The Director of Business Operations supervises the departments of Transportation, Food Services, Custodial, Maintenance, Buildings and Grounds.
Some of the responsibilities of this office are:
- Works with the Treasurer in establishing budgets for each of the aforementioned departments.
- Acts as a liaison between the Superintendent and Capital Improvements Project Manager for all construction activities.
- Reports directly to the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent
- Reports to the Edgewood Board of Education at monthly meetings on construction and business activities for the district
- Works with vendors on purchasing equipment and supplies
- Makes recommendations for building needs
- Is the district representative to the Civil Service Commission
- Coordinates district bid procedures when required
- Assists the assistant superintendent in interviewing and hiring classified employees
Some of the classified employee positions are food service employees, bus drivers and custodians. New employees for these classifications are hired from the Civil Service Eligibility list. This list is created from the Civil Service Examinations. The exams are held when the current list has expired or been exhausted of candidates. Notices of the exams are published in the legal advertisements of local newspapers. Some other qualifications are having a high school diploma or equivalent, a valid driver's license, being at least eighteen years of age and having a satisfactory report from a criminal records check.
The office of business operations oversees the care and upkeep of the facilities. Essentially, it covers the non-educational issues that are needed to operate a school district. Areas that are included in this are the daily transportation of students, the cleanliness and systems functions (heating/cooling, lighting, power, etc…) of the buildings, and the nutrition of our students. Edgewood is fortunate to have fine staff of bus drivers, bus mechanics, custodians, maintenance workers, cooks, cook's helpers and grounds crew to perform these duties. Without them, the operation of the schools would not be possible. Generally when people think of educational facilities, the personnel thought of are the teachers and administrators. The support services needed are sometimes just taken for granted. We have a staff of 130 members of classified employees to fulfill the needs for the educators to perform their job of educating students. We also have a supervisor for child nutrition and a transportation director.
The Edgewood City School District is fortunate to have the community support for the capital improvement project, which is now coming to a close. The voters passed a bond levy in November 1998 that generated $19.7 million dollars to improve and enlarge the facilities to meet the demand of student growth in the district. The project began in 1999 and now complete. At Babeck Elementary a new classroom wing and a new gymnasium added. This allowed the enrollment at Babeck to increase from about 190 to 500 students.
At Bloomfield the two elementary buildings were joined by a connector, new administrative offices and a media center were added. The cafeteria and kitchen were enlarged. New HVAC units were installed.
The new entrance offers security by now providing a monitored point of entry. There is a new elevator in each wing. Old windows and doors were replaced with new. The new traffic pattern has been a big improvement. Bloomfield Elementary now has about 775 students.
At the high school the first phase of work began in 2000. It included the new parking lots, the six new tennis courts and a new drive connecting the high school and middle school campuses. There is a new classroom addition with 22 classrooms. The new rooms include three new science rooms, three new art rooms, a new darkroom for photography, a new Vo-Ag room which is the size of three regular classrooms, a principal and an assistant principals office with adjacent secretary's offices. The new gymnasium has a seating capacity of 1370. The new gymnasium includes new locker rooms, showers and storage areas for different sports activities. There is an office for physical education teacher, the athletic director and two coach's offices. The new auditorium has seating capacity of 660. It includes a shop area, men and women's dressing rooms and a green room. There is a new lobby off the gymnasium and auditorium, men's and women's restrooms capable of handling capacity crowds at the gym and auditorium are located in the lobby. A ticket area is just inside the main entrance. There are two concession areas on each side of the lobby. The original high school building has a new roof as part of the construction work.
The completion of this project along with the construction of the Edgewood Middle School in 1992 and the addition and renovation to Seven Mile Elementary1993, means that all school buildings in the Edgewood School District have new additions and renovations within the last 10 years. Thanks to the community for their support in providing the facilities needed to meet the demand of added student enrollment.
Jim Patrick
Project Manager / Director of Business Operations
