Custodians understaffed at school district, union says

Martha Jauregui and district faculty express concerns about the staffing levels of custodians in district high schools to the NLMUSD board of education on Monday. (Photo by Vincent Medina)

NORWALK - Faculty from the Norwalk La Mirada Unified School District expressed their frustration over staffing shortages at district high schools during the board of education meeting on Monday.

Martha Jauregui, president of the Norwalk-La Mirada chapter of the California School Employees Association (CSEA), and several district faculty members expressed concerns about the staffing levels of custodians in district high schools.

She explained John Glenn High School removed two full-time custodial positions, and La Mirada and Norwalk High School also removed one full-time position. The CSEA chapter president emphasized the need for additional full-time custodian positions to address the workload adequately.

“[John Glenn] has three night custodians, and on Aug. 18, they had a dance, three volleyball games and a football game,” Jauregui said. “Three custodians are not going to clean that stadium with all those events, on top of maintaining and cleaning all classrooms, the MPR, gym and the office.”

She expressed that custodians were asked to work overtime after significant events to assist with clean-up. Jaurgui called on the district to hire additional full-time position custodians needed to fulfill the needs of the high schools.

Robert Lopez is a full-time custodian in the district and expressed the need for additional assistance at La Mirada High School during the construction of the athletic facilities.

“We had been told that after the construction was finished the need for an additional full-time custodian would be reevaluated,” Lopez said. “The evaluation is not necessary, having to share custodians between different high schools is unfair and unreasonable.”

Jauregui also voiced concerns about the shortage of transportation staff and inadequate support for bus drivers. She revealed that despite the challenging conditions, some drivers were working without access to basic amenities such as water, and no protective tarps had been provided to shield them from the heat while washing buses.

“Today it was hot and tomorrow it’ll be hot again. Are you [the board of education] going to be over there in the heat washing these buses? I don’t think so,” Jauregui said.” So why don’t we take care of our bus drivers? I have my concern and I’m bringing it to your attention again, because I have to take care of the well-being of our membership.”

In a statement, NLMUSD superintendent John Lopez wrote, “The district does not comment publicly on personnel matters. The district monitors the staffing needs at all of our school sites and makes adjustments when necessary, based on data and need.”