Finding a home in Dallas ISD Custodial Services
When Jeff Vick, lead custodian at Skyline High School, started his Dallas ISD career in 1986 as a custodian at J.P. Starks Math, Science and Technology Vanguard, he meant the job to be temporary.
“I was only going to work here for six months,” he said, reflecting on nearly four decades of service.
What should have lasted six months ended up turning into decades, emulating his father who was a 35-year Dallas ISD employee. Now, Vick, a Wilmer Hutchins High School graduate, said he can’t see himself anywhere else.
“I think the district is one of the best places I have worked at. I went from having a job to a career, and If you want to move up and advance and be successful, Dallas ISD is the place,” he said.
After managing Church’s Texas Chicken and Kentucky Fried Chicken locations, Vick joined J.P. Starks as a custodian to seek better opportunities. His hard work propelled him through the ranks to serve as a lead custodian at N.W. Harllee Early Childhood Center and later as a supervisor at Margaret B. Henderson Elementary School.
He eventually worked at W.T. White High School and at Skyline High School, where he has been for 17 years. The largest Dallas ISD high school has provided some challenges, like when reductions in staff left him with 20 custodians for the entire school instead of the usual 35.
Vick is proud of his staff for rising to the challenge and maintaining the campus to the standards that had been set, keeping a clean, safe and welcoming environment for nearly 5,000 students. He noted that each custodial member cleans about 25,000 square feet and works diligently because, as he reminds them, “If it’s not clean enough for your kids, then it’s not clean.”
“We have to remember these are somebody’s kids, and they trust us with them,” he said.
Vick officially retired in September 202 after 35 years with the district, but he was called back into service a year later specifically to help with the 2020 Bond Program renovations at Skyline.
“I came back to help with the bond program, because since I’ve been here so long, I know the building,” he said.
According to Vick, the Bond Program not only will remodel the inside of the existing buildings, but it also will add two new buildings to the campus: a fine arts campus on one side, and a field house in the back. Construction is slated to begin in December.
“My role is to help manage and oversee the contractors—determining where they will be and the areas where they are needed—and try to guide them using my knowledge, such as where the power is, how to get to it, and where they need to tie in to get things like that working,” he said.
Vick, who lives two miles from Skyline, feels a strong sense of pride for his community. Knowing that he is playing a small, yet significant, role in the students’ education gives him a sense of purpose: a clean school isn’t just a task—it’s a promise to the community and each family that he and his team are providing a safe, healthy, and welcoming environment every day, he said.
“We try to make sure that all the restrooms, classrooms, and the building are clean, safe, and germ-free, so that the kids come into a nice, clean area every day,” he said.
Planning to retire again in three years, Vick continues to be driven by a commitment to students and by a dedication to leaving a positive legacy. But Vick jokes that he will not retire unless he does one final thing.
“When I leave this time, I’m changing my number. I think this is going to be it. I’m planning on leaving again at 65,” he said. “I want everybody to say that I did a good job and tried to accomplish the goals that I had.”
