THINK TWICE

Students abandon their trash at lunch and throughout the day, but who cleans it up?

Most students don’t think twice when they walk into a newly cleaned classroom, with new bags in trash cans and eraser shavings absent from desks. Students don’t think twice before leaving a mound of trash on their cafeteria tables.

They don’t think of the custodians and janitors who spend their days and nights cleaning up the wrappers, drink containers and assorted other bits of trash left behind by students.

Particularly frustrating are the messes students make intentionally.

“That does aggravate us,” Custodial Supervisor John Cole said. “We’re picking up more than what’s called for just because of their actions.”

ATS Janitorial Services staff member Janet Zavala Zermeno has worked as a night-time janitor for a year. While at Northwest, Zermeno cleans classrooms, the library and bathrooms.

“In the restrooms, they put eggs [and fruit] in the boys’ toilets,” Zermeno said. “It makes me feel stressed and disappointed.”

While the extra trash and messes can make their job harder, the custodial staff, for the most part, understands the job they’ve been hired to do.

“You know, a lot of custodians feel disrespected,” Cole said. “But we realize it’s a part of work and you can’t get mad at everybody for what the few [students] do.”

CUSTODIAN VS. JANITOR ?

Custodians and janitors are not the same thing. Custodians and janitors both clean, but custodians also take care of the school.

Electrical work, plumbing, pulling weeds, setting up for events and delivering mail to the office are a custodian’s job. Janitors clean the bathrooms, classrooms, offices, libraries, really anything that needs cleaned, overnight.

The next time students see a clean classroom and a working TV, remember who did it.

by Izak Zeller

design by Greta Grist