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Custodial services to be privatized
(by Karen F. Mrnarevic - May 03, 2008)
The mood was somber at the April 30 meeting of the Hillsdale Board of Education as the board opened the floor for public comment on the resolution to authorize the awarding of a custodial management services contract to a private contractor.
“People think I want to do this,” said Superintendent Anthony DeNorchia of the prospect of not renewing contracts for three members of the district’s custodial staff. “I don’t want to do this… Unfortunately we are facing realities… We are facing a budget cut.”
Hillsdale’s school budget, which totaled $15,240,352, was voted down on April 15, and now, said DeNorchia, the board is forced to make difficult decisions in order to reduce expenditures.
According to him, if the board did not approve the outsourcing of custodial services, “Plan B” would have involved cutting members of the teaching staff. “Is there another way, other than cutting personnel?” said DeNorchia, “I wish there was.” The board voted unanimously to award a two-year $632,966 contract to Pritchard Industries, Inc., a
New York based maintenance staffing company. The approximate savings for the district due to the change will be $100,000, money DeNorchia said will help replenish the district’s meager $98,000 budget surplus, and hopefully inspire the borough council to look favorably on the budget.
Prior to hearing the vote, three members of the Hillsdale community came to podium to comment to the board, including one resident who brought her daughter to read a personal statement in support of the custodial staffers who will now be losing their jobs. Abigail Lee, a fourth grade student at A.B. Smith school, introduced herself and spoke on behalf of the custodians whose jobs were in jeopardy. “The janitors should not lose their jobs,” she said, “Just because the other schools hired other people, doesn’t mean you have to. Our janitors rock.”
Paul Kearns, the father of a
Smith
School student who is dangerously allergic to nuts, commented that his main concern is that the level of cleanliness in the school could suffer in the hands of an independent custodial contractor, at the potential expense of children’s health. “By taking it to an outside contractor… individuals that are working for them will not be of the same caliber and the same quality as the people that are walking through the schools at night [now].”
DeNorchia tried to assuage concerns that Pritchard custodians will do a substandard job at cleaning the schools. He and board member Tim Santo took a trip to two
Northern
Valley schools, in which Pritchard custodians are currently employed, to survey the conditions at the school. The two were accompanied by Bill Gerichter of Edvocate, a consulting firm hired by the board, on their tour of
Thomas
Jefferson
School in Northvale and
Charles
DeWolf
School in Old Tappan. They reported that they were very pleased with the conditions of the schools and that the administrators from both schools reported that they were satisfied with the quality of service provided by Pritchard.
Ellen Davis, the President of the Hillsdale Education foundation made a statement to the board that suggested the workers employed by independent contractors might be more likely to exhibit bad behavior since they feel no sense of responsibility to the district. She referenced the
Cherry Hill
School district , which outsourced its custodial services to Aramark in 1998. “These outside workers did not clean their schools up to the same standards they had come to expect,” said
Davis . “These outside workers were found with drugs, stole electronic equipment, and most horrifying, had molested a child.”
But DeNorchia said the district is “taking every safeguard, the same ones I take with my regular employees.” He added, “Can something happen down the road? Yeah, but that can happen tomorrow with my own staff.” Incidentally, the Cherry Hill Board of Education voted on April 30 to revert to in-house custodial staffing.
Christy Canaby, Associate Director for Public Relations Communications for the New Jersey Educational Association (NJEA), disagrees that the board was forced to make the decision. The NJEA, she said, has reviewed Hillsdale’s budget, and has found that “the surplus that seems to be of great concern [to the board] will continue to grow without any change to custodial services.” She referred to the approximately $200,000 in additional state aid that the district is slated to receive in July, and savings that the district can expect to see due to a change in employee benefits.
Canaby also pointed out that the district could face more costs in the form of unemployment insurance payments to the three district custodians who will be replaced. Originally, it was supposed to have been four, but one of the mid-shift custodians from
A.B.
Smith
School , John Calandrillo, recently submitted a letter announcing his retirement as of July 1.
While DeNorchia stated that if custodial jobs were not cut, the only way to increase the surplus would be to eliminate teacher positions, Canaby disagreed, saying, “there is nothing definitive that says that would really be the case.” She added that she takes exception to that particular argument, saying it “pits one set of careers against another,” forcing the community to decide whether it thinks “teachers’ or custodians’ careers are more important.”
Echoing the statements made by members of the community, Canaby said, “These custodians are more than just employees, they are friends and they are family.” Furthermore, although the decision has been made to award the contract to Pritchard, and “the HEA was unsuccessful, they are going to be vigilant in monitoring this new company… They are committed to quality and safety and are unwavering in that commitment.”
Despite arguments against the decision, the board feels that given the tenuous situation the district is in with a failed budget, a tiny surplus and no contingency plan in the event of additional special education classifications, there was no other choice. “I believe it was the right decision,” said DeNorchia, “Unfortunately, it wasn’t a happy decision. I did what I had to do for the betterment of the school system.”
Karen F. Mrnarevic's e-mail address is Mrnarevic@northjersey.com.
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