Every day, OVS students come to school, go to class, attend their sports, and then head home or to their dorm rooms. It is a cycle that happens without fail, and it is one in which much is taken for granted.
We, as a school, too often ignore some of the most valuable members of our community. They are the backbone of our campus, waking up early and arriving before sunrise to clean and cook and reset the campus so that teachers can teach and the rest of us can learn. For many of us, these workers are anonymous, and their efforts often go unnoticed and under-appreciated. But we profit from their toil, and without them, OVS simply would not be able to run.
May 1 is a significant day for OVS seniors because it is National College Decision Day. But more importantly, it is a day celebrated around the world as International Workers Day. On that day, On The Hill reporters and photographers Eugene Fisher, Hannah Little, Ella Schuette, Emanuel Zagata-Jacobson, and Zimo Zeng joined these workers as they performed their important tasks, shadowing them from the early morning darkness to the start of the first class at 8:10 a.m. This is a day in their lives.
4:25 am
It’s a dark and damp morning, and Anali Calderon has just arrived for work, wearing her pink and gray flannel. She immediately heads to the now unused mail room to grab cleaning supplies and a vacuum. Ms. Calderon does this every morning – she has a rhythm and a systematic layout in her head that allows her to clean on autopilot. Her first stop is Room 7, where she takes out the trash and recycling simultaneously, and then follows up by wiping the white board with long and graceful strokes. Ms. Calderon then hops into a golf cart to pick up Maria Ceja, another member of the cleaning staff. The moment they return, it's straight back to work. In fact, they work nonstop, doing their jobs with efficiency and grace.
The sound of a car locking goes off signaling that Adriana Valdez, the third member of the cleaning crew, has arrived. Equipped with her cleaning supplies and black and blue vacuum, she immediately gets started. There is an unspoken pattern that these women have created. Ms. Calderon goes on from a fully cleaned Room 5 to Room 3, allowing Ms. Valdez to tackle Room 4. The pattern continues throughout Burr Hall. While they do this dance, Ms. Ceja has already vacuumed the front office and squeegeed the glass table in Mr. Floyd’s office. These women have been on campus for 20 or so minutes, and not once do they stop to take a drink of water or take a breather.
5:30 a.m.
The dusky mountains of Upper Ojai are still immersed in silent darkness when members of the kitchen staff Martha Hernandez, Jesus Covarrubias, and Moises Ferrel get out of their cars and enter the Littlefield Commons cafeteria. They unlock the kitchen door, roll up the metal curtain that guards the serving stations, and wash their hands before starting a morning of orderly busyness. They check the menu of the day to plan out their tasks, preparing for breakfast, and if they have time, lunch too. It’s a Monday morning, which means it will be a hot breakfast of French toast, along with hard boiled eggs and oatmeal.
The three of them work with a practiced efficiency. Mrs. Hernandez brings out the coffee machine and boxes of cereal, while Mr. Covarrubias takes stacks of plates to the front of the serving line. On the other side of the serving line, Mr. Ferrel is pouring hot water into the tank, which helps keep the food warm. By this time, the toaster and dish tubs are ready too. Mr. Covarrubias takes fruit out of the cooler, grabs the cutting board and knife and starts the main part of his job—handling the fruit bar and salad bar. At the same time, Mr. Ferrel takes out several loaves of French toast bread, which he made the previous day. He mixes the toast batter, consulting no recipe.
"I make it every Monday,” he says, “so I already know what to do.”
5:40 am
Before the sun climbs to the horizon and far before the first student wakes up, Gil Saucedo unlocks the thick iron gates of the business office near downtown Ojai. Mr. Saucedo’s morning routine is quick and efficient, and he’s got the bus inspection down to a science. Before the bus is even turned on, Mr. Saucedo raises its massive hood to check the oil and fluid levels, then circles the bus to inspect each lug nut on every tire. The bus passes the first level of screening. Mr. Saucedo cranks the key on the dormant yellow monster. The engine fights against the cold air and radiates a deep rumble into the silent morning.
The next phase of utility checks turns the bus into what sounds and looks like an arcade game. Mr. Saucedo flips on all of the light switches, and the bus suddenly emits a great amount of energy into the morning with emergency lights flashing overhead, alarms wailing, windshield wipers skidding, and an illuminated stop sign shooting off of the side. Mr. Saucedo listens, watches and checks off his list.
“If anything at all is wrong on one bus I have to hop in another one and start the process all over again,” he says.
