Maintenance Services

Maintenance Services is responsible for managing the day to day operations of the school division’s facilities and infrastructure.

Maintenance Services performs a variety of functions and tasks associated with the daily operation of school facilities, including routine maintenance, predictive and preventive maintenance, as well as emergency repairs. Maintenance Services is supported by ten specialized trade divisions including security infrastructure and indoor air quality.

Maintenance Services utilizes a web-based work order system. A designated work order coordinator at each facility enters work order requests into the system. The Maintenance Services work order coordinator receives the requests, approves them, forwards them to the appropriate trades division, and tracks them through the process to completion.

Scheduled maintenance and minor repairs are funded through the Operating Budget. Existing building systems, components and infrastructure and improvements in the configuration of educational spaces are replaced under the Minor Construction/Major Maintenance (MC/MM) Program, which is funded annually in the Capital Projects Fund, and biannually in the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP).

APS strictly complies with the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) regulations.

Water Quality

APS is comitted to ensuring that safe drinking water is provided to all users at all APS facilities. The APS monitoring and testing efforts are conducted in collaboration with the Arlington County Department of Environmental Services: Water, Sewers and Streets Bureau, and APS keeps staff in the Arlington Public Health Division informed about all testing and results.

Testing Results by Year

Background

In August 2016, APS made the decision to conduct water testing for lead content across all of our buildings, in response to press coverage about lead in drinking water at schools and cities around the nation. Arlington County’s water system is regularly monitored and meets all state and federal drinking water standards. Although all water fountains and kitchen water sources used for cooking in Arlington Public Schools (APS) were tested and remediated where necessary in 2004, as a precaution, APS tested three water samples at every school facility. All of the sample test results were below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as the lower Virginia Department of Health (VDH) standards (15 parts per billion or lower) in all locations tested, except for one location at Jamestown Elementary School.

Staff engaged an environmental consultant – ECS Mid-Atlantic – to conduct the water tests for APS and to collate all of the results. ECS was asked to conduct initial tests at three locations in each APS facility to include the main kitchen supply, a drinking fountain and one other random location. ECS was also instructed to strictly adhere to EPA guidelines as presented in the latest version of the ‘3TS’ document. Both APS and ECS also referenced the American Water Works Association’s “Assisting Schools and Child Care Facilities in Addressing Lead in Drinking Water” for additional tips on best practice where no definitive rules exist. The results of that round of testing included one ‘actionable’ reading at Jamestown Elementary School. As a follow-up to the one reading at Jamestown, APS asked the consultants to test every cold water faucet and drinking fountain in the building. Based on the follow-up results, APS staff began appropriate remediation where indicated. In consultation with staff in the Arlington County Public Health Division and the County’s Water, Sewer and Streets Bureau, APS decided to test every drinking fountain in every APS building as an added precaution.

A schedule was created to test every APS building on a 3-year rotating basis. Test results are posted here.

Contact

Arlington Public Schools Maintenance Services

Jim Meikle, Director of Maintenance
703-228-6617
james.meikle@apsva.us