During lunch, trash is left on the floors and tables, and next to them are half filled trash cans that seem to be ignored. While many might not see this as a big deal, our school staff and helpers do. They have to clean up our messes all before the next lunch shift and without any of our thanks. Yet, no one thinks twice about the negative impact we are having on those who help keep our school clean. They shouldn’t have to clean up after our little messes as we have a responsibility to tidy up our area when we are done.
When Jeffrey Adam, HHS principal, was asked about the impacts of students discarding their trash on the ground, he explained how appearance wise it simply does not look good, and also how it has a negative affect on our school environment and staff. Everyone has a right to feel proud of their school; however, it becomes difficult to be proud if there is litter throughout the place. Additionally, he mentioned how these actions take a toll on the custodians, who have plenty of work to do and shouldn’t pick up after students who could have more easily thrown it out themselves.
Later in the interview, Mr. Adam was questioned why he might think students consider it acceptable behavior to not pick up their trash. Mr. Adam responded that he himself was equally unsure because he knows families teach students to clean up after themselves, but still students struggle. One misconception is that students believe it’s someone else’s job when in reality it’s not. “We wouldn’t ask someone to clean our room,” Mr. Adam explained, so why should we make someone clean up our trash when it would be much easier for us to do it ourselves.
Hilda Velasco, a member of the HHS custodial staff, was also asked about the trash problem, and she responded saying, “The problem in this school is worthy of attention.” She mentioned how some of the students and teachers don’t try hard enough to maintain a clean area; therefore, this leads to issues like cockroaches and rats coming into the school. Ms. Velasco explained how this is quite harmful to our school environment, and later on when asked about how she and her co workers are affected by students behavior, Ms. Velasco expressed that while they always try their absolute best, she still feels disappointment from student actions: “Some kids don’t have respect for custodians.” Even though the school has trash cans everywhere, some students still can’t be bothered to throw their garbage out, and instead, they leave it on the tables and in the hallways.
So, how do we prevent this? Mr. Adam believed that the best way to prevent students from continuing this behavior was not telling them off but through other students encouragement: “It’s just a reminder to do what people know is the right thing to do anyway.” Mr. Adam continued to explain that this way no one is in trouble, and friends are just helping each other out. Additionally, Ms. Velasco had some notions to prevent students from leaving their trash out. She wants to implement more cleaning protocols, teach students to follow cleaning procedures like recycling, and continue encouraging students to keep a clean environment.
Due to the new schedule change and the two new lunches, trash has been becoming worse in the cafeteria. Some of Ms. Velasco’s ideas were making rules against littering and having a punishment for it like community service, which may prove to be effective because students may understand the difficulty of having to clean up after so many. Additionally, she also mentioned that it would help if teachers educate students more about the importance of “good cleaning behavior,” which would educate students how to clean up properly. Moreover, one of the consequences Mr. Adam proposed was keeping the student back from class in order for them to tidy up their area. He also added that if it continues to be a problem with the same people, then the whole group might have to stay back, or they lose the privilege of getting to sit where they want.
Our custodial and school staff work hard everyday to give us a school and classrooms where we don’t have to worry about rats or cockroaches, and everyday they go unnoticed. Ms. Velasco mentioned that whenever she sees students playing or making a mess with their food, she tries to teach them to be a good human being; however, many don’t listen. At the end of the day, it is our school, and it is our custodial staff staying after school for us: the least we can do is pick up our trash during lunch to do our part.
