As you all know, Harford County was hit with a massive amount of snow starting on Friday, Jan. 22. While it is safe to say that most of us Bobcats were either warm and bundled up inside watching movies, eating our favorite junk food, or having fun sledding with friends, our Bel Air High School custodial staff worked hard to make sure our school grounds were cleared and safe.

Building Engineer, Ronald Mclaughlin, was interviewed to give us the major details on what went down at Bel Air on our snow days. The first and most important step that needed to take place was understanding exactly what needed to happen to clean the unusual amount of snow. There were all sorts of things that had to take place from emergency planning from the State of Maryland, to Harford County Government, to Harford County Public Schools. Ronald Mclaughlin spent numerous hours beyond a normal day reading emails and waiting for the communication to relay to his support staff to come out and begin shoveling, plowing, clearing sidewalks, entry ways, fire exits, and clearing storm drains.

“I was certainly worried about my parking spot and our school roof after seeing the amount of snow accumulated and driving by our parking lot. I was extremely impressed after coming to school today and seeing how great the school grounds condition were!” said Senior Rebekah Riley.

This was not just a day job, this process began around Friday afternoon and staff worked for the entirety of the week, guaranteeing the school would be safe when students returned. The school system called in contractors to help move the snow. The staff used heavy equipment, dump trucks, salt trucks, and big plows. Even though these machines played a major role in this clean up, there was a crew of 13 custodians who totaled approximately 210 hours of hard work.

This snow was not light and fluffy, this was heavy, compacted snow. Fortunately, Bel Air High school is in much better shape than most. At the slightest sign of wear and tear, work orders for repairs are submitted.  In anticipation for the storm, Mr. Mclaughlin checked the fuel in the backup generator to ensure that boilers were working properly. There was a complete walk through of our school to make sure everything was safe for Bobcat Nation.

“I would like to thank the entire custodial staff for pitching in and getting the job done, without their help, this would have been a very tough situation,” quoted from Mr. Mclaughlin.

The Bobcat Nation sends a huge thank you to our custodial staff for all they do to keep our school a clean and safe environment!