At the end of the month, MHS will lose a custodian, leaving the building with only two janitors during the day and four at night. This total is compared to the five to six day custodians and 11 night custodians the building is supposed to have, Randall Ray, custodian head, said.

As the problem of custodial shortages continues to worsen, the administration has opted to offer janitor positions to students to help ease the current staff’s duties. Students who are hired would work no more than two to four hours a day for up to three to four days a week at a rate of $15.46 an hour. There are no weekend hours. The district will prioritize academics over work for those students who are hired.

Applications are available through a Rockwood application portal, which admin can direct interested students to access.

With a small staff and 10 times the workload he’s had in the past, Ray said he would appreciate having more help around the school and is surprised that more students don’t apply for a janitor position.

“It’s a learning experience for them,” Ray said. “And plus, it helps the school out too.”

Having such a small staff makes it difficult for the full-time staff to even empty trash cans, Ray said.

“It’s even going to be worse so it’s been a big impact on everybody,” Ray said. “We don’t have the people to clean the school the way it’s supposed to be.”

Ray said that a frustrating part of this problem is how lengthy the hiring process is for students. There are background checks and fingerprinting that has to be done, and then the individual has to get approved by the Board of Education.

Even adults who currently work at the school have to go through the process, which Ray said he doesn’t understand.

“It takes so long to get them through the channels and all of that,” Ray said. “That hiring process, it takes forever. I mean, it’s pretty rough.”

Ray said students wouldn’t have to perform all duties of a custodian, like cleaning bathrooms, but will have tasks such as sweeping hallways, vacuuming the library and cleaning up the theater.

Carlos Vences, senior, applied to work as a custodian after seeing fliers posted on the walls.

Vences previously worked at Panera and said working at fast food places was constant and demanding, so this opportunity seemed like a better alternative.

“The wage is really nice,” Vences said. “It seems way more manageable, especially with time since I won’t have to work as much.”

He said he recommends students apply because there is flexibility not present at other jobs and the work doesn’t include cleaning bathrooms or with chemicals.

Vences said he will get to work 15 hours a week and can choose when he works.

Sophomore Principal Kyle Devine said the idea of hiring students was first presented last year, as few adults were applying to halt the custodial shortage. As of now, two students have applied.

“We have a very big building,” Devine said. “Over the last year, we’ve had four custodians retire, so it’s not making it any easier on them trying to balance the absolute needs of sanitary cleaning and also what we would like to see aesthetically.”

Devine said the other custodians fulfill the most essential duties like trash and bathrooms.

“We’re not going to give kids keys to rooms or things like that, but they can vacuum the library,” Devine said. “People feel better about seeing things that are clean. When the public comes in for things, you want to give a good impression.”

Devine also recently sent an email to staff asking them to consider applying for part-time custodial work within the district.

“We don’t have enough custodians to get into classrooms to sweep and mop,” Devine said. “There are no applicants from the public, so we find ourselves turning to our current employees who may be interested in part-time work.”

The administration has also opened Ac Lab mods for students and clubs to sign up for community service hours to clean the school during both mods.

Marquette Academic & Cultural Club, (MACC) has dedicated their service project of the year to helping clean up campus. The club, sponsored by Maria Stull, language arts teacher, will now spend the last Monday of each month cleaning at school.

On Monday, Sept. 25, the club held its first cleaning session.

“We swept stairways, wiped down handrails and picked up trash,” Stull said. “We hope that by helping out we will encourage other students to do the same.”

ROTC also has stepped forward to help. On Friday, Sept. 22, members helped pick up the stadium after the Homecoming game.

“The stadium was super messy, nobody really cleaned up after themselves,” Hanna Grzyb, freshman, said. “I wanted to help the custodians out.”

Grzyb said she is likely to help out again.

“It was nice to give back,” she said. “People always say that but it’s true.”

This story was originally published on Marquette Messenger on October 12, 2023.