Rodney Esser stood in an elementary school gym on a recent afternoon, waiting for the fourth graders to finish class so he could clean the floor. A handful of kids ran over to Esser and surprised him with a group hug.
“Hugging those kids and letting them go away feeling good about themselves is more important,” Esser, 86, told The Washington Post. “Some of the stuff has to wait so I can take care of my kids.”
In his 61 years working as a custodian at Park Elementary School in Cross Plains, Wisconsin, Esser, who’s known as “Mr. Peanuts” to students and colleagues, said building relationships is the foundation of his job. Even if Esser is rushing to an emergency — a student vomited or a toilet clogged — Esser stops to give students high-fives, hugs and fist bumps in the hallways.
Esser told his colleagues last month that he would retire at the end of the school year — when you’re 86, it’s no longer easy to climb a ladder to the roof to collect balls that get stuck there during recess. His co-workers gave him a standing ovation. But Esser isn’t saying goodbye to the school — he made an agreement to return as a volunteer to mentor students. Each gives what the other needs.
“It’s been an exciting life for me,” Esser said. “… I just want to keep going.”
Esser has spent most of his life on or near the land where the school sits. Esser’s family worked on a farm that grew crops there — corn, alfalfa and oats — for more than three decades before the owners sold the land to a school district in 1964. Park elementary was built on the land.
The school district offered Esser a job as a custodian as part of the sale. Esser accepted.
Esser’s family nicknamed him “Peanut” because he was a tiny baby. His nickname evolved to “Peanuts” growing up, and when he started as a custodian in 1965, the principal introduced him as “Mr. Peanuts.”
That’s how thousands of students have referred to Esser, who worked at Park during the years his daughters — Anna, 53, and Pamela, 49 — and grandchildren — Lane, 26, and Allie, 23 — attended the school.
Every morning, Esser disarms the building’s alarm system around 6:30 a.m. and confirms the temperature is around 71 degrees. If it snows, Esser comes in about an hour early to sweep the sidewalks. Esser said he works extra hours and has never taken a sick day.
He often cleans the cafeteria and restrooms while listening to polka and country music on his earbuds that also serve as his hearing aids. He said he feels a sense of pride when he cleans the concrete floors so well they gleam. He even allows students to operate his floor scrubber, which Esser calls his Zamboni.
There are decades-old stories he still tells colleagues, like the time he suggested to a first-grade teacher that students raise about a dozen chickens in the classroom. Esser built a fenced pen where students held and pet the birds.
During spring break, Esser visited the school to feed the chickens. But he skipped the final day of the break, and when staff returned, the chickens had learned to fly and escaped their pen. They left their droppings all over chairs, desks and tables — a monumental cleanup for Esser.
Esser has received dozens of drawings and thank-you cards from students through the years that he keeps on his office door and at his Cross Plains home. His favorites are ones written by kindergarten students because of the creative ways they misspell words.
“We all love you,” says a note on Esser’s office door, accompanied by a drawing of a smiley face with hearts as eyes. “even when things get hared you ohwas have a smiuell. We can not live whith out you.”
“You do a trific job of cleaning the school,” another note says. “You also do a fabelus job of fixing stuf. You are fantastic at moing the lon.”
In 2023, Esser was the runner-up in a national contest for custodian of the year, as the Wisconsin State Journal reported at the time. Esser is so popular around school that his colleagues made red, white and blue shirts that said “Mr. PEANUTS FOR PRESIDENT 2024.” To celebrate Esser’s six decades at Park, the school, which serves about 250 students, held a parade in October 2024 and a concert in April at a nearby high school.
On Jan. 14, Esser told his colleagues in a staff meeting in the cafeteria that he would retire on July 6, prompting cheers. After his colleagues quieted down, Esser read a speech from a piece of paper, thanking his colleagues and discussing the fishing vacation he and his family plan to take in north Wisconsin in August.
Esser said he’ll return to the school in October to volunteer. His colleagues, like physical education teacher Jarett Peterson, don’t plan to miss him for long.
“He’s probably still going to be here every day,” Peterson said.
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