Adventures in Hunting Foul Odor(s)

JEROME GROOPMAN, MD, author of the bestseller How Doctors Think, points out that even smart minds can easily be led astray by well-known cognitive biases. He teaches that during a diagnosis process, it's important to ask three procedural questions:

• What else could it be?
• Could two things be going on to explain the symptoms?
• Is there any relevant evidence that seems not to fit with the working diagnosis?

This post applies such questions to diagnosing (and treating) a mysterious stench in our school building. 

Upon probing, it seems our building’s denizens have actually been enduring at least 2 odors at the same time.…

News: Sanctuary Brightened by a Deep Cleaning

KUDOS TO our interim administrator, Ellie, who took the initiative to arrange for the sanctuary space to be cleaned and refreshed. 👏

Floor scrubbing between the rows of seats

Last week, a 5-person cleaning crew worked for 3 days to accomplish the following tasks:

• Stripped off the finish on the flooring (resilient composition floor tile) and applied a shiny new protective layer
• Vacuumed and shampooed the carpets in the aisles and on the bimah
• Cleaned all wood on bimah and applied a new layer of wood polish
• Shampooed the sanctuary chairs and spot cleaned for stains
• Wiped down the baseboards
• Deep cleaned the restrooms. 

According to Ellie, “the amazing person who made it all happen” is Janessa Brooks, the CEO of J and B Maintenance, which specializes in construction clean-up — and in this case graciously donated their labor and materials. 💪

Ellie said to me, “I hope people can see the care we are putting into the upkeep and maintenance of our facility.” Oh, yes, indeed—it shows! 😁