Tentative Plan to Layoff Custodians Causes Concerns

The Board of Education's tentative school budget proposal to eliminate 26 custodial positions is causing concerns among some community members and parents.

Laying off custodians on the 2:10 p.m. to midnight shift will save around $900,000, according to district Business Administrator Robert Finger.  The employees would have their jobs outsourced to a private vendor under the tentative plan.

“This area of potential savings has been discussed by the board and by the public for several years,” Finger wrote in an email.

Under the proposal, custodians would be eliminated and savings from outsourcing the jobs would be used for five additional teachers at the high school.  The added teachers would help lessen class sizes, according to the district's budget presentation.

The district received custodial service bids Feb. 24 from Aramark Education Services, Pritchard Industries and TEMCO. The board has 90 days to award or reject the bids, Finger said. Any private company must offer employment to district workers who are let go.

While officials have said outsourcing the custodians will contain costs, opponents argue the layoffs will make schools less safe by eliminating trusted district employees.

Board of Education candidate Howard Rose said the BOE could easily target custodians because they are a smaller group, but the bulk of salary costs do not come from them.

“The Board shouldn’t treat them so disparately compared with the over 300 workers who are not being asked to take a large pay reduction,” Rose said. “My hope is that the majority of the board members treat them with respect rather than with superficial, sympathetic rhetoric."

Rose said the private sector jobs offered to the custodians would likely come with a pay cut.

If the proposed plan to use an outside company were approved, the contract would be two years with up to two one-year renewals thereafter for a total of four years, which the board would have to approve, Finger said. The contract could be terminated with 60 days notice.

At the March 9 Board of Education meeting, current custodians, former teachers, the teachers union and parents, stood up to voice their opposition to the outsourcing plan. Many also showed up at the March 16 board meeting.

“It is hard for us to imagine our custodians being replaced by random company workers, as this is how we see them. The custodians are a vital part of this school,” said a letter submitted to the school board from staff.

Thomas Papaleo, president of the town's teachers union, said their board voted unanimously to support the district custodians.

“We believe that the commitment that our custodians have demonstrated in decades of service is in itself reason to maintain the integrity of their presence in our school environment,” Papaleo told Board members.

Board of Education President Ardie Walser said with last year’s budget cut forcing the district to layoff 45 teachers, some need to be put back in the classroom to keep the class sizes down.

“No one on the board is really happy about outsourcing,” Walser said. “We need to think about what we can do as individuals to maintain a school system we are all proud of.”

Clara Williams, another school board candidate, said she does not think the custodians should be outsourced and hoped a compromise would be reached.

“I think that saving these jobs would benefit the community greatly,” Williams said.

Parents and members of the community have also raised concerns about school safety with having outside workers in the schools with students.

Finger said state law requires all employees of an outside contractor to not only have a background check, but also a state and federal fingerprinting check.

Board of Education candidate Alan Sohn said he believed the district should focus on its core mission of educating students.

“Of course we need to have clean, well-maintained, safe classrooms and buildings, but that core mission of educating students is with teachers,” Sohn said.

The layoffs remain under consideration and the tentative budget is not final until a public input hearing on March 29.