I’ve got a few things to say about the subject, as someone who’s been an after-hours school custodian.
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“The custodian did not pay to rent out the school for personal use.” Using work space to take photos of yourself as a base concept shouldn’t be alarming in any way, shape or form. How many offices let people stay late to do their own thing? There have been many times when I was bored with nothing to do (main job at that point was “be available if anything happens”), so I took advantage of various opportunities around the workplace that didn’t involve anything consumable.
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People are pointing out his mental health, as if that’s something to punish him for. I can tell you from the low-end job market, poor mental health and few resources to deal with it is not only the norm, but in a capitalistic society that’s the system functioning as intended. Maybe he needs help. That’s the default state for a lot of people, and help is not available. I’m just guessing, but as “head custodian” he could makes enough money to disqualify him for government assistance programs, but not enough to actually afford the medical assistance he could need with crappy insurance. That’s where I’m stuck. Or maybe he’s content as-is; if he’s not a danger to himself or others then why single him out?
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He’s turning to his community for support of his hobby. Maybe not in the best manner, but it’s telling that rather than his supposed peers working with him or at least quietly glad someone’s indulging in their hobbies, I sense some classism here in that he’s supposed to be “the help”, a servant, and not seen as a coworker or even possibly a human being. I’ve had that feeling a lot too across a range of custodial jobs.
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Buuuut, that said, I agree it’s not good to be photographing himself in an identifiable place in uniform with weapons. A dimly lit school hallway, cafeteria, classroom, if there’s nothing personally identifiable, could probably make for a great horror pose. Obvious weapons should be an absolute no-go on school property; there’s probably already policy against that anyway. There should be plenty of makeshift “weapons” available though that would look menacing with a creepy clown, though, or even just outstretched hands. (A screwdriver, hacksaw, broom handle, maybe even a generic bottle and rag appearing to be chloroform? Anything with a different primary purpose that can only be a “weapon” for a photograph.)
Even if there weren’t a policy against it, I’d definitely recommend not using a school uniform or anything with the school’s name or logo, nothing identifiable about the school in the background (school name/logo, anything with people’s names especially students, I’d even want to make sure no student artwork or projects were visible), and definitely no non-makeshift weapons.
