Evening star., 1920-05-02
DUTIES OF jAN|TOR
IN SCHOOLS VARIED
"Jack of All Trades" Applies
to Men Who Are Seeking
Raise in Salary.

Special policeman. fireman. gardener.
messenger. painter, mechanic and clean
Or of virtually anything and everything.
These are merely few of the varied
duties which come in the scope of an
employe of the District public school
system classified as CANTOR
A school official recently made an ef
fort to compile the duties of a school
aanitor for the purpose of submitting
statistics to members of Congress in an
effort to obtain decent living wage
for the custodian force Finally. after
hours of study, ne reached the conclu-
sion that a school janitor must be
':jack of all trades" And this defini-
zion is the best thus far advanced
Working from ten to eighteen hours a
day, under ALI kinds Of conditions. the
Janitors are rewarded with a salary of
s72O a year. plus the government bonus
of $240. They were recommended in
the board of education's emergency in
crease pay bill for a so per cent in
crease hut Congress totally ignored
this provision. They also were over
looked in the recent District appropria-
tion bill. and now have taken concerted
action to have 1t amended SO as to be
granted the desired increase.
Long Hours for Janitors.
During the winter in the I'VE snla'"
hours, sometimes as early as 3 am.
the school janitors report for duty at
the buildings to get them heated around
20 degrees Farenheit before the teach
that time until late in the evening the
5anitors always are on the job
While busy cleaning throughout the
day. they are interrupted many times
by complaining teachers-sometimes
it's too much heat in a certain room
and again it's too cold.' Then. dur
Ing recesses. they have to drop their
mops to keep some mischievous boy
from snowba11lng pedestrian or keep
the girls from playing in the street
teacher will want a janitor to do her
a small favor"
In the spring and fall. when the
teachers and children plant bulbs and
seeds for their school gardens. the
5anitor is called upon to supervise the
work. He lays out the plans. and in
some instances does all the work con-
nected with the planting Of the seeds
or bulbs except the actual planting.
This. of course. is done by the teach
on the garden Is not finished there
he has to watch the flowers bloom.
water them when Jupiter Pluvius"
fails. and last but not least, keep out
the ever-growing weeds.
Jack OF All Trades"
occasionally CLOCK IN one OF the
clasrooms will go on strike. Imme-
diately the janitor is called on the
job If his knowledge Of the me-
chanical makeup of a timepiece is
vague and his persistent coaxing fails
to restore 1t to running order. legit-
innate clock mechanic is ultimately
put on the job. But this is very sell
dom. For in most cases recently,
when a clock failed TO work the jan
ftor was successful in putting it in
order.
With their nultifarious duties and
low pay, many Of the janitors have
remained loyal to the school service.
hopeful from day to day that Con-
Gress would realize their need for
increased wages and grant 1t. Some.
however. after year or more of pa
tient waiting. lost all hope and Sc
cured more lucrative positions in the
government service and others re-
turned to the farm. whence many of
the members Of the custodian force
Of the schools had left for city life.
Recently the janitorial. force made
plans for q wholesale walkout to i'm
press on Congress the dire need for
financial relief. After CAREFUL copsid-
Grafton, and With promises from sew
eral members OF Congress and school
officials that they would do AL In their
power to obtain q substantial Increase
in pay for them. the janitors voted
to remain on their jobs throughout
the summer.