There’s hardly a school day that goes by at Southside Elementary School in Cabot without Vernon Strickland Jr. greeting everyone who enters the building.
Strickland, who has been a custodian at the school since 1993 and is known simply as Mr. Vernon, gets to work earlier than expected just to make sure kids have a proper greeting. He also eats with students at lunch each day.
“I’ve always had a positive outlook toward kids to be positive with them in the mornings so that they’ll have a clean and safe environment to come into to learn and to have fun, too. I really, really enjoy that,” said Strickland, a 31-year custodian who, before being at Southside, was a custodian at factories.
Strickland moved from Monticello to Cabot when he was in the fifth grade.
“Back then when I was in the seventh and eighth grades, I worked in the high school cafeteria, dumping dish trays and washing dishes,” he said. “In seventh and eighth, I was also on the safety patrol [for] kids crossing highways 38 and 89. I’ve worked in a summer program through the school through Bill Holden, [who] was a custodian at the time, and learned a lot from him.”
For Strickland, being a part of the Cabot Public Schools custodial staff has been a family affair. Holden, Strickland’s cousin by marriage and current director of custodial services for the district, was Strickland’s connection to his current role. Strickland also has relatives, such as his father and cousins, who have worked on the district’s custodial staff.
“It’s been a family deal for me,” he said.
Family is also what keeps Strickland at Southside Elementary School year after year.
“We’re family here. It’s been that way ever since I’ve been here,” he said. “I’ve worked under a lot of principals here and a lot of teachers I’ve seen come and go and grow. It’s just a great atmosphere to work in when you’re family, and everybody works together.”
Stacy Allen, Southside principal, said Strickland is at the school each day before 7:15 a.m.
While he’s not assigned to greet students in the morning for front car duty, it is something he takes the time to do, she explained.
“He wants to greet those kids, which I think makes it even more incredible,” she said. “He won’t tell you that, but that’s the thing: It’s not a have to; it’s not part of his job; it’s a way he goes above and beyond.”
Allen said it is an honor to witness Strickland’s relationship with the students and to work with him each day.
“You can tell that they help fill him up,” she said. “They help drive him in what he does each and every day. Those kids will come give him high-fives and handshakes, and you’ll hear, ‘Hey, Mr. Vernon!’ when walking down the hallway, and it’s a pretty incredible thing.”
Strickland said he has a great relationship with the school’s teachers and students, some of whom have had children attend Southside.
“There are kids that I’ve seen that’ve come through here that have kids of their own that are here that say, ‘Hey, my Mom and Dad know you, and they helped you, and you were a role model for them,’” he said. “Some kids think I even live here. One of the teacher’s kids said, ‘Mr. Vernon is always here when we come in. Here’s here when we leave. I wonder where he sleeps at.’ It makes me feel great that you can touch kids’ lives in some way. It really does make you feel good.”
Strickland said that years ago, he read the book A+ Custodian, by Louise Borden, which shaped his perspective on his role.
“It was talking about where custodians have custody of the building, be a keeper, be a guardian — also a watch-keeper,” he said. “In that book, there’s things that touched me that said, ‘A building, it can be mighty fine, but it’s not much without the people within it.’ That really stood out to me.”
Strickland said he is a kid at heart and enjoys eating lunch each day with Southside students. Fourth-grader Michael Lemay, 9, said Strickland is one of his lunch buddies because he is friendly. Michael said Strickland makes him feel comfortable and makes a point to wave at everyone in the mornings, too.
“He’s a very, very good janitor and just really nice and funny,” Michael said.
Ashley Williamson, 10, a fourth-grader whom Strickland nicknamed “Sallie Mae,” said that at lunchtime, she’ll talk with Strickland about how her weekend was and what she had for dinner the night before.
“He’s really nice and funny to talk to. He makes me feel happy,” she said. “If I’m having a bad day, when he talks to me, he cheers me up.”
Ashley also said students get a treat if they assist with keeping the cafeteria and other parts of the school building tidy.
“He’s really nice, and he has some suckers, so if we help clean up, we can get a sucker,” she said.
The school has also shown dedication toward Strickland the same way he has for the school. When his car broke down about two years ago, teachers pitched in to buy him another one, which he still drives.
“I just thought, ‘Wow. This is a miracle.’ It was a blessing,” he said.
Allen said that Strickland, who was one of the first people she met at Southside, has a big personality and an even bigger heart.
“One of the first things that I noticed about him is how much pride he took in his work and in everything that he does,” she said. “Whether it be taking out the trash or keeping those floors clean, it’s all done impeccably and to the highest of standards.”
Strickland said his role isn’t about him; it’s about the kids. There’s no favorite part about it, he said. He simply enjoys creating a positive influence on students and keeping the building clean.
“I love coming to school every morning and having a smile, having a positive attitude, being positive with them and greeting them,” he said. “That’s one of the best things.”