MARCH 2020 Issue two page spread

NEWS
Custodian shortage affects school cleanliness
Sarah Arteaga
contributing writer
Teachers and students have had to deal with
a new issue within the past couple of months:
the shortage of custodians throughout the entire
school. More specifically, this shortage has affected
the New Building the most.
“It’s a big job. It’s a big campus and the buildings
are large,” Spanish teacher Gwen Stencler
said.
Since custodian Jan Carter left in November,
his vacancy has remained unfilled. The school
has had difficulty finding people to take the job
and have them stay in that position. Although
it has been difficult to find someone for this job,
those custodians who are currently working are
doing the best that they can in terms of cleaning
as much as possible in the time frame that they
are required to work.
“Our custodian gets our trash done every
day and is cleaning the hallways as well as the
bathrooms,” Stencler said. “Sometimes our rooms
don’t get swept, but I understand that because
it’s a time crunch and she is pulled away to other
areas of the campus to work.”
Custodians are designated specific areas, like
the top floor of the New Building, that they are
responsible for keeping it clean. However, their
job becomes more difficult when they are pulled
out of these designated areas into others. They
are responsible for getting both cleaned in the
time that they would normally clean one area
well.
“Whenever we’re missing a person, we have
to do all of theirs and all of ours. And if we are
missing another person, so we must do all of
theirs and the other man’s,” custodian Leroy
Prather said. “It’s kind of rough.”
The custodian shortages, along with being
assigned to more areas to clean than the usual
amount, explains why they sometimes cannot
clean every room every day or why the bathrooms
may not have soap.
In order to help maintain the school clean,
calculus teacher Rhonda Hudson and Stencler
award service opportunities to National Honor
Society members for cleaning the school grounds.
“I think we’ve had NHS try to help out cleaning
by dumping trash cans, cleaning rooms,
cleaning the stairwells and cleaning doors on
the New Building and the Old Building,” Hudson
said.
Recently, National Honor Society has been
focused on cleaning mostly inside the school
buildings in order to more directly provide aid to
the custodians.
“I use my NHS people to help me out and
clean my room and help her out as well,” Stencler
said.
The custodians appreciate any help that they
receive in an attempt to keep the school as clean
as possible.
“They are trying to cover spaces that they
didn’t have to before,” Hudson said. “Our custodian
who normally just cleans the downstairs of
the new building might have to go do something
over in the gym area or the cafeteria area, so it’s
not their fault.”
Photo by Sarah Arteaga
Custodian Leroy Prather sweeps a room. There is a
shortage of custodians at Northwest, which means each
custodian has to do more than he or she is supposed
to.
OCS track prepares for future readiness
Christy Ma
news editor
S
tudents who are a part of the
Occupational Course of Study track
can often be seen on recycling runs
for Northwest High. While their
work was always appreciated,
not everyone knows why they are
tasked with some custodial duties.
“The courses were picked for
me,” senior Kelsey Cheney said.
“I’m happy though because it’s a
great course to go through, and it
helps people like me to have a better
future.”
The students taking the Occupational
Course of Study prepare
for work after graduation instead
of preparing for continued studies.
There are opportunities--like
the Special Olympics, the Employability
Duel and regular job club
meetings--that OCS students get
to enjoy.
The students and staff in the OCS program
also give back to the community through fundraisers
and community service. The custodial
tasks--like sorting mail, organizing athletic
laundry, cleaning, recycling and managing
coffee sales--also help meet required in-school
work credits and develop job skills.
“No matter what type of job a person is doing,
hands-on training is one of the best ways
to gain practical skills,” exceptional children’s
teacher Kristin Skordahl said. “(It) teaches realworld
skills like responsibility, reliability and
care for your environment, (and) students get
March 2020
Photos contributed by Kristin Skordahl
Students and staff from the Occupational Course of Study track go bowling for team bonding.
The OCS track prepares students with the support and experience for life outside of school.
a feel for what the job would involve. It teaches
teenagers that giving back is important.”
Students agree about the importance of
hands-on experience.
“My favorite part (of the program) is that we
get to go out to work,” Cheney said. “My work
from the nursing home has taught me a great
deal about respect, especially for my elders and
my supervisors.”
To complete the course, students must complete
several content and educational credits
along with hours of training and paid employment.
Classes can be a mix of traditional Northwest
classes and preparational classes.
Students are also aided with creating
resumes, filling out applications and mock
interviews.
“Many students who have graduated
from the OCS program have a regular paycheck
from the job site they were placed at
in high school,” Skordahl said. “I love seeing
them graduate and go on
to be successful in full-time,
steady jobs.”
With the resources, support
and preparation of the
program, students are well
equipped for the real world.
“I feel supported and
prepared, thanks to the lessons
from my teachers and
the community,” Cheney said.
“Try to support these people
because they do a lot of work
every day; we do the coffee
runs, popcorn, and recycling.
Support the program and help
us out a little bit.”
Overall, the track and program is received
positively by students and staff.
“I wouldn’t change anything about the
program,” Skordahl said, “but I wish I could
change how people viewed it. There’s a stigma
among certain people who feel like the students
in the OCS program are different (in a bad way);
people refer to them as ‘those kids.’ Keep in
mind, ‘those kids’ still follow the general curriculum
and take the same final exams as their
peers on the Future Ready Course of Study; they
just have different goals after high school. All
students are students first.”
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