By Charles Pan ’18, Feature Editor

Every time you walk into Newark Academy, it seems like everybody is already hustling and bustling, getting ready for a new school day. But who is actually responsible for helping the school run like clockwork? The maintenance staff.

It’s relatively unknown what exactly the maintenance crew does at Newark Academy. Most people just think they walk around the school helping teachers fix random problems that pop up and move chairs for special events. As Paul Brown ’17  commented, “I don’t really know exactly what they do. They always seem to be like an invisible presence at the school.”

I went down to Mr. Stevenson, the head of the maintenance department, to find out the responsibilities of the maintenance staff and how they are able to make the school run so smoothly.

He gave me the rundown of what goes on behind the scenes.

“The first thing we do every morning is maintenance checks. We have people check the heating, the cooling, the electricity, the swimming pool, and we even have people check every single room inside the building to make sure its functioning smoothly.”

“Throughout the day, we mainly respond to problems that come up from around the school. Occasionally a light bulb might go out and we would have to buy a new light bulb or maybe it’s the power source behind the light bulb and we have to buy new wires. All of the troubleshooting and repairs are all fixed by the maintenance department. And that happens in addition to routine maintenance tasks such as emptying garbage cans, cleaning up various parts of the campus, etc. As the head of the maintenance department, I personally am involved in many meetings throughout the day. For example, I was heavily involved in the construction of the new wing, the new science wing, and I am currently involved in the construction of the new middle school. So my days are filled up with various planning meetings.”

When asked about how these tasks were delegated, he replied, “each of the maintenance staff has their strengths. When we first interview and hire the staff members, we try to focus on their strengths. So one staff member may be very adept at electricity and wire repair and another may be a landscaper and another may have expertise at heating and cooling. So we split up tasks based on our individual strengths. Although we do try to find a balance in these areas of expertise, all members of the maintenance staff are capable in any area of repair.”

“The last thing that the maintenance staff does before they leave for the day is prepare the athletic facilities. Since athletic practices are the last thing on the schedule, it is our job to make sure the baseball fields are ready in the spring, the swimming pool is ready in the winter, the soccer field is ready in the fall, etc.”

Although the maintenance staff may seem like an invisible presence, they are quite literally the backbone of Newark Academy. Just like how a building would collapse without a base, Newark Academy would collapse without the maintenance department.  Without them, the school would not be able to function – from academics to sports to food to arts. So next time you throw something in the trash can or flip a switch on, remember that you do it without thinking because the maintenance department takes care of the rest of the work.