JMCSS schools open with new Malesus, janitorial services

The Jackson-Madison County School Board met on the evening of Aug. 5 for its monthly work session ahead of the monthly meeting three days later.

Earlier that day, JMCSS welcomed all nearly 13,000 of its students back to school for the first day of classes, and Deputy Superintendent Ricky Catlett gave an update on how things went.

Probably the most important update he gave was about the janitorial services for the schools.

After outsourcing keeping the buildings clean the last few years with results that weren’t up to the standards of Superintendent Marlon King and his staff, the Board approved last spring the district go back to employing their own janitorial services crew for the entire district.

“We didn’t have a lot of time because we couldn’t take this over until July 15,” Catlett said. “But I’m really proud of everyone who pitched in to make this a successful start.

“We’re still working out some things, and we weren’t able to get a few things done we wanted to before classes resumed, but we’ve got people in every building. And within each building, we’re probably going to see some changes with scheduling and stuff just to see what fits best for each school.”

Catlett informed the Board that the district is contracting with different local companies throughout the county to take care of the grass cutting at each school.

“Doing it this way, we don’t put the burden of 25 campuses on one company,” Catlett said. “But the other side to that is if we contract with a company and they may have just one campus or even two or three, we’re in a situation where we’re not their only client.

“So when there’s a week where there’s a lot of rain and our grass is getting tall at a certain school, the company that may be contracted to cut that may have other customers to get to. So it’s on us to be good partners with everybody to ensure we get prompt service in those times.”

Monday also marked the opening of the new Malesus STEM Innovation Center, housed in the old Malesus Middle School building that was closed as part of Vision 2020.

“When I first ran for my spot on the Board, I ran because I wanted to see if we could undo everything that was done by Vision 2020,” said Board Chairman Pete Johnson, who’s been on the Board since 2018. “Malesus was one of those schools that was closed, so to see it come back online and for us to have an even greater purpose for it – looking to the future and helping students from different schools prepare for technical jobs – makes me feel like we’ve accomplished something.

“Dr. Teresa McSweeney and her staff there are doing a wonderful job, and we’re glad to support what they’re doing.”

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news