By Chloe Oliver
He gets called in for a job interview at nine in the morning during first period and gets the job. Now, after school hours, he goes into teachers’ classrooms, building his relationships with them.
Recently, a job opportunity has arisen for Delta High School students: a new student custodian job.
Seniors Chris Rench, Christian Hirst and Daelynn Keller were hired for the new positions.
“If my teachers are trusting me to do this job, going in their classrooms after hours, it shows a lot of credibility,” Rench said. “It affects me now because I’ve had teachers staying after hours, so I can talk to them when I’m in their rooms cleaning, and it helps me build relationships with teachers.”
When Rench saw the job opportunity, he was already looking for another job in addition to working at Eaton’s Pizza King.
He originally wanted to get a job at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital; however, the difference in pay from working there to working inside his own school was enough to spark his interest.
According to indeed.com, the average hourly rate for Indiana high schoolers is $11.69. The starting pay for this new job is $16.70 an hour.
Rench is on the clock from 3:45 to 8:45 p.m. Monday through Wednesday. On Thursdays through Saturdays, he works at Pizza King.
His usual schedule in the school custodian job involves vacuuming hallways to classrooms, disinfecting doors and other highly trafficked areas, and emptying the trash in every classroom upstairs.
Rench said there was much to learn on the first day, including using different keys, learning how to prop a door open correctly, and discovering how to tie a trash bag the right way. The job is tedious as he must pay attention to many small details.
Rench works at the high school along with senior Christian Hirst, who cleans downstairs.
Hirst went from working at McDonalds to cleaning around his school. He makes nearly twice what he was making at McDonalds, which he said should help him save up for a new car for when he gets to college and to save up for vacation.
Hirst’s responsibilities range from cleaning the lockers to sweeping the floors.
Hirst has had to learn different types of sanitation. Some chemicals will hurt your skin, and you need to know which cleaners to use where.
“It shows me how dirty it is around the school because it’s a lot more dusty than people actually think,” Hirst said.
Hirst is on the job four days a week, Monday through Thursday, from 3:45 to 8:45 p.m. Being a student all day and becoming a custodian all evening isn’t the worst thing for Hirst. He enjoys taking his time when he cleans while listening to music.
Senior Daelynn Keller is the third hire. She works at Delta Middle School, Monday to Thursday, from 4 to 9 p.m.
“I need to better manage my time and just balance homework and work at the same time,” Keller said. “I’ve been working on homework more during school and in the mornings rather than at night.”
Picking up trash in every classroom, cleaning the glass and sweeping in the entryways, and changing the trash, toilet paper, soap and paper towels in the bathrooms are all things that Keller does while on the clock at the middle school.
One of Keller’s hobbies is jewelry making. She is in Ms. Fuller’s jewelry class, and she is trying to save up for a welder to make her jewelry more permanent. She wants to make and sell permanent jewelry once she gets the welder.
This is Keller’s first job. She said she enjoyed the experience of going through an interview and submitting an application.
This job opportunity wouldn’t have been possible without their boss, head custodian Mrs. Lisa Baker.
Baker has been shorthanded with custodial staff this year, so creating this position for students has taken some weight off of her full-time custodians’ shoulders.
She believed that getting students involved would be a great idea because some students have never had a job or experienced going through an interview.
About 20 students applied for the job. She interviewed everyone to give them an equal chance. The qualities she was looking for in the applicants were someone outgoing, reliable, confident and hard working.
This year is their trial period. If all goes well, Baker will reassess with the school board and possibly continue the program.
“We’ve got a lot of eyes watching,” Baker said. “You never know when the school board is coming through, or when the superintendent is coming through.”
Since she has had more people working for her, Baker gets to do more of her detail work. This work consists of the little things that you don’t think about, like cleaning the tracks of the elevator. If the tracks are not clean, the doors will not shut, and then you don’t have a working elevator.
She also assigns some of her detail work to her student custodians. Cleaning the baseboards and high-traffic areas, removing marks on the walls, clearing cobwebs, and removing dead bugs in the lights are all things that can be accomplished now that she’s got a little extra help.
“When you have a big monster building like this, if you don’t stay up on it, it’ll run away from you real quick,” Baker said.
Baker said it is difficult to find full-time custodians because many people do not want to work anymore.
“Back in the day, if (a custodian) could work in a school, that is where you wanted to be; it was really good to get into a school system,” Baker said. “Let’s face it, it’s not a glamorous job, but it’s an important job and somebody’s got to do it.”
