You may have noticed a few new faces around AHS during lunch. They are the bus drivers for the ASD who were recently hired to work during the day in addition to driving the bus to potentially receive full-time benefits and the opportunity to get paid for extra hours. Their main job is to make sure the kids pick up after themselves during lunch, a job that has previously been done by teachers. Although this may seem like an easy job and an obvious task for students, a messy cafeteria after lunch has been a clear problem in the past.

“The cafeteria used to look like someone had dumpsters that a hurricane blew in,” Assistant Principal John Bangley said.

AHS hired Andy Nigro and Reagan Mahaffey to help out so they could receive full time benefits. Combining the hours of driving the bus in the mornings and afternoons, the lunch hours during the day, and sporadic field and sport trips throughout the week, adds up to about thirty hours each week, which allows them to receive the full-time benefits. Andy Nirgo decided to take on the task as a retirement job in hopes of helping out the school.

“I was a business owner for 25 years. About three years ago I decided I wanted to do something that was productive, but not too stressful on managing, so working with kids is a switch. I’ve been working with adults all these years. It’s all about contributing something, and hopefully being a benefit,” Nigro said.

So far, this change at AHS seems to be a great benefit for the school. Not only does it help a few bus drivers earn full time status, but it helps the teachers as well. It allows them to have their lunch periods free to talk to students, plan lessons, grade papers, and even eat lunch. Hiring the bus drivers during lunch has also helped the cleaning staff.

“The cafeteria has been much better. It has allowed me to clean places other than the cafeteria,” cleaning staff member Jose Zavala said.

Along with working during lunch, Mahaffey works in the parking lot to make sure there are no cars that should not be there. She usually works three extra hours a day along with driving the bus.

The funding for this comes from priority AEF grants. This plan seems to be working, as the idea of cleaning up after yourself is reinforced by the bus drivers every day. The cafeteria has been much cleaner so far this year, and the school hopes to keep it this way in the future.