The custodial team at Shadow Ridge plays an essential role in maintaining the campus, often tackling one of the most challenging jobs at the school. From cleaning up after students who neglect to throw away their trash to ensuring the building’s systems run smoothly, they often manage it with a smile on their faces.
Alonso Osorio-Kalawe, the daytime custodial lead, begins his day with a thorough check-up of the school’s main systems.
“Typically, my day starts with ensuring that the major systems that control the building’s AC/heat, electricity, and water function properly. Then, I will usually complete requests from teachers and staff, including replacing spent light bulbs, fixing minor plumbing issues, and other building/classroom maintenance or cleaning issues,” Osorio-Kalawe explained. “Once lunches start, I sweep the quad and clean after some of our messier students. At the end of the day, I will usually talk to school leaders about custodial or building issues and use that time to stay updated on what’s going on at the school. Before I leave, I will check in with our Custodial Lead, Steve, to coordinate night crew duties and responsibilities.”
Maintaining a clean and functional school is no small feat, and the custodial team at Shadow Ridge faces challenges that go beyond the surface. One of these challenges is maintaining the restrooms, which require constant attention.
“The most challenging part of my job is dealing with the restrooms when they are heavily graffitied or toilets that are intentionally stuffed with food and other various objects,” Micheal Herbert, a custodian at Shadow stated. “I think I do a particularly good on the restrooms and I am keenly aware of how important keeping them in good conditions for the health of students and staff alike.”
Despite these challenges, Osorio-Kalawe emphasized the importance of teamwork and the collective effort required to keep the school running smoothly. However, he also noted that the actions of some students make the job much more difficult than it should be.
“Honestly, my job is very easy because I get a lot of support from our awesome leadership team, my custodial team, teachers, and staff. Without all of their support, my job would be very difficult,” Osorio-Kalawe said. “However, the most challenging aspect of the job has to be cleaning after students who either throw or intentionally drop food or trash on the floor out of amusement. My custodial team and I get paid to maintain the school from regular usage, not to clean up after students who purposefully dirty or abuse our school. If every student chipped in and cleaned up after themselves, Shadow would be a better place.”
Although a lot of their time is spent ensuring Shadow Ridge stays a clean and functional environment, custodians like Osorio-Kalawe and Herbert lead exciting personal lives outside of work. Balancing demanding school duties with family responsibilities and personal hobbies might surprise some who don’t know them all that well.
“I have a couple of unusual hobbies including dungeon mastering Dungeons and Dragons campaigns and building and painting miniatures,” Herbert said.
Along with his many hobbies, he also has a wife who he adores and is no stranger to the Mustang pride at Shadow Ridge.
“I started working here right after the first lockdown in May 2020. My mom worked at Shadow when I went to school here from 2010-2013 and the school and school district seemed like a great place to start a career,” Herbert stated.
Osorio-Kawale also has many hobbies, two geckos, and a family for him to come home to.
“I have a lot of hobbies and skills. What can I say? I am a talented person. Jokes aside, I do a lot when I go home from work. It is almost like I live double lives. One thing that might surprise people is that I own two leopard geckos, Terra and Reyna,” Osorio-Kawale said. “Then again, for people who know me, that probably will not surprise them at all. Leos is the way to go for anyone who wants a beautiful, easy pet. I have had Terra for at least seven years and Reyna for about six years. I value my time at home with my wife and family and do not take this precious time for granted.”
Shadow Ridge custodians are the hearts and souls of the halls and often have some of the biggest hearts of them all. With that being said, Osorio-Kawale dreams of being a special education teacher and is currently working on that goal right now.
“Since January, I have been taking classes to become a special education teacher at Shadow. I am currently student teaching in a Resource Classroom (shoutout to all my awesome kids) and am hoping to be fully licensed and able to teach my classroom by the beginning of next school year,” Osorio-Kawale states. “For this, I would also like to thank school leadership and, especially, Mrs. Kannon, Mr. MeGown, Ms. Rush, and Mrs. Lynn (my mentor teacher) for all their support and guidance since I started this program. The program I am in provides a pathway to licensure for support staff and has been truly a blessing for me as I get closer and closer to becoming a classroom teacher.
