Latest / The Recess-An Inside Look at the Auburn School District / Episode #14: Dan Duran, Coordinator of Maintenance

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Episode #14: Dan Duran, Coordinator of Maintenance · The Recess-An Inside Look at the Auburn School District

• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, and welcome to the Recess Podcast.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Alan Spicotti, the proud superintendent of the Auburn School District.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: We put the Recess Podcast together to tell some of the stories behind the scenes and help uh really our whole community get to know us a little bit better, understand what happens in schools, uh, some of the amazing heroes who uh you might not know about if you're not working directly with them.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I know some of you in the audience are in our community or uh you might even work for the district or be a family member of a student, um, but you only see what you see in your day-to-day, maybe in your school or office or or where your child attends.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: So uh today we get to do a really fun one and take you behind the scenes in our maintenance and operations division.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I am joined by Dan Duran, uh, who is coordinator of maintenance in the Auburn School District.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um his specific responsibilities cover mechanical, electrical, and grounds, uh, but we're gonna learn a lot more about what he does and really that whole department uh over um on West Main Street that helps keep all of our schools well taken care of, uh, last a long time.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: The new schools still look new, and we're really proud of that and and function so that kids have a great learning environment, teachers have a great uh place to work and and support kids and all these things uh kind of happen behind the scenes, but they make a big difference for our students and in our mission of learning.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so at this time I am happy to welcome Dan Duran to the podcast.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome, Dan.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, thank you.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, it's great to have you with us.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you're gonna hear a little bit about Dan's background and everything, but I'll just uh I'll offer up first.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: He's a proud Trojan, a 2010 graduate of Auburn High School.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and you said you went to Rainier and uh Washington.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Washington Elementary and a little bit at Terminal Park.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so uh Dan's really been Auburn through and through.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he started working for the district in 2013.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: So um you had a three-year gap where you uh worked outside of the district and you were telling me uh you went to Renton Tech.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's correct.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: What program did you do at Rent and Tech?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the commercial building engineering program encompasses all of the air distribution, um, pipe fitting, as well as some of the main maintenance of like the sewer plants and hydronic heating and cooling plants.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: So all the things that uh I certainly hope to never think about in my own home.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um and sometimes I think about schools as like a house with 500 students or uh or nearly a thousand students in our middle schools or you know, close to eighteen, nineteen hundred students in some of our high schools uh every single day.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And and we're maintaining those.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it's a lot of work, and and Dan does some of that work himself and works with a big team that helps make that happen.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: So uh we're gonna get into all of that and more, but uh Dan Duran, tell us about your favorite teacher.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: My favorite teacher would say it's gonna be Mr.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: Z at Auburn High School.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: Mr.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: Z, he when I took his class, he made it fun, he made it engaging, and along with um teaching us the fundamentals of electronics and all the components, um, we engaged in projects that kept it fun.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: We got to build radios, we built RC cars, we built multimeters so we can use a test instrument um to test all the various components within circuitries and circuit boards.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I feel like he's also a great community leader outside of the classroom as well as um being involved in the community by taking part of the robotics program.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to Mr.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Z.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um and we love the robotics team.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, this is a bird walk, but I went to the the musical uh that Auburn put on this year, and the robot had a role in Spongebob the musical is the snail kind of crawling around the bottom of the the sea there on the stage.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: So um Chris Solzlack does a great job, and uh you're not the first person to tell me that he's a favorite, and you're not the first person to tell me that something that uh is outside of core academics made a big difference in in your education and in your life.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um so it's not on our on our show sheet here, but can you just first of all do you remember what uh CTE classes you took while you're at Auburn High?
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: So the CTE classes I took, I took um Colonial Arts with Marcy.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: I had um wood I had um uh two um CTE programs with Lou Kelleher in his um can't think of the class.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: I know there was one where we built um CO2 cars as well as making cutting boards and all the various things that happens in the wood shop, and then I also took part in jewelry.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um there's I I did quite a bit within the CTE side of things.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's great.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: So none of those things are exactly HVAC, right?
