In May 2024 HISD proposed a new budget that would implement a cut of $500 million. This plan led to cutbacks in many areas, including new hires, laptops, supplies, and staff, including many custodians.
The firing of custodians from large high schools in HISD, such as Lamar and Bellaire High School, resulted in the redistribution of custodians throughout HISD. Two of the custodians on the CVHS custodial staff were transferred to different schools, reducing the already small number of custodians on campus to only four.
CVHS is now left with a ratio of roughly 855 students to four custodians. An already decreased staff is now given a bigger workload with one-third of their team having been transferred. The small size of this team is becoming increasingly noticeable to the student population at CVHS.
Upstream News conducted a survey asking students questions about the litter around campus, including whether they noticed a difference in cleanliness due to the smaller custodial staff. 72.4% of students surveyed said they noticed a difference, demonstrating the decline in the cleanliness of school grounds.
Custodians Joseph Rodriguez and Michael Horn explain that more trash is found around campus during the beginning of the school year.
“We have to remind the students to keep picking up their trash at the beginning of the year, they sure do come in and leave plenty of trash for us,” said Rodriguez.
The already small custodial staff has had to work harder to keep the campus clean. Rodriguez says that he feels “stressed and tired” because of the work he does, with those feelings only intensifying by the increase of litter as school starts up.
50% of surveyed students said that they litter in general, and 23% of all students surveyed claimed that they litter daily. Half the student body is leaving trash around campus that custodians have to pick up, and only four people are cleaning up the trash of about 400 students. Of the other 50% of students who said they do not litter at all, most said they don’t make an effort to pick up after other people.
The custodians hope to send a message to the students.
“I think it would be a little bit easier if some of the kids would take a little bit more pride in their school and the place that they spend most of their time,” Horn said.
In the future, CVHS hopes to have a cleaner environment throughout the school as shown by morning announcements offering students an extended lunch as a reward for a cleaner campus.
“Just keep reminding students to keep throwing away their trash, ” Rodriguez said.
