When people talk about how many education workers there are in the United States, I can’t help but picture the faces behind that number—the ones who make schools feel like home. It’s easy to think of education as teachers and students, but that’s only part of the story. Every school day begins and ends with a whole village of people whose work makes learning possible.
There’s the bus driver who greets sleepy-eyed students with a cheerful “Good morning!” and somehow remembers who prefers the front seat and who needs a little extra encouragement to start the day. There’s the cafeteria team who knows every child’s favorite meal, slipping an extra roll or a smile across the counter when it’s been “one of those days.” There are the office staff, paraprofessionals, and counselors who listen, guide, and quietly hold everything—and everyone—together.
However, one group I wish more people would talk about is our custodians. They carry the keys to the entire school, and in many ways, they also have the heartbeat of it.
Recently, I sat down with Mr. Leroy, a custodian in a small Mississippi school, who’s been “keeping things running,” as he puts it, for more than twenty years. He’s the kind of person every teacher hopes to have in their building—steady, kind, and always two steps ahead of what everyone needs.
I asked him what people often misunderstand about his job. He leaned back, smiled, and said, “Most folks think we just sweep floors. But we’re here for these kids just like y’all are. They see us every day. They talk to us. Sometimes they’ll tell me things they’re scared to tell anybody else.”
He told me about a student who used to stop by every morning just to say hello. “He’d wander in early, pretending he just happened to be passing through,” Mr. Leroy said with a laugh. “But I knew he just needed a safe place to start his day. After a while, he began to open up. That’s when you realize—it ain’t just about mops and buckets. It’s about being someone these kids can count on.”
When I asked him what keeps him going after so many years, his answer was simple:
“Seeing them grow up. Knowing I was part of their story, even if it was just a small part. That’s enough for me.”
As an educator and a parent, I see this teamwork in motion every single day. When the copier breaks five minutes before class, when a child spills milk, when a storm knocks out half the hallway lights—custodians like Mr. Leroy are already there, quietly solving problems before most of us know they’ve happened.
It truly takes a village to educate a child. And that village includes people whose names may never appear in a report or headline, yet their presence keeps schools warm, safe, and steady.
When we talk about “education workers,” we should picture them all—the bus drivers, cafeteria teams, counselors, front-office staff, paraprofessionals, teachers, and yes, incredible custodians like Mr. Leroy.
Because schools don’t run on numbers.
They run on people.
And every single one of them matters.
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Meredith Biesinger is a licensed dyslexia therapist, in addition to being an experienced classroom teacher and K-12 administrator. Meredith also works as a consultant, where she bridges the bridge the gap between K-12 school districts and ed-tech organizations. With a passion for literacy, she is also a professional writer and syndicated author. With a M.Ed in Educational Leadership and a B.S. in English Education and Creative Writing, she has had rich and diverse opportunities to teach students and education professionals in different parts of the country as well as overseas.
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