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um but how would you say that that experience prepared you for what you studied at RedinTech and ultimately did in your job?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: So the electronics actually was very close to at least the fundamentals of HVAC.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because it we went over like the basic um electrical fundamentals along with uh how electricity works and building a multimeter, it's a test instrument, so you can test batteries, you can test outlets, and that's that's one thing that got me interested in the field, actually.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: And that's another part of the reason I I enjoyed Mr.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Z's class.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: He was just so engaging, joked around.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: He was more or less of a peer rather than a supervisory figure.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, so I'm gonna pretend that I understand everything you said and know what a multimeter is.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um but it it it just goes to show that you can start to take on some, you know, pretty real-world advanced stuff in the high school in the CTE program that sets you up for other experiences later uh that may not be the same, but it's related uh, you know, in in terms of using your hands but using your head with them and and knowing that discipline.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm really thankful because uh our our schools work and we have twenty-four schools, we have several other buildings, uh and it's really the exception when we run into an issue, and yeah, it gets to be frustrating if if something's down on a certain day.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but think about every day, uh almost every day everything works, and it and it's your team that makes that happen for us.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: So um before we get into your like your role a little bit, tell us about the team that's over at maintenance and operations.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what kind of like how's the department broken down?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um we know Randy Thomas is uh the executive director, and he's been with the district for decades and and has really done a great job of leadership.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but tell us about the department.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: So the maintenance department is broken up into different categories from warehouse, grounds, there's a paint shop, there's the mechanical systems, which takes care of the pipe fitting, um, ventilation, um, electrical systems.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: They basically touch any device that has a a wire or cable going to it.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then paint and glaze.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you, one of my favorites is is going into, I know there's a big shop where they have a lot of spare parts, and we have buildings uh fortunately not as old as when we had the old terminal park back to 1945, uh, but we're still running uh facilities back into the 1960s, and you just think about like the clocks that are in schools, like they have spare clocks from different eras, and it's uh there are things in our schools that you can't get anymore.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: So just kind of, I don't know, paint a picture for the for the folks you might want to mentally walk walk through the building, but just share, you know, what kind of work is being done and and what kind of uh equipment and materials are there.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, for sure.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: So the as I mentioned, the electrical systems shop is highly geared.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: They have spare parts for buildings that were what we have buildings as old as 1935, the annex special student special services, so they have to maintain that equipment within it within itself.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: There's they have old clocks, they have old circuit breakers.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they're they have stuff that was obsolete 20 years ago.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: Even it's it's hard to clean shop because we don't know what we're gonna use, when we're gonna need it, and so they do a real good job of that, and they're very resourceful.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: And as long and same with the mechanical shop, that we like to keep parts on the shelf just in case something happens to go down and it can be an immediate repair versus it being something that has a long um lead time and hard to get.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but part of what we do is upkeep on the grounds.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: You want to just say a word about what happens outside of the schools?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: So the grounds we have approximately 405 acres, and the grounds team, they they maintain all of it.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: They do an excellent job.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: They're they're they're a very tough team.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: They doesn't matter how cold it is, how hot it is, they're out there working, and I'm glad to have those guys on my team because it is something that not all of us can handle.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: I know I wouldn't be able to work outside all year long in the elements, and I have a lot of appreciation for those guys.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they do an amazing job.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they also are integral whenever we have a winter uh winter weather event.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and sometimes when we've had to be out of school, it's not because it snowed that morning and the roads are bad, it's because there's an accumulation of ice or snow and ice.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um and they jump in uh when everybody else gets to stay home and either have the day off or uh maybe be on call or something.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the whole team, including school custodians who are superstars for us, come in and get the get the facilities ready as well.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you want to just say a word about that or do you have any stories about those kind of days?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: Anytime we have a snow day, we all band together and it's it's yeah, snow day, everybody's gone from the facility, and we just grab as many shovel snow shovels as we can, and then just even the administrators.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: You've we've seen Randy, myself, Scott, we all band together, head out there with the technicians because shoveling snow isn't fun, but shoveling ice and getting rid of rid of ice is a lot harder, and that creates a huge hazard.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: And the last thing we need to have is students sliding around on the sidewalk sidewalks and pavement as they're headed in and getting hurt.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: You ever taking a spill in that duty?
