Groundskeeper

Lawrenceville, NJ

Share This Job

Job Description

Title: Groundskeeper

Department: Facilities

Position type: Full-time

Founded in 1810, The Lawrenceville School, one of the country’s premier independent schools, is located in central New Jersey, five miles south of Princeton, 55 miles south of New York City, and 40 miles north of Philadelphia. Lawrenceville attracts outstanding students in grades 9-12, including about two dozen post-graduates. Lawrenceville’s 810 students come from more than 30 states and 30 countries, with more than a quarter receiving assistance from a $10.5 million dollar financial aid budget. Across residential, academic, and co-curricular settings, Lawrenceville challenges a diverse community of promising young people to lead lives of learning, integrity, and high purpose, inspiring the best in each to seek the best for all.

The Lawrenceville School seeks enthusiastic, energetic, collegial individuals who want to work with both adults and students in a collaborative and inclusive academic setting.

Summary: The groundskeeper is responsible for all grounds maintenance of the campus.

Typical responsibilities include the following:

Uses a variety of tools and machinery, including mowers and Weedwackers.
Uses a variety of tools and machinery, including trimmers and clippers.
Reports equipment repairs needed (on lawn mowers, spreaders, snow removal equipment, etc.) to mechanics.
Plants and maintains grass and flowers.
Occasionally must work in inclement weather and at off-hours.
Shovels snow from walks and driveways.
Spreads salt on public passageways to prevent ice buildup.
Performs other duties as requested

The strongest applicants will have the following qualifications:

High school diploma or General Education Degree (GED); or one to three months related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Valid Driver’s license

Work Environment

Often required to stand, walk, reach with hands and arms; and stoop, kneel, or crawl. Often required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls, and climb or balance.
Often works near moving mechanical parts and in outside weather conditions.
Often exposed to vibration. Occasionally works in high, precarious places and is occasionally exposed to fumes or airborne particles.
Must be able to lift up to 80lbs.
Must be able to climb stairs or ladders.
Specific vision abilities include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, and depth perception.
The noise level is often very loud.

The Lawrenceville School is a diverse and inclusive community and makes all employment decisions without regard for an individual’s race, creed, color, religion, national origin, nationality, sex, pregnancy, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, veteran status, physical or mental disability (including AIDS and HIV related illness), genetic information, refusal to provide genetic information, refusal to submit to genetic testing, ancestry, familial status, marital status, domestic partnership status, civil union status, atypical cellular or blood trait, military service, application for military service, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. The Lawrenceville School will also provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals in accordance with applicable law.

The Lawrenceville School conducts pre-employment screening for all positions which includes a criminal background check, verification of work history, academic credentials, licenses, and certifications. Employment is contingent upon successful completion of the background check.

Eligible employees receive a competitive benefit package that includes health insurance coverage, paid leave and retirement plan options and many other valuable programs.

SCHOOL HISTORY

From its founding in 1810 as the Maidenhead Academy, what is today known as The Lawrenceville School has maintained two defining characteristics: a willingness to explore and adopt the best practices in education as they have evolved and, at the same time, a commitment to maintaining traditions that continue to resonate with students. From the first Head Master, Rev. Isaac VanArsdale Brown, who introduced then-novel foreign language study and routine exercise to the of the 1820s, through today, the School has always striven to provide students with the highest quality of education as understood at the time.

Arguably the single most powerful development in the character of the school occurred in 1883, when the school was transformed from a small proprietarial enterprise, owned (and renamed) by each successive headmaster, to one run by the Lawrenceville School Board of Trustees under the auspices of the John Cleve Green Foundation. As The Lawrenceville School, the institution established many of the traits it is known for today, including its hallmark House System and an intense School spirit. The changes were reflected on the campus itself when the Board asked landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of Central Park, and prominent architects Peabody and Sterns of Boston to design the newly expanded grounds of the school to thoughtfully and deliberately create a strong community atmosphere. The result was the Circle, now a National Historic Landmark.

So distinct was the character of Lawrenceville that it grew to occupy a special place in the American imagination. Owen Johnson, an alumnus of the School, first captured the “new” Lawrenceville in his 1910 novel, The Varmint, which recounts the travails and adventures of one Dink Stover as he made his way through Lawrenceville from New Boy to graduate. Stover became one of the country’s most beloved fictional characters, and Johnson followed his success in a series of Lawrenceville Stories in what was at that time the most popular magazine in America. In 1950 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released The Happy Years, a Hollywood version of The Varmint, filmed on campus and starring Leo G. Carroll and Dean Stockwell (as Dink).

Throughout the 1900s, Lawrenceville continued to develop as a leader in academic innovation, including early adoption of Advanced Placement (AP) courses and the introduction of nationally and internationally known guest speakers designed to broaden the intellectual horizons of young Lawrentians. Among the most lasting changes was the introduction in 1936 of the Harkness method of education, which sought to bring the benefits of the house system to the classroom by providing an intimate environment for intellectual discourse around a single, large conference table.

Discussion of coeducation began in earnest in the 1970s and after a lengthy, but thoughtful analysis of what it would mean both pedagogically and practically to the school, the Board elected to accept female students in 1985. The first girls arrived on campus in 1987 and brought a new vitality to the campus community. As the 20th century drew to a close, the school embraced the ever increasing diversity of its students in gender, geography, faith, race and socio-economic group, focusing on the need for a Lawrentian education to include broad exposure to all facets of the global community and an appreciation for and understanding of multiculturalism.

For more than 200 years, Lawrenceville graduates have gone on to success in their chosen fields, prepared by their education for the changing world around them. As the School enters its third century of educating students, we welcome you to join the legacy of Lawrenceville and discover what it means to be a Lawrentian in the 21st century.