I was sitting here at my computer and noticed a grandmother and her grand kids looking at something in my yard. I grabbed my camera and walked out the back patio. Here’s the visitor:
He/She has a shell that is about a foot long. S/he saw me as I got closer to take a look. Check out those fingernails!
There are 4 student contact days left. Graduation is on Monday. But the big indicator that end is coming… Locker Clean-out. Yesterday was the big day. It’s a big day for me, because I’m the locker manager. I’m the one that cleans them out and changes all of the combinations. It sounds like a big job, but I learned well from the previous locker manager.
This was my first year by myself. I used to share the job with another colleague. I was a bit nervous because I was on my own this time. But I really had no reason to fret. Each year, I’ve learned something new to speed up the process and make it more efficient. The last few years we’ve had locker clean-out at the end of the day and have students leave the lockers open when they go.
The big key to tackle this job is to hire help. This year I hired six kids to help me. I try to get a few sophomores each year so that they can do it the next year and already know the process. I sent three kids with keys around to open the lockers that weren’t already. The rest of us went to the loading dock to get dollies and big barrel trash cans on wheels. We separate trash from clothing. At the end of the job there is a huge mountain of clothing, shoes and backpacks. It will get sent to Goodwill after school is out.
Since there are about 2000 lockers, this is no small task. For the most part, a lot of them were already empty. We started at 2pm and were done emptying the lockers by 4pm. At 3pm I had two of my workers start changing combinations on the second floor while I changed the band area lockers. At 4pm I got out my cash and paid my first four. I did the bulk of the first floor by myself and headed to the basement while M & B finished the rest of first floor.
When M & B were done with first floor, they came down to the basement and finished off the last bank with me. Usually when we do this we shut the lockers as we change the combinations. This time they left them open. When they finished, M went to the end of the row and ran passed all the lockers, shutting them in a big domino effect. I bet M was wanting to do that the whole time! It was a fitting end to the job. At that point it was only 5:30pm.
The first year I did this job, I think we didn’t finish until at least 9pm. Each year, me and my partner got smarter and better at it. I think last year we finished about 6pm. I was pretty impressed that me and my crew finished in record time. M is my teacher’s aide, so M will be checking a bunch of combos this week to make sure that they changed to correct one. But all in all, it was a success!
The best part will come Monday morning when I see kids trying to get into their old lockers. Why do I get a little sinister chuckle thinking about that? Heh heh heh…
