Scott County Schools Maintenance Department featured in "Spotlight on the Schools" article in the March 20, 2025, E-Edition of The Independent Herald on page 20.
National Maintenance Worker Appreciation Day is typically celebrated on the first Friday of March. The Scott County School District would like to take the opportunity to spotlight the men who make up the maintenance department that does a variety of jobs to ensure each school in the system, along with the district’s other buildings, are maintained properly. Although the work the crew does is often behind the scenes, it is essential to the success of the district.
The maintenance director for the school system is Keith Shannon. Shannon oversees the department. Greg Claiborne is the district maintenance supervisor. His role is to manage the maintenance employees when they are out on various jobs in the county. Matt Boyatt, Rusty Ellis, Sam Harness, Don Hughett, and Dusty Lewallen round out the rest of the countywide maintenance crew.
Although it is hard to pinpoint the specific job description of the maintenance department, they are asked to do a variety of extensive tasks. They do repairs to roofs, work on sewage issues, do HVAC repairs and replacements, install and repair flooring and lighting, repair lawn mower equipment, and are responsible for storm damage repair and clean up, among many other things.
According to Shannon, the men are willing to do whatever the district needs. For example, the crews have spent recent spring breaks working on storm damage at both Scott High and Robbins Elementary. They have been called out at 2:00 am to fix a cooler at Fairview Elementary on a Saturday night. One Sunday afternoon, they were busy repairing a roof in the snow after a windstorm at the museum complex at Scott High.
“The crew always show up ready to get the repairs made and have things safe for our district’s students,” Shannon said. “We are very appreciative of these men and their ability. They continue to meet the needs of our district and always have a pleasant demeanor while on the job.”