NASHUA, N.H. – Raymond DeRusha wakes up early. He gets to Main Dunstable Elementary School, where he is the head custodian, before anyone else to make sure that the school is safe and clean for the kids who will spend their whole day learning in his school.
"When they're in one of my buildings," DeRusha says, "they are one of my kids."
Raymond DeRusha at Main Dunstable Elementary School in Nashua, N.H.
(Dave Kreisman/AFSCME)
DeRusha has lived in the city and been a member of the Nashua Public Schools community for his whole life. He graduated from Nashua High School in 1995 as a student-athlete and served as a security officer before he became a custodian. Now he's the varsity softball coach, a football coach and the boy's junior varsity basketball coach at Nashua South High School.
After waking up early to work a full day, DeRusha heads to Nashua South to coach his teams throughout the school year. After practice or a game, DeRusha always finds time to take a quick ride by Main Dunstable to check up on the school and make sure everything is in order. Only then does he get to go home to his wife and two children.
As you can tell, Ray DeRusha represents everything that AFSCME and public service workers stand for—pride, hard work and never giving up. That's why Ray is featured in one of the first videos for the national AFSCME Never Quit campaign.
But where Ray exemplifies the commitment of public service workers, Nashua's school board is debating whether to betray that commitment to the custodians in AFSCME Local 365.
"They're trying to carve out 101 of us custodians," DeRusha said.
Nashua's school board has been threatening to privatize its custodial staff for the past several months, even though it's clear that privatization will be bad for the schools and for Nashua.
"This doesn't just affect custodians. It's everybody. It's our family. It's our community," he continued. "And the union has been on our side the whole way and leading the fight."
AFSCME Council 93 continues to oppose the push for privatization. We are glad that Nashua Mayor Donchess stands with us in opposition to the school board's plan. Join us and learn more by liking the Save Our Nashua School Custodians Facebook page.
Nashua never rests. Main Dunstable needs to be clean and safe every day. Kids need help finding something they accidentally threw out or cleaning up a mess they made every day. Student-athletes need encouragement to do their best every day. That's why Ray DeRusha never quits.