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The President Speaks

 

 

The President  Speaks:

 CONNIE WARD
  SCSPMA President

   RUNNING ON FUMES

 As I pull into the gas station to fill’er up for the trip home from the SCSPMA summer conference, I began
 to think about how the price of fuel has affected the way we think and see normal day to day life.
 Fuel costs are up 35-40% since last year. It affects all that is our world. Many new challenges face school
 districts across the country. Working for the largest school district in South Carolina you can easily see the
 ramifications of high fuel prices on school budgets, our children’s education, and the work force.
 I began researching the internet for solutions. As expected, most of the schools in the U.S. have undergone
 drastic changes due to the high cost of fuel. 

 How about a 4-day school/work week?|
 Internet education courses ?
 Bus routes reduced or eliminated?
 Alternative fuels such as natural gas, ethanol or vegetable oil?

 Just think about the savings upside:

Ø       Energy costs go down

Ø       Employee productivity increases

Ø       Children & adults get more exercise, become healthier, less absences from school and work

 What about the down side:

Ø       School days with longer hours

Ø       Child care issues

Ø       The safety of our children while walking to and from school in inclement weather.

Ø       What about children that are on the free and reduced fee lunch programs ?

       (school meals may be the only nutritional meal these students receive.)

 The pros and cons go on and on. But the question we should ask ourselves is:

 What can your School District do to help reduce costs?

 As of July 1, 2008, Greenville County’s HVAC Department has implemented a 10 hour/4 day work week.
 Estimated annual savings is $28,000 in fuel savings and overtime cost reductions.

 Here’s a challenge for you...What can you do, as a South Carolina School District, to help ease some of the cost
 increases and save on fuel? You may think “we are too small a number”, but every little bit helps.
The Association would appreciate hearing from our members on what your district is doing or planning on doing
in the future to reduce operational costs !

Please Email us and let us know.

God Bless,

Connie Ward
President, SCSPMA

 

 


JIM VICAR
SCSPMA Executive Director

 

 

 

 

   Executive Director Update

As Executive Director of the SCSPMA, it is part of my job description to advise the Board on matters dealing
with By-Laws, conferences, training, business operations and suggestions for improvement. With one eye on our
past and the other eye on our future it seems very obvious that we need to retain that which is beneficial to our
membership but find new ways to attract those who have not yet realized enough value to join our Association.

I am in the planning stages of a “Managers Only” type seminar. Many Directors, Superintendents, Purchasing Agents,
Supervisors and Managers no longer attend our Summer Conference. There are many reasons for this decline in
attendance/membership and my thinking is that a seminar geared to only these types of positions may result in renewed
interest. Many vendors don’t feel we provide enough decision makers at the summer conference and therefore vendor
numbers have not grown significantly over the past several years. A decision makers seminar could be the answer to both problems.

Together with the Board , I hope to have final plans completed by the middle of September with a possible seminar date in late
February or early March 2009. I welcome any comments, suggestions or guidance anyone may wish to submit.
I may be contacted by phone at 803-609-3172 or email at jimvicar@sc.rr.com.

I would also like to mention that in an effort to move forward we have entered into an agreement with Del Communications, Inc.
 to professionally prepare and publish our official publication, “The Maintenance Update”. We are moving from a newsletter to a
magazine while at the same time reducing our cost for preparation and distribution. All members are encouraged to submit note
worthy employees, products and awards to me for possible publication.

 
                                                 ALEX JAMES - SCSPMA AMBASSADOR

 

                                                    Seeking School Improvements

Districts throughout South Carolina often are impacted by the lack of funds to adequately maintain their

facilities. For those of us who work in districts where budgets provide the opportunity to have preventive

maintenance programs, we struggle to understand why there is no parity in funding of capital needs from

the state for those districts in the state that are not so fortunate.  All districts in our state have an ambassador

for their needs in Alex James. Alex continues to meet with  State Superintendent Jim Rex to explore

legislation to correct funding deficiencies and encourage state legislators to properly fund capitol building

projects for all districts. The national average for the age of school buildings across the country is over

fifty-five years. With all the improvements in technology in recent years and the academic models

in place for our schools, it is easy to see that our facilities are outdated. Providing state of the art schools

for America’s children is crucial and statistics show that students who complete high school are more likely

to succeed in life.

                                      Identifying maintenance departments

 SCSPMA decided to identify two maintenance departments in South Carolina that would benefit from

attending our summer conference.  The Executive Board along with Alex James ,will decide which two

departments would benefit the most from attending the conference, networking with peers and gaining

valuable information to implement in their district.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

                                                                             
                                  
 

 

 

 

 

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