Schools
Cherokee School Board Outsources Custodians
The district vote to outsource its custodians to Aramark, which will offer current custodians full-time jobs.
The Cherokee County School Board has voted to outsource its custodial staff.
The board on Wednesday voted 6-1, with District 1 Member Kelly Marlow opposing, to select Aramark to outsource its custodians.
The move will allow Superintendent of Schools Dr. Frank Petruzielo to execute a contract with Aramark, which is slated to be around $5.33 million. Petruzielo said the company will offer full-time jobs to all 231 custodial positions, which also includes insurance benefits.
Petruzielo said the decision was just as "painful" for the district administration as it was for custodians who will be directly impacted by the change.
The district made the change to adjust to the state eliminating funding towards its non-certified employees participating in the State Health Benefit Plan, recurring, increasing costs in employer and employee costs towards the plan and complying with the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The superintendent said the state had allocated $400 million towards the State Health Benefit Plan, but that money has been "withdrawn," forcing local school districts to make up for the shortfall as well as continue to keep pace with premiums that have "skyrocketed."
"We just simply can’t afford to pay that kind of money for participation in state health benefit plan for all our non-certified employees," he added, noting the same people will be cleaning the district's schools, but won't be on the district's payroll.
Cherokee County School District officials believe the change could save around $3.7 million in operation and insurance costs for school year 2013-14 and an additional $800,000 for the following school year.Marlow said it was "disappointing" that the board would not consider outsourcing some central office positions as opposed to privatizing its custodians.
Custodians "wear their school pride openly," and create safe, clean environments where teachers can teach and parents can feel safe leaving their children.
"Our budget should not be balanced on the backs of our custodians," she added.
Board Chair Janet Read added the decision was not made lightly, and the district made the move as part of its promise to put any additional revenue towards eliminating furlough days and restoring classroom instruction days.
"These are just choices we have to make," she added. "We don’t have to like them, but we do have to make what’s the most fiscally responsible choices."
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Board member Robert Wofford added he hates "more than anything to see this happen," but the district had to make the best financial decision.
Board member Patsy Jordan agreed, adding she became friends with custodians while she spent 10 years teaching in Cherokee County schools. Jordan said she spent many hours going through each of the five proposals the district receive to ensure these custodians get the best deal possible.
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"I wanted the best for them because I know how hard they work," she said.
The board last month approved a contract with Seasonal Designs to perform grounds maintenance for the school district for $499,980.
That decision affected eight employees, two of which opted to retire from the district. The remaining six would most likely be offered positions in other areas of school district operations.
The change is expected to save about $100,000 in the upcoming fiscal year.
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