Understaffing Blamed For School Building Decay

New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) leaders said the district needs 33 more tradesmen to just begin working towards addressing its thousands of building-disrepair work orders — while the head of the school system’s custodial union called for more in-house hiring, and less private contracting.

Those messages were delivered Wednesday night during a Board of Alders Education Committee meeting at City Hall that was all about NHPS’ plans to keep up with public school facilities.

The public workshop took place amid growing outcry among teachers, parents, union leaders, and other NHPS community members about decaying buildings across the district — including, and especially, at the city’s largest high school, Wilbur Cross. It also came as the district’s chief operating officer, Thomas Lamb, has been on paid administrative leave for nearly four months.

On Wednesday, NHPS Supt. Madeline Negrón and city-hired operations consultant Michael Carter presented NHPS’ master facilities plan for the 27 percent of its properties, or 16 in total, that have aged beyond 22 years, and for the 41.4 percent, or 24 in total, that are between 15 and 20 years old.

“We share the widespread concern about the state of our school facilities,” Negrón said Wednesday. ​“The reality is that it cannot be completed with the current dollars that we have and with the current staffing that we have.” 

Negrón said that, due to decades of deferred maintenance for school buildings and their operations systems, the district has found it nearly impossible to afford preventative and routine maintenance of building systems and equipment.

Between March 1 and Sept. 19, a total of 4,002 total work orders are in NHPS’ system — with HVAC issues having the most reports. 

Carter explained that typically an HVAC system has an average life span of 20 years. Meanwhile, NHPS’ average building age is 21 years. Due to the district lacking a preventative maintenance schedule over the years, he said, HVAC work orders are received most often. Millions of dollars were dedicated to major HVAC replacements and updates in 2023 – 24, he said. Another $2 million is needed for additional HVAC projects this school year. 

Carter also pointed out that mold remediation costs have nearly tripled since last year, from $58,500 to $164,000.

Throughout Wednesday’s presentation, Negrón also explained the history of NHPS’ shift to private custodial services over a decade ago and the changes in capital dollar allocations to fund facilities and information technology dating back to 2009. 

She said in 2009 the school district had its own team of tradesmen and custodians who performed building maintenance work. Due to citywide cuts in 2009 and 2010 amid the Great Recession, the school district began to privatize these services, and has since continued to do so. 

“This is not about disagreements with Local 287. I’m extremely grateful for the work that these folks do day in and day out and the pride that they have in their work,” Negrón said.

NHPS currently is authorized for 14 trades positions, but has only 11 filled. That includes three electricians, three carpenters with one out on disability, two plumbers, one painter, and two steam fitters. 

To have a more functional maintenance system, Carter laid out that NHPS will need 33 additional trades positions. This would allow for an expansion of two daily shifts of work to happen, rather than the current status of just one. He said the district also needs six maintenance supervisors/inspectors in management positions and an admin to deal with contracts, procurement, and work orders. This all would come to a total cost of $4,222,232 — not including additional costs for pensions and medical benefits. 

Negrón said the 33 trades positions would be a first step and are needed but not possible with the district’s current budget. ​“We know that we need to rebuild our own team of tradesmen. We know that that works best. Because when we have our own people, people from the community, people that are assigned to their own buildings, they take great care and pride in the work that they do and things are done more immediately.”

Due to long deferred preventative maintenance, Carter said, NHPS falls into the lowest category for grading maintenance systems per the Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers. NHPS is graded at a Level 5 per that system, he said, which means it is consistently in crisis response. 

“Going forward, we must reassert ownership of the district’s custodial and maintenance work. This means rebuilding the trade shops,” Carter said. ​“It also means having New Haven Public Schools employees whose job it is to oversee the quality of the work that gets done – and who can be held accountable for it. Those roles are currently missing from our organization.”

The district’s first phase toward improvement, Negrón said, began with the January report by local architecture firm Svigals and Partners. A second-phase study will next look at each school’s specific mechanical systems to produce data to make decisions for school consolidation plans. This would be a deeper look at HVAC systems, roofing, control systems, and net zero energy. 

