Garbage at Monte Vista has gotten increasingly worse since students returned to campus after being remote during the 2020-2021 school year.

     Teachers have been monitoring students to make sure they put their garbage in the trash cans. Even after these efforts, large amounts of trash are visible on the ground with trash cans often less than 20 feet away. 

   Before winter break, the Monte Vista custodial staff was down from ten members to five due to COVID-19 issues. The decrease in staff custodial staff members makes it difficult to keep the campus as clean as it usually is. At one point during this school year, the number of janitorial staff was down to only four people. 

     “There’s more trash after student support and lunch,” Monte Vista custodian Hanh Nguyen said.

     The peak of trash on campus was when COVID-19 cases began to spike towards the beginning of the 2022 year. Less staff on the entire campus makes the cleaning process slower and people are able to see the wrappers, crushed food, unopened food, empty water bottles, and more, that are left on campus. 

     “After New Year’s there was less trash,” Nguyen said. “Now we [custodial staff] are only down by two people.”

    In January, Monte Vista hired one new custodial member to increase the staff from ten to eleven. Having nine out of eleven of the custodial staff makes picking up necessary trash in different locations easier and faster. There is a buildup of brown paper bags from student support when the school provides students with free, healthy food.

     However, especially because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of school food has been prepackaged in wrappers, requiring more items to be placed in the trash cans. Many students don’t eat everything provided in the provided snacks during student support and lunch. More items being given causes an increase in items being thrown away.

     After the TikTok trend “devious licks” died down, there hasn’t been as much vandalism seen at school. However, there are still overflowing trash cans with paper towels in the bathrooms. Multiple teachers have been seen monitoring the all-gender bathrooms while classes are going on.

     “They closed the restrooms because students threw trash on the floor,” Nguyen said.

      COVID-19 continues to affect the school in many different ways. Students have to remember basic social etiquette, like cleaning up after oneself. Coming to school and seeing a dirty campus is not a pleasant sight. Walking a few feet to throw your trash away can do so much for the campus. As a community here at Monte Vista, we must do better to create a better environment for everyone.

     “As kids get older maybe they’ll be better, they’ll learn from the seniors or leadership,” Nguyen said. “Every day I see better.”