In early June, just in time for graduation ceremonies, Jonathan Snyer will become the new facilities director for Harvard’s schools. Superintendent Linda Dwight announced his hiring to the School Committee at its May 14 meeting.
As facilities director, Snyer will be responsible for the upkeep, cleanliness, and safety of the school buildings and grounds. His work will include planning and scheduling preventive maintenance, overseeing repairs or renovations done by outside contractors, creating an annual budget for his department, and training and supervising facilities employees. He will also oversee the work of the outside cleaning service and coordinate with other town departments. Snyer will report to the superintendent.
“I’m pretty excited about this job, and Harvard’s such a great community,” Snyer told the Press in a telephone conversation. He planned to begin attending School Building Committee meetings immediately, as well as some meetings of the Energy Advisory Committee.
Snyer is currently the lead operator for critical facilities at Pfizer in Andover, Jwhere he has worked for the past 10 years. As part of his job there, he oversees preventive maintenance and monitors the condition of equipment involved in the plant’s manufacturing processes.
Although he lives in Gardner now, Snyer grew up in Littleton and considers it his hometown. After graduating from Littleton High School, he earned his master plumber license and worked at a biotech company in Cambridge where part of his responsibilities included upholding safety policies and responding to emergencies. When that company was taken over by Wyeth in 2001, Snyer worked at Wyeth’s Andover facility with increasing levels of responsibility until Wyeth was taken over by Pfizer in 2008, leading to his most recent job.
His new position in Harvard will be Snyer’s first time running a facility, he said, although he has had extensive maintenance experience. He said he is looking forward to doing more hands-on work than he has done recently at Pfizer, because he enjoys that part of maintenance.
As Dwight mentioned both to the School Committee and in an earlier interview with the Press, she is working with nearby districts to arrange for an experienced school facilities director to serve as a mentor for Snyer, just as first-time principals and superintendents go through a mentoring process.
Snyer credited his mother, Karen Shuttle, for letting him know about the facilities director opening in Harvard, where she has worked in the district administration offices in Bromfield House for 17 years. With obvious pride, Shuttle described her son to the Press as outgoing, hardworking, an eager learner, and “a bundle of energy.”
