Wonkitorial Comment: The Unkindest Cuts Of All

A good school custodian is a jewel that is beyond price:

Maintaining a safe school takes many vigilant actions. Not only do teachers and principals have to be ever watchful, an important ingredient in school safety is school custodial and maintenance staff.

These vital workers protect the schools in many ways.

By ensuring a clean environment, they help stop the spread of disease and help maintain a safe place for children.

By being another pair of eyes in hallways and in the classroom, they can help monitor school visitors, children's activities and other actions.

Clean, safe and accessible schools are a key to a good learning environment for children. School custodial and maintenance staff are a critical part of that effort.

The above missive was written by Illinois labor activist David Penn, who was writing to his local newspaper in order to express his concern over a local school board's proposal to lay-off school custodians (who are members of his union) in his school district.

The funny thing is, a large number of school districts often appear all-too-eager to get rid of relatively low-paid school support staff who actually work with and around students while those same districts seem to go out of their way to protect hordes of relatively higher-paid administrators (who rarely leave their office suites, much less deign to interact with actual students) in their positions sinecures.

A sad commentary on our EduTimes.. --------------------------------See our latest EduPosts.