Facilities & Construction Services
Building Connections
Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start. ~Nido Qubein
Sometimes getting started feels like getting behind. January passed quickly!
However fast or slow this year starts and finishes, FCS wishes you a favorable and productive 2025!
Read on for thank you's to our Grounds Maintenance Crew for their snow and ice removal, and the COO's notice for scheduling building events.
Use Brightly's Event Manager for Building Schedules
Brightly's Event Manager is the calendar system used to ensure your event's needs are met by our personnel in custodial services, environmental management, and technology services. Other calendars such as Outlook and Google cannot substitute for Event Manager.
The easy-to-use request form guides you through temperature control, lighting, audio/visual, and the many custodial services such as building and athletic field access, ADA accommodations, setup, breakdown, and trash removal. You can also check availability, detail tasks, configure seating, and more. The event details you include are seamlessly communicated to necessary FCS teams.
Submit your events a minimum of 72 hours before the start time. If submitted fewer than 72 hours, email David Seamon for additional instructions.
Contact the following team members for assistance with:
- Michelle Arnold: activation, administration, communications, location, and user management.
- Tracy Bernskoetter: athletics, public events, and invoicing.
- Colt Davidson: heating and cooling.
- David Seamon: administration, ADA accommodations, scheduling exceptions.
- Jack Woodbury: custodial services, building and athletic field access, ADA accommodations, setup, breakdown, trash removal, and snow and ice management.
If your event is canceled, update Event Manager to conserve district resources. Thank you!
CPS District Event Calendar
Contact, Details, Availability, Calendar
Location, Tasks, Seating Configuration
FCS may prioritize snow and ice removal for those buildings with approved events scheduled in Event Manager.
Inclement weather conditions may prevent schools from being in session yet permit activities and athletic events. Bearing safety in mind, CPS administration intends to determine by 10:00 a.m. whether activities and athletic events may be allowed. If allowed, the building's administrator decides whether to proceed with their building's scheduled events.
If your event is canceled, update Event Manager to conserve district resources.
Prep Snow & Ice Removal Equipment
Most of the district's 42 locations have multiple bus loops, driveways, parking lots, walkways, and playgrounds. Plowing equipment, snow-blowing machines, and salt spreaders are prepared multiple days ahead, and treatments may continue for days after the event.
Snow Pushing & Ice Salting
Each weather event being unique, the FCS Grounds maintenance crew begins their extensive task between midnight and 4 a.m. Contractors are called in for bigger campuses like BHS, HHS, and RBHS, and when accumulations are greater than two inches.
Avoid Second Shoveling
It's great to see the snow plow until it makes a new snow bank at the end of the cleared driveway. Clear a snow collection area before the driveway's entrance and in the direction of traffic.
Monitor the City's plowing progress using the Street and Snow Route Priority Viewer,
MoDOT's Ice Melt Is Un-BEET-lievable!
Driving behind the snow plow is typically a safer section of road to drive on but they can't see you if you can't see their side-view mirrors. Be sure to avoid passing, and slow down, maintain the driver's line of sight, a distance of five car lengths, and extra time for braking.
Attention, trivia fans! Click to learn how Missouri's Department of Transportation uses sugar beets to make an un-BEET-able impact on Missouri's snow and ice removal!
Ask FCS is an opportunity for you to find out the nuts and bolts of how FCS serves the district. FAQ's may be included in FCS Building Connections newsletters.
Email questions to:
- Michelle Arnold: carpentry, Event Manager technical support, grounds, keys and fobs, painters, and specialized maintenance.
- Lisa Ballard: Asset Essentials technical support, work orders.
- Casey Baxter: surplus and warehouse.
- Ashley Reddick: custodial services.
Columbia Public Schools' Facilities and Construction Services maintains 42 buildings, over 3.5 million square feet of floor space, across 303 square miles.
FCS provides solid foundations for our CPS scholars, staff, and community by building and maintaining the district's facilities with excellence, both inside and out. We accomplish this with our Director, Energy Manager, Engineer, Environmental Safety Technician, and Project Manager; alongside our teams of Carpenters, Grounds, Locksmiths, Painters, Specialized Maintenance, Supervisors, and Support Staff.
Our responsibilities include:
- Overseeing facility construction and renovations
- Preventive and corrective maintenance
- Capital project management
- Communication with district stakeholders and building administrators
FCS Building Connections newsletter lends opportunity to become acquainted with our services, and tips for taking a holistic approach to maximize excellence for our district's learning environments.
If you would like to have an FCS project featured in FCS Building Connections, or for facilities and grounds assistance, contact us at 573.214.3760.