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They arrive at 6:46am. It's early September and summer break has just finished. The first few days of the new school year has come and gone. They flip on the lights and the building comes to life, walking down the hall you can still see that sheer gleam from the summers clean, all the floors still have that fresh new look. They drop off packages in their room and pick up the daily checklist, is the heat on and do all the lights work?  Is everything safe for the arrival of our students in a very short while?

They are the custodians for our schools and they are on the frontline of making our schools safe, caring, and healthy.

In the summer months are custodial staff clean from top to bottom, literally;

• Classrooms are dismantled pictures and posters are removed from classroom walls.
• All classroom furniture teacher's desk, students desks, book shelves and chairs are all removed from the classroom and cleaned ready for return when the room has been completed.
• Light fixtures are opened and cleaned.
• Walls are washed.
• Floors are cleaned of old wax and re-waxed ready for the new school year.
• All surfaces are thoroughly scrubed with cleaners appropriate to the task.

This creates the foundation for a clean and healthy school for the entire school year.  In all schools across Foothills School Division the same process applies.  All offices, staff rooms, teacher work rooms, gymnasiums, music and drama rooms, washrooms, change rooms, kitchens and hallways are cared for by our custodial staff.

Added to the custodian schedule, our teams often work around summer maintenance projects like floor replacement, classroom upgrades, boiler maintenance or replacement, lighting upgrades, smart board replacement, washroom upgrades, window replacement and a host of other building related projects. And still this entire process needs to be completed in the ten weeks we call summer break. WOW!!

Custodians are part of our everyday school staff. They support our students and keep our buildings clean and healthy day in day out. Whether it's a lost shoe that needs to be retrieved, an incredibly snowy day that needs to be shoveled, the mishap of an upset tummy, or it's flu season and extra attention to common surfaces is required, our custodial staff do an incredible job of keeping us in a clean and healthy environment.

With summer break on the horizon our attention turns to this dedicated group of custodial staff and just how much we depend on them each and every day for our students’ health & safety.

It is with deep felt appreciation that we say THANK YOU for your dedication in making Foothills School Division a safe, caring and healthy place to learn.

 

By: Rob Ladd, Director of Facility Services