OCP photo
Pirate News is a presentation of Hart Public Schools in partnership with Oceana County Press.
By Allison Scarbrough, News Editor
HART — Jaykob Gallop, a 2014 Hart High School graduate, has found his dream job as head of grounds at Hart Public Schools, and the school property has never looked better.
Thanks to Gallop’s hard work coupled with technology, the athletic fields and school lawns stay well maintained.
The 29-year-old is a one-man show who began the job just over a year ago. “I do the whole campus — all lawn mowing, irrigation, prepping for games, taking care of athletic fields, picking up garbage around the campus after events — everything is me.” He mows 27 acres every week, which takes at least 2 ½ days to complete.
OCP photo
He also handles snowplowing during the winter months. Hallack Contracting, Inc. of Hart uses its large snow removal equipment, but Gallop handles the sidewalks and entrances — arriving at 3:30 a.m.
Prior to working at the school, Gallop worked at Double L Enterprises, Inc. in Montague in the lawn and landscaping division for four years. “I wanted to get more experience as far as heavy machinery and breaking dirt, so I went and worked for Hallack’s for two years.” He then went back to Double L to work as a manager. “Kyle (Lohman, who owns Double L Enterprises) was a great role model for me.”
His new job at the school works especially well, hours-wise, for the family man. He and wife Leah have a 2 ½ year old daughter, Noa, and 1 ½ year old twins, Ava and Archer. “I’m going to be staying here hopefully until retirement.”
Contributed photo/A drone shot of the Pirate Mascot in Hart’s baseball field. A robot paints the lines and mascots on the athletic fields.
He enjoys the independence that the job offers, but it took a little getting used to. “They handed me the keys and said, ‘The campus is yours. Go!’”
His favorite part of the job is “redesigning the campus.” Gallop has made some noticeable improvements — one of which was removing the red mulch. “It doesn’t look professional. I removed that and threw in black mulch. I started building some landscapes and some flagstone in certain areas.
“When I got hired in, Hart schools decided they wanted to take a jump and get in more tech with the lawn and landscape. We have two robotic mowers — the football field is being mowed right now by a robot,” he said Thursday morning, Sept. 25. “The baseball field as well has a robotic mower. I can control it with my phone.”
OCP photo/Gallop adjusts the robotic field painter.
Another key tech tool makes his job easier. “The hardest part I have not had to experience is hand painting the fields, because we also have a robot for that. It’s called the Turf Tank, and I control it with a tablet. It’s basically like a giant video game. Jason (Gale), head of tech, designs the fields for me, and then he hands it off to me and says, ‘Go do the work.’ We were one of the first schools around to get this painter.” The lines and logos have to be repainted weekly, and Gallop adds the finishing touches by outlining the designs.
He preps the fields and then unloads the robot from a trailer to do the work. “I select the nozzle tip and what speed I want it to go; hit ‘go,’; and this entire field will be painted by itself while I’m off doing something else.” The robots create perfectly straight lines using GPS technology.
OCP photo/One of the school district’s robotic mowers.
“There is a lot more that goes into grounds than people think.”
In addition to two years at Muskegon Community College, Gallop has certifications in the landscaping field, such as commercial application, pruning and turf management.
“This is a great job — it is my favorite job I’ve ever had.”
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