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, not not at home or at home, but not on the job.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I know it's it's not fun, and that's one thing we try to minimize and prevent.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: The custodians do a great job of putting de-icer and ice melt on the ground to prevent any of that.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's great.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: We want to keep everybody safe and healthy and able to conduct uh teaching and learning and all the other amazing things we do in the district.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: So, all right, thanks for kind of giving us a a little bit of uh an introduction and tour to maintenance and operations department.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about you.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I started to introduce you, um, 2010 grad of Auburn High.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you went through the Renton Technical program.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, pick up the story there when when you were hired with the district.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us about your path in the Auburn School District as an employee.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so uh Randy Thomas actually was the person that that hired me on while I was still going to um while I was still going to school.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: I was a part-time student, and um I got the opportunity to interview for the job, and um I more or less got hired on as an apprentice with uh the mechanical systems team.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: So as I was going through the Rent and Technical program, still learning my the trade, picking up uh the basic skills I needed to become a technician, um, I could see the real life application.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: So it that really helped me advance my skill set, get a better understanding of all the equipment and how the um interaction between the air handling units and the controls, all the the background equipment.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: There's there's a lot to learn when it comes to air handling equipment, especially in the modern systems, because it everything's computerized.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: You need a can you need to have uh advanced knowledge of control systems and computers and electronics in general to understand how HVAC systems work.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh I know you're a humble guy, but share with the audience who they just don't get to see, probably a lot of people don't even know that you know we have a maintenance and operations department and facility and uh people doing this work behind the scenes.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: So uh kind of brag on your your team and your your colleagues there for a little bit.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: What are some of the successes of maintenance and operations in Auburn School District?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: During COVID, I know COVID was a hard time for everybody.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: We had um a huge uh fund source from the federal government, the ESSER funds, and with that we the maintenance department um worked with Scott and other contractors, and we were able to upgrade all our control systems.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: We were able to able to upgrade some of our hydronic heating plants to get it modernized to make it a lot more energy efficient, as well as upgrading our filtration systems to the the they call it MERV 13.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's a platform where we get a lot more air particulates and it uh Yeah, it more advanced filtration with the MERF 13 filters and that that ultimately helps the students and provides a better learning environment for the students and staff.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: That was a huge success story, and um, you know, every field kind of had their their different reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic and uh some people had the luxury of of working from home.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um were on the front lines, and what your team was doing was uh a lot of obviously the cleaning and disinfecting and and doing the things that helped us uh safely return return special education programs pretty early in the pandemic and return in hybrid with all of our students shortly after.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um but we're really trying to get ahead of the next any respiratory uh infectious disease by improving our air filtration and our HVAC.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I would agree that was a that was a huge lift and a big success story for your team and something that people don't really think about, right?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: That that uh is happening behind the scenes and is literally the air that we breathe um has been positively impacted by the work of our MO team.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: So as a person who spends a lot of hours in in this office and all of our schools, I will thank you personally for that.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh do you have any other success stories you want to share from the department?
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I want to say last May we updated our safety and security standards, and one thing that the maintenance department was challenged with was providing a uh secure facility, which meant locking the front doors, having uh coming up with a solution to allow students, staff, parents, visitors to go in through the front entrance with um visible and audio technology.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so the maintenance department, the electricians, we all banded together to come up with a solution and then ultimately ended up going with uh a product, an intercom that allows admittance to the facility, and we get a full view of who's coming into the facility.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that uh helps promote a safe and comfortable learning environment for the students and staff.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that's been invaluable, and that's something that a lot of staff, a lot of office staff, uh some of our teaching staff, and uh to be honest, many of our parents really wanted everybody realizes that our first priority and our first responsibility is the safety of students and staff.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: But it it seems easy.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, just lock the door.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: But then how how do you uh you know let people into the building and evaluate uh i if you know we we need to make a different decision and having that technology in place and having it work seamlessly has made a big difference in our schools.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: So kudos and and great work.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of students and schools, um let's go like a little bit more philosophical here.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: How do you think about how your role and how uh the Department of Maintenance and Operations supports students?
