In 1994, Rodney Jones' life was at a crossroads.

The Long Beach school custodian had been offered a promotion a supervisor position that would answer to a school's vice principal. His response was surprising.

"No, I don't want to work for (the vice principal), I want to be (him),' he told the district official who had offered him the job.

For a large part of his more than 13-year custodial career in the Long Beach school district, Jones had dreamed of becoming a teacher, and had been going to college at night to get his degree.

And two years ago, the dream came true when he became a fifth-grade teacher at Jane Addams Elementary in Long Beach.

Jones' dramatic journey began more than 15 years ago, when a teacher at Elizabeth Hudson K-8 school asked the custodian to talk to a misbehaving student. Later, the teacher told Jones that whatever he had said had worked. The kid was no longer causing trouble.

"That's when I decided, hey, I can do more than just come here to do this job,' Jones says. "I can help these kids.'

And so Jones began expanding his role at the school. In the morning, he would read with students before beginning his workday. He became an expert in computers and began repairing the machines at the school.

But his main mission was to serve as a role model and confidant of students, taking them aside to talk about their problems and explain the importance of a good education.

His efforts began to get noticed. A principal at Hudson, the first school where Jones worked, told him one day that he was too intelligent not to be in college.

"And I thought, 'She's right," Jones recalls.

Starting in 1994, he began taking college night classes, not only to help himself but also to give kids a role model. Jones would remind them that he was a student, just like them, struggling with homework.

"They would look at me and go, 'You are?'... My whole thing is if I can do this, you can do this,' he says.

Jones' story inspires students, says Jill Rojas, principal at Addams who also was Jones' principal when he was a custodian at Hudson and at Thomas Jefferson Middle School.

"The reason I think he's such a good role model is because he wouldn't have a problem with telling the kids, 'You don't want to be a custodian," Rojas says.

"He would always tell them, 'This is what I'm doing right now, but that's until I finish my education," she says.

That was the attitude Jones was known for.

"I never looked at myself as being a custodian,' Jones says, adding that he isn't demeaning anyone with that job. "That's never defined me. That's why I was able to do more than that.'

Connecting with kids

Rojas recalls one low-income student whose hygiene problems were disrupting class. The friendly custodian spoke with the student and arranged to let the boy shower before or after school. Jones even bought him toiletries.

"Students gravitate to him,' Rojas says.

As a custodian, Jones says he would ask troubled kids what they wanted to do when they grew up. He would then research their career interests and would later tell the kid what steps he should take to achieve his dream.

"For a lot of them, it would shock them when I would come up to them and say, 'I have something for you, look at this," Jones says.

Long road

Jones for years lacked that kind of detailed road map.

The 40-year-old Inglewood native joined the military in 1981 after graduating from high school, inspired by his father's service.

After five years stationed in Washington state and in Germany, Jones returned to Southern California, where he worked fueling planes and then doing administrative work for a company at Los Angeles International Airport.

The money wasn't good. And so when he drove past the Long Beach Unified School District headquarters, he got the idea to apply for a job in the school district. He joined Hudson in 1987 as a custodian.

He originally began college courses intending to become a lawyer. But after a district recruiter suggested he become a teacher instead, his career decision became "a no-brainer,' he says.

But the road wasn't easy. His studies were put on hold in 1997 after his younger brother was stabbed to death while protecting a friend from an assailant.

"We did everything together,' Jones says. "To me, my brother was the nicest guy in the world.'

Many would say the same of Jones, who is known for never complaining and for being so committed to his job that he always chose to wear a uniform while working as a custodian, and now as a teacher, wears shirts and ties.

"I always took pride in my work and how I looked,' he says.

And he takes pride in the degree he received in 2001 from Cal State Dominguez Hills. That's just the beginning, though. A master's degree is next.

"No telling where I'll end up,' he says, smiling. "The sky's the limit.'