Pearce Elementary Custodian Jalil Faucett Named Guilford County Schools Employee of the Month

Jalil Faucett was in the middle of cleaning a hallway at E.P. Pearce Elementary when he noticed something was wrong. A student had been standing outside a classroom for too long, refusing to go in. Faucett stopped, listened to the student's concerns, and shared stories from his own life until the moment passed.

That instinct, barely a year into his role as Pearce's lead custodian, helped earn Faucett the Guilford County Schools Employee of the Month recognition, announced by the district on March 9, 2026.

Kim Schubert, a counselor at Pearce who submitted a nomination for Faucett, described the hallway exchange directly. "Mr. Jay truly exceeds his required duties at Pearce Elementary, recognizing that the most important work for everyone is about the kids," Schubert wrote. "Recently, I was working with a student who was hesitant to go to class; he just wouldn't budge. As Mr. Jay was cleaning the hallway, he noticed how long we had been outside of the classroom, and he checked in. He took the time to listen to this student's concerns and shared his own stories related to the situation. I really appreciated how he noticed a situation and stepped up to help."

Beyond his relationships with students, Faucett plays a quiet but consistent role in addressing food insecurity at the school of roughly 740 students. Each day, he collects unopened and uneaten food left behind after meals and stocks it into Pearce's Sharing Fridge, part of a Food Recovery program run by the Greensboro nonprofit A Simple Gesture.

"We'll find milk. We'll find apple juice, orange juice, carrots, apples, peanut butter and jelly, icees," Faucett said of the items he regularly pulls together. When an A Simple Gesture volunteer arrives to collect the recovered food, Faucett helps organize everything for transport. "We'll separate it in bags like dairy with dairy, apples, fruits with fruits, and we'll load it in her car, and I'll see her again on Friday," he said. Those boxes then go to partner organizations including food pantries, churches, and clinics across Guilford County.

As part of the Employee of the Month award, Faucett received a $50 gift card provided by the Greensboro Jaycees, a membership organization for young professionals and community leaders in the area. Throughout March, his photo will be displayed at Guilford County Schools' central offices, at Pearce Elementary, and at the Greensboro Jaycees office.

Pearce, which opened in August 2007 and is named after Dr. Pearce, who served as Guilford County Schools superintendent from 1959 to 1978, has built a reputation for community engagement alongside academics. The school's student body participates fully in service learning programs including the United Way Campaign, Jump Rope for Heart, Out of the Garden food collection, and Toys for Tots. Faucett's work with the Sharing Fridge fits squarely within that tradition.

Guilford County Schools accepts nominations for Employee of the Month through a form available on the district's website.