The People Who Keep Our Schools Shining

The People Who Keep Our Schools Shining

By Brian Gillis

Lamar R-I Superintendent

A public school has a lot of moving parts. Every day, countless things happen behind the scenes to make sure our students are safe, supported, and ready to learn. One of the most important is providing a clean, welcoming environment where students and staff can focus on what they came to school to do. From the outside, keeping a school clean might seem straightforward. Sweep the floors, empty the trash, clean the bathrooms, and move on. In reality, it is far from easy, and depending on the time of year, it is definitely not straightforward.

That is where our school custodians truly shine. Yes, the pun was intended. At Lamar R-I, more than 1,100 students and 180 employees enter our buildings on a typical school day. Add parents, community members, visiting teams, and guests attending activities, and that is a lot of people and a lot of footprints on our floors. So, what exactly does a school custodian do all day? The short answer is a lot. 

Their responsibilities change throughout the year. During the summer, our custodians become movers, carpet cleaners, floor refinishers, furniture organizers, part-time repair specialists, and professional cleaners all rolled into one. Then August arrives, everyone returns, and they shift gears again, moving desks, hanging signs, making last-minute adjustments, and preparing buildings for students. Once school is underway, the work never really stops. Our custodians clean classrooms, offices, restrooms, cafeterias, gyms, hallways, and activity areas every day. During the fall and winter, they also fight the constant battle against flu, stomach bugs, colds, and everything else more than 1,100 students can generously share with one another.

With three separate campuses and multiple buildings, it takes an entire team. We have custodians working different shifts because our schools rarely sleep. Our daytime crews handle high-traffic areas and the countless unexpected situations that arise throughout the day. There is something almost comical about spending your entire day cleaning spaces while hundreds of students work equally hard to make them dirty again. You can mop a floor, admire it for approximately 30 seconds, and then watch an entire class walk across it.

As students and teachers leave, our evening crews take over. Classrooms are cleaned, trash is emptied, floors are swept and mopped, restrooms are addressed again, and buildings are prepared for the next morning. When evening activities are taking place, their workday stretches even longer as they wait for the final whistle, buzzer, or group to leave before cleaning up. Then tomorrow, they do it all again.

But our custodians do more than clean buildings. They are part of our school family. They know our students, help our teachers, solve problems, and take pride in the buildings they care for. That pride matters because a clean school sends a message that we care about our schools and, more importantly, the people inside them. Much of their work happens quietly behind the scenes. When they do their jobs exceptionally well, most of us probably do not even notice. We simply walk into a clean classroom, sit in the bleachers at a game, or arrive at school the next morning without thinking about everything that happened to make it possible.

So, the next time you see one of our custodians in the hallway, at a ballgame, or cleaning up after an event, take a moment to say hello and thank you. Their work matters, their dedication matters, and the pride they take in Lamar R-I makes a difference for our students every day.

Without them, I am fairly certain it would not take long before the whole place came to a screeching and probably pretty messy halt.

To our Lamar R-I custodial team: thank you for taking pride in our schools and, most importantly, for taking care of our kids.

The mission of the Lamar R-1 School District is to provide quality education for each student that will impact his or her life with meaningful purpose and successful direction.