District to expand SchoolDude use to track maintenance labor and material costs; director says staffing shortfalls limit capacity

Joe Cruz, the district’s director of maintenance and operations, told the board the district will expand how it uses the SchoolDude work‑order system to include technician labor hours (with embedded labor rates) and material invoices so each closed work order will show a final cost.

Cruz said the current report the board received shows 4,243 completed work orders for a recent period but does not reflect roughly 170 open work orders and other major projects that have not been entered consistently into the system. He cited major projects such as a new irrigation system at Jackson Junior High and carpet replacement at Amador High as examples of work not yet uniformly tracked in SchoolDude.

“We’re only using a portion of what it can do,” Cruz said. He asked maintenance staff to start entering labor hours and invoices at closeout; once implemented, staff said a single work‑order view will show the labor plus parts cost for each job.

Cruz said current staff levels represent about 60 percent of what CASBO formulas suggest for fully staffed maintenance departments in districts of comparable size; he said filling those positions would require substantially more general‑fund resources and that the district must weigh staffing goals against budget reality.

Board members asked for quarterly reports showing completed projects, in‑progress projects and open work orders by site; Cruz and staff agreed to produce more detailed quarterly summaries and a summer‑project breakdown for the next cycle.

The board did not take action during the maintenance discussion but directed staff to present quarterly updates that include per‑project costs and open work‑order inventories.