This Guide is designed for staff at the local school district, where most facility maintenance is planned, managed, and carried out. Chapters: Intro. to School Facilities Maint. Planning; Planning for School Facilities Maint.; Facility Audits: Knowing What You Have; Providing a Safe Environment for Learning; Maintaining School Facilities and Grounds; Effectively Managing Staff and Contractors; and Evaluating Facilities Maint. Efforts. Appendices: Chapter Checklists; Additional Resources; State School Facilities Web Sites; Audit Form Template; Record Layout for a Computerized Work Order System; Model Job Description for a Custodial Worker; Useful Interview Questions; Using Mapping During the Interview Process; and Sample Customer Survey Form.

The planning guide was developed to help readers better understand why and how to develop, implement, and evaluate a school facilities maintenance plan. The guide is designed for staff at the local school district level, where most facility maintenance is planned, managed, and carried out. This audience includes school business officials, school board members, superintendents, principals, facilities maintenance planners, maintenance staff, and custodial staff. The document is also relevant to the school facilities interests of state education agency staff, community groups, vendors, and regulatory agencies. The guide focuses on: (1) school facility maintenance as a vital task in the responsible management of an education organization; (2) the needs of an education audience; (3) strategies and procedures for planning, implementing, and evaluating effective maintenance programs; (4) a process to be followed, rather than a canned set of "one size fits all" solutions; and (5) recommendations based on best practices, rather than mandates. The document offers recommendations on the following issues, which serve as chapter headings: (1) "Introduction to School Facilities Maintenance Planning"; (2) "Planning for School Facilities Maintenance"; (3) "Facilities Audits (Knowing What You Have)' I; (4) "Providing a Safe Environment for Learning"; (5) "Maintaining School Facilities and Grounds"; (6) "Effectively Managing Staff and Contractors"; and (7) "Evaluating Facilities Maintenance Efforts."

This book provides a detailed discussion of all of the processes involved in planning a school building. From a discussion on how to organize the local staff to the final evaluation of the building, the separate processes are described in detail.