Next to the student store, at the far end of the building, sits a door that opens up to the office of Carlos Guzman. An office of a smaller size, but equally utilized is surrounded by walls with posters that leadership students made for him and a large sign that the district gave him thanking him for his hard work. Guzman is the lead custodian at PRHS, and he is in charge of keeping the classrooms and the campus clean. Armed with his golf cart, Guzman travels around the school to get to the places that need cleaning. He is a person that many teachers and staff at campus rely on for the purifications of the classrooms.
Guzman, in his 19th year of custodial duties, is a praised employee and asset here at Paso Robles High School. In 2024, Guzman won Employee of the Year which is a long process and out of all the other nominees he was unanimously chosen by the staff and teachers. Guzman is in charge of the 10 custodians that tidy up the school. He has to spend part of his day on the computer reading and answering calls from the staff at PRHS. The teachers, admin, and security inform Guzman of any vandalism cases, broken materials, or anything that needs cleaning.. Custodians at PRHS are only responsible for cleaning classrooms, picking trash up from the bins, and cleaning the restrooms, but when students don’t do their responsibility of picking up their trash, custodians have to do extra work.
“Picking up trash is part of our routine but should not be taking most of our time so we can touch up restrooms and other things during the day. Disinfecting during the school day helps the restrooms be more secure and cleaner on a regular basis,” Guzman said.
There are two types of custodians, a day custodian and a night custodian. The responsibilities of a day custodian are the ones listed above. However, a night custodian is in charge of disinfecting classrooms, vacuuming, and making sure everything is clean and ready for students the next day.
Guzman has been keeping buildings and grounds clean for 19 years, he's worked for the Cambria district, Cal Poly, Valley College, LAUSD district, and for the William S. Hart district. Guzman enjoys working for the high school. This position has offered him responsibilities such as being the lead custodian and working with 10 employees that put in just as much hard work as he does.
“I like what I do here, I don’t regret anything. I like helping the teachers and students. I have a good time,” Guzman said.
Guzman has two daughters that attend school in Atascadero and in his free time, he likes to coach his oldest daughter in soccer. Guzman believes that the bigger issue for custodians is vandalism.
“Back in my day, student’s didn’t do graffiti. There are free art classes that students can take if they want to draw,” Guzman said. However, as many know the rise of trash and vandalism has been a problem for custodians and staff. According to Dance & Leadership teacher, Jennifer Bedrosian, the trash has increased by a huge amount in the past four years compared to when she first started 25 years ago. Bedrosian has expressed some frustrations over the amount of trash that Bearcats leave.
“One person said it was the custodian's job and that makes me so disappointed to hear. I bet their family would be disappointed as well. We’re simply asking them to do something that they should know how to do,” said Bedrosian.
But it’s not just teachers in classrooms who have to rely on Guzman and his team. PRHS’ team of custodians always helps clean up after events that take place at campus. Any sport games or Pep Rallies that take place at the campus are always tidied up by them.
Students from almost every grade believe that the custodians have a very demanding job too, and that it’s one that should be respected by fellow Bearcats on campus
Sophomore Elsie Carnevali remarks that, “The trash problem is mild on campus, I always see people who never pick up their trash. It just makes more work for the custodians.”
Junior Naima Bustmante believes that the custodians are not appreciated enough, “People who don’t pick their trash or vandalize aren’t very considerate of the custodians. I don’t think it’s fair to them because that’s not their job. Their job is to specifically clean up the school, not just clean after people,” said Bustamante.
Senior Julissa Rangel thinks that being a custodian is a difficult career, “I just think students need to be more considerate of the hard work that the custodians have to do and students should clean after themselves.
Faculty on campus have decided that if Bearcats do not pick up their trash, they are obligated to be a part of the beautification committee. This committee enforces students to pick up their trash and the trash of others during school time.