Concerns rise as campus appearance deteriorates

A courtyard marked by leftover food, recycling bins unused, and unwanted wrappers being blown along the ground like tumbleweeds. These have become a common sights around campus over the last school year.

The campus custodial staff has had a difficult time maintaining the campus’ appearance this year because of regular staff shortages and a 5-month gap without an official head custodian. The previous head custodian resigned in late October.

“Seeing as I’ve been to a lot of different schools, this school doesn’t look nearly as good as it should, I’ve seen worse but I’ve definitely seen better,” sophomore Annie Ricotta said.

The decline in appearances was noted in a recently released campus-wide staff and faculty survey in which respondents who said the campus was “clean and well maintained” dropped from 93 percent last year to 87 percent this year.

Associate Principal Manuel Garcia explained the housekeeping situation to staff in an e-mail to the campus in early March.

“Our existing crew has done the very best they can. It may be a little challenging in the next few weeks as we transition with a new head custodian and a new assistant,” Garcia wrote in the e-mail.

New head custodian Johanna Correa started her new job at Akins in late March after working as the assistant head custodian at Austin High School. Despite the challenges of improving the campus appearance Correa said she is excited to take on the job.

“I’m just excited to have my own school so I can take care of it, and I can do everything I’ve been learning through the years (at Austin High),” Correa said.

Correa said she is aware that there are some students who have not been properly disposing of their food waste after lunch and otherwise leaving the campus messy. Currently, the custodians spend (estimate) minutes picking up trash in the courtyard every day.

“We’re here to provide a good clean environment for you guys, and it starts with the students,” she said. “I guess when they see how hard we work, I hope they learn to pick up after themselves, and keep the campus clean and not abuse it.”

Some teachers and coaches have started taking students out to the courtyard to pick up trash and clean the school to do their part. JROTC students and athletes from various teams are a few examples of students who have helped pick up the litter.

Cadet Jade said they hope their efforts do not go unnoticed and hope they will inspire other students to help keep the school clean, one empty water bottle at a time.

SEL teachers who teach freshmen are also hoping to reset the campus culture in terms of teaching students to take responsibility for the campus’ appearance.

“I think it’s important for older students to teach freshmen the proper reasoning to keep their environment,” SEL teacher Anthony Bromberg said. “I think it’d be great to bring back some of the old community service programs like the Green Teens to give a good impression.”

Campus administrators said they plan to work toward raising expectations for student behavior regarding campus upkeep. Assistant principal Bill Creel said it helps the whole campus if students take ownership of the appearance of the school.

“This is their school, this is their second home,” Creel said, “They don’t throw their trash in their yard or in their home so why would they do it here. Anything students can do to contribute would be great, students in clubs or athletics or ROTC would be great to take initiative and model or set an example for the other students.”