Mopping Up: Most New York City School Custodians Do Really, Really Well

Just a quick hit on this interesting story out of the Big Apple. School custodians actually make a really good living. In fact, a little over 600 of these school staffers earned more than $100,000 a year. One of the main reasons is that schools don’t have enough custodians, which means some work for two schools:

Custodians took home an average pay of $109,467 in the 2013-14 school year — and 634 of the city’s 799 custodians earned more than $100,000 in salary and overtime during that time, city payroll records show.

That’s because of the city’s 1,500 school buildings, 238 have no full-time custodian on site, up 74 percent from the 137 empty slots in 2012, according to data from the custodians union.

The arrangement is forcing nearly one-third of the city’s 737 custodians to cover two schools — and reap additional pay.

The New York Post added that custodians need certain certification to do work on water heaters, sprinklers, heating/cooling, and fire alarms. While the union representing these custodians argue that the school districts are not hiring new custodial staff to save money, the Department of Education said that schools have enough qualified personnel to perform all functions on school property.