School board votes to hire firm for custodial services

AMITY >> The Daniel Boone Area School Board voted unanimously last week to hire an outside firm to provide custodial and other maintenance services, a move that could cost 35 district jobs.

Richard Martino, chairman of the board’s finance committee, said at a May 18 budget meeting that the district would save $430,000 by outsourcing these services, which include building maintenance, groundskeeping and snow removal.

Acknowledging the potential furlough of 35 current district employees, the board went ahead Monday to retaining GCA Educational Services Inc. for custodial and maintenance services.

“The board will continue impact bargaining,” said board President Michael Wolfe prior to the vote, adding, “Our goal is to retain everyone.”

Prior to the meeting, the unions representing district support staff and teachers held a rally to protest the planned outsourcing. The protesters then attended the school board meeting.

“Shame on you,” said some of the district’s custodial employees as they exited the room, following the board’s vote.

“God bless the kids in this dis- trict,” said one employee.

Members of the custodial department had told the board months ago that new“outsourced” employees could not know, care for, and look after the students as they did — who are also residents and parents in the Daniel Boone community.

Chuck Murphy, senior regional manager of GCA Educational Services, headquartered in Cleveland,

Ohio, promised the board and residents that there would be an on-site manager in the district “all the time.”

He said GCA does background checks on all potential employees, provides those documents to the school district, “flags” people not deemed hireable, and does drug testing.

But members of Daniel Boone Federation of Support Staff, Local 4954 of the American Federation of Teachers, said that awarding the contract to a national organization is essentially a “loss of control over employees” and puts students at risk.

Local 4954 President Frank Abbattiscianni cited a history of GCA offering workers low wages, inferior and expensive health care and minimal benefits, resulting in high employee turnover.

He said high turnover will expose the students to a lessqualified, transient workforce.

Union members and district parents said many of the current employees are graduates of Daniel Boone and have children or grandchildren that are students in the district.

“It is a bad idea to outsource custodial,” said Beverly Albright of Douglassville. “It would be prudent to go on their website and see what is happening. It will be financially devastating if/when something happens to our kids. There is nothing more regretful. Once you let them [the em- ployees] go, you’re not getting them back.”

Wolfe said he heard the public’s concerns regarding GCA.

“I spoke to [a representative] of the Quakertown School District,” said Wolfe.

“The transition was not a good one. What have you learned from Quakertown for the transition here?”

Murphy said GCA started in Quakertown at the “wrong time of the year,” and that they did not hire the right manager.

“I am deeply involved with the board, community, and with all principals, and am there three times a week,” said Murphy.

“A lot of things could have been done better, but a lot of things have gotten better.”

In other business, the board will hold its second budget workshop on Monday, June 6.

Discussion items will focus on class sizes, 2016-17 student enrollment versus projected future enrollment, and whether to hire two to three additional teachers or furlough that same number of teachers.

Board discussion at the May 18 budget workshop focused on whether 24 students per class is an arbitrary number.

The board approved 5-4 on May 9 a 2016-17 preliminary budget of $56,266,830, with a $3 million deficit and no tax increase.

Two motions to increase taxes from the current 28.96 mills to 30.64 mills (and reduce the deficit to $1 million), and then to 29.5 mills, both failed with 4-5 votes.

“I don’t think a majority [of the board] meant for there to be no tax increase,” said board member Tamara Twardowski on May 23.

The board will also discuss on June 6 how much of the district’s $3.9 million fund balance should be used to reduce the budget deficit.

The board is required to approve a balanced budget by June 30.