Building Maintenance and the Glory of God
Anyone who has been around schools and school administration knows that summer is a time for building maintenance. Yes, it is a time for curriculum ordering, strategic discussions, budget meetings, and development plans, but every school also does building maintenance over the summer. In the same way that a classical Christian school is distinct from a mainline or secular educational experience in all of the above summer school practices (curriculum ordering, budget meetings, development plans, strategic discussions etc.) a classical Christian school should also have a distinct way of doing building maintenance. Not that drywall patching happens differently between different pedagogical outposts, but that living coram deo should impact how we think about that drywall patch.
Every school is different, and the immediate needs of our educational spaces will vary greatly across different situations. Some will be updating an old building, some will be renovating existing spaces, some will be upkeeping relatively new builds. Some schools will be adhering to leases while some are the property owners. Despite this variation, there are some principles that are helpful in thinking about building maintenance as an activity we undertake that honors our Lord. Every one of those situations should do building maintenance to the glory of God, the one who gave each of us to steward that space we are in. Our desire to relate all things to the Lordship of Christ does not end when we stop teaching or grading. It extends to all things, even changing water fountain filters. Learning how to see this in our work and encourage our teams to do the same is a key in school leadership that brings practical reality to the lessons we seek to instill in our students.
Beautiful spaces do not only come through a capital campaign.
We hear often of the righteous desire to build beautiful buildings that honor our God. We want buildings that call us to the transcendent work of education before the throne of the one who made us – and rightfully so. However, there is a conservative principle that we should remember here. We do not get to wipe our slate clean and build for ourselves the ideal. Rather, we must start with where we currently are and work toward that which is righteous. The same is true in buildings. Often, we think that the beautiful spaces we desire to have will be things that come in the next capital campaign. We long for the building with traditional architecture that roots us within our tradition. All of these are good inclinations, but we should not let them stop us from thinking about beauty in the space we are currently in. Instead, we should spend some time thinking about the spaces we currently have and how to make them more beautiful. Do not let the capital campaign be the only time we speak of beauty regarding our spaces. Work with all your teams to integrate a vocabulary of beauty in the normal work of maintaining and restoring the building that happens over the summer. Think of projects that would push your campus toward a place characterized by beauty. Maybe this is paint, light renovation, or cultivating outdoor spaces. Do not let every summer project be one that merely restores the building to the condition it was in at the start of the year. Have a few projects that you prioritize that work to take more beautiful dominion over the spaces you have. Make the start of every school year happen in a place that is a little more beautiful than the place it started in the year before, even if no capital campaign is on the horizon.
Cleanliness is next to godliness.
A phrase traditionally attributed to Aquinas, this idea has much to say about building maintenance to the glory of God. As we think about caring for our spaces faithfully, one key is thinking about and prioritizing projects that aim communicating cleanliness and freshness to those that are in them. Working on replacing a faulty HVAC valve is key to maintaining its functionality, but while we are there, cleaning the diffusers is a subtle way the building communicates cleanliness. There is a freshness that comes from cleanliness that invites students into our halls and classrooms. Power washing sidewalks, scrubbing floors, removing scuffs and dirt from the walls, using a stain pen to clean scrapes on lockers or library furniture all helps, even if it is subconsciously, to draw in the students to the space with an air of cleanliness. Often functionality becomes the dominate theme that drives summer building maintenance. This makes sense because we must maintain the functionality of all our systems and equipment to facilitate what happens during the year, but to go a step further and think about cleanliness is a way we think of those that will be coming behind and using our spaces. Cleanliness considers the next person to use the space and aims at producing a building that invites them into participation. Functionality, on the other hand, primarily considers what will happen in the space, but falls short of the invitation to that program.
Keep an eye for detail and maintain the larger goal.
At the beginning of the summer, I can always be found with a role of blue painter’s tape. Every scuff, scratch, cracked outlet cover, pealing baseboard, rattling AC vent, dirty diffuser, and sticky door gets a piece. We do this over and over every day as we start our summer work. Every day we find more things that need a blue piece of tape. It is very much a discipline.
What this practice helps our team do is identify all that needs addressing. Some is easy, some takes more time. During the year, we tend to overlook these things for the sake of all other things that are happening. Not so during the summer. We do not always get to every piece of tape, but as we work, we understand that the totality of our work is aimed at the same goal with every project. At the end of the day, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, network, cosmetic, and mechanical issues all have the same blue tape that will be removed when the issue is addressed. In the same way, every issue that is addressed has the same goal laying behind it. The goal is to glorify God by creating and stewarding spaces that invite students and families into an educational experience that helps students know love and practice that which is true, good, and excellent. This is part of our mission statement as a school, and it is the goal behind the mission of our building maintenance as well. Keeping an eye to detail helps us work toward that goal. Without an eye for detail, building maintenance can become haphazard and disjointed, a project here and a project there. By maintaining focus on the overall goal, the details of every specific project can be seen in relation to the larger picture.
Make it a community affair.
The more the school community can share in the project of making beautiful spaces to the glory of God, the more a shared vision and responsibility for these spaces will take root. Some of the best contractors are also school folks. Some of the best help for scrubbing scuffs off walls are students. Obviously, be wise here. Discernment is necessary. However, by involving them in the process of summer work, they share a responsibility to the spaces and maintenance of them. They will also catch the vision for beauty we seek to instill in the classroom. I’ll never forget hearing a student that worked for me last summer on the first day of school tell another student to stop leaning against the wall because he was going to scuff it up. The infracting student asked why. The reply came, “I just painted it, and it is beautiful.” He looked after the space because he believed it to be beautiful. It is good for a student to work over the summer and learn responsibility and hard work. It is an even better thing when they get to learn those same lessons and walk away with a sense of beauty in their endeavors.
Our spaces will communicate something to those that are in them.
It is not whether, but which. It is not if our spaces will communicate something to the faculty, staff, students, and parents that are in them, but what our spaces will communicate. Much is said on the first day of school about a fresh start and a new beginning. Does our space reinforce our message? Is the same set of scuffs on the floors still there from the previous year? Does our building have the same message attached to its walls? We communicate to our students that we pray for their growth and development throughout the year. Does our building reflect that attitude? Are we growing toward a place of beauty and transcendence in our spaces or are they the same as the way they were left at the close of the previous year? As you lay out your plan for building maintenance, think about what each project communicates to the person that will follow you into that space. Think about how the sum of these projects is aimed at the glory of God.
So, take seriously the time spent with a magic eraser in the hallways, be diligent in pressure washing the pavement around the carpool line, be faithful in cleaning carpets and sanitizing restrooms, be pious in replacing carpet tiles. Think about the glory of God in all things. Renew your mind daily as you prepare the building for the upcoming year. Some of your work will go unnoticed, not many moments of “thank you” will follow your endeavors, the days will feel long and the task list never ending. Do not lose heart. For to Him are all things, including our building upkeep.
