Anger from parents over plan for some janitors to go part-time

Seven more schools in South Lanarkshire could soon be about to lose full-time janitors.

Draft proposals in next year’s budget would see every primary school with less than 100 pupils lose the fulltime cover in favour of a part-time arrangement.

Already, 22 of the 29 smallest schools in the region are forced to rely on a part-time janitor.

Should councillors agree to the proposals at the budget meeting on Wednesday, February 26, then Dalserf, Netherburn, Quarter, St Mary’s Larkhall, Carstairs Junction, Coalburn and Tinto primary schools would all be affected.

Pamela Kerr of Dalserf Parent Council felt the school was being shortchanged as there were as many as 98 pupils attending two years ago.

She said: “Education are reducing the janitorial services for schools with less than 100 pupils. There are four schools in ward 22 (Larkhall) that would be affected (Dalserf, Netherburn, Quarter and St Mary’s).

“Our school has 78 pupils. It’s not like it’s one in the Leadhills with 15 pupils, it is still a significant number.

“Our parents are raging.” Concerned parents have met with councillors to convey their concerns, with three of Larkhall’s four councillors fully behind retaining the current arrangement and the fourth “likely” to follow.

Pamela accepted that “some common sense” had to be applied for the smallest schools but claimed the move would “disadvantage” more pupils.

She added: “Schools in the Leadhills etc are disadvantaged because they are rural.

“Our kids aren’t completely rural but they are being disadvantaged because of the number of them.

“This is the third time that they have proposed something like this. This is why the parents are up in arms.

“They would have caretakers for set hours, the janitors wouldn’t be there all the time.

“I heard it described as the caterpillar effect, it will ripple through and impact their education.”

Pamela was also concerned about what would happen to the janitors themselves as she felt they were an asset to the schools.

She said: “Two of the four janitors do extra-curricular activities with the kids. They run Netherburn football team.

“The janitors that are there have been there for a while. They have a great rapport with the kids. They are the kind of guys that would go above and beyond.”

South Lanarkshire Council’s head of facilities, waste and grounds services, Alistair Mckinnon, said: “There are currently 22 schools across South Lanarkshire which have a school roll of less than 100 pupils and which operate with a part-time janitor in place.

“It has now been proposed that the council should implement a consistent approach across our schools by extending this to seven other schools which have rolls of less than 100 pupils. This includes Dalserf Primary.

“This proposal is one of a number included in a package of potential savings presented to Elected Members for their consideration in December, when the Executive Committee agreed to defer a decision until more details were available on the council’s funding for 2020/21. This also allowed time for members of the public and others to give their views on the proposals.

“The results of the public consultation will be shared with elected members when the savings proposals come back before them for further consideration.”