Freedom Elementary custodian takes pride in 26 years with Manatee schools

While some people might think school custodians have the summers off, it couldn’t be further from the truth. 

The summer can be the busiest time of the year for Patricia Heffner, the head custodian at Freedom Elementary School.

Heffner had a calendar with each day filled with what she and her team were going to clean and where. It was all planned out. 

After 26 years with the School District of Manatee County, Heffner has cleaning a school down to a science. 

Although she has a love for all things involving cleaning, she didn’t have experience cleaning a school before taking a custodial position with the district. She said much of the job is common sense, but anything she had to learn, she learned from the head custodian she worked under at Palma Sola Elementary. 

She now passes that knowledge down to those who work for her. 

Heffner is not one to sit down and do nothing. She’s 67 years old and always on the go, working on something. 

“That’s probably why my school is the way it is,” she said, referencing how clean Freedom Elementary is. “I don’t want to ever retire and sit at home. When I do have to retire, it’s going to kill me.”

In her 26 years with the School District of Manatee County, Heffner only has worked at three schools: Palma Sola Elementary, Palm View K-8 School and Freedom Elementary. 

She’ll never forget the biggest mess she had to clean up. It was her first year on the job and she was at Palma Sola Elementary School.

Heffner said there were about 40 coats of wax on a floor that no one had ever taken off but rather kept waxing over it. It took her over a month to take off all the coats of wax and start fresh. 

Heffner said waxing a floor has become her favorite task of the job. After she’s done waxing every floor in the school, she said the school looks brand new, and oftentimes, parents will be impressed when they come in for Back to School Night or the first day of school. 

“I’m very good at what I do and I have pride in what I do,” Heffner said. “It’s not an easy job. People think it is. People think, ‘they’re just custodians, all they do is clean.’ It’s not that easy. You have to be able to concentrate on what you’re doing and what you’re telling people to do.”

With a new principal coming on board at Freedom Elementary, Heffner said she was a little worried. She had spent the past eight years working for Guy Grimes and developed a close relationship with him. 

Heffner joked with Grimes to make sure he tells the new principal, Xhuljeta Gjini, Heffner is the boss. 

Grimes said Heffner is a dedicated individual who cares about her job and knows the importance of keeping a school clean and orderly so it’s a better learning environment.

“She’s one of the best head custodians I’ve ever had not because of her job performance but because of the person she is,” Grimes said. 

Heffner runs a tight ship. 

She ensures teachers, staff and students try to be as tidy as possible throughout the school day. 

“The funny thing is, if someone spills things, it’s always, ‘Oh, Patty’s going to get you,’” Grimes said with a laugh.

As the school was finishing one of its final fundraisers of the year, Grimes said teachers and staff had dressed as Mario characters and were riding around the school on scooters. When they saw some of the scuff marks on the floor from the scooters, they knew they could be in trouble with Heffner.

“It was so funny that the teachers all went to get paper towels and stuff and started cleaning the floors,” Grimes said. “We just thought, ‘We can’t let Patty see this.’ Everybody knows perfection is her thing.”

Heffner enjoys interacting with the teachers and staff, but mostly, the students. She not only sees them during the school day as she’s roaming the school completing various tasks but also as the

She said you never know what a student might have experienced before walking through the doors, so she wants to be available for any student. 

“I love them all,” she said.