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Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Norberto Fontes, FHS employee of the year.
Fontes is Monta Vista employee of the year
By Michelle Alaimo
Monta Vista High School custodian Norberto Fontes recently learned how much students and staff value a clean and safe school when his peers named him employee of the year.
"He does so much to keep our school clean and is always here in the morning, making sure we have a pleasant environment," said Mo-Yun Lei, Monta Vista's assistant principal.
With his wife, Juvenalia, acting as an interpreter, Fontes, a native of Portugal, said he was quite surprised when the announcement was made at a staff meeting. Fontes said school administration asked him to be on standby at the meeting and that he never had a clue that the real reason for his presence at the meeting was to surprise him with the news.
The Fremont Union High School Board of Trustees, at their March 21 board meeting, also honored Fontes and awarded him a certificate. Monta Vista facilities supervisor Gilbert Zamora said Fontes is always on top of his duties.
"He keeps up with the graffiti on campus so that it's not even visible," Zamora said. He added that Fontes goes above and beyond his job duties by giving up his lunch time to volunteer in the school's kitchen.
"I love my job because I like to work with people and to be with the kids," Fontes said.
The father of three said Monta Vista students aren't really that messy, except for right after lunch.
While Fontes enjoys his job, he said he hasn't always been a custodian. Before moving to the Bay Area in 1985, Fontes worked as a fisherman in San Diego and in his homeland of Portugal.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