From dead batteries to flat tires, Mr. Saucedo has to factor in buffer time in case of emergency. Because no matter what happens behind the scenes Mr. Saucedo knows he will have parents and children waiting for him.
“If I'm late,” he says, “everybody will be late.”
6:00 am
Ms. Ceja powers on the golf cart and drives to the girls dorm, where the only person awake at this time is sophomore Min Lee. Ms. Calderon works in the conference room, wiping down the table, and rearranging the chairs so that they are a perfect distance apart. Ms. Valdez works on the upper teachers’ lounge, while talking about the beauty of her old home, Playas Mulege, Mexico.
Nearby, all the lights gradually turn on in the Littlefield Commons, where Mr. Covarrubias finishes cutting fruit for breakfast and starts getting ready for lunch. Mr. Ferrel, on the other hand, begins to cook French toast, dipping the bread in batter and laying them on the iron griddle, where they sizzle and release their fragrance. At the same time, Mr. Ferrel opens the oven door and inserts a tray of eggs into the oven to boil. The two versatile ovens came with the new buildings two years ago – they help bake desserts, roast meats and vegetables, steam rice, and much more. They make everything easier for the kitchen staff.
6:05 am:
The bus is nicknamed “Ol Betsy,” and it is Mr. Saucedo’s favorite. This morning, it is running perfectly and everything is going according to plan. As it warms up, Mr. Saucedo starts on his other morning responsibilities. He opens the smaller set of iron gates into the business office and flicks on the lights in the open-air hallway.
He ducks into the kitchen and puts on a pot of coffee while he picks up the two mailboxes addressed to both the Lower and Upper campuses. He then checks the scheduling board to make sure nothing has changed. The white board is marked with scribbles, arrows and Xs all done in bright-colored dry erase markers. The board might look messy, but it is gold to transportation staff.
“It gets messy, timing gets messy and things change,” Mr. Saucedo says. “But people are relying on us to be there so we just have to get there.”
6:15 am
In the kitchen, Mrs. Hernandez takes out her spiral notebook, in which she has neatly translated and copied down countless recipes from the original OVS cookbook. She opens the notebook to the page of the item she will be making today— carrot cupcakes—one of the students’ favorite snacks. In five baking pans, Mrs. Hernandez patiently puts paper cupcake liners into each hole, then she consults the recipe again before mixing all the ingredients. Mr. Ferrel, standing to the left of Mrs. Hernandez, is cutting onions for the tasty, beloved Tomato Bisque Soup.
6:24 am
Isidro Zamora is the first of the maintenance workers to arrive at the maintenance yard, unlocking the gate to prepare for the arrival of the rest of the crew. The silent morning is disturbed by the crashing of the doors of shipping containers where the equipment is kept. He retrieves two gas-powered leaf blowers and puts them on the bed of the OVS maintenance truck.
The rest of the crew, Manny Calderon-Lopez and Juan Ruiz-Flores, arrive together. They both sip their coffee and take a moment to embrace the dim, wet morning before helping prepare the leaf blowers for a morning of action. Mr. Ruiz-Flores and Mr. Zomara retrieve jerrycans from one of the shipping containers and begin pouring gasoline into the leaf blowers. With an understanding of what to do, the crew doesn’t need to talk, making the silence of the morning even more deafening, and making each crashing container door and clanking gas can even more piercing. Once the blowers are ready, the bed of the truck is shut, the engine is fired up and the crew drives to the top of the hill.
6:35 a.m.
The sun is now up, and although the mist is yet to lift, the cleaning crew pushes forward. Ms. Calderon has migrated over to the girls dorm and immediately starts putting away dishes that were left the night before. Junior Clara Ferrer Ferreria is up, doing her morning workout. By now, Ms. Valdez has vacuumed and started cleaning all of the windows in the multipurpose room.
Just down the way, José Luis Maldonado, who works in the stable, steps into the kitchen, helping carry a tray of cupcakes from the back kitchen to the oven. He is delighted to be here.
“I come here everyday to see my friends and have coffee," he says.
6:45 am
Mr. Saucedo reaches for the radio knob and flips to KLOS-FM 95.5 where he listens to various morning shows pop on. On other days he just listens to music. Morning noise helps “break up the monotony.” For the first 40 minutes he drives alone, carting rows of empty seats through morning traffic and sipping his coffee as he passes the Ventura harbors. When you think about the school bus, you hardly think about what it takes to get the bus there. Mr. Saucedo is proof that it doesn’t just magically show up.
