PRINTOn the Job: High School Custodians
David Kennedy
Anthony Fitzgerald (left), custodial supervisor at Hickman High School, and Arnold Cromwell (right), custodial supervisor at Rock Bridge.
September 24, 2009 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Thanks to Bill Cosby, we all know that kids say the darndest things. The surprises don’t stop when adolescence hits: Teens simply learn to keep comments below the radar. Their gossip, though, often doesn’t go unheard. Although they keep to themselves and remain relatively unnoticed, school custodians see and hear it all. Anthony Fitzgerald, custodial supervisor at Hickman High School, and Arnold Cromwell, custodial supervisor at Rock Bridge, have stepped away from maintaining the school to enlighten us on what life is like behind the scenes.
What’s the best part about your job?
Anthony Fitzgerald: I like customer service and taking care of the kids. I get to meet a lot of the teachers.
Arnold Cromwell: I enjoy seeing the kids every day in a learning environment and making sure they’re safe and sound.
FAST STATS
Name: Anthony Fitzgerald
Age: 48
At Job Since: 1999
CoMo resident since: 1994
Name: Arnold Cromwell
Age: 46
At Job Since: 1982 in the Columbia school district
CoMo resident since: 1963
- Scenes from the Providence Bowl
- Fast times at Hickman High
- Tech-savvy students
- The young and the reckless
- Rumors and realities
- Overcoming obstacles
- The spread
- The Education of Segregation
- Lifelong leaders
- Edged out
- Roosters, cows and mice, oh my!
- Crosstown competition
- Playing the field
- Say what?
- Where are they now?
- After-school alliance
- Rival Survival
- Through the Years
- High school mascots go head to head
And the worst?
Fitzgerald: Graffiti, and sometimes the students will go outside and eat but will leave their food all over the sidewalk, even though there are trash cans.
Cromwell: When there are big messes, they annoy you, but that’s part of it; just deal with it and move on.
What’s a normal day like?
Fitzgerald: I come in at 7:30 and leave at 4:30. I supervise the day crew and night crew to make sure everything’s clean. I make sure it’s a healthy environment and everything’s working.
Cromwell: I come in about 7, check air-conditioning units, make sure everything’s up and running. Do a little bit of light cleaning, just get things ready for the night crew. I head out at about 4:30 or 5.
How much trash does your school usually have at the end of the day?
Fitzgerald: It usually fills two dumpsters — that’s a lot of trash.
Cromwell: I bet with the 60-gallon trash bag, we probably go through 75 to 100 bags a day.
What if no one cleaned up the school for one day?
Fitzgerald: There’d be trash everywhere — a real disaster. We’ve got to have someone there all the time. It’d take two days, at least, to get it back to normal. You can’t let (the students) do whatever they want.
Cromwell: Lots of trash. But the teachers, I think they’d help pick up a little bit; most of the time they do.
The custodians on TV shows such as Scrubs or movies such as The Breakfast Club are spunky and offer advice. Do you do that?
Fitzgerald: I don’t give advice; I just mind my own business. Sometimes the students will cuss you out and use inappropriate language if you talk to them. I just walk away. Sometimes I’ll tell the principal.
Cromwell: No, I don’t give too much advice. If they do ask, I just tell them to stay in school and reach for your dream.
Even so, have you heard any interesting gossip in the hallways?
Fitzgerald: (Smiles) Believe me — you don’t want to know. I hear girls gossiping about who you went out with last night and what you did on the weekend and things like that.
What are the most difficult issues to deal with?
Cromwell: We have graffiti, kids getting sick, spills, and there’s kids who just do things they shouldn’t do. Sometimes (the graffiti) will come off. Sometimes they’ll carve into (objects), and it takes a little longer.
What’s the proper term: custodian or janitor?
Fitzgerald: Custodian. It was upgraded from janitor in the ’80s and ’90s. But some students still call my crew janitors.
Cromwell: I don’t have a preference. Some people call me Mr. Clean — I guess because of the bald head.
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