On the Job: Fruitland Intermediate Custodian

Inside the walls of any given school you will fund unsung heroes. From teachers to administrators, to those working in the kitchen and perhaps especially, the custodial workers. This week on the job 47 ABC visited Fruitland Intermediate to see what a day in the life of one is really like.

Dwaine Shrieves is the building service manager at Fruitland Intermeidate and he’s been working there for 4 years. Our first job,applying chair feet. These are made of rubber and felt and meant to go over the bottom of the metal chairs so they don’t scratch the floors. Dwaine says he does every chair in the school.

Next it was time to move on to our next job, sanitizing door handles. This requires spraying sanitizer on a rag and wiping each one down! After that was complete, we had to go around and do what Dwaine calls a smell test in the bathrooms. This means walking into each one to smell for anything bad.

Moving on to bathrooms in classrooms, Dwaine says for the boys bathroom he not only has to wash the toilets but the walls as well. But he says no matter what the job throws at him, even if it’s a dirty bathroom, he does it for the staff.

Next up, sweeping the hallways with a giant broom. And it’s not as easy as it looks! Dwaine says the secret is to be relaxed. After that is all done, you have to shake it off outside.

Another job Dwaine does, is supervise lunch. Before the first round of kids come in you have to make sure your garbage cans are set out and then Dwaine says you wait for the mess!

Fruitland Intermediate offers small dust pans and brooms for kids to have the option to help clean up after they’ve eaten. While it’s not mandatory, kids seemed to enjoy it. Finally our job was done.

Next week on the job 47 ABC heads to Minuteman Press in Salisbury to see what goes on behind the scenes in their print shop.