Outside clock undergoes needed repairs in January

Belle Wilson, Managing Editor

The clock outside of JC catches visitors’ eyes as soon as they pull up to the front of the building. The clock is a very noticeable feature to the exterior of JC, but it recently stopped working.

Principal Mr. Tom Durkin said, “The request to fix the clock came from the Parent Association.”

That was when Mr. Durkin put Facilities Manager Mr. Joe McGrain and the Facilities Office in charge to “get the clock fixed.”

Mr. McGrain said, “The Facilities Department has been helping the clock along operationally for the past three years and has been fairly successful.”

As of January 2020, the clock was fixed and operating perfectly; however, this was not easy.

Mr. McGrain said, “We found that the clock could no longer be simply repaired. We found that there are only a handful of companies in the country that still work on clock towers. The closest to us was a company in New Jersey. They found that the electronics could no longer be repaired, and the part needed to be ordered from Belgium.”

Even though it was a complicated process, the team made sure to have the JC clock working for the entire community.

It was very important to get the clock working because the clock itself “was added to the school along with the Brown Room and Lower Gym addition in 2000, and the clock was a central part of that addition and should continue to be operative for guests visiting our campus as well as our own students, faculty, and staff.”