LAKEVIEW — Teachers and parents at The Nettelhorst School are sounding the alarm on dirty and unsanitary conditions at the Lakeview elementary school due to a shortage of custodial staff this year.
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After losing one of the school’s three full-time custodians, teachers have had to step in to vacuum and sweep their own classrooms, three parents told Block Club. Meanwhile, hallways and common areas have sometimes gone weeks without being swept or mopped.
Nettelhorst, 3252 N. Broadway, serves 653 students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in its more than 100,000-square-foot building.
Like most elementary schools in the city, Nettelhorst is usually staffed by three full-time custodians, said Chicago Public Schools spokesperson Evan Moore. Industry standards for custodial staffing in CPS schools are based on square footage and task frequency, Moore said.
But before summer break, Nettelhorst’s third custodian was laid off. When teachers arrived to school Aug. 26, they quickly realized that cleaning the entire building was a job too big for just two-full time custodians.