Local schools have few maintenance issues

By Jennifer Higgs

Recent published reports have questioned the cleanliness of Ottawa schools, but according to parents there appears to be few problems in Centretown.

Susan Derby, a member of the school council at Centennial Public School, says there have not been any custodial problems during the seven years she has been involved.

She says the custodians have a lot of work to do, but “they are doing a great job.”

At Glashan Intermediate School, council co-chair Louise Green says the conditions are very clean.

She says there has not been cleanliness issues and parts of the school were painted this summer.

Lisgar school council co-chair Bob Irvine also says the cleaning and maintenance of the school is very good.

Andrew Horwood, president of the union representing plant support staff at the Ottawa Carleton District School Board, says custodial staff is half of what it was 10 years ago.

Provincial education budget changes in the late 1990s caused deep cuts to custodial and maintenance staff.

However, Joan Spice, Centretown’s school trustee, says many schools showed improvements over the summer.

“I’ve noticed a big improvement over the last four years,” she said. In the last three years she says she has had no complaints about the condition of schools.

“For the first time last year we didn’t have to cut any programs or services for students,” Spice says.

“Things are not perfect, but they’re looking very good.”

In July, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board increased funding, adding the equivalent of 9.2 full-time positions.

For Cambridge Street Public School it means adding 75 minutes to the night custodian’s shift starts this week, says chief custodian Michael Kirk.

He says this should help the custodians be able to do more, but he would still like to see a full-time custodian working at night.

Under the old workload, Ottawa school custodians could clean tables and floors each night, dust every other night and buff floors bi-weekly.

“What I’ve been told is the custodians are lucky if they get to the desks twice a week to wash and same with the floors,” Horwood says.

He says the problem is the school board uses an industry standard for cleanliness, the same used in offices and apartment buildings.

He says this level is too low for schools.

“This is where our school board has missed the boat,” he says.

Horwood adds there is a need for more custodians and cleaner schools, but they are still safe.

“I cannot believe how clean the schools are considering how many staff that we have assigned to each school.”

The union estimates the average workload per custodian is the same as cleaning 20 condominiums in a night.

Horwood says custodians may be cleaning for 250 to 600 students.

He says the increase in hours is not enough and there is a need to hire more custodians.

David Moen, vice-chair of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, says cleanliness, safe access, and removal of dangerous objects is a top priority at the schools.

Moen says things are not at the standards they would like but the only issue is aesthetics.

Moen says there is not always fresh paint on the walls, but “we don’t compromise on things that directly affect health and safety.”

For custodians like Michael Kirk, even a few more hours to clean may make a difference to keep the schools in good condition.

“There’s really not enough time to do all the extras that we’d like to do,” he says.

“I don’t have time to do any extra painting that the school needs or polishing the floor… I’m go, go, go, all the time, trying to keep up.”