Park Slope School Honors 'One in a Million' Custodian View Full Caption

PARK SLOPE — P.S. 107 boasts top-notch test scores, an active PTA and an arts enrichment program, but what parents and staff rave most about is the school's recently retired custodian.

Frank Lombardo, 52, buffed his last floor earlier this year and returned to P.S. 107 on Wednesday for a ceremony to honor his 34 years of service.

Tears and hugs flowed freely in P.S. 107's garden as PTA President Alyse Dosik and Principal Eve Litwack presented Lombardo with a plaque and spoke of his dedication.

"He was the foundation of our school," a choked-up Litwack told the crowd. "The school is not the same without Frank, but the school will go on."

Afterward, students lined up to hug Lombardo, who was known as "Mr. Frank" to the school's children.

Lombardo's day officially started at 6 a.m. but he usually arrived around 4:30 a.m. and stayed until 4 p.m. The hours in between were spent keeping P.S. 107's 121-year-old building running smoothly.

He planted flowers outside the building, repaired broken windows and doors, and helped parents set up for countless after-school events, Dosik said.

Lombardo took pride in polishing brass fixtures with Brasso and terrycloth rags until they gleamed because he wanted visitors to be impressed when they walked into the school, he said.

"My bosses said I was fanatical about that," he said.

He managed it all with a kind demeanor and a ready smile for students, most of whom he knew by name, parents said.

"He was the soul of the school," said mom Victoria Guisinger, who attended Wednesday's event even though her son graduated from the school in 2012. "Other than a teacher, he was the first staff person my kids knew."

Dad Daniel Paterna, another former parent who came to pay his respects on Wednesday, described Lombardo as "the epitome of dedication." On frigid winter nights Lombardo spent the night in the building to make sure the boiler kept running so students would have warm classrooms in the morning, Paterna said.

When Lombardo was hired in the 1980s, his job included shoveling coal into a basement boiler. Park Slope was "a different area" then, he said. He started his days then painting over graffiti, sweeping up crack vials and checking to see if the school had been broken into — a common occurrence at the time, he said.

Lombardo was just 18 when he came to work at P.S. 107 and he spent his entire career there. He worked with three principals and saw students grow up to become P.S. 107 parents themselves, he said. Over time, the school community became as dear as family to him, an emotional Lombardo said on Wednesday.

"It wasn't about money — I'm a guy that cared about kids," Lombardo said.

Lombardo said that his father died when he was young and after that he focused on two things: caring for his mom and working at P.S. 107. His mom passed away recently and he decided to retire from the school because of health problems — he's due to have back and shoulder surgery soon.

Lombardo, who never married or had children of his own, said the school was his family.

"107 will be in my heart forever," Lombardo said. "It was my life, it was my wife. It was everything. I don't regret it. I did it for the children. I met a lot of beautiful people working at this school. I feel blessed. A lot of people don't get to experience that."