A building filled with hundreds of people is bound to create a mess. If not properly maintained, the school could quickly fall into disarray. This is why it’s essential to have a system in place to care for the school. At FCHS, custodians work to ensure the school remains clean and well-managed for students and staff.
“Custodians are essential to the school community because they ensure a clean, safe, and welcoming environment for students, staff, and visitors. Their role extends beyond just cleaning; they help maintain the health and well-being of everyone by preventing the spread of germs, ensuring classrooms and common areas are orderly, and responding quickly to maintenance issues,” said FCHS Principal Margo Bruce.
The duties of custodians are not as simple as one might think. While their primary job is to keep the school clean and well-maintained, they also have to handle unexpected messes, such as cleaning up spills, while occasionally facing more challenging circumstances. They are often required to clean up unexpected messes, including vandalism by students.
“Being a custodian, you endure a lot of interesting things while cleaning, and we end up doing many odd jobs. We help unload trucks for orders, ensure that the bathrooms are well-maintained, clean up vomit and blood from difficult situations, and work hard to address inappropriate vandalism in the bathrooms,” said Custodian Gerald Martin.
There are both day and night shifts for the custodians. The day shift primarily focuses on maintaining the cleanliness from the previous night’s heavy cleaning, done by the night shift. They are also on call for minor tasks such as cleaning up spills, sweeping, mopping, or assisting in the front office. Both shifts have significant responsibilities, but the night shift carries additional duties such as cleaning all the classrooms, ensuring that the bathrooms are thoroughly cleaned after a long day of use, emptying trash bins, and wiping down desktops.
“The night shift may be a bit more challenging than the day shift. If everything is done as it should be, we do a lot of cleaning. We clean the classrooms and take care of everything necessary to make sure the school is in good shape. Both shifts work together, helping each other with the same goal: to keep the high school in a positive state,” said Martin.
The current day shift custodians are Martin, Doug Tanner, and Archie Giles, while the night shift custodians include Bryan Morris, Ron Williams, Robin Armstrong, Sharon Bowles, Robert Bryant, Tony Logan, David Logan, and Andrew Searcy.
Martin believes that while custodians play a key role in how the school looks and functions, it is important for all students to work together to take pride in their school and show respect by avoiding actions that harm the environment.
“It should be a blessing to have the privilege of education. Students need to take more pride in what they have, and the school building is one of those things. Students should take the initiative to take care of their personal space and help tidy up, as well. Everyone in the building should work as a team. Parents play a huge role in students’ ability to attend school, so students should make sure the school is a respectful place,” Martin added.
