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SD U-46 maintenance staff demonstrate winter fleet prep, outline salt use and training
Summary
District maintenance staff showed how snow plows and salt spreaders are prepared, described a fleet of more than 60 vehicles and outlined operator training and early-morning staging for winter response.
Maintenance staff for SD U-46 demonstrated how the district prepares its vehicle fleet for winter, showing how plows, hydraulic controls and salt spreaders are tested and explaining staging and training procedures.
The demonstration matters because the district’s winter operations affect school transportation reliability and student safety across SD U-46. Staff described the size of the fleet, the seasonal salt volumes the district uses and how new drivers are trained to operate plows and salt equipment.
Gary Deskins, shop foreman, said the district maintains “over 60 vehicles” for operations, not including trailers. “That’s just, you know, cars. Vans. Yeah. Trucks, vans, cars,” Deskins said. He and other staff described a multi-step winter checklist that begins in late August and moves from basic vehicle servicing to installing plows and salt boxes and testing hydraulic systems.
Deskins outlined how the plow controls work during the demonstration: a hose lifts the plow and two hoses swing it left and right, and operators engage the vehicle’s power take-off to run the hydraulic system. Leo, a grade 8 mechanic at Jones, assisted on the demonstration and handled hose coupling while staff tested strobes, the PTO and the auger control.
Staff said crews stage trucks early on storm days so they can leave the facility as conditions warrant. An unnamed staff member said crews commonly begin work before dawn for salt events and that the district stages trucks and loads them so they can depart quickly; the staff member said trucks are typically staged and on the road as early as 4 a.m.
The staff member also described salt usage: “Every time we salt, we go through anywhere from 25 to 100 tons of salt depending on the weather,” the staff member said, and added the district purchases salt seasonally in the range of roughly 900 to 1,300 tons depending on the season. Staff said a single truck typically carries about 2.5 tons of salt in the salt box.
On training, Deskins said new operators usually start driving in a standard pickup, then progress to dump trucks and plow-equipped vehicles as they gain experience. “They’ll usually start in the regular pickup truck, and then they’ll work themselves into the dump truck,” Deskins said, describing a step-wise approach to operator training.
The demonstration concluded with district staff thanking maintenance crew members for overnight and early-morning work during winter operations. No formal policy decisions, budget votes or bids were taken during this demonstration; staff presented operational procedures and answers to questions during the session.
The district identified Gary Deskins, Leo and a mechanic named Nick as the primary maintenance participants in the demonstration.
