The grounds staff, along with custodial personnel, spent their night shift maintaining safe access for students at Commonwealth University-Bloomsburg while snow reached depths of nearly one foot across campus. Students who need to reach their classrooms will not notice the efforts of these workers because the walkways are already clear. The workers who achieve this success do so because they love their work, but they must fight against decreasing resources.
“I was already here.” The grounds crew member Dee stayed at Nelson Hall overnight to avoid the dangerous journey back to his home. Multiple colleagues established snow clearance plans that would start at dawn. Dee responded to the question about conditions by saying, “It is what it is”.
The snowfall depth reached 10 to 15 inches. The staffing numbers demonstrate a dangerous pattern. The entire grounds crew responsible for clearing snow consists of just eight people. “Not enough, honestly,” Dee admitted. According to John, a custodian with the second-highest seniority in his department, the university has gone from over eighty custodians to fewer than half that number in recent years.
The situation shows no signs of improvement. “The grounds crew will experience a personnel reduction when April arrives because two team members will leave the following year,” according to Dan. The organization has put all hiring activities on hold because of a hiring freeze. “They’re not hiring anybody. We got one new guy coming that we don’t even know when he starts”.
The crews operate with an optimized process despite facing various obstacles. The snow removal process consists of three areas, assigning machinery operation to more experienced staff while less experienced personnel perform shovel work. On this storm, just six shovelers were deployed across the entire university. “We do the main steps before anything else,” Dan explained.
Students have provided an unexpected positive contribution. “Some of them just want to help,” John said. “They say, ‘Hey, I do this at home. Can I give you a hand?'”. The bond between staff members holds great significance. “With us cleaning things, it keeps viruses down, keeps the flu down,” John added.
University staff showed reserved hope regarding their new university president. “He’s a little more understanding,” John said. The university canceled all classes from Tuesday until Wednesday to enable maintenance personnel to finish their work. “It is what it is,” Dee said, before heading back into the snow.
