‘Just amazing’: Rutland custodian draws high praise for commitment

Rutland High School’s head custodian, Beverly Harris, has developed quite the reputation at the south Bibb County school.

Equal parts tough and loving, Harris is something of a maternal figure to students and employees alike.

“She looks out after everybody, especially the students,” Principal Kent Sparks said. “She’s just amazing.”

Harris, 57, was recently honored as the Bibb Association of Educators’ Education Service Professional of the Year, and her staff helped Rutland notch a 98 percent rating on cleanliness inspections. That was tied for the highest score among the county’s high schools with Hutchings College and Career Academy and second only to Lane Elementary’s 99 rating overall.

“I take pride in what I do. It’s about the kids,” she said. “I make sure they come to a clean school every day.”

Having spent the last 13 years at Rutland and 20 years in Bibb County, Harris said she tries to follow advice from her grandmother, who told her to try to be the best at everything she does. And even though others might not see custodial work as glamorous, Harris enjoys it.

“It’s exciting because you know that you are doing something that’s going to make someone else feel good about coming into the building,” she said.

That effort has continued this summer. One day last week, she came back to the school at 11:30 p.m. after leaving another job at Virginia College to do some stripping and waxing on the school floors. Doing that helped her staff get all the necessary work done before going on break this week.

“I did that so we could move on the next day,” said Harris, who also cleans at Mount Zion Baptist Church.

For Harris, her job goes beyond just cleaning the school, though. She’s been known to keep bandages for students in case the nurse isn’t available, and she even provides clothes to prevent students from having to go home when they violate the dress code.

She’s also good for a hug or two and has done her part to help with school attendance.

“I call them if I have to, to get them to school on time,” Harris said.

Declaring she can be “your best friend or your enemy,” Harris said her efforts to help students come down to being compassionate.

“These kids come from all walks of life,” she said.

That doesn’t mean she takes it easy on the students or even faculty members. Sparks said Harris will speak her mind and “doesn’t sugarcoat anything” when it comes to making sure everyone at Rutland stays in line.

“They know that she cares deeply about them and wants them to do right,” he said.

Those expectations extend to Sparks himself. He recalled one occasion when he dropped a coffee filter full of grounds on the floor. Because it would leave a stain, he had to call Harris to come clean it up, but he didn’t feel good about it.

“The next day, I brought her cookies because I knew I had disappointed her,” he said.

Harris’ tendency to speak her mind, as well as talk and joke with students, made her someone that 2015 Rutland graduate Rachel Blizzard could rely on. Blizzard, 19, said she would come to Harris with her problems during her high school days.

“She helped me through a lot of stuff,” Blizzard said.

That “instant kind of bond” led Blizzard to bring her son, 3-year-old Dayson, to the school not long after he was born.

“She was the first person to hold my son outside of my family,” Blizzard said.

Even though she described having the respect of school administrators and students alike as a “fantastic honor,” Harris said she didn’t want to let the recognition go to her head.

Instead, she credited her Christian faith. Harris added that she often goes to her pastor to pray for students she has come in contact with.

“I do what I do by the grace of God,” she said.

This story was originally published June 27, 2016 at 2:50 PM with the headline "‘Just amazing’: Rutland custodian draws high praise for commitment."