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The Difference a Skilled and Caring Facilities Operation Makes to a School

Nov 15 2019

One winter morning many years ago, as I was conducting an interview in the living room of Laura's and my househead apartment at our last school, a flood of water suddenly began cascading from the ceiling at the top of a two story stairway and down those stairs and through our fuse box. Interview over! In a panic I called the school's facilities operation, and staff members arrived within minutes, quickly identifying a broken water pipe, turning off the water supply and developing a plan to "make things right" as quickly as possible. The renovation work, as you can imagine, was quite extensive.

When I recall that moment, the hairs still rise at the back of my neck. Indeed, I conjure up a feeling of helplessness, and concern about how I would be able to fulfill the professional responsibilities that lay ahead for my day, including a U.S. history class due to start in 10 minutes.

As I reflect on the flood event, I recognize just how dependent we all are in boarding schools on the expertise and caring of a facilities team. If we are to do right by our students, and meet the expectations of their parents—and ourselves—the spaces in which we work need to be well maintained and safe and comfortable. For those of us who live at our boarding school, the dependence on a facilities team for quality of work and quality of life is all the greater.

At our previous school, Laura and I benefited from a facilities team that worked hard to meet or exceed high standards, and our level of appreciation for their efforts was greatest at our moments of highest vulnerability, like when the pipe burst on that winter morning. As head of St. Mark's, I continue to think about a facilities operation in personal terms since St. Mark's is home for Laura and me. My perspective has also broadened, naturally, since guaranteeing a high standard of care and professionalism by the St. Mark's facilities team is, ultimately, my responsibility.

We are very fortunate at St. Mark's to be served by an extraordinarily caring and skilled 24-person facilities team, led by Director of Facilities Operations Sandra Duran. That team ensures the maintenance, safety, and highest possible degree of comfort for 63 faculty residences, along with 52 classrooms, 45 offices, 191 dorm rooms for 273 boarding students, and much more. Our Main Building, which anchors 380,000 square feet of overall academic space, offers unique challenges because some of its maintenance features date back to the building's 1890 opening.

Above: Aerial view of St. Mark's School

Sandra joined us in the fall of 2018, and her extensive previous experience made her the perfect candidate for her challenging and mission-critical role. Leading the facilities operation at the Perkins School for the Blind before St. Mark's sensitized Sandra, she told me, to the multiple issues that must be looked after in the interest of high quality living and learning spaces. Sandra mentioned, in particular, sound, air quality, light, ease of use, and overall comfort. Overseeing the care and upkeep of multiple properties for the City of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, before Perkins, provided Sandra with valuable experience in leading a facilities team.

Above: Sandra Duran, Director of

Facilities Operations

Observing Sandra's work, I see how her previous experiences have honed the leadership skills required to focus a facilities team's efforts so that it can make the most impactful difference to individuals and to the school as a whole.

Above: Chandelier in the Hinkle Room

When Chief Finance and Operations Officer Rob Kuklewicz toured Sandra, during the 2018 search for the director of facilities operations, Sandra pointed out to Rob a small bulb fixture in the Hinkle Room's chandelier that needed to be straightened. At that moment, Rob tells me, he knew Sandra was the candidate we needed to hire.

This attention to detail has characterized Sandra's leadership since she joined us. Dryer vents in faculty homes and student Houses have been unclogged, chimneys have been lined, and mold in faculty homes has been removed.

When I asked Sandra what she is proudest of during her tenure so far, she described a number of examples of the happiness she has seen on the faces of faculty members when her team has been able to upgrade a living space.

As I reflect upon the St. Mark's facilities operation, I am especially pleased about the feeling of ownership that members of our custodial staff feel about the spaces they oversee. I have become more and more attuned to the importance of that approach the longer I have served as head of school. Custodial Services Manager John Tedeschi, who has held this position since 2013, models that approach and holds members of his team to the same standard. The extraordinary quality of John's work made him a richly deserving recipient of the 2019 Fred Burr Staff Prize, having been nominated for this award by numerous faculty and staff colleagues.

Above: John Tedeschi, Custodial Services Manager

John and members of the custodial team certainly have a kindred spirit in the feeling of ownership of spaces in Sandra. If a ceiling tile is broken, or a light burns out, typically, the team member responsible for cleaning that space takes the steps necessary so that problem is addressed quickly. We are all aware of the negative impact on everyone's spirits if the approach, "not my problem, my job is to clean," carries the day.

Above: Jose Tostoes, Athletics Field Manager, on the Zamboni.

Multiple examples immediately come to my mind of that feeling of ownership, and of the importance of that approach to the overall quality of experience of all of us at St. Mark's. Here is one: the way Francis Mattioli and Jose Tostoes, who have been members of the facilities team for 31 and 26 years respectively, clean and smooth the ice between periods of boys' and girls' hockey games. The enthusiasm and attentiveness they display makes you think they are at the TD Garden for the seventh game of the Stanley Cup Finals. I see their work often because I walk by the Zamboni on a regular basis on Wednesdays and Saturdays as they are starting or finishing their work.

I see their determination to get the ice "just right," and I am always met with a smile and a good-natured caution about the possibility of my slipping if I do not watch my step.

As head of St. Mark's, I feel a keen sense of responsibility, as does Laura, about the stewardship of our School's physical assets. Those assets include our buildings, and they also include our grounds. As for the grounds, Sandra has been a particularly valued collaborator in looking after the trees on our campus, many of which are magnificent and have beautified St. Mark's for generations. A major worry for Laura and me had been the proliferation of gypsy moths in the trees around our house and in the trees lining the road between our house and Route 85. Walking to and from the Main Building, we could hear moths eating the leaves, see the leaf damage, and see numerous eggs and larvae.

Above: Tree work being completed on campus.

A bit of research confirmed that while trees can survive gypsy moths for a couple of years, their continued presence eventually kills the trees.

The minute we brought the gypsy moth problem to Sandra's attention, shortly after she started at St. Mark's, Sandra developed a plan to stop the infestation. Little did we know that tree care is a particular passion for Sandra. All of us at St. Mark's are so fortunate that Sandra possesses this passion and commensurate expertise! Sandra has solved the gypsy moth problem, and she has also addressed a proliferation of Oriental bittersweet vines on the campus. These vines had wrapped themselves around many trees, endangering them. Sandra has identified diseased trees that need to come down and has also identified ailing trees that can be saved with skilled attention.

As Sandra proudly pointed out to me on Friday, November 1, attention to the health of our trees allowed us all to breathe easier when we hosted more than 750 runners for the Independent School League Cross Country Tournament. Although the wind gusted to over 35 miles an hour before and during the races, we did not need to worry about tree limbs falling on any of the runners as they navigated the course. Over the previous 12 months, we had carefully analyzed the health of every tree on the course and had addressed anything that had caused the slightest bit of concern.

Above: Members of the girls' cross country team running through the course on campus.

Above: Sonia Baerhuk, Horticulture & Grounds Supervisor

The challenge of maintaining the St. Mark's facilities and grounds is immense. The normal work is challenging enough, whether the task is removing snow starting at 5:00 a.m., or unclogging toilets and drains, or keeping the School's corridors clean and freshly painted. The challenge becomes all the greater when a problem we could not possibly foresee arises, like a water main break that washed out the road to West Campus last August. At these moments, as when a flood of water began cascading from the ceiling of Laura's and my househead apartment many years ago, members of a school community especially recognize how much we count on the expertise and the care of those who look after our facilities. Fortunately for St. Mark's, that expertise and caring is extraordinary.

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