School custodian gets surprise send-off
STEUBEN Before classes ended last Friday, John Brooks made his final rounds at Ella Lewis School. Intent on his work, the custodian busily tidied and restocked already spotless bathrooms ahead of students being released for spring break.
Pushing his wheeled metal cart, he carried out other tasks along the gleaming hallways. Pausing in the gym, where students were to be recognized for academic achievement, the maintenance man leaned against his workshop’s doorway to listen. But all eyes turned to him.
“I have to admit that I have been somewhat dishonest about our school-wide assembly today,” Ella Lewis School Principal Jackson Green said, addressing Brooks, who will take over on April 26 as Regional School Unit 24’s new supervisor of maintenance for its five schools. “Today is not a school-wide assembly to recognize our amazing student achievement or growth. Today is not about recognizing our improved attendance rate, of which I