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BEACON PHOTO/AL EVERSON
Got work? — Taking time from a busy day and night, members of the Volusia School District’s custodial and maintenance staff watch the School Board’s deliberations on whether to outsource their jobs.
BEACON PHOTO/AL EVERSON
Watching and waiting — These Volusia County Schools employees say their work includes more than simply cleaning restrooms and mopping floors. In addition to their routine tasks, the janitors and maintenance workers say they help out in classrooms and with extra activities at school. Despite their hard work, they say they fear unemployment, if the School Board ultimately decides to choose private companies to do their work. School administrators say privatizing the custodial and maintenance staff of the schools will save millions of dollars in a frail economy.
By Al Everson
posted Feb 18, 2013 - 6:32:59am
After almost five hours of analytical presentations and impassioned remarks, the Volusia County School Board voted 3-2 to contract with private firms willing to take over work now done by its own custodians and maintenance personnel.
“We’re going out in new territory,” School Board Member Candace Lankford said.
A crowd of custodial and maintenance workers attended the Feb. 12 meeting.
The School Board’s split vote is not the final move. It authorizes the school-district administration to issue request proposals from prospective contractors, who would make their best bids to take over janitorial work and grounds maintenance at schools and other buildings.
Schools Superintendent Margaret Smith proposed the policy change.
“I have made this recommendation in order to help save the students and classrooms from further budget cuts,” Dr. Smith said. “It is heart-wrenching, impacting our custodial and grounds-care employees.”
About 485 employees are directly affected. Many of them showed up to hear, and help form, the debate.
K. Radford, a custodian at Freedom Elementary School in DeLand, had a different money-saving idea.
“In other districts, board members are volunteers. If they want to do something, why don’t they give up their pay?” she said.
The five elected Volusia County School Board members each earn $34,010 a year.
The proposal to contract with private maintenance firms is the latest austerity measure, following five years of budget cuts as a result of a continuing economic slump, reduced state appropriations for education, declines in revenues, and the rejection in the fall by Volusia County voters of a 1-mill add-on property tax.
That tax would have generated an estimated $25 million in new revenue each year for the next four years. To close the gap between estimated spending and revenues, Assistant Superintendent for Financial Services Robert Moll said some teachers may also have to be cut from the payroll during the 2013-14 fiscal year.
“This is my sixth year in this position. Every budget has been a difficult one,” Moll said. “Discussions like this are very, very difficult.”
The School Board confirmed the janitorial and maintenance jobs will be cut.
“The vote tonight is the elimination of those positions?” School Board Chairwoman Diane Smith asked District Chief Counsel Michael Dyer.
“That’s correct,” Dyer said.
If the outsourcing goes forward and a contract is awarded to “the lowest responsible bidder,” he said, “the last day of employment will be June 30.”
To cushion the blow, the School Board will include in its RFP a requirement that the winning bidder hire the School District’s current employees, if those workers are willing to accept the job. Dyer said the RFP provision is “mandatory, not permissive.”
The School Board’s decision to privatize work now done by its own blue-collar staff is supposed to save between $4.5 million and $6 million per year.
If the proposals from the companies competing for a contract with the School Board do not show “substantial” savings — well below the almost $18.6 million allocated this year for janitorial work, maintenance and groundskeeping — Dr. Margaret Smith said she will not recommend making the change.
The cautionary expressions were not comforting to employees who stand to be axed. A union president questioned what working conditions would be under a private contractor.
“I did not hear anything about a 40-hour week,” said Thomas Wenz, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 850.
“We are now throwing people to the wind,” he added. “It is time for every employee of this district to say, ‘Enough is enough.’”
“As a husband, father and grandfather, I need my job,” said Robert Armstrong of Orange City.
“It has a huge humanitarian cost, hundreds of people,” said Sarah Jones of Port Orange.
Jones said the explanation of how money would be saved was “ ... not to clarify but to mystify.”
Privatizing had its supporters, as well, even if they were not as numerous as the critics.
“You’ve got a difficult decision here tonight because Volusia County is in a difficult position,” said Jim Cameron, vice president of governmental relations of the Daytona Beach Regional Chamber of Commerce. “Anyone can bid. Employees can bid through the contract-bargaining process. ... Are we thrilled about this? No, but we’re saying, ‘Do what you have to do.’”
