KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. –Kanawha County Schools custodian Art Lane says he is speaking out against the job cuts the district is facing because he is concerned about their impact on students.
“I’m concerned about the students eventually coming to dirty schools, unsafe schools because they have cut so many custodians, and like I said the buildings are not shrinking, the buildings are the exact same size,” Lane said on MetroNews Midday last week.
The district announced last week it plans to cut approximately 140 positions, including custodians, teachers and central office staff, because of declining enrollment.
Kanawha County Schools reported 970 fewer students enrolled between October 2024 and October 2025
Lane, who works at Sharon Dawes Elementary, said his position is not being eliminated but will be reduced from full day to half-day.
He said the district’s original plan would have eliminated his job entirely, leaving the school with one custodian.
He also said the district is shifting from assigning custodial staff based on the amount of square footage in a building to a formula based on student enrollment.
“The problem with that is, it doesn’t matter if there’s two students in a classroom or 25 kids in that classroom, the floor is still the same size, the school is still the same size, and it gets just as dirty, so it’s going to take just as many people to keep it clean no matter how many students are there,” Lane said.
Lane, along with other Kanawha County Schools custodians, voiced their frustrations during last week’s Kanawha County Board of Education meeting.
Tim Powers, a custodian at Capital High School, was among those who addressed the board.
He said cutting positions at Capital would make it difficult to ensure the school remains clean.
“Y’all have decided to cut seven, seven custodians in Capital High School, that will equal about four or five custodians to clean over 280 thousand square footages, over 130 classrooms, and any offices and bathrooms, and sometimes we have to clean the gym and theater twice because of events going on,” Powers said during the meeting.
Several others also addressed the board, expressing the same concern that regardless of enrollment numbers, the size of the building and the amount of space that must be maintained remain unchanged.
Lane said their job goes beyond cleaning classrooms.
“The truth is we’re ground zero for all safety of that school, we’re always checking to make sure the electrical is fine, the pipes look fine when a pipe busts, it’s our responsibility to contain that, anytime that something spills in the school we’re called first, when kids do things like vomit or whatever, we’re the ones they holler at,” he said.
He said custodians also shovel and salt sidewalks during winter weather to ensure students and teachers have a safe path to enter the building.
Lane said the Legislature needs to adequately fund public schools.
He encouraged families with children in the public school system to contact their lawmakers and members of the county Board of Education to voice their concerns.
“Reach out to the school board, reach out to your representatives down in Charleston at the Capitol, let them know how you feel, let them know your kids matter,” Lane said.
The cuts will take effect for the 2026-27 school year.