VAIL, Ariz. (KGUN) — It takes a lot to keep a school district running smoothly—and that includes good technicians to maintain heating, air conditioning and all the parts of modern school buildings. Now the Vail School District is offering signing bonuses to fill gaps in its maintenance staff.
We were in Corona De Tucson talking to the Vail School District talking about something very important. When people talk about schools they tend to think of teachers and principals and librarians but you really need to give some thought to the maintenance guys who keep these places running and Vail is taking some special steps to bring in some more.
Angus Torres has a big job. There are 22 schools in the Vail School District. It’s up to him and technicians like him to keep those schools, smooth running, comfortable places to learn. At Corona Foothills Middle School he’s helping to cool down some hot spots in the school kitchen.
“Oh, it's just every day is a new adventure. You know, you show up and there's always something different to do. Somewhere to go, you know, I'm just helping out wherever we can.”
Vail needs more technicians like Angus and with guys like him in such demand the districts rolled out some incentives:
A two hundred dollar bonus for completing training, two hundred for staying three months and completing 50 work orders, and another two hundred for completing six months and a hundred work orders.
Vail Superintendent John Carruth says his district wants to hire maintenance techs who embrace the idea that there’s more to maintenance for a school district than simply fixing things.
“Whether it's a child, whether it's the family, whether it's a community member when they walk up to a school, the way that that school looks, and the way that that school feels, it tells a story about do we care about kids in this community?”
Angus Torres says at Vail the pay’s good, the hours are good and it really does make a difference to know his work’s helping kids.
“Oh, yeah, that's, that's like the best bonus. Because, you know, even my daughter goes to school and if she’s hot or she’s cold you know, we want somebody to be on top of it to fix it.”
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
