The Grounds Department is responsible for the upkeep of all the outdoor facilities in School District U-46 including landscaping, athletic fields, asphalt and concrete maintenance and repairs, fencing, playground sets, snow and ice management, infrastructure, etc.  U-46 has 57 schools, 8 auxiliary buildings and over 900 acres of land to maintain.

The Grounds Department is staffed by 32 full-time employees. Two of these employees are full-time mechanics that maintain the Plant Operations fleet of more than 80 vehicles, 10 dump trucks, 20 trailers and a large assortment of tractors, implements and equipment ranging from larger backhoes and skid steers to smaller snow blowers and weed whips.

The athletic seasons include:

• Preparing 19 baseball and softball fields that produce nearly 500 games per season
• Marking over 30 football and soccer fields every week (in season)
• Working more than 150 events at the stadiums each year
• Maintaining the stadiums and two artificial turf fields at our sites

The U-46 Grounds Department is one of the few in the state of Illinois to have Certified Playground Safety Inspectors (CPSI) on staff that can install, maintain, and repair all of our own playground equipment.  In 2022, Grounds installed 9 full playground sets and multiple stand-alone pieces.