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: So the maintenance and operations department supports students by providing a welcoming and safe environment, um from changing the filters on a quarterly basis to maintaining and supporting the the the heating and cooling systems, the grounds team, I mean taking care of the the entire property to make sure that they're the grounds, the play equipment, that that's all safe and in working order.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a lot of work that we have to maintain.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um there is a hundred and twelve portables, and we have technicians that go to every single portable over the summer just to verify that that's gonna be in uh good working order when the students come back during the summer or from the summer break to the the start of school year in September.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a lot of moving pieces.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: I know everybody, the the students and staff get to go home over the summer, but uh that's when we're the busiest.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's the busiest time of the year for us.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: We have projects and all the preventative maintenance and um compliance reporting.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: There's with the fire alarm systems and it's pretty exciting.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's fast paced, but that's something that the maintenance team kind of loves to do and supporting the children.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: I I think those are all spot on examples.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a baseball fan, and so one of the sayings in the sport is uh the umpire is doing a great job when nobody notices it.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I think your job is a little bit like that.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh your your goal is for school to work well and for our teachers to be able to do their thing without even having to think about you know, the temperature in the building or the classroom or you know, the lights working or the locks working or the the systems working, the miss bigger than your your area, the technology and food and transportation being on time.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: All those things come together and our goal is to, you know, make them almost invisible so that uh not that we want to take that work for granted because it's really important, but we want to free up all the capacity of students and staff to focus on on learning and student wellness and the the things that we're here for.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and so you describe that really well.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I know on behalf of of our whole 2000 plus people team, uh I wanna wanna thank you and and Randy and your whole team for really having a place that is uh easy to work in and easy to learn in uh because that makes a huge difference and it gathers a lot of confidence from our community too.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: They see our schools um that are very well maintained.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: I get to read the reports, the facilities assessments, and you know, I mean, a a school like Mount Baker Middle School, we don't think about it, but it is almost 30 years old now, right?
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people remember it being new.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but a lot can happen in 30 years, yet uh it's humming along, it's in excellent shape.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that's just one example.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then the the new schools that we've bought that we've built in recent years, uh literally you can walk around Auburn High School and uh, you know, obviously there are things on the wall, and you you see that, but if I brought somebody in who didn't know Auburn High and I wanted to say, hey, this is a one or two-year-old building, they would believe it because visually it looks almost in mint condition.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so that's that's kudos to your team.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's kudos to our students uh who I think have really respected and taken care of our new buildings.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so all of that, um, when I'm out in the community, I hear, hey, we're really proud of the schools, we're proud of the facilities.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's something that makes me appreciative to be a part of Auburn and the Auburn School District.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: So uh anyway, as you go back to your job, let your team know that uh I'm proud of them and the and the whole community is is really behind the work that they do.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, thank you.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: I mean that's a testament to the team.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: The they're always looking for different training opportunities so they could advance their skill set.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: As I mentioned, the new facilities, they're they're you need to be really tech savvy to kind of understand the the basics, even the lights.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, any more the light switch at a new facility, it's uh it's a computer.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you can plug a laptop into the light switch to control the the dimming rate, the every single component, which and they're they're willing to go to classes, and I I really commend them.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: They're the every team has done a great job to maintain our facilities.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, that's a perfect segue because I want to ask you in about pathways into the trades.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think sometimes schools get a bad rap for being only about college, and uh certainly not something I believe.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think that our our district believes that.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: We have really strong CTE career and technical education programs um that we have invested in, we have stuck with.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I feel like you could put our CTE programs up against a lot of districts and and be really proud of what we have in Auburn.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we're always trying to get the word out to students that that pathway to the trades is the right pathway for for a lot of kids and it is completely viable.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about like having a family wage job and being able to own a home and raise a family and all those kind of basic human goals that uh many of us have for our kids.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: We see lots of examples of that from students who do go the the trade the trades route, the apprenticeship route, um and do something that, you know, I uh uh yes, it's it's active, you're not at a desk, you're working with your hands, but it's really a skilled trade.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just like, okay, the you know, we don't need to learn, we we're just gonna go out and work.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's a skilled trade and it's it's a discipline that you learn.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: So um I don't know how many students we have listening to this podcast, but I know we have parents and I know we have teachers, I know we have community members.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Can you like use this platform for a minute to talk about um as a person who has gone that route uh the value of going into the trades and what that can do for a student that they may not recognize at 16, 17, 18 years old?
