Behind the scenes: Meet the janitorial staff of Fossil Ridge High School

One of the most underappreciated staff in any school is the janitorial staff. Most students are not even aware of what kind of role that janitors play in the function of the school, since most of their work takes place after regular school hours—often until 10 p.m. or later.

By Kierra Vaughan

In the Nickelodeon show Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide, Gordy is the school janitor who doesn’t really do much as far as cleaning up, but he cleans up the trouble that the high schoolers get themselves into. In the movie 17 Again starring Zac Efron, the janitor has magical powers and eventually turns the 37-year-old main character Mike back into an adolescent. So if they don’t do magic or help the students with their silly problems in real life, what do janitors really do?

Though kids sometimes see janitors working around the school by day, a lot of the work goes on at night when all the students are gone. They have many more responsibilities than just cleaning, especially the head custodians. The janitorial staff performs basic tasks for the school, such as opening up all the doors in the school every morning, setting up and taking down items for lunch, doing laundry for the art classes, and they even clean up vomit, blood and other bodily fluids that may appear in school. According to FRHS janitor Debra Shramek, many of these accidents occur in the gym area during P.E or sporting events. Their duties go far beyond those, however. “Most kids don’t realize that janitors are in charge of all the maintenance around the school, not just picking up after the kids,” assistant principal Brad Nye said.

Though the janitors do enjoy their job, there are many aspects in the job description that require patience, dedication, problem solving skills, and aptitude. Shramek said that doing the setup and takedown for lunch is definitely the hardest because they have to move all the tables and clean up after students who leave messes behind. Different janitors work different shifts, too. Shramek works from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. FRHS Janitor Elaine Stankus said she arrives at Fossil Ridge around 1 p.m. and stays until 9:30 p.m. Sometimes she works overtime though, depending on how quick the staff is working and how messy the school has gotten that day. According to Mr. Nye, “[The janitors] problem solve, and bring awareness to kids so they can learn to respect their environment.”

Though every janitor said they completely enjoy their job, they said it can also be challenging. “I do enjoy my job. I accept the challenge,” Stankus said. Most said their favorite part is talking to kids, teachers, and other staff, but sometimes teenagers can be rude. “Overall, I love people and I love teenagers,” Shramek said. “I’m happy to be here.”

Stankus agreed. “I love Fossil, and I’m very fortunate to be working here rather than another school.”

Another behind-the-scenes janitorial job at Fossil Ridge is repair technician. Rather than taking care of the school, these repair technicians fix machines so that the other janitors are able to perform their jobs with ease. Mark Renzoni is the repair technician for the entire Poudre School
District. He gets a call from the head custodian at a certain school if any piece of equipment stops working, and drives there to perform the task. “The most frustrating part of my job is when I get a call from a school for something that doesn’t really need fixing,” he said.
Though this doesn’t happen often to Renzoni, he is in high demand throughout the district and is usually pretty busy fixing things and problem solving. “I think it’s fun getting out to all the schools and seeing students,” he said. A custodial job has much more to it than most would realize. For Renzoni, he’s been fixing things since he was young. “I started in high school in a regular mechanic shop,” he recalled. “All my life I’ve always fixed things. Fixing machinery isn’t simple either. It takes mechanical aptitude and schooling.”

More than anything, janitors take care of the atmosphere of the school and the students. Besides cleaning and fixing things at FRHS, they also support many student-based events. “The janitors encourage student activities,” Mr. Nye said. “You see them at sporting events, and they help put up all the banners you see for sports and clubs. “Though janitors are behind-the-scenes, they are one of the most critical [staff members] in the school.”