Hannah Oswalt
It’s 11:30 a.m. You rush to the lunchroom, so excited for chicken finger Tuesday, starving because you missed breakfast. You arrive in the cafeteria only to slip and fall in chocolate milk someone spilled, that’s now all over your brand new pair of jeans. You get up and get in line for your food to hear the lunch lady apologize, because they aren’t able to serve anyone right now because they’re out of clean trays. You look to your left and see that all the tables are covered with dirty trays. Your stomach is ready to eat itself and, almost in tears, you ask the lunch lady, “where is our custodian???”
A custodian is a job that affects everything we do, but is easily overlooked until it isn’t being done. This week’s hero is Connie Kling, the custodian at Jefferson Heights Elementary school. Connie has been a custodian for Sapulpa Public Schools for 22 years, seven of which have been at Jefferson Heights. When asked what her favorite part about her job is, she said, “Seeing the kids grow, they come back from the summer and they’re so different. A lot of them got [sic] a lot of respect and good manners.”
Connie describes her typical day, saying, “Well, usually you come in, you have your usual run you gotta do clean the offices, the gym…and you’re on call. And, you know, sometimes the bathroom gets messed up. Sometimes somebody gets sick. So you’re on call, and then you’re in the lunchroom the whole time.” Connie explained that, since COVID, lunch runs from 11 a.m. to about 2 p.m.
The hardest part of her job, says Connie, is that, “It‘s just kind of stressful when everybody’s wanting something at once. But it’s kind of rewarding. I like the summer work because you can come in here and you get everything picked up and you scrub it and wax it and then you’re so proud of it, it just looks so good. Yeah now it’s not really too bad at all. I can’t really think of anything bad. Except maybe when they do a lot of writing stuff in the bathroom.”
The school secretary, Carla Baghestani, said that Connie is, “a very sweet, very kind person. She will help you do anything and she will even go outside of her job duties to help you, like you know, put things together or hanging things up… she’s awesome in that respect.” She went on to say that, “She’s very good with the kids, very helpful with them. If they have any problems, any issues, any cleanups needs done, she’s always very kind about it. Very sweet. Doesn’t make them feel guilty, you know? She does a great job, great job of cleaning and picking up. She’s great.”
A fifth-grade student named Jessi Walrath had this to say about Connie: “Miss Connie is a very nice person in this school because she helps everybody. Almost everybody in the school knows her because of what she does for the school, and we love her and thank her for everything she does. She is nice to everybody and says kind things every day. She makes sure everybody gets what they need, makes sure everybody’s in the right line and she picks up our trash. And does so many things for the school and we thank her so much for it.”
Connie is currently 65 and is hoping to retire by 66. When she does retire, she will definitely be missed!
If you know someone you would like to recommend as a community hero, email us at heroes@sapulpatimes.com.
