On October 11, 2022, Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George introduced the Work Order Integrity Amendment Act of 2022 to require DGS to get affirmative approval from a school-level staff member (like a principal or foreman) before closing a work order ticket in a school. This legislation will improve coordination on school maintenance between school leaders, DCPS, and DGS, while also preventing important repairs from slipping through the cracks.

“Principals and school staff know their school building better than anyone. Requiring their sign-off to close out a work order is a common sense accountability measure to ensure maintenance issues in our schools are actually being resolved,” said Councilmember Lewis George.”

Work orders are submitted to the Department of General Services (DGS) by school staff to address maintenance issues in their school buildings. However, DGS contractors sometimes mark work orders as resolved without fixing the underlying issue or communicating with the school about their findings. This causes long delays where the school assumes an issue is in the process of being fixed, but DGS considers it resolved and takes no further action. Such discrepancies and miscommunication have contributed to serious maintenance issues in DC schools over the past few years.

This legislation is motivated by the feedback that Councilmember Lewis George received during school readiness tours of DCPS schools in Ward 4. This year, the Committee on Government Operations and Facilities, chaired by Councilmember Robert White, funded a public-facing dashboard of DGS work orders in schools. This bill is co-introduced by Councilmembers Anita Bonds, Elissa Silverman, Charles Allen, Brooke Pinto, and Brianne Nadeau.