I got up at 6:30 this morning, packed the car, and headed to the school to start organizing my classroom. Unfortunately, the custodial team is behind schedule and just waxed the floors of our hallway. I guess they were pulled for other duties last week according to one custodian, so now they have to catch up. I'll try again tomorrow.
Our custodial crew is awesome, by the way. They are courteous, personable, and industrious. The gentleman who is assigned my area asks daily what I need and often asks how his work is; it's always exemplary! His son was a student of mine about five years ago, and we've always been able to chat and help one another out.
I think I need to start the year with a plate of goodies or something for the crew.
If I could offer any new teachers out there some advice: treat the support staff well. You will need their help frequently.
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3 comments:
There's good karma to be had in being kind to the custodians. They deal with all kinds of nastiness from the students (not to mention all their trash), and I, for one, really appreciate the work that custodians do. I make a point of getting to know the service people at Tiny Community College where I teach, and I've discovered that, to a person, they're all lovely.
Couldn't agree with you more. Our head custodian and I retired together. I'd had all his kids in my classes.
At the school retirement dinner, I sat with his family at a table in the cafeteria. We had a great evening.
Teachers who play snob with custodians make my ass ache. Treating them like colleagues is the only way.
I used to have great conversations with our custodians. But then last year the district outsourced custodial services as a cost-saving measure. Custodians used to be moms and dads who live in our small town and whose kids I taught--or grandpas, or even former students. There were custodians in our district who've worked there 30 years or more.
Now, they're often bitter folks who've lost their jobs in the auto industry, or are chronic job-changers. They don't live here (none of the fired custodians want to come back and work for the money the custodial service the district hired is offering). And a couple of them, frankly, give me the creeps.
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