Teamwork, Leadership, and Keeping the School Safe
PUBLIC SCHOOL HANDYPERSON OF THE YEAR. David Beckford uses his leadership abilities, and his skills, to keep M114 running.
In the 15 years David Beckford has worked in building operations at New York City’s public schools, he has learned about leadership and teamwork: lessons he uses all the time at M114, the East Side Middle School where he is the handyman.
He attributes much of where he is now to Bob Capetta, the building manager in Queens where Beckford attended elementary school. Capetta’s leadership helped move Beckford’s career forward.
“He was asking if I was interested in a part-time position as a cleaner, since he knew I was going to school for automotive,” said Beckford, who graduated from Garden City Community College’s automotive technology program. “And then from there, it just took off, and I was part-time, then became full-time, and he helped me get my certificates of fitness to climb up the ladder.”
“Being a cleaner was not just it for me,” Beckford said. “My building manager ... knew that, so he took me under his wing and showed me everything. I was in training and everything with him.”
Along the way Beckford has built up the skills to ensure “that I don’t look as if I’m better than anyone else, but to be equal and to really just get everybody to work together as a team.”
At one point, Beckford said, he was put in a position which required him to prove how his leadership would work, even in what could have been awkward situations. After being transferred from East Side Middle to Clinton Middle, he was sent back to East Side Middle with a promotion that would make him the boss of his former colleagues.
“The company who employed Beckford was “kind of afraid, though, because I worked with them as employees, and then I would have now been their manager. So they were kind of iffy about, ‘How would that work out and play out?’ And I just believed in just, ‘I’ll just show you.’ I’m a guy of just showing what I can do. And it panned out. Everything worked out great.”
Ultimately, Beckford said, it comes down to not being afraid to state what you want and need in a given situation.
“I always tell the guys to be proactive,” Beckford said. “Don’t wait for someone to tell you what to do, you know, and if you don’t know, just always ask, like, ‘All right, what’s next that we want?’ Because it also shows...your work ethic.”
Beckford takes pride in the fact that his skills play an important role in keeping students safe: “The best part of my job is coming in, knowing that the school is safe, clean and ready for our future’s kids to learn.”