LANSDALE- When thinking of a district as immense as North Penn, one likely has many thoughts of schools, students, and educators come to mind; however, people would be remiss in overlooking a building so crucial to the functions of the district: the Support Services Center. Through this building, North Penn’s 2.2 million square feet of building space and 486 acres of land are constantly maintained and kept in the best conditions possible.

Originally located below Penndale Middle School’s main office, the SSC transitioned to  8^th St. in Lansdale, a building down the street from the baseball fields of Schweiker Park, about six years ago. In addition to preventing previous problems with entering and exiting while busses and students were present, the relatively new location offers ample space for the SSC’s variety of needs.

Located throughout the building are various spaces that allow employees within the department to complete the necessary day-to-day work. In addition to office space in the front of the SSC, there is a lunchroom, science kit replenishment room, copy center, conference room, and shop.

Mr. Thomas Schneider, Director of Operations, explained an eye-opening benefit of having access to the shop as it readily provides numerous tools and equipment for employees.

“The other day somebody put a block of wood in a door hinge of the audion and tore the hinges out,” said Schneider. “Well, they brought the door back and repaired the door in the shop. The door itself would have cost $2,200 if we would have bought a new one, but since we have a shop and the skills to repair it, we repaired it.”

Not only does the shop allow cost effective alternatives, but also the warehouse as it uses LED motion sensor lights to conserve energy. Throughout this immense space of storage, materials from road signs to reams of paper to science kits are stored.

The SSC also houses twenty busses, eleven plows, and numerous trucks.

Although the SSC serves as a significant building in the district, the Support Services Department of about 135 employees proves to be even more crucial. Occupations vary from district maintenance to facilities to management to grounds crew. Additionally, employees that work in the SSC can be found in the warehouse, science kit replenishment room, or copy center.

Schneider explained that part of working in the Support Services Department is constantly being on call.

“The positions here are pretty much 24/7, where we might have to go in and time be it middle of the night or on a Sunday,” explained Schneider. “[We] just have to realize that we have to respond to whatever’s out there.”

In addition to being readily available, Schneider can be seen attending meetings regularly, planning for future projects in the summer, and putting budgets together. Currently, he’s in charge of the construction at Hatfield Elementary School.

Having worked with North Penn School District for almost twenty-five years, Mr. David Kelley, Coordinator of Custodial Maintenance, talked about his role in the district. He explained that by using ‘School Dude’, a program that connects him with other employees concerning work orders, the process of tracking and breaking down costs becomes more efficient. Additionally, Kelley can be seen travelling to buildings to touch bases with other Support Services Department employees. He also noted that he can be seen fixing things himself sometimes.

Although Kelley works out of the SSC, his previous experience began with running North Penn High School. Throughout his ten years of experience there, he recalled a vivid memory of an incident that involved numerous pipes bursting during a school night.

“When I was at the [North Penn] High School, we had eighteen rooms freeze up when it was a below zero week. We didn’t realize all the pipes were frozen on the second floor and when it started thawing out when it got to thirty-two degrees, they started breaking. I’m in the office and the teacher calls and said, ‘The water’s running down the steps in C-Pod.’ I went, ‘Oh yeah. Sure. Sure.’ I hung up and I started walking. As I got closer to C-Pod, I could hear this ‘woooosh!’ We were there all night. We got all the rooms cleaned up, except for one. It was 180 degree water that broke at the same elbow of every room. It was like a waterfall coming down the steps.”

Another employee of the Support Services Department, Mr. Chris Frisco, who is employed as District Grounds Keeper, explained that although he doesn’t spend much time at the SSC, his occupation fits their mission.

“My main job is to take care of sports fields, but we also do tree work, take care of playgrounds, work on tractors, [and] anything basically that’s outside,” said Frisco.

After about twenty-five years of work with the Grounds Crew, Frisco revealed that his favorite part of the job is laying out the sports fields.

Although the SSC is a building that illustrates the variety of jobs throughout the Support Services Department, Schneider noted the unanimous dedication among the staff. By reflecting on his previous experience with Council Rock School District, he concluded that he prefers North Penn’s system for hiring employees.

“It was different there because Council Rock outsourced a lot of their custodial work,” explained Schneider. “Here is all in-house employees, rather than contracted. Actually, I like that better because you have more dedicated people, rather than have just have anybody come into your building. There’ custodians here that have worked here for an excess of 35 years. There’s a lot of dedicated people here.”