Minutes later, the bus pulls into its first stop, Mandalay Bay, Oxnard. Waiting only seconds by the canal-filled neighborhood, eighth grader Vana Dakessian, the only Oxnard passenger, hops onto the bus and takes a seat.
“How was your camping?” asks Mr. Saucedo.
“I was sick and didn’t get to stay,” she says. “But fun while I was there.”
Now that a student is on the bus, Mr. Saucedo transforms from the solo driver who must make it to his destination to the best welcome party a tired middle schooler could hope for.
6:48 a.m.
The maintenance truck parks by the media lab, and Mr. Zamora and Mr. Ruiz-Flores throw the leaf blowers on their backs and fire them up, the same way they do every Monday morning. Instantly, the stillness is engulfed by the thundering sound of the blowers as the crew begin to make its way through the fog-covered campus.
Meanwhile, Mr. Calderon-Lopez waters the planter bed in Burr Hall. He flicks the hose left to right to ensure all the plants get equal water. He looks deeply into the bed, almost as if he is examining each plant. As he slowly loops around the planter, he stops when he reaches the tree, giving it some extra water before continuing his way around. Once he is done watering the planter, he drags the hose toward the vending machine.
“Can’t forget to water the milkweed for Ms. Davis,” he says, aiming the stream of water at a few barely sprouting plants. He quickly finishes soaking the milkweed, then turns off the hose and methodically begins to coil it so it is ready for its next user.
6:52 a.m.
Ms. Ceja is making sure that the windows in the library are clean and streak-free. The morning is still quiet, birds are chirping, but students (except Min who has now migrated to the library) have yet to stir. On the other side of the new buildings, Ms. Valdez carefully realigns the chairs in the Astronomy classroom, but briefly pauses when Ms. Ceja (who has finished the library) stops in to have a quick chat.
7:00 a.m.
With a soft ring, Mrs. Hernandez’s cupcakes have finished to perfection – the inside is tenderly soft while the outside has turned golden brown and crispy. The sweet aroma escapes the small, confined oven and joins with the french toast’ rich smell of cinnamon, vanilla, and butter.
Nearby, the sound of the industrial-powered leaf blowers continues to echo through campus, while down the hill Mr. Maldonado arrives at the equestrian barn. He walks into the stables and immediately fills a large bucket with grain; he then carries it over to the hose and fills the bucket with water before setting it on the ground. The horses take notice, restlessly walking to the front of their stalls, ready for their breakfast. Mr. Maldonado hikes from the barn to the arena, where two horses are roaming. After climbing through the fence and walking toward one of the horses, he takes a moment to pet it before attaching a lead and walking it back to the barn.
7:07 a.m.
Mr. Saucedo reaches to the radio once again and turns on the infamous OVS bus music –Classic Rock Station FM 103.3. The Marina Park Ventura pick up spot is empty besides a few dogs chasing tennis balls on the misty grass and their hoodie wearing owners. The first coffee-clutching parent steps out of his car and helps retrieve bags from the back seat as two little ones twirl over to the bus door. The bus sits in silence as the two get on and their dad waves goodbye to both them and Mr. Saucedo. They were the first drops that started the flood.
In the next two minutes, parents and children pour in from both sides of the sidewalk to the bus doors. Small kids strapped with even smaller backpacks hike up the three bus stairs and workbound parents stand at the door chatting with Mr. Saucedo.
Kids are almost as eager to see Mr. Saucedo as he is to see them. In the frenzy, you can’t even keep straight who is talking, but they are all talking to Mr. Saucedo.
“Good Morning Gil,” parents and kids alike say.
“Buenos dias!”
“Hey Gil, look at my new backpack.”
“So sorry we're late Gil!”
“We are supposed to leave by 7:15 but there are usually a few stragglers,” Mr. Saucedo says at 7:20. “I really don't like to leave anybody if they are a little late. We all run late sometimes, I get it.”
Students are starting to wake up and walk to breakfast, but the cleaning crew is still working hard before they can sit down for breakfast themselves. Ms. Ceja, Ms. Valdez, and Ms. Calderon work together on the walk-through bathrooms, briefly talking about their game plan for the rest of the morning. Ms. Ceja and Ms. Calderon stay in the bathroom area, refilling toilet paper rolls and trash can liners, while Ms. Valdez does the same thing in the cafeteria bathroom. The mops and rags come out in both bathroom areas, making sure that the students and faculty have clean toilets and sinks to use.
