During winter months, Operations monitors the weather closely so that we can address snow removal in the parking lots and drives. In order to address snow removal throughout the district, members of the grounds and maintenance staff shift their hours around Thanksgiving based on forecast conditions and maintain that schedule until the threat of snow has diminished.
- FHPS employs an outside contractor to plow lots and drives at all FHPS sites except Buildings & Grounds, Food Service, and the Operations Center.
- Lot plowing typically occurs any time snowfall of 2″ or greater occurs.
- Note: Plowing is not typically expected to address drifted snow that can exceed 2″ for snowfalls that are less than 2″.
- Plowing typically occurs near the end of a snowfall event and during periods of low parking lot capacity.
- Plowing activities are typically scheduled to remove snow prior to bus and normal staff/student arrival times.
- Salt is typically applied to address icing issues in drive areas, not throughout parking areas.
- Note: Plowing and salting of roads is the responsibility of the Kent County Road Commission.
- In order to reduce the number of lots maintained on weekends, the majority of our scheduled weekend activities will be held at Central Middle/Central Woodlands, Northern Trails/Northern Hills and CAC/FAC .
- Cancellation or delay announcements will NOT come from the Operation’s office. Cancellations or delays are determined and communicated by the Superintendent’s office.
FAQs
The following are common snow removal questions or comments:
- Morning sidewalk snow removal may occur after Child Care start times due to the number of sites that our grounds crews are servicing and later arrival times of our Head Custodians.
- Afternoon and evening snow that accumulates after our grounds and custodial crews have left for the day may not be fully removed.
- Primary Responsibility: Grounds staff, Head Custodians and High School Grounds staff
- Secondary Responsibility: Custodians, Cleaners, Maintenance and Transportation staff
- Backup: Building Staff
Our crews are responsible for plowing of the parking lots and entries to our sites.
The Kent County Road Commission maintains the streets around all Forest Hills sites. Some of our sites are located on streets designated as “secondary service streets” as opposed to “primary service streets”.
The road commission has expressly advised us against plowing county maintained streets as it establishes inconsistency in their efforts needed to maintain roads throughout the area.
We purchase the salt used on our lots and drives from the Kent County Road Commission. It is a 50/50 sand/salt mix to provide a balance of melting and traction and is more effective at temperatures above 20 degrees (Fahrenheit).
As supported by the Michigan Department of Transportation, as the temperature drops, salt takes longer to work and the melted ice refreezes. “Continuing to apply salt at these very low temperatures will actually cause more problems than it solves.”
Factors to Remember:
- Our 5-man grounds crew services 25 of the 26 facilities across the district.
- Their daily starting is 4:00 AM during snow removal season. Their normal shift ends at 12:30 PM.
- During heavy daytime snowfalls we extend their shifts, but over time it becomes less safe for them to operate equipment.
- During EVENING snow events, our removal efforts focus on getting sites prepared for MORNING arrival.
- During DAYTIME snow events, our focus shifts to getting students and staff OUT of the buildings.
- The majority of the district’s ten Head Custodians typically arrive around 6:30 AM.
- 22 of our 25 facilities have a shared custodian.
- 15 of our facilities will not have a Head Custodian present at some point during the day. This will require the coordinated efforts of available staff during periods of rapid accumulation
Snow Removal Maps
The documents listed below exist in the Portable Document Format (PDF) and may require you to download and install the Adobe Acrobat Reader software to access that information properly. Please contact the Operations Department at (616) 493-8780, if you have any questions.
