Nicholas Fusco learned his job as director of school facilities and operations for the East Williston School District from the ground up.
Fusco, 55, started working in the East Williston district in 1992 as a cleaner in the Wheatley School. He became a senior maintainer in 1996 and then head custodian at Wheatley in 1997. He started in his current position last month, succeeding Christopher Malone, who left the job in February.
“On the other side, I was juggling everything. Now I’m figuring out how to juggle everything,” Fusco said.
When Fusco started working at Wheatley, he had no long-term plans to remain there. He had been self-employed for 10 years after spent working as a driver for the United Parcel Service for 11 years. He injured his back while at UPS and had surgery to correct his problems. But his physical issues persisted.
“I was in the chiropractor’s office all the time, so I decided to switch careers,” he said.
He then started his own business as a house painter and office cleaner for the next 10 years. But he said he tired of chasing after clients who owed him money and applied for a job in the East Williston School District.
“I thought it was going to be a short layover. But I loved it,” he said.
Married with four children, Fusco said he thoroughly enjoyed working around students and helping teachers at Wheatley.
“This place is a special place. I’ve come across some great educators who made us feel part of the education system,” Fusco said.
Along with maintaining the physical plant at Wheatley, he said the custodial staff gets involved in preparing rooms for high school club activities, the annual Key Club Walkathon and senior parties at the school, as well as the sophomore English experimental projects that frequently involve complex “show-and-tell” set-ups.
“Whatever their needs are, we fulfill them,” he said.
He credits longtime Wheatley head custodian Ike O’Connor with showing him the “ins and outs” and the politics involved with the job.
He said the job became more complex over time with the awareness about allergies and other issues connected with safely maintaining the district schools. He said his longtime co-workers, custodians Jerome Slaughter and Mike Deister, also helped him master his responsibilities as head custodian.
“They became almost like family,” he said.
Fusco said he envisioned the head custodian job to be about “fixing things.” But he said over time computerization has transformed the job, noting that the heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems in the high school are now controlled by computer. The responsibilities of filing reports and ordering supplies also transformed the position.
“It’s changed big time. It’s more of a white-collar job than a blue-collar job,” he said.
After taking the civil service exam to become a director of facilities, he applied to other school districts for the job before the opportunity opened up in East Williston. Fusco is currently taking courses online in facilities management to earn an associates degree from Mohawk Valley Community College and is also taking courses at Hofstra University for a certification program in facilities management there.
Fusco said the most exciting part of his new job is dealing with architects in planning construction projects. The most challenging aspect is preparing the budget, an aspect of the job in which he said district administrators gave him plenty of support.
And of course, there are the added health and security issues of overseeing two buildings besides Wheatley.
“The biggest part of the job is deciding which fire to put out first, so to speak,” he said.
In his free time, Fusco enjoys fishing. He’s also an avid motorcyclist and is a member of the Patriot Guard, a group that acts as an escort at homecomings for military veterans and at their funerals, to shield veterans’ families from protestors.
He said he and his wife, Penny, also enjoy spending time with their family, which now includes three grandchildren.
