All across the school, trash cans have been removed from classrooms. Now, both staff members and students alike must leave the classroom if they want to  dispose of their garbage. This change has created much conversation among faculty and students as they cope with a new routine of trash removal.

“It’s annoying. You go to throw something away and you worry whether or not you’ll interrupt class by just getting up,” says tenth grade student Audrie Bockman. 

  In instances like these the situation just begs the question: Why did this change have to occur in the first place?

“We only get about four or five night-crew workers per night, and unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to clean the whole school. With the trash cans outside the classroom, our maintenance crew is able to take out the class for the whole school every night and can clean our classrooms more frequently.”  Todd Fuller, WCA’s head of finance explains. . 

One of the major factors leading to the removal of the trash cans has been the struggle to fill vacant custodial positions at Westminster. According to Mr. Collison, the director of facilities here at Westminster, “This isn’t just an issue with our school, it’s a country-wide staffing problem.” 

Maintenance crew members in the US make an average of 10-20 dollars an hour, so it’s almost not worth the trouble to go to work. The reason that no one wants to work as a maintenance staff member is because of the low wages.

Overall, the responses to this school-wide change have been varied. Some teachers and students are against the change due to the inconvenience it poses, but others do not seem to mind this minor adjustment. Todd Zell, a high school math teacher, openly expresses his desire to assist  the cleaning staff: “Honestly, I don’t mind walking an extra two steps from my desk to the trash can if it makes our maintenance staff’s jobs a little easier.”

Although the students and staff of Westminster may not appreciate the new trash can locations,  it is safe to say this is an excellent opportunity for them to display how much they appreciate the cleaning crew that WCA has.