By Erica Rohde

Staff Writer

Students leave trash after lunch from Sidekick Video Podcasts on Vimeo.

Video by Nikki Dabney

Custodian Margie DeLeon arrives at 6 a.m. and turns on the lights. She then cleans the office areas, checks the restroom toilet dispensers, puts up the flags outside and then moves on to clean breakfast tables.  Cleaning around the tables, she watches a group of students leave out bundles of empty trays and wrappers. She does not always expect students to take the responsibility; this is a normal routine.

Students hardly know the name of this woman who cleans their messes, or the impact she makes in a single day. She is one of the few who work hard for a good cause to clean a building to fit hundreds.

“Trying to keep the school clean is a challenge,” DeLeon said. “Sometimes I do not even take a break. Sometimes I will be working through my break. I try to get stuff done. I like to work because if I stop I feel lazy. I really love it though.”

AP Jeremy Varnell knows the effort custodians put into their work.

“They always go above and beyond,” Varnell said. “Some of the stuff that they have to clean up at this high school that is supposed to be of refined young people is quite unbelievable. They do thankless work.”

Putting in a 40-hour week, in and out of a school day, in large and small groups Custodians unite for a cause putting in the sweat and grit to benefit the student-learning environment.

For some, even their shifts are not enough.

“At home, I was not thinking about relaxing, I was thinking about a part time job,” DeLeon said. “When I get home I do not stop; I clean or babysit my grandson. I would take a double shift here, but I would not have enough time.”

Several shifts take place for custodians. DeLeon’s shift goes from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Angel Gomez then carries on for her from 7 a.m. to 3:30.  After both shifts, an entire new set of custodians comes in for after school clean up.

One shift in particular carries into the late night.

“My shift goes until 2 a.m.,” Custodian Blanca E. Alfaro said. “It is my last turn to make sure the school is clean and secure so the correspondent areas are clean in the morning.”

Alfaro has the big responsibility of cleaning the sports area.

“I am always in the gym during my shift,” Alfaro said. “It is a pretty hard job, but I love my job and I love my responsibility. I like knowing that all of [the students] are happy and at a clean school, so they can be more organized and more together. I also just want the students to be gracious and say thank-you for keeping it clean.”

Senior Betsy Dean admitted an every day reality.

“In general they are underappreciated,” Dean said. “People take it for granted that people are going to take care of things. Obviously the school couldn’t function without them. Especially with a school this size, they have a really big job to do.”

Outward gratitude from students would be appreciated by each of the custodians, but there are acts that work just as well as a heartfelt thank you.

“Try to keep your area clean where you are sitting to eat lunch,” DeLeon said. Try to be cleaner in general. Sometimes [students] see me working next to them and afterword when they get up they just leave their trash there.”

DeLeon also knows that respect would make a big impact on her and the rest of the custodians.

“Some students could at least throw their stuff in the trash; if they see something could they pick it up,” DeLeon said. “Sometimes they just kick around the bottles of bags or sometimes when they are talking to each other they will use a bad word, and I would just like to be respected when I am cleaning around them. I just get away when I can.”

Through DeLeon’s years of working as a custodian through elementary, middle, and high school’s, she has discovered a startling fact.

“Elementary schoolers are cleaner,” DeLeon said. “It is because there are a smaller amount of students and teachers who monitors very well. I do think there should be more teachers monitoring here.”

To Gomez, DeLeon has the relatively clean part of the job. One area that can be quite scary is the destruction in school bathrooms and the vandalizing of furniture.

Gomez would like for students to take their part in keeping the bathrooms neat.

“Angel comes and stall doors are completely off or people will throw stuff in the toilets that are not supposed to be there, and he has to clean it up,” DeLeon said. “That is his worst job.”

Gomez also takes work orders. This means the organizing of classroom desks on testing dates in every room.

“It is the hardest part because of the heavy things we push around,” Angel said. “I find furniture destroyed while I do my job. Please do not destroy stuff.”

Angel and the other custodian’s work amaze AP Kayla Brown.

“All that they do is just incredible,” Brown said. “They know where to put the tables, cleaning off the tables, setting up for different events. The custodians here, different from the schools that I have been at, they do a lot of the moving. That is something that I feel is above and beyond in comparison to other districts.”

The custodian staff needs students to respect and care for school property and to keep areas clean to the respect of other students, teachers and staff.

“We want to keep it clean where students will not come in and say ‘gross, look’, or students will come in and say ‘that is dirty’; I will try to get there and clean it before they get there,” DeLeon said.

Despite Custodian’s view about student cleanliness, they take happiness in their job and care for the individual student the best that they can.

“We say hi to [the students],” Deleon said. “Sometimes they do not say hi but I say it anyway. If they lose something, or if the student drops something I will try to help with it. If they need help, I will help them.”