From sweeping the hallways to fixing pencil sharpeners, the custodians and maintenance crew are tasked with various jobs on a daily basis; all of which go towards bettering the student’s learning environment. Not all of these jobs can be easy, however, and Warsaw High school custodians explain why.

  “I guess the hardest part of my job is dumping the trash, keeping track of kids in the hallway, and making sure they don’t tear anything up,” custodian Alan Khin said. “It’s not that hard in general. Just gotta keep up on things and stay on top of it.“

  “Since the no food and drink policy, it makes an incredible difference,” custodian Jeff Reed said. “It took and hour and a half to two hours off my back every week.”

  Khin works the day shift and is in charge of unlocking doors, cleaning the superintendent’s office and principal’s office, sweeping hallways, cleaning and setting up the lunch room, and cleaning up after kids between shifts. Reed helps set up the cafeteria, clean and mop the kitchen area and dining hall, get the trash set up for the day, and cleans the hallways and classrooms after school. This year’s new custodian, Steve Johnson, takes care of all out buildings – such as the Ag building, tech building, and bus barn – and also works on the locker rooms and main bathrooms.

  “I enjoy my job and being able to work with kids and help out,” Johnson said. “But the hardest thing about it is the tight schedule that comes with trying to get everything done. The work is nonstop – as soon as we get here there’s stuff to do.”

  Just like sophomore Taylor Bunch said, it’s probably easier to stop a mess from happening than it is to clean it up. Students could reduce the custodian and maintenance workload by pitching in and not only cleaning up after themselves and others, but taking care of the school’s facilities.

  “The custodians have a tiring job because they must deal with us for over 200 days,” senior Corey Nahrstedt said.

  “The school would be absolutely awful without the custodians. It would be dirty and completely trashy,” junior Ryan Sprouse said. “We should pick up after ourselves and not be so careless. Take pride in our school.”