De Anza College will lose custodial and grounds positions affecting overall cleanliness on campus, according to members of the Administrative Services Planning and Budget Team.

The APPA-U is the body charged with assessing campus cleanliness. De Anza’s campus is currently at an APPA-U level of four, exemplifying “Moderate Dinginess.” Official description of level four says that “areas are becoming unacceptable. People [are] beginning to accept an environment lacking normal cleanliness,” and describes the trash buildup, overall dullness and exterior dust and dirt that pervade De Anza’s campus. 

With the cuts, our campus may attain level five classification, the worst possible classification, reaching a state of “Unkempt Neglect.” Trash removals and campus cleanings will be reduced from twice weekly to weekly, no event set-up or breakdowns (delivery only), limited assistance with replacing broken furniture and limited ability of staff to work overtime supporting weekend activities.

Two custodial positions are going to be relocated to a different facility on July 1 as a part of the tier one and two plan said Associate Vice President of College Operations, Pam Grey. Grey will also allocate $70,000 of her salary to the budget as well.

“I’m sure we won’t lose any bodies,” Grey said. “At a glance they [students] won’t notice, but we [administration] will.”  The tier three cuts amount to about $225,000, cutting one custodial position and one grounds maintenance position.

Considering that most custodians and other maintenance staff  usually decide to resign or retire before any positions could get cut, Grey’s statement seems justified.

The tier three cuts will go into effect next year. As of now De Anza has 18 custodial and maintenance staff members working to clean the whole campus.

With two positions being cut, the APP-U level, currently at a low of 4 and the possibility of it decreasing to 5, it may affect the school numerous ways.

Under ideal circumstances, De Anza would have to “double the custodians to get to at least a level 3 or 2,” Manny DeSilva, custodial operations manager, said.

With more financial assistance from the state, we could possibly reach the proper APPA-U level and have more wiggle room when it came to the grounds and the general maintenance of the campus, according to Grey.  

“Honestly we should all be on a bus headed to state,” said Grey.