“People’s jobs and careers are at stake, but you’ve got to think about the jobs and careers of our students,” Nancy Holman, of Ormond Beach, told the School Board. “This will have the least impact on our students.”
When the board voted, Lankford and Board Members Linda Costello and Stan Schmidt formed the majority, while Chairwoman Smith and new Board Member Ida Wright dissented.
Reader Comments
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refused to meet the class size amendment (broke the law, resulting in fines)
has watched over the move of volusia schools to a "c" district
protects administrative jobs at ANY cost
that is 3 strikes, margaret smith
Allow me 30 days and the ability to pick who to work with at the Volusia County School Board (or anyone I wish).. and I will deliver the results of a MEANINGFUL and realistic cost analysis that looks at bringing all of custodial services back to where it should be, in-house.. and back into the hands of caring people.
There are three School Board members that NEED to see a viable alternative.
No bullchip and no egos.. just working people with common sense attempting to solve a problem. (with no involvement by your Maintenance Department at all)
Will you take that challenge?
It is for the children.
Paul Hale
Superintendent Margaret Smith and Director of Maintenance Russ Tysinger got a YES nod to outsourcing custodial services on February 13, 2013 by three Volusia County School Board members and with a willingness that may rise to the level of eagerness, these five are now leading an assault on nearly 500 families and their livelihood. This move toward outsourcing Volusia County Schools custodial services began last summer (2012), which makes it all the more disturbing and raises concerns on several levels.
If this School Board decides to look the other way and be led blindly into an outsourcing contract, I would Immediately revise the School Board contract with Russ Tysinger to forbid him from jumping ship and going to work for WHOEVER (wink, wink..) gets the contract.
I would also eliminate Russ Tysinger's desire to hold on to his band of gypsy supervisors that will be paid to essentially evaluate themselves.. a luxury that Aramark has held for some time.. a luxury that was handed to them by Russ Tysinger and something he will want desperately. If this School Board eventually votes to approve a contract to outsource, they should hire an independent and unbiased third party company to evaluate the cleanliness of our schools with the money saved from cutting the supervisors that have nothing to do, supervisors that he moves around constantly in his funny little payroll game.
This relationship with an outside contractor was structured for many years so that area supervisors employed by Volusia County Schools were paid for with our tax dollars but were supervised by the outside contractor Aramark. A very odd organizational structure that left us twisting in the wind when we needed help. Russ Tysinger and his maintenance department have repeatedly failed to hold Aramark accountable to their obligations under the contract.
Does anyone know why that would be?
Aramark fell under the umbrella of the VCSB Maintenance Department and it has always been a struggle and at times impossible to get the proper amount of cleaning supplies and equipment from Aramark. There is not a system in place to track the amount of product that they are supplying, (or the value of what they were providing) nor is there a system in place to evaluate the equipment or service they are or have been providing by having good documentation.
Don't listen to me.. and don't listen to Russ Tysinger. Go ask the educators that are serving as Principals, or better yet ask the Assistant Principals that serve in the role as the Facility Manager of their schools and ask them what their experience has been. Ask the Head Custodians in any of the schools across the county... ask the people who have dealt with Aramark on a regular basis.
These School Board members don't need to wonder aloud what outsourcing might look like and what kind of service will be provided, many of us already know already know, and it is all there for you to evaluate.
Apparently your Director of Maintenance Russ Tysinger doesn't want you to know.
Sincerely, JEL
start a PETITION to LIMIT terms and PAY!! this is the only way they will listen is when the PUBLIC starts wanting change!
Make the students do the cleaning....it will show them what the future will be like in the Bankrupt States of America as it spirals into debt.
Our scumbags in Washington are on break gain.....maybe they can borrow more money for the big FRAUD which is what the USA has become.
The USA is a superpower...SUPERFRAUD...borrowing to keep the lies of wealth intact
Privatizing government services is a joke. In the situations I have seen the privatization produces contractors that do not do what they are contracted to do and keep the contract until good sense prevail and employees are bought back.
Like in gardening, pruning should be done at the top, unless you want stunted growth and no fruit.
The Deltona City Manager is getting over $300,000 serverence package.....maybe she will share the unemployment blues with champagne?
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