@divergentTea TDSB provided a T1198, but no communication came out about it as far as I know. It just appeared where we get our pay slips and tax forms.
@ItsElizabethSo Heating is a constant battle.
I'm currently in a school with a heating system that's over 60 years old. Trying to keep everyone warm is as much an art as a science.
It's not even the boilers themselves - it's the rads and controls that are just as outdated.
@divergentTea@fordnation@JillDunlop1 We're slowly replacing them...
When it snows, we have to have contractors shovel the snow off of the roof to take pressure off of the roofing panels.
I have held chunks of that roof in my hands, after it's fallen to the floor.
@MsKrispanis@JonFraserTF @jennyleeshee @HeartPatient105@JillDunlop1@fordnation They're not common at all... It would indicate that the room was purpose built as something other than a standard classroom.
At a guess, judging by some clues in the class photo and the rooms location in the building, I would say it was a mechanical/fan room in years past.
Back to work on Monday.
I'm unreasonably happy about it, too. After a long 4+ months, life is slowly returning to normal.
The board is a crazy place to work, but I'm lucky to have good folks around me that'll let me ease my way back in.
@mcgregis Stairs are often an afterthought.
I had a school with 4 different 3 story staircases... I "swept" with my mop, because I didn't have time to do both. My mop bucket looked like a garbage can by the time I was done.
The job can be overwhelming. It's not a good feeling knowing there's 20 things you should be doing today, and also knowing you're going to get to 5 of them.
The school in the example here has less than 200 students. I've been the only caretaker in a school of 900.
#tdsb
“If schools seem grubbier—if classrooms are dirtier, lunchroom tables stickier, snow isn’t cleared as quickly, and washrooms are messier—it’s because there aren’t enough people to do the job.” https://t.co/NkK6L71KW3
@jhlm2004 The 2 systems are independent in all of the schools I've been to, although I have seen an old tank that was heated by the steam boilers. It had been long decommissioned.
Generally, the schools have the same kind of water heaters a home does.
It's a beautiful day outside, but I'm already thinking about the winter.
By law, all heating systems have to be operational by October 15th - that's just over a month away.
There's a small group of schools that this poses an extra challenge for... Our #tdsb steam plants. /1
@chish38_CA No kidding! I'm trying to rehab my thinking box, too.
We lost the unassigned engineer in the area to a hospital, and the area next door lost theirs too. It's going to be an interesting winter.
@janiceferguson And we appreciate it!
Having a caring and engaged caretaker, like the one in the article, makes a huge difference in the school community.
Just thought I would point out that the chronic understaffing and underspending has effects that aren't necessarily obvious right away. And heating season is right around the corner. /end
Do I have an easy solution? No.
It's either the ministry spends the money for capital construction, or the board spends the money to attract OEs. Neither has the appetite to do so. /7