ECISD maintenance staff outline HVAC workload, prioritization and short-term fixes

Julie Bettis, ECISD director of maintenance and operations, told the school board Monday that the district’s maintenance and operations (M&O) HVAC crew manages about 1,800 heating, ventilation and air-conditioning units across 45 instructional facilities and 142 portables. “We have roughly around 1,800 units in the instructional facilities,” Bettis said, and described a two‑person technician crew model supported by foremen and a district engineer. The department reported 16 HVAC employees who respond to routine and emergency calls and a weekly average of about 140 HVAC work orders districtwide, roughly 17 work orders per two‑person crew per week.Bettis described the district’s work‑order process: campus principals, lead custodians and other designated campus requesters submit work orders that are reviewed centrally by M&O dispatch, assigned to a foreman and prioritized with input from campus leaders. In emergencies, Bettis said, foremen or technicians will respond immediately and the work order is created or completed afterward for documentation. “In an emergency situation, the foreman will create the work order after the job is complete,” she said.She told trustees that critical priorities include whole‑campus outages from chiller failures, major water leaks, special education rooms and testing sites. For large or specialized equipment — for example, four large units at Edinburgh North and chiller work — the district is in progress on replacements and uses temporary, portable cooling where needed. Bettis said the district owns some portable units and rents others when capacity is insufficient: “Within a classroom, it just takes 1 portable unit,” she said, and gyms and cafeterias may require multiple units.Bettis also summarized operational changes intended to reduce backlog and improve documentation: moving technicians to handheld devices for on‑site notes, requiring foremen and control specialists to close work orders daily, monthly audits by the district engineer and data clerk, and staggered schedules to allow preventive maintenance outside instructional hours. She said some campuses lack remote control/graphics capability and the department will propose upgrades to improve remote diagnostics and response time.Board members asked brief clarifying questions during the presentation and characterized the volume of work as substantial. Bettis concluded by listing completed summer projects and a set of campuses where in‑house replacements or temporary cooling remain underway. No formal action or vote was taken on HVAC staffing or purchases during the meeting.