RON RIX
WESTFIELD – The city fell well short of the 18 to 24 inches of snow that was supposed to blanket western Massachusetts this week, but that didn’t stop the Westfield School District’s maintenance crews from preparing as much as possible.
“We were just ready to go for whatever happened,” said Richard Jablonski, supervisor of the district’s custodians and maintenance crews. “We made sure we had our plows ready, had enough sand, that everything was full of gas.”
DR. SUZANNE SCALLION
Jablonski said workers were up at 5 a.m. each morning during the storm, going to each of the district’s schools to remove the snowfall and maintain the buildings.
“There are guys in the buildings under the direction of their principal supervisors who go in and do what they need to do,” said Jablonski, who said he has eight total workers on his staff at the district’s maintenance barn behind South Middle School, where the district repairs and preps equipment.
“We were ready for the full boat and we didn’t get that, but we were ahead for most of the day (Tuesday), so we were never really behind,” added Jablonski. “Our absenteeism was below five percent for custodians and maintenance staff.”
Jablonski said that the district’s snow plow operators are contracted by four different vendors and that his maintenance crews work with them to make sure they can access the buildings.
Ron Rix, the district’s director of technology and business services, said that, while the district is always prepared for winter weather, he paid particular attention to weather reports on Monday.
“First thing Monday, we made sure everyone was loaded up with sand, gassed up, all of our contractors were vended,” he said. “We went through our little checklist. If they don’t have the stuff when the snow comes down, they may not be able to get to the DPW yard to get (sand).”
Rix explained that the plow operators have select areas they plow as per the city contract.
“We have some that do the high school and North Middle who are based on that side of town and others all over the city. We’re constantly in contact with them,” he said. “We strategically align our equipment.”
Rix stated that the district had 54 employees working until 11 p.m. Tuesday removing the snow dumped down by superstorm Juno.
“They were working staggered shifts to make sure we had guys on during the night, should we have any aftermath of the storm,” he said.
After a snow day Tuesday, District Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Scallion ordered a one-hour delay Wednesday morning to enable walkers and student drivers to get to school as safely as possible, a move endorsed by Rix.
“We had a very light snow and we didn’t know what the wind drifts would be. We knew it was a deep freeze but no one was on the roads yesterday and they didn’t really clear off. They were snow-packed,” said Rix. “We erred on the side of caution to make sure the sidewalks and roads would be clear.”
Scallion referred to storm as a “fizzard” in comparison to the over 30 inches that accumulated in greater Boston and on Cape Cod, but enthusastically praised the efforts of Jablonski and his crews, as well as Rix and the city’s Department of Public Works, in preparing the district’s schools and for making relatively quick work of superstorm Juno.
“(Rick) was just all over it with his crews of maintenance workers and custodians, as always, for getting us ready,” she said. “Overall, we’re in great shape as a district.”
Scallion saidd that Rix has ably picked up where Frank Mahar, who served as the district’s maintenance director until his retirement last year, left off.
As to whether the district will be prepared for more snow potentially arriving later this week and early next week, Rix echoes the Superintendent’s confidence in the district’s ability to handle more accumulation.
“I’m real pleased with our custodial staff for being as proactive as they were for this,” he said. “We had everything up and running, no major equipment failures.”
“We’re always in touch with the DPW, the WPD and the Mayor’s Office and we feel real good that we were equipped for it,” Rix said.
“We’re right back in the game. It is winter in New England,” said Scallion. “Snow days and late starts are sort of a cultural phenomenon and I know our kids love it.”
