COEUR d’ALENE — The Coeur d'Alene School District is in the process of creating a database that will collect repairs and maintenance information from each school and have it all in one convenient place.

Currently, the district uses a "deferred maintenance" approach, referring to how facility repairs, system upgrades and equipment replacements are postponed until funding becomes available.

"The risk is that we end up with a backlog of critical projects requiring costly emergency repairs," explained district spokesman Scott Maben. "It is important that we provide for a proactive planning approach, and be less reactive ('fix it when it breaks') to help reduce deferred maintenance costs."

The goal is to ensure that students and employees are in facilities that are functional, safe, efficient and optimal for learning, so the district is working on getting ahead of maintenance and repairs before they're critical.

"We will always have deferred maintenance," Maben said. "Planning for how to address this maintenance is what is important. It does not mean that our schools are in disrepair. We just want to be fully aware of and prepared for all upcoming needs."

Repair information is presently kept within each respective school, where facility workers have a thorough understanding of their schools' needs.

"We have a very robust preventative maintenance program,” said Coeur d'Alene School District director of operations Jeff Voeller. “We are working on the systems all the time to prolong the lifespan of them and maximize the efficiency of them. It may mean changing some bearing in a ventilating unit, or greasing them, because that’s a moving part that’s always going. If we just change those simple parts we can expand the longevity of that system to really maximize its lifespan."

The district is in the process of working with the Spokane office of Ameresco, a renewable energy and energy efficiency company, to collect the repairs information from all the schools and put it into one database that's easy to access and use with a convenient application.

"We want to get past, 'I think this is what we need,'" Voeller said. "What this program will do is it’s going to quantify everything for us.”

Right now the database is being built, then the "boots on the ground" phase begins, Voeller said.

"We’re going to walk with our maintenance team and the custodials and we’re going to verify everything," he said.

The condition of everything from hot water heaters and drinking fountains to alarm systems and security cameras will be examined through the summer. The Ameresco Asset Planner software will track the upkeep and maintenance, identify priorities for each building and assist with anticipating funding needs. The average lifespans of the furnishings and equipment will be taken into consideration to anticipate when they need to be repaired or replaced.

The district will also employ a systematic and sustainable process to pay for repairs and maintenance. With this new system, the priorities will be known and budgeted for well ahead of time.

"It's going to give us a tool we can use for long-range planning and for reporting to our school board," Voeller said.

Each year, School District 271 budgets about $7 million for custodial, grounds and maintenance combined, including personnel costs. Of that $7 million, $1.65 million is specifically for maintaining school sites: carpet replacements, roof repairs, repairing or replacing broken building components.

Voeller said he's looking forward to implementing the Asset Planner Software.

"It's going to get everything into this one central area," he said.