The typical agenda of an operations manager at Diamond Bar High School includes everything from ensuring an adequate supply of toilet paper to overseeing new renovation plans for the school.  After longtime operation manager Eric Gossett retired earlier last year and Dwight Baumann temporarily took over his position, Doug Mefford has now taken over this job as of Jan. 27.

Mefford majored in Business Administration with a focus on Human Asset Management while at National University. He previously worked in church facilities management as director of several churches in the Inland Empire, and later, as the lead custodian of the Romoland School District in Riverside County.

“I’ve been looking to further my career. My wife grew up in Hacienda Heights, so I have roots in Hacienda Heights, and when the position came available at [DBHS], I thought it was a wonderful opportunity to try to come over here,” Mefford explained.

Once Mefford was hired for the position, his duties began right away. He has been in charge of day to day tasks such as administering the custodial staff, including the locker room and pool attendant, and supervising smaller tasks such as replacing light bulbs, fixing lockers that are jammed, and maintaining the stock of basic items such as toilet paper and paper towels.

“I ensure that the school is clean and open and inviting to not only the students but [also] the teachers and the community. We have a lot of outside people coming from the civic side to use our facilities,” Mefford shared about his job.

His biggest goal for the future is to modernize the school. Starting from simple tasks such as repainting the wood to getting rid of the pink and off-blue walls in various classrooms, the new operations manager would like to see renovation in the campus. He also plans to integrate the three fire notification systems—one for the 600 building, one for the 300 building, and one for the rest of the campus—into one intercom system.

“Our school is hopefully in the works for being modernized. The state does matching funds for modernization, and our school was built in 1983, so we need to go through some modernization update and put a new fresh look to our school,” Mefford said.

Despite his short time at DBHS, Mefford already feels welcomed to the Brahma family.  He really loves the way the students interact with each other and the staff.

“[Being at DBHS] is a wonderful sense of family. I’ve been at meetings over at the district and to be welcomed by the superintendent, assistant superintendents, the directors of different organizations over at the district; I mean it’s just wonderful and so I’m really excited about that.”