Posted on 09/30/2010 3:04:17 PM PDT by kathsua
A collection of keys hanging from Sharon Crile's belt jingled as she came down the hallway of Haven's middle school on Tuesday morning.
For the past 20 years, she has done a variety of tasks - from cleaning up vomit to refinishing gymnasium floors in an effort to keep the schoolhouse sparkling for the students.
"Sharon comes in early and is really a person who has gone the extra mile," said Patrick Call, superintendent of Haven USD 312.
Over the years, she has been moved to different buildings, worked split shifts and even took a turn driving the school bus. Now she's content to call the middle school her "territory."
Welcome to a rural school district's world, where the custodians take as much pride in the facility as their own home and no child is a stranger.
While Crile might be a woman who loves her work, she has a bottom line.
"I have a problem with gum on the carpets and walls," she said emphatically.
Saturday is National Custodial Workers Day. Kenneth B. Lucas, a retired 23-year custodial worker and proponent of the special day, said cleaning and maintenance workers more often than not go unnoticed.
That is until they forget to empty a trashcan.
In the dark every weekday morning, Crile unlocks the building at 6 a.m. and raises the flag outside the Haven High School and Middle School complex. Then she begins vacuuming the hallways and preparing nine classrooms just before the students arrive.
Once the students are in the building, she begins washing the towels left in the locker room from football practice the evening before and cleans up from breakfast in the cafeteria.
Keeping the building sanitized for everyone's protection can be a challenge, especially when visiting sports teams bring their own strand of germs, she said.
Lunch duty
The best part of the job is being with the students in the lunchroom at noon, particularly Jazmine Ray, Crile's granddaughter and eighth-grader. They get to hug each other in the crowded cafeteria.
After school, Jazmine has been known to help her grandmother scrape gum from the underside of desks.
Without Jazmine's grandmother, "The school would be a wreck," said Adrianna Montaldo, a classmate of Jazmine's.
"Remember the bad glitter mess in the bathroom that took three hours to clean?" asked another classmate, Haylee Nachtigal.
While Crile keeps her bucket of soap ready to wipe down the tables, a couple of blocks away custodian Buck Palmatier, and assistant Don Etchison open packages of mayonnaise for tiny hands during the duty-free lunch for teachers at Haven Elementary School.
The two men are "awfully valuable, and very, very flexible," said Principal Jerry Higgins.
They quiet the chattering students and encourage them to eat.
For those who toss out food after one bite, "I tell them it's your belly not mine, but you're going to be pretty hungry around 2 p.m.," says Palmatier, who has been a custodian in the district for 23 years.
As the kids leave, it's mopping and sweeping time in the lunchroom.
"I love being around the kids. They call me Grandpa Buck or Uncle Buck," Palmatier said. "They pick on me, and I pick on them."
He also appreciates the early hours at the school, around 5 a.m. By 1:30 p.m., his work at the school is over and he can head off to his second job.
Part of a team
Kathy Hoss has done a lot of jobs, from cleaning bathrooms to answering the office phone to even helping in a pinch in a classroom.
Her official title is custodian, but students at Fairfield USD 310 know her as a friendly school employee. Plus, they know if they achieve certain goals, sometimes the reward is to help her keep the school sparkling clean.
"Hi, Kathy," students call as she walks through the hall of the rural school complex that houses elementary through high school students.
"I love visiting with the little ones," Hoss said. "They give me hugs and kisses. Going down the hallway, I get my kid fix."
A football game means lots of guests will be on site, and the bathrooms and locker rooms must be immaculate. After the fans head home, Hoss and other custodians are still picking up the trash, securing the building, and making sure everything is ready for the staff to arrive the next morning.
"As a custodian you have to be versatile and able to multi-task," Hoss said. "I'll do anything for anyone. The teachers here are awesome."
Fairfield Elementary School Principal Shawn Koehn reminds his entire staff that no one in the building could do their job if the custodians didn't do theirs.
In their role, they are educating the students to the importance of clean halls, classes and bathrooms as an environment for learning.
Hoss, who graduated from Fairfield High School in 1981, moved home to Sylvia after living in Colorado. She appreciates the work. Living in rural America in a down economy doesn't leave many job opportunities.
"The children are nothing but respectful," she said.
Big messes aren't too much of an issue, though she has wondered if automatic flushing toilets might be the way to go.
"But, the sound could frighten the little ones," Hoss said. "And then we would have a bigger mess to clean."
I remember in elementary school the peace and calmness that surrounded our janitor and especially the way he would push that big broom, sweeping the grounds. He would push, lift, drop. Push, lift, drop. It mesmerized me.
God bless these hard workers.
The cutodial staff at my school made everyone’s jobs easier.
I wish I had thanked them more.
And the custodial staff too.
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