According to the district’s current proposed timeline for this project, NHPS would select a vendor to conduct the second study in January 2025 after a request for proposals (RFP) process. Negrón told the alders on Wednesday that the goal is to have the second study in the works to allow the district time to get additional data to eventually gain an increase in bond funding for the district’s capital budget. 

“This time we have to learn from mistakes,” she said. ​“Not only do we go after bond money, create that plan, but make sure that it is inclusive of what those preventative measures are going to be so that we don’t have beautiful buildings today and then in 15 years there are buildings that are falling apart.”

“What are we going to do now to make sure that from now until the end of the school year our students are safe, the buildings are safe, so that kids can flourish, teachers can teach. Is there any plan for that at this point in time?” longtime Annex Alder and former NHPS Principal Sal Punzo asked. 

Negrón said the district is using its current capital budget to patch up all major safety problems. It also continues to use the rest of its federal ARP ESSER funds — which must all be obligated by Monday — to allocate to improvement projects. 

“The reality is, that this whole beautiful package of beautification that we want and state-of-the-art facilities that we want, we’re not going to be able to get right away until we come together and do the advocacy that is going to be needed to advocate for bond money and any type of grant that we can get to continue to do this work,” Negrón said. 

Negrón noted that, in the meantime, the district recognizes that its work order system has been a ​“significant pain point” due to some work orders getting closed out but not actually addressed. 

Carter added that safety concerns will continue to be prioritized while the district also works to create an inspection schedule which previously did not exist and he suggested should happen quarterly. 

Starting Oct. 1 ABM Executive Director of Facilities Jamar Alleyne, whose firm works with NHPS, added that the district will also provide schools with a maintenance schedule of allocated dates for when tradesmen will visit the school and address non-emergency work orders. This will help the district move away from its constant crisis responses by addressing ​“true emergencies,” meaning major safety concerns, immediately and other work orders on a schedule. 

“So the idea is they go to a school on the day they’re scheduled to go there and they start with the oldest work order and they get done what they can that day, then they schedule another date, three months later or whenever it is,” Alleyne said. 

Click here to view the full Wednesday presentation. 

Local custodians union Tom DeLucia also spoke up at Wednesday’s meeting. He said the NHPS custodial staff currently have 17 vacant positions which are not posted. Five of those positions are permanent custodial staff, while 12 are floater positions. 

In a Friday email to the Independent, NHPS spokesperson Justin Harmon explained, ​“Apparently these positions had been hired previously out of City Hall HR but they have since been removed from the civil service. We are working on getting position descriptions and plan to post them soon.”

DeLucia continued Wednesday, ​“We are handcuffed. My local 287 members are constantly limited in what we can do in our schools. You know how embarrassing it is when we have to tell the teachers we don’t have any toilet paper to put in the bathroom? Honestly. We must deal with broken machines that don’t get fixed so we’re unable to wash the floors.” 

He called for NHPS to rid itself of ABM and to provide Local 287 with opportunities to help address district problems without their hands tied by private companies. ​“Shut the door on these businesses and reclaim our keys by ending their contracts. Make us and hold us accountable for our own.” 

Click here to view Local 287’s full presentation. 

DeLucia concluded that at the start of the school year, supply deliveries for some schools were not made until 8 p.m. before the first day, and supply orders are inconsistent or not completely fulfilled. He said ABM often make cuts to orders and doesn’t clearly communicate why.

Alleyne testified Wednesday that due to the district not having a dedicated warehouse to store supply orders, ABM constantly struggles with shortages due to being limited to a storage space only in the basement of 375 Quinnipiac Ave. He said this is also why the orders must be submitted on a weekly basis, because storage is not available for larger orders. He noted that the district’s supply transportation vehicles lack preventative maintenance and therefore often break down. 

Alleyne concluded that ABM is bound to the policies and processes of the city and NHPS and therefore struggles with efficiency are often due to the district’s need to improve its facilities.

“Have you advocated specific changes in policy and procedures to the New Haven Public Schools system that you feel were listened to or adhered to?” Upper Westville Alder Amy Marx asked. 

Alleyne answered yes. He added he continues to be in discussion about the district’s slow-moving purchasing process with NHPS staffers to make emergency work happen more quickly.