“It was a shock,” Stevens High School custodian Joe Szelangowski says about learning he would be laid off in 2025 as the Claremont School District struggled to work through a catastrophic budget crisis. “It was hard for me to accept what happened. We’d done such a good job. Why us?”
Fellow custodian Trevor Rouleau adds, “We got punished for other people’s mistakes. It was all very unfortunate.”
Despite the initial shock and disappointment, Joe and Trevor were able to find custodial work in nearby districts–Lebanon and Sunapee respectively. Trevor’s wife was pregnant when he was laid off, and while he said it was stressful, it was reassuring to have a job–and a paycheck–lined up.
“When you do a good job, you’re never out of work,” said Joe, who is 70 years old and fields employment offers regularly.
NEA-New Hampshire UniServ Director Karen Ladd helped members of the Claremont Association of Maintenance and Custodial Employees who were let go, including Joe and Trevor, negotiate placement on a three-year call back list.
That meant if there were any openings in the district, the employees who were previously let go would be given the first opportunity to fill their roles. Neither hesitated to return to Claremont when they got the call back a year later, in July of 2026.
“Since we were part of the maintenance union, we got call backs. I feel very blessed that happened. I’ll be here for as long as they have me,” said Trevor, who graduated from Stevens High in 2009.
Joe added, “We had a lot of hugs when we came back.”
They were greeted by a lot of catch up work, too, because three other Claremont maintenance workers were laid off at the same time, cutting the custodial staff from 13 across the district to just 8.
“They did the best they could with the shorthand that they had,” said Trevor. “But we did notice there was a lot more work for us in the summer to help get caught up.”
While their day-to-day ranges from lightbulbs to bathroom cleanup to drywall repairs and everything in between, Joe and Trevor say their primary focus is the floors. They wax all floors regularly, but Trevor refers to that as “shiny dirt” because the dirt on top of the actual floor is getting waxed. Every three to four years, they strip the floor down to the bare floor for a full restoration.
Claremont Custodians Back on the Job
Quote byTrevor Rouleau, Claremont Association of Maintenance and Custodial Employees
While Trevor didn’t have direct experience with custodial work prior to starting his position at Stevens in 2024, his experience working in body shops and car detailing was formative: “My experience was sanding down cars and repainting them and waxing them and buffing them. That’s kind of the same thing, but on a floor instead of a car.”
Trevor made the jump from auto mechanics to school maintenance in large part for the benefits of a more flexible schedule as well as paid sick and vacation leave that allows him to be a more present partner and parent.
“It’s gonna sound kind of selfish, but I like all the time off. I used to work at dealerships and had no time off. I had to be there six to six most days, so when I got home, I only got to see my family for a little bit before bedtime,” says Trevor, who has a 6th grader and a 9-month-old. “Now I get to see my kid in the morning, I get to bring her to school. I have sick time so I can take my kids to doctor’s appointments. I’m not used to that. It’s a big change.”
Having grown up in the community and graduated from the same high school he works at now, Trevor says it’s nice to be back: “It’s really nostalgic. Some of the teachers are still here that were here when I was here. They want me to call them on a first name basis, but it’s weird.”
Joe moved to the Claremont area in the late 1980s, after growing up in Philadelphia Pennsylvania and enjoys the natural beauty of the area. For thirty years, he ran a boxing club in the community. “It saved my life years ago in Philly. It kept me out of trouble. I just wanted to give back when I moved up here.”
As a custodian in the district for three years, Joe enjoys the opportunities he has to support students, including interacting with the kids in band, whose room is right around the corner from the custodial office, and watching the drama performances at night.
Joe says there’s no drama with the maintenance team in Claremont though, and that’s why he loves his job: “I like the good crew that I have. We all get along. Everyone tries to be positive. You don’t get too many places like that that have workers like that.”
When asked about the strangest thing they’ve encountered in their time at Stevens, they immediately recalled the time one of their colleagues found a rotisserie chicken in a urinal.
“Kids are being kids. You find some head scratchers. They’ll wad up toilet paper and throw it all over the bathrooms and it sticks to the wall. That happens everywhere,” Trevor shared, adding. “You don’t know what they’re going through, so all you can do is be there for them when they need you. I just kind of try to do that.”
While they’re thrilled to be back in their positions, Joe and Trevor both acknowledge that some people outside their district may look down on the work they do.
“I’ve never been affected or got my feelings hurt by whatever people say. But I feel like there are some people who are custodians who are embarrassed to tell people what they do. A lot of people don’t understand what it takes to do the job,” acknowledges Trevor.
Joe adds, with pride: “I chose to be a custodian.”
“It’s a very important job for all the school districts everywhere. If you don’t have a running, clean building, then you can’t really have a school,” points out Trevor, adding, “The teachers always thank us.”
