School custodians hard at work to ensure students return to clean classrooms

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) - While kids and parents are back-to-school shopping, the custodians are hard at work prepping for a fresh start to a new school year.

We’re getting an inside look at what’s being done before the first day of school.

The custodians spent their summer cleaning up the building and getting it ready for another school year, but the hard work put in over the past few months is much more than meets the eye.

“The whole summer. No breaks, except on Fridays. It’s just that much that we have to do to get the school ready to for the staff and the kids. During the summer, we have a lot of things that we have to do, we’re cleaning the school from top to bottom,” said Sandra Cobb, a custodian at Belville Elementary School.

Sandra Cobb and Tony Dixie have been cleaning Belville Elementary School all summer long. Everything from bathrooms to waxing every inch of the floors. A job made even more difficult since the pandemic.

“It’s a little bit more work for us to do during the summer than during school time in normal work hours. We do regular stuff, you know other work,” said Tony Dixie, a custodian at Belville Elementary School.

For them, the hard work pays off when the students’ smiling faces walk into a clean building on the first day of school.

“I’m very excited I get to see so many kids. They know me and I’ll see them basically everywhere I go. I see them everywhere and they’ll be so happy to see me and I’m happy to see them too,” said Dixie.

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