Be a School Custodian
School custodians or janitors make a difference in their school communities every day by providing for the safety and health of all the students, teachers, and others who pass through the buildings in their care. By being an active, attentive, and resourceful member of the school staff, custodians can make the lives of hundreds or thousands of other people better on a daily basis.
Contents
Steps
- Apply for an opening at a school district. Some school districts may always be accepting applications, some may begin accepting them as soon as a position becomes available.
- Visit the central office location of the district to obtain an application if an online application is not available.
- Generally speaking, no special qualifications other than a high school diploma are required. However, previous commercial cleaning or maintenance experience may make you a more competitive candidate if jobs are scarce.
- You may be required to pay and obtain clearances and medical evaluations as well as vaccination history in order to work for a school district. This information should be included with the application. Plan on not being reimbursed for these expenses.
- In some districts, only substitute custodians will be considered for a full-time or part-time position, so you may need to apply as a substitute custodian first. A substitute custodian only fulfills the role of an absent custodian and does not get guaranteed hours and may be dismissed at any time for any reason even if the full-time custodians are unionized and covered under a bargaining agreement.
- Master your training. Fortunately, many good districts will train their new custodial staff to inform them of their standards, equipment, and other essential information, but not all are so generous. You may be forced to learn on the job by asking for help from other custodians.
- Ask as many questions as you need. It's better to get things right from the start than having to correct them later when you find out you were doing something wrong.
- Learn where supplies are kept, where to get your keys, the layout of the school building and grounds, and the office of your immediate supervisor.
- Get to know the other custodial staff as they'll be your allies as you learn the ropes in your new job. Custodial work is not just picking up a spray cleaner and wiping stuff down: there is specialized equipment to use and procedures to follow. There is a right way to do just about everything, although as you gain more experience you will be able to use your own discretion about what to do and when.
- Dress appropriately. Your district may prescribe a specific uniform for you to wear, but if they don't, you'll have to find your own professional attire that suits the demands of the job.
- Generally speaking, long jeans or slacks are required. Shorts might not be permitted during the school year.
- Your clothing should be clean and regularly laundered. You don't want to spread dirt and contamination around when you're supposed to be the one preventing that from happening.
- Wear a work shirt or T-shirt, depending on your style, the expectations of the district, and your personal comfort.
- Affix your ID badge to clothing in a manner that is prominently visible to students and staff in the building.
- Affix your keys on a keychain to your belt or belt loops. You will be opening doors a lot. A retractable key holder will be immensely helpful so you do not have to constantly remove your keys from your belt. As a bonus, you won't easily lose your keys.
- Wear non-slip work footwear or work boots and heavy duty insoles. Your feet will thank you for it since you will be using them so much.
- Learn to use proper personal protective equipment (PPE). Although some schools might be lax on safety standards for custodial staff, this does not mean you shouldn't be practicing it. Even if other custodians aren't using it, doesn't mean you shouldn't!. Commercial cleaning chemicals are not friendly to your eyes and skin so you need to protect them appropriately. PPE should be supplied by your district, so ask your supervisor where it is.
- Wear appropriately sized gloves when working with any chemicals that may touch your hands, such as when wiping surfaces or using a sponge. Also use gloves when you are handling trash, especially trash containing food waste or from the restroom.
- Wear goggles when working with chemicals and the risk of splashing occurs, such as when mopping, cleaning sinks and urinals, and using mist spraying.
- Wear a mouth mask when toxic vapors or dust is present, such as when stripping, finishing, or burnishing a floor, or using chemicals in a room with little ventilation.
- Practice good hygiene. You should be cleaner than the building itself so that you avoid bringing more germs and dirt into it than you take out. Take it upon yourself to avoid creating more mess than you clean up.
- Wash your hands every time you take a break or meal.
- Shower daily to remove dust, chemical residue, and germs.
- Keep your shoes clean so you don't track mud into the school. You'll just be creating more work for yourself or coworkers.
- Use a clean rag every time you switch activities and change mop water after every room you mop.
- At the end of your shift, put your tools and chemicals in storage. Don't leave dirty rags or buckets of water sitting around, deal with them before you go home. No one wants a bad whiff of something coming from the custodial closet.
- Keep your own work area clean, whether this is your closet where you keep supplies and carts or your cart itself. Don't leave trash sitting, take it to the dumpster.
- Know your keys. You'll be using them a lot, and not having to shuffle through all of them to find the one you're looking for will save you a lot of time. Memorize them by reading the code on the back (if present) to identify what doors they open. You probably have a master key for the building you work in, so find a way to distinguish that one from all of the others (like light switches, paper product dispensers, chemical dispensers, electrical panels, and padlocks)
- Become a purveyor of district knowledge. Know what's going on in your building and who's supposed to be where. Not only does your awareness help the district with preventing unauthorized individuals in the building, your vast knowledge can help students, staff, and parents who need help getting to where they need to be. Learn as many people's names as you can - this will make the school environment feel like your home and you will instinctively know when something is not right. If you are able, consider attending your school board's meetings as a member of the public to be informed of changes that may impact you, the people you work with, or activities in your building, especially as it pertains to buildings and grounds.
