School Janitors Struggle To Keep Campuses Clean

School janitors in Miami-Dade are struggling to keep buildings clean as budget cuts and the loss of students to charter schools have led to reductions in custodial staff, according to an article on the Miami- Herald website.

At a recent School Board meeting, janitors and union representatives said custodians are unable to keep up with the cleaning demands at the county’s schools. They urged the school district to hire more janitors and reevaluate how custodians are assigned to schools.

“All we need is some help, please. We’re burning out. The custodians are burning out, they’re calling out. They don’t want to come to work because they’re by themselves,” said Helen Huls, a custodian and vice president for the AFSCME Local 1184 union, which represents Miami-Dade school custodians.

A school’s square footage used to be the main factor in determining the number of janitors, according to the article. But under the current formula, the number of students is a key factor, meaning that some schools that have lost students to charters now have fewer janitors to clean the same square footage.

Read the full article here.