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District to supplement grounds work after ABM staffing turnover; contractors to re-seed fields and mulch playgrounds
Summary
After community complaints and contractor turnover slowed grounds maintenance this summer, Isle of Wight schools will supplement ABM’s services with district and subcontractor crews to cut grass, recondition sports fields and complete playground mulching at no additional cost to the division through the remainder of the year.
Isle of Wight County Public Schools will supplement grounds maintenance for the remainder of the year after turnover in ABM’s grounds crew led to a decline in routine cuts and field maintenance this summer, the division told the school board on Aug. 7.
Facilities staff and ABM representatives described a stepped-up plan that includes district-contracted crews and a sports-field specialist to restore turf and complete mulching and landscaping tasks. Eric Smith, ABM’s site coordinator, said crews will perform cutting, edging and blowing; Lavert Graham and his crew will take lead on athletic-field work. Smith told the board the division would bring in Emerson, a firm that specializes in sports fields, to recondition fields at both sides of Windsor and the Smithfield side near the end of August.
"Cutting, edging, and blowing. Graham and his crew will be doing all our veil work and maintaining our sports fields," Smith told the board, explaining how the supplemental plan will distribute responsibilities. Facilities staff said ABM has faced higher-than-usual turnover on the grounds team; summer rains also exacerbated the backlog of mowing and edging work.
Superintendent designee Dr. Christopher Coleman said the division decided to supplement ABM at no extra cost to the district to ensure campuses are prepared for school openings. The supplemental work will include detail mowing around parking-lot cracks and fence lines, corrections parents had reported, and playground mulching scheduled the week after next.
Board members praised the quick pivot while asking staff to make communications to families clearer. The board asked facilities to provide a timetable for completed sites and to tally work done to ensure contract obligations are met going forward.
Why it matters: visible grounds conditions shape community perceptions of school readiness and safety; the supplemental effort is intended to restore playing fields and grounds before the first day of school without adding costs to the division.
