They are seen all over the school, cleaning messes. Every day they prove their diligence by scrubbing toilets, dusting shelves and planning banquet set-ups. They keep the face of their school good as new.
The LHS custodial staff are hard at work each day, keeping our school in the best shape it can be in terms of cleanliness and management. Often times, custodial jobs get overlooked by the students creating the messes that magically seem to “disappear”.
“I cannot think of a more servant group than our custodians,” assistant principal Ryan Tomlin said. “This building was built in the 90’s and when other people from different schools come they are amazed how clean our school is.”
The custodial staff is in charge of cleaning all rooms on a regular basis, cleaning the cafeteria daily after lunches, replacing and disposing of broken equipment/furniture on campus, cleaning all bathrooms daily, cleaning after extracurricular events and many other tasks. With 10,000+ square feet in LHS, there is a lot of ground for messes to live.
“I’ve been working in Lindale for 20 years,” custodian Barbara Calip said. “Our job can be tough and sometimes really gross, but we always get it done. I love working here with the kids and building relationships with all the staff.”
An often unrecognized task of custodians is their role in assuring that the entire facility is well maintained. They report leaks in roofs, broken doors, and other maintenance issues to the district maintenance department for repair. Additionally, the custodians make regular checks on the school’s doors multiple times a day to be sure it is as secure as as it can be.
“I’m the lead custodian here, so I’m here from 5 in the morning until they don’t need me,” custodian Jonie Creamer said. “I am in charge of setting up and taking down multiple banquets and events going on at the high school. I’m over 11 other custodians and help each of them complete tough tasks.”
Each custodian has an assigned “individual area”, and then at certain times they all pull together for what is called “team time” to do things such as tackle an extra-large cleaning assignment, or to prepare the high school for special events at the school.
“Working as a custodian has changed my perspective as a parent,” custodian Christina Hensley said. “You see almost an inside scoop of what really goes on in a high school and how the students treat each other and the staff members here.”
Students can help diminish the overwhelming workload for the custodians by cleaning up after themselves and even messes they did not make. This not only helps them out, but helps everyone in the school have a much more positive, clean experience in the school.
“[Our custodians] each play an intrical part of our daily operations,” Tomlin said. These are the jobs that go most unnoticed, but are equally as important as any other role. Simple things like putting your trash in the trash can, or picking up a paper towel on the restroom floor may not seem like a big deal to a student, but it can mean a lot to the people who spend a lot of their day picking up after everyone around here.”
