids both going half days, food in classrooms like you mentioned, abbreviated days Mon.Wed group and Tues Thursday groups…. and so on. I would think at a minimum kids will be wearing masks.

I’ve had some discussions with bulk purchasing on things that we will likely be short on. From that conversation I am curious if we have kids help wipe their own desks or not. Everyone should get ready for flushable wipes and sanitizing towels clogging our drains for sure!!!

Crazy times and we will get through this together.

Talk soon,

Ken

[Ken Wertz, MFAA Exec]

Good point Mike. Right now it seems too soon to really know what things will be looking like come September. I’ll push my way into those conversations and make sure we are in the loop.

I’ve heard everything from two shifts of kids both going half days, food in classrooms like you mentioned, abbreviated days Mon.Wed group and Tues Thursday groups…. and so on. I would think at a minimum kids will be wearing masks.

I’ve had some discussions with bulk purchasing on things that we will likely be short on. From that conversation I am curious if we have kids help wipe their own desks or not. Everyone should get ready for flushable wipes and sanitizing towels clogging our drains for sure!!!

Crazy times and we will get through this together.

Talk soon,

Ken

[Ken Wertz, MFAA Exec]

MIIA Online Training Seminar
Wednesday April 29, 2020
Available at 9-10am & 2-3pm

This seminar is intended to assist the attendees with growing in their understanding of engineering
issues, fire prevention, and environmental concerns. It is an appropriate seminar for all levels of
experience.
The topics will include:
ENGINEERING & FIRES:
• Fire sprinkler failures/alterations – prevention & mitigation
• Plumbing & mechanical failures – prevention & mitigation
• Fire loss prevention & mitigation
ENVIRONMENTAL:
• COVID-19 Disinfection, emergency preparedness, contractor oversight
• Pre-renovation/pre-loss surveys for asbestos, lead, and other hazardous materials
• Environmental disaster planning and preparation
• AHERA Survey requirements for schools K-12
Questions & Answers

Online Seminar Access Information:
Please try to sign-into the meeting 10 minutes early to ensure you’re able to see and hear the
seminar.
Meeting Access: https://sedgwick.webex.com/sedgwick/j.php?MTID=ma9739da5a2da630c3f4f29321f7924e8
Meeting Number: 478 897 610
Meeting Password: MIIA2020