Talk about a room with a broom.
After nearly two decades of cleaning Albany school hallways, head custodian Timothy Walters stopped clocking out in the usual sense — and instead quietly began living inside the very building he was hired to maintain.
“I had no where else to go,” Walters, 36, told The Post, explaining why Hackett Middle School became his unlikely home. “I was living with my sister and her boyfriend, but they needed time alone to deal with their own problems. I was already paying my partner child support for our four teenage children and I didn’t have enough to get my own place.”
The Albany City School District placed Walters on unpaid suspension in May as officials investigated the situation. He ultimately stepped down from the job on June 23, district spokesman Ron Lesko said, according to the Times Union.
Walters reportedly admitted last October that he had converted a fourth-floor space above the auditorium into a makeshift apartment, outfitting the hidden room with several beds, a mini fridge and various pieces of furniture.
His off-the-books living arrangement also doubled as a place for family time. Walters said his four teenage children stayed with him there on weekends when he had custody, taking advantage of days when few people were in the school to notice anything unusual.
For months, the longtime Albany school custodian kept the setup hidden. But in the final week of April, the secret surfaced during a separate district inquiry that had nothing to do with where he was sleeping.
School officials were examining security video as part of an investigation into other custodians suspected of submitting false overtime claims. Walters was not accused of that alleged misconduct, but the footage revealed something else: he appeared to be inside Hackett Middle School around the clock.
Walters had previously been living with his younger sister and her boyfriend, but found his presence was too intrusive. He said he allowed his sister to believe he had found a legitimate apartment.
“The layout had a futon bed and a bunch of old, older chairs and some furniture that’s just been sitting in there for who knows how long. And I ended up cleaning it out and bringing in multiple beds, mini fridge,” Walters told local news channel CBS 6.
Walters said child support and expenses for his four children ate deeply into his $64,000 salary. With overtime, he said he earned about $80,000 in 2025.
“I knew what I was doing was wrong,” said Walters. “But I didn’t know what to do. When your back is against the wall, sometimes you end up making choices you probably shouldn’t have made.”
Walters said living with an uncle in a trailer park, where he is currently on the list for his own, and has had two job offers.
The local police looked into the matter and at first slapped Walters with trespassing charges that were eventually dropped, and his sister set up a GoFundMe to help him set up new housekeeping.
