Custodian At School, Coach On The Field

Andrew Porto takes pride in his daily work keeping preschool classrooms and hallways clean on Goffe Street — before heading across town to coach Wilbur Cross’s softball team. 

“This job has been great to me,” he said during a recent interview about his three decades as a New Haven custodian and his two decades as a mentor for public school athletes. And there’s so much more he still wants to do.

Porto, 53, currently serves as the building manager for the Dr. Reginald Mayo Early Childhood School on Goffe Street. 

He’s worked as a New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) custodian since 1995, and as a building manager at various schools across the district for the past 25 years. 

Porto has also coached in NHPS for 20 years, including at such schools as Career and Hillhouse. He’s spent the past five years as the head softball coach at his alma mater, Wilbur Cross — where he is a member of the high school’s athletic hall of fame.

In December, Porto reflected on his longtime commitment to the city’s public school system, and on just how hard he works as both a custodian and a coach to help the district and its students thrive. 

Porto, also known as ​“Chip,” said he loves his job keeping schools clean and safe for students, staff, and families. He said his three decades on the job have allowed him to own a condo, pay for college, and support his 8‑year-old daughter. 

As a former College Baseball All-American player, Porto strives to bring his knowledge of the sport to his hometown’s youth.

Porto has been at Dr. Mayo school for four years. He said he first started as a custodian for NHPS when he was just 24 years old, and he was approaching the time when he’d age out of his parents’ insurance coverage. 

His mother encouraged him to take the custodial civil service exam to get a stable job with benefits. While in college, Porto took the exam and began working for NHPS. 

Three decades later, Porto said he enjoys being a building manager and even helps at other buildings for overtime some nights.

Porto’s typical work day begins with a morning walkthrough of Dr. Mayo’s grounds and two floors to compile a list of any work orders needing to be put into the district’s maintenance system. This also includes checking out any specific complaints school staff have submitted to him personally.

Porto’s work includes cleaning up spills, bathroom accidents, and trash from classrooms and the kitchen at the public preschool. One of his first tasks of the day before staff and students arrive is buffing and spot cleaning the building’s floors.

His competitive nature makes sure ​“things [are] done the right way on the field and off,” he said.

When looking down the hall on a recent school day in December, Porto described the sparkling first floor hallway as his baby, declaring that a clean building makes him proud of his work and ensures the building is in suitable condition for students and teachers alike. 

Porto’s long term goal is to take on a supervisor position for the district’s custodial work, similar to his late custodial mentor Danny Soler, who he said was like a second father figure.

He noted that it’s not easy to run a 65,000-square-foot building. Thanks to mentors like Soler and others, Porto has learned tips and tricks like attaching a tennis ball to the bottom of a stick to be used as a tool to rub black shoe marks from hallway floors. Decades of experience have made him confident, he said, that educators have working classrooms and that students are getting the clean environment they deserve.

Tom DeLucia, the president of the city school district’s custodians union, praised Porto as someone who knows exactly what’s needed to be a building manager. ​“He’s been around on the job. Keeps schools clean and does what he’s supposed to and more, just like the rest of us,” DeLucia said.

DeLucia concluded that custodians like Porto and others in Local 287 should be afforded more opportunities to move up and become leaders in district-wide school system roles. 

Erik Patchkofsky, the head of the school district’s athletics department, described Porto as a ​“legendary” pick for leading Cross’s girls softball team because of his deep knowledge of baseball, because he grew up in New Haven, and because of his understanding of and commitment to the city’s public school system. 

Porto described how one of the biggest changes for his work at the district over the years involves NHPS contracting with private facilities management companies to oversee NHPS’ operational and maintenance systems. In the past, NHPS had a functioning grounds crew that took care of jobs like snow removal. Now, NHPS works with a company called ABM to oversee custodial work and trades vendors, including the Massachusetts-based custodial contractor SJ Services. Porto works alongside a custodian from SJ Services for a morning shift every day at Dr. Mayo. 

Despite being a building manager, Porto said he has to make all communication requests through ABM. During the cold weather season, Porto also doesn’t have direct communication with the district’s snow removal vendors and therefore must relay any messaging for his school building needs through ABM first. 

“It’s my responsibility to keep an environment safe for children, staff, and parents,” he said. ​“That’s not always the easiest though when you have to go through a private concern for everything.”

While it’s his responsibility to input work orders for vendors to address issues, Porto said the job has become more stressful than in the past because of the middle man private management company. When work orders go unaddressed, Porto said he is just told the district doesn’t have the money to address all concerns.

“I’m in good standing with them, but it’s just harder than it needs to be,” he said. ​“If we do have to work together, which seems like it’s happening, let’s make it work.”

See below for previous recent articles about NHPS custodians.

• ​“Mr. Mark” Keeps Jepson Clean