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but as adults we see, wow, that that's that's a great professional career.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so most of the trades nowadays, especially the the unions and the the journeymans, they all make six figures, and it doesn't always require, you know, uh a hammer and a nail or a screwdriver.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: There's technical skilled trades where um you can be using a computer to control the ventilation and programming of the ventilation systems.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: But for instance, the a journeyman electrician, they make$71 an hour.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great wage.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it it doesn't get much better than that, and it's it is fulfilling because you use your hands to install devices, work on facilities, school buildings, hospitals.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's always going to be work when it comes to the trades.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and yeah, I I know a lot of friends or I have a lot of friends that are in the union uh union carpenters, they're electricians.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um I've spoken, I've talked my cousin into being uh an electrician, and he's currently going to um a construction apprenticeship, and he he's loving it, and then he's he's a year too shy from getting$70 an hour.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it it is fulfilling and it doesn't always require a degree.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I that's that's one thing that I'd like to express to the students and and parents that you may not know what career path you want to go with in high school, but it if you don't know, just attend a CTE program.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: It can be wood shop, it can be electronics, just get your foot in the door, at least get a feeling of what path you want to do outside of um outside of the traditional college, Green River, university.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we hire people out of the the trade paths uh as well.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: Can you think of somebody uh we've brought on board that has gone through a pathway like this?
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, so in the mechanical systems team, there's actually three current Renton technical um graduates.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: So we all basically went through the same program.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: I actually heard of the opening uh for the mechanical systems helper through a current technician, and he he put in a good word for me, and um that program has been really successful with our team because it teaches us the basics, and then from there we all get together and proceed um to build our skill set as we we start to learn the equipment and then um work with our lead staff to get a better understanding of the the drawings and everything else that's associated with HVAC.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I I feel like either uh we're giving free advertising to Renton Tech right now or we owe them a big debt of gratitude for helping to be a pipeline uh as we're an employer.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so shout out to Renton Tech.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that's one of many great options, and there's I mean, there's union-based apprenticeships.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I always um give shout out to Auburn, uh to Auburn's very own Green River College, which has some great technical programs, and um there's there's a lot of pathways.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um awesome.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: All right, uh, we're about to the end of our time with Dan Duran, who is the coordinator of maintenance.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he works with mechanical, electrical, and grounds, and is a part of a really powerful team that uh keeps our schools looking great, functioning great, and uh we're just really proud of lots of men and women who contribute greatly in the MO area, and we're just uh incredibly proud of them.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: So uh is there anything else that you want to talk about before we shift on to the your favorite thing to do at recess?
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I just again I just want to give a shout out to the whole maintenance and operations team from custodial staff to mechanical, grounds, warehouse, everybody, they they do a great job to maintain our facilities, and I'm proud of all the hard work that they put in, especially because they're they're like the unsung heroes.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, cleaning a toilet isn't glorious, snaking a drain isn't glorious, but they're there, we need them, and the they don't complain, they just go to work and then plug away to support the students and staff.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't have said it better myself.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh really thanks, Dan, for what you and your team do.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one of the things maybe the grounds uh helps out with is those playgrounds that we have recess.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so they're uh integral uh to our kids' experience and this podcast.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me what was your favorite thing to do at recess?
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: My favorite thing to do at recess, I'm gonna have to say play kickball.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I love playing kickball.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um it it I think back during recess and it seemed like rain or shine.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: We were out there sliding around in the mud and we'd go back into the classroom muddy, dirty, and it uh that's one of my fondest memories when I think of back at about me at being a student at Washington Elementary.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's perfect.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, it's funny I have guests on and they talk, and then a lot of times they'll look at me and say, Do they still do that?
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: Do they still do tetherball?
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, they just still do tetherball.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I know kickball was my favorite back in the day.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so I'm glad to hear that it has thrived through the generations.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, to a younger district employee here, uh, Dan Duran.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: No, thank you.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: It was a lot of fun.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you represent a team that's done a lot of great work for our district, and we literally could not hold school without the work that you and your colleagues do.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you for shedding uh some light on the great work in the MO team.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: All right, thank you, Danderan.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you all for listening.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, this has been the Recess Podcast, a production of the Auburn School District, uh produced by Vicky Alonzo, and we are here to share the stories of the district.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: If uh I mentioned this before, but if you know somebody who's interested in the trades and just want to hear a little bit about what that journey could look like, um, you might want to forward this podcast to them and anybody else who'd be interested in hearing about what happens behind the scenes in our maintenance and operations team.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: All right, we're gonna wrap up there.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you next time on the Resets Podcast.