School custodians worried about new school year

WHS forced to make do with two less
custodians
by NATHAN WRIGHT, Staff Writer
As the 2003-2004 school year approaches, the custodians at
Windsor High School are getting nervous.
Will Geneth, the lead custodian at the high school, lost two
full-time custodians last May when the Windsor School Board was
asked to make $1.5 million worth of budget cuts due to the
California budget crisis. Of the $1.5 million, the district’s
custodial staff was reduced by $202,000. Windsor High School’s
share of the cuts was two full-time positions, and WHS will operate
next year with 4.5 custodial positions instead of 6.5.
“The high school is growing by five classrooms, four staff
members and over 200 kids, and I just lost two full time
custodians,” said Geneth. “We would love to do a good job. We feel
we don’t have the resources to do a good job.”
According to Geneth, his staff is responsible for cleaning 81
classrooms, 14 student restrooms, 20 faculty restrooms,
administration buildings, a library, a theatre, a multi-purpose
room, a gym, a weight room, and various other facilities at the
high school.
“It all adds up,” said Geneth. “I have a very dedicated, devoted
staff. It may appear that we’re slacking, but we just don’t have
the manpower.”
Dan Wells, the Director of Maintenance for the Windsor Unified
School District, knows times will be tough but believes the
custodians will rise to the challenges of a growing district and a
shrinking staff.
“I don’t think any of our schools have enough custodial staff,”
he said. “With less people, it’s going to be difficult to maintain
the schools as we have in the past.”
Wells said that his staff will continue cleaning bathrooms and
eating areas every day, and will move from an every-other-day
classroom cleaning rotation to a three day rotation. “I wouldn’t
want my kids to be in dirty bathrooms or dirty eating areas,” he
said.
Geneth is aware of the district’s goal of a three-day rotation,
but is worried that unforeseen circumstances could push that goal
back to a four- or five-day rotation. When the school holds a
special event, a football game for example, or a custodian calls in
sick, Geneth said his staff is left scrambling to take up the
slack. “They face a real challenge next year,” said Wells.
Geneth hopes to meet with Windsor High School Principal Jeff
Harding and the school’s teachers to discuss methods to maximize
the custodians efforts. Using a single trashcan located by the door
of each classroom and asking the students to place their chairs on
their desks at the end of school are both ways to minimize cleaning
times.
With the shortage of custodians, some teachers may take matters
into their own hands, and start cleaning their own classrooms.
Geneth said that this presents the custodians with a difficult
situation. Under union rules, only custodians are allowed to
perform custodial duties. While the rule seems unreasonable to
some, it protects custodians.
“As good union members, we’re being told we should report when
we see non-custodians doing custodians’ work,” said Geneth. “Our
union reps are telling us this is the only way we’ll get the
positions back. This makes us the bad guys. We’ve never had to deal
with a situation like this. Needless to say, we don’t feel good
about this.”
With budget cuts, a growing district, and union rules, the
district has been left in a tough situation. “I know the cuts have
to come as far away as possible from the classroom,” said
Wells.
As the new school year approaches, the staff is going to have to
find a way to make it work. “It’s going to be tough,” said Windsor
High School custodian Mario Rodriguez.