(EL PASO INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT – October 2, 2026) — Before the first bell rings and students fill the hallways, there is already a team at work making sure their schools are ready.

Classrooms are prepared. Common areas are cleaned. Supplies are organized. Facilities are checked. And across El Paso ISD, custodians are making sure students and staff walk into a campus that is clean, welcoming and ready for another day of learning.

Much of that work happens behind the scenes.

But for the custodians who do it every day, the job is about much more than keeping a building clean.

It is about the people who walk through those doors.

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On Oct. 2, National Custodial Worker's Recognition Day provides an opportunity to recognize custodial professionals and the important work they do to keep schools and other facilities clean and well maintained.

At El Paso ISD, that work comes with something extra, building relationships.

For Fancy Hanks, a custodian at Lamar Elementary, one of the things she loves most about her job is the opportunity to connect with students.

“What I love most about my job is just being able to have things ready for the kids for the next day, so they can get ready to learn as soon as they walk into those doors,” Hanks said.

But ask her what makes the job special, and she quickly talks about the students.

“I also love to be able to communicate with the kids, like when I see them, it’s like, ‘Hi good morning, buenos dias.’ I love learning different languages from the kids. They learn from me and I learn from them.”

Those everyday interactions are part of what makes a school feel like a community.

For Hanks, that sense of community extends to the people she works alongside.

“I work with the best team in El Paso,” she said. “Our leader is Mr. Fritz and he’s one of the best supervisors I have ever had. My crew is the bomb. They teach me a lot of things and they make me feel welcome. I never feel left out.”

The work of custodians can be easy to overlook because, when everything is working as it should, students may never think about everything that happened before they arrived.

But clean, well-maintained campuses are an important part of creating a safe and welcoming environment for students and staff.

El Paso ISD’s custodial teams work throughout the district to maintain campus facilities and provide the day-to-day services that help schools operate smoothly.

And for Rafael Ortega, a custodian at Wiggs Middle School, one of the most rewarding parts of the job is seeing the students enjoy the environment his team helps create.

“Here at Wiggs, we love getting things ready for the kids and creating an environment to learn,” Ortega said. “I always get along well with the students, and they bring a lot of energy to our campus. They’re great to be with and it’s nice to see their happy faces in our clean campuses.”

From the first preparations of the morning to the final tasks of the day, custodians are an important part of the team that keeps a school moving. And sometimes, their impact can be seen in the moments that might seem the smallest, a student greeting a custodian in the hallway, a clean classroom ready for the next lesson, or a staff member knowing that someone is taking pride in the place they call work.

National Custodial Worker's Recognition Day may be one day on the calendar, but the work El Paso ISD custodians do continues throughout the school year.

They prepare the spaces where students make memories.

They help create the environments where learning takes place.

And along the way, they become familiar faces who greet students in the hallway, cheer them on and take pride in seeing them succeed.