Public works at Connery

LYNN – Mike D’Agostino likes talking about his job and the big trucks he drives, but kids almost always ask him the same question when he visits their schools with fellow city Public Works employees.”They want to know if I save kittens in trees,” he said.D’Agostino and his coworkers brought their big rigs – tractors, dump trucks, a wood chipper and a Waste Management trash truck – to Connery School on Wednesday for a question-and-answer session with students, including Edna Lendo. She’s only in first grade, but Lendo has already decided she will pass on a Public Works career in favor of becoming a doctor.”I don’t want to get dirty,” she said.First-grader Venisha Jhanjee said she would like to climb behind the wheel of DPW’s John Deere tractor and try out the tree-lifting boom attached to the tractor’s front.”If trees fell down, I would put them somewhere safe,” she said.Public Works day at Connery and other local schools is an early civics lesson for children who love big things, including trucks, but don’t know what the equipment does. D’Agostino, an 11-year DPW veteran and newly hired city machine operator Jason Dumas spent almost three hours on Wednesday explaining the jobs and equipment to Jhanjee and her wide-eyed classmates.”It’s wonderful for the students to see what city workers do, and they get to learn about their jobs,” said Connery Principal Mary Dill.Dumas said he still owns a toy tractor from his childhood closely resembling the John Deere he operates for the city. While first-grade teacher Ken Robichaud’s class listened, Dumas explained how he extends the tractor’s big “outrigger pads” to safely stabilize the tractor.The visiting workers underscored safe work practices to the students during their demonstrations with Waste Management recycling driver Juan Reynoso emphasizing dangers posed by his truck’s automatic barrel-lifting arm.”You have to stay 8 feet away from it. How far? Eight feet,” he repeated to the students.Reynoso said he empties almost 700 recycling barrels a day in Lynn and said his day begins with a safety briefing.Kindergarten teacher Amy Hubert said her students will talk about the day the trucks came to their school yard long after they forget Dumas’ or Reynoso’s names.”They have endless questions,” she said.D’Agostino’s young audience spent more time asking about the different lights attached to his truck than the vehicle’s safety features, but he told them how he rescued a cat several years ago after a coyote trapped it in a tree.”I had the scratches to prove it,” he said.