The dirt on the custodian shortage

The shortage of custodians in the high school and middle school continues to trouble the district, according to Director of Secondary Education Dr. Brian Ulmer.

As of November, there are two full-time and two part-time custodial positions open in the building. Including the open positions, Dr. Ulmer said there are six full-time custodial positions in the high school and three full-time positions in the middle school.

He added that over the past year there have been two resignations and one retirement from Milton’s custodial staff. According to the November school board agenda (section 5.1.4), a custodian resigned effective Oct. 16; the custodian worked for the school for one month before resigning.

The November school board agenda (section 5.7.2) also stated that the school has hired a second shift custodian, effective Nov. 20.

Dr. Ulmer said the school district posted ads in the newspaper, a notice on the board by the road at the front of the school and ads on CareerLink. He said the district tried to make agreements with four different companies to bring in custodians as needed. That attempt was unsuccessful because “those companies were also having staffing issues and were not able to take on more work,” he explained. According to Ms. Carolyn Yordy, head custodian, the school has not tried job-sharing with other schools. Job-sharing is when one person works for two schools, this would help complete tasks in both. She also said that the school does not pay for the required background check, which may hinder the hiring the process.

The school has been calling in substitutes and is offering custodians overtime to keep the school clean, Dr. Ulmer said. He added the current custodians have stayed a couple extra hours a week to compensate for the shortage.

Dr. Ulmer said students can help make the process easier and quicker by putting chairs on top of desks at the end of the day so the custodians can clean the floors, then take the chairs down and clean the tables. He added that the school district created a schedule so rooms would get cleaned two out of every three days.

Dr. Ulmer said a salary study was also done to see if the hourly rate for custodians at Milton was comparable to the rates at other schools. He added the results showed that it was comparable.

Students can apply for a part time position, he added, which is a “job kids can do right after school.” Dr. Ulmer said the hours are flexible; students can say what days they will work and since no one cleans the school on weekends, they would have the weekends off. He added it could be a convenient opportunity for some because it would eliminate transportation issues.

Dr. Ulmer said working as a full-time custodian includes benefits. He said the school guarantees a retirement plan, and if the custodian is in the job long enough, then they will have the same benefits as teachers. He added that they get health insurance through the school with $15 out of every paycheck going toward it. Ms. Yordy said that custodians have similar benefits to teachers.

He said he conducted an interview for a full-time position near the end of October.