For nearly 30 years, Jesse Estrada has been mopping floors,
emptying trash cans and supervising a hard-working crew of
custodians to make Live Oak High School a pleasant place.
Morgan Hill – For nearly 30 years, Jesse Estrada has been mopping floors, emptying trash cans and supervising a hard-working crew of custodians to make Live Oak High School a pleasant place.
Estrada’s familiar face has brightened the days of the school’s staff and students, who knew that he was available and willing to pitch in and help out even with jobs beyond the scope of his duties as custodian, but many may not recognize the extent of the physical exertion involved.
“Those who work with us value what we do, and I believe most of the students do as well, but the community at large sometimes doesn’t have all the information, doesn’t exactly understand what the job entails,” he said.
The lean, muscular, dark-haired Estrada, 53, said with a slight smile that he is proud of his position as foreperson on the campus. He knows the duties of everyone he supervises and is ready to perform them when necessary. Those duties include maintaining the school buildings, which sometimes includes light repair jobs, washing windows, cleaning desks, changing lightbulbs, wiping off germs and even scraping gum.
“He is an extremely hard worker, never stops to rest. He is committed to doing a great job. He gives many free hours to Live Oak because he cares so much about the well-being of the school,” said Morgan Hill Unified School District Supervisor of Operations Peter McKenna, who’s known Estrada for more than 20 years.
When Estrada applied for the job, he originally wanted to be a transportation mechanic, but there was an opening for a custodian, and he got the job.
“I thought I’d be passing through temporarily, but I stayed because I liked what I was doing, I was comfortable in the position,” said Estrada, who describes himself as an outdoor person, enjoying hiking, backpacking and camping when he has spare time.
Though his normal work schedule is from 5:30am to 1pm, Estrada is no clock-watcher, frequently coming in earlier or staying later, as needed, particularly before, during and after special school events. Part of that has to do with the kind of person he is, the kind of worker he believes he should be. And part of that dedication is due to the pride he takes in his job and the pride he feels in the school itself.
When the school is “disrespected,” or vandalized, Estrada is disappointed.
“Of course it’s discouraging when it happens, but I don’t take it personally,” he said. “You see it in other places, downtown, in Gilroy, it happens. Unfortunately, it’s something some kids are going to do regardless. But most of them (at Live Oak) are great kids.”
Being a gentleman of mature age working around a bunch of teenagers can generate a lot of emotions.
“It runs the gamut,” he said. “Sometimes I’m a father figure, I feel older, and sometimes it re-energizes me, it just depends on the mood of the day, but it truly goes from one end of the spectrum to the other.”
One of the best things about his job, Estrada said, is the people he works with.
“I really enjoy the interaction I have with so many different people,” he said. “I have great colleagues to work with. The staff and the administration here are just wonderful.”
Some might think keeping a high school campus neat and tidy would not endear a custodian to the students, but Estrada said that while there are exceptions, the majority of the Live Oak students are “awesome,” as they would say themselves.
While there are no students making messes during the summer, Estrada, who with his wife has three grown daughters, seven granddaughters and one grandson, are busily preparing for the return of the staff and students to the campus in August. He and his crew of five full-time and one half-time workers will be engrossed in making sure classrooms are spotless, floors are refinished to a shiny gleam and walls and other surfaces are touched-up with fresh paint where needed.
But they are not alone on the sprawling campus, as the school is undergoing another round of long-awaited renovations.
“We have a good working relationship with the contractors, so that’s not a problem,” Estrada said. “We don’t get in each other’s way. And I’m just very happy to see the work is getting done.”
The community passed a bond in 1999 to pay for the renovation of Live Oak, along with the construction of Barrett Elementary and Sobrato High School. Barrett construction costs snowballed, and concerned community members wondered if there would be enough money to complete the needed projects at Live Oak, after the initial improvements, which included a new football field and track, a new library and practice gym and several renovated classroom buildings.
Now, the Live Oak “Little Theater” is being renovated, as well as the boys’ locker room, and other beautification projects around the campus are underway or scheduled to begin soon.
“We felt that we were being neglected a bit,” Estrada said. “It’s great that our campus is finally getting some recognition of its needs, that we are seeing some progress finally.”
Estrada’s possessiveness and protectiveness towards the school is one of the things that makes him an extremely valuable employee, McKenna said. His entire career with the district, beginning in April 1978, has been at the same school. It is safe to say he knows the school inside out, backwards and forwards.
“It’s a beautiful campus, a great school, there are just things I wish we could afford to do for it,” he said. “If I could choose, and we had the money, from a facilities standpoint, I’d like to upgrade the heating and air conditioning in the classrooms. It seems that when it needs to be hot, it’s cold, and vice versa. I’d also like to see the security and fire alarm systems worked on.”
The fire system, he added, is a part of the scheduled renovations.
Despite his many years, Estrada said he is not yet thinking of retirement, something that makes McKenna very happy.
“He is a very kind person, always going out of his way to help others,” McKenna said. “He is a happy-going person and seldom ever gets mad. I worry when Jess does retire there will be nobody who will be able to walk in his footsteps.”
