The Schools’ Heroic Custodians

To the Editor:

Last summer we had the experience of working as custodians at Newtown Middle School. During that time we learned about the challenges of school facility maintenance and cleaning from the inside out. This had a major impact on us because we normally serve as teachers at the same school.

The purpose of this letter is offer support for the custodial staff at our school and to recognize the leadership. In particular, Kevin Anzellotti and Don Roos have inspired both of us with their extreme dedication to students and staff. They have overcome overwhelming difficulties with an aging facility to create a clean attractive environment for students. The public needs to be aware that budget cutbacks seriously impact facility management. The informed reader must also know that this directly affects the quality of education for students. Kevin and Don have covered the errors of poor public funding by working with antiquated equipment and limited staff to achieve monumental results. They have shown great courage in efforts to maintain accountability and quality control. As a result, the people remaining under their direction have met the same criteria of excellence.

We hope that after reading this opinion letter that parents and community members will express their appreciation for the direct role custodians play in quality education for students at the middle school. We implore readers to support custodians like Kevin and Don in tangible ways including letters of recognition and school budgetary support.

Don Ramsey

Will Ryan

NMS Teachers

3 Prospect Drive, Newtown                                     November 7, 2006