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07/20/2022 08:30 AMIt wasn’t until the last day of school that many learned Marc Collins was completing his career of 42 years and four months with Branford Public Schools (BPS). As someone who feels that doing a job well is the best possible reward, leaving his post quietly is pretty much the way Marc wanted it to be.
“I wanted to walk out into the sunset. That was my goal,” says Marc, who officially completed his work as Walsh Intermediate School (WIS) head custodian on July 5.
Making a quiet exit on June 23, the last day of the academic year, may have been Marc’s plan, but, “...basically, word got around.”
Marc says he appreciates the gratitude and good wishes that came his way from faculty and staff who caught up with him to say farewell.
He’s also glad he was there to help WIS transition into its expanded and renovated next-generation building in recent years. The school opened its new academic wing to students in January 2020, until the pandemic closed the building in March 2020 for the remainder of the school year. While spring 2020 evolved to include remote learning, Marc continued working at the building. He was there with his crew to welcome the advent of cohort student groups returning for hybrid classes in the fall of 2020. Then, in September 2021, they helped welcome faculty and students back to WIS, including its newly renovated, newly opened section of the school with its auditorium, music rooms, pool and gymnasium facilities.
Starting Out
Keeping his building running smoothly, while also managing the important daily work of its custodial staff and ensuring optimal facility maintenance for the best learning environment, has always been Marc’s forte.
Back in 1980, then-Branford Intermediate School was a relatively new facility when Marc got his start working in the district. He would go on to spend all but one year of his BPS career working at Branford’s grade 5 to 8 intermediate school facility.
“The old building was 8 years old when I got there,” says Marc. “I worked there for eight months, then I went to the high school for a year before I came back and never left.”
Marc became the intermediate school’s head custodian within a year and half of returning to the building. He’s collaborated with many different faculty and staff over the ensuing decades, including the school’s first principal, Francis “Fran” Walsh. Walsh is credited with helping to develop the school’s teaching team concept and cultivating community within a modern facility built as model for open classroom educational spaces.
“It was very unique because it was an open building,” Marc says. “You had cabinets and dividers for dividing walls [between classrooms]. I think you were more about community, because, face it, it was an open barn. Over the years, they added walls to it. So it was interesting.”
Marc recalls the entire school community converging around the former central media center for special assemblies, filling spaces along the balcony and all four grades filling open staircases surrounding it. He also remembers teachers and students making creative use of the large locker bay areas for extra programming, and the way the open cafeteria space could be converted to audience seating in addition to the lecture hall above for concerts, musicals, special events, and graduation ceremonies.
Of course, it was the custodial staff that set up and broke down all of those seating arrangements. That’s just part of the work they do for special programming and school events. There are also many tasks they take on as essential workers for the facility, such as coming in early to shovel snow and otherwise clear the sidewalks on winter days.
“I don’t think people understand what we actually do, besides cleaning the building,” Marc says.
Marc always set the bar high for his team to provide professional service. He also sends plenty of credit over to the school’s secretarial staff, especially Laura Spignesi, administrative assistant to WIS principal Raeanne Reynolds, for always keeping him and his staff on top of every event and program requiring their services.
“The secretaries were a big help to me. They’re a big help no matter where you go,” he says.
Over the years, Marc also developed a somewhat encyclopedic knowledge of quick fixes to help manage maintenance issues arising in the former WIS building.
“I was always curious as to how something works. Back then, when you called someone in, I always went with them to see what they were going to do,” says Marc, who would then be able to tweak some temporary fixes next time, if needed.
“So, in the old building, you could make it run until someone could come in to fix it.”
The new, next-generation WIS building is a bit different, he adds.
“I’m not into electronics, and this is 100 percent electronics; high tech,” says Marc of the building’s control systems. “That’s part of my reason for saying it’s time for someone new to come in.”
Working with His Hands
Growing up in Stony Creek, Marc remembers taking things apart to figure out how they worked, then putting them back together. To this day, he’s a problem-solver and a quick study when it comes to doing just about anything at which he’d like to try his hand.
“You can find anything you want to do on YouTube. As long as you’re not afraid to get your hands dirty, you can do it.”
Recently, Marc built an impressive outdoor pizza oven at his place. It complements an inspirational outdoor pavilion he also built, using timbers milled from tall pine trees cut down on his property. Over 25 years ago, Marc also renovated the interior of his Branford home’s post and beam farmhouse, built in 1695. He completed that work shortly after he and his wife, the late Lucy Collins, moved there in 1993.
Remarkably, their home’s closest neighbor is none other than Walsh Intermediate School. Marc’s land abuts a portion of the school’s front lawn and entrance area.
“My wife wanted a farmhouse. That’s the only reason I live here. She was looking for a certain style house,” says Marc.
Beginning in 1994, Marc also helped Lucy achieve another passion project – setting up what grew to be nearly 40,000 holiday lights outside their home for Christmas. The spectacular annual light show stopped traffic and draw crowds for nearly two decades.
It was all due to Lucy, says Marc, who brought the tradition to an end after she passed away in 2017.
“She was the person behind the lights, 100 percent. I was the helper. Every year, it got bigger and bigger,” says Marc. “She enjoyed it. It made her happy.”
In retirement, Marc’s looking forward to spending more time with the Collins’ three daughters and four grandchildren, at their homes in Branford and South Carolina. He’s also planning to get a few more projects underway, including helping friend in Virginia build a barn.
As for leaving his job at WIS, as well as the people he’s enjoyed working with at the school and across the district, Marc says it will probably take some for reality to sink in.
“It’s only been about two weeks, roughly, that I’ve been off the job,” he says, adding, “...l've had a few phone calls and a couple questions. It’s just like being on vacation, so far.”
Marc’s happy to provide any assistance he can to help with the transition. He gave his retirement notice to the district so his departure would coincide with the close of the academic year, allowing the next head custodian some time to get up to speed before 900 students come back in the fall.
“It’s a good time for me to leave, and it’s a good time for someone else to come in.”