As seen in The St. Cloud Times, Minn. 

The hallway lights softly reflect off the gleaming floors of the Sartell school district's administration building. The floors shine despite their many years of use and the hundreds of feet that cross them each day.

And they represent 2½ months of stripping and polishing for Randy Thompson, the building's custodian.

"A lot of people don't realize that custodians don't just clean anymore," said Brian Johnson. Johnson is the building and grounds supervisor and has worked in the Sartell-St. Stephen school district for 25 years. "The old saying used to be, if I can't do anything else, I can always be a janitor. That's not true anymore."

Today's school custodians are trained in a multitude of areas. Bio-hazard cleanup, chemical safety, electrical safety, indoor air quality, and playground inspection and safety are just a few areas they are expected to be knowledgeable in.

Daily tasks include maintaining building security, minor repairs, equipment maintenance, furniture moving and receiving deliveries.

"For people to understand what they contribute, they need to put it into a different perspective," Johnson said. "If we had to replace all of our buildings because they fell into disrepair, it would cost over $80 million just to replace the infrastructure. Protecting that investment is what the custodial staff has on their plate."

To succeed, custodial staffs need to be detail oriented, able to multitask and willing to adapt to change.

"Custodians are some of the school's unsung heroes," said Mike Spanier, principal at Sartell Middle School. "We can't open the doors without them."

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