Ten minutes later, Ms. Ceja and Ms. Calderon work around the girls getting up and getting ready to make sure that the lounge is in tip-top condition. Ms. Valdez is all the way at the other end of campus, cleaning up in the boys dorm in the same way. These women are the reason why each morning the dorm looks as good as when it was first built.
7:20 a.m.
Mr. Maldonado wipes down the wet seats of the vibrant green Gator. Dry enough, he sits down, and drives over to a stack of hay that towers over him. Carefully, he cuts equal squares of hay and loads them into the back of the cart. Once the bed is full, he covers the hay with a dirty gray tarp to keep it dry.
“I know exactly who likes to eat what,” Mr. Maldonado says on the short drive back to the barn, “and how much everyone wants to eat.”
He parks the Gator in the middle of the stalls, and in one smooth motion grabs a square of hay, swings open a stall door and tosses it in the corner before shutting and locking the door. Like clockwork, he goes from stall to stall and does this until the Gator’s bed is empty.
The mist turns to rain. Mr. Maldonado fills a bucket with grain and puts it in the corner of a stall. Ames, a large black horse standing at the back of the stall, is uninterested in his breakfast.
“Come on guy,” he says, encouraging the horse. Ames reluctantly walks towards the grain and begins to eat.
Then, Mr. Maldonado grabs the bucket of grain that he began soaking when he arrived, and walks toward a stall. “He has stomach problems,” gesturing to the horse in the stall, “so he needs to eat the wet grain or he will get sick.” He puts the bucket in the stall and claps his hands as all the horses have been fed. Early morning work complete, he jumps back in the Gator and drives up to breakfast.
7:35 a.m.
The bus is stuck behind a garbage truck and going at a grueling start-and-stop pace on North Ventura Ave. So close to the Ojai City limit and so close to the next destination, Mr. Saucedo just sits back and accepts the delay
“It's trash Monday,” he says. “Things like this slow us down everyday.”
7:45 a.m.
It is finally rest time for the cleaning crew. Ms. Ceja and Ms. Calderon put down their cleaning supplies and head to the cafeteria to grab breakfast and take a much-deserved break. Ms. Valdez is still working up at the boys lounge, but she will soon join them.
In the meantime, Mr. Ruiz-Flores, leaf blower still roaring, starts walking down the hill from Mr. Floyd's office. As he walks, he thoroughly clears the road, making sure every last leaf is gone. Teachers begin to arrive, driving past him on their way up the hill. When he arrives at the bottom of the hill, Mr. Zamora starts down the student parking lot. Together, they finish making the lot look spotless, as the earliest of the students park and walk up to breakfast.
8:09 a.m.
Evil Woman plays as an undertone to the bus’s engine working to pull the vehicle around the twisting turns of Reeves road. The gap increases between the cars in front and the line grows behind. Mr. Saucedo puts on his blinker next to the field and lets those running late pass by him. The noise from the engine is heard from the day student parking lot and kids jump out of cars and run up to where the bus passes in hopes of catching a ride up the hill. Mr. Saucedo, being everyone's morning angel, opens his doors and lets the reluctant walkers hop on.
Once up the hill, Mr. Saucedo opens his doors for the final time on his morning run. He wishes everyone a good day, turns off the bus, and grabs the mail box labeled “Upper.” He says a quick hello to Mr. Floyd and Mrs. Quinn and anyone else in the office before ending his morning rush to get the kids where they need to be. He walks up to the cafeteria, keys clipped to the loop of his pants and the bus stationary, to enjoy a bite to eat with fellow morning shift workers, who are also enjoying their first break since the break of dawn.
8:12 a.m.
Everyone is sitting down for breakfast, chatting together and relaxing. This too is a practiced routine, and it is one that few students recognize, much less appreciate, as they run off to class.
And still the cleaning ladies come to school everyday at 4 in the morning to make our campus sparkle. And still the maintenance workers make sure our facilities and campus is fully functioning for us to use. And still our kitchen staff makes sure that we are fed every breakfast, lunch, and dinner before they too can eat. And still our transportation crew works hard to make sure students make it to school on time and safe.
They do it every day. And they are the reason that by 8:10 a.m. students, faculty, and other staff members can start their day.
On The Hill Staff Writers and Photographers Eugene Fisher, Hannah Little, Ella Schuette, Emanuel Zagata-Jacobson and Zimo Zeng contributed to this story.
Credits:
Emanuel Zagata-Jacobson, Hannah Little, Zimo Zeng