- Portray a positive image. Custodians move around the building a lot. This means your face may be seen by more people than any other individuals. As a result, your mood is contagious. A happy custodian makes others happy. When you cheerfully perform your duties, others feel the building and its users are in good hands.
Tips
- Replace soap, toilet paper, and paper towels BEFORE they run out (when they're almost empty) - replacing it only when it's empty means someone probably wasn't able to wash or dry their hands, or worse, wipe.
- During summer cleaning, you may find a lot of furniture is fragile. Do not attempt to move them without help. They can break easily or you may get hurt (this is especially true with bookshelves). Even with help, some things really shouldn't be moved until they're ready to be discarded entirely.
- Acid cleaners should be fully rinsed off of any chrome fixture or it may be etched, which is permanent damage to the chrome finish.
- As you gain experience, you may end up breaking a thing or two... or three. It happens sometimes. Just try to be more careful the next time.
- Use the manufacturer's recommended dilution ratio when mopping. Using too much may make your cleaning solution too sudsy and your floors will be sticky. Use too little and it won't do any kind of cleaning.
- A basic knowledge of which chemicals are acidic and which are basic can come in handy when you need to neutralize a particular kind of soil or deposit (urine vs hard water spots). You can find this information online or in the MSDS for each chemical.
- Read the MSDS (material safety data sheets) for the chemicals you use! If you can not find one in your building, you can find them online.
- Don't be a recluse. Watch and learn from other custodians. Talk to them about their cleaning methods and experience they can share. Even after you've learned a lot there's a lot more you can learn. There are always new stories.
- Be proactive. Do things without being asked. You'll be respected and appreciated by your co-workers and other staff, even if they do not come right out and say so. It's about doing what needs to be done without hesitation, being there for someone and offering your assistance when you can offer it, and being overall a kind person. Your job is one of service so make it one of your priorities to provide it well.
- Be frugal and conscious of how what you do affects the district's bottom line. Remember that it's the taxpayers who ultimately fund everything from your paycheck to your chemicals and equipment. Look for ways to save the school money when you can, such as by shutting off lights in rooms that are not being used, saving a trash bag when it is possible, and reducing as much waste of district resources and property as possible by maintaining it in good condition and avoiding damaging property.
- Report to your supervisor or appropriate person when you discover a maintenance issue that you can not take care of yourself (you might be expected to take care of small things yourself, like changing light bulbs) so that they can track the issue and get it dealt with. Provide it in writing so it is not easily lost in daily business.
- While you aren't obligated to perform tasks outside of your own assigned area, it is professional for the custodian to take care of the issue anyway or at least let the person responsible know instead of letting the problem persist. For example, if you see trash laying in the grass outside the building, pick it up and put it in a garbage can. If you see a cobweb in the hallway, take it down. Don't just wait for someone else to do it.
- Enzyme-based cleaners do wonders for removing odors in restrooms and waste receptacles caused by the presence of bacteria feeding on organic matter.
- At times, the work might be dirty or boring (that's just the nature of the field). Do your best to work through it by keeping yourself amused. For instance, listen to music with your headphones if permitted, make small talk with staff and visitors if you like that kind of thing, or simply make challenges and goals for yourself each day.
- Avoid creating a "mess backlog" where dirt accumulates in certain areas because they are easily overlooked. Such areas might include behind teacher's desks, under furniture, chalkboard trays, window sills, and more. Periodically do tasks you might not normally do (such as cleaning under sinks in bathrooms and the area behind the commode) or focus on the details an entire room one day while just doing the essentials in the others. Use any breaks or days when students aren't there to "catch up" on cleaning you usually don't get to do. As a custodian, time management is very important. While you won't be able to make every room pristine, you can make them look, smell, and feel clean and fresh by keeping up with small details.
- Grout, if not cleaned regularly, can harbor bacteria that feed on organic matter. In restrooms, this often manifests as a repulsive smell from bacteria feeding on urine. The best way to tackle this problem is by first mopping the floor with a disinfectant cleaner. This kills the bacteria that create the smells. Once dry, use an enzyme based cleaner to consume the organic matter that bacteria were consuming. When there is available time, use a floor machine with a rotating brush to put down cleaner and scrub the grout of any ground in dirt. Follow with a wet/dry vacuum to remove the contaminated water so that it doesn't settle back into the grout. A mop will exacerbate the problem and not lift the dirt off the floor.
Warnings
- Even if teachers or administrators leave sensitive information out, have the courtesy and professionalism to leave it alone. Making it a talking point with your buddies can land you in trouble.
- Your district likely has written policies for their staff, read and understand them well. What might be acceptable in the private sector might not be tolerated in the public school due to the primary concern for children.
