Des Moines Public Schools Recognizes In-plant’s Hard Work in These Tough Times
School district in-plants have become crucial providers of printed educational materials during the COVID-19 shutdown. Des Moines Public Schools has given its in-plant high praise for its efforts.
A blog on the Iowa school district’s site details all the behind-the-scenes work the in-plant has been putting in to help keep the school running. In addition to handling the mail for the now-closed school buildings, the six-employee in-plant started printing activity books for pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students, which were distributed weekly.
“We sent out 15,500 packets the first day and then were asked to make more because they ran out,” notes DMPS Printing Services Supervisor Forrest McGuire. “We are now running two shifts to fill the orders for 29,000 workbooks that will be distributed at the elementary schools and middle schools … and 5,000 student device guides to be handed out when grade 9-11 students pick up their computers.”
In these socially distanced times, McGuire is motivating his staff by emphasizing how important they are in helping Des Moines Public Schools fulfill its educational mission.
“I’ve reminded my team that all of us are part of the operations team whose purpose is to assist the district in fulfilling our essential mission of educating children,” McGuire says. “Printing Services, with our six full-time staff and three casual laborers, now prints around 25 million copies a year, providing instruction materials for the students, manuals for teachers, promotional materials, posters and banners for the buildings, along with processing the district’s outgoing mail.”
